The hid location of the rebel base,
I shall unleash this station’s pow’r upon
Thine own home planet—even Alderaan.
LEIA
Nay, do not so to peaceful Alderaan!
TARKIN
Thou shalt a military target name,
Then render swift the system’s name as well.
Or else thy precious Alderaan goes to’t.
I tire of asking o’er and o’er, so thus
I promise: this shall be the final time—
Where is thy rebel base?
LEIA
—On Dantooine.
They may be found on planet Dantooine.
TARKIN
Ha, ha! Thou seest, Vader, how a cat
May have her claws remov’d. Now, Admiral,
Thou mayst continue with thy weapon’s test,
And surely mayst thou fire when all’s prepar’d.
LEIA
What madness here?!
TARKIN
—Thou far too trusting art.
The tiny Dantooine is too remote
To show this station’s pow’r but pray, fear not,
We shall in time thy rebel friends pursue.
CHORUS
To do the Governor’s most evil will,
The people on the Death Star quickly rise.
With mighty flash, the beam bursts bright and shrill
And Alderaan is shatter’d ’fore their eyes.
LEIA
[sings:] When Alderaan hath blossom’d bright,
Then sang we songs of nonny,
But now her day is turn’d to night,
Sing hey and lack-a-day.
My friend and I stood by the river,
Then sang we songs of nonny,
But I could not her soul deliver,
Sing hey and lack-a-day.
My planet hath the bluest shore,
Then sang we songs of nonny,
That noble land is now no more,
Sing hey and lack-a-day.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 6.
Space, aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Enter OBI-WAN KENOBI, LUKE SKYWALKER, C-3PO, R2-D2, and CHEWBACCA.
CHORUS
The instant Alderaan is smash’d to bits,
Luke tries his lightsaber—a keen trainee.
The droids and Wookiee play a game of wits,
But Obi-Wan doth sense catastrophe.
OBI-WAN
[aside:] Now breaks my heart as through the Force I sense
The suffering of many worthy souls.
I know not what this doth portend, and yet
I fear the worst.
LUKE
—Good Sir, how farest thou?
OBI-WAN
Forsooth, a great disturbance in the Force
Have I just felt. ’Twas like a million mouths
Cried out in fear at once, and then were gone,
All hush’d and quiet—silent to the last.
I fear a stroke of evil hath occurr’d.
But thou, good Luke, thy practice recommence.
Enter HAN SOLO.
HAN
Thou mayest all thy troubles now forget,
Th’Imperi’l knaves have been outrun at last.
[Aside:] Well here’s a solemn gathering indeed,
Quite lacking in the proper gratitude.
[To Obi-Wan and Luke:] Nay, speak thou not thy thanks too heartily,
Else shall thy praise go swiftly to my head.
But here’s the point, we shall at Alderaan
Arrive ere long.
[R2-D2 makes a move against Chewbacca in the game they play.
C-3PO
—Pray, R2, caution show.
R2-D2
Beep, whistle, squeak, beep, meep, hoo whistle.
CHEWBAC.
—Auugh!
C-3PO
A fair move hath he made, thou furry lump.
No use is there in screaming o’er the loss.
[Aside:] However did I join this company?
A Wookiee and his smuggler captain—O!
CHEWBAC.
Egh.
HAN
—Be thou wise, droid, mark well what thou dost.
As it is said: black holes are worth thy fear,
But fear thou more a Wookiee’s deadly wrath.
C-3PO
But Sir, no proverb warns the galaxy
Of how a droid may hotly anger’d be.
HAN
Aye, marry, ’tis because no droid hath e’er
Torn out of joint another being’s arms
Upon a lesser insult e’en than this—
But Wookiees, golden droid, are not so tame.
C-3PO
Thy meaning, Sir, doth prick my circuit board.
’Tis best to play the fool, and not the sage,
To say it brief: pray let the Wookiee win.
CHEWBAC.
Auugh!
R2-D2
[aside:] —Brute! The fool I’ll play with thee, indeed.
Yet I perceive thou and thy friend have heart.
[Luke continues to practice with his lightsaber against the remote.
OBI-WAN
Remember, Luke, the Force doth smoothly flow
Within the feelings of a Jedi Knight.
LUKE
But doth the Force control one’s ev’ry move?
OBI-WAN
’Tis somewhat so, but also shall the Force
Obey thine every command, young Luke.
LUKE
[aside:] This Force, by troth, I’ll never comprehend!
It doth control and also doth obey?
And ’tis within and yet it is beyond,
’Tis both inside and yet outside one’s self?
What paradox! What fickle-natur’d pow’r!
Aye: frailty, thy name—belike—is Force.
[To Obi-Wan:] Alack! This small remote hath struck again!
HAN
Ha, ha! Thy errant systems of belief—
Thy weapons ancient, all thy mysteries,
Thy robes and meditations o’er the air,
Thy superstitions, e’en thy precious Force—
Cannot compare to my religion true:
A trusty blaster ever by my side.
With thus I say my prayers and guard my soul.
LUKE
Devoted foll’wer must thou be, with such
A speech. Pray tell me, pilgrim reverent:
Dost thou most truly disbelieve the Force?
HAN
A pilgrim, truly said! For I have gone
From galaxy to galaxy and more,
Yet never hath this faithful worshipper
Found aught to recommend that strange belief—
A single Force that binds the universe.
True ’tis, no power mystical controls
Han Solo’s yet unfinish’d destiny.
And so I preach the one and only faith:
My simple, merry tricks are all my gods,
And nonsense is the only testament.
I worship at the shrine of my own will.
OBI-WAN
[aside:] A wise philosopher if e’er there was.
I’ll warrant he hath character he hides.
[To Luke:] Now prithee, try again, and lay aside
Thy conscious self. Take thou this helmet thick,
Adorn thine eyes with silver shield opaque
And trust thine instincts only as thy guide.
LUKE
But surely ’tis a jest! For with this shield
I nothing now can see. How can I fight?
Aye, truly—fight or walk or even stand?
Without one’s sight but little can be done.
OBI-WAN
Nay, ’tis in blindness one doth truly see!
For eyes deceive and sight is known to lie.
Let feelings be thy sight—their guidance trust!
CHORUS
With mind unsure Luke re
adies for the fight.
The small remote doth dodge most suddenly,
But with calm mind Luke blocks its lasers bright—
With inner eye the Force has let him see.
OBI-WAN
Hurrah! Thou canst do it!
HAN
—’Tis luck, no more.
OBI-WAN
Experience hath taught me much, dear man,
And none of it hath shown me aught of luck.
HAN
To find success against a small remote,
Is well, and taketh skill, I do confess.
To find success against a living soul,
However, also taketh excellence.
[Console beeps.
It seemeth we draw near to Alderaan.
[Exeunt Han Solo and Chewbacca.
LUKE
I did feel something, Obi-Wan, ’tis true.
It seems I fix’d my soul’s eye on th’remote.
OBI-WAN
Thou hast thy first step ta’en toward a world
Far greater than thou now canst understand.
[Exeunt Luke, C-3PO, and R2-D2.
And thus begins—if I have seen aright—
His transformation into Jedi Knight.
[Exit Obi-Wan.
SCENE 7.
Inside the Death Star.
Enter DARTH VADER and GRAND MOFF TARKIN.
Enter OFFICER CASS opposite.
CASS
My Lord, our scout ships have reach’d Dantooine.
Remains of th’rebel base the scouts have found,
Yet surely hath it been a length of time
Deserted. Now shall they begin to search
Surrounding systems, so to find the base.
[Exit Officer Cass.
TARKIN
The wench hath lied! Deceiving, cut-throat girl,
Most cunning princess born of Hell’s own heart!
VADER
I knew full well she never would betray
Her priz’d Rebellion whilst in her right mind.
And thus I said: she ne’er should have our trust.
TARKIN
Destroy her! ’Tis a sentence more than just.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 8.
Space, aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Enter HAN SOLO and CHEWBACCA.
HAN
Now dropping out of light speed’s frantic rush
We enter swift unto the area
Where should there be great Alderaan in view.
But pray, what madness meets the Falcon’s flight?
Is this an ast’roid field I see before me?
The ship hath wrought a course direct and true,
And yet no Alderaan may here be found.
O errand vile, O portents of great ill!
What shall it mean, when planets are no more,
For those who make their wages by the stars?
Enter OBI-WAN KENOBI and LUKE SKYWALKER.
LUKE
What news, good Han?
HAN
—The ship’s position hits
The mark, and yet no Alderaan there is.
LUKE
I pray thee, marry, say: what canst thou mean?
How can a planet vanish in the air?
HAN
Thou hast said right, my lad. It is not there.
The planet’s gone, all turned to rock and ash.
LUKE
Thou speak’st not right. Say how? Pray how? Tell how!
OBI-WAN
Destroy’d it was, and by the Empire cruel.
HAN
A thousand thousand ships could not destroy
The planet. Truly ’twould take greater pow’r
Than ever there was known to humankind.
But soft! Another ship approaches quick.
[A small ship flies quickly past the Millennium Falcon.
LUKE
Belike they can the tale to us relate.
OBI-WAN
Imperi’l fighter ’tis.
LUKE
—Hath it made chase?
OBI-WAN
Nay, nay! A short-range fighter ’tis. [Aside:] O how
This situation here doth give me pause.
HAN
No base is there nearby. Whence cometh it?
[Aside:] The courage in me melts away at this.
My boasts cannot resolve this mystery.
LUKE
The ship departeth swiftly! If they have
Identifi’d our lot, we shall have strife.
HAN
’Tis my intent to keep us from that Fate.
Chewbacca, render its transmissions block’d.
OBI-WAN
Pray, let it go, ’tis too far flown.
HAN
—Not long!
OBI-WAN
Dost thou agree—a fighter of its size
This deep in space could not have come alone?
LUKE
Belike ’twas in a group and now is lost.
HAN
It shall not live to tell the tale today.
LUKE
Forsooth! He makes his way to that small moon.
HAN
OBI-WAN
Alas—I sense the game, and we’re the pawns.
That is no moon. ’Tis a space station there.
[The Death Star looms in the distance, growing closer.
HAN
’Tis far too large a space station to be.
LUKE
My feelings now do stir, I sense them well!
They tell me we shall lose the match we play.
OBI-WAN
Pray, turn thee now the ship around.
HAN
—I shall!
Now Chewie, lock thou quick th’auxill’ry pow’r.
LUKE
Why do we still approach? What can be done?
HAN
It hath th’advantage, using tractor beam
To pull us in, unto its landing bay.
LUKE
But pray, some move thou must have left to make!
HAN
My moves are finish’d, lad, I must shut down,
Else shall the ship entire soon come apart.
But still, with all my players I shall fight.
OBI-WAN
Thou canst not win, but will by strategy
Some good alternatives to fighting see.
CHORUS
So enters the Millenn’um Falcon in
Unto the Death Star, grand and stark and mean.
With fear the Wookiee and the three brave men
Look on as their space journey changes scene.
Meanwhile, the denizens within the base
Make haste to catch the ship that cometh near.
Commanders come with well-arm’d guards apace,
While stormtroopers do at their posts appear.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 1.
Inside the Death Star.
Enter DARTH VADER, GRAND MOFF TARKIN, and ENVOY.
ENVOY
A freighter hath been captur’d entering
The system Alderaan. Its markings match
A ship that hath Mos Eisley quickly fled.
VADER
This errant ship, belike, endeavors to
Return the plans unto the princess who,
Within this base, is lock’d in guarded cell.
[To Grand Moff Tarkin:] Perhaps the princess yet hath use to us.
[Exit Grand Moff Tarkin. Vader crosses to the ship.
Enter OFFICER 1, STORMTROOPERS, and GUARDS 1 and 2.
OFFICER 1
No person is aboard the ship, my Lord.
The log maintain’d on board doth tell a tale
Of all the crew abandoning the ship
Directly after its departure. ’Tis
No doubt a decoy, Sir. For all the pods
Have launchèd been.
VADER
—Hast thou found any droids?
OFFICER 1
Nay, truly not, my Lord. If there had been,
Then surely must they have abandon’d too.
VADER
Send thou a scanning crew aboard the ship,
And check its nooks and crannies, ev’ry bit.
OFFICER 1
Aye, good, my Lord.
VADER
[aside:] —Distract’d is my mind,
But through its cloudy haze the reason comes:
Unless I am in error, someone here
Has come. I have not felt this presence since
The days that are but dark in memory.
This presence I have known since I was young,
This presence that once call’d me closest friend,
This presence that hath all my hopes betray’d,
This presence that hath turn’d my day to night.
This awful presence present here must be,
So shall I to this presence violence
Present.
[Exit Darth Vader.
OFFICER 1
—Now to thy work, and scan the ship!
TROOPER 5
The scan is done; no living soul is here.
[Exeunt stormtroopers.
Enter OBI-WAN KENOBI, LUKE SKYWALKER, HAN SOLO, CHEWBACCA, C-3PO, and R2-D2, hidden.
LUKE
’Tis fortunate thou hast these storage bins.
HAN
Their use hath ever been for smuggling goods.
Ne’er have I thought I would myself herein