A wall panel slid aside and a quartet of three meter tall droids armed with equally massive blaster rifles emerged and stalked towards us.

Dov gulped. "Master -"

"Size matters not." I told my apprentice, quoting Yoda. "We have a powerful ally in the Force." Dov's face showed he was unconvinced. I laughed. "Yeah, I know. I didn't buy it either - not at first. Don't think about it, kid, just do it."

A droid pointed a thingamajig at us deactivating the field. "Hand over your weapons."

"Sure." I said drawing and activating my saber in one motion. I sliced through the lead droid's gunstock than took off its head back-handed.

Dov made a lunging thrust sinking his saber deep into the midriff servos of a second droid then cut it in half.

The remaining two opened fire and seconds later were glowing scrap - demolished by their own reflected fire. I looked at my apprentice and grinned. "What did I tell you?"

"Wow." he said, deeply impressed. "We did that?"

"The Force did it." I admitted. "But we helped some." we turned to face the door to the Emperor's quarters. "Ready for the next crisis?" I asked.

"Sure." said Dov almost cheerfully.

We passed through some sort of monitor station, screens and indicators all dark, and then into the Emperor's bedroom. We stood on a high dais next to a massive black and gold bed with a blood red coverlet. The steps curved down to a circle of red carpet edged with padded benches. The walls were covered with strange, exotic, nasty looking weapons and the usual eerie statues stood around, glowering at us. At least it wasn't as embarrassing as the concubine's room, and the Dark side atmosphere didn't seem any worse than in the rest of the complex.

'Nothing to worry about in here.' Father said. 'If an intruder got this far Palpatine wanted to deal with him personally.'

'Did anybody ever?' I asked interested.

'No.' Father answered unsurprisingly.

Dov and I went down the stairs of the bed platform, then up another flight of steps to the door and through it. We found ourselves on yet another dais, this one looking down on a white, gray and black marble room with the usual red carpets and wall hangings, eldritch artwork and displays of weapons just like the bedroom. Sofas, chairs and highly polished black tables were scattered about. On the dais the throne was backed by a big bubble window overlooking the City and flanked by gigantic gold and black statues grasping short, thick jeweled rods.

'Watch out for the guardians.' Dad warned.

'Who? Where?' I demanded.

Dov clutched my arm. "Master!"

I looked up to see the long gold edged lids of the statue's eyes rolling slowly upward revealing glowing red eyes. Uh oh.

"Would this be the next crisis, Master?" Dov asked nervously, sotto voce.

"Looks like it." I muttered. Too late to duck back into the bedroom, better stay in here where there was more room to maneuver. "Remember the droids," I told my apprentice. "Size doesn't matter."

Dov gulped but nodded, hands shifting nervously on his lightsaber. Then things got worse - like they always do. The statues swiveled to face us, extending their glittering cylinder and with a rumbling hiss two gigantic blades or red light beamed from either end. Oh great, giant double lightsabers, just what every Jedi yearns to face!

Dov looked at me, appalled. "Okay," I conceded. "This isn't good."

'They're just droids, however they're armed.' Father said urgently. 'Relax, feel the Force flowing through you.'

'You sound like Ben.'

'Of course. He was my Master too.'

"Don't tense up." I warned my apprentice. "Remember those other droids, don't think about it, act on instinct." still a few pointers on practical tactics wouldn't come amiss. "We're smaller and more mobile and we've got lots of room in here. Dodge, don't block, and remember what your mom taught you about Force jumping!"

There was no time for more. The nearest 'guardian' took a step towards us and slashed his sizzling blade through thin air - naturally we hadn't waited around. I leapt one way, Dov the other, landing well apart on the main floor. The statues stalked down the steps to join us.

"Remember, keep moving!" I called to my apprentice then took my own advice Force leaping past the nearest statue's guard to hit it square in the chest with both feet then rebounding, flipping head over heels to a soft landing on one of the sofas. My opponent staggered a little but kept coming ponderously on. Still I'd proved my reactions were faster and I could get past its guard - now how to kill the thing?

I leapt one way, and then another to avoid a double strike from both blades and took temporary refuge atop a hunched golden statue in a wall niche. I looked around for my apprentice and saw Dov was doing great, he had his statue literally spinning in circles as he Force ran around it. I saw him dive between its legs with side strikes at both ankles just before jumping from my niche. Behind me my opponent sliced the hunched statue in half and emitted a roar of frustration.

Hanging from the decorative fretwork of the ceiling molding I saw Dov's statue lift one leg, leaving the foot behind while sparks as big as my hand shot from the other ankle. It swayed then crashed forward onto its knees. "Good move, kid!" I called. "Don't get cocky!"

"Don't worry!" he panted back, dodging aside as one side of the double blade came down at him. "What should I go for? The eyes?"

'No.' Father said. 'the brain is in the chest.'

"The head's empty!" I shouted back. "Go for the chest." Below me my statue was still roaring as it slashed its double blades through the air well short of where I hung. I swung myself a little and dropped behind it, trying to jab my saber through its spine into the chest cavity on the way. Didn't work, it barely penetrated.

"The armor's too thick." I said both to Dad and Dov.

"Yeah, I noticed." my apprentice panted, leaping down from a perch on his statue's shoulder just eluding its grasping hand..

I flipped backward to the opposite side of the room to avoid my own statue's blade. "Okay." I said. "If we can't do it with sabers we'll have to use the Force."

I called and the Force responded, flowing through me in a great wave picking up my opponent and flinging him backward to crash resoundingly into the wall which cracked from side to side as gilt-work rained from the ceiling.

"I can't do that!" Dov squeaked, stunned.

My statue pulled itself out of the hole it had made and started for me. Dov's stumped around on its knees slicing through couches and tables as it pursued my apprentice. This was no time for the 'size matters not' lecture. "Then throw things at it." I shouted as I dove aside to avoid a giant saber strike.

"Oh, okay." a small table rose, shedding bric-a-brac, and shattered against Dov's statue's face.

"Harder!" I told him, smashing my own opponent into the steps to the dais.

He chewed his lip. a big chair at the far end of the room lifted into the air and sailed towards the statue gaining velocity as it went striking the thing full in the chest and knocking it onto its back.

"Good!" I shouted, "Keep it up!"

My own statue pried itself loose from the broken steps and backed uncertainly away from me as I advanced on it, metal mind trying to figure out how I was doing what I was doing. I gave it another titanic shove into the throne and before it could recover blasted it right out the bubble window to tumble head over heels down the steep side of the palace pyramid, smashing itself to pieces as it went.

I watched just long enough to make sure it was destroyed, then turned to see how my apprentice was doing. His statue was staggering around under a barrage of furniture and object d'art.

"What now?" Dov panted. "I can't keep this up forever, Master."

I picked the statue up, smashed it against the ceiling then let it go. The floor shook as it crashed into and through it to the level below. Looking through the hole Dov and I saw it had somehow managed to drive its own lightsaber through its chest. The red eyes were dark.

"Got it." I said with satisfaction. "Good work, Dov."

"Thanks. But you finished it, Master." his eyes were shining with hero worship.

'Anything else I should know about, Father?' I asked silently.

'There's a door behind that big relief on the dais wall.' he answered. ' It's a door openable only with the Force. Behind it is the security control center for the whole Palace.'

Sounded good. "Up here." I said to Dov.

The big carved panel opened at the lightest touch of the Force. Dov was even more impressed. "Wow. How did you know it was there?"

"A little bird told me." I answered, leading the way into another monitor room, but this one was up and running. The indicator boards were full of red lights.

"Should we be worried about those?" Dov asked.

I shook my head. "This is the security control center, those red lights mean our fellow

Jedi are doing okay.

I studied the boards. 'The main screen control is the red and gold panel to your left.' Father said helpfully.

'Thanks, Dad.' I activated the big screen scrolling rapidly through the corridors and chambers of the palace. The first place I checked was the archive room, Kensai Moriah and her companions were busily downloading data - but there was a pile of sparking droid parts at each entrance to the big hall. Everything under control there, I scrolled on looking for Chani. "Got her."

Mei-Qan and Arkady were standing on a sort of catwalk looking down at a bubbling vat of something nasty. "Chani?"

She looked up. "Luke? Where are you."

"Security control." I widened the visual field enough to see walls of control boards, more vats and rows of man sized tubes, some filled with cloudy liquid obscuring whatever was inside. "Where are you?"

"It seems to be some kind of lab." she answered. "Gives me the creeps, Arkady too." her apprentice nodded emphatic agreement.

'Destroy it.' Father said grimly. 'Down to the last molecule.'

'Why? What is it.'

'A lab for manipulating the midi-chlorions to twist and distort life.' he answered.

I flinched. "Destroy it." I told Chani.

"I couldn't agree more." she said. "Can you turn off the security safeguards? I'd really rather not fight any more cyborg rancors."

"Been having fun, huh?" I said, scanning the boards.

"Oh, yeah. Loads." she answered.

'The master switch is under that little round center console' Dad told me.

I found the switch and closed it. Everything went dark except the main screen. "Okay, you're good to go."

"Thanks. Come on, Arkady, let's make some fireworks."

"Yeah!" her apprentice agreed so enthusiastically I rolled my eyes.

Dov did too. "'Kady loves blowing things up."

"So does Mei-Qan." I answered. I had a sneaking suspicion the Jedi were going to regret this particular partnership. Onscreen the girls worked assorted controls. Lights flashed red and smoke began pouring from the power couplings. "Better get out of there." I warned.

"I know what I'm doing, Luke." Chani answered calmly. "Come on, Arkady, the guys are getting nervous." the door closed behind them before I could get my mouth around an answer. Behind them the control boards exploded in a spectacular chain reaction. Sparks fell into the vats firing the evil looking contents and the tubes cracked and shattered. A big explosion whited out the screen, then it went dark.

Suddenly the quiescent boards around me and Dov came back to life. Programs in an unfamiliar computer language scrolled across the screens and yellow lights flashed green.

'Oops.' said Father.

"What do you mean 'oops'?" I demanded.

'The secondary security system has activated. I'm sorry, son, I didn't know it was operational. It was designed to cut in if the palace came under attack while the main system was disabled'

"Now you tell me!"

"Master," Dov said very nervously, "Who are you talking to?"

Double oops. I'd been answering Father out loud. The kid looked scared and who could blame him. I gulped and gave him the truth. "My dead father. He speaks to me through the Force."

Astonishingly Dov's face cleared. "Oh. What's he saying?"

"That we're in big trouble." I took out my comlink. "Kensai Moriah? We have a problem. I disabled the primary security system but activated a back-up."

"I see." she answered calmly. "Better get down here, Luke."

"Yes, ma'am."