to?
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
Stephen Solomita
Donna McDonald
Thomas S. Flowers
Andi Marquette
Jules Deplume
Thomas Mcguane
Libby Robare
Gary Amdahl
Catherine Nelson
Lori Wilde