The Forgotten Hero: A Star Wars Story

Diplomatic Escapade

The bright yellow planet of Tatooine emerges from a total eclipse, her two moons glowing against the darkness.

A tiny silver spacecraft, a Rebel Blockade Runner firing lasers from the back of the ship, races through space. It is pursued by a giant Imperial Star Destroyer. Hundreds of deadly laser bolts streak from the Imperial Star Destroyer, causing the main solar fin of the Rebel craft to disintegrate.

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An explosion rocks the ship as two robots, R2-D2 and C-3PO struggle to make their way through the shaking, bouncing passageway. Both robots are old and battered. R2 is a short, claw-armed tripod.

His face is a mass of computer lights surrounding a radar eye. 3PO, on the other hand, is a tall, slender robot of human proportions. He has a gleaming bronze-like metallic surface of an Art Deco design. Another blast shakes them as they struggle along their way.

3PO: Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!

Rebel Troopers rush past the robots and take up positions in the main passageway. They aim their weapons toward the door.

3PO: We're doomed!

The little R2 unit makes a series of electronic sounds that only another robot could understand.

3PO: There'll be no escape for the Princess this time.

R2 continues making beeping sounds. Tension mounts as loud metallic latches clank and the scream of heavy equipment are heard moving around the outside hull of the ship.

3PO: What's that?

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The Imperial craft has easily overtaken the Rebel Blockade Runner. The smaller Rebel ship is being drawn into the underside dock of the giant Imperial starship.

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Inside, the nervous Rebel Troopers aim their weapons. Suddenly a tremendous blast opens up a hole in the main passageway and a score of fearsome armored spacesuited stormtroopers make their way into the smoke-filled corridor. In a few minutes the entire passageway is ablaze with laserfire.

The deadly bolts ricochet in wild random patterns creating huge explosions. Stormtroopers scatter and duck behind storage lockers. Laser Bolts hit several Rebel soldiers who scream and stagger through the smoke, holding shattered arms and faces. An explosion hits near the robots.

3PO: I should have known better than to trust the logic of a half-sized thermocapsulary dehousing assister... R2 counters with an angry rebuttal as the battle rages around the two hapless robots.

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A death-white wasteland stretches from horizon to horizon. The tremendous heat of two huge twin suns settle on a lone figure, Luke Skywalker, a farm boy with heroic aspirations who looks much younger than his nineteen years.

His shaggy hair and baggy tunic give him the air of a simple but lovable lad with a prize-winning smile. A light wind whips at him as he adjusts several valves on a large battered moisture vaporator which sticks out of the desert floor much like an oil pipe with valves.

He is aided by a beatup tread-robot with six claw arms. The little robot appears to be barely functioning and moves with jerky motions. A bright sparkle in the morning sky catches Luke's eye and he instinctively grabs a pair of electrobinoculars from his utility belt.

He stands transfixed for a few moments studying the heavens, then dashed toward his dented, crudely repaired Landspeeder (an auto-like transport that travels a few feet above the ground on a magnetic-field). He motions for the tiny robot to follow him.