Free Star Wars - 210 - Jedi Prince 01 - The Glove of Darth Vader by Paul Davids, Hollace Davids Page A

of evil-the glove of Darth Vader!

CHAPTER 1
    Droids on a Mission
    See-Threepio’s frantic voice echoed through the Droid Repair Shop on Yavin Four, the fourth moon of the planet Yavin.
    "But, Master Luke," Threepio was saying, "Kessel has always been last on my list of places in the galaxy I’d like to see. Particularly on a dangerous spy mission without my own head."
    "You’re only getting a different head cover, not a whole new head," Luke Skywalker said to his golden, human-shaped droid. He bent to examine a used droid head on a shelf. "We’re not going to touch a single one of your microcircuits. We just don’t want you to be noticed in a crowd of Kessel droids."
    The Kessel droid head Luke was holding had a punched-in, evil-looking face. It was a face that didn’t match Threepio’s gentle personality at all. "What do you think of this one?" asked Luke.
    "That one? There’s something lacking in your taste, Master Luke. It’s unsightly-and . . . and it’s green!" Threepio stammered.
    "Didn’t I tell you about your new color-plating?"
    "You’re not going to make me green, are you?" Threepio exclaimed, waving his arms.
    "Don’t panic," said Luke. "Your gold color will be restored, along with your usual head cover, when the mission is over. Come on, let’s get started."
    BZZZZZZZT!
    Luke pressed his inter-office communications device, signaling the Droid Modification Team that Threepio was ready. The team was a group of Too-Onebee technical droids that specialized in repairing other droids and replacing their worn-out parts. The Too-Onebees brought with them Artoo-Detoo, a barrel-shaped droid that they had just finished modifying. Artoo now resembled a dark green Kessel mining droid, complete with a Kessel insignia on his dome.
    "Dweeeet bchooo tzniiiiiiiit!" beeped Artoo-Detoo, turning his new dome left and right so that Luke and Threepio would notice.
    "No, I don’t think you look wonderful," replied Threepio, who was an expert at translating six million galactic languages and understood all of Artoo’s beeps, buzzes, and whistles. Walking away from his little friend, Threepio reluctantly left with the Droid Modification Team. He returned an hour later.
    "I hope you’re satisfied," Threepio said with dismay.
    "You look perfect," Luke replied with a smile. "Come on, we have to get to the new Senate. You don’t want to miss the beginning of Mon Mothma’s briefing, do you?" Luke walked toward the door quickly, thinking to himself how fortunate the Alliance was to have a distinguished and brilliant woman like Mon Mothma as its leader. "When Mon Mothma explained our strategy for the battle against the Death Star, you were on time to hear her then-and this is no time to be late, either, Threepio. Especially since all of the key members of SPIN will be there."
    SPIN was short for the Senate’s Planetary Intelligence Network, a secret organization within the Alliance’s new galactic government.
    WHOOOOSH!
    Luke’s airspeeder zoomed over the treetops of the rain forest on Yavin Four, dodging the peaks of the old pyramids. Soon he could see many of the elaborate structures that had been built by a long-vanished race. He saw the Great Temple. And to his left the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster. And up ahead the Palace of the Woolamander, where the new Senate met. It was nearly twilight when Luke landed the airspeeder. He hurried Threepio and Artoo up the ramp to the main Senate entrance and they proceeded down a stone hallway until they reached the briefing room.
    Seated at the conference table were two human women, two human men, and two aliens. The women were Mon Mothma and Princess Leia; the men were Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, the governor of Cloud City on the planet Bespin; and the aliens were Chewbacca, the Wookiee, and Admiral Ackbar, the sad-eyed fishman and war hero from the watery world of Calamari. Luke took his place at the center of the table, with Threepio and Artoo standing nearby.
    "Well, kid,"