• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

The seekers sent one rocketing bolt after another directly at Luke.

But, with astounding skill, he warded off every one. He knocked one of the seekers toward the open door where Artoo stood watching his master's performance. But the faithful droid saw the shining ball too late to avoid the bolt it shot at him. The impact knocked the shrieking robot onto the ground with a clunk that nearly shook loose his electronic insides.

Later that evening, after the student had successfully passed a number of his teacher's tests, a weary Luke Skywalker finally fell asleep on the ground outside Yoda's house. He slept fitfully, tossing and softly moaning. His concerned droid stood by him, reaching out an extension arm and covering Luke with the blanket that had slipped halfway off. But when Artoo started to roll away, Luke began to groan and shudder as if in the grip of some horrible nightmare.

Inside the house, Yoda heard the groans and hurried to his doorway.

Luke awoke from his sleep with a start. Dazed, he looked about him, then saw his teacher worriedly watching him from his house. 'I can't keep the vision out of my head,' Luke told Yoda. 'My friends ... they're in trouble ... and I feel that-'

'Luke, you must not go,' Yoda warned.

'But Han and Leia will die if I don't.'

'You don't know that.' It was the whispered voice of Ben, who was beginning to materialize before them. The dark-robed figure stood, a shimmering image, and told Luke, 'Even Yoda cannot see their fate.'

But Luke was deeply worried about his friends and was determined to do something. 'I can help them!' he insisted.

'You're not ready yet,' Ben said gently. 'You still have much to learn.'

'I feel the Force,' Luke said.

'But you cannot control it. This is a dangerous stage for you, Luke. You are now most susceptible to the temptations of the dark side.'

'Yes, yes,' Yoda added. 'To Obi-Wan you listen, young one. The tree. Remember your failure at the tree! Heh?'

Painfully, Luke remembered, though he felt he had gained a great deal of strength and understanding in that experience. 'I've learned much since then. And I'll return to finish. I promise that, master.'

'You underestimate the Emperor,' Ben told him gravely. 'It is you he wants. That is why your friends suffer.'

'And that,' Luke said, 'is why I must go.'

Kenobi was firm. 'I will not lose you to the Emperor as I once lost Vader.'

'You won't.'

'Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his Emperor,' Ben emphasized. 'If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path - as Vader did - you will become an agent of evil, and the galaxy will be plunged deeper into the abyss of hate and despair.'

'Stopped they must be,' Yoda interjected. 'Do you hear? On this all depends.'

'You are the last Jedi, Luke. You are our only hope. Be patient.'

'And sacrifice Han and Leia?' the youth asked incredulously.

'If you honor what they fight for,' Yoda said, pausing for a long moment,'... yes!'

Great anguish overcame Luke. He wasn't certain that he could reconcile the advice of these two great mentors with his own feelings. His friends were in terrible danger, and of course he must save them. But his teachers thought he was not ready, that he might be too vulnerable to the powerful Vader and his Emperor, that he might bring harm to his friends and himself-and possibly be lost forever on the path of evil.

Yet how could he fear these abstract things when Han and Leia were real and were suffering? How could he permit himself to fear possible danger to himself when his friends were presently in real danger of death?

There was no longer any question in his mind as to what he had to do.

It was dusk the next day on the bog planet when Artoo Detoo settled himself into his nook behind the cockpit of Luke's X-wing fighter.

Yoda stood on one of the storage cases, watching Luke load the cases one by one into the fighter's underbelly as he worked in the glow of the X-wing's lights.

'I cannot protect you, Luke,' the voice of Ben Kenobi came,