Star Wars - 215 - Jedi Prince 06 - Prophets of the Dark Side Read Online Free PDF Page A

it’s a very unusual condition. Pulling that particular tooth could prove to be very dangerous. Right now we’re on hold for the operation."
    In the meantime, the Alliance did nothing to prevent Triclops from being able to sneak into the file storage area again. Luke deliberately planted a file on the Lost City of the Jedi that was filled with disinformation-misleading facts, a phony map, and false coordinates that would lead the Imperials away from the actual Lost City, and toward the decoy green wall the droids had built. If the Imperials took the bait and went to the decoy wall, they would end up in the dark cave-perhaps falling into the underground river of molten lava!
    That night, Triclops began sleepwalking again. He went to the file storage area, where he located the file on the Lost City and memorized its contents. Triclops then replaced it, trying to make it look as though nothing in the file storage area had been disturbed. While this was going on, the Alliance deliberately relaxed its air defense network. An Imperial probe droid approached the Alliance Senate again, and this time it was deliberately permitted to come close enough to pick up Triclops’s broadcasted message. The message was from his thought waves, as his thoughts were broadcast by the tiny Imperial implant in his molar tooth.
    Afterward, a few X-wing starfighters were sent up to chase the Imperial probe droid away. The X-wings’s instructions were to let the probe escape and deliberately avoid shooting it down, so the disinformation from Triclops would reach the Prophets of the Dark Side.

CHAPTER 4
    The Trial of the Grand Moffs
    At Space Station Scardia, a trial was about to begin. Four grand moffs had been arrested in their Moffship by the crew of an Imperial starfighter. Grand Moff Hissa, chained to his hover-chair, and Grand Moffs Thistleborn, Dunhausen, and Muzzer, with their hands chained behind their backs, stood accused of treason against the Empire. Kadann entered the Chamber of Dark Justice, preparing to sit in judgment. The dwarf took his position on an ornate chair that had once belonged to an ancient king of Duro. To make Kadann appear taller than he actually was, the chair was placed on a raised stage. Defeen, the wolflike alien who had recently been promoted by the Prophets of the Dark Side to the position of interrogator supreme, prowled in front of a jury of five prophets.
    "The trial of the grand moffs now beginsssss!" Defeen hissed. "I call the first witnesssssss-Zorba the Hutt!"
    "But Zorba the Hutt is dead!" Grand Moff Hissa exclaimed, gasping. Zorba, very much alive, wiggled through the round doorway and squirmed to the witness stand. "Thought you’d seen me for the last time? Wrong!" Zorba said tauntingly, glaring at the four accused men with his big, yellow reptilian eyes. "A-haw-haw-haw . !" Kadann began the proceedings by picking up a blue chalklike ball from a collection of colored balls at his side. He crushed it in his right hand. As if by some supernatural power, a chilling wind suddenly swept across the Chamber of Dark Justice, blowing the blue chalk onto the uniforms of the four grand moffs.
    But there was nothing supernatural about the wind. At the push of a hidden button, Kadann could make a cold breeze blow from any direction inside the chamber. And at the push of another button, he could make the walls resonate with an echo, giving his voice the sound of greater authority.
    "Blue is the color of shame and disgrace," Grand Moff Hissa whispered to Grand Moff Muzzer, who stood alongside him. "This trial will be a total sham, a show and nothing more. It’s obvious Kadann has already made up his mind that we’re guilty."
    "Grand moffssssss," Defeen said with a scowl, pointing a furry, clawed hand at the defendants. "You are charged with breaking your pledgessss of loyalty to Kadann, who is now the ruler of the Empire." Defeen then trained his beady red eyes at Zorba, who was grinning from one side of his huge