Star Wars: The Fall of Luke Skywalker/Chapter 1: The Empire Strikes Back

Chapter 1: The Empire Strikes Back
Vader moved forward to the edge of the platform and gazed down at Luke. Luke clutched his arm to his chest and slumped against the beam. "There is no escape," Vader said as Luke moved away from him, crawling backward to the outermost sensor array. "Don't make me destroy you."

Luke kept crawling. He felt dizzy and sick. The only thing on his mind was to put distance between himself and Vader. Seeing that Luke was utterly defeated, Vader switched off his lightsaber. "You do not yet realize your importance," Vader said. "You have only begun to discover your power. Join me and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy."

Reaching the end of the beam, Luke wrapped his arms around the outermost sensor array. Turning to face the Sith Lord, Luke yelled, "I'll never join you!" Vader responded, "If only you knew the power of the Dark Side," Vader said, reaching out to clutch the air with his black gloved fist. "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."

Luke said, "He told me enough!" as he lowered himself so his feet rested on a metal bar. Cringing, he added, "He told me you killed him." "No. I am your father."

Luke stared in disbelief. "No... no! That's not true! That's impossible!" Vader said, "Search your feelings. You know it to be true." Luke cried, "No! No!" "Luke. The Rebellion is meaningless. You can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny." Vader opened his left hand and held it out to Luke. "Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy together as father and son."

Luke looked down the seemingly bottomless shaft. "Come with me," Vader urged. "It is the only way."

Luke stared at Vader and then the reactor shaft. He eased closer to Vader and shimmied back on to the platform that Vader was standing on. "Good. Follow me." As the two walked back to the main part of the city, Luke thought I'm sorry, Leia

The Millennium Falcon sped away from Cloud City. Just then, Leia heard Luke speaking as if he had been standing next to her. At first she thought it was her imagination, but an image formed in her mind of Luke, wounded and standing in Vader's shadow. She heard Luke's voice again. "I'm sorry, Leia." She felt a wave of despair wash over her.

Luke walked the halls of Cloud City with Vader. Stormtroopers stared at the former Rebel as he walked by with Vader. Arrested citizens stared at the two, but were pushed along by Stormtroopers. "Keep moving, scum," a trooper said to a crowd. As Vader and Luke arrived at the shuttle, Vader said "Alert the Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival.

Vader and Luke sat across from each other. Luke clutched his arm and thought hard about his decision. The Lambda-class shuttle took off and began to head for the Star Destroyer. Vader planned the fate of the Millennium Falcon.

The Falcon soared out of the upper atmosphere of Bespin. Lando looked over at the obviously distressed Leia. "Leia, what's wrong?" "It's Luke," she replied. "Something's terribly wrong." Both Lando and Chewie were flipping various switches to shake the TIE fighters pursuing them. As they cleared the clouds, they all saw a dreadful, wedge-shaped ship in the viewport. It was the Executor, Vader's flagship.

"All right, Chewie," Leia said. "Ready for light speed." The Wookiee barked. "Punch it!" Leia said. Chewbacca pulled back on the throttle. The engine sounded like it was winding up, but it then cut off. "They told me they fixed it," Lando said as Chewbacca let out a frustrated howl. "It's not my fault!". Chewbacca glared at Lando as he ran out of the cockpit for the engine room.

After returning to the Star Destroyer, Vader proceeded to the bridge and walked directly to Admiral Piett's command station. "Did your men deactivate the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon?" he asked. "Yes, my lord. They'll be in range of our tractor beam in moments," Piett responded. "No matter. There is nothing of use left on the Millennium Falcon. Destroy it." "Yes, my Lord."

Seated on a crate in the Millenium Falcon, C-3PO was almost entirely re-assembled, save for his leg. Since boarding the ship, R2-D2 had quickly begun working on fixing the protocol droid. Just then, Chewbacca ran into the hold behind them, howling. C-3PO remarked, "Noisy brute. Why don't we just go into lightspeed?" While Chewbacca lifted the deck plates to uncover the access pit, R2-D2 beeped his explanation. "We can't? How would you know the hyperdrive is deactivated?" C-3PO asked.

R2-D2 beeped. "The city's central computer told you? Artoo-Detoo, you know better than to trust a strange computer!" C-3PO said, surprised. R2-D2's extended repair tool sparked against the protocol droid's golden plating. "Ow! Pay attention to what you're doing!"

In the pit, Chewbacca confronted the hyperdrive with a fusion cutter. There was an unexpected flash of electrical current that triggered a surge, making sparks fly in the cockpit.

Luke had arrived at the bridge with an armed escort. He stood next to Vader. Vader greeted him simply by saying, "Luke." "Father," Luke replied. Why didn't you tell me, Ben? he thought. Admiral Piett then turned to a lieutenant and said, "Alert all commands. Ready the Ion Cannon."

A flash erupted from one of the many Turbolaser cannons from the Executor. A huge blast of energy erupted and quickly sped for the Millennium Falcon

R2-D2 raced for the engine room as the ship began evasive maneuvers, knocking C-3PO over. "R2-D2, you don't know how to fix the hyperdrive! Chewbacca can't do it and you can't do it. I'm standing here in pieces and you're having delusions of grandeur!" The little astromech droid extending his manipulator arm to move a circuit on the circuit panel. Suddenly, the control panel lit up and the hyperdrive kicked in just as another ion blast barreled towards the Millennium Falcon.

The ship disappeared in the blink of an eye. Vader stared in disbelief on the bridge as Luke was silently relieved that his friends were okay. The two headed back towards the ship for the med-bay to apply Luke's prosthetic arm.

Leia, Chewie, and the droids looked out a view port overlooking the galaxy in a Nebulon-B Frigate. Han and Luke were lost. This was a dark time for the Rebellion. The Millennium Falcon could be seen as it departed and headed for the galaxy. A Rebel Captain walked up to Leia and said, "Princess. We found something in your droid's memory banks," and handed her a datapad.

She looked at the datapad and back at the galaxy. "Captain, take us to Dagobah," she said. Perhaps not all was lost.