Leia looked around nervously, the windows of the surrounding buildings spying her out, while Luke led her casually down the paved walkway. Luke had no difficulty blending in with the hard-working miners, being a farmboy, but no amount of grubbiness could disguise the dignity that Leia continuously exuded. She knew it, and before long, she feared, so would the rest of the town. She nearly walked into Luke's back when he stopped short in front of her. Before them stood a wall, and a closed metal gate, flanked by two stormtroopers who appeared more than a little curious about their destination.

"What's going on?" Luke asked them.

Leia's heart skidded to a halt as she waited for the troopers to accost her.

"Town's been sealed off," a trooper replied, but offered no more.

"Why?" Luke asked, though he feared he knew the answer.

"Orders of the General," the other trooper said. "Now you know as much as we do."

"We need to get through," Luke said.

"On what business?"

Luke searched the racing chasm of his mind for anything that could help. "Grammel asked to speak with us about a crime we witnessed the other night..."

"Grammel said that?" one trooper asked, and by the way he stressed the name Luke could tell he'd tossed it out improperly.

"We have to check your identification before we can let you through this gate," the other trooper said.

Leia drew in a deep breath.

Luke felt his heart leap into his throat, and his stomach rolled after it. He could think of only one response for the trooper's statement. He called the force as best he could, waved his hand in front of the troopers and said, in his best imitation of Obi-Wan Kenobi's placid tone, "You don't need to see our identification."

Leia placed her face in her hand and choked back the tears that threatened to take control. Luke Skywalker had just gone mad right there in front of her. She looked around for passive observers, but the few people nearby walked disinterestedly behind them. The two troopers exchanged glances through their skeletal masks, then returned their cold gazes to the fake miners. "What are you talking about?" one trooper asked incredulously.

"We lost them," Luke quickly covered. "If we don't meet with the general in the next few minutes we're going to be in some trouble."

The troopers stared at him with hidden expressions for a pause too long for Luke to bear. He wanted to run far away, but they were trapped within the confines of the looming wall. With a click the trooper's electronic voice broke the silence to say, "All right, I'll escort them into the temple," he said to the other trooper. "Stay here. This shouldn't take long."

The other trooper nodded and shifted his blaster rifle a bit in his hands. The door slid slowly open on tracks, pulled open on hydraulics, at the press of a button on a small remote. The trooper shoved the remote into a belt pack and stepped aside to wave them through. "Hurry it up," he said gruffly.

Luke, first through the gate, spotted the landing area off to his right, just beside the huge terraced pyramid. A glint of reflected moonlight caught his eye as it walked between the parked ships. He turned to Leia, who tossed him a worried glance with raised eyebrows and shrugged. In the same glance he noted the location of the trooper just behind him, then returned his gaze to the shining figure in the ship lot. Two yellow eyes swiveled in his direction, then back away as their owner spun a full circle of confusion, removing all doubt that he was looking at Threepio.

At the same time as the door closed with a loud metal clunk Leia pulled her blaster and bashed it into the trooper's helmet. Luke spun and yanked the blast rifle from the trooper's hand while he straightened his helmet. Leia slammed her gun handle across the stormtrooper's unarmored throat, and Luke brought down the butt of the rifle over the top of his head. The trooper fell to his knees clutching at his neck while Luke bashed him in the face. With a grunt the stormtrooper finally sagged the rest of the way down.

"Come on," Luke hissed and jogged off after Threepio. Leia followed, checking over her shoulder for pursuit. Artoo whistled and beeped excitedly when he saw them approach. They stopped under the battle cruiser, and Luke searched for the button to extend the ramp.

"Oh, Master Luke, I'm so..."

"Quiet, Threepio," Luke said. "We need to get into this ship fast."

"Oh, I heartily agree, Master Luke, what with Darth Vader's ship parked a few meters away..."

Luke stopped and turned to the droid. "What?"

Leia looked around and spotted the modified TIE fighter. Her head rushed with surging adrenaline. "Find the controls, Luke. Use the force... just hurry!"

Luke continued his search. He closed his eyes and tried to fall into the force trance he'd been attempting, but his pounding heart and fearful thoughts crippled his attempts. All at once it was too late. Booted footsteps raced toward them, rounding the corner of the ziggurat, several of them, clad in white armor. Luke handed the blast rifle to Leia, then spun his protesting protocol droid around and yanked his father's saber from the small pouch on the back. "You and Artoo find some place to hide, quick!" Luke said to the droid.

"But..."

"Go!"

"Luke, what are you doing?" Leia said as the droids trundled off for the cover of the nearby brush. "We can't possibly take on all those troopers."

"Between them and Vader, I'd rather die here," Luke replied.

"There they are!" a trooper called out, raising up a pointed finger at the two rebels.

"Set for stun," another said.

With a hissing snap the glowing blue blade shot out from the smooth chrome hilt in Luke's hands. Eight stormtroopers closed the gap in a semicircle around them. Leia backed up to safety behind Luke. The tranquil electric hum of the lightsaber stole the air, captivated the eyes of the troopers for a moment. Nobody spoke. Leia broke the silence with a deadly blast from her stolen gun. As one trooper fell to a smoking hole in his chestplate, she shot another. Luke lunged forth, his saber gripped tightly in both hands, as the troopers opened fire on them. He cut smoothly, fatally through a trooper's chest, slashed sidelong at another, eliciting a scream as the surging energy blade cut into a leg. Luke suddenly crumbled, his muscles a failing mass of useless tissue, his saber sucked back into its hilt as it clattered to the ground. One of the four remaining troopers stooped and picked up the lightsaber and observed it momentarily, looked at his fallen comrades, then finally rested his armored gaze on the wannabe Jedi. Without a word he bent and slammed the saber hilt across Luke's jaw, knocking him cold.