Star Wars_ Episode V_ The Empire Strikes Back - Donald F. Glut [25]
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 cockpit 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 space. 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 space. 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