"Zaaaaahh . . . kiiiiii . . ."

"Oh my!" Threepio exclaimed. "It appears that the crown was a b.o.o.by trap, designed to kill any thief who plundered King Da.s.sid's tomb."

Luke kneeled beside Dustini, lifting the crown to examine it. He spied several tiny holes and needles inside; they must have pierced Dustini's head, he thought. "Threepio, quick!"

Luke said. "Summon the medical droids at once!"

The medical droids arrived swiftly, bringing with them a cart to move Dustini to the medical center for examination and treatment. But as the medical droids leaned over to lift him, Dustini struggled, trying to move his paralyzed limbs. "Zoooock ... izzzzh . ."

Dustini managed to wiggle a finger. The finger trembled as he pointed it toward the jacket of his gray uniform. "Zaaaahh . ."

"His pocket!" See-Threepio exclaimed. The golden droid inspected Dustini's upper pocket.

Inside, Threepio found a small hologram disc, which he promptly handed over to Luke for inspection.

The medical droids then removed Dustini from the conference room.

"Artoo," said Luke, "let's see if this hologram disc fits into your projection slot. It seems to be the right format."

The little barrel-shaped droid rolled toward Luke on its three metal legs. "Dzvee boopa-ooonnn," he whistled as Luke attempted to put the data disc into the correct slot.

"It seems that Kadann's prophecy is starting to come true already," said Mon Mothma, her brow knitted in deep concern.

"You're right," Leia agreed. "Dustini must be the visitor to Mount Yoda who Kadann predicted would be pierced by gold. It had nothing to do with the golden knife Luke found on Z'trop after all. However, Kadann predicted that the last days of the Alliance would begin now."

"Well then," Luke said with determination, "we'll just have to prove that black-bearded dwarf dead wrong."

Artoo-Detoo spun his domed top left and right excitedly. "Bdeee-zhiiip!" he beeped.

Seconds later a bright light inside Artoo projected a hologram of Dustini's face. It seemed to float in the middle of the room.

"Zki-mip-conosco-zh.o.r.en," the hologram began.

Threepio began to translate the message at once. "Dustini says that he made this holographic recording so that if anything happened to him, his urgent mission on behalf of the archaeologists of Duro would not end in failure, and the Alliance leaders here on Mount Yoda would still receive his message."

"Khiz-ipm-ikzee-zeldar," the hologram of Dustini continued.

"Dustini requests that we fly on a mission from Mount Yoda to Duro," Threepio explained, "to save Dustini's fellow archaeologists and prevent the ancient treasures of Duro from being stolen by Kadann."

"Zhik-meez-bzooop."

"There's more information on the disc, but there seems to be a glitch. Artoo can't tell us any more."

CHAPTER 5.

Destination Duro Ken awoke the next morning with a churning feeling in his stomach. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids were going off to Duro without him, and Ken was being left behind to attend cla.s.ses at Dagobah Tech. Ken was feeling upset. Why did he have to go to school, anyway? He could learn everything he needed to know while going off on Alliance missions.

"Hurry, hurry," said Chip, Ken's personal droid. He was standing beside Ken's bed. "Get up. Up-up-up. You have to get dressed, wash your face, brush your teeth, comb your hair, and zip downstairs to the commissary to have breakfast. Quickly now-and find your computer notebook. Do you remember where you put it?"

"Okay, Chip, I'm getting up," Ken said.

Chip certainly is bright-eyed and on his toes for such an early hour of the morning, Ken thought. But then again, droids never had the unpleasant experience of having to wake up from a deep sleep. At all hours of the day and night, droids always remained alert, fully charged, and ready to go.

Ken glanced at the timepiece beside his bed, in the comfortable cubicle he had been a.s.signed to live in at DRAPAC. "I'm skipping breakfast today," he insisted. "I want to say good-bye to Luke and everybody before they blast off for Duro. They haven't left yet, have they?"

"They're probably in the hangar, boarding," Chip replied. "You'd better make it a quick good-bye. You won't make a good impression on anyone if you're late for the first day of school!"

Ken washed, dressed, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair; then he hurried outside the main DRAPAC building, running all the way to the hangar where the Millennium Falcon was docked on a landing pad.

"Luke, Leia, are you there?" Ken called out, peering through the open hangar door. He blinked, as the hangar's overhead illuminators glared in his eyes. "I just came by to say good-bye and wish you a-"

Ken fell silent, suddenly realizing that no one was inside the hangar to hear him.

"Anybody here?" he shouted again, but all he heard was the echo of his own voice. There was no sign of any humans or other biological life-forms in the hangar-not even any droids.

Maybe they were already on board, making last-minute preparations.

Ken walked inside the hangar to see if Luke or any of the others were inside the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. He popped through the hatch and air lock, but was disappointed to discover that no one else was on board. Maybe they were back in the cargo bay of the Millennium Falcon, near the engineering station and service access. They were probably strapping down their gear to get ready for takeoff.

Ken went back to check. When he entered the cargo bay, he discovered that all of the supplies for the journey to Duro had already been packed and strapped, and no one was-CHHH . . . CHHH . . . CHHH.

Ken thought he heard the sound of boots walking near the quadrex power core. He swung around to look, accidentally knocking into a loose transport crate and sending it toppling against the cargo door's emergency control mechanism.

CRAs.h.!.+.

Suddenly the bulkhead door to the cargo bay swung shut.

FWOOOOOP! CLIIIICK!.

It was locked!

Ken gulped. In the dull light of the cargo bay he surveyed the damage to the device that controlled the door. It was broken. And not only was the door mechanism damaged, but a cable attached to the wall was also sliced.

Ken pounded on the door. He tried to pry it open, but he had no luck. His heart sank.

"Help!" he shouted. "Can anybody hear me? I'm locked in the cargo bay!"

The bulkhead door was very thick. Ken suspected that even if Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and he droids were now aboard, they wouldn't be able to hear him. Even Artoo-Detoo's sound sensors probably wouldn't be able to detect him back here.

Ken tried pus.h.i.+ng on the door one more time, then gave up, collapsing to the floor in despair.

"Help, let me out of here, I'm supposed to start school!" he shouted.

Ken sat there, desperately trying to think of some way to escape. Then the soft white light turned red, and the entire hold rumbled with the sudden sound of the s.h.i.+p's power converter and ion flux stabilizer.

The rumbling increased, and Ken was slammed against the floor of the cargo hold, pressed down by an incredibly strong pressure. Unless he was mistaken, he was now on his way to the planet Duro!

With full obedience to the will of Kadann and High Prophet Jedgar, Grand Moff Hissa was also en route to Duro. But Hissa had no clue as to the purpose of his voyage. Now that Kadann had seized control of the Empire, the grand moffs no longer had access to the highest levels of top-secret information.

Hissa's strike cruiser encountered no s.p.a.ce traffic along the way, no sign of any Imperial starfighters, no TIE fighters, or even any probe droids. However, as the gray and dying world of Duro came into view, Hissa spied a s.p.a.cecraft that had a shape he recognized instantly-the Millennium Falcon!

"Opportunity strikes, Jedgar!" Hissa exclaimed. "That's Han Solo's s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p up ahead. If fortune is with us, then Solo will have some important pa.s.sengers aboard. And I'm not speaking of that oaf-brained Wookiee he calls his copilot. The reward on Chewbacca's head is only ten thousand credits. But if Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are flying with him-"

"Call your best sharpshooters to the forward ion cannons!" High Prophet Jedgar commanded.

"Right away," Grand Moff Hissa snapped with a salute.

"And I have a splendid idea," Jedgar continued, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "This will be a contest to determine the best gunner aboard. Whoever destroys the Millennium Falcon shall have the pleasure of dining with Kadann and me aboard s.p.a.ce Station Scardia!"

Four Imperial gunners who were skilled weapons masters immediately took up positions at the forward ion cannons. Trained to handle everything from single-light laser cannons to turbolaser units, the gunners blasted the Falcon at full power.

Round after round was targeted at the main power thrusters, as Han Solo's s.h.i.+p weaved in and out to avoid the laserfire.

Then the Falcon turned to face the Imperial strike cruiser. Han returned the fire, but his s.h.i.+p's quad laser cannons were incredibly weak.

Grand Moff Hissa laughed. "If that's the best the Rebel Alliance can do in their defense, they'd be wise to surrender and plead for their lives," he scoffed.

Aboard the Millennium Falcon Han Solo was surprised by the weak firepower of his s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.

"I only want to know one thing," Han said in disgust. "Who was the Kowakian lizard-monkey who fooled around with our quad laser cannons and busted them?" Frowning, Han pounded a fist on the air lock beside him in frustration. "I had a full systems checkup at DRAPAC before we left Mount Yoda, and everything was purring like a mooka!"

"Artoo," Luke said, turning to his little barrel-shaped droid. "Find out if the problem is in our anticoncussion field generator, or whether something's wrong with the torplex deflector cable."

A thin rod popped out of Artoo-Detoo and plugged itself into the Falcon's master sensor unit. "Kzeeep Kvoooch-Bzeeek!" Artoo beeped.

"Artoo has located the problem, Master Luke," See-Threepio explained, waving his arms frantically toward the engineering station at the rear of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. "There's trouble with a power cable back in the cargo bay, near the bulkhead door that connects with the service access area. In fact, Artoo says that the cargo-bay door is jammed shut. Not only that, but the hyperdrive modulator appears to be loose. Oh my! We've no chance of escaping if we can't go into hyperdrive!"

"Can he unfreeze the bulkhead door so we can get inside the cargo bay and repair the damage?" Princess Leia asked, keeping an eye on the laserfire coming from the Imperial strike cruiser.

"Graaaawg!" Chewbacca interrupted, as the navigation control panel of the Millennium Falcon began vibrating beneath his furry hands.

The attack from the Imperial guns was getting worse. Han Solo had to keep the Falcon spinning in order to dodge the blasts. But he couldn't keep it up for much longer.

"Chzootch Gneek!" Artoo buzzed, turning his dome back and forth quickly.

"I'm afraid the outlook is very discouraging, Master Luke," Threepio explained. "The bulkhead door controls have been smashed."

"There must be a way to unfreeze that door," Luke insisted, getting up quickly and heading for the cargo bay.

"Master Luke, wait for me!" Threepio shouted, as he hurried alongside to a.s.sist. Artoo rolled along with them as well.

When they reached the bulkhead door, Luke heard a strange sound.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!.

"Someone's pounding on the other side of the door," Luke said. "We've got a stowaway!

Maybe our quad cannons and hyperdrive modulator were sabotaged by an Imperial spy!"

SCREEECH!.

Suddenly the Millennium Falcon rumbled as it took a direct hit from Imperial fire.

Threepio braced himself, but Luke toppled to the floor, as Artoo rolled forward, slamming into the door.

"Master Luke, get up!" Threepio screamed, but Luke remained on the floor, sitting upright with his eyes closed. "Master Luke, are you alright?"

"Quiet, Threepio," Luke explained. "Can't you see I'm concentrating on the Force?"

Luke tried to calm himself, using a Jedi mind technique to focus his thoughts on the door's latch. Emptying his mind of all thoughts, he allowed the great universal power of the Force to flow through him.

Luke then opened his eyes and aimed his gaze at the lock to the bulkhead door.

TZIP! KNIK!.

The lock tumblers came free! The latch of the lock was moving!

FWOOOOP!.

The bulkhead door began to rise!

Luke jumped to his feet and drew his lightsaber blade to confront the Imperial spy on the other side of the door.

Seeing the dark silhouette in front of him, Luke began to swing his blade at the saboteur.

Then Luke gasped, pulling his blade aside at the last instant. It wasn't a spy after all!

It was Ken, who was rus.h.i.+ng frantically through the bulkhead doorway toward Luke!

"Way to go, Luke!" Ken shouted. "You saved my life!"

Luke shook his head, unable to believe his eyes.

"Saved you? I nearly destroyed you with my lightsaber! What are you doing here, Ken?

You're supposed to be back at Mount Yoda starting school today!"

"I'm sorry, Luke. It was an accident."

"Some accident!" Luke snapped. "You hid aboard our s.h.i.+p so you wouldn't have to go to school. It's your first day, and already you're playing hooky!"

"No, Luke, that wasn't what happened, honest," Ken pleaded. "I thought you and the others had already boarded the Millennium Falcon, and I came to say good-bye and wish you a safe journey. When I called out and you didn't answer, I looked around. The next thing I knew-"