Imperial stormtroopers, accompanied by the rapidly moving Darth Vader, thundered through the ice corridors of the Rebel base. Their pace quickened as they rushed in the direction of the low whine coming from the ion engines. Vader’s body tensed slightly as, entering the hangar, he perceived the familiar saucer-shaped form of the Millennium Falcon.
Within the battered freighter ship, Han Solo and Chewbacca were trying desperately to get the craft moving.
"This bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade," Princess Leia complained.
Han pretended that he didn’t hear her. Instead, he checked the Falcon’s controls and struggled to keep his patience even though his companion had so obviously lost hers. He flipped switches on the control console, ignoring the princess’s look of disdain. Clearly, she doubted that this assemblage of spare parts and welded hunks of scrap metal would hold together even if they did manage to get beyond the blockade.
Han pushed a button on the intercom. "Chewie…come on!" Then, winking at Leia, he said, "This baby’s still got a few surprise left in her." "I’ll be surprised if we start moving." Before Han could make a carefully honed retort, the Falcon was jolted by a blast of Imperial laser fire that flashed outside the cockpit window. They could all see the squad of Imperial stormtroopers rushing with drawn weapons into the far end of the ice hangar. Han knew that the Falcon’s dented hull might resist the force of those hand weapons, but would be destroyed by the more powerful bazooka-shaped weapon that two of the Imperial troopers were hurriedly setting up.
"Chewie!" Han yelled as he quickly strapped himself into his pilot’s chair.
Meanwhile, a somewhat subdued young woman seated herself in the navigator’s chair.