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

wonderful than Tatooine. Not many people live here right now. There are all these vast ruins of some ancient civilization, and the Rebellion has taken one over to use as its base. The only problem is, the Empire now knows we’re here.
    I’d better pick up where I left off before, to explain this.
    We got away from the Death Star—that’s what the Imperials call that gigantic space station of theirs—only to be attacked by TIE fighters. Naturally, though, the Millennium Falcon is equipped with guns. Han took the top turret, and I took the lower one, while Chewie piloted us.
    And then came one of the most intense few minutes of my life.
    It’s one thing to do target practice, or to zap womp rats from a T-16, but it’s very different shooting at something that can shoot back at you. The TIE fighters came in fast and nasty. Han and I just kept firing while Chewie dodged as best he could. I didn’t do too well at first, but then I got the hang of it. Han and I eventually got them all, and the Falcon escaped into lightspeed!
    That’s when we finally learned what was going on. Leia was behind a lot of the events, it turned out. She’s an Imperial Senator, and knows enough to be appalled at what the Emperor was doing. She told Han and me a whole string of terrible things—from random arrests and beatings all the way to the destruction of Alderaan.
    Leia decided to join the Rebellion, and soon became one of its top leaders. She’s very strong, and she’s obviously bottling up her own grief now because there’s a job to be done.
    I’m trying to do the same myself. There’s no time to cry over the dead when there are so many more living who might join them if we don’t do our jobs.
    Anyway, then Leia learned about the Death Star. One Rebel agent managed to get the complete plans for it, which Leia was delivering to the Rebel base when Darth Vader and his men intercepted her. She fed the plans into Artoo, along with the message to Ben. Then the droids escaped, but she was captured. She didn’t say what happened next, except that Grand Moff Tarkin, who’s in charge of the Death Star, blew up Alderaan as a warning. Now he’s after this Rebel base, hoping to finish off the Rebellion. And he can do it, too. Leia says that the Death Star is almost unstoppable.
    And it’s that almost we have to count on.
    Leia realized that Vader had let the Falcon go, hiding a homing beacon onboard her. So they must know where we are. That’s why we were able to make our getaway “so easily.” It didn’t seem easy to me at the time.
    But what are the odds that we could invade this huge station filled with troopers and escape alive? I think the only thing we did that Vader didn’t expect was to rescue the princess. And bring Ben to the Death Star to get killed…
    No. I’d better not think about that right now. Back to the point.
    We headed for the Rebel base, knowing that the Death Star was right behind us. It’s on its way here. That’s not just Leia’s hunch, because a couple of scout ships have reported it moving in. Unfortunately there’s no way the moon can be evacuated before the satellite arrives, so we have no choice but to stand and fight.
    Most of us, that is. Han decided that he’s not getting involved anymore. He said he’s only in this for the money, which he apparently owes to some gangster back on Tatooine called Jabba the Hutt. Leia made sure he got paid, but I can tell she was even more hurt than I was.
    I tried to talk to him, too, to get him to see what I could: that the Rebellion was worth fighting for, and even dying for. The Empire had to be overthrown. Han just laughed and shook his head. He knew I was an idealist, he told me, but that just wasn’t his style. He didn’t really care who was in charge. He just had his job to do and a living to earn. He was taking the money and leaving. Chewie seemed to be less happy about the idea than Han, but both of them have made up their minds to go. Wookiees are