At Darth Vader’s command, the fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers was escorting Executor through the asteroid field. The warships fired at the obstacles in their path, but the asteroids far outnumbered the combined weaponry of all the warships, and the Star Destroyers were taking a severe pummeling. Incredibly, the Executor remained unscathed.

A large asteroid slammed into one Star Destroyer’s conning tower, and the ship was instantly engulfed by massive explosions. Evidence of the ship’s loss was immediately played out on the bridge of the Executor, where Darth Vader stood before hologram images of the commanding officers of his escort; one hologram, an Imperial captain, quickly faded and disappeared as his transmission—along with his ship—came to a violent end.

Vader ignored the vanished hologram and faced the three-dimensional projection of the Avenger’s Captain Needa, who reported, “…and that, Lord Vader, was the last time they appeared in any of our scopes. Considering the amount of damage we’ve sustained, they must have been destroyed.”

“No, Captain, they’re alive,” Vader said. “I want every ship available to sweep the asteroid field until they are found.”

With that, the conference was over. As the holograms faded out, Admiral Piett walked hurriedly onto the bridge and was almost breathless when he came to a stop before the Executor’s commander. Piett gasped, “Lord Vader.”

One look at Piett’s pallor, which was white as a sheet, and the Sith Lord knew the man was scared. “Yes, Admiral, what is it?”

Piett took a gulp of air, then tried to keep his voice from trembling as he said, “The Emperor commands you to make contact with him.”

“Move the ship out of the asteroid field so that we can send a clear transmission.”

“Yes, my lord,” Piett said as Vader’s menacing form swept off the bridge.

Vader proceeded to his personal quarters. When the Executor was out of the asteroid field, he stepped down from his meditation chamber to stand upon a circular black panel, a HoloNet scanner that allowed him to transmit communications across the galaxy. As the dark lord dropped to his left knee and bowed his helmeted head, the panel’s outer ring was illuminated. Vader slowly raised his gaze to the empty air before him, and the emptiness was instantly filled by flickering blue light.

The light assembled to form a hologram that was nearly as tall as the room itself: a large three-dimensional image of a cloaked head with eyes that blazed wickedly from shadowy, pitted features.

There was no mistaking the face of Emperor Palpatine.

Still kneeling before the immense hologram, Vader said, “What is thy bidding, my Master?”

From light-years away, on the planet Coruscant, the Emperor said, “There is a great disturbance in the Force.”

“I have felt it,” Vader said.

The Emperor continued, “We have a new enemy. The young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker.”

“How is that possible?” Darth Vader managed to ask through his shock. Could it be…true?

“Search your feelings, Lord Vader. You will know it to be true. He could destroy us.”

“He’s just a boy,” Vader pointed out, the belief rising within him that Anakin’s son could exist. He thought, If the Emperor knows about the boy, then he also knows the fate of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Vader added, “Obi-Wan can no longer help him.”

“The Force is strong with him,” the Emperor said. “The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi.”

The Emperor had not said, in so many words, that the young Skywalker must die, which was fortunate because Vader had something else in mind. He told his master, “If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally.”

“Yes,” said the Emperor, his expression thoughtful, as if he had not previously considered this possibility. Sith Lords had long maintained a rule of limiting their number to only two: one master and one apprentice—but now, the Emperor’s eyes seemed to ignite, and he repeated, “Yes. He would be a great asset. Can it be done?”

“He will join us or die, Master,” Vader said. He bowed, and the Emperor’s hologram faded out.

Nothing will stand in my way, Darth Vader thought. Nothing will stop me from achieving my goal. If I must search the farthest reaches of the galaxy, I will find Luke Skywalker.

R2-D2 found Luke inside a small house made out of mud.

It was raining, and it had been easy for R2-D2 to track Luke’s water-filled footprints from their camp near the spot where they’d landed on Dagobah. Although the astromech had been cautious to travel through the swampy forest on his own, he’d been even more rattled by the idea of remaining alone at the camp. Luke’s footprints had led the droid to the house that had been constructed under the overhanging roots of a towering gnarltree. With its sloping outer walls, the house appeared almost organic, as if it were growing from the ground. Only the windows—smallish oval portals—and a sculpted chimney indicated the moss-covered dwelling was not a natural formation.

The structure was not much taller than the astromech himself. As the rain pelted off his domed head, R2-D2 rose up on the tips of his treads, peeked into a window, and listened. Inside, the small green-skinned creature was cooking something in a pot on a stove while Luke squatted under the low mud-packed ceiling.

“Look, I’m sure it’s delicious,” Luke said, eyeing the food in the pot. “I just don’t understand why we can’t see Yoda now.”

“Patience!” the creature exclaimed. “For the Jedi it is time to eat as well. Eat, eat. Hot.”

Luke moved with difficulty in the cramped quarters, but managed to sit down near the fire and serve himself from the steaming pot. He tasted the strange food and wished he hadn’t.

“Good food, hm?” asked the creature. “Good, hmmm?”

But Luke wasn’t interested in the food. “How far away is Yoda? Will it take us long to get there?”

“Not far,” said the creature. “Yoda not far. Patience. Soon you will be with him.” He tasted the food directly from the pot. “Rootleaf, I cook. Why wish you become Jedi? Hm?”

“Mostly because of my father, I guess,” Luke admitted.

“Ah, father,” the creature said. “Powerful Jedi was he, mmm, powerful Jedi, mmm.”

“Oh, come on,” Luke said, angry with the creature. “How could you know my father? You don’t even know who I am. Oh, I don’t know what I’m doing here. We’re wasting our time.”

The creature looked away from Luke and sounded disappointed as he said, “I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience.”

From out of nowhere, Ben’s voice answered, “He will learn patience.”

Startled, Luke looked around, searching for Ben as if he might appear within the mud house.

“Hmmm,” mumbled the creature. He turned slowly, studied Luke, and said, “Much anger in him, like his father.”

Ben’s voice replied, “Was I any different when you taught me?”

“Hah,” the creature said. “He is not ready.”

Luke looked at the creature, who returned his gaze with wise old eyes. Then Luke suddenly realized the truth, and gasped, “Yoda!”

Yoda nodded.

“I am ready,” Luke said. “I…Ben! I…I can be a Jedi. Ben, tell him I’m ready.” Trying to see Ben, Luke started to get up—only to smack his head against the hut’s ceiling.

“Ready, are you?” Yoda said, fixing Luke with a severe glare. “What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained! A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.” Yoda tilted his head slightly to address Ben, who remained invisible, as he gestured to indicate Luke. “This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away…to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph.” Yoda raised his gimer stick and jabbed Luke. “Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things.” Lowering his gimer stick, he stared at Luke. “You are reckless!”

Ben’s disembodied voice said, “So was I, if you remember.”

“He is too old,” Yoda replied. Before the fall of the Old Republic, Jedi began their training as infants— before they could know about fear and anger— and were raised at the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant. One rare exception had been Luke’s father, who’d been nine years of age when he’d arrived at the Jedi Temple. Yoda had been extremely reluctant to allow Luke’s father to become a Jedi, and given everything that had transpired, he was even more hesitant to teach Luke. Yoda added, “Yes, too old to begin the training.”

Desperate for Yoda to reconsider, Luke said, “But I’ve learned so much.”

Yoda sighed. Addressing the invisible Ben, he asked, “Will he finish what he begins?”

Instead of allowing Ben to answer, Luke said, “I won’t fail you.” As Yoda’s gaze returned to him, Luke felt compelled to add, “I’m not afraid.”

Yoda said, “Oh,” his eyes widening, and his voice dropping to a low, threatening tone, “you will be. You will be.”