A/N: After all the comments about the Force Choke in the last chapter, I believe I did not write sufficient detail about it. I was trying to have it work by stopping the air inside Vegeta's windpipe, preventing it from reaching his lungs. That way Saiyan biology wouldn't matter as the Force wouldn't be trying to crush his throat, only block off the inside.

With that out of the way, here is a chapter that had some fun parts to write.

Chapter 4: Death Star

Han Solo had a bad feeling about this.

It wasn't the fact that his last business deal had gone awry, the Millennium Falcon snared in a tractor beam, the need to hide aboard his own ship earlier, the stolen stormtrooper uniforms that he and Luke Skywalker wore as disguises, the dangerous deception of using Chewbacca as a fake prisoner, the reliance on an old Jedi to shut down the tractor beam, the risk of losing the two droids left behind near the hangar, the dangerous plan to rescue a princess held prisoner, or even the very good chance of not making it out alive.

No, it was the survivor's instinct in his gut that said all hell was about to break loose.

But it was too late to change course, the two humans and a wookie were already entering the Death Star's detention level. Han saw a handful of officers stationed there, one of which was the superior and behind a control console. The superior officer eyed Chewbacca, as well as the two troopers escorting him. "Where are you taking this… thing?"

Luke gave the lie prepared ahead of time. "Prisoner transfer from Cell Block 1138."

Immediately the officer slammed a fist on a big red button, setting off a station wide alert. "That thing's too big and hairy to be the infamous Saiyan."

"Saiyan?" Han and Luke said at the same time, even as they opened fire with blasters.


Elsewhere Vegeta awoke in a scientific laboratory strapped down to a table with metal restraints, and there was a scientist drawing blood from his arm. Cold metal pressing against his back quickly revealed that his armor and clothes were missing, save for the undergarments covering his hip and upper thighs. Although he remembered everything up to when Darth Vader somehow halted the air in his windpipe, Vegeta didn't feel any anger or rage over that. Somehow he was remained calm, as if something was keeping him in a pleasant mood.

"Wow, you've got some really good sh-"

"He's Awake!"

"Sedate Him!"

The interruption from a pair of scientists prompted Vegeta to break the restraints like paper mache, easily done by flexing his arms and legs. Those scientists rushed towards Vegeta with syringes in hand, which contained a clear liquid to drug him with. Instead Vegeta caught their wrists and then slammed the two scientists together, and Vegeta could swear he heard something break before the two fell to the floor. Then he got on his feet and looked around, feeling a little slow and woozy from the combination of vacuum exposure and severe drugging.

Vegeta picked up one of the syringes and looked at the clear liquid drug. "I wonder if they got a gallon of this stuff." Then he heard a station wide alert go off, which convinced him to drop the syringe. "Guess I'll never find out."

Vegeta walked up to the closed cell door and punched it, resulting in the entire door coming off the frame and slamming into stormtroopers on the other side. Vegeta walked through the now open doorway into a larger room, which had more stormtroopers taking aim at him with blasters. He aimed an index finger at them one at a time and fired small energy blasts, expending only enough power to make small holes through their hearts to kill them instantly.

Once all of the troopers were dead Vegeta took a look around. "There they are," Vegeta said, spotting the elastic blue clothes neatly folded up. He quickly put them back on along with the gloves and boots he found nearby, and when he finished only his armor remained missing. "Now I need to tear this place apart until I find my armor."


At the detention level a firefight had broken out when stormtrooper reinforcements arrives, trapping Han and Chewbacca in a dead-end corridor while Luke freed the princess. Blaster fire went everywhere as Han tried to find an opening, but there were simply too many enemies to deal with. Even when Luke and Princess Leia joined the fight it still wasn't enough, and they had no way out. Then Leia took one of their blasters and shot a grate in the hallway, opening up a hole into a shaft.

"What the hell are you doing?" Han demanded

"Someone has to save our skins," Leia answered. "Into the garbage chute flyboy."

Suddenly the far end of the corridor exploded, scattering debris down the entire length of the detention level. It caused a momentary halt to the firefight as both sides were surprised by it, giving Han and the others a few seconds to look behind them. They saw dust begin to settle around a wide hole in a wall, followed by a short man in blue calmly stepping through it.

"Vegeta?" Han said, recognizing him from Mos Eisley.

"You know this guy?" Luke asked.

"Out of my way!" Vegeta warned, walking down the corridor.

"Better do as he says," Han recommended to the others.

As Vegeta walked past the group the blaster shots from the stormtroopers resumed, which Luke believed was suicidal to just walk into it. "Are you crazy?" Luke asked. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"

A blaster bolt struck the side of Vegeta's head and bounced off, resulting in a ricochet that hit the wall in front of Leia. "Nope," Vegeta said, not even slowing down.

When Vegeta reached the end of the corridor blaster fire intensified, taking the stormtroopers attention off everyone else. Han eyed the other end of the corridor and the hole in the wall, which opened up new possibilities to escape. "Let's get the hell out of here."

While everyone else ran the other way Vegeta walked into the end of the corridor, entering the detention level's entrance that was full of stormtroopers shooting at him. Ricochets went everywhere as dozens of blaster bolts bounced off Vegeta, scorching walls and piercing troopers all while Vegeta only felt slight tingles where they bounced off skin.

Then Vegeta started grabbing stormtroopers one at a time and throwing them across the room, some hitting walls and others hitting fellow troopers. A few tried to keep their distance, only to be shot down by small energy blasts from Vegeta's fingers. Reinforcements arrived via the turbolift and charged in, to which Vegeta responded by shooting a larger blast straight into the turbolift. The blast exploded to destroy the turbolift and reveal a vertical shaft, as well as creating a shockwave that knocked the stormtroopers off their feet.

One stormtrooper remained standing and charged at Vegeta, swinging his useless blaster like a club. The weapon shattered against Vegeta's raised arm, scattering pieces all over the floor. Vegeta grabbed that stormtrooper by the neck and threw him into the destroyed turbolift, where the trooper fell to his demise at the bottom of the shaft, screaming the entire way.

"aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

"Ha," Vegeta laughed. He quickly disposed of the remaining stormtroopers and walked up to the shattered turbolift, right before calmly jumping into the shaft. "Wheeeeee…"


"I warned you."

Darth Vader was in one of the Death Star's conference rooms, choosing to stand instead of taking a seat. In the room with him was Tarkin, currently pacing around the long table and the chairs around it. They had just received a detailed report on the two breakouts in progress, one for each captured ship in the hangar. And in addition to the chaos aboard the station Darth Vader sensed a second disturbance in the Force, one that was far more familiar to him than Vegeta.

"Not only has the Saiyan broken free, I sense the presence of my old master," Darth Vader added.

"Obi Wan Kenobi," Tarkin clarified. "What makes you think so?"

"A tremor in the Force," Darth Vader answered. "I know his presence anywhere."

"If you're right, he must not be allowed to make contact with Vegeta," Tarkin said. He took a few more steps around the table, stopping at the head seat. "Surely you can sense where they are."

"Anyone could find Vegeta right now," Darth Vader answered, and as if to prove his point a distant explosion sent a small tremor through that part of the station. "However, his power is so large it is masking smaller ones. I know Kenobi is here, but his location is hidden."

"Then intercept Vegeta," Tarkin suggested.

"I will, and I will kill him this time," Darth Vader said.

Tarkin sighed, and admitted that his earlier decision was wrong. "Fine, do as you see fit. We have the sensor telemetry from his Galick Gun attack, and modifications based on it are already underway. I suppose that will have to be enough."

"Yes," Darth Vader agreed. And then he turned to leave, off to stop Vegeta no matter the cost.


In a long hallway stormtroopers were attempting to hold back a superior force, using all the weapons at their disposal to attack Vegeta. They brought out the heavy ordinance to fight with, such as several rotary blaster cannons held with both hands. Thousands of shots from the stronger weapons were fired down the hallway, only to meet Vegeta's hands blocking the shots and ricocheting into the walls. At best they only slowed down Vegeta's walk, keeping up constant fire that had his attention.

"What does it take to stop this guy?"

"Keep it up!"

"Try the grenades!"

"We're all going to die!"

That last one was proven correct when Vegeta fired a large energy blast down the hallway, exploding in the middle of the stormtroopers and killing them all. More replaced them from adjacent corridors, these ones armed with RPGs. They fired rockets at Vegeta and all of them hit the target, exploding on impact and filling the hallway with fire. Even then Vegeta simply walked out of the blaze, hardly impeded by the explosives.

Small energy blasts from Vegeta's fingers pierced the chests of many a trooper, killing most of them and clearing the way for Vegeta to pass. One stormtrooper panicked and fled through a door into an adjacent room, closing the door behind him just as reinforcements arrived. Sounds of blaster fire and energy attacks were muffled but still heard through the wall, which the trooper but his back against while holding onto his weapon. Gradually the noise faded away and was replaced by loud steps on hard metal, which made the trooper quake in fear until the steps stopped.

"Phew-"

Twin fists punched through the wall on both sides of the stormtrooper, shattering the wall before grabbing him and throwing the trooper back into the corridor. He screamed as Vegeta threw him into the opposite wall, slamming into it and then falling onto another deadtrooper. Then Vegeta walked through the hole in the wall he just tore open, quickly passing through that room into another part of the station beyond.

After a short walk Vegeta barged into a larger room, one that had a ceiling three stories high. Several tall AT-ST Walkers were kept in storage there, each one nearly as tall as the room on its two mechanical legs. Troopers were already climbing inside and booting up the systems, bringing the Walkers online and combat ready. One by one the Walkers moved away from the walls and towards Vegeta, aiming their high power blasters at him.

"Fire At Will!"

Large blaster bolts were fired from every Walker, striking Vegeta from nearly every angle. These ones stung a little where ever they hit, even if they couldn't pierce his skin or clothes. One Walker to Vegeta's left blindsided him and kicked with its large right leg, simultaneously knocking Vegeta over and denting the Walker's foot. Then the Walker stomped on Vegeta with the damaged foot, pinning him down face up and trying to crush him.

Then Vegeta pushed back up against the Walker's foot, gradually lifting it off him and making the Walker teeter on unstable footing. One quick push sent the Walker flying across the room, smashing into another one and destroying them both. Vegeta rose to his feet and walked over to the nearest Walker, where he then grabbed a leg and tore it off. That Walker fell onto its side while Vegeta swung the leg around like a club, smashing the other Walkers one by one until they were all in pieces.

A few corridors down even more stormtroopers were hurrying to the action, but where interrupted when an exploding wall marked Vegeta's arrival. When the dust settled Vegeta was in plain view along with the trail of destruction left in his wake, a series of demolished walls with exposed circuitry leading back to the Walker storage room. The stormtroopers opened fire on Vegeta yet again, having no better luck than their predecessors.

"Try the stun setting!"

"Seriously?!"

"Kill isn't working!"

"Point Taken!"

A few of the stormtroopers switched their blasters from kill to stun, which made their weapons fire wide blue rings. Several of these shots hit Vegeta and passed through him, and he dropped like a stone onto the floor. Quickly the stormtroopers closed in to confirm the result, only for Vegeta to open his eyes and shout. Vegeta rose back onto his feet and energy coalesced around his body, building up into an explosive blast in all directions.

"Oh Sh-!"

The blast cut off the trooper along with the screams of all the others, and when it was over Vegeta stood in a heavily damaged part of the corridor. And then Vegeta walked out of the part into a normal stretch of corridor, ignoring the bodies scattered everywhere. He simply kept up the search for his missing armor, determined to find it before going after his ship.


Meanwhile the old man Obi Wan Kenobi was exploiting the station wide alert, using it as a distraction to make sneaking around easier. It was pitifully easy to use the Force on weak-minded stormtroopers to make them focus on the alert alone, so easy that Kenobi could have walked out in the open and not be detected. Kenobi stayed hidden anyway just in case any of the interchangeable soldiers had a stronger mind and could resist the Force, and for his current goal stealth was his first priority.

Finding one of the power terminals for the Death Star's tractor beam wasn't difficult, especially when Kenobi remembered the directions provided by the astromech R2-D2. The power terminal was located in a large chamber with just a narrow stretch of metal for a floor, with the terminal itself positioned on a column beside the walkway. Around the terminal was a narrow ledge that Kenobi inched his way around, reaching the controls that were deliberately placed in a hard to reach location.

A few turned knobs were all that was needed to divert power away from the tractor beam, shutting it down while sending the power elsewhere. Now the Millennium Falcon could take off and leave the station without getting pulled back into the hangar. The sensible thing to do next would be to regroup with the others and get back to the ship, but as a Jedi there was something else that Kenobi knew he had to do.

"What is that large presence?" Kenobi wondered aloud, wandering off to investigate it.


Vegeta blasted his way into a vast shaft that connected most of the station's floors, where he found many retractable bridges that could connect various parts of the shaft at reasonable elevations. The bridge on Vegeta's current floor was extended to connect two doors on that level, which a group of stormtroopers were using to retreat. One trooper at the far end slammed a fist into a control panel next to the door, retracting the bridge into his side and taking most of the others with it. However one stormtrooper lost his footing when the bridge retracted, resulting in him falling off and plummeting to the bottom screaming.

"aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

"What the…?" Vegeta muttered, thinking that he'd heard the exact same scream earlier. Then again, now that he paused to think about it, to his senses all of the stormtroopers in this particular legion felt like the exact same person. Just to experiment Vegeta aimed a palm at the retracted bridge and blasted it, destroying a small piece that two stormtroopers were standing on and making them fall to their demise.

"aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

..."aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

"Clones," Vegeta realized. He smiled at all the fun he could have with this, just like slaying an endless number of saibamen as a kid. Vegeta blasted the retracted bridge again and dropped five more stormtroopers into the shaft, laughing when he heard them scream.

"aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

..."aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

... ..."aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

... ... ..."aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

... ... ... ..."aaaaAAAAaaaahhhh!"

"And it's getting old already," Vegeta complained, shaking his head in disappointment. So he simply leaped over the gap to reach the other side, where two remaining stormtroopers were nearly frozen in fear.

Just before Vegeta attacked them one stormtrooper glanced at the other. "I've always hated you."

His fun spoiled after blasting those two stormtroopers, Vegeta resumed his search for his missing armor. He blasted open every side door he came across and peeked inside, usually finding only the wreckage of the doors inside. Stormtroopers continued to shoot at him the entire time, but any enjoyment Vegeta had from killing them was nearly gone. It wasn't until Vegeta blew up a set of thicker blast doors that he found a room that appeared to be a laboratory, complete with several scientists examining something new under an electron microscope.

"Aha! There it is!" Vegeta said, spotting his armor under examination. The scientists abandoned their work and fled for their lives, and since they didn't bother trying to fight Vegeta spared them. Instead Vegeta simply took back his armor and put it on, even though it was completely unnecessary here. "Now all I need is my ship and I can get the hell out of here."


Near the hangar with two captured ships in it there were two droids hiding in a secluded side corridor, both of them posing as maintenance units working on a computer terminal there. The smaller silver and blue astromech droid R2-D2 had an interface tool plugged into a port on the terminal, allowing it to hack in and access all the data the terminal could reach. Standing watch was the golden protocol droid C-3PO, who had a decent view of the Millennium Falcon in the hangar.

"Where could they be?" C3PO wondered aloud, having no idea where Luke and the others were at the moment.

R2-D2 made a few beeping noises, as well as turned the dome-like piece that was the closest thing it had to a head.

"I've tried calling them but there's been no answer," C3PO said, holding up a small communicator in his hand. "Just keep monitoring communications. Something's bound to show up sooner or later."

Nearby in the hangar a pair of black-suited engineers walked out of Vegeta's ship, having just finished their inspection of the interior. They walked up to some stormtroopers standing guard, who faced the engineers to see what they might require. "The computer in there is unfamiliar," one engineer reported. "We need a droid in there to take a crack at it."

"Right away sir," one stormtrooper said. That trooper left the group to get what the engineer needed, and just outside the hanger he spotted the two droids. "You two, get over here."

"Better do as he says," C-3PO said. As he walked towards the stormtrooper R2-D2 disconnected from the terminal and followed him, both entering the hangar while the stormtrooper led.

"Here you go sir," the stormtrooper said, passing off the droids to the engineer.

"They'll do," the engineer said. Then he noticed that the astromech's wheels couldn't get up the ship's steps, prompting him to point at two of the stormtroopers. "Get a ramp in here for the droid."

In just a few minutes the stormtroopers hauled in a long ramp and set it over the ship's steps, allowing R2-D2 to roll right up into the ship's interior. The engineer and C-3PO followed him inside, and the droid's sights were drawn to the gravity generator in the middle. There were several control consoles around it, one clearly meant to adjust the artificial gravity while others served different purposes.

"Get to work droid," the engineer ordered. "Plug in and see what's in the data core."

R2-D2 beeped and rolled over to one of the control consoles, finding a small rectangular shaped port. He tried to connect with the usual interface tool, but its circular design didn't fit. R2-D2 tried other tools one by one to find out if any were compatible, eventually settling on one that was the same shape but slightly bigger. He shoved that tool into the port and made it fit, which slightly damaged the tool and gave R2-D2 a mild shock when trying to connect.

"Is it working?" the engineer demanded.

There was a series of beeps from the droid, which C-3PO translated. "It appears to be based on the basic designs of ships from across the border, but modified to suit the needs of a less advanced species. There's not much in there besides a flight log and recorded transmissions."

"I see," the engineer said. "Keep working. Find out if anything's hidden in there."

"Will do," C-3PO said, wondering how they were going to get out of this situation.


In an empty corridor Darth Vader walked with his lightsaber in hand, ready to activate the weapon at any moment. The disturbance in the Force was all he needed to track his prey's movements, and when it was getting close Darth Vader stopped in the middle of the corridor. A wall in front and to his right exploded, scattering rubble all over the floor. And from the new hole Vegeta walked through, spotting Darth Vader and facing him.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Vegeta said. Though still feeling the effects of the drugs, mostly just slowed down reflexes right now, Vegeta was certain he could easily beat Darth Vader in a fight. "You don't have the element of surprise this time. You don't stand a chance against me."

"We'll see," Darth Vader contested. He tightened his grip on his lightsaber to activate it, extending a beam of red plasma like a blade of a sword.

Vegeta was not impressed, and simply aimed his palm at Darth Vader. "Goodbye," Vegeta said, and fired an energy blast.

At the last moment Darth Vader held up his lightsaber vertically, letting the energy blast hit it directly. A shower of sparks erupted from the point of contact, and the lightsaber split the blast in two. Mental manipulations of the Force diverted the twin halves of energy around Darth Vader, sending them both past him to hit a wall at the end of the corridor, all while he remained untouched by the attack.

"Do not underestimate the power of the Force," Darth Vader advised.

"Noted," Vegeta said. He held up his right fist and started charging it with energy, making it glow a bright blue. "You know what, I like a challenge. And I've never tried sword fighting before."

Vegeta extended his middle finger, channeling his power through it to create his own version of a lightsaber made of pure energy. Then he charged down the corridor by gliding just above the floor, reaching Darth Vader in seconds without taking a step. Vegeta swung his fake lightsaber into the real thing, igniting sparks where the clashing blue and red energies met. The impact pushed Darth Vader back a few inches, but his weapon held intact.

Both of them pulled back their weapons and struck again, clashing the energies together at different places. Many more strikes followed, alternating between up and down as well as left and right, all blocked by Darth Vader while sparks went everywhere. At first Vegeta figured that the endless blocking was due being unfamiliar with swordplay, much less with an energy sword coming out of his hand. But then it seemed like Darth Vader was anticipating his movements, something that started to frustrate Vegeta.

"Your thoughts betray you," Darth Vader taunted. He blocked another one of Vegeta's sword strikes. "They give away your strategy."

"Strategy this!" Vegeta yelled. He leaped back a few feet and held his fake lightsaber to his left, focusing more of his energy into it and making it glow brighter. Then Vegeta swung it horizontally and released the extra energy as a sword beam, a wide arc of power that shot at Darth Vader.

While putting as much of the Force as possible into his weapon Darth Vader blocked with his lightsaber, cutting into the energy as struck him. The strike pushed him down the corridor while the lightsaber did its work, and he slid far enough to be next to a side passage when it was done. After the sword beam attack was split in two Darth Vader's lightsaber flickered for a few seconds, nearly overloaded from cutting so much pure energy.

There Darth Vader sensed a familiar presence, and it was so close that he could finally tell where it was. "Kenobi," he said, glancing at the side passage and seeing his old master there. "We meet again."

"Eyes on your opponent," Vegeta said, charging in again and slashing with his weapon.

Kenobi watched the two fight, content to simply observe. "It would seem that the light side has a powerful new ally against the dark."

While blocking with his lightsaber Darth Vader talked back. "This being is neither light nor dark. It is only power, and does not care who or what it destroys."

"You got that right," Vegeta said. He made some more swings of his weapon, one of which grazed Darth Vader's shoulder and singed circuitry.

Despite the damage Darth Vader kept up his defense. "Kenobi, Vegeta will not stop until everything is gone."

Though Kenobi sensed deception in Darth Vader's words, there was also a hint of fear. There was a fear of the unknown, a fear of power beyond imagination, a fear of both light and dark sides of the Force facing annihilation. So Kenobi walked into the corridor and drew his weapon, activating a blue lightsaber and approached Vegeta from behind.

"Another one eh," Vegeta said. While pressing his fake lightsaber against Darth Vader's weapon Vegeta held up his right fist towards Kenobi, focusing enough energy into it to make a second fake lightsaber form from his other raised middle finger. "Bring it!"

When Kenobi closed in he swung his lightsaber at Vegeta, and when their weapons clashed blue sparks went everywhere. Both Kenobi and Darth Vader went on the offensive, but Vegeta stood his ground while blocking both lightsabers. Then Vegeta smirked and swung both of his fake lightsabers together with the genuine lightsabers in between, pinning all four weapons together and creating a fountain of sparks where they intersected.

"I can keep this up all day," Vegeta said, glaring at both opponents now standing side by side. With one strong push he shoved them away a few feet, and then Vegeta hopped back a small space. "But this kind of fighting has lost its appeal."

Both fake lightsabers disappeared and Vegeta widened his stance, and he focused more of his energy into his fists. Power coalesced around them as Vegeta opened his hands, forming spheres of energy held just in front of his palms. This section of the space station trembled as Vegeta amped up the power, and the energy spheres grew even larger.

"What sorcery is this?" Kenobi asked, glancing to his right at Darth Vader.

"Sorcery that should not be allowed to exist," Darth Vader answered, glancing to his left at Kenobi.

Vegeta put both wrists together to connect his palms, combining both energy spheres in a larger one aimed at his enemies. "Try slicing this one in half!" Vegeta dared, right before firing an energy beam that filled the corridor.

At the same time Kenobi and Darth Vader thrust their free hands into the oncoming attack, both tapping into the Force to create an invisible barrier. Their efforts overlapped and reinforced each other, which made the barrier strong enough to disrupt the energy beam and divert its power around them. But the beam's physical might pushed against the barrier, which in turn pushed against the two creating it, which then made them slide back with every second. It took all the focus they possessed to keep up the barrier, even as they slid towards the end of the corridor.

"Let's see who breaks first," Vegeta proposed, keeping his energy beam constant. "The old man, the cyborg, or maybe both of you will get blasted into space."

Both lightsabers were deactivated and sheathed to allow all hands to use the Force, but the additional power only slowed down the gradual push along the corridor. Vegeta countered by adding more of his energy to intensify the beam, increasing the strain on the barrier and pushing Kenobi and Darth Vader faster. Energy that was diverted around the barrier tore up the walls and the ceiling, and even vaporized the floor just after two sets of feet slid past it.

As the end of the corridor approached Darth Vader spotted a side passage on his right, exactly what he needed right now. "Give my regards to Qui-Gon," Darth Vader said to Kenobi, right before leaping into the side passage and out of harm's way.

All alone Kenobi lacked the power to hold off Vegeta's attack, resulting in the Force barrier collapsing and the energy beam slamming into Kenobi. His body was vaporized instantly and the beam continued on, blasting through several walls and many sections of the space station, and eventually blasting through the outer hull on the other side. When the beam was gone the air began to be sucked into space, but stopped when emergency blast doors slammed shut all around the hull breach.

"Old man it is then," Vegeta said with a smirk.


A new alarm sounded throughout the space station, its intense tone and fast rhythm informing the crew of a hull breach on the space station. Engineers from every part of the station abandoned their current tasks to report for the more immediate job, and signal lights on the ceilings directed them to the correct location. They had to contain the breach immediately and access the damage before it could spread across the hull, which had the possibility of compromising more sections to the vacuum of space.

The alarm drew away the engineer supervising the two droids inside Vegeta's ship, leaving C-3PO and R2-D2 alone inside. "Oh dear I hope the others are alright."

Meanwhile Luke and Leia arrived in the hangar's control room overlooking the captured ships, meeting up with Han and Chewbacca in the place they'd left the droids earlier. The two pairs had taken different routes to avoid capture, and because Han and Leia had disagreed on the best route back to the hangar. But none of them had any idea where the droids had ended up, as well as no way to know if the tractor beam had been disabled.

Luke took out his small communicator and turned it on. "Threepio, where are you?"

"Master Luke," the droid answered through the communicator, finally able to use his communicator again now that the engineer was gone. "R2 and I are inside the other captured ship. The troopers think we're theirs and have us inves-"

"Stay right there," Luke interrupted. "We're coming to get you."

And explosion shook the room and the hangar, and Han quickly pointed through the window to a hanger wall that was just blown open. "And we better do it fast," Han said, spotting Vegeta entering the hangar.

In the hangar Vegeta blasted away the stormtroopers guarding the ships one by one, using minimal energy against the cannon fodder. He walked towards his ship and ignored the other one, as well as blasting any troopers still alive. But then Vegeta stopped and stood just outside of his ship, realizing one fundamental problem with using it to leave.

"Damn it, no weapons on this thing!" Vegeta cursed, remembering what happened last time he was caught in a space battle. Sure Vegeta could survive anything this station could throw at him, but his ship was not so fortunate. One lucky shot could destroy it and leave Vegeta stranded in space, where he would then suffocate before reaching a habitable world.

But then Vegeta eyed the other ship in the hangar, smirking as he remembered his ship's most useful feature. A few quick steps got Vegeta close enough to press the square button on the hull, collapsing the ship into its capsule form. For a split second Vegeta heard electronic screaming as the ship transformed, but it was gone by the time he picked up the capsule. And then he headed for the other ship's entrance ramp, just as Han and the others reached the hangar.

"Oh no you don't!" Han yelled, running for the Millennium Falcon as Vegeta entered it.

Before the others could follow Han more stormtroopers arrived through the hole in the wall, firing their blasters and making the three rebels duck for cover. "Where'd that other ship go?" Luke wondered as he crouched behind a metal crate.

"No idea," Leia said, crouching beside Luke and firing her blaster at the troopers.

Inside the Millenium Falcon Vegeta found the cockpit after a small detour, which was due to the ship's unconventional design. "Who in their right mind sticks a cockpit out the right side of a ship?" Vegeta complained as he sat down in the pilot's chair. He started pressing buttons and flicking switches at random, trying to figure out how the controls worked. "I can't imagine a bigger blind spot than the entire left side."

Thrusters on the ship's underside ignited and lifted it off the floor, only for the Millennium Falcon to drift forward and crash into a wall. Slow speed in the collision left only scratches on the ship, but more scratches were made when the ship drifted to the left and hit another wall. Then the ship started to turn to its left and drift towards the exit, only for the main engines to slam into the other wall.

"We have to go now!" Leia yelled.

"What about Uncle Ben and the droids?" Luke demanded.

Leia pointed at the Millennium Falcon drifting towards the hangar. "If we don't get on now we never will!"

Luke conceded the point and ran for the ship alongside Leia and Chewbacca, dodging blaster fire while shooting their own weapons at the stormtroopers. Chewbacca reached it first and jumped onto the entrance ramp, then reached back down to grab hold of Leia coming up next. He hauled her up onto the ramp and then did the same for Luke, getting both of them aboard just as the ship started drifting for the exit again. At the last moment they were all inside and Chewbacca slammed a furry fist on the close button, sealing the entrance just as the Millennium Falcon passed through the hangar's atmospheric force field.

In the cockpit Vegeta was still having trouble with the controls, but then Han barged in. "Step aside!" Han yelled. He saw Vegeta get out of the chair and Han took it, then he started piloting the ship. "No one flies this ship but me and Chewy!"

"Have at it," Vegeta said, content to let someone who knew the controls pilot the ship. Through the windows Vegeta saw that the Millennium Falcon was leaving the hangar and flying into space, off to go anywhere but here. "Just drop me off at the first habitable planet we come across."

"Normally that would have been Alderaan," Han said, already setting a course away from the Death Star. "But something blew it up."

Vegeta laughed. "Not going to lie, that wasn't my brightest decision."

Han shook his head. "Like you could blow up a planet."

"Just saying," Vegeta muttered. Then he turned away from Han and headed out of the cockpit. "I'm going to sleep off the rest of that stuff they tried to drug me with. Wake me up when we land."