Her head heavy and her hands twitching uncontrollably as a stun blast side-effect, Tess Naberrie opened her eyes. She winced as a pain shot up her back—probably from falling on the Endor ground after being stunned.

Tess' eyes began to adjust to the white lighting. She was surrounded by gray, and immediately she knew where she was. The Death Star.

Tess rolled over to sit up, but she painfully rolled onto a bulge in her pocket. Reaching in, she pulled out her lightsaber.

"What…?" she muttered to herself. Why wouldn't they take this? It seemed the stormtroopers were even dumber than she thought. Tess sure as hell wasn't about to endure the interrogator droid again, so she put the stormtroopers' stupidity to good use. Tess plunged her lightsaber into the cell door, pulling it down towards the ground. It only took about two minutes for her to cut herself out a door, and then another two to push the heavy durasteel rectangle out to give herself an opening.

Suddenly, Tess' knees buckled and her vision blurred.

Clash! Clash! Clash!

Red and green light, cracking together angrily.

A dark voice: "Fear. Anger. Hate."

A sadistic laugh in the background, surrounded by palpable darkness.

Luke.

"Luke!" Tess cried out unintentionally. Waking from her vivid vision, she realized it had knocked her off her feet. She slowly recalled where she was and what she was doing. But now there was a new objective. Luke was here. And he was in trouble.

Tess emerged from her cell and checked down the hall for guards. No one. Again, Tess was thrown off by the lack of security. Something was not right. She didn't let the absence of guards make her overconfident.

Her lightsaber at her side, Tess' intuition told her to go right. She had not been on the Death Star since she was 11—four years ago—and this was not even the same Death Star since they blew up the first one. Still, Tess had a strong sense that she was going the right way. Not to get out, but to find Luke.

Though her instincts felt like they were doing their job, Tess couldn't help but look around and doubt it. She took a right, then a left, then an elevator, and now she found herself at a dead end somewhere in the northern hemisphere of the battle station.

A voice echoing throughout the area nearly gave the girl a heart attack.

"Cool-down cycle complete. All stations are advised to clear the firing area."

Tess caught her breath after the shock of the recorded voice. At first she feared it was coming from somewhere live, but then she processed that this part of the space station was deserted, so there would be no need. Everyone seemed to be out in ships or fighting on Endor. She deduced that the announcement was put on a schedule with whatever needed the cool-down cycle. Then the voice came on again.

"Commence primary ignition," it said robotically. "Test firing in five…four…three…two…one."

Tess half expected for something to blow up right then and there, but nothing happened.

"Generators, maybe?" Tess thought aloud, looking around for anything that resembled one. She recalled Mon Mothma's estimation that the Death Star II would have at least 120 generators.

Tess had just walked through at least three rooms with machines that looked abandoned. Each of them were clearly factories and work rooms that were normally occupied, yet there was no one to be seen. Every door was unlocked, every force field arch disabled. Tess' guard was sky-high. She tried to relax her jittering nerves as she scanned the room, knowing there was something in here that she was missing. The feeling that she was getting closer to Luke kept her moving.

Tess found herself in the middle of the room, standing on a four-block section of the floor that almost looked like they could be four hatches—but they were huge. Tess tried her luck and pulled up on one of them. It didn't budge. Still, the more Tess tried, the more she knew that was where she needed to go.

Her face molded in resolve, the 15-year-old Jedi-in-training stepped back and held out her hands. She focused on the bottom left platform, pulling it upwards. It twitched. Tess winced as she focused harder, pulled stronger, but to no avail.

"Come on," Tess muttered with determination, switched tactics. She instead tried bending the platform down. "Come on…"

After about thirty seconds of Tess holding her breath and pushing the platform down with all of her might, she heard something give. The platform suddenly bent about a quarter of the way, and kept bending as Tess continued to push it down.

"Yes!" Tess exclaimed, not letting go of her efforts. She pushed the platform down until it was enough for her to get through.

"Cool-down cycle complete. All stations are advised to clear the firing area," came the voice again. This time Tess wasn't as startled.

With the grate-like platform bent to her satisfaction, Tess collapsed to her knees in exhaustion and pride. But she knew she couldn't rest long. She scooted over to the platform, taking care not to fall in before she knew what was below. Tess swung her head under the lid of the opening, looking from left to right at what appeared to be some sort of tunnel.

At the very end of the tunnel, a green light reflected off all of the durasteel surfaces, turning the entire tunnel green. The light was bright hexagon in the center, bulging from trapezoid-shaped edges.

"A laser tube," Tess deduced. She dropped herself down into it. The laser appeared to be disabled. Tess wished she had studied more about the Death Star II than she had with the Death Star. She knew the original Death Star's laser tubes all lead to one large conductor that absorbed 64 separate lasers, creating the power that was needed to destroy Alderaan. She also knew that the Emperor's chambers—where Tess believed Luke was—were where the laser would emerge, so maybe following the lasers would get her there.

Tess dropped herself into the laser tube just in time for another announcement.

"Commence primary ignition."

Suddenly, Tess' eyes went wide. "Oh no…"

"Test firing in five…four…"

Tess' head darted from one side to the other. She needed to get out of the way!

"Three…"

A platform out of the firing area was just up ahead. Tess darted as fast as her feet could carry her.

"Two…"

Almost there!

"One."

Tess threw herself into the small area that caved away from the cylindrical hall just as a beam of green emerged from the tube, buzzing with electric sputters. Tess anxiously recalled how close together that first announcement of primary ignition commencement was to the second. This was going to be harder than she thought.