"Why, boy, I could teach you to lift that entire shuttle," Orloc said.
"Could you teach me to sense the thoughts of people?"
"Sense them?" Orloc said, laughing. "Why, I could teach you to read
their minds just like a computer display screen."
Uldir found that hard to believe. If the Mage could read thoughts so
easily, wouldn't he know what Uldir was thinking right now-that Orloc must
be exaggerating? But the Mage did seem to know a lot. He might know
something worth learning. Some shortcuts, perhaps. After all, Orloc had
outwitted two grown Jedi and a few Jedi trainees with his magic, hadn't he?
"How do you know so much about this place-the passages and trapdoors?"
"Three reasons." The Mage swirled his cape out, bowed, and flashed a
knowing smile.
"First of all, I'm incredibly powerful. Second, I have great skill
with mechanical things. Third, I also located a map of the fortress in a
maintenance bay just after I arrived here. My special powers helped me to
use the plans and the castle's own defenses to dispose of my... enemies."
Uldir frowned at the boast. Now he wanted to see how far the Mage was
willing to go.
"And of course you could teach me to use a lightsaber."
"Of course," the Mage agreed. "And to build your own."
Aha, Uldir thought. Orloc can hardly hold a lightsaber. I doubt that
he could teach me to use one. But before he could speak, Orloc continued.
"Why, my boy, once I find the other object I came here for, I'll teach
you-"
"What other object are you looking for?" Uldir interrupted.
"Why, the Holocron, of course, lad. And once I get to Vader's private
quarters and take the Holocron out of its special vault, I'll be able to
teach you anything-anything at all-about being a Jedi. With that and my own
magic, we'll be invincible. We can conquer any power in the galaxy."
Now Uldir was interested again.
"What's so special about this Holocron thing?" he asked.
"It contains all the recorded lessons of a great Jedi Master." Uldir
wavered. "I don't know. If two living Jedi Masters can't teach me to use
the Force, I'm not sure that a Jedi recording in a box could do it." He
looked again at the clumsy way the Mage held the lightsaber. "And if you
don't have any Jedi powers, that thing probably won't help you much," he
said.
"Why don't you leave the lightsaber with me so I can give it to a real
Jedi, someone who can use it?"
His voice squeaked at the end of his speech, ruining the effect of his
brave words.
Orloc shook his head.
"Doesn't quite fit in with my plans, boy. Either come with me to Exis
Station and learn what I can teach you... or, if you won't join me"-he took
a step toward Uldir and waved the lightsaber menacingly - "why, I'll be
forced to consider you an enemy." The Mage took another step closer. "And
I've found that if my enemies want what I have, it's never wise to let them
live."
Tahiri sighed and looked down the seemingly endless corridor.
"Well, at least it's not stairs anymore," she muttered to herself.
"I sure hope Uldir's all right," Anakin said.
"Me too. I have a feeling he's in some sort of trouble," Tahiri said,
and quickened her pace.
Both she and Anakin had wanted to explore Vader's private chambers
further, but once it was clear that the Mage was not hiding there, they
knew they would have to continue their search elsewhere, and quickly.
"I think we're headed the right way, though," she said. "This corridor
runs the same direction as the one Uldir took. And I think I can feel him
up ahead of us somewhere-though I can't really sense him as well as I can
sense you. I suppose that comes from knowing; you so much better."
She chattered on, covering her worry with a stream of words. "But once
we find Uldir and Artoo, we'll still have to find Orloc, and once we find
him and get the lightsaber back, there's Tionne and Ikrit to locate too."
The passageway grew wider and they could see a bright light not too
far ahead. Anakin glanced at her with one eyebrow raised.
"You forgot to mention what comes after we find Tionne and Ikrit," he
said.
"What's that?" she asked.
"We'll need to get back to the ship."
"Oh no," Tahiri moaned. "More stairs."
They were almost to the end of the corridor when Anakin stopped short
and held up one hand, as if listening. Tahiri stopped talking and listened
too. Voices.
She heard voices. They sounded far away, but she was certain one of
them belonged to Uldir. She mouthed his name silently at Anakin. He nodded.
A loud laugh rang out.
"And Orloc," Anakin whispered. Pressing a finger to her lips, Tahiri
carefully crept forward into the light. Anakin stayed close beside her.
Soon they found themselves on the topmost level of a gigantic, airy room,
three stories high. Keeping their heads down, Anakin and Tahiri crawled
over to the edge of the walkway onto which they had emerged.
Far beneath them, on the bottom level, stood the purple - robed Orloc
with Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber, waving it back and forth at Uldir.
"We'll have to help him," Anakin whispered.
Tahiri nodded. "Is there a turbolift?" she whispered back. She looked
around the high metal catwalk and saw to her dismay that the only way to
the bottom level was down a dozen flights of metal mesh steps. A network of
plasteel poles supported the slender stairway.
"I'm not sure we can make it down there in time," Anakin said, looking
at the stairs.
"Oh, yes we can," Tahiri said. "We're a team, remember? I have an
idea, but there's no time to explain. You make a distraction and then
follow my lead. I just hope Orloc doesn't have a blaster."
"I don't think he does," Anakin said. "If he did, he would have had it
out and aimed at us when he stole the lightsaber."
"I sure hope you're right," Tahiri said. She scrambled quietly to the
head of the staircase and looked down. The very sight of the steps made her
feel queasy, but they had to save Uldir. She nodded back toward Anakin, and
right on cue he stood up and began yelling.
"Hey, Orloc!" he shouted. "Up here! If you hurt Uldir, you'll be
making a big mistake, you know."
It worked. The thin Mage with the long dark hair turned and looked up
to where Anakin. was standing. This was the chance Tahiri had been waiting
for. She pulled herself up onto the stair railing on the side away from the
Mage and swung herself over it. Holding on to the rail with both hands, she
wrapped her aching legs around one of the tall poles that supported a
corner of the staircase. Then, using her teeth, she yanked the sleeve of
her flightsuit up over one hand to protect it and let go of the railing
with the other.
Tahiri whizzed down the smooth pole, controlling her speed by
tightening or loosening her grip. Anakin kept Orloc's attention, and in
seconds Tahiri had reached the floor. Her legs felt so weak, they almost
refused to hold her up when she touched down, but she hung on to the pole
with both hands to steady herself. Tahiri peeked around the edge of the
stairway toward the Mage. She let her eyes fall half closed and tried to
visualize pulling the lightsaber from his hand. She had often managed to
lift pebbles and leaves and even heavy objects during training, but not
usually while someone was holding them-or while someone was moving the
objects around, for that matter.
This time she couldn't manage it. Orloc must have felt the tug at his
weapon, because he gave a surprised shout and grasped the hilt with both
hands. Tahiri ducked back behind the stairway.
"Time for the backup plan," she muttered to herself. Oh, how she
wished that Tionne and Ikrit were with them. Well, until they arrived it
was up to her and Anakin to rescue Uldir and the lightsaber. She decided to
rely on the things she knew she could do, so she resorted to one of her
strongest weapons: talking.
"Mage Orloc, put down your weapon," she said, stepping out into plain
view. She had to keep the Mage busy long enough for Uldir to get out of his
reach. "None of us means you any harm. We only want the lightsaber you
took, because it's very special to us."
The Mage turned his tawny eyes toward Tahiri, and Uldir began backing
carefully away from him. Encouraged, Tahiri continued talking.
"And even if you have some kind of magic, that lightsaber won't be
worth much to you without Jedi powers, without the Force to guide you."
Tahiri heard a soft thump as Anakin slid down one of the stair supports and
landed behind her.
"Why, that's a nice story, little girl," Orloc said with a harsh
laugh. "But I have special plans - and they include a lightsaber. I see no
reason to give this one up when I have it right here in my hand." He
lowered the blade so that it pointed directly at Tahiri and swung it back
and forth a few times. He could not control it very well. It bobbed and
wobbled in the air.
Uldir backed farther away. Good, Tahiri thought, Uldir is almost safe.
But then she realized that she was in trouble now, even if Orloc only meant
to frighten her. He was so unskilled with the lightsaber that she might
truly be in danger. Suddenly a small crate drifted through the air and
bumped Orloc's arm. Startled, the Mage slashed with his lightsaber blade
and then gaped in surprise when the little carton dropped to the floor in
two smoking pieces. He fell back a few paces and stared at it. Then another
carton drifted toward him. Tahiri got the idea. Anakin must be using the
Force to lift simple objects.
The second crate nudged the Mage a bit harder. Tahiri heard a low
warble in back of her and realized that Artoo-Detoo had found his way into
the hangar bay.
"We don't want to hurt you, Mage Orloc," she said, comforted to know
that Anakin and Artoo were just behind her, hidden by the stairway. Orloc
slashed at the second box.
"Why, fortunately, I'm not limited by such small thoughts. I'm going
to leave here with this lightsaber, and I'm ready to hurt you to do it."
Suddenly Tahiri heard a whoosh like the sound of a lightsaber being
ignited.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," the Jedi teacher Tionne's voice
said from behind Orloc. The Mage stepped to one side and turned. Past him,
Tahiri saw the silvery-haired instructor climb up through what must have
been a trapdoor that led up from beneath the hangar bay.
"I would rather not fight you," Tionne said. "But I will not allow you
to hurt anyone in this room."
"Anakin," Tahiri whispered, "can Artoo help us?"
"Hah," Orloc said, pushing his purple cloak back from his shoulders.
"What makes you think you can stop me?"
Ikrit clambered up out of the hole behind Tionne and crouched,
watching the scene.
"The Force is with me," Tionne said. She swept a hand around to
indicate Ikrit and the children. "The Force is with all of us."
"Well, Force or no Force, you don't look like much of a fighter,"
Orloc said. "I'll take my chances." He raised his glowing blade high in the
air, ready to slice down on Tionne.
"Artoo, give me a high-frequency blast at full power," Anakin
whispered. Instantly a siren wail blared out of the little droid; the
painfully loud alarm filled the entire hangar bay. The moment Orloc turned
to look for the source of the sound, his light-saber jumped from his grasp,
flickered out, and floated away from him, high in the air over his head.
Before anyone realized what had happened, smoke spouted up from the place
where Orloc stood, and when it cleared the Mage was gone.
"I wonder how he does that," Anakin said as the reunited companions
gathered in the center of the hangar bay.
"I don't know, but at least he's gone," Tahiri said. She noticed that
Ikrit-with Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber in his furry paw-was carefully
inspecting one of the ancient spaceships housed in the hangar bay.
"I'm not so sure," Uldir said. "By the way, thanks for coming to my
rescue-all of you. You too, furball," he added, glancing at Ikrit.
"What do you mean you're not sure, Uldir?" Tionne asked. "I mean I
don't think he has gone yet," Uldir said. "He was looking for something
called a holocr... Holocron. Yeah, that's it."
"There's a Holocron?" Tionne breathed. "Here? In Bast Castle? Where?"
"I think he said it was in some sort of room that Darth Vader used...
his private quarters maybe." Anakin and Tahiri looked at each other.
"Now that's interesting," Anakin said. Tahiri grinned at Tionne. "If
you really want to find that Holocron, I think Anakin and I can lead you to
Vader's private quarters."
The glossy black walls and ceiling and floor of Darth Vader's personal
chambers gleamed softly in the dim light. Uldir was impressed. It had been
well over a decade since Darth Vader's death, and yet this room still felt
like it belonged to a very powerful man. When Vader turned to the dark
side, he had pledged himself to the Emperor's service-but look at all he
had gotten in return! Not a bad trade, Uldir thought. Darth Vader's name
had been known throughout the galaxy and he had enjoyed wealth and power
for many years. Darth Vader had chosen to be a powerful lord, not just an
average Jedi.
And best of all, Uldir mused, Vader had turned back to the light side
at the end before he died, so that his family now remembered him with
honor--and had even named a grandchild.after him. Anakin's voice broke into
Uldir's thoughts.
"Okay, I've got it." The teenager turned and saw that Anakin was
standing by a stone panel at the head of Darth Vader's sleeping cylinder.
The slab looked just like all the other rock that lined the walls. When
Anakin pushed on it, though, it slid silently to one side, revealing a
small storage safe that opened at Anakin's voice command.
"Is it there?" Uldir asked.
He thought of how exciting it would be to learn Jedi lessons about
real power.
"Sure looks like it," Tahiri said.
Artoo-Detoo burbled enthusiastically. Ikrit climbed onto ArtooDetoo 's
domed head as A
nakin withdrew the object from the safe.
"That's the Holocron all right," Tionne said. "It must be."
"Yes, an old one," Ikrit confirmed.
Anakin placed the glossy cube-shaped object into Tionne's hands, and
Uldir moved closer. Her cheeks flushed and pink, the Jedi instructor looked
at them with shining eyes.
"This is a great treasure that belongs to all Jedi," she said. "It
contains the teaching of a Jedi Master. Most Holocrons hold teachings of
some sort, and some also contain songs, stories, legends.... This is a
great historical find. We'll take it to Master Skywalker at once." Tionne
began leading them all toward the room's main entrance.
"We can't let such an important treasure fall into the wrong hands or
be used for one person's gain or glory."
"Does that mean we're leaving right now?" Anakin said.
"Uh-oh," groaned Tahiri. "More stairs."
Tionne smiled gratefully at Uldir. "Thank you very much for telling us
the Holocron was here. I'm so excited I can hardly wait to see what it
holds."
"Neither can I," said Uldir. "But how do we know it even works?"
The instructor's pearly eyes blinked with surprise.
"I, well... I suppose we don't. I think it would be all right to test
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