Luke Skywalker gazed at the strange, cloud-covered world that now filled the view from his X-wing. Behind him, R2-D2 beeped from his astromech socket, and Luke read R2-D2’s words as they were translated on the console monitor.

“Yes, that’s it,” Luke replied into his comlink. “Dagobah.”

R2-D2 beeped a hopeful question.

Luke said, “No, I’m not going to change my mind about this.” Examining his sensor scopes, Luke seemed slightly apprehensive. “I’m not picking up any cities or technology. Massive life-form readings though. There’s something alive down there.…”

Again, R2-D2 beeped, but this time his question was filled with worry.

Luke said, “Yes, I’m sure it’s perfectly safe for droids.”

It was twilight above Dagobah as Luke began his descent. He entered the atmosphere and his view was soon obscured by clouds. He turned his focus to his sensor scopes…and discovered they weren’t working.

An alarm began to buzz, and R2-D2 beeped and whistled frantically.

“I know, I know!” Luke said. “All the scopes are dead. I can’t see a thing! Just hang on. I’m going to start the landing cycle.”

R2-D2 squealed, but his cries were drowned out by the deafening roar of the X-wing’s retrorockets. Luke flipped on the landing lights, but he still couldn’t see the planet’s surface through the dense atmosphere. Suddenly, there was a series of thrashing, cracking sounds, and Luke realized his ship was crashing through the upper branches of tall trees. Then, with a sudden jolt, the X-wing came to a stop.

Luke had landed in a watery peat bog. The X-wing was half-submerged, but from what Luke could see through the fog, his ship was still in one piece.

Luke opened the cockpit canopy and he got his first taste of Dagobah’s humid climate. The smell of rot permeated the air. As he pulled off his gloves, he heard the caws and croaks of mysterious, unseen creatures. Behind him, R2-D2 beeped nervously.

Luke climbed out of his cockpit and stepped carefully onto the X-wing’s long nose as R2-D2 removed himself from his socket to have a better look at their fog-shrouded surroundings. The X-wing’s landing lights barely penetrated the fog, but R2-D2 was able to make out some of the giant, twisted gnarltrees that loomed around them. The gnarltrees had huge roots that rose out of the boggy terrain and gathered into wide trunks. Under and between the roots, cave-sized hollows had formed, leaving natural shelters for creatures of the swamp. Everything appeared to be covered with green moss or slime.

R2-D2 whistled anxiously. Luke turned and said, “No, Artoo, you stay put. I’ll have a look around.”

Still standing on the X-wing’s nose, Luke checked to make sure his blaster was secure in the holster at his right hip, then bent slightly as he removed his helmet. The movement was enough to make his starfighter shift, and R2-D2 was thrown off balance. The droid let out an electronic yelp as he fell into the bog with a loud splash.

Luke spun and called, “Artoo?” He dropped to his knees and leaned out from the X-wing, trying to locate the droid, but the water’s surface was blanketed by mist. “Artoo! Where are you? Artoo!” Luke held his breath and waited for some sign of—

A small periscope rose up through the mist. From underwater, R2-D2 made a gurgly beep.

At the sight of the little astromech’s periscope, Luke let out a long breath. The periscope rotated so R2-D2 could glimpse his relieved master as he said, “You be more careful.”

The periscope began to move through the mist, but Luke saw that R2-D2 wasn’t heading in the most direct route to the bog’s shore. “Artoo,” he said, and the periscope glanced back at him. Luke pointed toward shore and said, “That way!” R2-D2 beeped, then moved off again, following Luke’s instruction.

Luke tossed his helmet into the X-wing’s open cockpit, then jumped into the murky water. He was right next to the shore and had no difficulty climbing some underwater roots to the muddy ground. But as he emerged with his g-suit covered in muck, he heard R2-D2’s pathetic electronic scream.

Luke spun in time to see R2-D2’s periscope drop and vanish into the mist, as he caught a glimpse of a large serpentlike creature rolling through the water just behind the droid’s position. As suddenly as the creature had revealed its form, it disappeared underwater.

“Artoo!” Luke shouted as he drew his blaster fast, ready to fire at the first sight of the beast when it resurfaced. But seconds passed, and it didn’t resurface. Luke watched the mist over the water and waited. Come on, Artoo. Make a noise. Do something!

Without warning, there was an explosion of bubbles and mud, and R2-D2 was launched like a missile from the water. Luke watched in stunned silence as the ejected droid sailed through the air, screeching all the way, and dropped out of sight between two trees.

The crash sounded awful.

Luke scrambled over slippery moss and odorous plants to find R2-D2 coated with slime and mud, resting upside down against some gnarled roots.

“Oh, no!” Luke said. “Are you all right?”

R2-D2 beeped and flailed his upturned legs against the vines. Luke noticed some alien bones on the ground nearby, and he wondered if they’d been expectorated by the same creature that had tried to make a meal of R2-D2.

“Come on,” Luke said, gently righting the poor droid to his feet. “You’re lucky you don’t taste very good. Anything broken?”

Nothing appeared to be damaged, but R2-D2 responded with a beep that sounded soggy and miserable.

Luke wiped mud from R2-D2’s body. “If you’re saying coming here was a bad idea, I’m beginning to agree with you.” He stood up and looked around, then squatted down beside the droid. “Artoo, what are we doing here? It’s like…something out of a dream or…I don’t know.” He pried more mud from the primary photo receptor on R2-D2’s domed head and added, “Maybe I’m just going crazy.”

R2-D2 beeped, popped open a cranial access port, and spat mud onto the ground.

On the Executor, Admiral Piett hesitated as he entered Darth Vader’s inner sanctum. From where Piett stood, just at the doorway, he could see Vader’s spherical meditation chamber was partially open, but the sphere’s interlocking mechanical jaws obscured the view of Vader himself. Piett moved cautiously forward, and when he was able to see the seated figure within the meditation chamber, he gulped in astonishment.

Darth Vader was not wearing his helmet. He sat facing away from Piett, who shivered at the sight of the back of Vader’s head; it was pale, hairless, and heavily scarred.

Take a good look, Admiral, thought Vader. Imagine the worst, and let your fear fuel my power.

Piett watched a robotic clamp lower from the sphere’s ceiling and place the familiar black helmet over Vader’s head. He quickly composed himself as Vader’s seat rotated to face him.

Vader said, “Yes, Admiral?”

“Our ships have sighted the Millennium Falcon, Lord. But…it has entered an asteroid field, and we cannot risk—”

“Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral,” Vader interrupted. “I want that ship, not excuses.”

“Yes, Lord,” Piett said as the meditation chamber’s upper half descended.

The Millennium Falcon had touched down inside the asteroid cave. A sensor scan had detected a warm, pressurized atmosphere outside the ship, but the Falcon’s crew was more concerned with repairing their ship than speleological anomalies. Leia, C-3PO, and Chewbacca were checking instruments in the cockpit when Han entered and said, “I’m going to shut down everything but the emergency power systems.”

Hearing this, C-3PO said, “Sir, I’m almost afraid to ask, but…does that include shutting me down, too?”

“No,” Han said with a smile as he flipped several switches to off positions. “I need you to talk to the Falcon and find out what’s wrong with the hyperdrive.”

Suddenly, the ship lurched, causing the cockpit’s occupants to stumble into one another. A moment after it happened, the ship stabilized.

Facing Han, C-3PO said, “Sir, it’s quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable.”

“Not entirely stable?” Han said with annoyance. “I’m glad you’re here to tell us these things.” He pushed C-3PO toward Chewbacca and said, “Chewie, take the professor in the back and plug him into the hyperdrive.”

“Oh!” C-3PO exclaimed as Chewbacca guided him out of the cockpit. “Sometimes I just don’t understand human behavior. After all, I’m only trying to do my job in the most—” The hatch slid shut, cutting off C-3PO’s words.

Leia and Han were still inside the cockpit when the Falcon suddenly lurched again. Leia was thrown across the cockpit into Han, and he stumbled back into the navigator’s seat. His arms encircled Leia protectively as she landed on his lap. Then, abruptly, the lurching motion stopped.

“Let go,” said Leia.

“Shh!” Han said, trying to listen for any unusual sounds outside the ship as he kept his arms around Leia.

“Let go, please,” Leia insisted.

“Don’t get excited,” Han said as he released his hold.

Leia fumed. “Captain, being held by you isn’t quite enough to get me excited.”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Han replied with a smirk. “We haven’t got time for anything else.” He opened the hatch and left the cockpit.

Leia turned to look out the window, but she was so flustered she couldn’t see straight. Why does he have to be such a jerk? she thought. And why do I let him get to me? She felt almost dizzy with anger as her brain fumbled for words that she might have used to tell off Han, once and for all. Then she realized her lips were moving, mumbling words that just wouldn’t come out right.

I don’t know what’s worse, Leia thought. Feeling furious at Han, or feeling…something else.

Something she didn’t want to acknowledge.

She raised her white-gloved hand and whacked the cockpit’s wall.

On Dagobah, the mist had dispersed a bit, but the swamp remained a gloomy place. Luke had retrieved a box of emergency provisions from his X-wing and set up his camp in a clearing. As he ignited a compact fusion furnace that he’d placed on a rotten log beside R2-D2, the droid beeped at him.

“What?” Luke said. “Ready for some power? Okay. Let’s see now.” He ran a power cable from the furnace to the droid. “Put that in there,” he said to himself as he plugged the cable into R2-D2’s socket. “There you go.”

R2-D2 beeped, apparently content for the moment.

Luke patted R2-D2’s domed head and said, “Now all I got to do is find this Yoda…if he even exists.” To himself, he thought, I don’t even know what Yoda looks like. Since he taught Ben, he must be very old. And strong, too, if he can survive in this environment. For the first time, Luke realized he’d been assuming Yoda was male, when in fact he didn’t have any idea.

Luke sighed as he stood and looked around. “It’s really a strange place to find a Jedi Master. This place gives me the creeps.”

R2-D2 beeped. Even though Luke didn’t have a portable droid translator, he had a feeling that the little droid agreed with him.

Luke sat down on a rock beside R2-D2 and removed a box of food rations from his stack of supplies. As he bit into a dehydrated nutrition bar, he continued, “Still…there’s something familiar about this place.”

R2-D2 beeped, wondering what Luke meant.

“I don’t know…” Luke said, glancing at the surrounding trees. “I feel like…”

“Feel like what?” a strange, croaking voice interrupted.

Luke’s blaster flashed from its holster and he was suddenly aiming at a short, squat alien who sat on a nearby stump. “Like we’re being watched!” Luke finished.

“Away put your weapon!” the creature said as he threw his arms up over his face. “I mean you no harm.” He wore a ratty old robe and clutched a small gimer stick that he held up defensively. He lowered his arms to peek over his sleeves, allowing Luke to get a better look at him. He had wrinkled green skin, long tapered ears, and large eyes that looked somehow alert and sleepy at the same time. His manner of speech was unusual and his words came out in a rhythmic croak. Luke didn’t recognize the creature’s species, but he appeared harmless.

The creature asked, “I am wondering, why are you here?”

“I’m looking for someone,” Luke answered warily.

“Looking?” the creature said with amusement. “Found someone, you have, I would say, hmmm?” He chuckled.

Luke tried to keep from smiling as he answered, “Right.”

“Help you I can. Yes, mmmm.”

“I don’t think so,” Luke replied. Looking away as he holstered his blaster, he didn’t see the creature smile slyly. Luke added, “I’m looking for a great warrior.”

“Ahhh! A great warrior,” the creature said, then laughed and shook his head. “Wars not make one great.” Easing himself down to the ground, he held his gimer stick forward as he hobbled on his stubby tridactyl feet over to Luke’s supplies. Luke had placed his nutrition bar on top of a box, and the creature picked up the bar and examined it.

“Put that down!” Luke said. “Now…hey!” Much to Luke’s surprise, the creature had just taken a tiny bite from the bar. Luke said, “That’s my dinner!”

As Luke snatched the bar and a box of rations, the creature’s face twisted with disgust at the bar’s taste. He said, “How you get so big, eating food of this kind?”

Luke considered finishing the nutrition bar, then thought better of it and tossed it into the swamp. “Listen, friend,” he said, “we didn’t mean to land in that puddle, and if we could get our ship out, we would, but we can’t, so why don’t you just—”

“Aww, can’t you get your ship out?” the creature asked.

Luke turned to see that the creature had set aside his gimer stick and had crawled headfirst into an open container. Luke couldn’t believe it. He’s rummaging through my supplies!

“Hey, get out of there!” Luke shouted.

“Ahhh!” said the creature as he dug out an electronic device.

Luke grabbed the device and said, “Hey, you could have broken this.”

Ignoring Luke, the creature dug faster, considered an item, then said, “No!” and tossed it over his shoulder. He picked out another object and tossed it after the other.

“Don’t do that,” Luke said. “Ohhh…you’re making a mess.”

“Oh!” cried the creature as he pulled out a tiny power lamp and regarded it with delight. He flicked it on and moved the light around his face.

“Hey, give me that!” Luke said.

“Mine!” the creature said, clutching the tiny lamp. “Or I will help you not.”

“I don’t want your help,” Luke said. “I want my lamp back. I’m gonna need it to get out of this slimy mudhole.”

The creature glared at Luke. “Mudhole? Slimy? My home this is.”

While the creature faced Luke, R2-D2 opened an access panel and extended one of his manipulator arms, then clamped onto the lamp and tried to snatch it from the creature’s tight grip. “Ah, ah, ah!” said the creature as he and R2-D2 began a tug-of-war contest with the lamp as the prize.

“Oh, Artoo, let him have it!” Luke said. But the droid ignored him and continued to tug.

With his free hand, the creature reached for his gimer stick and began whacking R2-D2 as he shouted, “Mine! Mine! Mine!”

“Artoo!” Luke cried out, prompting the droid to release his grip and allow the creature to win. As R2-D2 retracted his manipulator, the creature reached out with his gimer stick and playfully tapped the droid’s access panel shut.

Tired of the creature, Luke said, “Now will you move along, little fella? We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“No! No, no!” said the creature, wielding the tiny lamp as he hobbled over to Luke. “Stay and help you, I will.” The creature laughed and added, “Find your friend.”

“I’m not looking for a friend,” Luke said. “I’m looking for a Jedi Master.”

The creature’s eyes went wide and his tapered ears dipped. “Oohhh, Jedi Master. Yoda. You seek Yoda.”

Now it was Luke who was surprised. Bending down so his eyes were almost level with the creature’s, he said, “You know him?”

“Mmm. Take you to him, I will.” The creature laughed. “Yes, yes. But now we must eat. Come. Good food. Come.” The creature walked away from Luke’s camp, then turned back and repeated, “Come, come.”

Luke didn’t trust the creature, but he wasn’t afraid of him either. He turned to the astromech and said, “Artoo, stay and watch after the camp.”

R2-D2 watched his master follow the creature deeper into the swamp. The droid slowly rotated his domed head clockwise, looking for any other life-forms that might be lurking in the darkness or the trees. He kept looking until he’d completed a full rotation and spotted Luke again, now farther away.

R2-D2 beeped an electronic sigh.

“Oh, where is Artoo when I need him?” C-3PO said with dismay as he shook his head. The golden droid was standing inside the Falcon’s main hold, and the ship was still in the cave on the moon-sized asteroid. C-3PO had just attempted to communicate with the ship’s computer by whistling and beeping into a control panel on the main hold’s wall. The control panel had responded with a mystifying whistle that left C-3PO slightly baffled.

Han entered the hold to check on some wires and cables. C-3PO said, “Sir, I don’t know where your ship learned to communicate, but it has the most peculiar dialect. I believe, sir, it says that the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized. I’m afraid you’ll have to replace it.”

Han grimaced at the droid. “Well, of course I’ll have to replace it,” he said, then walked across the hold and looked up to an open access compartment in the ceiling. Chewbacca’s head peeked out to gaze down at Han, who handed a wire coil to the Wookiee and said, “Here! And Chewie…”

Chewbacca whined, waiting for Han to continue.

Han glanced back at C-3PO, who was still facing the control panel on the other side of the hold. Hoping only Chewbacca would hear his words, Han said in a low voice, “…I think we’d better replace the negative power coupling.”

Chewbacca responded with an affirmative bark.

From the main hold, Han stepped through an open hatch into the adjoining circuitry bay, a narrow-walled cluster of switches and valves that also served as a shortcut—via a second hatch—to the port side cargo hold. Inside the circuitry bay, Leia had just finished welding a valve. She had removed her white gloves, and was now struggling with a lever. Her back was to Han, and she was so focused on the lever that she didn’t hear his approach. But as he extended his arms past hers to reach for the lever, Leia was startled. And when she quickly realized it was Han who’d come up behind her, she was suddenly outraged. Still gripping the lever with both hands, she turned it hard with a thrust of her elbows to send Han back a step.

“Hey, Your Worship,” Han said. “I’m only trying to help.”

“Would you please stop calling me that?” Leia snapped, and tried turning the lever again.

Han shrugged. “Sure, Leia.”

Leia broiled. She’d been putting up with Han’s jibes about her royal title for so long that it seemed unfair that he should speak her name so easily. Still infuriated, she leaned into the lever and said, “Oh, you make it so difficult sometimes.”

“I do, I really do,” Han agreed. “You could be a little nicer, though. Come on, admit it. Sometimes you think I’m all right.”

Suddenly, her hands slipped on the lever and her bare knuckles smacked against the metal. She reflexively raised one hand to her mouth, as if she might kiss away the pain, then turned to face Han and said, “Occasionally, maybe…when you aren’t acting like a scoundrel.”

“Scoundrel?” Han repeated, and took her hands in his and examined them. “Scoundrel? I like the sound of that.”

Leia realized he was massaging her hands. She said, “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” Han replied, trying to look innocent.

“Stop that! My hands are dirty.”

“My hands are dirty, too. What are you afraid of?”

“Afraid?” The question caught Leia off guard.

Han said, “You’re trembling.”

“I’m not trembling,” Leia countered, and realized, He’s still holding my hands.

The space between them closed. Han said, “You like me because I’m a scoundrel. There aren’t enough scoundrels in your life.”

“I happen to like nice men,” Leia told him. She hadn’t meant to whisper, but she did.

Han replied softly, “I’m a nice man.”

“No, you’re not. You’re…”

And then their lips met. For a few seconds, Leia stopped thinking about whether her hands were clean, or about the Empire, or about…

“Sir, sir!” C-3PO said from behind Han, and tapped him on the shoulder. “I’ve isolated the reverse power flux coupling.”

Neither Leia nor Han had heard the droid enter the circuit bay from the main hold. Han eased out of Leia’s embrace, slowly turned, and advanced toward C-3PO, blocking the droid’s view of Leia and forcing him to step backward through the open hatch. Han said icily, “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Not comprehending Han’s sarcasm, C-3PO said happily, “Oh, you’re perfectly welcome, sir,” then turned and walked away.

Han turned back to face the circuit bay’s interior, but if he’d hoped to find Leia waiting for him to get rid of C-3PO, he was too late. Leia had already left through the other hatch.