Star Wars - 210 - Jedi Prince 01 - The Glove of Darth Vader (2 page)

"Your highness," said Han. "After Chewie and I drop off the droids in the meteor pod on Kessel and take Lando back to Cloud City . . . well, I don’t know exactly how to put this

. . . I’m not planning on coming back for a while."

"But, Han," Princess Leia protested, "you know how important you are to SPIN."

"Maybe so, but Lando’s offered me a lease on a piece of sky near Cloud City. I’ve always dreamed of having a place of my own, and I figure it’s about time Chewie and I built my dream sky house."

"Can’t you put it off until we know what’s going on with the new Emperor?" asked Leia.

"Princess, there’s always something important that seems to come up before I can take care of my own dreams. Time is running out. And a man’s got to do what he’s got to do."

"If that’s the way you want it, Han," Leia said, not quite understanding him. She turned away.

"I’m going to miss you, Princess," said Han, taking her hand. "May the Force be with you."

CHAPTER 2

Lightning Power of the Dark Side

As the Millennium Falcon came out of hyperdrive and slowed below lightspeed, Han and Chewie deliberately navigated into the heart of a huge electrical storm in Kessel’s outer atmosphere. The black lightning clouds were an unsuspecting place from which to eject the meteor pod.

ZHWEEEEEK! The cargo door screeched as it opened.

Soon the pod was dropping toward Kessel, buffeted by strong winds, its outer rock-coating struck by lightning, its interior heated by friction. But it kept adjusting its path of descent, taking the droids to where they needed to go.

The worst part for Threepio and Artoo was the landing. The meteor pod bounced into a rocky mountainside, rolled into a few bushy Kesselian trees, and finally came to a stop within an easy walk to the hidden entrance of the slaves’ escape tunnel. The pod’s hatch door opened and the two disguised droids emerged to face the looming mountains set against an eerie pink sky. The electrical storm had ended.

"I’m certainly glad droids don’t get dizzy, or I wouldn’t be able to stand up for days," said Threepio. He glanced at their pod. "Look, Artoo, our meteor pod looks like just another boulder against the craggy terrain. It should be safe here until we return. That is, if we return."

They found the underground passageway, and Threepio pushed away the rocks that concealed the entrance. Soon they were heading into the tunnel, which had a faint luminous glow from the many spice-covered rocks.

In the semidarkness Threepio asked Artoo to project Mon Mothma’s holographic map of the tunnel interior. "That’s upside down!" Threepio exclaimed. "Honestly, you don’t expect me to stand on my head to read that map, do you?"

Artoo flipped his projection so that the map was right-side up. After studying it, Threepio plunged ahead. With every clattering step, he took Artoo closer and closer to Kessendra Stadium, which was at the very edge of the capital city of this Imperial slave planet.

"Hurry-this way, Artoo!" said Threepio. "Mon Mothma’s map said the entrance to the stadium is somewhere down here!"

"Dweep boooooweep," beeped Artoo, rolling along as fast as he could.

"No, it isn’t my fault that we’re here," replied Threepio as he walked even faster. "We do have our orders, you know. Let’s just hope that nobody finds out who we really are. Otherwise, they’ll take us apart and use us for spare parts-or worse!" Threepio continued talking without pause, since droids never have to stop to catch their breath the way organic creatures do. "It’s positively horrifying. Half the Imperial officers in the galaxy are gathered together, practically right above our heads, and goodness knows what evil plans they’re making."

Kessendra Stadium was the frequent site of gladiator games in which slaves fought to the death, while sportsmen from throughout the galaxy placed bets. Today, however, there would be no gladiator games.

"Droot boopa zinnn," beeped Artoo.

"I quite agree with you," replied Threepio, nodding his head. "I’d have thought they’d given up the war, too, when their second Death Star blew up, and when Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader died, and-Oh no!"

Threepio walked into a metal column and clattered to the ground. "Now look what you made me do." He quickly picked himself up and checked his plating for dents. "You’re always distracting me, Artoo!"

Artoo gave a singsong series of toots and whistles. "Reewooo dweet? Beeeeza zooon?"

"No, there aren’t any droid-eating monsters down here. Now stop babbling and help me look for the entrance to the stadium and-Gracious! There it is back there! Why didn’t you tell me we’d passed it, you nearsighted hunk of tin!"

"Vrrrr BEEEEEP!"

"Well, the same to you!"

Threepio cautiously opened the creaking metal door and sneaked out of the darkness, with Artoo rolling along behind him. The pink sky was so bright it nearly blinded Threepio’s eye-sensors.

When his sensors cleared, Threepio could see that they were at the lower level of the stadium, where slaves and droids were gathered to listen to the speeches. All around them were green humanoid droids with menacing heads and barrel-shaped spice-mining droids, who looked just like Threepio and Artoo did in their disguises.

Above them, in the comfortable bleacher seats that surrounded the pit of slaves, were so many Imperial officers and stormtroopers that at first they all seemed to blur together. Artoo raised a long-distance sensor to get a close-up view. Then the barrel-shaped droid began matching the faces he saw with the faces and names of the Imperial officers in his data banks.

The crowd became quiet as a grand moff, one of the Empire’s regional governors, began to speak. The beady-eyed grand moff was bald and his teeth had been filed into sharp, spearlike points.

"I am Grand Moff Hissa," he announced, just as Artoo figured out who he was. "And to my fellow grand moffs, and to the grand admirals, other officers, stormtroopers, bounty hunters, slavelords, and slaves, I bid you all Dark Greetings!

"We have gathered here today to mark a new beginning," he continued, puffing out his chest proudly to display his brown uniform. "The destruction of our latest Death Star was but a temporary setback. The Rebels have yet to see the full fury of our power and our might. We are developing even more advanced weapons, and when we are done, we shall rule the entire galaxy and crush the Rebel Alliance."

As he listened, Threepio whispered to Artoo. "Oh, dear, I certainly don’t like the sound of this. No, I don’t like the sound of this at all."

"The Central Committee of Grand Moffs has summoned you all here for this meeting to announce our new leader," said Grand Moff Hissa in a bellowing voice. "Even though Emperor Palpatine is dead, his line continues. For many years you have heard rumors that the Emperor had a son. But our departed Emperor and the Central Committee of Grand Moffs always denied those rumors, for reasons of Imperial security. However, today I am authorized to inform you that the Emperor did indeed have a son-a son who shall be our new chosen one!"

The stadium was filled with gasps of shock and surprise at this revelation.

"The Emperor’s son has lived among you on Kessel for many years now, keeping his true identity a carefully guarded secret," Grand Moff Hissa continued. "And now at last the time has come for the Emperor’s son to take his rightful place as heir to the Empire."

"Who is the Emperor’s son?" shouted a grand admiral. There was a suspenseful moment of silence.

Then a huge, black door suddenly opened, and a tall mutant dressed in black came out to face the gathering.

"Friends of the Empire," Grand Moff Hissa announced, "I present to you the son of Emperor Palpatine-Trioculus, the Supreme Slavelord of Kessel!"

But instead of cheering, a frightened hush crept through the crowd at the sight of the new ruler. Trioculus was known to be a ruthless and merciless slavelord, one who had sent many slaves to their deaths.

Threepio could see that Trioculus looked powerful and threatening. But he was surprised that he wasn’t ugly like Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine had been. In fact, Trioculus was almost handsome. Except for one thing -Two of Trioculus’s eyes were right where Threepio expected them to be, on either side of his nose. However, it was Trioculus’s third eye, right in the middle of his forehead, that made him look rather unusual.

Threepio bent down to talk quietly to Artoo. "A mutant-part human, part alien," he said.

"Quite surprising. I’ve certainly never heard any gossip that Emperor Palpatine had a son by a three-eyed alien woman. Have you?"

From Artoo’s beeps and buzzes, Threepio quickly learned many things he had never known before. For instance, Artoo’s data banks revealed that some old Imperial stormtroopers did believe that the Emperor had had a son with three eyes, a son who lived on Kessel. However, when the Rebel Alliance had investigated that story, no evidence had ever been found. Now, however, the Alliance would have to investigate the situation again. Artoo’s rapid beeps revealed more about Trioculus, information from Mon Mothma’s secret Affiance files on the slavelords of the Kessel spice mines.

Trioculus had a reputation for being among the most evil and cruel of the Kessel slavelords, personality traits that developed when Trioculus was just a child. As the only mutant in his school on Kessel, he was teased and hit constantly by the other students who made fun of his third eye. Trioculus became obsessed with fighting back and taking revenge. He became the schoolyard bully, and he learned how to make his classmates fear him, by spying on them and reporting those who didn’t follow the rules. As Trioculus grew older, he studied the history of warfare and Imperial military tactics. That was when he had first become devoted to gaining total control over both his enemies and his friends.

Trioculus had few friends. But it was the quality of his allies that counted, not the quantity. Through his study of warfare he had won friends among important Imperial officers-especially the spike-toothed Grand Moff Hissa, who respected Trioculus’s total loyalty to the Imperial cause.

And so, as one of Grand Moff Hissa’s pets, Trioculus had come up from the ranks of overseers of the spice mines. Soon afterward, again with Grand Moff Hissa’s help, Trioculus had been appointed Lord Overseer and Supreme Slavelord. The crowd continued to watch in hushed silence, as Trioculus began to speak in a cold, throaty voice. "My father, the Emperor, had many powers of the Dark Side. But without three eyes he could never achieve perfection. It was known by the ancients that a Dark Lord with three eyes has a secret strength possessed by none other. And so it is my destiny to rule over my father’s Empire and bring us the glory that he never achieved!" Grand Moff Hissa came forward. "We have heard from Trioculus, the Emperor’s son, and we shall obey him, one and all! Prepare to bow and accept your new Emperor!" A member of the Imperial Royal Guard stood up and shouted out a troublesome question in a booming voice.

"Just a moment, Grand Moff Hissa!" said the bold and foolhardy Royal Guard member. "Lord Trioculus, are you aware that there are others who claim to be the new ruler of the Empire? I have been to the planet Gargon. There, Grand Admiral Grunger says he is our new leader. And he has a fleet of thirty star destroyers!"

"I shall deal with him when I am ready," Trioculus said. "He will learn who is the rightful Emperor!"

Then an admiral stood to speak. "How can you claim to be the new chosen one when you do not wear Darth Vader’s glove? The Prophets of the Dark Side have said that the next Emperor shall wear-"

"As the Emperor’s son," shouted Trioculus, "it is through my blood that I rule, not with some glove!"

"But the Prophets of the Dark Side are powerful!" declared the member of the Imperial Royal Guard. "They foretold that the Rebels would blow up both Death Stars-and they even knew when they would be destroyed. They saw the future. Therefore they must know our destiny!"

"Only I know the destiny of the Empire," thundered Trioculus, "and only I have the power of my father and more-including the lightning power of the Dark Side!" Trioculus raised his arms and bolts of lightning shot from his fingertips. The lightning crackled in two directions, striking both the member of the Imperial Royal Guard and the grand admiral who dared to question him.

The men fell to their knees, pleading with Trioculus to stop as they quaked and thrashed on the ground, moaning, while the electricity sizzled all around them. At last Trioculus showed mercy on them and lowered his hands. "Now who will be the first officer to step forward and pledge his loyalty to me?" he demanded.

"I will!" shouted a general.

"No, let it be me!" shouted a grand moff. He rushed forward to be the first to bow down before Trioculus, and Trioculus accepted him.

After Trioculus listened to the officers pledge their vows of loyalty, he raised his arms, turned his back, and left through the huge black door. Grand Moff Hissa followed him. Throughout the stadium everyone was talking about what they had just seen.

"I think we’d better get out of here, Artoo."

Threepio turned to look for the little droid. "Hey, wait for me!" he said, noticing that Artoo was already heading back toward the entrance to the underground passageway. Threepio hurried to catch up with Artoo. As they approached the door to the tunnel, they saw that it was surrounded by stormtroopers-and the stormtroopers were bolting it shut!

CHAPTER 3

The Seven Words of Trioculus

Trioculus, surrounded by stormtrooper bodyguards, departed from Kessendra Stadium with Grand Moff Hissa. He was also accompanied by Emdee-Five (MD-5), his droid with a narrow head and shining eyes.

They rode in an armored landspeeder limousine to the large, black metal palace where Trioculus had lived since his promotion to Lord Overseer and Supreme Slavelord of the Spice Mines.

Upon their arrival Emdee went directly to the huge kitchen to warn Trioculus’s chef to complete the preparations for the celebration banquet.

Soon Trioculus and Grand Moff Hissa were joined by a small, select group of grand moffs loyal to Trioculus and a grand admiral from the planet Gargon. Together they sat at a very long banquet table while a servant brought in trays filled with Whaladon meat, a delicacy that was reserved only for the Imperial ruling class and forbidden to stormtroopers and slaves. Whaladon meat was especially prized because it was thought to be a source of strength.