[Junior Jedi Knights] -05(11)

“Stop! What are you doing?” Tahiri hissed.

“There must be a way to disarm the lasers,” Anakin said, glancing back at his friend. “Something near the entrance, so the people who lived here could get in. I’ve got to find it.”

“Well, you’re not going without me, Anakin Solo!” Tahiri said and wriggled along the stones following him.

“No guts, no glory,” Uldir agreed. He scrambled after them, ducking bolts of laser fire. Ahead, Anakin could see that Tionne and Ikrit had begun flinging chunks of plasteel from the broken statue at the deadly lasers. He rolled to the left to avoid the sizzling beam of light that struck the floor by his head. His elbow thumped painfully against the huge door, but he got to his hands and knees and kept going until he could look around its edge and see the wall behind the door, where Artoo had taken shelter. To his right, Tahiri and Uldir were doing the same.

“There’s nothing here!” Tahiri cried.

On the wall just above Artoo’s head was a control panel.

“I’ve got it!” Anakin yelled back.

With a bright flash, a laser hit the statue of Darth Vader near the spot where Ikrit and Tionne were working. A hunk of smoking plas - teel broke off from the statue. Anakin crawled around the huge door and pushed himself to his feet. He tried a few combinations to work the controls. Nothing happened. Tionne hurled the still-smoking chunk of statue back at the lasers.

“I need your help, Artoo,” Anakin said.

The wounded droid gave a brave beep and plugged himself into the panel as another bolt of laser fire speared toward them. Anakin hit the floor again. The laser blast caught Artoo on his right leg-but not before the astromech droid had finished his job. That was the last shot fired: All of the remaining lasers were disabled. Groaning, Anakin got back to his feet.

“Are you okay, Artoo?” he asked. “I’ll be right back.”

He went to the center of the doorway to check on Tahiri and Uldir. They were unhurt.

Tahiri blinked at Anakin in amazement. “That was a great solution.”

Uldir clapped one hand down on Anakin’s shoulder.

“Not half bad for a kid,” he said. Anakin winced. His ribs felt bruised from diving to the floor so quickly, and his feet and legs ached from the long climb.

“Is it safe to go in now?” Tahiri asked.

“Wait there,” Ikrit said. While the Jedi Master and Tionne checked out the great entry hall, Anakin closed his eyes and tried to sense any danger in the area. He didn’t detect any, but at the moment he couldn’t tell if that meant there was no danger present or if it was simply too well hidden.

. After all, this fortress had belonged to Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith. Vader had been a powerful Dark Jedi. He might have set booby traps or other safeguards that Anakin couldn’t sense. Traps that the Imperials who came to the castle later had not found or disarmed.

“It is safe to enter now,” Ikrit said.

Although Anakin stood just inside the doorway, something held him back. This place belonged to my grandfather, he thought. But never while he was Anakin Skywalker, the good man for whom I was named. This had been Darth Vader’s castle. He He had built it, and he had lived there. How can I go into this place? Anakin wondered.

Tahiri had no such qualms, however. Neither did Uldir. Both of them stepped forward into the large chamber. But still Anakin hung back. A biting wind whipped across the platform again, and blew through the doorway. He shuddered.

“Come on in,” the sturdy teenager said. “It’s a lot warmer in here.”

Tahiri plopped herself on the floor just inside the entry.

“I hope those were the last stairs we have to climb. My legs may never be the same again!” With a sigh of bliss, she pulled off the boots that Tionne had given her for their trip to Dagobah. “Much better,” she declared.

Anakin thought back on what he had learned in the cave on Dagobah. His quest had taught him that he came from a mixed family-there were good Jedi and bad Jedi, smugglers and heroes. His grandfather was a part of him. But Anakin could choose what path he would take. He wouldn’t let the ghosts of the past make his choices for him. Only Anakin would decide what kind of Jedi he would become. Suddenly, his hesitation melted away, and Anakin walked into Darth Vader’s fortress.

The smooth stone floor of the enormous chamber felt wonderful against Tahiri’s bare feet. Even though freezing rain and howling winds raged outside, the polished rock floor inside the castle was warm. Tahiri guessed that Anakin might need a few minutes alone to think, now that they were really here in the fortress his grandfather had built. It was impossible for her friend to forget that Anakin Skywalker had chosen to serve Emperor Palpatine and the dark side of the Force by becoming Darth Vader. Tahiri knew that Anakin had learned to live with those thoughts since their adventures on Dagobah. Even so, it was something he could never forget.