A New Hope (9 page)

Han and Leia try to brace the contracting walls with a pole. Leia begins to sink into the trash.

HAN Get to the top!

LEIA I can’t

LUKE Where could he be? Threepio! Threepio, will you come in? INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY —SERVICE PANEL. THREEPIO They aren’t here! Something must have happened to them. See if they’ve been captured.

Little Artoo carefully plugs his claw arm into a new wall socket and a complex array of electronic sounds spew from the tiny robot.

THREEPIO Hurry!

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —GARBAGE ROOM.

The walls are only feet apart. Leia and Han are braced against the walls. The princess is frightened. They look at each other. Leia reaches out and takes Han’s hand and she holds it tightly. She’s terrified and suddenly groans as she feels the first crushing pressure against her body.

HAN One thing’s for sure. We’re all going to be a lot thinner! (to Leia) Get on top of it!

LEIA I’m trying!

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY —SERVICE PANEL. THREEPIO (to Artoo) Thank goodness, they haven’t found them! Where could they be?

Artoo frantically beeps something to See-Threepio. THREEPIO Use the comlink? Oh, my! I forgot I turned it off!

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —GARBAGE ROOM.

Meanwhile, Luke is lying on his side, trying to keep his head above the rising ooze. Luke’s comlink begins to buzz and he rips it off his belt.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY —SERVICE PANEL. Muffled sounds of Luke’s voice over the comlink can be heard, but not distinctly.

THREEPIO Are you there, sir?

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —GARBAGE ROOM.

LUKE Threepio!

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY —SERVICE PANEL. THREEPIO We’ve had some problems…

LUKE (over comlink) Will you shut up and listen to me? Shut down all garbage mashers on the detention level, will you? Do you copy? INTERIOR DEATH STAR —GARBAGE ROOM.

LUKE Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level. INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY —SERVICE PANEL. LUKE (over comlink) Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level.

THREEPIO (to Artoo) No. Shut them all down! Hurry!

Threepio holds his head in agony as he hears the incredible screaming and hollering from Luke’s comlink.

THREEPIO Listen to them! They’re dying, Artoo! Curse my metal body! I wasn’t fast enough. It’s all my fault! My poor master!

LUKE (over comlink) Threepio, we’re all right!

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —GARBAGE ROOM.

The screaming and hollering is the sound of joyous relief. The walls have stopped moving. Han, Chewie and Leia embrace in the background.

LUKE We’re all right. You did great.

Luke moves to the pressure sensitive hatch, looking for a number.

LUKE Hey…hey, open the pressure maintenance hatch on unit number… where are we?

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY —SERVICE PANEL. HAN (over comlink) Three-two-six-eight-two-seven. INTERIOR DEATH STAR —TRACTOR BEAM —POWER GENERATOR TRENCH. Ben enters a humming service trench that powers the huge tractor beam. The trench seems to be a hundred miles deep. The clacking sound of huge switching devices can be heard. The old Jedi edges his his way along a narrow ledge leading to a control panel that connects two large cables. He carefully makes several adjustments in the computer terminal, and several lights on the board go from red to blue. INTERIOR DEATH STAR —UNUSED HALLWAY.

The group exits the garbage room into a dusty, unused hallway. Han and Luke r emove the trooper suits and strap on the blaster belts.

HAN If we can just avoid any more female advice, we ought to be able to get out of here.

Luke smiles and scratches his head as he takes a blaster from Solo.

LUKE Well, let’s get moving!

Chewie begins growling and points to the hatch to the garbage room, as he runs away and then stops howling. HAN (to Chewie) Where are you going?

The Dia Nogu bangs against the hatch and a long, slimy tentacle works its way out of the doorway searching for a victim. Han aims his pistol.

LEIA No, wait. They’ll hear!

Han fires at the doorway. The noise of the blast echoes relentlessly throughout the empty passageway. Luke simply shakes his head in disgust.

HAN (to Chewie) Come here, you big coward!

Chewie shakes his head “no.”

HAN Chewie! Come here!

LEIA Listen. I don’t know who you are, or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you. Okay?

Han is stunned at the command of the petite young girl. HAN Look, Your Worshipfulness, let’s get one thing straight! I take orders from one person! Me!

LEIA It’s a wonder you’re still alive. (looking at Chewie) Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way? Han watches her start away. He looks at Luke.

HAN No reward is worth this.

They follow her, moving swiftly down the deserted corridor. INTERIOR DEATH STAR —POWER TRENCH.

Suddenly a door behind Ben slides open and a detachment of stormtroopers marches to the power trench. Ben instantly slips into the shadows as an Officer moves to within a few feet of him.

OFFICER Secure this area until the alert is canceled. FIRST TROOPER Give me regular reports.

All but two of the stormtroopers leave.

FIRST TROOPER Do you know what’s going on?

SECOND TROOPER Maybe it’s another drill.

Ben moves around the tractor beam, watching the stormtroopers as they turn their backs to him. Ben gestures with his hand toward them, as the troops think they hear something in the other hallway. With the help of the Force, Ben deftly slips past the troopers and into the main hallway. SECOND TROOPER What was that?

FIRST TROOPER Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. INTERIOR DEATH STAR —HALLWAY.

Luke, Han, Chewbacca, and Leia run down an empty hallway and stop before a bay window overlooking the pirateship. Troopers are milling about the ship. Luke takes out his pocket comlink. HAN (looking at his ship) There she is.

LUKE See-Threepio, do you copy?

THREEPIO (voice) For the moment. Uh, we’re in the main hangar across from the ship.

LUKE We’re right above you. Stand by.

Han is watching the dozen or so troops moving in and out of the pirateship. Leia moves towards Han, touches his arm and points out the window to the ship.

LEIA You came in that thing? You’re braver that I thought. HAN Nice! Come on!

Han gives her a dirty look, and they start off down the hallway. They round a corner and run right into twenty Imperial stormtroopers heading toward them. Both groups are taken by surprise and stop in their tracks.

FIRST TROOPER It’s them! Blast them!

Before even thinking, Han draws his laser pistol and charges the troops, firing. His blaster knocks one of the stormtroopers into the air. Chewie follows his captain down the corridor, stepping over the fallen trooper on the floor. HAN (to Luke and Leia) Get back to the ship!

LUKE Where are you going? Come back!

Han has already rounded a corner and does not hear. LEIA He certainly has courage.

LUKE What good will it do us if he gets himself killed? Come on!

Luke is furious but doesn’t have time to think about it for muted alarms begin to go off down on the hangar deck. Luke and Leia start off toward the starship hangar.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —SUBHALLWAY.

Han chases the stormtroopers down a long subhallway. He is yelling and brandishing his laser pistol. The troops reach a dead end and are forced to turn and fight. Han stops a few feet from them and assumes a defensive position. The troops begin to raise their laser guns. Soon all ten troopers are moving into an attack position in front of the lone starpirate. Han’s determined look begins to fade as the troops begin to advance. Solo jumps backward as they fire at him. INTERIOR DEATH STAR —SUBHALLWAY.

Chewbacca runs down the subhallway in a last-ditch attempt to save his bold captain. Suddenly he hears the firing of laser guns and yelling. Around the corner shoots Han, pirate extraordinaire, running for his life, followed by a host of furious stormtroopers. Chewbacca turns and starts running the other way also.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —SUBHALLWAY.

Luke fires his laser pistol wildly as he and Leia rush down a narrow subhallway, chased by several stormtroopers. They quickly reach the end of the subhallway and race through an open hatchway.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —CENTRAL CORE SHAFT.

Luke and Leia race through the hatch onto a narrow bridge that spans a huge, deep shaft that seems to go into infinity. The bridge has been retracted into the wall of the shaft, and Luke almost rushes into the abyss. He loses his balance off the end of the bridge as Leia, behind him, takes hold of his arm and pulls him back.

LUKE (gasping) I think we took a wrong turn.

Blasts from the stormtroopers’ laser guns explode nearby reminding them of the oncoming danger. Luke fires back at the advancing troops. Leia reaches over and hits a switch that pops the hatch door shut with a resounding boom, leaving them precariously perched on a short piece of bridge overhang. Laserfire from the troopers continues to hit the steel door. LEIA There’s no lock!

Luke blasts the controls with his laser pistol. LUKE That oughta hold it for a while.

LEIA Quick, we’ve got to get across. Find the control that extends the bridge.

LUKE Oh, I think I just blasted it.

Luke looks at the blasted bridge control while the stormtroopers on the opposite side of the door begin making ominous drilling and pounding sounds.

LEIA They’re coming through!

Luke notices something on his stormtrooper belt, when laserfire hits the wall behind him. Luke aims his laser pistol at a stormtrooper perched on a higher bridge overhang across the abyss from them. They exchange fire. Two more troops appear on another overhang, also firing. A trooper is hit, and grabs at his chest.

Another trooper standing on the bridge overhang is hit by Luke’s laserfire, and plummets down the shaft. Troopers move back off the bridge; Luke hands the gun to Leia. LUKE Here, hold this.

Luke pulls a thin nylon cable from his trooper utility belt. It has a grappler hook on it. A trooper appears on a bridge overhang and fires at Luke and Leia. As Luke works with the rope, Leia returns the laser volley. Another trooper appears and fires at them, as Leia returns his fire as well. Suddenly, the hatch door begins to open, revealing the feet of more troops.

LEIA Here they come!

Leia hits one of the stormtroopers on the bridge above, and he falls into the abyss. Luke tosses the rope across the gorge and it wraps itself around an outcropping of pipes. He tugs on the rope to make sure it is secure, then grabs the princess in his arms. Leia looks at Luke, then kisses him quickly on the lips. Luke is very surprised.

LEIA For luck!

Luke pushes off and they swing across the treacherous abyss to the corresponding hatchway on the opposite side. Just as Luke and Leia reach the far side of the canyon, the stormtroopers break through the hatch and begin to fire at the escaping duo. Luke returns the fire before ducking into the tiny subhallway.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —NARROW PASSAGEWAY.

Ben hides in the shadows of the narrow passageway as several stormtroopers rush past him in the main hallway. He checks to make sure they’re gone, then runs down the hallway in the opposite direction. Darth Vader appears at the far end of the hallway and starts after the old Jedi.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY.

Threepio looks around at the troops milling about the pirateship entry ramp.

THREEPIO Where could they be?

Artoo, plugged into the computer socket, turns his dome left and right, beeping a response.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —CORRIDOR —BLAST SHIELDS DOOR. Han and Chewbacca run down a long corridor with several troopers hot on their trail.

TROOPER Close the blast doors!

At the end of the hallway, blast doors begin to close in front of them. The young starpilot and his furry companion race past the huge doors just as they are closing, and manage to get off a couple off laserblasts at the pursuing troops before the doors slam shut.

TROOPER Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —HALLWAY LEADING TO M AIN FORWARD BAY. Ben hurries along one of the tunnels leading to the hangar where the pirateship waits. Just before he reaches the hangar, Darth Vader steps into view at the end of the tunnel, not ten feet away. Vader lights his saber. Ben also ignites his and steps slowly forward.

VADER I’ve been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete.

Ben Kenobi moves with elegant ease into a classical offensive position. The fearsome Dark Knight takes a defensive stance.

VADER When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master. BEN Only a master of evil, Darth.

The two Galactic warriors stand perfectly still for a few moments, sizing each other up and waiting for the right moment. Ben seems to be under increasing pressure and strain, as if an invisible weight were being placed upon him. He shakes his head and, blinking, tries to clear his eyes. Ben makes a sudden lunge at the huge warrior but is checked by a lightning movement of The Sith. A masterful slash stroke by Vader is blocked by the old Jedi. Another of the Jedi’s blows is blocked, then countered. Ben moves around the Dark Lord and starts backing into the massive starship hangar. The two powerful warriors stand motionless for a few moments with laser swords locked in mid-air, creating a low buzzing sound. VADER Your powers are weak, old man.

BEN You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Their lightsabers continue to meet in combat.

INTERIOR DEATH STAR —MAIN FORWARD BAY.

Han Solo and Chewbacca, their weapons in hand, lean back against the wall surveying the forward bay, watching the Imperial stormtroopers make their rounds of the hangar. HAN Didn’t we just leave this party?

Chewbacca growls a reply, as Luke and the princess join them.

HAN What kept you?

LEIA We ran into some old friends.