Luke struggled against the cuffs, lunging toward Soresh, but the chains held fast.

"Just be patient," Soresh advised. "We'll begin soon, and then all will become clear to you." He turned his back on Luke, and began walking away into murky darkness.

"Begin what?" Luke shouted.

No answer came. He would have to do this on his own.

Somehow.

Concentrate, Luke thought. He had done this before, and he knew knew he could do it again. But summoning the Force meant clearing his mind, turning within, he could do it again. But summoning the Force meant clearing his mind, turning within, focusing focusing, and that was nearly impossible. He was too desperate, too worried about Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and all the prisoners. He knew that he had to stop trying so hard-that accessing the Force meant letting go. But the harder he tried to stop trying, the more useless it was.

Forget everything else, he thought, trying to pretend that Ben was there beside him, urging him on. Just focus on the stun cuffs. Just focus on the stun cuffs.

He gazed intently at the cuffs, taking in their s.h.i.+mmering black surface and the smooth curve of the durasteel. He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the cool pressure around his wrists. He imagined he could see inside the cuffs, to the molecules strung together, chaining him in his prison. The Force flowed through those cuffs, as it flowed through everything. And if he could connect with the Force, maybe he could encourage those molecules to expand. Just a little, just enough to slip his arms free. Help Help me out me out, he begged the stun cuffs, feeling slightly ridiculous. Let me go. Let me go.

Luke didn't know how long he sat motionless, concentrating on the cuffs, trying to break their bonds. It felt like hours; it could have been minutes. And then it happened.

Like a switch had flipped, deep within him, he knew: If he tried to pull his hands out of the cuffs, they would give.

"Please," he whispered. Then wrapped his right hand around the cuff on his left wrist, and pulled.

The cuff slipped down his wrist, over his hand, and got caught on his knuckles. He tugged harder, wincing as his bones crunched together. His hand was slippery with sweat, but he refused to give up. Just a little wider Just a little wider, he thought, trying to feel the Force flowing through the cuff, through his wrist, helping him to freedom. He gave one final, mighty tug-and the cuff slipped off. The other slid over his right hand effortlessly. He was free!

Free, that is, if you ignored the thick durasteel bars trapping him in the cell.

Luke sighed with relief, rubbing his sore wrists. His hope was returning. If he could use the Force to expand the stun cuffs, then couldn't he do the same thing to the durasteel bars? If he could widen them by only a few inches, he could slip right through.

He wrapped his hands around the bars-and screamed.

An electric shock sizzled through his body. He flew backward, slamming hard into the floor. His head clanged against the durasteel. He nearly blacked out with the impact.

Waves of pain crashed over him, but Luke struggled to stay afloat-and awake. His mind was muddy, confused, and everything was blurry. He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision. Trying to think think.

The bars must have been electrified, he thought.

That explained what he was doing on the floor.

But it didn't explain why he couldn't get up. It wasn't like the impact of the force pike.

His limbs weren't paralyzed. They were just extremely heavy, like a giant weight pinned him to the ground. It took all the effort he could muster just to keep breathing. And he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to manage that.

Luke had never felt so frustrated. What good was the Force at a time like this? Jedi were supposed to be all powerful-but it was becoming more and more obvious to him that he was no Jedi. Perhaps Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi would know what to do. But Ben was dead. All the Jedi were dead. Which meant it didn't matter how much power Luke had- without anyone to show him how to use it, he was weak. And completely powerless.

Footsteps approached the cell, and he heard the sound of slow applause. It took all the strength he had just to turn his head. Soresh grinned down at him.

"Not bad," Soresh said. "Just not good enough. But we'll fix that."

Luke opened his mouth and tried to speak, but the crus.h.i.+ng pressure on his lungs was too much. He managed little more than a pathetic gasp.

"Surely you can understand that before we got started, I had to see how much control you had over the Force," Soresh said, as if Luke had spoken. "Oh, you're surprised I know about your little Jedi secret? You have no secrets from me. You'll learn that soon enough."

Luke gasped again. His chest barely rose with each shallow breath. The lack of oxygen was making him dizzy.

"Oh, let me help you," Soresh said, He reached toward the wall, fiddling with something Luke couldn't see. Abruptly, the pressure released. Luke drew in a deep, grateful breath. "Perhaps I should have warned you," Soresh added. "There's an electromagnet beneath the floor, and you've been injected with a ferromagnetic solution.

All I need to do is activate the magnet and...well, you see what happens. So now you understand there's no need to waste your energy trying to escape."

"What am I doing here?" Luke asked, when his lungs had recovered enough for speech. "What do you want?"

"You took away one of my most valuable possessions," Soresh said. "I believe you knew him as Tobin Elad."

"X-7," Luke said. "Your a.s.sa.s.sin."

"My former a.s.sa.s.sin," Soresh said. "He's not much use to me as a corpse."

"I didn't kill him," Luke said.

"Maybe you didn't strike the final blow, but he's dead because of you. And now you're going to pay for your crime." Soresh stepped away from the cell for a moment and returned with a narrow tray of food. He slipped it through the bars. "I suggest you eat it all," he said. "You'll need your strength."

Luke's stomach turned at the sight of the nerf steak. "Why bother," he spit out, refusing to let Soresh see his fear. "If you're just going to kill me anyway, why waste your food?"

Soresh laughed. It was a hard, twisted sound, like a wounded fynock. "You've misunderstood me, Luke. I'm not going to kill you-I'm going to make you great."

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked. He had confronted many evil men over the last few months. He had learned to be brave in the face of darkness. But there was something different in Soresh's gaze, something beyond evil. They were the eyes of a man trapped in a nightmare. And now Luke was trapped there with him.

"You killed X-7," Soresh said, a crazed smile fixed on his skeletal face, "So now you're going to replace him."

CHAPTER SIX.

"Who are you?" Leia shouted, as the men tossed her into a cell. They wore identical black uniforms. Although the guards were different heights, colors, builds-different in every way-there was a strange sameness sameness about them. But Leia couldn't figure out why. "Why are you doing this? Do you know who I am?" about them. But Leia couldn't figure out why. "Why are you doing this? Do you know who I am?"

"Do you know who I I am?" Han said loudly, speaking over her. He shot her a pointed look, and Leia had to admit he was right. If they didn't know who she was, it was probably better they stay ignorant. am?" Han said loudly, speaking over her. He shot her a pointed look, and Leia had to admit he was right. If they didn't know who she was, it was probably better they stay ignorant.

"I'm the guy who's gonna blast all those holes through you," Han answered his own question. Though, given the fact that they'd stripped him of his weapons, it was an empty threat.

Chewbacca had taken down six or seven of them before they captured him, but even the Wookiee couldn't fight forever. He was shoved into the bare cell with his two friends.

The men, whoever they were, never looked their prisoners in the eye. They never spoke, not even to one another. Leia had managed to knee one in the gut, but he hadn't grunted in pain. He had barely even flinched, and the blank expression on his face never changed. It was like they were droids. It was like they were empty.

"Don't you dare leave us in here," Leia ordered, as they slammed and locked the cell gate.

One of the men finally did look up and, perhaps accidentally, caught Leia's eye. She s.h.i.+vered. There was something... wrong wrong about his gaze. Something empty. about his gaze. Something empty.

And then the man was gone.

Leia tried to shake off the horror. "This is all your fault," she muttered. When in doubt, arguing with Han always seemed like the best course of action. You could usually count on him to be wrong. But mostly, she just wanted some noise to fill up the silence in the cell. And to drown out her thoughts. There was an idea bubbling up in her, an idea she couldn't tolerate. Fighting with Han was the perfect way to ignore it.

"My fault?" Han echoed. " My fault? My fault? " "

"Yes, your fault!" Leia said. She sat with her back against the wall of the bare cell.

Han prowled the other side, searching for cracks in the wall. Chewbacca wrapped his giant paws around the durasteel bars, trying to pry them apart. But it was no use. The Wookiee roared in frustration. "See?" Leia said triumphantly. "Even Chewie thinks it's your fault."

"You going to listen to that furry oaf?"

Chewbacca growled, sounding insulted.

"Sorry, buddy," Han said quickly. "But Her Royalness here knows that if anything, this is her her fault." fault."

" My My fault?" Leia repeated. fault?" Leia repeated.

"You got it, sweetheart. If you hadn't landed so quickly-"

"If you hadn't shot shot our only leverage-" our only leverage-"

"Oh, yeah? Well, if you hadn't...if you you hadn't..." hadn't..."

"Where do you think they took Luke?" Leia asked quietly. She couldn't ignore it any longer.

"I don't know," Han said. "But you know the kid. He can take care of himself.

Probably fought 'em off with some of that Jedi magic of his." He didn't sound convinced.

Leia didn't say anything.

"Hey, don't worry," Han said awkwardly. "We're all going to be fine."

She had to smile. It was always a little entertaining whenever Han tried to be sincere.

He was so... bad bad at it. at it.

"We've gotten out of tighter jams than this one," he reminded her. "About a thousand of them."

"I know," Leia said. "You're right."

But she couldn't stop seeing the look in those men's eyes, empty and soulless. And she couldn't ignore the truth any longer. She remembered where she'd seen a look like that before: X-7, the brainwashed a.s.sa.s.sin. He'd been brainwashed by Soresh, the Imperial who had trapped them here. And Leia was starting to think that Soresh had built himself a soulless, empty-minded army.

That was bad enough, but not as terrifying as the obvious question: How many more soldiers did he need?

"I simply was not built for this kind of situation!" C-3PO exclaimed, crouching stiffly behind a large red boulder.

R2-D2 beeped sadly.

"Yes," C-3PO agreed. "You'd think I would be used to it by now."

The protocol droid and his astromech counterpart had watched their friends being dragged away to some kind of underground fortress. Now they were alone on the surface of the moon. And they had no idea what to do next.

The astromech droid was rolling in slow circles, his neural circuitry whirring with furious thought. Suddenly he released a shrill whistle.

"Oh, we have to help them, do we?" C-3PO said, sounding irritated. "That's all well and good. But how exactly do you expect us to do that?"

R2-D2 trilled a speedy response.

"Me? You want to know if I I have an idea?" C-3PO said. have an idea?" C-3PO said.

R2-D2 beeped a yes.

"My idea is that we go back to the s.h.i.+p and stay out of trouble, just like we were told," C-3PO said. "I'm sure Master Luke and the others are perfectly capable of saving themselves."

The astromech droid stopped in his tracks, and unleashed an angry burst of beeps and whistles.

When he finished, C-3PO leaned stiffly against the boulder, defeated. "Yes, I know Master Luke would do the same for us," he admitted. "But how are we supposed to help?"

R2-D2 extended his manipulator arm and began drawing an outline in the red sand, beeping with excitement.

" You You have a plan?" C-3PO cut in. "Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" have a plan?" C-3PO cut in. "Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

The astromech droid beeped.

"Since when do you care about being polite?" the protocol droid exclaimed. He threw his arms in the air. "All right, let's hear it."

R2-D2 laid out his plan. C-3PO calculated a one in 2,341,900 chance of success.

They immediately got to work.

Ferus perched awkwardly on the narrow stool, waiting for General Dodonna to finish the mission briefing. Rows and rows of pilots sat stiffly at attention. They were all eager to hear about their new mission. Under any other circ.u.mstances, Ferus would be thrilled to join their ranks. It meant Dodonna finally trusted him and Div. Or at least, trusted them enough to let them join the Rebels for this mission. The general was sending nearly half the fleet. Normally, a mission briefing would be delivered shortly before the s.h.i.+ps set out.

But this time, General Dodonna was giving his fighters two weeks to prepare and train.

Even if the intel was right, and there would only be two Star Destroyers guarding the secret Imperial meeting, Dodonna was taking no chances.

"We will launch the ambush from these five strike points," General Dodonna announced, diagramming the attack on a large screen. He went on to explain the complicated maneuvers and split-second timing the mission demanded. The fleet was going to need practice. "And if this effort succeeds, it may be the end of our long and difficult fight," he exclaimed. "A new day is dawning!" The room erupted into cheers.

As the crowd of Rebels dispersed, Ferus made his way to the front of the room.

"General, might I have a word with you?" he asked. Though they had met before only briefly, the general had a reputation for being generous with his time. He was willing to hear anyone out-especially anyone who was a friend of Princess Leia's.

"Walk with me," the general suggested. He was older than Ferus, but there was something youthful about him. A certain energy and optimism that Ferus had lost long ago. However old he was, he was still young enough to hope.

They descended a turbolift together and exited the building. "I've grown quite fond of this moon," General Dodonna mused, as they strolled through the forest of dense Ma.s.sa.s.si trees. "It's a shame we'll have to evacuate soon." Then he smiled. "Of course, if this mission works, perhaps we won't have to."