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Luke it's too late!
That line is not in the film is it?
That really should not have been cut out. Good work
Luke it's too late!
That line is not in the film is it?
That really should not have been cut out. Good work
Kexikus said:
The pan down should start earlier
It's quite close to the original gap but you're probably right. I'll have a look at that.
Kexikus said:
the smooth transitions could be a little faster.
Not sure what this means?
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Does anybody know of a super HD scan of this production photo? (RAF Bedfordshire)
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I upscaled and processed a slightly higher resolution version (found here)
You probably didn't notice that my last post on this thread had a little more at the end than my post at FE.org. I'd be interested in getting this to be as complete as possible. Let me know if my deleted scenes project holds any interest for you. I will try to catalog my stuff a bit at some point at let you know what I have, even in terms of miniscule clips in a long documentary.
^^ Thanks emanswfan. Not sure it's quite hi-res enough but I might give it a go anyway.
^ LOL Ender. No I didn't bother reading your post as I thought it was just a copy and paste. I be very interested in said project. I'm replacing any and all possible alternate dialogue as well as footage so audio is welcome too.
I'm up to Yavin now and have just finished cutting in the BR deleted line from Red Leader...
(Password: fanedit.org)
His extra line is from a totally different take to both the TC and SE versions of the Hanger scene with no available coverage (Plus there are frames missing). To cover the changes I matted out an extra walking past the camera from the SE and dropped him back in over the joins. It's not 100% seemless but it is I think the best that is possible.
I've made a good stab at colour-grading the wildly-different lighting used in the deleted footage of Red Leader to match it in but it needs more work. Also alternate dialogue used and alternate shots of Threepio and R2 talking. Oh and audio mix is always unfinished.
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Ryan McAvoy said:
Kexikus said:
the smooth transitions could be a little faster.Not sure what this means?
I'm talking about the transitions between the first shots (Tatooine from space, Wide Shot of Luke in the Desert, Closer Shot of Luke). Not sure how those transitions are called but I think they should be a little faster. They felt too long for me, making it hard to see any details for quite a long time.
Kexikus said:
Ryan McAvoy said:
Kexikus said:
the smooth transitions could be a little faster.Not sure what this means?
I'm talking about the transitions between the first shots (Tatooine from space, Wide Shot of Luke in the Desert, Closer Shot of Luke). Not sure how those transitions are called but I think they should be a little faster. They felt too long for me, making it hard to see any details for quite a long time.
Ah I see, I thought they were maybe too short LOL
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Well it's taken more than a year but I've finally got "Phase 1" on this project (Cutting in all the deleted material). This version is 12 minutes longer than the Theatrical Cut and 9 minutes longer than the SE (Doesn't sound like much actually). Well that was the easy part, the colour-grading and film FX will be much harder, and the third audio/music phase harder still (Still don't know how I'm gonna do that part ). But right now I'm really happy to have got to this point. So here's the extended "blowing up the Death Star" sequence to celebrate...
Supernova
(Password: fanedit.org)
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"Ooops". Forget to add one more clip. Two shots of Stormtroopers and Tie Pilots running round the DS, that was recycled for ROTJ. This one...
If anyone knows of any more footage that was shot for SW, but was later used in ESB or ROTJ, then please let me know :-)
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I was privileged to watch a draft of Ryan's edit here, and I gave a lot of feedback at FE.org. I figured I should share my feedback here too in order to get others pumped about this edit.
And Ryan, I should add that the deleted material I suggest using is available from my project. Admittedly, I probably don't have the best sources for some things. Often, my project will serve better as a reference than a source. But you can look at what it has and see if there are other things that catch your fancy that you might want to get from a better source.
I know you haven't begun work on the audio yet, but I want to put in two cents while I'm thinking about it: since the music in the beginning has to drown out the Williams music, it makes it hard to hear much of the 3PO dialogue. The radio drama has many similar lines with no score in the background for portions of such missing dialogue (not all, I just checked). It could help. Fast forward in time: the same could apply for the extended speeder search for R2.
Back in time to where I was watching: Again, I still think the speeder zooming past the woman needs a little work. I mentioned two fixes, but to me only one is needed. Either show the speeder just entering the town, thus explaining the buildings in the background as he zooms by, or else show the lead up of the woman walking before she suddenly jumps out of the way, with the implication that Luke entered town in the brief moments where we didn't see the speeder. To me the buildings in the background simply don't match the desert shot we saw only a second before at present.
That said, it's a fantastic innovation. I love the whole opening thus far, especially your custom mattes and your zoom/fade in. Truly brilliant. My one suggestion might be to slow the crawl. That way we're not stuck on empty star field for too long. I believe you probably did that to keep better sync for the music you are using, and that's good. I'd just suggest you slow the crawl so the empty star field doesn't last so long.
Now to keep watching.
I like that you used the alternate take of Leia marched to Vader. You got this from Star Wars Begins, right? It looks like you probably zoomed to crop out any "Alternate Take" caption Jambe Davdar added. I suggest using the original source, just so it looks a little better and more complete (without half the stormtroopers heads cut off). And still, while I love that you're using alternate takes, I'm not sure it integrates well yet, and I'm not sure how you could make it do so either. I hope you can
Another suggestion, and it might face a similar challenge, but in The Making of Star Wars there are shots of Luke and Biggs chatting, passing a multi-armed droid. Ah, here's the clip.
[video=youtube;8j0N-GdDg14]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j0N-GdDg14[/video]
Also, I don't know how much of a completionist you are compared to me (yes, I overdo it at times), but the footage of Luke working on the vaporator and spotting the space battle is different in the BD deleted scenes vs the B/W 16 fps version Behind the Magic version. It might give a little more variety to include bits of both in your opening, and it's already degraded! And in the BD version, you see Luke repeat an adjustment on his binoculars in a manner that convinces me it's a repeat of the exact same shot. You could show one from one angle and one from another angle if you included the Behind the Magic version. Anyway, take it or leave it, I'm just trying to give helpful potential feedback. I understand that you want this to be watchable too, and too much tinkering might interfere with that.
Again, another premature audio suggestion, but I think it would be best to use the theatrical mono audio with the less familiar Beru voice and generally lower quality audio.
I'm curious as to why you re-ordered Leia's torture and Tarkin's council with the other Big Wigs? In the novelization the order is the same as the movie. Not that I mind reordering if it serves a good purpose. I'm just curious. Was that how it was originally edited before George Lucas's team re-edited it?
Another audio suggestion for your consideration, but as Williams scored a few alternate tunes, you might want to consider using those when possible, such as during the sunset scene. I prefer the theatrical music, but since this is supposedly the Lost Cut, we could speculate that the other version had been seriously considered.
I think the original Tusken Raider yell is better. It looks like you used some clip of someone trying out his costume. It looks a bit weird to me, personally.
One of the Ep III trailers contains a different take of Obi-Wan saying, "For over a thousand generations..." from the close up Ben's face rather than the further shot with Luke wielding the lightsaber. Just another shot for consideration.
I'm not sure that you should or should not do this, but again, since this is the Lost Cut, you might want to consider leaving all the pick up shots of the Mos Eisley Cantina out and keep it closer to the original. If I'm not clear, I mean all the additional aliens George filmed later, since he was dissatisfied with how the cantina scene originally went. I believe the BD already has it as it was originally presented, and I might (not definitely, but maybe) would try to keep it closer to the original.
Then again, I want to see as complete a movie as possible too, so I'm not sure I want you to be faithful in that regard.
In Deleted Magic, OCP included a slightly longer clip as Han exits the cantina after killing Greedo. It's only a second or two more, definitely lower in quality, but since you're going to crapify the footage anyway, it could be easily be made look like similar and in character with a poorly preserved roll of film. I'm not sure of the original source of this clip. A similar slightly extended shot is also available as the snitch starts trailing Ben and Luke. It's also on Deleted Magic, but I know it comes from the Holiday Special, and there are better quality versions of this available now. Again, any change in quality could be blended in, I think. Of course the aspect ratio is likely different, so maybe this won't work. It's worth a thought, anyway.
I'm confused as to why you used the SE version of the Falcon takeoff since this is based on the original cut before Lucas and Co. tightened things up.
I know this has mostly been suggestions thus far, but I loved the destruction of Alderaan scene, including the missing frames from the explosion. Fantastic!
I think I've noticed a few places where it looks like you removed a little extraneous stuff, like Vader gesturing after he's done talking. This may have been because of how you combined it with another part, and if that way worked best, that's fine. However, I'm not positive but it seems there may be other brief snips here and there around this point. I'd suggest leaving stuff in. The Lost Cut was longer and supposedly far too slow, warranting the second round of editing. I'd err on the side of leaving stuff in rather than taking it out.
There is a clip from The Making of Star Wars where Ben is walking on a bridge, looks down and sees the tractor beam station he needs to deactivate on the bridge below. I don't know why he didn't just Force jump there Anyway, you see the look of realization on his face, and presumably he heads to the correct bridge. I think this may have been a behind the scenes shot and not the quality or stability of a shot intended for the actual film. Clearly it was filmed for the movie and just never made it in, but what we do have is I believe not the intended shot. Still, if it can work, you might want to consider it.
When Luke runs aboard the Falcon after taking out the stormtroopers, the editing is amazingly seamless right up to the last shot. It looks like he had already started running, then starts running again. Just start that last clip a couple of frames later.
Out of curiosity, why did you move "A day long remembered"?
When Red 10 is destroyed, you see a side shot of his cockpit with the pilot blowing up. The pilot in that shot was actually from the X-wing destroyed immediately before him. Might be better to move that side shot to the previous ship's explosion, though we don't see that pilot in any other shot, just to stick with the nature of this edit.
On the BD, I believe in the documentary about Ewan McGregor becoming Obi-Wan, there are a couple of clips with Ewan's uncle Denis Lawson (Wedge) saying lines that we hear but don't see in the actual film. They are heard over the radio from the voice that dubs him, but in that documentary we actually see and hear Lawson saying them. I believe they are lines like, "My scope shows the tower but I can't see the exhaust port," and I think there was at least one more. I imagine you'd want to reincorporate those, knowing your aim. However, they are blue screened in the rear windows, if that is a deterrent at all.
With a few of the purist-type remarks I've made, this will probably surprise, you, but it's just an idea. In the final film we hardly get to know or care about Biggs. In your edit, based on the longer original cut, we care very much about him and imagine Luke does too. It might be worth considering using Adywan's idea of putting Luke screaming, "Biggs? BIGGS!" into the radio to show that he is heartbroken at the loss of his friend.
Nice opening and closing music choices. I don't imagine you will be able to do that to the whole movie, as I don't see how you could keep in any dialogue, but as the opening and closing, it works really well. The 1812 overture is surprisingly fun and well timed. Funny keeping that outtake with Han taking a bite at the medal. I'm sure that wasn't ever going to make it in, but I'm glad you put it there anyway.
I commented as I watched and came across things, so the above may seem negative. Let me just say that this was a really fun experience. The editing is very impressive and the deleted material integrated very well. The Vader/Obi-wan duel was particularly impressive. And I have thought about it since I wrote above, that while it would be cool to keep it as close to the original as possible, this is also likely the only way we can enjoy an extended version with as much deleted material as possible and keep the quality pretty close and equal. Therefore I suggest that you continue as you were doing and keep both the original and new cantina material edited as you have. I will however leave my above suggestion typed, since you may want to take that advice anyway, and it has its place.
What other advice can I offer? Oh, in the search for R2 with the closeup, there is a slightly longer version of that scene than the BD offers. I believe it is on Empire of Dreams, and you see what 3PO says is wrong with the speeder before Luke turns around and makes an adjustment. You could probably again steal that brief second or two without much notice, since you're cutting the quality anyway. Similarly, on another version of the last deleted scene on Tatooine when Biggs says goodbye, there is a version with seriously like one extra second where you see Luke throw a pebble in his hand, not contained on the BD. Again, food for thought. And since I honestly want to see as much of the deleted material as possible, I know you don't like the grouchy old lady shouting at that hoodlum driver Luke, but I kind of think my suggestion where you see her walking more before getting zoomed past might be both easier and more complete.
In the end, all my thoughts are just advice, and I hope that at least some of them inspire you. I love this edit more and more, and I'm so glad I got to see this preview. It's really pretty amazing and fun to watch. I am extremely impressed with how well you integrated so many things. Keep up the great work, and thanks for allowing me to preview it.
^ Thanks so much Ender. I replied over at FE.org if anybody is interested.
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it would be great to see your work in color.would you release a colorized movie too?
good work so far.
benduwan said:
it would be great to see your work in color.would you release a colorized movie too?
good work so far.
Probably not as some of the sources aren't in colour. But it's something I've thought about yes.
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I had a thought. Since the new Rebels show has some JEJ dialogue in it, perhaps there might be some useful lines that could get pasted into this edit. Much as I like your idea about Vader talking about blasting Yavin to Chief Bast, I better like the original intent of the scene. Plus, while it's nice to have JEJ for the Interactive Video Board Game, I was disappointed that they didn't do anything to make him sound like Vader. He sounds like Jones reading Vader lines. They need to beef it up with some vocal manipulation. Perhaps something in the new Rebels lines will be useful. Just something to keep an eye out for.
darth_ender said:
I had a thought. Since the new Rebels show has some JEJ dialogue in it, perhaps there might be some useful lines that could get pasted into this edit.
I doubt it as it seems as time goes by they forget how to do their own characters and Lucasfilm forget how to process the vocals properly. As Much as I appreciate Anthony Daniels' dedication to the character he long ago forgot how to do 3PO's voice. It would be lovely to be proved wrong though about JEJ in Rebels :-)
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Another thought I've had, though I don't know if it interests you or could be pulled off, is that in the novel, and presumably in the script given to ADF to novelize, Luke made two runs through the Death Star trench. The first kept him out of reach of Vader's squadron due to their rapid speed, but it obviously failed for the same reason and they had to make the run again. Though you still want to make an enjoyable, well paced movie, it seems this could be an interesting addition. As an additional resource, the Star Tours footage includes shots hardboiled useful, including a different shot of entering the trench, flying down the trench, a little dogfighting with TIE fighters, etc. Food for thought, anyway.
Just read through this, had a go at this once myself but it went the same as all my edits onto the back burner. Some of your clips look great cant wait to watch your finished product.
darth_ender said:
Another thought I've had... Luke made two runs through the Death Star trench
the Star Tours footage includes... a different shot of entering the trench, flying down the trench, a little dogfighting with TIE fighters
Can't quite get my head round how that would work with the footage available?
Is the Star Tours stuff HD and or CGI/Trad-Models etc? Sounds interesting.
lpd said:
Just read through this, had a go at this once myself but it went the same as all my edits onto the back burner. Some of your clips look great cant wait to watch your finished product.
I'm still recharging my batteries on this one, while working on other edits. I'm about 90% of the way through a Star Trek project where I've learned sooo much, that I'm gonna bring over to this. Alternate SFX shots galore!
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Ryan McAvoy said:
darth_ender said:
Another thought I've had... Luke made two runs through the Death Star trench
the Star Tours footage includes... a different shot of entering the trench, flying down the trench, a little dogfighting with TIE fighters
Can't quite get my head round how that would work with the footage available?
Is the Star Tours stuff HD and or CGI/Trad-Models etc? Sounds interesting.
It is not HD, and it's good old fashioned practical effects. They do a pretty good job matching the OT. I'm talking the original Star Tours, not the CGI sequel, although my project included that as well. Like I said, I'm not aware of any HD version, but given the quality of some of your clips, it doesn't seem like the end of the world, especially for a few seconds of footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9CWq5JmGOs
My preservation has the above version in the highest available quality, as well as another similar but not identical version, one which I find better for color correction, though in the end it will be B/W an the horrible colors shouldn't matter too much for your edit anyway. The most useful portions start at about the 3 minute mark.
As for how to pull it off, I admit when I first posted it, I knew it would take some serious editing, pulling shots from other parts of the battle and inserting them into this extra trench run. Actually, a lot of the dialogue used elsewhere is in fact written in the novel as part of the two trench run. So I'm not convinced it's impossible, though admittedly it looks challenging, particularly when it comes to the accompanying score. It's just an idea, but it would be fun if it could be pulled off.
Okay, after pausing for a bit, I am finishing this comment, and I've now read the portion from the novel and watched OCP's Star Wars: Deleted Magic, which does a pretty good job arranging the battle as it is portrayed in the novel, which again is presumably patterned after a late script. It can be done, and the additional footage from Star Tours makes it even more doable. I really recommend checking out both for ideas. A few more lines could easily be done by just about anyone for the TIE pilots, and I am convinced it is possible to do a good Vader impersonation to achieve desired dialogue with proper audio editing (useful for other scenes as well, of course). Such a Battle of Yavin would indeed be a slower edit, and I of course prefer the original editing, but for the sake of a lost cut, I am more and more convinced that it would be worth pursuing, at least in theory if you ultimately choose not to do it.
lpd said:
Just read through this, had a go at this once myself but it went the same as all my edits onto the back burner. Some of your clips look great cant wait to watch your finished product.
I'm still recharging my batteries on this one, while working on other edits. I'm about 90% of the way through a Star Trek project where I've learned sooo much, that I'm gonna bring over to this. Alternate SFX shots galore!
This would be very useful. I've been watching your ST:TMP edit quietly at FE.org (I'm much quieter there), and I'm impressed with the skills you are developing. I can imagine only a better edit of this in the end. Hope my ideas are useful :)
Wonder if this might be useful for ideas as well, though I'm not sure you'd want to go for any of his thoughts. Just found it looking for OCP's re-edit.
Just a thought: if I was you I'd call this edit something like "Star Wars: The Lost Workprint reconstructed" to avoid any misunderstood among the fans who could think it's the real thing. If that make sens.
This still has about 20 minutes to load, as of posting this, but it's the Battle of Yavin rearranged close to the novelization. The majority of the editing was done by the very gifted but expelled Garrett Gilchrist on Star Wars: Deleted Magic. It's actually a very cool documentary, though folks seem to have turned to Star Wars Begins. I think both have their place. The only editing I did (and with crappy and inaccurate Live Movie Maker, which never places cuts properly) was including Luke's first entrance to the Death Star trench and his exit after firing the proton torpedoes, both of which come from Star Tours. See what you think. I'm sure more could be done to make it better match the book, especially including Star Tours footage, though I'm not positive it's worth the effort.
https://vimeo.com/111299049
Password: Yavin
I'm also hoping to include the relevant text of the novel for your benefit in the near future.
I'm about to stuff your thread with most of chapter 12 from Star Wars. Hopefully you find this enlightening. Let me know if I'm not being useful. I hope this isn't annoying. If you want to skip to the most relevant posts, go here.
"Check, Blue Two. Watch yourself. All ships, stand by to lock S-foils
in attack mode."
One after another, from Luke and Biggs, Wedge and the other members of
Blue assault squadron, the replies came back. "Standing by..."
"Execute," Blue Leader commanded, when John D. and Piggy had indicated
they were in readiness.
The double wings on the X-wing fighters split apart, like narrow seeds.
Each fighter now displayed four wings, its wing-mounted armament and
quadruple engines now deployed for maximum firepower and maneuverability.
Ahead, the Imperial station continued to grow. Surface features became
visible as each pilot recognized docking bays, broadcast antennae, and other
man-made mountains and canyons.
As he neared that threatening black sphere for the second time, Luke's
breathing grew faster. Automatic life-support machinery detected the
respiratory shift and compensated properly.
Something began to buffet his ship, almost as if he were back in his
skyhopper again, wrestling with the unpredictable winds of Tatooine. He
experienced a bad moment of uncertainty until the calming voice of Blue
Leader sounded in his ears.
"We're passing through their outer shields. Hold tight. Lock down
freeze-floating controls and switch your own deflectors on, double front."
The shaking and buffeting continued, worsened. Not knowing how to
compensate, Luke did exactly what he should have: remained in control and
followed orders. Then the turbulence was gone and the deathly cold
peacefulness of space had returned.
"That's it, we're through," Blue Leader told them quietly. "Keep all
channels silent until we're on top of them. It doesn't look like they're
expecting much resistance."
Though half the great station remained in shadow, they were now near
enough for Luke to be able to discern individual lights on its surface. A
ship that could show phases matching a moon... once again he marveled at the
misplaced ingenuity and effort which had gone into its construction.
Thousands of lights scattered across its curving expanse gave it the
appearance of a floating city.
Some of Luke's comrades, since this was their first sight of the
station, were even more impressed. "Look at the size of that thing!" Wedge
Antilles gasped over his open pickup.
"Cut the chatter, Blue Two," Blue Leader ordered. "Accelerate to attack
velocity."
Grim determination showed in Luke's expression as he flipped several
switches above his head and began adjusting his computer target readout.
Artoo Detoo re-examined the nearing station and thought untranslatable
electronic thoughts.
Blue Leader compared the station with the location of their proposed
target area. "Red Leader," he called toward the pickup, "this is Blue
Leader. We're in position; you can go right in. The exhaust shaft is farther
to the north. We'll keep 'em busy down here."
Red Leader was the physical opposite of Luke's squadron commander. He
resembled the popular notion of a credit accountant-short, slim, shy of
face. His skills and dedication, however, easily matched those of his
counterpart and old friend.
"We're starting for the target shaft now, Dutch. Stand by to take over
if anything happens."
"Check, Red Leader," came the other's reply. "We're going to cross
their equatorial axis and try to draw their main fire. May the Force be with
you."
From the approaching swarm, two squads of fighters broke clear. The
X-wing ships dove directly for the bulge of the station, far below, while
the Y-ships curved down and northward over its surface.
Within the station, alarm sirens began a mournful, clangorous wail as
slow-to-react personnel realized that the impregnable fortress was actually
under organized attack. Admiral Motti and his tacticians had expected the
Rebels' resistance to be centered around a massive defense of the moon
itself. They were completely unprepared for an offensive response consisting
of dozens of tiny snub ships.
Imperial efficiency was in the process of compensating for this
strategic oversight. Soldiers scrambled to man enormous defensive- weapons
emplacements. Servodrivers thrummed as powerful motors aligned the huge
devices for firing. Soon a web of annihilation began to envelop the station
as energy weapons, electrical bolts, and explosive solids ripped out at the
oncoming rebel craft.
"This is Blue Five," Luke announced to his mike as he nose dived his
ship in a radical attempt to confuse any electronic predictors below. The
gray surface of the battle station streaked past his ports. "I'm going in."
"I'm right behind you, Blue Five," a voice recognizable as Biggs's
sounded in his ears.
The target in Luke's sights was as stable as that of the Imperial
defenders was evasive. Bolts flew from the tiny vessel's weapons. One
started a huge fire on the dim surface below, which would burn until the
crew of the station could shut off the flow of air to the damaged section.
Luke's glee turned to terror as he realized he couldn't swerve his
craft in time to avoid passing through the fireball of unknown composition.
"Pull out, Luke, pull out!" Biggs was screaming at him.
But despite commands to shift course, the automatic pressors wouldn't
allow the necessary centrifugal force. His fighter plunged into the
expanding ball of superheated gases.
Then he was through and clear, on the other side. A rapid check of his
controls enabled him to relax. Passage through the intense heat had been
insufficient to damage anything vital-though all four wings bore streaks of
black, carbonized testimony to the nearness of his escape.
Hell-flowers bloomed outside his ship as he swung it up and around in a
sharp curve. "You all right, Luke?" came Biggs's concerned query.
"I got a little toasted, but I'm okay."
A different, stern voice sounded. "Blue Five," warned the squadron
leader, "you'd better give yourself more lead time or you're going to
destroy yourself as well as the Imperial construction."
"Yes, sir. I've got the hang of it now. Like you said, it's not exactly
like flying a sky hopper."
Energy bolts and sun-bright beams continued to create a chromatic maze
in the space above the station as the rebel fighters crisscrossed back and
forth over its surface, firing at whatever looked like a decent target. Two
of the tiny craft concentrated on a power terminal. It blew up, throwing
lightning-sized electric arcs from the station's innards.
Inside, troopers, mechanicals, and equipment were blown in all
directions by subsidiary explosions as the effects of the blast traveled
back down various conduits and cables. Where the explosion had hulled the
station, escaping atmosphere sucked helpless soldiers and droids out into a
bottomless black tomb.
Moving from position to position, a figure of dark calm amid the chaos,
was Darth Vader. A harried Commander rushed up to him and reported
breathlessly.
"Lord Vader, we count at least thirty of them, of two types. They are
so small and quick the fixed guns cannot follow them accurately. They
continuously evade the predictors."
"Get all TIE crews to their fighters. We'll have to go out after them
and destroy them ship by ship."
Within numerous hangars red lights began flashing and an insistent
alarm started to ring. Ground crews worked frantically to ready ships as
flight-suited Imperial pilots grabbed for helmets and packs.
"Luke," requested Blue Leader as he skimmed smoothly through a rain of
fire, "let me know when you're off the block."
"I'm on my way now."
"Watch yourself," the voice urged over the cockpit speaker. "There's a
lot of fire coming from the starboard side of that deflection tower."
"I'm on it, don't worry," Luke responded confidently. Putting his
fighter into a twisting dive, he sliced once more across metal horizons.
Antennae and small protruding emplacements burst into transitory flame as
bolts from his wing tips struck with deadly accuracy.
He grinned as he pulled up and away from the surface as intense lines
of energy passed through space recently vacated. Darned if it wasn't like
hunting womp-rats back home in the crumbling canyons of Tatooine's wastes.
Biggs followed Luke on a similar run, even as Imperial pilots prepared
to lift clear of the station. Within the many docking bays technical crews
rushed hurriedly to unlock power cables and conclude desperate final checks.
More care was taken in preparing a particular craft nearest one of the
bay ports, the one into which Darth Vader barely succeeded in squeezing his
huge frame. Once set in the seat he slid a second set of eye shields across
his face.
The atmosphere of the war room back in the temple was one of nervous
expectancy. Occasional blinks and buzzes from the main battle screen sounded
louder than the soft sussuration of hopeful people trying to reassure one
another. Near a far corner of the mass of flickering lights a technician
leaned a little closer to his own readouts before speaking into the pickup
suspended near his mouth.
"Squad leaders-attention; squad leaders-attention! We've picked up a
new set of signals from the other side of the station. Enemy fighters coming
your way."
Luke received the report at the same time as everyone else. He began
hunting the sky for the predicted Imperial craft, his gaze dropping to his
instrumentation. "My scope's negative. I don't see anything."
"Maintain visual scanning," Blue Leader directed. "With all this energy
flying, they'll be on top of you before your scope can pick them up.
Remember, they can jam every instrument on your ship except your eyes."
Luke turned again, and this time saw an Imperial already pursuing an
X-wing-an X-wing with a number Luke quickly recognized.
"Biggs!" he shouted. "You've picked one up. On your tail... watch it!"
"I can't see it," came his friend's panicked response. "Where is he? I
can't see it."
Luke watched helplessly as Biggs's ship shot away from the station
surface and out into clear space, closely followed by the Imperial. The
enemy vessel fired steadily at him, each successive bolt seeming to pass a
little closer to Biggs's hull.
"He's on me tight," the voice sounded in Luke's cockpit. "I can't shake
him."
Twisting, spinning, Biggs looped back toward the battle station, but
the pilot trailing him was persistent and showed no sign of relinquishing
pursuit.
"Hang on, Biggs," Luke called, wrenching his ship around so steeply
that straining gyros whined. "I'm coming in."
So absorbed in his pursuit of Biggs was the Imperial pilot that he
didn't see Luke, who rotated his own ship, flipped out of the concealing
gray below and dropped in behind him.
Electronic crosshairs lined up according to the computer-readout
instructions, and Luke fired repeatedly. There was a small explosion in
space-tiny compared with the enormous energies being put out by the
emplacements on the surface of the battle station. But the explosion was of
particular significance to three people: Luke, Biggs, and, most
particularly, to the pilot of the TIE fighter, who was vaporized with his
ship.
"Got him!" Luke murmured.
"I've got one! I've got one!" came a less restrained cry of triumph
over the open intercom. Luke identified the voice as belonging to a young
pilot known as John D. Yes, that was Blue Six chasing another Imperial
fighter across the metal landscape. Bolts jumped from the X-wing in steady
succession until the TIE fighter blew in half, sending leaflike glittering
metal fragments flying in all directions.
"Good shooting, Blue Six," the squadron leader commented. Then he added
quickly, "Watch out, you've got one on your tail."
Within the fighter's cockpit the gleeful smile on the young man's face
vanished instantly as he looked around, unable to spot his pursuer.
Something flared brightly nearby, so close that his starboard port burst.
Then something hit even closer and the interior of the now open cockpit
became a mass of flames.
"I'm hit, I'm hit!"
That was all he had time to scream before oblivion took him from
behind. Far above and to one side Blue Leader saw John D.'s ship expand in a
fiery ball. His lips may have whitened slightly. Otherwise he might as well
never have seen the X-wing explode, for all the reaction he displayed. He
had more important things to do.
On the fourth moon of Yavin a spacious screen chose that moment to
flicker and die, much as John D. had. Worried technicians began rushing in
all directions. One turned a drawn face to Leia, the expectant Commanders,
and one tall, bronzed robot.
"The high-band receiver has failed. It will take some time to fix..."
"Do the best you can," Leia snapped. "Switch to audio only."
Someone overheard, and in seconds the room was filled with the sounds
of distant battle, interspersed with the voices of those involved.
"Tighten it up, Blue Two, tighten it up," Blue Leader was saying.
"Watch those towers."
"Heavy fire, Boss," came the voice of Wedge Antilles, "twenty-three
degrees."
"I see it. Pull in, pull in. We're picking up some interference."
"I can't believe it," Biggs was stammering. "I've never seen such
firepower!"
"Pull in, Blue Five. Pull in." A pause, then, "Luke, do you read me?
Luke?"
"I'm all right, Chief," came Luke's reply. "I've got a target. I'm
going to check it out."
"There's too much action down there, Luke," Biggs told him. "Get out.
Do you read me, Luke? Pull out."
"Break off, Luke," ordered the deeper tones of Blue Leader. "We've hit
too much interference here. Luke, I repeat, break off! I can't see him. Blue
Two, can you see Blue Five?"
"Negative," Wedge replied quickly. "There's a fire zone here you
wouldn't believe. My scanner's jammed. Blue Five, where are you? Luke, are
you all right?"
"He's gone," Biggs started to report solemnly. Then his voice rose.
"No, wait... there he is! Looks like a little fin damage, but the kid's
fine."
Relief swept the war room, and it was most noticeable in the face of
the slightest, most beautiful Senator present.