William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back

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    HAN
    —The fleet doth break
    Itself up into pieces. [
To Chewbacca:
] Go thee now,
    Chewbacca; stand aside the manual
    Release to liberate the landing claw.
    CHEWBAC.
    Egh.
    [Exit Chewbacca.
    C-3PO
    —Truly, I see not how that shall help.
    Surrender is, in circumstances such
    As these, a fair alternative. Perhaps
    The Empire may yet reasonable be.
    [Leia turns off C-3PO.
    HAN
    Great thanks I give thee for the gift of peace.
    LEIA
    Brave soul, what dost thou think thou next shalt do?
    HAN
    Before these ships do from the fleet release,
    They should their garbage dump ere they pursue
    A jump to lightspeed. Then we’ll float away.
    LEIA
    Thy ship with all the garbage, eh? Well said.
    And what then?
    HAN
    —We shall haply find our way
    Unto a port where safety makes its bed.
    Pray, dost thou know of any port like such?
    LEIA
    Mayhap I might, if I knew where we were.
    HAN
    Anoat system, but doth that help much?
    LEIA
    O, the Anoat system? I aver:
    ’Tis bleak.
    HAN
    —But hark! An interesting name
    My ship’s computer showeth: Lando!
    LEIA
    —Han?
    What Lando system?
    HAN
    —“System,” you exclaim?
    He is not system: Lando is a man.
    As Lando of Calrissian he’s known.
    The man doth deal in cards, in gambling and
    In scoundreling—thou wouldst his type condone.
    LEIA
    [
aside:
] He jests with me as one in love’s command!
    HAN
    He is in Bespin—rather far, but we
    May make it there.
    LEIA
    [
reading from screen:
]—A colony? A mine?
    HAN
    Tibanna gas mine—I would wager he
    Hath ta’en the mine that someone did call “mine.”
    This Lando hath a hist’ry long with me.
    LEIA
    But dost thou trust him?
    HAN
    —Nay, thou’rt right. But I
    Believe we have no need of fear, for he
    No love doth harbor for the Empire, aye.
    [The ship shakes.
    [
Into comlink:
] Prepare now, Chewie, ’tis the time. Detach!
    [The
Millennium Falcon
detaches from the Star Destroyer.
    LEIA
    Thou hast these moments that are unsurpass’d—
    Aye, when thou hast them, they are without match.
    Not numerous are they, but aye: thou hast.
    [Leia kisses Han and exits with C-3PO.
    HAN
    ’Tis said that sometimes those who knew us in
    Our youth did know us best. From them we have
    No secrets and cannot pretend to be
    Another thing than what we are. They keep
    Our living honest, for they know who we
    Have been. And such a man is Lando. He
    And I have known each other many years,
    So he doth know me from my smuggling past,
    The days when I did gamble, cheat, and fight—
    And often in that order, too. He knew
    Me ere I was with the Rebellion join’d,
    And knoweth what Han Solo once hath been.
    Thus is he prim’d uniquely to give aid
    Unto a friend who now hath found a cause:
    A cause to join, a cause e’en to defend.
    O Lando, all our hopes are pinn’d on thee.
    What shall it be, old friend? I here take all
    I have—my ship, my mates, my one true love—
    And stake it all on thee and on our past.
    How shalt thou answer, O Calrissian?
    Will this, my wager, prove a foolish bet?
    How shall the deck unfold, the players end?
    And is the dealing in my favor stack’d?
    The playing of the game is yet to be,
    But Lando: I do seek to win with thee.
    [Exit.
    Enter
B OBA FETT .
    FETT
    A smuggler’s ways are e’er unchanging and
    predictable. Thou hast let the
Millennium Falcon
    go out with the refuse, Solo, but I refuse to let
    thee play a jade’s trick and go thy merry way.
    Thy course shall I pursue, and e’en best, for my
    ship is swift of flight unlike thy tir’d and agèd
    Falcon
. To the last I’ll grapple with thee, and
    in the heart of Bespin make thee cold with fright.
    The Fett doth promise it, and it shall be.
    [Exit Boba Fett.

SCENE 2.
    The Dagobah system.
    Enter
Y ODA, R2-D2,
and
L UKE S KYWALKER ,
doing a handstand and lifting things with the Force.
    YODA
    Now, concentrate, Luke.
    Feel the Force, how it doth flow.
    Be calm, at peace, yes.
    When you use the Force,
    The Force, in your soul, begins
    New paths to open.
    Through the

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