Star Wars_ Episode V_ The Empire Strikes Back - Donald F. Glut [57]
'It's a lovely outpost,' Leia marveled.
'Yes, we're proud of it,' Lando replied. 'You'll find the air quite special here ... very stimulating.' He smiled at Leia meaningfully. 'You could grow to like it.'
Han didn't miss Lando's flirtatious glance - and he didn't like it, either. 'We don't plan on staying that long,' he said brusquely.
Leia raised an eyebrow and glanced mischievously at the now-fuming Han Solo. 'I find it most relaxing.'
Lando chuckled, and led them from the veranda. They approached the dining hall with its massive closed doors and, as they paused in front of them, Chewbacca lifted his head and sniffed the air curiously. He turned and barked urgently at Han.
'Not now, Chewie,' Han reproved, turning to Calrissian. 'Lando, aren't you afraid the Empire might eventually discover this little operation and shut you down?'
'That's always been the danger,' the administrator replied. 'It's loomed like a shadow over everything we've built here. But circumstances have developed which will insure security. You see, I've made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever.'
With that the mighty doors slid open - and immediately Han understood just what that 'deal' must have involved. At the far end of the huge banquet table stood the bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Fett stood next to a chair that held the black essence of evil itself - Darth Vader. Slowly the Dark Lord rose to his full, menacing two-meter height.
Han shot his meanest look at Lando.
'Sorry, friend,' Lando said, sounding mildly apologetic. 'I had no choice. They arrived right before you did.'
'I'm sorry, too,' Han snapped. In that instant, he cleared his blaster from its holster, aimed it directly at the figure in black, and began to pump laser bolts Vader's way.
But the man who may have been the fastest draw in the galaxy was not fast enough to surprise Vader. Before those bolts zipped halfway across the table, the Dark Lord had lifted a gauntlet-protected hand and effortlessly deflected them so they exploded against the wall in a harmless spray of flying white shards.
Astounded by what he had just seen, Han tried firing again. But before he could discharge another laser blast, something - something unseen yet incredibly strong - yanked the weapon from his hand and sent it flying into Vader's grip. The raven figure calmly placed the weapon on top of the dining table.
Hissing through his obsidian mask, the Dark Lord addressed his would-be assailant. 'We would be honored if you joined us.'
Artoo Detoo felt the rain plunking on top of his metal dome as he trudged through the muddy puddles of the bog. He was headed for the sanctuary of Yoda's little hut, and soon his optical sensors picked up the golden glow shining through its windows. As he neared the inviting house, he felt a robot's relief that at last he would get out of this annoying, persistent rain.
But when he tried to pass through the entrance he discovered that his inflexible droid body just could not get in; he tried from one angle, then from another. At last the perception that he was simply the wrong shape to get in seeped into his computer mind.
He could scarcely believe his sensors. As he peered into the house, he scanned a busy figure, bustling about the kitchen, stirring steaming pots, chopping this and that, running back and forth. But the figure in Yoda's tiny kitchen, doing Yoda's kitchen tasks, was not the Jedi Master - but his apprentice.
Yoda, it appeared from Artoo's scan, was simply sitting back observing his young pupil from the adjacent room, and quietly smiling. Then suddenly, in the midst of all his kitchen activity, Luke paused, as if a painful vision had appeared before him.
Yoda noticed Luke's troubled look. As he watched his student, three glow-ball seekers appeared from behind Yoda and noiselessly shot through the air to attack the young Jedi from behind. Instantly Luke turned to face them, a pot lid in one hand and