"Soon, Lord Vader," the admiral answered, trembling in fear.

"Yes, Admiral…" Darth Vader said slowly, "…soon."

Two gigantic asteroids hurtled toward the Millennium Falcon. Its pilot quickly

made a daring banking maneuver that brought it skirring out of the path of those two

asteroids, nearly to collide with a third.

As the Falcon darted in and out of the asteroid field, it was followed closely by

three Imperial TIE fighters that veered through the rocks in hot pursuit. Suddenly

one of the three was fatally scraped by a shapeless chunk of rock and spun off in

another direction, hopelessly out of control. The other two TIE fighters continued

their chase, accompanied by the Star Destroyer Avenger, which was blasting speeding

asteroid in its path.

Han Solo glimpsed the pursuing ships through the windows of his cockpit as he

spun his craft around, speeding under yet another oncoming asteroid, then bringing

the freighter back to its right-side-up position. But the Millennium Falcon was not

yet out of danger. Asteroids were still streaking past the freighter. A small one

bounced off the ship with a loud, reverberating clang, terrifying Chewbacca and

causing See-Threepio to cover his eye lenses with a bronzed hand.

Han glanced at Leia and saw that she was sitting stone-faced as she stared at the

swarm of asteroids. It looked to him as if she wished she were thousands of miles

away.

"Well," he remarked, "you said you wanted to be around when I was wrong."

She didn't look at him. "I take it back."

"That Star Destroyer is slowing down," Han announced, checking his computer

readings.

"Good," she replied shortly.

The view outside the cockpit was still thick with racing asteroids. "We're going

to get pulverized if we stay out here much longer," he observed.

"I'm against that," Leia remarked dryly.

"We've got to get out of this shower."

"That make sense."

"I'm going to get in closer to one of the big ones," Han added.

That did not make sense.

"Closer!" Threepio exclaimed, throwing up his metal arms. His artificial brain

could scarcely register what his auditory sensors had just perceived.

"Closer!" Leia repeated in disbelief.

Chewbacca stared at his pilot in amazement and barked.

None of the three could understand why their captain, who had risked his life the

save them all, would now try to get them killed! Making a few simple adjustments

on the cockpit controls, Han swerved the Millennium Falcon between a few large

asteroids, then aimed the craft directly at one the size of a moon.

A flashing shower of smaller rocks exploded against the enormous asteroid's

craggy surface as the Millennium Falcon, with the Emperor's TIE fighters still in

pursuit, flew directly above the asteroid. It was like skimming over the surface of a

small planet, barren and devoid of all life.

With expert precision, Han Solo steered his ship toward still another giant

asteroid, the largest one they had yet encountered. Summoning all the skill that had

made his reputation known throughout the galaxy, he maneuvered the Falcon so that

the only object between it and the TIE fighters was the deadly floating rock.

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