Part 1 (2/2)
”That's unusual, Han,” Leia said, raising an eyebrow skeptically. ”I've always heard that the septapus is a gentle species. I've never known one to pick a fight with anyone.”
”Tell that to the one that tried to eat me,” Han shot back.
”Eat you?” Leia exclaimed in disbelief. ”Han, they're vegetarians. They never eat anything but seaweed.”
”Oh yeah?” Han challenged.
”Yeah,” Leia insisted.
Han and Leia were due to report for a meeting on Mount Yoda, the secret Alliance base on the planet Dagobah. Han had hoped that he would have a chance first to share a few romantic days with Princess Leia. But somehow things weren't going as he had planned. He had a bad habit of turning every conversation with Leia into an argument. Han found it hard to believe that just a few days ago he had been seriously considering marriage.
He glanced toward the sh.o.r.e, where Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca were teaching Ken, the twelve-year-old Jedi Prince, a technique of self-defense.
Leia climbed out of the tidewater pool and walked over to the Millennium Falcon, which was parked on the beach nearby. Just then Artoo-Detoo, the barrel-shaped droid, rolled down the entrance ramp of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
”Tzzz-bnoooch! Bzeeeee-tzoooop!” Artoo tooted.
See-Threepio, the golden droid, walked over from a grove of trileaf trees. He and the two other droids, Chip and Kate, had been standing there in the shade to prevent their metal circuits from baking in the midday heat. ”Oh dear, oh my,” Threepio fretted. ”Artoo says that he's detected an Imperial vehicle. Look, up on that bluff!”
”It's an Imperial Single Trooper Compact a.s.sault Vehicle,” said Luke, his eyes narrowing in the direction Threepio was pointing. ”C'mon, Chewie. We'd better check this out.”
”Hey, wait for me!” Ken exclaimed, as Luke and Chewbacca cautiously started up the trail that led to the top of the bluff.
”And me too!” shouted Han.
As they approached the Imperial vehicle, Luke noticed no sign of movement. The hatch behind the laser-cannon turret was wide open.
”Roooor-woooof,” Chewbacca barked.
”You're right, Chewie,” said Luke. ”n.o.body's here to operate it. Look, its treads have been split by the sharp volcanic rocks on this bluff.”
”Maybe whoever was operating it deserted his post,” Ken offered.
There was no laserfire, and they soon determined that the vehicle was indeed empty.
”A Compact a.s.sault Vehicle doesn't necessarily signal the presence of an Imperial base,”
Luke explained. ”It probably means just the opposite. The Empire uses these one-trooper vehicles on undeveloped worlds that aren't occupied territory. One trooper in a CAV can control a lot of territory.”
Luke crawled inside, lowering himself through the hatch. Then he poked his head out. ”I wonder if the missing Imperial trooper is dead,” he mused. ”Maybe he took a swim past the reefs and drowned in the rough current.”
”Or maybe he was eaten by a septapus,” Han Solo offered, having caught up with his companions on the bluff. ”The type that isn't vegetarian.”
Inspecting the interior of the well-armored combat vehicle, Luke found a small pouch filled with what seemed to be the personal possessions of an Imperial trooper: identification, a combat service medal, a personal hygiene kit, and a small gold knife.
Luke also found several data discs. One of them was labeled with a triple ”S.”
Luke recognized the symbol immediately. ”It stands for s.p.a.ce Station Scardia,” he said with certainty.
”Scardia!” Ken exclaimed. He knew all about the s.p.a.ce station from a master computer file in the library of the Lost City of the Jedi. ”I wonder what kind of trouble Kadann and his Prophets of the Dark Side are up to now.”
Luke and Han deactivated the vehicle's weapons; then they took the pouch and data discs with them as they headed back to Princess Leia and the droids. With the discovery of the Imperial Compact a.s.sault Vehicle, their time for relaxing on the beach had come to an abrupt end.
Together they blasted off as Han piloted the Millennium Falcon into hypers.p.a.ce.
Luke glanced over at Ken, who was sitting next to him in the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p's navigation room.
The previous morning, Luke had broken the news to Ken that he would have to start going to school. That meant that very soon Ken would no longer be free to fly from planet to planet with Luke and the others, helping the Alliance. Luke could tell the Jedi Prince was depressed, because the boy was unusually quiet.
Luke turned his attention to the information on the captured data disc. He quickly discovered that the disc contained recent Imperial propaganda, dispatched from s.p.a.ce Station Scardia to the Imperial troops in the field. And the most significant propaganda, as far as Luke was concerned, was the list of the latest prophecies of Supreme Imperial Prophet Kadann.
”What does Kadann predict is going to happen to the Alliance in our war against the Empire?” Ken asked curiously, as he glimpsed the information on the data disc.
”No Imperial prophet has ever predicted that the Alliance would survive even this long,”
Luke explained, ”so I certainly don't accept anything that Kadann has to say about the future. Besides, Yoda taught me that even though you may be able to glimpse the future through the Force, the future can change before it arrives. He said, 'Always in motion is the future.'”
”Still,” Han commented, ”lots of Imperials believe every word Kadann speaks-and some of them will do almost anything to try to make his prophecies come true. He can't be dismissed so easily.”
Returning from lightspeed, the Falcon finally slowed and banked, soaring through Dagobah's misty atmosphere. Pilot Han Solo flew the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p toward the very peak of Mount Yoda, the highest point on the swamp-covered planet.
From afar, Luke could make out lights at the mountaintop. They were the lights from the Rebel Alliance military center-a metallic fortress with more than a dozen levels, and hundreds of beaming, glowing signals to guide friendly s.p.a.cecraft through the ever-present clouds.
The fortress was DRAPAC, short for the Defense Research and Planetary a.s.sistance Center.
DRAPAC was also the site of Dagobah Tech, the Rebel Alliance school where Ken was about to begin cla.s.ses.
As the Millennium Falcon surged through the mist of Dagobah, Han Solo and his copilot, Chewbacca, steered an even course toward Mount Yoda's peak.
”How did Mount Yoda get its name, anyway?” Ken asked.
”We used to call it Mount Dagger,” Luke explained, ”but after Yoda died, it seemed appropriate to rename it in his memory, since this is the planet where he lived.”
Luke sighed, feeling a lump in his throat. Every time he returned to Dagobah, memories of Yoda and the swamps where Yoda had trained him to become a Jedi Knight flashed through his mind.
Yoda may have been small in size, but he was mighty in wisdom. Although Luke felt that Yoda was always nearby in spirit, the galaxy was just not the same anymore without him.
The Millennium Falcon gently touched down on its docking bay. Moments later, the ragtag troop of the Alliance departed the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
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