S’ybll sneered at him as he changed course. He saw her try to redirect a large stone through the air in his direction, and he also saw a column that was falling toward her.
The stones crashed into the ground. The noise was followed by an almost total silence.
Luke stepped out from the rubble. A moment later, he saw Han and Chewbacca arrive at the edge of the ruins.
“Luke!” Han shouted. “Chewie, the droids, and I have been been blasted worried! What happened here, kid?”
“I made someone very angry, Han.” Luke gestured at one of the toppled columns. A pale, bony arm jutted out from underneath it. “A mind witch,” Luke continued. “She meant to kill me and renew herself by draining you two of your mental energies. I gambled that if she got enraged enough, the effort would exhaust her own energies instead. And without anything to sustain her, she collapsed as she should have ages ago.”
Han glanced at Chewbacca and said, “I’ve heard of mind witches. Always thought they were just a crazy myth.”
Luke said, “I guess S’ybll was the last of her kind.”
“Since she intended to leave us like she wound up herself, I sure hope so! Time we left this paradise, kid.”
They left the ruins and made their way back through the jungle to the Millennium Falcon. Although the Falcon’s navicomputer remained temperamental, they managed to get back to Hoth and rejoin their allies at Echo Base.
Three years had passed since the destruction of the Death Star at Yavin 4, but the days were numbered for the Rebellion’s new secret headquarters. Not long after the Falcon’s return to the ice planet, an Imperial probe droid arrived on Hoth and subsequently transmitted an image of the Rebel base’s large power generator back to the Imperial fleet.
And then the Empire struck back.
As Luke reflected on his encounter with the mind witch, he recalled that it hadn’t been the first time he’d confronted an apparition of Darth Vader. Not long after he’d destroyed the Death Star, he’d been recovering from an ill-fated meditation exercise when he’d dreamed of a duel with Vader. Ben Kenobi had appeared in the dream too, and when Luke awakened, it was with the certainty that Vader had survived the Battle of Yavin. Later, after the Battle of Hoth, he had faced yet another phantom, in a cave while he’d trained with the Jedi Master Yoda on the swamp planet Dagobah.
Luke had also had very real confrontations with Darth Vader on Monastery and Circarpous V—but all those experiences paled compared with his duel with Vader at Bespin, in Cloud City’s reactor shaft.…
Darth Vader’s lightsaber swept through Luke’s wrist.
Luke screamed. His hand arced away from the suddenly cauterized stub at the end of his right arm, carrying his lightsaber with it. The lightsaber automatically deactivated, and the weapon fell with the severed hand, like inconsequential refuse, into the incredibly deep reactor shaft.
Luke was balanced on a metal beam that jutted out from a long gantry in the shaft. Vader stood looming at the gantry’s outer edge, just above Luke’s position. The reactor’s high winds whipped hard at both men. Luke clutched his wounded arm to his chest and slumped down on the beam.
“There is no escape,” Vader said as Luke struggled to move away from him, crawling backward on the beam. “Don’t make me destroy you, Luke.”
But Luke kept crawling. He felt dizzy and sick. His only goal was to put distance between himself and Vader.
The Sith Lord switched off his lightsaber. “You do not yet realize your importance,” he continued. “You have only begun to discover your power. Join me and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.”
Luke reached the end of the beam and wrapped his arms around a sensor array. Below him, there was a ring of metal, and beyond that, nothing but the yawning shaft. He turned to face Vader. “I’ll never join you!”
“If only you knew the power of the dark side,” Vader said. He reached out to clutch the air with his black-gloved fist. “Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.”
“He told me enough!” Luke lowered his feet to the metal ring. Wincing, he added, “He told me you killed him.”
“No,” Vader said, his fist still clenched. “I am your father.”
Luke’s eyes opened wide. My father? But Ben told me…“No,” Luke whimpered. “No. That’s not true! That’s impossible!”
“Search your feelings,” Vader said. “You know it to be true.”
“No!” Luke shouted. “No!”
The wind picked up, and Vader’s black cape rippled at his back. “Luke—you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny.” He opened his left hand and held it out to Luke. “Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son.”
His voice is so hypnotic, Luke thought, and he felt part of him falling under Vader’s spell. But only part. He looked into the shaft that seemed to stretch down to forever.
“Come with me,” Vader urged. “It is the only way.”
Luke stared up at Vader and felt a certain calmness as he thought, No. It’s not the only way.
He released his arms from the sensor array and fell, down, down into the reactor shaft. There was nothing to break his fall. As he tumbled through the air, he looked up, half expecting to see Vader leaping down after him. But all he saw of Vader was a rapidly receding black speck at the edge of the already distant gantry.
Sitting in front of a computer console in his quarters on the New Hope, Luke extended the fingers of his right hand and flexed them. Few people would ever guess that the hand was a cybernetic prosthetic. The surgeon droid on the Rebel medical frigate had done a superb job of replicating his hand, right down to the fingerprints. And thanks to Ben Kenobi, who’d written a book that Luke discovered in Ben’s home on Tatooine, Luke had been able to construct a new lightsaber. Following Ben’s written instructions, Luke had modified his weapon with flasback waterseals so it wouldn’t short-circuit if it made contact with water, as his first lightsaber had done when he was on Mimban.
As Luke recalled the encounter with Vader on Cloud City, he didn’t feel angry about his father’s actions. Darth Vader had been the Emperor’s servant, and the dark side had consumed nearly every trace of goodness in him. But in the end, on the second Death Star, at the Battle of Endor, the goodness that remained in Luke’s father won out over the dark side. Anakin Skywalker destroyed the Sith, and he died a Jedi.
Luke wished Leia could see it that way too.
Granted, he could understand her bitterness. Not only had Vader committed scores of atrocities, but some of his nefarious schemes had survived the death of Anakin Skywalker. Luke thought of Shira Brie, the Force-sensitive Imperial agent who had infiltrated the Rebel Alliance. Although the Rebels had been led to believe that Shira had been killed during a mission, Vader had had her shattered body rebuilt and transformed her into his protégée. Recently, Shira had reemerged as Lumiya, the self-proclaimed Dark Lady of the Sith. Her present whereabouts were unknown.
Luke returned his attention to the computer console. He was using the computer to search the holonet for any and all data about the Jedi Order. Unfortunately, most of the information he found was merely old Imperial propaganda. The Empire’s leaders still claimed that the Jedi Knights who had served the Republic during the Clone Wars had been secretly plotting to overthrow the Republic and conquer the galaxy. Luke knew that the data was rubbish, and that it was the Emperor who had manipulated events to bring down the Jedi Order and fulfill his own ambitions.
Luke didn’t expect to find any data about Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master Yoda, or Anakin Skywalker. He’d searched the HoloNet before and had only come up empty. However, this time he found something.…
Anakin Skywalker—Winner. Time: 15.42:655.
Luke could hardly believe his eyes. His father’s name and the words beside it were represented in Aurebesh lettering, suspended in the air above the computer console’s holocomm.
He’d found the data in an article that had recently been posted by a journalist and former Podracer pilot named Clegg Holdfast. Although Podracing remained illegal throughout the galaxy, the destruction of the second Death Star had apparently emboldened Holdfast to write about the outlawed sport.
Holdfast’s article was a history of the Boonta Eve Classic, a once-famous Podrace competition that had been held annually at the Mos Espa Arena on Tatooine for many years. The article provided a list of Boonta winners and other participants. According to the data, Anakin Skywalker’s victory had occurred thirty-six years earlier.
Luke studied the article with amazement. After the conflicting accounts he’d heard from his uncle and aunt as well as Ben Kenobi, he’d begun to wonder whether his father had ever been on Tatooine at all. Now it appeared he had proof.
He navigated through the article and found a holographic image and schematics of Anakin Skywalker’s Podracer, an open-cockpit repulsorlift chariot reined to two long engines. Unfortunately, Holdfast had not provided any images of Anakin. Examining the schematics for Anakin’s chariot, Luke thought, That can’t be right. A person couldn’t fit in that contraption.
And then it hit him. Although the chariot was too small for an adult human, it could fit a child. He recalled what Ben’s spirit had told him on Dagobah, just before Luke left to confront Darth Vader at Endor. Ben had said that Anakin was already a great pilot when they’d first met. Luke had assumed he’d meant an adult starpilot.
Could Ben have meant…my father was a Podracer pilot?
From personal experience, Luke knew that Podracing was an incredibly dangerous sport. Shortly after the destruction of the first Death Star, circumstances had led him to climb into the cramped cockpit of a Podracer—it had previously belonged to a Dug—and compete in a Podrace on the planet Muunilinst. Even with Jedi reflexes and the Force as his ally, it had taken great effort for Luke to survive that day. Although he could imagine young Anakin fitting into a Podracer’s cockpit, he couldn’t think of any good reason why a child would have been allowed behind the controls.
Luke scanned through the data in Holdfast’s article. According to Holdfast, the Mos Espa Arena had become a track for swoop bike races, and two veteran pilots of the Boonta were currently employed as mechanics.
Luke decided right then that he was overdue for a vacation.
“Master Luke!” C-3PO said as he entered the hangar in the New Hope. “I’ve been looking for you all over the ship.”
“Looks like you found me.”
Luke was standing beside a ladder that extended up to the cockpit of his X-wing starfighter. While a team of technicians lowered R2-D2 into the socket behind the X-wing’s cockpit, C-3PO said, “Sir, it appears you are…going somewhere?”
“Very perceptive, Threepio.”
Planted in his socket, R2-D2 rotated his domed head and emitted a digital chirp.
“What?” C-3PO said with surprise. “You’re going to Tatooine?”
“That’s right,” Luke said. “There’s something I need to investigate there.”
“But, sir, I just received word from Princess Leia. She has requested your presence on Aridus.”
“Why?”
“A meeting with the Chubbits. There are several Chubbits who remember you well from your previous visit. The princess thinks your presence might—”
“Tell her I’m unavailable,” Luke said, pulling on his helmet.
“But, sir, I had the distinct impression that the princess hoped you would—”
“Just tell her, Threepio,” Luke said as he climbed up to the cockpit. “If anything really urgent comes up, she can contact me on the emergency frequency.”
“Emergency frequency?” C-3PO said. “Oh, dear. I can’t imagine what her response will be.” As Luke was lowering himself behind the X-wing’s controls, C-3PO added, “Wait!”
“What is it now?”
“Sir, may I ask the nature of your mission? In case the princess inquires?”
Because Leia had expressed no interest in learning more about the life of Anakin Skywalker, Luke knew that she would probably get upset or angry if she learned why he was going to Tatooine. “It’s personal,” he said. “But don’t worry. I shouldn’t be gone more than a couple of days.” He lowered the cockpit canopy.
“Don’t worry?” C-3PO shook his head. “Oh, dear, oh, dear.” He looked at R2-D2, whose domed head stuck up behind the cockpit. “Artoo-Detoo, you know how nervous I get when anyone tells me that. Promise me you’ll look after Master Luke.”
The astromech replied with a sputtering beep.
“What? Me? An old nanny droid?” As the X-wing lifted off and began moving out of the hangar, C-3PO replied with obvious outrage, “Well, you…you can go jump in a Sarlacc. See if I care!”
I’m never coming back to this planet again.
Luke shook his head as he recalled the words he’d said to Ben Kenobi more than four years earlier, shortly before they’d blasted out of Mos Eisley Spaceport on the Millennium Falcon. Luke had returned several times to Tatooine since that day, and every time, he reminded himself, Never say never.
R2-D2 beeped from his socket. Luke glanced at the translation readout and replied, “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll keep the controls on manual.” Luke grinned. Sometimes he got the impression that the astromech enjoyed flying the X-wing as much as he did.
He landed his X-wing on the flat roof of the Mos Espa Grand Arena complex, a massive structure located several kilometers from Mos Espa Spaceport, at the junction of the Xelric Draw and the Northern Dune Sea. The complex consisted of several domed buildings and grandstands that overlooked a wide track. The grandstands had been built to accommodate more than 100,000 spectators, but now all the seats were empty.
“Stay with the ship, Artoo,” Luke said as he climbed out of the cockpit, taking his dark robe with him. “I’m going to look around.”
The astromech droid rattled in his socket behind the cockpit and beeped in protest.
“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Luke said as he pulled on his robe and adjusted it to conceal the lightsaber at his belt. “I’m telling you to stay here. If any vandals come poking around the ship, you have my permission to zap ’em. All right?”
R2-D2 stopped rattling and responded with another series of beeps. To Luke’s ears, it sounded as if the droid was actually happy about the possibility of using his retractable power-charge arm against thieves.
Luke walked alongside the roof’s railed edge as he headed for a large domed structure that jutted up above roof level. He gazed out over the empty grandstands and studied the arena’s wide, dilapidated speedway. To his right, the track curved off and vanished amid rocky pinnacles, and to his left, it curved back toward the immense plain known as Hutt Flats.
He heard a noise across the distance, the distinctive whine of swoop bikes, which were essentially long, powerful engines with seats on their backs. A moment later, he saw two swoop bikes zoom in from the Flats, carrying their riders past the grandstands before they sped under the broad expanse of an elevated footbridge that served as the finish line.
As the swoops came to a stop, Luke heard a woman’s voice nearby. “Looking for something, mister?”
Luke turned to see a tall, slender woman standing outside a doorway to the domed building. She wore a strangely elegant jacket and dress, and from the way she held one hand behind her back, Luke assumed she was holding a weapon. “Hello,” he said. “Yes, I’m hoping to find Ody Mandrell and Teemto Pagalies.”
The woman looked at Luke suspiciously. “Who are you, and what do you want with them?”
Because Luke was an enemy of the Empire and cautious, he wasn’t about to reveal his real name. “My name is Lars,” he said. “A journalist named Clegg Holdfast wrote about this place, and I just wanted to talk with some of the old Podracer pilots.”
“Really?” the woman said. Looking past Luke, she asked, “Is that your droid and starfighter parked on my roof over th
ere?”
Luke glanced over his shoulder and saw R2-D2 beside the X-wing. Then he looked back at the woman, who had moved her body slightly so he now saw the grip of a compact blaster pistol in her hand. He couldn’t blame her for being suspicious of strangers, but he also wanted to avoid a violent confrontation. He said, “May I ask your name?”
“Ulda,” she said. “And you’re trespassing on my property.”
“You own all this?”
“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Ulda said as she shifted her arm to level her pistol at Luke.
“Well, Ulda,” Luke said as raised his hands and looked straight into the woman’s eyes, “I don’t see a starfighter or a droid on the roof.”
Ulda looked past Luke again, then repeated, “I don’t see a starfighter or a droid on the roof.”
“I’m not going to harm you.”
“I’m not going to harm you,” the woman repeated as she placed the pistol into a jacket pocket.
“You can direct me to Ody Mandrell and Teemto Pagalies.”
“Yes, I can direct you to them,” Ulda said pleasantly. She was completely unaware that Luke was using the Force to gently manipulate her mind. She walked to the rail beside Luke and pointed down to the two swoop bikes that rested beyond the finish line. “There they are.”
“Do we remember Anakin Skywalker?” Teemto Pagalies said. Standing beside his swoop bike on the speedway in the shadow of the arena’s grandstand, he glanced at Ody Mandrell. “Ha! How could we forget him?”
Ody rolled his eyes as he aimed a thumb at Teemto and said to Luke, “I remember more than this guy about the race that Skywalker won.”
Ody Mandrell, who stood slightly shorter than Luke, was an Er’Kit, a species characterized by pale gray skin and downward-pointed ears. Teemto was a Veknoid who was shorter than Ody and had a head that was mostly jaw. Teemto had also lost an eye, an arm, and both ears, and bore numerous scars—all mementos of his Podracing days.
Lives & Adventures Page 24