As the hangar started to tremble more violently, Chewbacca detected movement in the adjoining chamber. Throwing back his head, the s.h.a.ggy giant filled the hangar with his loudest roar as he saw Han Solo climb over hills of ice and snow and enter the chamber, followed closely by Princess Leia and an obviously nervous See Threepio.

Not far from the hangar, Imperial stormtroopers, their faces shielded by white helmets and white snowscreens, had begun moving down deserted corridors. With them strode their leader, the dark-robed figure who surveyed the shambles that had been the Rebel base at Hoth. Darth Vader's black image stood out starkly against the white walls, ceiling, and floor. As he moved through the white catacombs, he regally stepped aside to avoid a falling section of the ice ceiling. Then he continued on his way with such quick strides that his troops had to hurry to keep up.

A low whine, rising in pitch, began to issue from the saucer-shaped freighter. Han Solo stood at the controls in the Millennium Falcon's c.o.c.kpit, at last feeling at home. He quickly flipped one switch after another, expecting to see the board flash its familiar mosaic of light; but only some of the lights were working.

Chewbacca had also noticed something amiss and barked with concern as Leia examined a gauge that seemed to be malfunctioning.

'How's that, Chewie?' asked Han anxiously.

The Wookiee's bark was distinctly negative.

'Would it help if I got out and pushed?' snapped Princess Leia, who was beginning to wonder if it were the Corellian's spit that held the ship together.

'Don't worry, Your Holiness. I'll get it started.'

See Threepio clanked into the hold and, gesturing, tried to get Han's attention. 'Sir,' the robot volunteered, 'I was wondering if I might-' But his scanners read the scowl on the face staring at him. 'It can wait,' he concluded.

Imperial stormtroopers, accompanied by the rapidly moving Darth Vader, thundered through the ice corridors of the Rebel base. Their pace quickened as they rushed in the direction of the low whine coming from the ion engines. Vader's body tensed slightly as, entering the hangar, he perceived the familiar saucer-shaped form of the Millennium Falcon.

Within the battered freighter ship, Han Solo and Chewbacca were trying desperately to get the craft moving.

'This bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade,' Princess Leia complained.

Han pretended that he didn't hear her. Instead, he checked the Falcon's controls and struggled to keep his patience even though his companion had so obviously lost hers. He flipped switches on the control console, ignoring the princess's look of disdain. Clearly, she doubted that this a.s.semblage of spare parts and welded hunks of sc.r.a.p metal would hold together even if they did manage to get beyond the blockade.

Han pushed a b.u.t.ton on the intercom. 'Chewie ... come on!' Then, winking at Leia, he said, This baby's still got a few surprises left in her.'

'I'll be surprised if we start moving.'

Before Han could make a carefully honed retort, the Falcon was jolted by a blast of Imperial laser fire that flashed outside the c.o.c.kpit window. They could all see the squad of Imperial stormtroopers rushing with drawn weapons into the far end of the ice hangar. Han knew that the Falcon's dented hull might resist the force of those hand weapons, but would be destroyed by the more powerful bazooka-shaped weapon that two of the Imperial troopers were hurriedly setting up.

'Chewie!' Han yelled as he quickly strapped himself into his pilot's chair. Meanwhile, a somewhat subdued young woman seated herself in the navigator's chair.

Outside the Millennium Falcon, stormtroopers worked with military efficiency to set up their enormous gun. Behind them the hangar doors began to open. One of the Falcon's powerful laser weapons appeared from the hull and swung about, aiming directly at the storm troopers.

Han moved urgently to block the Imperial soldiers' efforts. Without hesitation he released a deadly blast from the powerful laser weapon he had aimed at the stormtroopers. The explosion scattered their armored bodies all over the hangar.

Chewbacca dashed into the c.o.c.kpit.

'We'll just have to switch over,' Han announced, 'and hope for the best.'

The Wookiee hurled his hairy bulk into the copilot's seat as yet another laser blast erupted outside the window next to him. He yelled indignantly, then yanked back on the controls to bring the welcome roar of engine fire from deep inside the Falcon.

The Corellian grinned at the princess, a gleeful I-told-you-so gleam in his eyes.

'Someday,' she said with mild disgust, 'you're going to be wrong, and I just hope I'm there to see it.'

Han just smiled then turned to his copilot. 'Punch it!' he shouted.

The huge freighter's engines roared. And everything behind the craft instantly melted in the fiery exhaust billowing from its tailpiece. Chewbacca furiously worked the controls, watching out of the corner of his eyes the ice walls rushing past as the freighter blasted away.

At the last moment, just before takeoff, Han caught a glimpse of additional stormtroopers running into the hangar. In their wake strode a foreboding giant clad entirely in black. Then there was only the blue and the beckoning of billions of stars.

As the Millennium Falcon soared from the hangar, its flight was detected by Commander Luke Skywalker, who turned to smile at Wedge and his gunner. 'At least Han got away.' The three then trudged along to their waiting X-wing fighter ships. When they finally reached them, they shook hands and moved off toward their separate vehicles.

'Good luck, Luke,' Wedge said as they parted. 'See you at the rendezvous.'

Luke waved and began to walk toward his X- wing. Standing there amid the mountains of ice and snow, he was overcome by a surge of loneliness. He felt desperately alone now that even Han was gone. Worse than that, Princess Leia was also somewhere else; she might just as well be an entire universe away ...

Then out of nowhere a familiar whistle greeted Luke.

'Artoo!' he exclaimed. 'Is that you?'

Sitting snugly in the socket that had been installed for these helpful R2 units was the little barrel-shaped droid, his head peeking from the top of the ship. Artoo had scanned the approaching figure and had whistled with relief when his computers informed him it was Luke. The young commander was equally relieved to re-encounter the robot that had accompanied him on so many of his previous adventures.

As he climbed into the c.o.c.kpit and seated himself behind the controls, Luke could hear the sound of Wedge's fighter roaring into the sky toward the Rebel rendezvous point. 'Activate the power and stop worrying. We'll soon be airborne,' Luke said in response to Artoo's nervous beeping.

His was the last Rebel ship to abandon what had, for a very brief time, been a secret outpost in the revolution against the tyranny of the Empire.

Darth Vader, a raven specter, quickly strode through the ruins of the Rebel ice fortress, forcing his accompanying men into a brisk jog to keep up. As they moved through the corridors, Admiral Piett rushed up to overtake his master.

'Seventeen ships destroyed,' he reported to the Dark Lord. 'We don't know how many got away.'

Without turning his head, Vader snarled through his mask, 'The Millennium Falcon?'

Piett paused a moment before replying. He would have preferred to avoid that issue. 'Our tracking scanners are on it now,' he responded a bit fearfully.

Vader turned to face the admiral, his towering figure looming over the frightened officer. Piett felt a chill course through his veins, and when the Dark Lord spoke again his voice conveyed an image of the dreadful fate that would be inflicted if his commands were not executed.

'I want that ship,' he hissed.

The ice planet was rapidly shrinking to a point of dim light as the Millennium Falcon sped into s.p.a.ce. Soon that planet seemed nothing more than one of the billions of light specks scattered throughout the black void.

But the Falcon was not alone in its escape into deep s.p.a.ce. Rather, it was followed by an Imperial fleet that included the Avenger Star Destroyer and a half-dozen TIE fighters. The fighters moved ahead of the huge, slower-moving Destroyer, and closed in on the fleeing Millennium Falcon.

Chewbacca howled over the roar of the Falcon's engines. The ship was beginning to lurch with the buffeting flak blasted at it by the fighters.

'I know, I know, I see them,' Han shouted. It was taking everything he had to maintain control of the ship.

'See what?' Leia asked.

Han pointed out the window at two very bright objects.

'Two more Star Destroyers, and they're heading right at us.'

'I'm glad you said there was going to be no problem,' she commented with more than a touch of sarcasm, 'or I'd be worried.'

The ship rocked under the steady fire from the TIE fighters, making it difficult for Threepio to maintain his balance as he returned to the c.o.c.kpit. His metal skin b.u.mped and banged against the walls as he approached Han. 'Sir,' he began tentatively, 'I was wondering..."

Han Solo shot him a threatening glance. 'Either shut up or shut down,' Han warned the robot, who immediately did the former.

Still struggling with the controls to keep the Millennium Falcon on course, the pilot turned to the Wookiee. 'Chewie, how's the deflector shield holding up?'

The copilot adjusted an overhead switch and barked a reply that Solo interpreted as positive.

'Good,' said Han. 'At sublight, they may be faster, but we can still out-maneuver them. Hold on!' Suddenly the Corellian shifted his ship's course.

The two Imperial Star Destroyers had come almost within firing range of the Falcon as they loomed ahead; the pursuing TIE fighters and the Avenger were also dangerously close. Han felt he had no choice but to take the Falcon into a ninety-degree dive.

Leia and Chewbacca felt their stomachs leap into their throats as the Falcon executed its steep dive. Poor Threepio quickly had to alter his inner mechanisms if he wanted to remain on his metallic feet.

Han realized that his crew might think he was some kind of lunatic star jockey, pushing his ship on this madman's course. But he had a strategy in mind. With the Falcon no longer between them, the two Star Destroyers were now on a direct collision course with the Avenger. All he had to do was sit back and watch.

Alarms blared through the interiors of all three Star Destroyers. These ponderously ma.s.sive ships could not respond quickly enough to such emergencies. Sluggishly one of the Destroyers began to move to the left in its effort to avoid collision with the Avenger. Unfortunately, as it veered, it brushed its companion ship, violently shaking up both s.p.a.ceborne fortresses. The damaged Destroyers began to drift through s.p.a.ce, while the Avenger continued in pursuit of the Millennium Falcon and its obviously insane pilot.

Two down, Han thought. There was still a quartet of TIE fighters tailing the Falcon, blasting at its stern with full laser fire, but Han thought he could outstrip them. The ship was buffeted violently by the fighters' laser blasts, forcing Leia to hold on in a desperate attempt to keep her seat.

'That slowed them down a bit!' Han exulted. 'Chewie, stand by to make the jump to lightspeed.' There was not a moment to waste -the laser attack was intense now, and the TIE fighters were almost on top of them.

'They're very close,' Leia warned, finally able to speak.

Han looked at her with a wicked glint in his eyes. 'Oh, yeah? Watch this.'

He threw the hypers.p.a.ce throttle forward, desperate to escape, but also eager to impress the princess with both his own cleverness and his ship's fantastic power. Nothing happened! The stars that should by then have been mere blurs of light were still. Something was definitely wrong.

'Watch what?' Leia asked impatiently.

Instead of responding, Han worked the lightspeed controls a second time. Again, nothing. 'I think we're in trouble,' he muttered. His throat tightened. He knew 'trouble' was a gross understatement.

'If I may say so, sir,' Threepio volunteered, 'I noticed earlier that the entire main para-light system seemed to have been damaged.'

Chewbacca threw back his head and let out a loud and miserable wail.

'We're in trouble!' Han repeated.

All around them, the laser attack had increased violently. The Millennium Falcon could only continue at its maximum sublight velocity as it moved deeper into s.p.a.ce, closely followed by a swarm of TIE fighters and one gigantic Imperial Star Destroyer.

= VII =.

THE double sets of wings on Luke Skywalker's X-wing fighter were pulled together to form one wing as the small, sleek craft streaked away from the planet of snow and ice.

During his flight, the young commander had time to reflect on the events of the past few days. He now had time to ponder the enigmatic words of the ghostly Ben Ken.o.bi and think about his friendship with Han Solo, and also consider his tenuous relationship with Leia Organa. As he thought of the people he cared most about, he arrived at a sudden decision. Gazing back one last time at the small icy planet, he told himself there was no longer any turning back.

Luke flipped a number of switches on his control board and took the X-wing into a steep turn. He watched the heavens shift as he rocketed off in a new direction, flying at top velocity. He was bringing his craft back onto an even course when Artoo, still snug in his specially designed socket, began to whistle and beep.

The miniature computer installed in Luke's ship for translating the droid's language flashed the small droid's message onto a control panel viewscreen.

There's nothing wrong, Artoo,' Luke replied after reading the translation. 'I'm just setting a new course.'

The small droid beeped excitedly, and Luke turned to read the updated printout on the viewscreen.

'No,' Luke replied, 'we're not going to regroup with the others.'

This news startled Artoo, who immediately emitted a series of galvanic noises.

'We're going to the Dagobah system,' answered Luke.

Again the robot beeped, calculating the amount of fuel carried by the X-wing.

'We have enough power.'

Artoo gave vent to a longer, singsong series of toots and whistles.

'They don't need us there,' said Luke to the droid's question about the planned Rebel rendezvous.

Artoo then gently beeped a reminder about Princess Leia's order. Exasperated, the young pilot exclaimed, 'I'm countermanding that order! Now, be still.'

The little droid fell silent. Luke was, after all, a commander in the Rebel Alliance and, as such, could countermand orders. He was making a few minor adjustments on the controls when Artoo chirped up again.

'Yes, Artoo,' sighed Luke.

This time the droid made a series of soft noises, selecting each beep and whistle carefully. He did not want to annoy Luke, but the findings on his computer were important enough to report.

'Yes, Artoo, I know the Dagobah system doesn't appear on any of our navigational charts. But don't worry. It's there.'

Another worried beep from the R2 unit.

'I'm very sure,' the youth said, trying to rea.s.sure his mechanical companion. Trust me.'

Whether or not Artoo did trust the human being at the X-wing's controls, he only vented a meek little sigh. For a moment he was completely silent, as if thinking. Then he beeped again.

'Yes, Artoo?'

This communication from the robot was even more carefully put forth than before - one might even call the whistle-sentences tactful. It seemed Artoo had no intention of offending the human to whom he had entrusted himself. But wasn't it possible, the robot calculated, that the human's brain was slightly malfunctioning? After all, he had lain a long time in the snowdrifts of Hoth. Or, another possibility computed by Artoo, perhaps the Wampa Ice Creature had struck him more seriously than Too-Onebee had diagnosed?...

'No,' Luke answered, 'no headache. I feel fine. Why?'

Artoo's chirp was coyly innocent.

'No dizziness, no drowsiness. Even the scars are gone.'

The next whistle rose questioningly in pitch.