SCENE 8.
Space, aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Enter HAN SOLO and CHEWBACCA.
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.
What news, good Han?
—The ship’s position hits
The mark, and yet no Alderaan there is.
I pray thee, marry, say: what canst thou mean?
How can a planet vanish in the air?
Thou hast said right, my lad. It is not there.
The planet’s gone, all turned to rock and ash.
Thou speak’st not right. Say how? Pray how? Tell how!
Destroy’d it was, and by the Empire cruel.
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.
Belike they can the tale to us relate.
Imperi’l fighter ’tis.
—Hath it made chase?
Nay, nay! A short-range fighter ’tis. [Aside:] O how
This situation here doth give me pause.
No base is there nearby. Whence cometh it?
[Aside:] The courage in me melts away at this.
My boasts cannot resolve this mystery.
The ship departeth swiftly! If they have
Identifi’d our lot, we shall have strife.
’Tis my intent to keep us from that Fate.
Chewbacca, render its transmissions block’d.
Pray, let it go, ’tis too far flown.
—Not long!
Dost thou agree—a fighter of its size
This deep in space could not have come alone?
Belike ’twas in a group and now is lost.
It shall not live to tell the tale today.
Forsooth! He makes his way to that small moon.
I may play checkmate on him ere he lands.
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.
’Tis far too large a space station to be.
My feelings now do stir, I sense them well!
They tell me we shall lose the match we play.
Pray, turn thee now the ship around.
—I shall!
Now Chewie, lock thou quick th’auxill’ry pow’r.
Why do we still approach? What can be done?
It hath th’advantage, using tractor beam
To pull us in, unto its landing bay.
But pray, some move thou must have left to make!
My moves are finish’d, lad, I must shut down,
Else shall the ship entire soon come apart.
Thou canst not win, but will by strategy
Some good alternatives to fighting see.
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.