Star Wars Adventures 002 - The Cavern of Screaming Skulls Read online

  Table of Contents

  COPYRIGHT

  INTRODUCTION

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The planet Fondor was famous throughout the galaxy for its orbital starship yards, where large vessels were constructed and repaired beyond the restraint of gravity. Fondor had several moons, including Nallastia. Both Fondor and Nallastia were inhabited by humans, but the environmental differences between them were extreme. Fondor’s entire surface had been completely industrialized ages ago. It was covered by factories, cooling towers, and corporate offices. Nallastia, in contrast, was a lush world of terra formed jungles. The Nallastian people regarded nature with great respect.

  While searching for a Nallastian interstellar freighter that had failed to return from a journey to the planet Esseles, a Fondor Space Patrol ship discovered a mammoth derelict drifting in space. The patrol ship’s crew believed the derelict was the 4,000-year-old Sun Runner, a legendary starship that vanished without a trace shortly after it delivered the first human colonists to Nallastia. The patrol ship managed to send the derelict’s description and coordinates to Space Patrol headquarters, but then the patrol ship also went missing.

  The Jedi Council assigned the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, to investigate the lost ships alongside Bultar Swan, a Jedi Knight whose jurisdiction included the Fondor system. According to Bultar, there was evidence that the Nallastian freighter may have located the derelict before the Fondor Space Patrol ship. The Nallastians claimed ownership of the Sun Runner, but Fondor insisted that it controlled all salvage rights. Unwilling to compromise, the two worlds braced themselves to fight for the derelict.

  While the Jedi attempted to negotiate a temporary truce between the leaders of Fondor and Nallastia, the derelict’s engine activated and it escaped into space, heading straight for Fondor. Using a pair of borrowed starfighters, Obi-Wan and Anakin managed to catch up with the elusive ship. Once on board, they learned it contained a concealed hangar that carried the missing freighter and patrol ship. They also learned the so-called derelict was really a gigantic transport that had been disguised to look like the Sun Runner. Unknown to the Jedi, the transport had been secretly constructed by Groodo the Hutt, an Esseles-based manufacturer of starships and hyperdrives who schemed to destroy Fondor’s orbital yards so that he might gain more business.

  Obi-Wan and Anakin freed the captive ships and destroyed the droid-piloted transport before it could reach Fondor, but they became separated after the transport exploded. Obi-Wan had to bring his fuel-depleted starfighter to Fondor before he could attempt to track down Anakin, who had ejected from his disabled fighter and landed in a jungle forest on Nallastia.

  Still on Nallastia, under a starlit sky, Anakin had made a small shelter and was about to go to sleep—when a large, yellow-eyed creature leaped at him from the shadows…

  The creature was midair when suddenly, from Anakin Skywalker’s point of view, it appeared to slow down, as if the beast were pushing itself through water instead of air. Anakin knew there was nothing wrong with the air or the creature’s movements. It was his own speed that had greatly increased, causing everything around him to appear sluggish. Anakin’s eyes swiftly took in the creature that now seemed to hover before him, illuminated by the light of the nearby campfire. The creature was a scale-covered reptile with six muscular legs and a long, lean body. Its jaws were open, and it displayed three rows of very sharp teeth.

  Anakin moved incredibly fast. He grabbed the reptile’s forelegs and then fell on his back as he brought his own legs up, planting his feet against his attacker’s stomach. Anakin released his grip on the reptile and kicked out, letting the reptile sail through the air. The reptile’s head crashed against a thick tree trunk, then its entire body flopped to the ground with an ugly thud.

  “Let that be a lesson to you,” Anakin said as the reptile scurried off away from the camp and into the darkness. When the creature was out of sight, Anakin returned to his crude shelter of broad leaves and retrieved his lightsaber and boots. Then he trotted past the campfire and made his way back to the jet-powered seat that he had used to eject from his CloakShape starfighter. He moved quietly through the dense jungle growth, listening for the sound of more creatures. He heard nothing.

  The ejected seat rested at a slight angle on a grassy hill. Anakin crouched down to inspect a small compartment in the seat’s base. The compartment housed a built-in homing beacon, which emitted a signal from its internal transponder. Anakin hoped this would allow Obi-Wan to locate him on Nallastia. The only reason Anakin had left his camp was to make sure the homing beacon was still operating. It was.

  Anakin looked up at the star-filled sky. Shortly after his arrival on Nallastia, he had memorized the positions of several stars in relation to the surrounding treetops and now he noted that the stars’ positions had shifted only slightly. He knew the marginal shift indicated a slow rotation for the jungle moon, but he had no idea how long night would last. Anakin was exhausted but, after his encounter with the reptile, he was reluctant to go to sleep.

  Anakin let his gaze travel across the starscape until his eyes locked on a small point of light that he knew was actually the binary stars Tatoo I and Tatoo II, the twin suns of his home planet, Tatooine. There, as a boy, he would climb to the roof of his hovel at night, lie back, and imagine he was as far away from Tatooine as possible. Now here he was in the Fondor system, 40,000 light-years away from the hovel’s roof, and he was imagining the day he would return to Tatooine and free his mother.

  He glanced at the homing beacon again and wondered what was keeping Obi-Wan.

  As Obi-Wan Kenobi piloted his fuel-depleted Z-95 Headhunter toward the starship yards of Fondor, he saw three other vessels heading in the same direction. At first glance, the three vessels appeared to be traveling in close formation, but Obi-Wan recognized the ships and realized they were actually connected by their docking ports. Of the three linked vessels, the central was the Republic cruiser Unitive, which had delivered Obi-Wan and Anakin to the Fondor system. The two other ships were a Fondor-based salvage hauler and a Nallastian rescue runner. Only the Unitive’s engines were leaving an emissions trail. Obi-Wan had not seen the three ships since they had been disabled by a power surge and he and Anakin had left to pursue the droid-controlled transport.

  The three linked vessels arrived at an orbital maintenance station, where they separated at their docking ports. As the station’s tractor beams locked onto each ship and guided them safely to pressurized hangars, Obi-Wan followed the Unitive and landed on a platform in the same hangar. As he climbed out of the Headhunter’s cockpit, he saw Bultar Swan stepping down the Unitive’s landing ramp. Bultar was followed by Senator Rodd of Fondor, Margravine Quenelle of Nallastia, and their respective diplomatic aides. Obi-Wan removed his flight helmet and loosened the collar of his g-suit.

  “Are you all right?” Bultar Swan asked.

  “Yes,” Obi-Wan said. “How’s the Unitive?”

  “Engines and sensors are up and running, but the deflector-shield generator remains damaged. Where’s Anakin?”

  Before Obi-Wan could answer, Margravine Quenelle exclaimed, “The Sun Runner! Did you lose it?”

  “The ship was not the Sun Runner,” Obi-Wan replied. “It was a replica, a transport with the Sun R
unner’s markings. We don’t know who built it, but it appeared to be under the control of droids. It also had a hologram-concealed hangar that was equipped with a tractor beam, which the droids used to capture the Nallastian freighter and the Fondor Space Patrol ship. I regret to admit that they captured me, too, but thanks to Anakin, we all escaped.”

  “Both the freighter and the patrol ship have been recovered,” Bultar Swan informed Obi-Wan. “After we got the Unitive’s sensor array working, we received a transmission from Space Patrol notifying us that the ships had docked at this station. That’s why we came here.”

  Senator Rodd scowled at Obi-Wan and said, “You didn’t exactly answer the Margravine’s question. Where is the ship with the Sun Runner’s markings?”

  “It was on a collision course for Fondor. We were left with no choice but to destroy the entire ship, droids and all.”

  “What?” Senator Rodd gasped. “How?”

  “We set a thermal detonator to blow up the transport’s hypermatter reactor.”

  The Margravine asked, “You’re certain the transport was not genuine, that the droids had not been installed within the original Sun Runner?”

  Obi-Wan nodded. “Quite positive. Its superstructure was made from new materials. The outer hull must have been deliberately distressed to appear ancient.” Turning to Bultar, he said, “Anakin and I were separated after the transport exploded. I saw a second, smaller explosion over Nallastia and I suspect Anakin may have been forced to land there. Unfortunately, the transport’s debris and radiation were causing interference on all comm frequencies, preventing me from getting a lock on Anakin’s homing beacon. I wanted to continue my search on Nallastia, but my Headhunter was so low on fuel, it would have been a one-way trip.”

  “Are you certain your apprentice landed on Nallastia, and that he is still alive?” Margravine Quenelle asked.

  “If he had perished, I would have sensed it,” Obi-Wan replied. “Will you grant us permission to search for him on your planet?”

  “Of course,” replied the Margravine.

  Obi-Wan turned to Bultar and asked, “How long before the Unitive’s deflector-shield generator is repaired?”

  “The engineers say at least three hours.”

  The Margravine said, “May I suggest we take a shuttle that I keep docked at this station?”

  “That is most generous,” Obi-Wan said. “Thank you.”

  As Margravine Quenelle turned to one of her aides to arrange for the preparation of her shuttle, Senator Rodd commented, “I must say, she seems to be taking the loss of the Sun Runner rather well.”

  “As I said, the transport was not the Sun Runner,” Obi-Wan corrected.

  An unfriendly smile crossed Rodd’s face. “I’m not as trusting as the Margravine is. It would not surprise me to learn that you blew up the real Sun Runner so neither Fondor nor Nallastia could claim it, effectively resolving our dispute.”

  “I would never deliberately damage a historic artifact unless lives were at stake,” Obi-Wan answered. “And lives were at stake, but the fact remains that the transport was recently constructed. The tractor-beam projector was the latest model by Phylon Transport, and the hologram projector was a modified Plescinia. I saw at least three models of droids wander in and out of the hangar. They were SoroSuub 501-Z security units, and, if my memory serves, each was carrying a brand new Merr-Sonn B-20 blaster rifle with a pressure-wiped stock. That transport definitely wasn’t drifting through the Unknown Regions for four millennia. More likely, it was constructed within the past four years.”

  “That’s quite a claim,” Senator Rodd said sarcastically. “I don’t suppose you brought back any physical evidence to back it up?”

  “No,” Obi-Wan said. “By the time Anakin liberated my starfighter from the hangar’s tractor beam, we had less than eleven minutes to destroy the transport before it reached Fondor. If you doubt my description of the hangar, I suggest you consult the crew of your recovered patrol ship and ask them what they saw.”

  Senator Rodd fumed. “For all I know, you may have employed Jedi mind tricks to have the patrol ship’s crew tell me only what you want me to believe, leaving them even less reliable than the memory-wiped droids you say were on board. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have business elsewhere.”

  As Rodd turned on his heel and headed out of the hangar, Bultar Swan leaned close to Obi-Wan and whispered, “You did not tell Senator Rodd that the transport’s droids were memory-wiped.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Obi-Wan acknowledged. Thinking back to the words he had used to describe the droids, he said, “The senator may have misquoted me, but I sensed he was hiding something.”

  “Something like the truth,” Bultar said. “I sensed it, too.”

  Just then, the Unitive’s captain walked across the landing pad and handed a satchel to Obi-Wan. “Here are your own clothes,” Captain Pietrangelo said. “In case you want to get out of that constricting g-suit.”

  Obi-Wan said, “Thank you. Bultar informed me the Unitive’s sensor array is operational?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then please send an encrypted message to the Jedi Council. Tell them Bultar and I are going to Nallastia to search for Anakin, and that we request backup.”

  The captain nodded and walked back to the Unitive. Bultar turned to Obi-Wan and asked, “You really think we’ll need backup?”

  “It’s not what I think, but what I feel,” Obi-Wan replied.

  Before Bultar could press Obi-Wan for details, Margravine Quenelle returned to them and said, “The shuttle is ready for launch. We can leave at once.”

  After leaving the hangar, Senator Rodd went to one of the station’s comm centers, where he entered a private address code on the planet Esseles into a HoloNet transceiver. After entering the code, Rodd faced a concave hologram projection pod and waited. Several seconds later, the holographic image of a Hutt appeared over the projection pod. The Hutt’s mouth was moving up and down; Rodd assumed the Hutt was offering a salutation, but he could not hear it. Rodd adjusted the audio volume, heard a slurping sound, and realized the Hutt had not been talking at all. He had been chewing.

  Rodd said in Basic, “Groodo, we need to talk.”

  The Hutt burped and licked his lips. “I’m Boonda. You want to talk with my father?”

  “Your father is Groodo?”

  “Yup.” Boonda popped more food into his mouth.

  “Then yes, I want to talk with your father.”

  “Hang on,” Boonda said, then his hologram vanished, and Rodd heard Boonda call out, “DAAAAAAAAAD!”

  A moment later, Rodd was again looking at the holographic image of a Hutt. Rodd said, “Groodo, something went wrong with—”

  The Hutt interrupted, “No, not Groodo. It’s still me. Boonda. My father’s not here right now. He should be back by dinnertime, in a couple of hours.”

  “Tell Groodo I’ll contact him then,” Rodd said. He broke the connection and the hologram vanished.

  Hutts, Rodd thought with disgust. They all look alike to me.

  Still awake, Anakin had just thrown another dead branch onto his campfire when he heard rustling of leaves in a nearby tree. Suspecting that the six-legged reptile was preparing for another attack, Anakin drew his lightsaber and activated its deadly blue blade.

  “A Jedi!” called a voice from the darkness. “Thank the maker!”

  As Anakin maintained his grip on his lightsaber, he watched as a dark-haired boy pushed his way through the leaves that dangled from the lower branches of a tall tree. The boy looked about eleven years old and was dressed in dark green fatigues with many pockets. He held up his hands to show he was not holding any weapons.

  “Sorry,” the boy said. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. I saw your fire through the forest. I didn’t know you were a Jedi until you drew your lightsaber.”

  Anakin deactivated his weapon. “I’m Anakin Skywalker. Are you a native of Nallastia?”

  “No, no,” the bo
y replied in a rush. “I’m from Corulag. My name’s Klay Firewell. I came here on a zoological expedition with my parents, Tattyra and Hondu Firewell. They were ambushed by Nallastian warriors. There must have been twenty of them!”

  “Slow down,” Anakin urged. “Where and when did this happen?”

  “Less than two kilometers from here, maybe an hour ago. I’d gone to gather berries near our landing site. There was shouting, and…” Klay took a deep breath. “I saw the warriors tie up my parents and carry them onto our ship. Five or six warriors took off with the ship, and the rest ran off into the jungle. They didn’t see me.”

  “Do you have any idea where they might have taken your parents?”

  “Both the ship and the warriors headed northeast. There’s a big stone fortress in that direction. It belongs to the ruler of Nallastia.”

  “Margravine Quenelle?”

  Klay shook his head. “No, the Skull Queen.”

  Anakin raised his eyebrows. “The Skull Queen?”

  “That’s what she’s called. I’ve heard of Margravine Quenelle, but I think she’s just a representative.”

  “That’s news to me,” Anakin confessed. He knew he would have remembered a name like the Skull Queen if Bultar Swan had mentioned it. “I regret I know very little about the Nallastians or their customs.”

  Klay looked confused. “Then why are you here?”

  “A long story,” Anakin said. “I had to make a crash landing, and I’m waiting for my Master to respond to my homing beacon. But let’s get back to your situation—had the Nallastians approved your expedition?”

  “Well, we’d paid for a tourist pass through the office of Fondor’s senator,” Klay answered. “But when we arrived in orbit, the Nallastian authorities refused to let us land. They said the senator of Fondor held no power here.”

  “Senator Rodd?” Anakin asked.

  “Yeah, that’s right. Do you know him?”

  “Not very well,” Anakin admitted. “Go on.”

  “We’d traveled so far to study the indigenous fauna,” Klay continued. “I mean, we only wanted to gather data and hologrammic recordings. It’s not like we were taking specimens or anything. My parents had invested so much in our ship, and the research was important to them.”