Star Wars Altered Universe

Episode IV: A New Hope

A continuation of Scott’s fantasy adaption of George Lucas’s

wonderful Star Wars universe

By Scott Ferguson

Star Wars, all Star Wars characters, and the Star Wars universe

are Copyright © by George Lucas and Lucasfilms, Ltd.

Prologue

It is a period of Civil War.

The skirmishes began nearly eighteen years ago, when the fateful, first shots of the newborn rebellion were fired on Coruscant. They have grown in intensity over the years, as the ragtag band of rebels, aided by the last remaining Jedi Knights and a handful of sympathetic systems, have continued to strike back against Emperor Vader and his dark, tyrannical rule.

Driven into hiding shortly after the start of the war by Darth Vader, it has been a long, dark nightmare for the Jedi who managed to survive Palpatine’s betrayal twenty years ago. With a price on their heads great enough to lure every bounty hunter in the galaxy with the promise of instant wealth, they have found it hard enough to survive, let alone assist openly with the rebellion that could someday bring an end to the Dark Lord of the Sith’s evil regime.

It has been harder, still, for Anakin and Padmé Skywalker, as they have sought to keep their children safe from the Dark Lord’s ever-watchful eyes. Once powerful Jedi Knights, they have been in hiding since the rescue of Anakin’s mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their adopted niece, Shanda Lars. Knowing full well how strongly the Force is with their children, Anakin and Padmé have dedicated their lives to raising Luke and Leia, both of who are blissfully ignorant of their parent’s past as Jedi Knights and leaders of the once great Republic.

Yet, Padmé’s past has returned to haunt them, somewhat, as the years have passed; their daughter, Leia, is much like her mother, with the same passion and fire for justice and democracy that placed Padmé on the throne as queen of Naboo many years ago. Keeping her safe has been a challenge, to say the least, as the headstrong young teen has grown into an even more headstrong and idealistic young woman.

But, just like her parents, Leia leads a hidden life; while serving under Bail Organa’s tutelage and attending a university on Bail’s home planet of Aldeeran, she has secretly become an integral part of the tiny, struggling Rebellion, and, believing that her peaceful, loving parents would never approve, she has hidden her involvement from them and her brother, Luke.

Yet now, it seems that her luck may have run out. The conflict has intensified, sparking skirmishes and battles throughout the quadrant, and rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first major victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies have captured a set of plans for the Empire’s secret weapon, the Death Star, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. If completed, the massive station will spell almost certain doom for the Rebellion.

Persued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Leia and her comrades race against time for Alderaan, custodians of the stolen plans that can save the foundering rebellion and restore freedom to the galaxy…

She’d never been so scared in her relatively young life.

Her heart pounding, Leia reached out and grabbed the bulkhead, hanging on tightly as the small Correllian freighter rocked hard to her starboard side. “That was too close,” she gasped, glancing back at her two companions as the ship’s hull groaned beneath the massive blasts of laser fire their massive pursuer rained down on them.

She looked up, watching for a moment as three or four obviously frightened soldiers, dressed in their now familiar helmets and battle fatigues, bolted past her and down the corridor toward the aft section of the ship, their weapons raised and ready. She looked up again, listening as the freighter’s engines rumbled loudly, and then fell eerily silent.

“Did you hear that?” Threepio exclaimed, waving his arms wildly in panic. “They’ve shut down the main reactor!” he said, shuffling close to Leia’s side as Artoo rolled up beside him. “Mistress Leia, this is madness!”

“Threepio, will you please shut up!? I can’t hear what Artoo’s trying to tell me!” Leia exclaimed; her patience with her now lifelong companion was growing thin indeed, and she turned her eyes down to Artoo as she heard him let fly with a long, eager string of beeps, whistles and clicks once more.

“Alright, fine, but hurry,” Leia nodded, stepping aside as Artoo rolled past her and down one of the adjacent maintenance corridors; she paused, long enough to reach inside her gleaming white tunic and retrieve a small, silver disc. “I just hope you know where you’re going,” she said, following along behind her little droid as, still on the verge of panic, Threepio shuffled along behind her into the dimly lit tunnel.

Jan Hensen had always known this day could come.

He knelt quickly beside the corridor’s archway along with his companions, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps as he lifted his blaster pistol and held it tightly in his trembling hands. He closed one eye as he sighted along the top of the slim, shiny barrel, training his weapon on the center of the metal blast door that led to the freighter’s docking ring.

He swallowed hard, trying desperately to calm himself, as he felt his heart pounding in his chest; he could hear the hiss of the plasma torches from the other side of the blast door, as they ate through the thick carbellium structure. It was only a matter of time, he thought to himself, as he felt his weapon begin to tremble even more in his clammy, sweaty hands.

He’d heard rumors, just like his companions, about the Empire’s battle-hardened forces; he’d seen them, on many occasions, but, like most of his young companions, he’d had the good fortune of engaging them only from a distance, from the relative security of an armed freighter or a speedy fighter.

But not today.

Jan glanced around quickly at his fellow crewmates, and he swallowed hard again as he saw the mixture of emotions on their faces -- fear, foreboding, determination, anger -- they were all there, mixed together, as they all prepared themselves for the onslaught that awaited, just beyond that doorway. Jan looked back toward the door, and he blinked as he saw the brilliant shower of hot, gold sparks and thick smoke that erupted into the corridor as the first of the plasma torches burned through. They had run out of options, he thought with despair, and he felt his heart begin to sink in his chest as he leveled his trembling weapon toward the cloud of thick smoke that billowed through the gash in the heavy blast door.

Jan jerked his head around and closed his eyes, as a brilliant flash erupted through the thick haze; temporarily blinded, he began to panic, as he heard the heavy thunk as what remained of the blast door struck the corridor floor a short distance from him. He looked back toward the haze, his heart racing, blinking his eyes several times as he tried desperately to focus and aim his weapon as the brilliant orange bolts of weapons fire began to surge toward them from the milky-white haze.

He cried out and leapt back, as he saw the crewman nearest him reel backwards, screaming in agony, as one of the brilliant orange bolts ripped through his body; he looked down at his fallen crewmate, gasping quickly, as he felt the wave of panic begin to overtake him.

Jan looked up, and he opened his own mouth to cry out in despair as he brought his weapon up toward the cold, unfeeling, white-armored figure that suddenly burst through the smoke toward him. He squeezed the trigger of his weapon, firing wildly, as he watched the storm trooper raise his weapon, quite calmly, and take aim directly at him.

Those black, unfeeling eyes of that brilliant white helmet would be the last thing he would ever remember; everything else disappeared in a brilliant, orange flash, taking young Jan, in a blur of pain and terror, to whatever life waited for him beyond this one.

The corridor was silent, except for the distant sound of weapons fire, as the storm troopers continued to press their assault deeper and deeper into the heart of the unfortunate ship. She looked up, as she knelt down and stepped slowly through the still smoking hole in the blast door, watching as the troopers nearest her snapped cleanly to attention; she reached behind her, wrapping her gloved hand quickly through her long black cloak, and pulled it through the opening behind her as she stepped into the corridor and stood up.

The thick, black cloak she wore swirled around her boots, sending swirls of acrid smoke spinning into the stale air around her as she slowly surveyed the carnage before her. She could feel the fear that permeated the ship, even from here, as she eyed the bodies of the rebel soldiers that littered the floor of the corridor.

She had them, this time, she thought to herself, as she raised a slim hand and pushed a lock of straight, silver hair back out of her eyes, then started to walk quickly down the corridor; she turned and, with the same hand, motioned silently to the troopers that stood near the doorway, and the sound of her boots mingled with theirs as they made their way, as quickly as they could, down the corridor and toward the command deck of the Corellian freighter.

The bait had been taken. Now it was just a matter of finding out who she had caught.

The corridor of the maintenance shaft was filled with acrid smoke; the little astrodroid activated his ventilation fans, doing his best to clear at least some of the foul-smelling smoke as he watched Leia cough and lift her hand to her face, and then lean down in front of him.

“Mistress Leia, what are we going to do?” Threepio exclaimed; Leia closed her eyes, sighing deeply, as the tall, golden droid’s panic reached a crescendo. “I told you that coming here as a bad idea,” he exclaimed, turning and waving his arms frantically, his yellow eyes blinking in the dim light as he looked back down the corridor.

“They’re coming, I can hear them now,” he exclaimed, as Leia stood up quietly, reaching into the folds of her robe once more as she took a step closer to him. “Whatever are we going to do?” he said, turning to face her once more. “Master Anakin is going to be quite upset, if we ever see him again, and he’s never going to forgive Artoo or me for allowing you to be here in the first place!”

He paused, looking down curiously at the small device Leia held in her outstretched hand. “Oh, thank goodness!” he swooned, as he watched Leia smile at him, then lift the device a bit closer to her face. “You’ve got a comlink! I knew that you’d find a way to…”

“Threepio, you don’t know how bad I hate to do this, but…”

Without another word, Leia pressed the button on the device, then pressed it tightly against the tall, golden droid’s central computer interface, right in the middle of his chest; there was a bright flash, a strong whiff of ozone, and, with a few wildly chattering bits of unintelligible words, Threepio’s eyes went dark as he collapsed limply to the floor in front of her.

“I’m sorry, Artoo, I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice,” Leia grunted, straining as she lifted the heavy droid into a sitting position next to the nearby bulkhead. “If the two of you were to be captured, I couldn’t risk Threepio telling them everything,” she said, tossing the small device she’d used to effectively wipe her old friend’s memory clean as a whistle. “Dad can restore him, if we ever get him home,” she sighed, turning and kneeling in front of Artoo as he rolled up beside her.

“Look after him,” she said, as she pulled the small, silver disc from her robes once more. “And open up,” she said; she watched, as the little droid swiveled his dome toward her, then opened the small drive bay just beneath his main optical sensor. “Whatever you do, don’t lose this,” she said, as Artoo took the disc, then retracted it into his drive mechanism.

“This is the most important thing you’ve ever done, Artoo,” she said, patting the little droid, the one she’d known since her childhood, affectionately on the top of his dome. She smiled at him, then leaned forward and kissed him on the small, round radar sensor that adorned his silver and blue dome. “Get out of here, and don’t let me down, okay?”

Leia looked up, alarmed, as she suddenly heard voices down the corridor; she stood up, reached into the folds of her tunic, and produced a small blaster pistol. “Go,” she said, tossing the hood of her robe up over her head. “Get yourself and Threepio out of here,” she said, turning and starting down the narrow, smoke filled corridor. “I’ll try to buy you both some time!”

Artoo watched her, a long, forlorn whistle filling the small corridor as Leia trotted off through the smoke, and then disappeared around the corner. He waited only a moment, and then, turning and taking hold of Threepio’s leg with his grappling claw, he started down the corridor toward the escape pods, dragging his old golden counterpart behind him.

Leia’s breath came in ragged gasps; she felt the wave of fear sweep over her, as she ducked into the small alcove, in the corner of the maintenance shaft. She closed her eyes, trying desperately to calm herself, as she leaned back against the cold, metal bulkhead and brought her blaster pistol up closer beside her face.

How did I get myself into this? she thought to herself, as she took several more quick, deep breaths as she tried to steel her shaken nerves. Mom and Dad are going to kill me, if I ever manage to get out of this alive.

She wished, more than anything at this moment, that she had shared more with them, told them what was going on; now here she was, hiding in a dark corner aboard a doomed vessel, while her parents were at home on Naboo, blissfully unaware of where she was, or the danger she was in.

She wished she could see them, and talk to them, one more time; she smiled, softly, as her mother and father’s smiling faces fill her troubled mind; they had always been there for her, and her life had been nothing short of blissful and happy. If she had to die, she thought to herself, at least she would do so knowing that, for the greater part of her twenty short years, she had lived a life full of love and happiness.

No, Leia thought to herself, shaking her head slowly as she leaned forward carefully and glanced around the corner, watching the group of troopers that made their way slowly toward her; she wasn’t ready to give up now, not yet, not without a fight. She wanted to see her parents and brother again, and, as she felt a wave of anger begin to replace the despair that had dogged her only a moment before, she felt her grip tighten around the blaster pistol in her hand.

She felt her heart jump, as she saw the lead trooper look up and stop, suddenly. “There’s one,” he said, gesturing toward her as he glanced back over his shoulder toward his companions. “Set for stun.”

Her heart racing, Leia stepped out from the tiny alcove and leveled her blaster pistol at the trooper, watching as he quickly began to raise his rifle to his shoulder. She squeezed the trigger and watched, with a great deal of satisfaction, as the trooper cried out, reeling hard to his right and flying backwards into his companions, as the blast from her weapon struck him cleanly in the shoulder.

She turned and bolted down the corridor, as quickly as she could; she glanced back over her shoulder, watching as the troopers scrambled wildly around their fallen companion. Maybe, she thought, just maybe, she would be able to lose them in the maze of corridors that lie ahead; she turned her attention back to the hallway in front of her, and, running as quickly as she could, she bolted toward the small doorway that lead to the escape pod tube.

She felt herself cry out, quite involuntarily, as the painful, tingling blast of energy struck her squarely in the back; she fell hard onto the cold metal decking, yet she felt nothing, as the dark, inky blackness began to close in on her from everywhere.

She glanced up, struggling for one last glimpse, as she caught site of the troopers as they surrounded her. “She’ll be all right,” she heard one of them say, his voice tinny and hollow from beneath his white helmet.

“Inform Lord Malak that we have a prisoner,” he said, watching as the young woman struggled one last time, and then collapsed unconscious onto the cold floor beneath his boots.

“There goes another one,” the gunner said, tapping the control pad in front of him quickly as he locked the star destroyer’s massive cannons on the tiny escape pod that rocketed out of the cargo bay into the cosmos.

“Hold your fire,” the deck officer replied, as he quickly surveyed the data display in front of him as the massive cannons locked onto the tiny pod. “There are no life forms,” he said, looking back up and watching as the small, round pod spun slowly off toward Tatooine’s thin, whispy atmosphere. “It must have short circuited.”

The gunner pressed the switch on his console again, and he watched as the guns returned to their standby position.

Inside the pod, the little blue and silver astrodroid swung his dome toward the nearby porthole window. He glanced over at his silent, golden counterpart for a moment, then turned his attention once again to the window, watching as the massive star destroyer, and the freighter in its belly, spun slowly into the distance as he and his unconscious companion rocketed toward the planet’s atmosphere below.

Leia shrugged her shoulders; she winced, as she felt the wave of pain that swept through her back as her muscles cried out in pain. She halfway wished that they had just shot her; at least then the pain would be over.

She glanced over her shoulder, sighing deeply, as she looked at the group of troopers that surrounded her as they escorted her down the long hallway toward the command deck. She didn’t know where they were taking her, but one thing was clear; someone wanted to see her, and wanted her alive. Storm troopers weren’t known for taking prisoners, and neither was the Empire.

Leia grunted in pain as the trooper behind her shoved her, quite impolitely, down the hallway toward the spot where a dark clad figure stood, talking quietly with several other Imperial officers.

She stopped, a meter or so away, watching as the tall, slender figure turned to face her. “Well, well,” the tall, slender woman said, eyeing Leia warily as she stood there, ringed by troopers, before her. “What have we here?”

“Another prisoner, Lord Malak,” the trooper nearest Leia said, his tinny voice drawing a disdainful look from the young girl. “We found her in the forward section of the ship, near the escape pods.”

“Trying to escape, were you?” Malak said, taking a step closer toward the young woman; Leia took a step back, instinctively, as the tall, slender woman, her ghostly white hair and pale skinned frown stirring some unknown fear deep within her as she glared down at her, a hateful fire glowing behind those steel gray eyes.

She’d heard the stories about this woman from more than a few rebel soldiers; Leia stood there, as uncomfortable and afraid as she’d ever been, as the woman she’d come to know as the Emperor’s devil sized her up warily. She grimaced, making little effort to hide the contempt on her young face as Malak, or Kuro, as she’d once been known, reached out with a slim, gaunt hand and, seizing Leia by the chin, turned her face toward her.

“You look familiar,” Malak growled, eyeing the young girl with curious interest. “Have we met before, my dear?”

Leia said nothing; she stood there for a moment, eyes locked with the tall, pale skinned woman’s, then dropped her head and her gaze toward the floor. “Oh, well, I suppose not, then,” Kuro said, shrugging her shoulders as she motioned to the guard nearest Leia. “Put her with the others,” she said, her dark, brooding voice devoid of emotion as she turned and started back down the corridor. “She’ll talk soon enough, with the right encouragement.”

Leia looked back over her shoulder, watching Malak as she stormed off, with two Imperial officers following close behind her. She grunted again, throwing another disdainful frown to the trooper nearest her as he shoved her again, then began to lead her down the corridor.

She took a deep breath, and she felt her heart ache as her thoughts, just for a moment, drifted back to her mother and father; she wished, more than anything at this moment, that she had shared more with them, told them what was going on and what she was involved in. Now here she was, a prisoner of the Empire aboard a doomed vessel, while her parents were at home on Naboo, blissfully unaware of where she was, or the danger she was in.

She’d never felt more alone in her life.