Star Wars - 214 - Jedi Prince 05 - Queen of the Empire (5 page)

Then came blinding flashes of laserfire as more bounty hunters jumped out from their hiding places and fired randomly, creating panic in the theater. Moments later, when the emergency lights came on, Han Solo was standing with his laserblaster in his hand, ready to fire. But the bounty hunters were gone. And so was the magician-and the golden cage with Princess Leia!

Members of the Fun World Security Squad streamed into the theater, trying to calm the panicking audience.

Han and Lando jumped up onto the stage and glanced in all directions. There was no sign of Leia anywhere. Not even a single clue.

The Zorba Express blasted off and departed from Hologram Fun World. Zorba and Tibor the Barabel alien bounty hunter were aboard, along with an extra passenger-Princess Leia!

Tibor had delivered the Princess directly to Zorba, still trapped inside the golden cage.

"A-haw-haw-haw . . . !" Zorba laughed cruelly. "So, Princess Leia, at last we meet. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Zorba, Jabba the Hutt’s father," he exclaimed. "And nobody is better at getting even with a murdering Princess like you than a clever old Hutt like me!"

"I never murdered anyone," Leia said defiantly. "I’m a diplomat. I believe one should settle disputes using peaceful negotiations-unless one is attacked and has to defend herself."

"And I suppose you were only defending yourself when you killed my son, Jabba," Zorba said in a mocking tone. "Tell me, Princess Leia, did you think Jabba’s papa would allow his son’s death to go unavenged? Did you really think you would get away with your crime?"

"Jabba is the one who committed crimes," Leia insisted, clenching her fists in rising anger. "More crimes than I can count. He was a gangster and a smuggler and a thief. And you’re as greedy, and just as wretched and monsterous as he was!"

"Tsk tsk tsk," Zorba said, waving his forefinger as a warning. "If you had longer to live, I would teach you some manners, Princess Leia. But what’s the use of teaching manners to a human who will die in a few hours anyway? It’s a waste of time and precious energy that could be used for better things. Like eating."

Zorba waved his forefinger in Leia’s direction once again and continued to scold her. "I know that you murdered Jabba in his sail barge at the Great Pit of Carkoon on Tatooine. You twisted a chain around his neck-"

"It was the chain that held me prisoner!" Leia protested. "I was only trying to get free. That’s every prisoner’s right!"

"I’ve heard how you twisted that chain around poor Jabba, squeezing the breath out of my son. Prisoner’s right, indeed. Well, he didn’t get to see his prisoner die that day at the Great Pit of Carkoon. But I’ll make up for it, Princess. I’m going to take you to Tatooine and drop you into the pit-right into the Mouth of Sarlacc!" Zorba slurped and slobbered just thinking about it. "You know, Princess, it takes the Sarlacc a period of one thousand years to digest its victims," he continued. "So for a thousand years you’ll be trapped there in its stomach, until there’s nothing left of you-not even your bones! A-haw-haw-haw . . . !"

Leia wished she could reverse everything that had happened to her since Lando told her that her marriage to Han would have to wait until morning. If only she could have retraced her steps, and not gone to the theater. If only she hadn’t gone up on the stage and climbed into the cage. . . .

"You’re not my only prisoner aboard this ship," Zorba said with a leering grin. "There’s an old friend of yours here too. Perhaps you’d like to say hello!" Zorba pushed a lever on his control panel, causing a door in the wall behind Leia’s golden cage to slide open. Leia’s pulse quickened as she glanced inside. There she saw a solid block of black carbonite! And sticking partially out of the block, frozen alive in suspended animation, was the three-eyed Imperial tyrant who until recently had been the evil ruler of the Empire-"-Trioculus!" Leia gasped.

CHAPTER 6 The Mofference

Exploring the storage area beneath the stage of the Asteroid Theater, Han and Lando discovered Bithabus the Mystifier tied up inside a bright red cabinet that was a spare prop for the magic show.

FWAAAAP!

A short, well-aimed blast from Han’s laserblaster burned through the ropes that were fastened to the magician’s wrists and legs.

"What happened? How’d you get locked inside that cabinet, Bithabus?" Han asked.

"It all happened so fast I can hardly remember," Bithabus replied. "During the intermission, I can recall being suddenly surrounded by bounty hunters. Then they ordered me to take off my costume. There was another Bith with them-they called him Cobak. He seemed to be one of their gang. Cobak put on my costume and said something about taking my place on stage for the second act." Bithabus got up and dusted himself off. "I think I recall someone saying this was Zorba the Hutt’s trap to catch Princess Leia," he added.

"That slimy, foul, disgusting, ugly, odorous, slobbering, dirty rotten slug!" Han exclaimed, pounding his fist against the wall in anger.

"There was a reptilian bounty hunter with sharp teeth talking about the plan," Bithabus continued. "They called him Tibor. He told Cobak that Zorba was going to settle his score with the princess once and for all."

"Naturally," Lando said. "Getting even with their enemies is all Hutts know how to do. If it wasn’t for their thrill in taking revenge, every Hutt in the galaxy would probably roll over and die of boredom."

"I can remember Tibor’s words," Bithabus added. "He said, ’Leia’s punishment will fit her crime!"

"Aha!" Han said, snapping his fingers. "Lucky for us that I know how that slobbering slug thinks. Leia strangled Jabba the Hutt at the Pit of Carkoon. So Zorba is probably taking Leia to the planet Tatooine-straight to the pit!"

Lando sighed in dismay. "I hoped I’d never see that disgusting place again, but I guess that just wasn’t my destiny."

"Thanks, old buddy, for helping me out," Han said, slapping his friend on the back.

"I wouldn’t miss a chance to give Zorba a taste of his own slimy medicine," Lando replied. Han and Lando said good-bye to Bithabus, then bolted up the ladder to the stage floor and ran out of the Asteroid Theater. Once outside they turned in the direction of the Millennium Falcon’s docking bay. "Just a second," Han said. "We’re forgetting Threepio and Artoo!"

Han and Lando turned around and quickly dashed off to the Droid Repair Shop. They yanked Threepio and Artoo out of the building before the droids’ polish was even dry. "Tziiiiit gnig fzoooop!" Artoo-Detoo protested. But as they proceeded back toward to the spaceship docking zone, Han quickly explained to the droids what had happened to Leia. The four of them hurried up the entry ramp of the Millennium Falcon and into the navigation room. "Well, I notice quite a few upgrades and custom modifications since I used to own this baby," Lando said, glancing around the space freighter. "You’d think I would have learned my lesson about gambling when I lost the Millennium Falcon to you in that bet we made." Lando strapped himself into the seat next to Han. "Does the ship still make a whining sound when you give it the juice?"

"No way," Han replied. "She purrs like a mooka now." Han reached for the controls, turning on the power thrusters. "We’re going to haul it from here to Tatooine in thirty-three standard time parts, or my name is Zack Kluggerhorn."

"Are you losing your touch, Han?" a familiar sounding female voice said from behind Han’s shoulder. "I should think you could make it there in thirty time parts or less." Han and Lando turned in shock. Who else was inside the spaceship?

"Leia!" they both exclaimed.

"Why are you planning on departing for Tatooine?" Leia asked. "And especially in such a rush?"

Suddenly Han noticed something different about the princess’s eyes and became suspicious.

"Wait a minute," he said, "you’re not Leia!"

"Of course I am," she replied.

"Then what are the four colors of the stones on the wedding ring you bought for me?" he challenged.

"Why should I tell you and spoil the surprise?" she asked.

"Aha!" Han exclaimed. "The real Leia would know it’s not a surprise, because I already saw the ring when we were in the jewelry store. You’re the Project Decoy Human Replica Droid." Suddenly Luke Skywalker popped out from behind the large, horizontal stabilizer at the rear of the cockpit. "I never could fool you, Han," Luke said. Ken poked his head out too, smiling with delight at being able to surprise Han and Lando.

"Fugo fixed the laser unit in the droid’s eyes, Han," Ken said. Luke explained. "When Mon Mothma received an emergency intelligence report that both the Millennium Falcon and the Zorba Express were heading for Hologram Fun World," Luke said,

"we figured we’d better check up on you two. Chewie wanted to come, too, but Mon Mothma decided he should stay behind in case they needed help keeping Triclops under control."

"So you’re here to spy on me and Leia," Han said, frowning in disgust. "Can’t a guy even sneak away on personal business once in a while without everybody in the Alliance finding out about it?"

"Your business on this trip is no longer personal, Han," Luke continued. "You proposed marriage to my sister-the gossip’s all over Fun World. Welcome to the family!"

"Save the congratulations until we get the bride back safely," Han replied. "Leia’s in deep, deep-"

Han’s words, as he continued to fill the others in, were drowned out by the sound of the spaceship’s engines roaring to life. The Millennium Falcon accelerated as fast as its sublight-speed thrusters would permit it to go-and then it made the hyperspace jump and exceeded light speed.

Neither the passengers aboard the Millennium Falcon nor those on the Zorba Express had any way of knowing that at that very moment a large Imperial spaceship was orbiting the planet Tatooine. It was the Moffship, the official space vehicle of the Imperial grand moffs-the Imperial governors of the outer regions of space.

The grand moffs were holding a secret conference-a Mofference. And leading the secret Mofference was razor-toothed Grand Moff Hissa, whose body had been nearly destroyed by a torrential flood of liquid toxic waste back on the planet Duro. Grand Moff Hissa would never forget how High Prophet Jedgar had left him to die in the underground caverns of Duro. A stormtrooper saved Hissa’s life, lifting him out of the bubbling acid slime that had eaten through his body. If the Prophets of the Dark Side were allowed to have their way, Grand Moff Hissa would not have lived to tell the tale; as it was, Hissa survived, although he lost both his arms and his legs. Grand Moff Hissa adjusted his mechanical hover-chair to raise it a few inches above the floor as he presided over the Mofference.

Hissa was outfitted with mechanical arms, which had been taken from an Imperial droid and surgically attached to his shoulders. The liquid toxic waste had eaten away his body all the way up to his hip bone, leaving no stump for attaching any mechanical legs. The feisty and embittered grand moff would now have to spend the rest of his life confined to a hover-chair.

"Any Prophet of the Dark Side who approaches and tries to enter our Moffship will be taken hostage," Hissa declared. "That’s our only way to bargain with Kadann, and save what little power we grand moffs have left in the Empire, now that Kadann has declared himself to be the new Imperial leader!"

Grand Moff Dunhausen toyed with his earrings that were shaped like little laserblasters.

"I heard a rumor from a high-ranking Imperial intelligence agent that Kadann wants to disband the grand moffs completely!" he said, snarling.

"I heard the same rumor," Grand Moff Muzzer added, puffing his fat cheeks in and out nervously. "Kadann wants to take each one of us aside and demote us. It is rumored he’ll strip us of our power and appoint us to low-ranking military positions on the most slime-ridden and frozen planets in the galaxy."

"Kadann hates us because we were loyal to Trioculus to the very end," Grand Moff Thistleborn said. "But with Trioculus as Emperor, at least we had influence and shared the rule of the Empire."

Suddenly Emdee-Five, the Imperial droid, knocked on the thick metal door of the spaceship’s large, secluded Mofference room. "Excuse my intrusion," Emdee said, "however, I thought you should all be aware that a Huttian spacecraft has been spied approaching Tatooine, due north of our position. It appears to be the Zorba Express."

"Zorba the Hutt!" Grand Moff Hissa exclaimed, gnashing together his spiked, razor-sharp teeth.

"Zorba’s the wretched beast who captured Trioculus, froze our leader in carbonite, and then hung him up in the Cloud City Museum!" Grand Moff Muzzer declared.

"Curse the day that Kadann vaporized Trioculus with neutron beams," Grand Moff Dunhausen fumed. "If it weren’t for Zorba the Hutt, it never would have happened!" At the rear of the Moffship was a tractor beam projector-perfect for enabling a large spaceship to swallow a smaller one.

And so, at Hissa’s orders, the grand moffs aimed their powerful tractor beam at the Zorba Express, drawing it closer . . . and closer .. .

Meanwhile, Han’s spaceship had just come out of hyperdrive and was decelerating as it approached the desert world of Tatooine. A safe distance away, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Ken, Lando Calrissian, and the droids were witnessing the scene between the Moffship and the Zorba Express play out from inside the Millennium Falcon.

"Looks like our luck has run out," Han said, shaking his head in dismay. "Now we not only have to rescue Princess Leia from Zorba the Hutt, but from the grand moffs as well!"

CHAPTER 7 Trioculus Restored

The grand moffs surrounded the Zorba Express, which was now inside a heavily armored chamber within the Moffship.

"Stormtroopers, break open the boarding hatch!" Hissa shouted from his hover-chair. But the boarding hatch of the Zorba Express popped open before the stormtroopers had to apply force. Facing the stormtroopers and the grand moffs was Tibor the bounty hunter, armed with a laserblaster in each hand. Tibor took aim at every grand moff he could see, while Zorba stood behind him, raising a portable laser cannon.