EXT. FOREST MOON –- FOREST – DAY
The shuttle comes in to land.
EXT. FOREST – LANDING SITE – DAY
The stolen Imperial shuttle sits in a clearing of the moon’s dark, primeval forest, dwarfed by the ancient towering trees.
On an adjacent hill, the helmeted Rebel contingent makes its way up a steep trail. Leia and Han are slightly ahead of Chewie and Luke. The troops of the strike team squad follow, with Artoo and Threepio bringing up the rear.
Up ahead, Han and Leia reach a crest in the hill and drop suddenly to the ground, signalling the rest of the group to stop. Luke and Chewie crawl up to take a look.
C-3PO: (to Artoo) Oh, I told you it was dangerous here.
Not far below them, two IMPERIAL SCOUT TROOPERS are wandering through bushes in the valley below. Their two speeder bikes are parked nearby.
LEIA: Shall we try and go around?
HAN: It’ll take time. This whole party’ll be for nothing if they see us. (beat) Chewie and I will take care of this. You stay here.
LUKE: (stern) Quietly! There might be more of them out there.
HAN: (grins) Hey, it’s me!
Han and Chewie turn and start through the bushes toward the scouts.
LEIA: How can a man go through all the things he has and not learn any humility?
LUKE: Han’s got only two modes: frozen stiff and full speed ahead.
Luke and Leia exchange smiles.
EXT. FOREST – CLEARING – DAY
Han sneaks up behind one of the scouts, steps on a twig and the scout whirls, knocking Han into a tree. The scout shouts for his companion.
SCOUT TROOPER #1: Go for help! Go!
The second scout jumps on his speeder bike and takes off, but Chewie gets off a shot on his bowcaster, demolishing the scout’s ride and sending him sprawling. Han and Scout #1 are in a rousing brawl.
LUKE: (sarcastic) Great. C’mon.
Luke starts for the scuffle, followed by Leia with her blaster pistol drawn. As they run through the bushes, Leia stops and points to where two more scouts are sitting on their speeder bikes, with an unoccupied bike parked nearby. Upon seeing the Rebels, the two scout troopers take off into the woods.
LEIA: Over there! Two more of them!
LUKE: I see them. Wait, Leia!
But Leia doesn’t hear him and races for the remaining speeder bike. She starts it up and takes off as Luke jumps on the bike behind her.
Luke and Leia speed into the dense foliage in hot pursuit, barely avoiding two huge trees.
HAN: Hey, wait!
Scout #1 lays a hand on Han’s shoulder. He flips the Imperial to the ground.
EXT. FOREST – CONTINUOUS
The two fleeing Imperial scouts have a good lead as Luke and Leia pursue through the giant trees at over 321 kilometres an hour.
LUKE: (points to controls) Quick! Jam their comlink. Centre switch!
Leia turns the switch.
LUKE: Move closer!
Leia guns it, closing the gap, as the two scouts recklessly veer through a narrow gap in the trees. One of the bikes scrapes a tree, slowing the scout.
LUKE: Get alongside that one!
Leia pulls her speeder bike up so close to the scout’s bike that their steering vanes SCRAPE noisily. Luke leaps from his bike to the back of the scout’s, grabs the trooper around the neck, SNAPS it, and throws him off the bike, into a thick tree trunk. Luke gains control of the bike and follows Leia, who has pulled ahead. They tear off after the remaining scout.
LUKE: Get him!
The speeding chase passes TWO MORE IMPERIAL SCOUTS. These two swing into pursuit, chasing Luke and Leia, firing away with their blaster cannons. The two Rebels look behind them just as Luke’s bike takes a glancing hit.
LUKE: (indicating scout trooper ahead) Keep on that one! I’ll take these two!
With Leia shooting ahead, Luke suddenly slams his steering vanes into the braking mode. Luke’s bike is a blur to the two pursuing scouts as they zip by him on either side. Luke slams his bike into forward and starts firing away, having switched places with his pursuers in a manner of seconds. Luke’s aim is good and one scout’s bike is blasted out of control. It explodes against a tree trunk.
The scout’s cohort takes one glance back at the flash and shifts into turbo drive, going even faster. Luke keeps on his tail.
CUT TO
Leia and the first scout.
They are doing a high-speed slalom through the death-dealing trunks. Now Leia aims her bike skyward and rises out of sight.
The scout turns in confusion, unable to see his pursuer. Suddenly, Leia dives down upon him from above, cannon blasting. The scout’s bike takes a glancing hit.
Leia moves in alongside him. The scout eyes her beside him, reaches down, and pulls out a blaster. Before Leia can react, the scout has blasted her bike, sending it out of control. Leia dives off as her bike explodes against a tree. The happy scout looks back at the explosion. But when he turns forward again, he is on a collision course with a giant fallen tree. He hits his brakes to no avail and disappears in a conflagration.
CUT TO
Luke and the last remaining scout.
They continue their weaving chase through the trees. Now Luke moves up close. The scout responds by slamming his bike into Luke’s. A fallen tree forms a bridge across their path. The scout zips under. Luke goes over the top and crashes his bike down on the scout’s. Both riders look ahead – a wide trunk looms directly in Luke’s path, but the scout’s bike beside him makes it almost impossible for him to avoid it. Luke banks with all his might, leaning almost horizontal over the scout’s bike, and is able to make it by, just clipping the tree. When he straightens, he and the scout discover that their two bikes have locked front vanes and are moving as one.
Another big tree looms in Luke’s path. He reacts instinctively and dives off his bike. The two bikes come apart a second before Luke’s explodes against a tree. The scout sweeps out and circles back to find Luke.
Luke rises from the undergrowth as the scout bears down on him and opens fire with his blaster cannon. Luke ignites his lightsaber and begins deflecting the bolts. The scout’s bike keeps coming and it appears that in a second it will cut Luke in half. At the last instant, Luke steps aside and chops off the bike’s control vanes with one mighty slash. The scout’s bike begins to shudder, then, pitching and rolling, it rises up to slam directly into a tree in a giant ball of fire.
EXT. FOREST – CLEARING – DAY
Han, Chewie, and the 'droids, along with the rest of the squad, wait anxiously in the clearing. Artoo BEEPS.
C-3PO: Oh, General Solo, somebody’s coming.
Han, Chewie, and the rest of the squad raise their weapons.
Luke steps out of the foliage to find the weapons trained on him. He’s too tired to care.
HAN: Luke! Where’s Leia?
LUKE: (concerned) What? She didn’t come back?
HAN: I thought she was with you.
LUKE: We got separated.
Luke and Han exchange a silent, grim look.
LUKE: Hey, we better go look for her.
Han nods, and signals to a Rebel officer.
HAN: Take the squad ahead. We’ll meet at the shield generator at 0300.
LUKE: Come on, Artoo. We’ll need your scanners.
Luke, Chewie, Han, and the 'droids move off in one direction as the squad proceeds in another.
C-3PO: Don’t worry, Master Luke. We know what to do. (to Artoo) And you said it was pretty here.
EXT. FOREST – LEIA’S CRASH SITE – DAY
Leia lies facedown in the grass, semi-conscious.
A scout trooper comes into view. Standing over Leia, the Imperial prods Leia with a boot. The woman groans and sits up, trying to figure out where she is and what has happened. Her clothes are torn; she’s bruised and disheveled.
SCOUT TROOPER #7: C’mon, get up!
She stands up, and the scout takes a couple steps back, blaster trained on her.
SCOUT TROOPER #7: No funny stuff. Raise 'em.
She raises her hands. The scout quickly pats her down, retrieves her blaster, then turns her around.
SCOUT TROOPER #7: (jabs her in back with blaster) Walk.
EXT. FOREST – SCOUT CAMPSITE – DAY
Present at this second campsite are three helmetless scout troopers. Two of them have the corpse of an EWOK – a creature which resembles a three-foot, gray bushbaby with fierce baboon-like fangs – propped up between them; the third holds a camera. As the scouts with the corpse smile for the camera, their comrade takes their snapshot.
The holograph taken, the scouts drop the body to the ground. They then stride over to a tree. Strung upside down from the tree, still alive, is another Ewok by the name of WICKET. As the Humans get near him, Wicket flails his arms at them to no avail. Laughing, the SCOUT COMMANDER and Scout #9 take turns poking and pushing the Ewok while Scout #8 takes holographs of them.
Scout #7 emerges into the clearing, Leia held at gunpoint before him.
SCOUT COMMANDER: What’s this then?
Leaving his subordinates with Wicket, the commander moves in close to Leia. Eyes hungry, examining her, he begins feeling her up. She stiffens at his touch.
SCOUT COMMANDER: (grins lasciviously) Well, if you ain’t a sweet little thing….
Leia makes eye contact with the Imperial. The ferocity behind her gaze proves strong enough to kill his libido.
SCOUT COMMANDER: (to Scout #8) Go get your ride and take her back to base.
SCOUT TROOPER #8: Yes, sir.
Scout #8 slips back into his helmet and starts toward his bike. That’s when Leia makes her move. With one hard kick to the groin, she brings the commander to his knees. She elbows Scout #7 under the chin, knocking him out. Diving for Scout #7’s blaster pistol, she shoots Scout #9 dead. Scout #8, now on his bike, takes off. Leia fires away and hits the escaping bike, causing it to crash into three others, exploding.
The forest quiet once more, Leia notices Wicket for the first time. Approaching the Ewok, Leia regards him with pity.
LEIA: Let’s see if we can’t get you down, Short Round.
Rummaging through the Imperials’ equipment, Leia soon finds a field knife. Taking the knife, she saws through the tough cord, freeing him. Landing on the ground, the Ewok quickly backs away from her, fearful and suspicious.
LEIA: I’m not gonna hurt you.
Leia looks around at the dense forest, and at the charred remains of the speeder bikes, then sits down, with a sigh, on a fallen log.
LEIA: Well, looks like I’m stuck here. Trouble is, I don’t know where here is.
She looks over at the watchful little Ewok.
LEIA: Maybe you can help me. (pats log beside her) C’mon, sit down.
Wicket picks a large stick up warily and growls at her like a puppy. Leia pats the log again.
LEIA: I promise I won’t hurt you. Now come here.
More growls and squeaks from the little primate.
LEIA: Alright. You want something to eat?
She takes a ration bar out from her utility belt and offers it to him. Wicket takes a step backward, then cocks his head and moves cautiously toward Leia, chattering in his squeaky Ewok language.
LEIA: That’s right. (takes bite) Come on. Hmmm?
Sniffing the food curiously, the Ewok comes toward Leia and sits on the log beside her, accepting the bar. As she takes her helmet off, the little creature jumps back, startled again. He runs along the log, brandishing his stick threateningly at her and chattering a blue streak. Leia holds out the helmet to him.
LEIA: Look, it’s a hat. It’s not gonna hurt you. Look.
Reassured, Wicket lowers his stick and climbs back on the log, coming to investigate the helmet. Once he has satisfied his curiosity, Wicket regards Leia with new respect, mumbling his awe. Leia stands back up, looks around, then motions the wiry little creature into the dense foliage.
LEIA: C’mon, let’s get outta here.
As they move into the foliage, Wicket takes the lead. He shrieks and tugs at Leia to follow him.
INT. SUPERWEAPON/CORRIDOR TO PRIVATE TURBOLIFT
Darth Vader walks down the corridor to the private turbolift which leads up to the emperor’s throne room. A pair of Royal Guards and Moff Jerjerrod stand in Vader’s path.
MOFF JERJERROD: (points at Vader) You may not enter.
Vader raises his gloved hand to the moff. As Jerjerrod begins to CHOKE, the two guards raise their force pikes, ready to strike the Dark Lord down.
MOFF JERJERROD: (choking) It is the emperor’s command!
Vader relaxes his grip.
DARTH VADER: The emperor will see me now!
MOFF JERJERROD: (nods) Very good.
INT. SUPERWEAPON/EMPEROR’S THRONE ROOM
Two Royal Guards stand watch at the turbolift as the door opens to reveal Vader. Vader enters the eerie, foreboding throne room. It appears to be empty. His footsteps echo as he approaches the throne. He waits, absolutely still. The emperor sits with his back to the Dark Lord.
EMPEROR PALPATINE: (irate) I told you to remain on the command ship.
DARTH VADER: A small Rebel force has penetrated the shield and landed on Endor.
EMPEROR PALPATINE: (swivels around to face Vader) Yes, I know.
DARTH VADER: My son is with them.
EMPEROR PALPATINE: (cold) Are you sure?
DARTH VADER: I have felt him.
EMPEROR PALPATINE: Strange that I have not. (beat) I wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear, Lord Vader.
Vader knows what is being asked.
DARTH VADER: They are clear.
EMPEROR PALPATINE: Then you must go to the sanctuary moon and wait for him. His compassion will be his undoing. He will come to you and then you will bring him before me.
DARTH VADER: (bows) As you wish.
Palpatine turns his chair back around.