Star Wars Journal - The Fight for Justice by Luke Skywalker (6 page)

I should have known better by then—that Ben was stronger than he looked—but I didn’t completely trust Ben’s feeling for the Force.

Then Han said we were ready to come out of lightspeed near Alderaan. That was really exciting news, because I was picturing us landing at the royal palace, being greeted as honored guests… maybe even dining with royalty, that sort of thing.

But the
Millennium Falcon
didn’t come out into normal space next to Alderaan as planned. We came out of lightspeed in an asteroid belt, rocks of all shapes and sizes whizzing all around us. Han had to do some tricky flying to avoid getting us smashed to bits.

My first thought, of course, was that he’d messed up his navigation. But the truth was a lot worse than that. I could see that we were close to Alderaan’s star, and this was where Alderaan should have been…

But it wasn’t.

It took us a while to realize what we were seeing, and longer to accept the truth: the rubble and rocks were all that was left of Alderaan.

That
was the disturbance in the Force that Ben had felt, the voices all crying out at once: the cry of all the people on Alderaan just before they died.

Now we were in serious trouble. I mean, we were stunned by the planet’s destruction and the deaths of all those people. It didn’t seem real somehow. I’d never been to Alderaan, but I’ve heard it was lovely and peaceful. And now it was dust and rocks, everyone on the planet gone.

What were we going to do now? The message from Princess Leia had told us to take the droids to her father, and that he’d know what to do with them. Now her father was dead. Han still needed to be paid, and we couldn’t cover the charge. All of these thoughts were whirling about in my head as we came under the attack of a TIE fighter.

This was the first time I’d ever seen a TIE in action. It’s sort of dumpy, with stubby wings, but it sure can move. This one fired off a single burst at us, and then ran for it. Han started to chase him, then realized something important. TIE fighters can’t go to lightspeed, so they always have Imperial cruisers nearby. But there weren’t any around. So where was this one from?

The answer was literally right in front of us. We all thought it was a small moon at first. As we got closer, though, we realized it wasn’t a small anything—it was a huge round space station.

And it had an unbreakable tractor beam that grabbed hold of the
Falcon
and dragged her in.

We were in serious, serious trouble. The question in our minds was whether this had destroyed Alderaan. And it now had a hold of us. Did they know we were heading here? Had they destroyed the planet to stop us from reaching it? Or had we just accidentally stumbled onto something that had nothing to do with us?

Ben and Han came up with a plan. Because of Han’s smuggling, the
Falcon
is equipped with hidden compartments to hide illegal cargo in case he’s boarded and searched. Instead of cargo, though, he planned to hide all of us. He rigged the records to make it look like we’d all abandoned ship at Tatooine and left the
Falcon
to make the jump to hyperspace herself. With any luck, the troopers would believe this story and go back to hunting for us on Tatooine.

Well, the first part of our plan worked without a hitch. We hid while the Imperials pulled the
Falcon
into the docking bay. Troopers came aboard and searched. They found the doctored log, and no sign of any of us in the sealed and lined compartments. They fell for the story and all filed out.

I was glad to get out of the hiding place. Being in a confined space with a Wookiee can result in serious bruising. They don’t like being cramped. We were free for now, but it wouldn’t last. We needed an escape plan, and Ben came up with one.

There had to be a tractor beam holding us in place. He’d deactivate it, and then the
Falcon
could take off. That is, if we weren’t chased by TIE fighters or whatever else this huge station had on board. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all we had, so even Han agreed to it.

He wasn’t happy about it, though.

The troopers had left, but they were bound to be back. So when two of them returned, Han and Chewie took them by surprise—and stunned them both. I winced at the noise they made, but nobody else seemed to notice.

Ben had Han and me dress up in the trooper’s armor and stand guard. That way, it looked like we were real guards on duty. The only problem was that I’m under the height requirements for an Imperial trooper. The uniform was kind of loose on me. Still, if I was seen at a distance I looked passable. I hoped!

We all snuck into a small command office near the
Falcon
. The gantry officer inside was taken out by a blow from Chewie and a blast from Han. With all the noise they were making, I thought we’d be found for sure.

Artoo managed to plug into the station’s computer. Like I’ve said before, he’s really smart and great at mechanical stuff. He broke into the station files and discovered where the main controls for the tractor beam were, so Ben could go off and sabotage them.

Before he left, Ben said something about detecting a familiar pattern in the Force. I didn’t pay much attention to it then, but later I realized what had happened: Ben had detected Darth Vader on board! He didn’t tell me because he was afraid I’d go running off to try to kill him. If I’d known, that’s exactly what I’d have done. It’s a good thing Ben didn’t tell me, because I might be dead right now.

Instead, Ben told us to stay put. I had intended to obey him, but things changed. I mean, I wanted revenge on the Empire for what they’d done to my uncle and aunt, those innocent Jawas, and the whole planet of Alderaan. But I wasn’t stupid. This space station was the size of a small moon—not small at all. There had to be thousands of people on board. So trying to take them on for revenge was definitely the last thought on my mind.

But then See-Threepio translated Artoo’s excited beeping. He kept saying, “I’ve found her!” and “She’s here!” I’ve never seen a droid look so excited in my life, and it took a couple of minutes to get him calmed down to the point where he could tell us what he meant.

It was Princess Leia Organa he was talking about. Somehow, she was aboard the station, in the detention area! I couldn’t believe it. I mean, she’d been on that ship that had been attacked over Tatooine. I wasn’t sure whether she’d escaped or been captured or what, but I had never expected her to be here, of all places. On the station that had probably destroyed her home planet and all of her family, too.

And she was going to be next. Artoo told us that there was a termination order on her. They planned to execute her!

That was when I made up my mind that it was time for me to act. So far, all I’d really done was hang around and follow orders—mostly Ben’s, but with some of Han’s thrown in, too. But I
couldn’t
let them kill the princess. Mostly, I think, because she was just too beautiful to let that sort of thing happen to her. Also because she had been relying on Ben to help her out. Ben knew her and obviously admired her. I had to do something to get her free.

There was no way I could do that on my own. But if Han were to help me, I thought maybe we could manage it. Han complains a lot, but he’s really good with a blaster, and can be very inventive… especially when he’s in a tight spot.

So all I had to do was to convince him to help me rescue the princess. Well, the word
princess
alone grabbed his interest. He refused to risk his neck, though, until I pointed out that she was rich and would obviously give him a big reward for his help. I didn’t mention that probably most of her wealth had gone up in smoke with Alderaan. The thought of more money helped swing him around—and he agreed to help me rescue her!

It was up to me to come up with a plan. Before this, most of my plans were simple things like how to fix broken farm machinery, or how to pull a joke on Windy back home. Now I had to outthink Imperial troopers and rescue the princess from her jail cell, which was bound to be guarded.

But then I realized something:
we
were guards.

And instantly I knew how we could get into the detention area. I explained my plan to Han and Chewie. The Wookiee complained loudly, because it involved his looking like he was our prisoner. If we were taking him into the cells for some crime, the other guards would let us in. Then we would be able to get to the princess’s cell and get her out.

Of course,
then
we’d have to get back to the
Falcon
with her, hoping that nobody noticed. I thought that on a ship this size, there had to be women workers, so maybe a princess wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. Of course, that was before I knew the Empire
rarely
uses women or aliens in their forces. That’s how narrowminded Vader and the rest are. They don’t think women are useful!

Anyway, instead I decided to concentrate on one problem at a time. When we had the princess safe, the rest of the plan could be worked out.

With any luck, that was.

Despite Chewie’s complaints, Han managed to convince him that my idea was good. We took him to an elevator bank wearing unlocked restraints. And nobody seemed to think we were anything other than two guards with a prisoner. Some of them gave the Wookiee odd looks, but nobody asked us questions or stopped us.

Until we reached the detention area, of course. There we ran into a major problem. There was an officer on duty at the entrance, and he was your typical Imperial by-the-book type. He wanted transfer papers and all sorts of authorizations for Chewie that we obviously didn’t have. There were a couple of guards with him, and they were starting to get suspicious.

Luckily, Han thinks fast. He had Chewie stage a breakout, and while everyone was staring at the mad Wookiee, he and I managed to shoot the guards. Unfortunately, not before the officer sounded the alarm.

I found out where the princess was being held and headed straight for her cell. Han and Chewie stayed behind to try and sort out the mess we’d caused. I was feeling the adrenaline pumping now, after that fight. I didn’t know whether I’d killed the guards I’d shot or simply stunned them. To be honest, I didn’t really care.

I’d have thought I’d have felt worse about killing someone, but right then I had more important things on my mind. Besides, the guard would have killed me, so it was definitely self-defense. And yes, he was holding and would have killed the princess. But he was also a human being, somebody with a family who maybe loved him. And maybe I’d killed him. It’s a really odd feeling, thinking about that.

But right then I was occupied with other things. Such as saving a princess.

I found her cell door and opened it without any problem. She was awake inside, and obviously expecting to be taken off for execution. She looked up at me, and all the things I’d been planning to say went right out of my head.

She was even more beautiful in person than she’d looked on the recording. There was a look in her eyes that told me she’d never beg for her life, and that she’d fight to the end to stay alive. So all of my
Hi, I’m Luke Skywalker, and this is a rescue
lines went clean out of my head. I just stood there, stammering a little.

And she asked me, “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” Like that was the only thing on her mind right then.

It was such an odd thing to say that it started my brain working again. I managed to tell her who I was, and I took off the helmet. That was so she could see my face and tell I was being truthful. It was also so I could get a better look at her. The eyepieces in the helmet were a little distorting.

She didn’t know who I was, of course, so I explained that we had her Artoo unit, and that we were there with Ben Kenobi.
That
got her attention, and she started to ask questions I didn’t have time to answer.

Suddenly there was a whole bunch of firing, and Han and Chewie came down the tunnel toward us, firing their guns behind them. It seemed that Han hadn’t managed to convince security that there wasn’t a problem, and there were more guards pouring into the area, all after us.

The princess wasn’t exactly thrilled with this news, and Han was even less thrilled with the princess. I could see that they’d both taken an instant dislike to one another. But they didn’t have too much time to express their differences. We were trapped inside a maximum security area, with guards coming at us from the only exit.

It was not a good place to be right then.

I had to cut that last entry short to relieve Han for a while at the controls of the
Millennium Falcon
. And, to be honest, because I’m getting to the part I really dread—Ben’s death. But I’ve simply got to steel myself and get on with it. This way, I can try to get a handle on how I feel.

Well, Leia—she asked me to stop calling her
princess
because she hates formality—realized that I’d messed things up. “You call this a rescue?” she demanded.

I suppose I should have been annoyed that she wasn’t more grateful; Han certainly was irritated. After all, she’d been marked for execution, and we were doing our best to get her out alive. The problem was, there didn’t seem to be any way to escape all those stormtroopers. Han looked to me for a plan; I didn’t have anyone to look to.

And I was fresh out of ideas.

Leia wasn’t, though. I’d always pictured princesses as these pampered young women with great skin, gorgeous bodies, rich fathers, and brains permanently in neutral. But Leia’s nothing like that. Well, no, that’s not what I mean. She
is
beautiful, but she’s not pampered or spoiled, and her brain is obviously
very
active.

She grabbed my blaster and blew a hole in the tunnel wall. I didn’t know why, until she explained that it was the way the garbage went out, and if garbage went out, so could we. It sounded pretty reasonable, but with blaster bolts burning up the air from the troopers, almost anything would have sounded pretty reasonable right then. We didn’t have much choice but to follow her in.

There was a drop, and then thick, garbage-strewn water. What there wasn’t was a door out of there. The smell was awful, and I didn’t even want to think about what might be floating around with us. The water was about waist-deep; at least, I
hoped
it was water.