HALLWAY: Luke, Han, Chewbacca, and Leia run down an empty hallway and stop before a bay window overlooking the pirateship. Troopers are milling about the ship. Luke takes out his pocket comlink.

HAN: (looking at his ship) There she is.

LUKE: See-Threepio, do you copy?

THREEPIO: (voice) Yes sir.

LUKE: Are you safe?

THREEPIO: For the moment. We're in the main hangar across from the ship.

LUKE: We're right above you. Stand by.

Han is watching the dozen or so troops moving in and out of the pirateship. Leia moves towards Han, touches his arm and points out the window to the ship.

LEIA: You came in that thing? You're braver that I thought.

HAN: Nice! Come on!

Han gives her a dirty look, and they start off down the hallway. They round a corner and run right into twenty Imperial stormtroopers heading toward them. Both groups are taken by surprise and stop in their tracks.

FIRST TROOPER: It's them! Blast them!

Before even thinking, Han draws his laser pistol and charges the troops, firing.

His blaster knocks one of the stormtroopers into the air. Chewie follows his captain down the corridor, stepping over the fallen trooper on the floor.

HAN: (to Luke and Leia) Get back to the ship!

LUKE: Where are you going? Come back!

Han has already rounded a corner and does not hear.

LEIA: He certainly has courage.

LUKE: What good will it do us if he gets himself killed? Come on!

Luke is furious but doesn't have time to think about it for muted alarms begin to go off down on the hangar deck. Luke and Leia start off toward the starship hangar.

SUBHALLWAY: Han chases the stormtroopers down a long subhallway. He is yelling and brandishing his laser pistol. The troops reach an entrance way and turn to fight. Behind them are dozens of more tropers. Han stops a few feet from them and assumes a defensive position. The troops begin moving into an attack position in front of the lone star pirate. Han's determined look begins to fade as the troops begin to advance. Solo jumps backward as they fire at him.

Chewbacca runs down the subhallway in a last-ditch attempt to save his bold captain. Suddenly he hears the firing of laser guns and yelling. Around the corner shoots Han, pirate extraordinaire, running for his life, followed by a host of furious stormtroopers. Chewbacca turns and starts running the other way also.

SUBHALLWAY: Luke fires his laser pistol wildly as he and Leia rush down a narrow subhallway, chased by several stormtroopers.

They quickly reach the end of the subhallway and race through an open hatchway.

DEATH STAR - CENTRAL CORE SHAFT: Luke and Leia race through the hatch onto a narrow bridge that spans a huge, deep shaft that seems to go into infinity. The bridge has been retracted into the wall of the shaft, and Luke almost rushes into the abyss. He loses his balance off the end of the bridge as Leia, behind him, takes hold of his arm and pulls him back.

LUKE: (gasping) I think we took a wrong turn.

Blasts from the stormtroopers' laser guns explode nearby reminding them of the oncoming danger. Luke fires back at the advancing troops. Leia reaches over and hits a switch that pops the hatch door shut with a resounding boom, leaving them precariously perched on a short piece of bridge overhang. Laserfire from the troopers continues to hit the steel door.

LEIA: There's no lock!

Luke blasts the controls with his laser pistol.

LUKE: That oughta hold it for a while.

LEIA: Quick, we've got to get across. Find the control that extends the bridge.

LUKE: Oh, I think I just blasted it.

Luke looks at the blasted bridge control while the stormtroopers on the opposite side of the door begin making ominous drilling and pounding sounds.

LEIA: They're coming through!

Luke notices something on his stormtrooper belt, when laserfire hits the wall behind him. Luke aims his laser pistol at a stormtrooper perched on a higher bridge overhang across the abyss from them. They exchange fire. Two more troops appear on another overhang, also firing. A trooper is hit, and grabs at his chest. Another trooper standing on the bridge overhang is hit by Luke's laserfire, and plummets down the shaft. Troopers move back off the bridge; Luke hands the gun to Leia.

LUKE: Here, hold this.

Luke pulls a thin nylon cable from his trooper utility belt. It has a grappler hook on it. A trooper appears on a bridge overhang and fires at Luke and Leia. As Luke works with the rope, Leia returns the laser volley. Another trooper appears and fires at them, as Leia returns his fire as well. Suddenly, the hatch door begins to open, revealing the feet of more troops.

LEIA: Here they come!

Leia hits one of the stormtroopers on the bridge above, and he falls into the abyss. Luke tosses the rope across the gorge and it wraps itself around an outcropping of pipes. He tugs on the rope to make sure it is secure, then grabs the princess in his arms. Leia looks at Luke, then kisses him quickly. Luke is very surprised.

LEIA: For luck!

Luke pushes off and they swing across the treacherous abyss to the corresponding hatchway on the opposite side.

Just as Luke and Leia reach the far side of the canyon, the stormtroopers break through the hatch and begin to fire at the escaping duo. Leia returns the fire before ducking into the tiny subhallway.

DEATH STAR - NARROW PASSAGEWAY: Ben hides in the shadows of the narrow passageway as several stormtroopers rush past him in the main hallway. He checks to make sure they're gone, then runs down the hallway in the opposite direction. Darth Vader appears at the far end of the hallway and starts after the old Jedi.

MAIN FORWARD BAY: Threepio looks around at the troops milling about the pirateship entry ramp.

THREEPIO: Where could they be?

Artoo, plugged into the computer socket, turns his dome left and right, beeping a response.

CORRIDOR - BLAST SHIELDS DOOR: Han and Chewbacca run down a long corridor with several troopers hot on their trail.

TROOPER: Close the blast doors!

At the end of the hallway, blast doors begin to close in front of them. The young starpilot and his furry companion race past the huge doors just as they are closing, and manage to get off a couple off laserblasts at the pursuing troops before the doors slam shut.

TROOPER: Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!