LUKE SKYWALKER

The lights flickered briefly, plunging the Millennium Falcon into darkness. When the lights came back on, Luke Skywalker shuddered. The harsh lighting momentarily blinded him, and this was a reminder of the horrid glow of Emperor Palpatine’s Sith lightening power.

“Luke? Luke, what is it?” Leia Skywalker, his beautiful twin sister, asked him. The two were interconnected in a strange way. No one really understood it but them, but the siblings were attuned to each other’s deepest feelings and thoughts.

“I don’t know. But I just sensed an unusual disturbance in the Force, coming from–”

Suddenly Han Solo, their close friend and Leia’s lover, ran into the room. “Damn that bounty hunter!” he yelled, heading for the cockpit. Chewbacca roared an agreement to his statement.

“Han, what is going on?” Luke asked, alarmed. An explosion suddenly rocked the ship, and the lights flickered again.

“That redheaded freak with the matching lightsaber is after us again!” came his yell form the cockpit. Luke rubbed his forehead. This was the third attack by Mara Jade on them this week. They had always been when they were giving the hyperdrive a rest and flying without it.

“People, I could use some gunners!” With a nod at Leia, he ran towards the gun stations. A small, one-man ship was flying after them with menacing speed.

“The hyperdrive is down!” yelled Han.

Luke pushed a button on his communicator. “Artoo, see if you can do anything about the hyperdrive.” A protest came form the other end. “I don’t care if you’re working on 3P0’s leg coverings! You can do that later! Now fix it!”

HAN SOLO

Back in the cockpit, Han and Chewy were trying to steer the ship our of Mara Jade’s line of fire, but without much success. The ship’s engines must have been hit, and it was preventing them from maneuvering properly.

Chewy said something in Wookiee, causing Han to look up from his ship’s controls. “Oh, great! An asteroid field!”

The field was getting closer to the damaged Falcon, and far too quickly for his liking. In the midst of all the chaos, C-3P0 walked into the cockpit, one leg trailing wires.

“Captain Solo, I’m afraid that the ship’s scanners have spotted an asteroid field nearby. And apparently we’re headed straight for it!” he said, alarm in his voice.

“Yeah! We’ve noticed! It’s–” Han tensed as they barely cleared one of the larger space rocks. “It’s on purpose, 3P0.”

“But sir! The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are three thousand, seven hundred and twenty to–”

“Oh, like we haven’t heard that one before. Go help Artoo in the back with the hyperdrive!” Han stared down the droid for a moment, and, grumbling to himself, 3P0 left the cockpit. Han smiled. Peace and quiet at last.

Another huge stone loomed before the viewport. With a damaged ship, it wasn’t going to be easy to get through this. Well, at least he the makings of a plan.