“Sir,” said the second commander, and carried out the order.
They had no idea that the helmeted pilot on their viewscreen had been Han Solo.
The bunker door opened and the Imperial troops rushed out. They were surprised to find themselves suddenly surrounded by armed Rebels and Ewoks. Most of the Ewoks carried spears and bows and arrows, but some brandished blaster rifles they’d confiscated from fallen stormtroopers.
The Imperial soldiers turned to face the open door behind them. Han and Chewbacca stood at either side. Han grinned at the duped troops, then he and Chewbacca entered the bunker with several Rebel commandos. The commandos carried the explosive charges they’d retrieved from the stormtroopers.
Arriving in the control room, the Rebels quickly planted high-powered proton grenades onto the control panels and beside the turbine generator. Chewbacca growled, urging everyone to hurry.
Han turned to a Rebel commando and said, “Throw me another charge.” Han caught the grenade, twisted its arming mechanism, and used the device’s magnetic plate to secure it to the ceiling. When the last charge was in place, the Rebels left the control room and ran as fast as they could for the bunker’s exit.
Darth Vader stalked the low-ceilinged area below the elevated platform in the Emperor’s throne room. Holding his lightsaber ready, he searched for his son in the semi-darkness and said, “You cannot hide forever, Luke.”
From the shadows, Luke answered, “I will not fight you.”
“Give yourself to the dark side,” Vader urged. “It is the only way you can save your friends.”
Luke closed his eyes. I’m sorry, Leia and Han. I’d do anything to save you, but I must resist the dark side. Suddenly, Luke felt a dull ache in his head, and sensed that Vader was using the Force to probe his mind.
“Yes, your thoughts betray you,” Vader spoke, confirming Luke’s suspicion. “Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for…”
Luke tried to block his thoughts—and failed.
“Sister!” Vader said. “So…you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps she will.”
“No!” Luke screamed in anger as he ignited his lightsaber and rushed at Vader. Sparks flew as they traded blows in the cramped area, and Luke felt the hatred within him build with each passing second. You’ll never take Leia, and you’ll never take me!
He kept swinging, forcing Vader to retreat from under the platform until they arrived at the short bridge that overlooked the elevator shaft. Vader fell back against the bridge’s railing, then was knocked to his knees. As he raised his lightsaber to block another onslaught, Luke slashed through Vader’s right hand, severing it at the wrist. Metal and electronic parts flew from Vader’s shattered stump, and his lightsaber clattered uselessly away, rolling over the edge of the bridge and into the apparently bottomless shaft below.
Luke angled his lightsaber at Vader’s throat, then held the blade there, watching Vader’s struggling form.
On the stairway behind Luke, the Emperor was unable to contain himself. “Good! Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father’s place at my side!”
Luke knew what the Emperor expected. He wants me to kill Vader. He wants me to kill my own father. Luke looked at his father’s mechanical hand, then to his own black-gloved right hand. Am I becoming like my father? Is that my destiny after all?
Then Luke made the decision for which he had spent a lifetime preparing. He deactivated his lightsaber, turned to the Emperor, and said “Never!” Luke flung his lightsaber aside and stood there unarmed.
The Emperor scowled.
“I’ll never turn to the dark side,” Luke vowed. “You’ve failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”
With immeasurable displeasure, the Emperor said, “So be it…Jedi.”
Han Solo ran out of the Imperial bunker shouting, “Move! Move! Move!” Chewbacca and the other Rebels ran away and dived for cover. A moment later, the bunker exploded, followed by the turbine generator and the reactor core. The generator tower was suddenly consumed by a series of explosions, and the enormous dish-shaped shield projector array came crashing down to the ground.
The destruction of the moon-based Imperial outpost was immediately acknowledged by the space cruiser New Home’s Mon Calmari crew. Admiral Ackbar announced, “The shield is down! Commence attack on the Death Star’s main reactor.”
From the Millennium Falcon, Lando Calrissian responded, “We’re on our way. Red Group, Gold Group, all fighters follow me.” Lando looked to Nien Nunb and laughed. “Told you they’d do it!” Nunb laughed, too.
Wedge Antilles’ X-wing, two A-wings, another X-wing, and a single Y-wing starfighter swung away from the Rebel fleet. The starfighters followed the Falcon, which flew straight and fast for the unfinished superstructure of the Death Star.
In the Emperor’s throne room, Darth Vader remained lying against the railing on the bridge above the elevator shaft. Vader had known Emperor Palpatine long enough to know what would happen next. He watched the Emperor descend to the bottom of the stairs and face Luke.
The Emperor said, “If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed.” Then he raised his arms and extended his gnarled fingers toward Luke. Blinding bolts of blue lightning shot from the Emperor’s hands, and Luke was suddenly enveloped by crackling bands of energy. He tried to deflect the lightning but was so overwhelmed that his knees buckled. He collapsed onto some canisters near the bridge’s railing.
As the Emperor continued to strike Luke with energized bolts, Vader struggled to his feet. Badly wounded, he moved slowly to stand beside his Master.
Sneering at Luke, the Emperor said, “Young fool…only now, at the end, do you understand.”
More blue lightning coursed over and through Luke. He fought to remain conscious and clutched at a canister to keep from falling into the adjacent shaft.
“Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side,” the Emperor leered. “You have paid the price of your lack of vision.” He released another bombardment of power at Luke, who writhed on the floor in unbearable pain.
Using the last of his strength, Luke lifted his arm, and reached out toward Vader. “Father, please,” Luke groaned. “Help me.”
Vader could see that Luke was on the verge of death. He looked to the Emperor, then back to Luke, who had curled into a fetal position on the floor.
“Now, young Skywalker…” the Emperor snarled, “you will die.”
Luke had not imagined pain beyond what he had already suffered, but then he was hit by a wave of power that was even more staggering. His harsh screams echoed across the throne room.
Beside the Emperor, Darth Vader continued to stand and watch. He looked to the Emperor again, then back to Luke.
And then, in a moment, something changed. Perhaps he remembered something heard in his youth a long time ago: an ancient prophecy of the Chosen One who would bring balance to the Force. Perhaps the vague outlines of someone named Shmi and a Jedi named Qui-Gon struggled to the surface of his consciousness. The most powerful, the most repressed thought of all could have emerged from the darkness: Padmé…and her undying love for someone he once knew well. And despite all the terrible, unspeakable things he’d done in his life, he suddenly realized he could not stand by and allow the Emperor to kill their son. And in that moment, he was no longer Darth Vader.
He was Anakin Skywalker.
He grabbed the Emperor from behind. The impossibly wretched Sith Lord gaped and squirmed in his embrace, continuing to release blue lightning, but the bolts veered away from Luke and arced back to strike the Sith Lords.
Dazed, Luke looked up to see the lightning travel through Vader and the Emperor. A burst of high-energy photons made Vader’s own damaged skull briefly visible through his armored helmet. Some
how, despite his severed hand, Vader had managed to lift the Emperor high over his head. With one final burst of his once-venerated strength, Darth Vader hurled the Emperor into the elevator shaft, then collapsed at the shaft’s edge.
Emperor Palpatine screamed as his body plunged down the seemingly bottomless shaft. When he was almost beyond sight, his body exploded, releasing dark energy and creating a rush of air up through the throne room.
From where he lay, Luke could tell by the rasping rattle from Vader’s helmet that his breathing apparatus was broken. Luke crawled the short distance to his father’s side and pulled him away from the edge of the abyss.
The Millennium Falcon and the Rebel starfighters flew low over the Death Star’s surface. From his X-wing’s cockpit, Wedge sighted the wide exhaust port that would be their entry point through the space station’s superstructure to reach the reactor core. Wedge said, “I’m going in.”
Wedge’s X-wing dived into the exhaust port, followed by one of the two A-wings.
Lando said, “Here goes nothing,” and guided the Falcon into the exhaust port with the other Rebel fighters right behind him. But then three standard TIE fighters zoomed in after the Rebels—and they were quickly followed by a trio of dagger-winged TIE interceptors.
At its present stage of construction, the Death Star’s superstructure resembled a series of interconnected mazelike tunnels. Wedge maintained his lead position, flying past crisscrossing girders and lift tubes at an alarming speed. Despite the fact that the Falcon was bulkier than the single-pilot fighters, Lando was experienced with handling the old freighter through tight areas, and followed Wedge and the A-wing pilot without difficulty.
When Wedge wrapped around a tight corner to enter a different tunnel, all the Rebel ships made the turn. The six TIE fighters followed, but one Imperial pilot lost control and collided with a large metal pipe that ran the length of the tunnel; his fighter exploded, but the others increased speed to pursue the Rebel ships.
Lando adjusted a switch on his console, then said into his comlink, “Now lock on to the strongest power source. It should be the power generator.”
“Form up,” Wedge told the other fighters. “And stay alert. We could run out of space real fast.”
Indeed, the tunnel appeared to be narrowing. As they continued to race for the reactor core, laserfire tore past them from behind. The X-wing at the rear of the group was hit and exploded in the tunnel.
Lando looked past the X-wing and A-wing in front of him and saw that the tunnel forked in two directions. Hoping to shake their Imperial pursuers, he said, “Split up and head back to the surface. And see if you can get a few of those TIE fighters to follow you.”
“Copy, Gold Leader,” answered an A-wing pilot.
At the tunnel juncture, Wedge went left and Lando followed him. The other Rebel starfighters veered to the right. Lando checked his scopes and saw there were now only two TIE interceptors behind him.
Wedge saw their route was becoming even more difficult to navigate, and he threw his X-wing into a short dive to avoid striking a low girder. Behind him, Lando attempted the same maneuver, but the Falcon’s oversized sensor dish smashed against the girder and broke free from the hull. Wincing at the sound of shredding metal, Lando said, “That was too close.”
Nien Nunb agreed.
Beyond the Death Star, the battle between the Rebel and Imperial fleets raged on. When one Rebel commander suggested they retreat, Admiral Ackbar answered, “We’ve got to give those fighters more time. Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer.”
Following Ackbar’s order, the Rebel cruisers and remaining starfighters targeted the Executor and began firing. The Super Star Destroyer rapidly became battered by explosions. On the Executor’s bridge, Admiral Piett was standing beside an Imperial commander in front of the viewport, and they saw the damage being inflicted on their ship.
Piett was about to issue a command when a controller from the lower-level crew pit said, “Sir, we’ve lost our bridge deflector shield.”
“Intensify the forward batteries,” Piett ordered. “I don’t want anything to get through.” Returning his gaze to the viewport, Piett saw another explosion. Losing his composure, he shouted, “Intensify forward firepower!”
“Too late!” yelled the commander beside him, who saw an out-of-control A-wing spinning straight for the bridge.
The A-wing smashed into the Executor’s bridge and exploded, causing the entire ship to veer off course. Damage-control crews were unable to seize command using the auxiliary control centers, and the Executor was dragged into the Death Star’s gravitational field. The other Star Destroyer crews watched in horror as the Executor plunged like an enormous knife into the Death Star and exploded.
For the first time since the battle had begun, the Death Star was rocked by explosions. Inside, Imperial troops ran in all directions, confused and desperate to escape. As one group ran past a hangar, they noticed a strange figure: a blonde young man dressed in black, who struggled to haul Darth Vader’s body to the same Lambda shuttle that had transported them from Endor’s forest moon. Not surprisingly, none of the Imperial soldiers offered to help Luke Skywalker.
Luke stumbled, too weak to support his father’s heavy body any further. Don’t worry, father. I won’t leave you here! Trying not to cause more damage to his father’s right arm, he dragged him across the hangar deck to the shuttle’s landing ramp. He was only at the base of the ramp when he collapsed from the effort.
Vader lay prone against the ramp. From the corridor outside the hangar came the sound of more explosions. Breathing hard, Luke looked up to his father’s masked visage.
“Luke,” Vader gasped, “help me take this mask off.”
Luke didn’t have to look at the life systems computer on Vader’s chestplate to know what his father was suggesting. Luke said, “But you’ll die.”
“Nothing can stop that now. Just for once…let me look on you…with my own eyes.”
Slowly, hesitantly, Luke lifted the helmet, leaving the faceplate still secured over his father’s face. Setting the helmet aside, he reached to the faceplate and carefully removed it from the black durasteel shell that wrapped around his neck. And then he saw his father’s face for the first time.
His flesh was ghastly, deathly pale and brutally scarred. There were dark circles under his eyes, and from what Luke could see, it appeared his skull had been hideously damaged. Luke tried to conceal his initial shock, then found himself staring into his father’s eyes. They were blue, like his own.
Anakin smiled weakly and said, “Now…go, my son. Leave me.”
“No,” Luke said, placing his hand on his father’s shoulder. “You’re coming with me. I’ll not leave you here. I’ve got to save you.”
Anakin smiled again. “You already have, Luke. You were right.” Choking, he gasped, “You were right about me. Tell your sister…you were right.”
Anakin slumped back against the ramp. Luke leaned over him and said, “Father…I won’t leave you.” Then Luke noticed that his father’s breathing apparatus was no longer making any noise.
Anakin Skywalker was dead.
Wedge’s X-wing and the Millennium Falcon flew out of the tunnel and entered the Death Star’s reactor core. The Rebel pilots were immediately followed by the two TIE interceptors that had pursued them since they’d split off from the other starfighters.
The reactor core was an enormous circular chamber. At its center was the main reactor, a massive power transference assembly with a ceiling-mounted generator.
“There it is!” Wedge said.
“All right, Wedge,” said Lando. “Go for the power regulator on the north tower.”
“Copy, Gold Leader,” Wedge replied. “I’m already on my way out.”
Wedge angled toward the ceiling and fired proton torpedoes at the upper area of the power regulator, causing a series of small explosions. As Wedge looped around and away from the main r
eactor, Lando fired the Falcon’s missiles.
The missiles scored direct hits on the main reactor. Lando winced at the brilliant light of the blast, but never lost control as he followed Wedge’s escape route. Behind him, one of the two TIE interceptors was struck by the explosive release of energy and was vaporized. As the remaining TIE interceptor accelerated in pursuit of the Falcon, the reactor’s upper assembly began to crash down from the ceiling. Just as the Falcon sped back into the tunnel, the entire reactor core was filled with superheated gases that rushed after the starships and into the tunnel.
Lando followed Wedge’s lead through the tunnel, retracing their path through the Death Star’s superstructure at an even greater speed as they tried to outrun the explosion. Behind him, the TIE interceptor also increased speed.
Admiral Ackbar and his Mon Calamari officers saw the explosions that were tearing across the Imperial space station. Ackbar said, “Move the fleet away from the Death Star.”
Fire and smoke filled the Death Star hangar, and a crashing gantry nearly smashed the front of the shuttle as it lifted from the deck. Seated behind its controls, Luke deftly turned the ship so it faced out, then hit the thrusters. He’d barely cleared the hangar doorway when the entire docking bay exploded behind him. Luke breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he’d made it.
A moment later, Wedge’s X-wing hurtled out of the exhaust port and headed straight for the forest moon. He saw that the Rebel fleet had already moved to a safe position, distancing itself from the impending blast.
Behind the Falcon, the wave of intense heat caught up with the TIE interceptor and the ship was transformed into a fireball. This encouraged Lando to fly even faster. Through the cockpit window, he saw the star-filled hole at the end of the tunnel just as the space around the Falcon caught fire. A mass of jet flame geysered from the exhaust port, then the Falcon blasted through it and away from the Death Star. Lando let out a loud victory cry as he punched the thrusters.
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