OFFICER: (to another officer) Come with me.

DEATH STAR - HALLWAY: Stormtroopers run to their posts.

HANGAR 2037: A line of stormtroopers march toward the pirateship in readiness to board it, while other troopers stand with weapons ready to fire.

OFFICER: Close all outboard shields! Close all outboard shields!

CONFERENCE ROOM: Tarkin pushes a button and responds to the intercom buzz.

VOICE: (over intercom) We've captured a freighter entering the remains of the Alderaan system. It's markings match those of a ship that blasted its way out of Mos Eisley.

VADER: They must be trying to return the stolen plans to the princess. She may yet be of some use to us.

DOCKING BAY 2037: Vader and a commander approach the troops as an Officer and several heavily armed troops exit the spacecraft.

VOICE: (over intercom) Unlock one-five-seven and nine. Release charges.

OFFICER: (to Vader) There's no one on board, sir. According to the log, the crew abandoned ship right after takeoff. It must be a decoy, sir. Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned.

VADER: Did you find any droids?

OFFICER: No, sir. If there were any on board, they must also have jettisoned.

VADER: Send a scanning crew on board. I want every part of this ship checked.

OFFICER: Yes, sir.

VADER: I sense something...a presence I haven't felt since...

Vader turns quickly and exits the hangar.

OFFICER: Get me a scanning crew in here on the double. I want every part of this ship checked!

MILLENNIUM FALCON - HALLWAY: A trooper runs through the hallway heading for the exit. In a few moments all is quiet. The muffled sounds of a distant officer giving orders finally fade.

TROOPER: There's no one here.

A floor panel suddenly pops up revealing Han Solo and Luke. Ben Kenobi sticks his head out of a second floor panel.

LUKE: Boy, it's lucky you had these compartments.

HAN: I use them for smuggling. I never thought I'd be smuggling myself in them. This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam.

BEN: Leave that to me!

HAN: Damn fool. I knew that you were going to say that!

BEN: Who's the more foolish...the fool or the fool who follows him?

Han shakes his head, muttering to himself. Chewbacca agrees.

The crewmen carry a heavy box on board the ship, past the two stormtroopers guarding either side of the ramp.

TROOPER: The ship's all yours. If the scanners pick up anything, report it immediately. All right, let's go.

The crewmen enter the pirateship and a loud crashing sound is followed by a voice calling to the guard below.

HAN'S VOICE: Hey down there, could you give us a hand with this?

The stormtroopers enter the ship and a quick round of gunfire is heard.

FORWARD BAY - COMMAND OFFICE: In a very small command office near the entrance to the pirateship, a Gantry Officer looks out his window and notices the guards are missing. He speaks into the comlink.

GANTRY OFFICER: TX-four-one-two. Why aren't you at your post? TX-four-one-two, do you copy?

A stormtrooper comes down the ramp of the pirateship and waves to the gantry officer, pointing to his ear indicating his comlink is not working. The gantry officer shakes his head in disgust and heads for the door, giving his aide an annoyed look.

GANTRY OFFICER: Take over. We've got a bad transmitter. I'll see what I can do.

As the officer approaches the door, it slides open revealing the towering Chewbacca. The gantry officer, in a momentary state of shock, stumbles backward. With a bone-chilling howl, the giant Wookiee flattens the officer with one blow.

The aide immediately reaches for his pistol, but is blasted by Han, dressed as an Imperial stormtrooper.

Ben and the robots enter the room quickly followed by Luke, also dressed as a stormtrooper.

Luke quickly removes his helmet.

LUKE: You know, between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, it's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here.

HAN: Bring them on! I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around.

THREEPIO: We found the computer outlet, sir.

Ben feeds some information into the computer and a map of the city appears on the monitor. He begins to inspect it carefully. Threepio and Artoo look over the control panel. Artoo finds something that makes him whistle wildly.

BEN: Plug in. He should be able to interpret the entire Imperial computer network.

Artoo punches his claw arm into the computer socket and the vast Imperial brain network comes to life, feeding information to the little robot. After a few moments, he beeps something.

THREEPIO: He says he's found the main computer to power the tractor beam that's holding the ship here. He'll try to make the precise location appear on the monitor.

The computer monitor flashes readouts.

THREEPIO: The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave.

Ben studies the data on the monitor readout.

BEN: I don't think you boys can help. I must go alone.

HAN: Whatever you say. I've done more that I bargained for on this trip already.

LUKE I want to go with you.