Star Wars Journal - The Fight for Justice by Luke Skywalker by John Peel Read Free Book Online Page B

officer inside was taken out by a blow from Chewie and a blast from Han. With all the noise they were making, I thought we’d be found for sure.
    Artoo managed to plug into the station’s computer. Like I’ve said before, he’s really smart and great at mechanical stuff. He broke into the station files and discovered where the main controls for the tractor beam were, so Ben could go off and sabotage them.
    Before he left, Ben said something about detecting a familiar pattern in the Force. I didn’t pay much attention to it then, but later I realized what had happened: Ben had detected Darth Vader on board! He didn’t tell me because he was afraid I’d go running off to try to kill him. If I’d known, that’s exactly what I’d have done. It’s a good thing Ben didn’t tell me, because I might be dead right now.
    Instead, Ben told us to stay put. I had intended to obey him, but things changed. I mean, I wanted revenge on the Empire for what they’d done to my uncle and aunt, those innocent Jawas, and the whole planet of Alderaan. But I wasn’t stupid. This space station was the size of a small moon—not small at all. There had to be thousands of people on board. So trying to take them on for revenge was definitely the last thought on my mind.
    But then See-Threepio translated Artoo’s excited beeping. He kept saying, “I’ve found her!” and “She’s here!” I’ve never seen a droid look so excited in my life, and it took a couple of minutes to get him calmed down to the point where he could tell us what he meant.
    It was Princess Leia Organa he was talking about. Somehow, she was aboard the station, in the detention area! I couldn’t believe it. I mean, she’d been on that ship that had been attacked over Tatooine. I wasn’t sure whether she’d escaped or been captured or what, but I had never expected her to be here, of all places. On the station that had probably destroyed her home planet and all of her family, too.
    And she was going to be next. Artoo told us that there was a termination order on her. They planned to execute her!
    That was when I made up my mind that it was time for me to act. So far, all I’d really done was hang around and follow orders—mostly Ben’s, but with some of Han’s thrown in, too. But I couldn’t let them kill the princess. Mostly, I think, because she was just too beautiful to let that sort of thing happen to her. Also because she had been relying on Ben to help her out. Ben knew her and obviously admired her. I had to do something to get her free.
    There was no way I could do that on my own. But if Han were to help me, I thought maybe we could manage it. Han complains a lot, but he’s really good with a blaster, and can be very inventive… especially when he’s in a tight spot.
    So all I had to do was to convince him to help me rescue the princess. Well, the word princess alone grabbed his interest. He refused to risk his neck, though, until I pointed out that she was rich and would obviously give him a big reward for his help. I didn’t mention that probably most of her wealth had gone up in smoke with Alderaan. The thought of more money helped swing him around—and he agreed to help me rescue her!
    It was up to me to come up with a plan. Before this, most of my plans were simple things like how to fix broken farm machinery, or how to pull a joke on Windy back home. Now I had to outthink Imperial troopers and rescue the princess from her jail cell, which was bound to be guarded.
    But then I realized something: we were guards.
    And instantly I knew how we could get into the detention area. I explained my plan to Han and Chewie. The Wookiee complained loudly, because it involved his looking like he was our prisoner. If we were taking him into the cells for some crime, the other guards would let us in. Then we would be able to get to the princess’s cell and get her out.
    Of course, then we’d have to get back to the Falcon with her, hoping that nobody