Part 4 (2/2)

”You have great potential in the Dark Side, Ken,” Kadann said to the boy, as Ken stared sadly at Dee-Jay's darkened eyes. ”I can see that now. The Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side can never be wrong. But perhaps once .

. . just once . I did make an error. That was when I urged Trioculus to find and destroy you. I know now that through your blood-the blood of Emperor Palpatine-you will one day lead the future generations of the Empire!”

”Never!” Ken declared firmly.

”Seize him!” Kadann ordered, gesturing to two stormtroopers who promptly overpowered Ken.

They took Ken out of the Jedi Library and dragged him up the path as he kicked and struggled.

Kadann turned to his intelligence agent. ”Is it possible to remove the data files?”

”Removing the data chips from the master computer would destroy the Jedi files and all the information they contain.”

”Then lift the master computer itself and take it to the tubular transport,” Kadann ordered. ”With that computer relocated to s.p.a.ce Station Scardia, all of the secrets of the Jedi will then belong to me!”

Kadann's stormtroopers prepared to transport the computer on a large, floating antigravity cart.

”Shut this city down,” Kadann hissed. ”Its final hour has come at last.”

The Imperials departed from the library and headed back toward the tubular transport, deactivating everything in sight, silencing every last droid and machine of the Lost City.

With every street Kadann pa.s.sed, the lights went out, and the cavern dimmed a little more.

Suddenly Kadann was startled to see the Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker, standing in the path, blocking their way. How was this possible, Kadann wondered, when Luke was Kadann's prisoner on board the Scardia Voyager?

”Let the boy go, Kadann,” Luke said, brandis.h.i.+ng his lightsaber.

”Luke!” Ken screamed.

Kadann took a few steps backward as the blade swung toward him. The stormtroopers who were holding Ken stepped back too, as Ken struggled to loosen himself from their grasp.

”I said let the boy go!” Luke repeated. ”Now!”

Kadann was startled, not understanding how Luke could have possibly reached the Lost City.

The tubular transport had remained at the bottom of the shaft ever since Kadann had arrived.

Just then Luke charged a group of stormtroopers, freeing Ken and taking the boy with him.

As they ran, Ken spotted his stunned pet, Zeebo the mooka. Ken stopped just long enough to pick Zeebo up and carry him off. Laserfire from portable Imperial laser cannons streaked past Luke and Ken, as they swiftly slipped away toward the tubular transport.

”Master,” Prophet Gornash called out to Kadann, ”all that matters is the Jedi computer.

Let's forget the Rebels for now and take it to the tubular transport, and depart!”

But as the computer was moved, one of the stormtroopers, firing his portable laser cannon after Ken and Luke, accidentally let loose with a blast that zoomed right toward Kadann.

Kadann moved quickly out of the path of danger. The laserblast struck the master Jedi computer instead, imploding the data screen and melting the main controls.

”NOOOO!” Kadann shouted.

Meanwhile the stormtroopers continued to shut down the power in the Lost City, which became darker and darker.

Soon the only light remaining came from streaks of random laserfire, and the glow from inside the tubular transport as it began traveling toward the surface with Luke, Ken, and Zeebo safely inside.

CHAPTER 7.

The Red Carpet For a moment Luke and Ken were silent, and the only noise was the sound of the tubular transport rising at an incredibly fast speed. Then Ken spoke.

”Triclops is my father, Luke,” Ken said in dismay. ”I know it now.”

”How do you know that?” Luke asked in a shocked but calm, steady voice.

”Kadann used the Jedi computer to show me my mother and father,” Ken explained. ”This means I'm also the grandson of Emperor Palpatine. Dee-Jay knew the secret all along, and he never told me!” The boy paused to choke down his tears. ”So now you know the terrible truth. You now know where I come from-from evil.”

”You're forgetting that my father was Darth Vader,” Luke replied, staring into Ken's troubled eyes. ”He too was devoted to evil. But the good in him survived deep within his heart, and at the very end of his life, it won out.”

”All this time I thought . . . I hoped that my father would turn out to be Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi,” Ken said, glancing down. ”But instead-this is the worst news I could have heard, Luke. I don't deserve to be part of the Rebel Alliance.”

”The fact that my father chose a path of evil is no reflection on me,” Luke explained. ”It doesn't mean that I'm any less of a person, or any less of a man. Unlike my father, I proved myself strong enough to resist the lure of the Dark Side. And you've got to prove yourself strong enough to do the same too.”

”And what if I'm not strong enough?” Ken asked.

”You will be,” Luke replied. ”Ken, no one is responsible for who their parents are. Or their grandparents. The choices they made in their lives are their own. But the choices we make are our own. We can't blame ourselves for the evil that our parents and grandparents did-only for what we do. And so it's up to each of us to make the right choices in life, to trust in the Force, and become the person that we know we should be.”

Ken could feel Zeebo's little heart thumping as he held his four-eared pet in his arms.

The speed of the tubular transport was awesome. Ken felt as if his stomach had been left far below, and he tingled from his ears to his toes.

But suddenly the tubular transport started to vibrate furiously. Then it slowed to a dead stop halfway up the elevator shaft.

The power had failed. They were trapped.

At the Senate building on Yavin Four, before Triclops could be given the special chemical made from the macaab mushroom, something strange overcame him. Triclops sat down to write a letter, but when he was done, he suddenly changed from a pa.s.sive and gentle person to an angry maniac with superhuman strength.

Triclops's guards were in shock as he demonstrated an awesome power-a power they had never seen before. He tore their laser pistols from their hands, crushed the weapons, and picked the guards up and hurled them, smas.h.i.+ng them against the laboratory wall.

Then Triclops bent the bars of two security doors and forced his way through them.

The tubular transport hadn't moved another inch, and Luke, Ken, and Zeebo were still surrounded by darkness, unable to escape.

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