The Forgotten Hero: A Star Wars Story

Weird Looking Moon

Han: Stand by, Chewie, here we go. Cut in the sublight engines.

Han pulls back on a control lever. Outside the cockpit window stars begin streaking past, seem to decrease in speed, then stop. Suddenly the starship begins to shudder and violently shake about. Asteroids begin to race toward them, battering the sides of the ship.

Han: What the...? Aw, we've come out of hyperspace into a meteor shower. Some kind of asteroid collision. It's not on any of the charts.

The Wookiee flips off several controls and seems very cool in the emergency. Luke makes his way into the bouncing cockpit.

Luke: What's going on?

Han: Our position is correct. Except no Alderaan!

Luke: What do you mean? Where is it?

Han: That's what I'm trying to tell you, kid. It ain't there. It's been totally blown away.

Luke: What? How?

Obi-Wan and Y/N move into the cockpit behind Luke as the ship begins to settle down.

The Jedi share a knowing look.

Obi-Wan: Destroyed... by the Empire!

Y/N: All that life sniffed out in an instant.

Han: The entire starfleet couldn't destroy the whole planet. It'd take a thousand ships with more firepower than I've...

A signal starts flashing on the control panel and a muffled alarm starts humming.

Han: There's another ship coming in.

Luke: Maybe they know what happened.

Obi-Wan: It's an Imperial fighter.

Y/N: That's not good.

Chewbacca barks his concern. A huge explosion bursts outside the cockpit window, shaking the ship violently. A tiny, finned Imperial TIE fighter races past the cockpit window.

Luke: It followed us!

Y/N: There's no way. That's a short range fighter.

Han: There aren't any bases around here. Where did it come from?

Y/N: No telling.

The fighter races past the Millenium Falcon.

Luke: It sure is leaving in a big hurry. If they identify us, we're in big trouble.

Han: Not if I can help it. Y/N... jam its transmissions.

Y/N nods and moves right over to the control panel and starts flipping switches and pushing buttons.

Obi-Wan: It'd be best to let it go. It's too far out of range.

Han: Not for long...

Y/N: And no one's gonna know once I shut this down.

Han nods and guns it with the Falcon. The ship zooms over and away into the vastness of space after the Imperial TIE fighter.

The tension mounts as the Falcon gains on the tiny fighter. In the distance, one of the stars becomes brighter until it is obvious that the TIE ship is heading for it. Obi-Wan stands behind Chewbacca.

Obi-Wan: A fighter that size couldn't get this deep into space on its own.

Luke: It must have gotten lost, been part of a convoy or something.

Han: Well, he ain't going to be around long enough to tell anyone about us.

The TIE fighter is losing ground to the larger Falcon as they race.