Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
by: James Fehrenbacher

Cenas 11 a 20:

Begin Scene 11.

[INT. The lounge of the Millennium Falcon.  Chewbacca is playing a hologame with C-3PO in the background, Lando is in the galley fixing some food, and Leia and Luke are sitting next to each other, Luke cleaning R2-D2.]

Lando Calrissian. [Entering from galley.]   Dinnertime!  Giju stew.  One of my favorites!  [No one moves.]  Don’t everybody rush in at once.  Come on, I spent an hour fixing this!  At least try it.

Luke Skywalker. No offense, Lando, but it looks like old boot plastic and fertilizer drenched in pond scum.  Smells like it, too.

[Leia chuckles.]

Lando Calrissian. Fine.  Don’t eat.  That just leaves more for me.  [He picks up a bowl, dips a spoon into it, and transfers the spoon to his mouth.]  See?  Tastes great!  [His facial expressions change from irritated to amazed to horror to outright disgust.  He quickly blows a breath and shakes his head.]  Oh, man.  I think I used a little too much Boontaspice.  [He pushes the bowl away]  Maybe I’ll just open a couple packets of beans.

[EXT. Millennium Falcon.  Luke’s X-Wing fighter is released from clamps underneath the Falcon, with Luke inside and R2-D2 in his socket.]

[INT. Luke’s X-Wing.  A light blinks on his dashboard, and a voice comes in through his com unit.]

Wedge Antilles. Hey, Luke!  Welcome to the edge of the galaxy.

Luke Skywalker. Hey, Wedge!  How’s it going?

Wedge Antilles. So-so.  Another day, another credit.  Before taxes, of course.  Anyway, I hope you’ve got something interesting cooked up.  Things have been pretty slow lately.

Luke Skywalker. Well, if you want to talk about bad cooking, you’ll need to speak to Lando.

Lando Calrissian. I heard that, farm boy.

Wedge Antilles. Well, if you’ll follow us, Luke, we’ve got camp set up on a moon opposite Gall.  We’ve got it fixed up real nice, with air, gravity, water, and all the comforts of home.

Luke Skywalker. Lead on, Wedge!

End Scene 11.

Begin Scene 12.

[INT. Rogue Squad’s moon base.]

Leia. You call this “real nice”?

Wedge Antilles. Hey, you know Rogue Squad, Princess.  All we need is a ship and rock to land it on.

[Wedge walks the others over to a corner of the hanger, where a man is sprawled in a chair.  He has red hair and a red beard, and wears a blue jumper with a blaster strapped low on his hip.  As they draw nearer, his eyes snap open, and he jumps to his feet, and bows.]

Dash Rendar. Princess Leia.  How delightful of you to visit our humble abode, Your Highness.

Lando Calrissian. Princess Leia, meet Dash Rendar; thief, card cheat, smuggler, and an okay pilot.

Dash Rendar. What do you mean, “okay pilot,” Calrissian?  I could fly rings around you in a one-winged hopper with a plugged jet.

Leia. And modest, too.

[Dash bows again.]

Dash Rendar. I see the princess has a keen eye to go with her stunning beauty.

[Leia pulls Lando aside.]

Leia. This guy is going to lead us to Boba Fett?

[Lando brushes Leia’s doubts off]

Lando Calrissian. Dash, let’s get to business.

Dash Rendar. Best idea you’ve had in years, Calrissian.

Lando Calrissian. Okay, so you know Princess Leia, and you know Chewie.  This here is Luke Skywalker.

[Luke walks forward, and he and Dash shake hands.]

Luke Skywalker. Have we met?  You look vaguely familiar.

Dash Rendar. You might have seen me on Hoth.  I was delivering some shipments when the shield went up.  I piloted one of the snowspeeders while waiting to leave.

Luke Skywalker. That’s right.  I remember you took down one of the Imperial walkers.  You were pretty good.

Dash Rendar. “Pretty good”?  Kid, I *slept* through most of that battle.  I could have knocked down those walkers all day, if only I hadn’t had other business elsewhere.

Wedge Antilles. Luke, we’ve done a little recon work.  Let me show you what we’ve got.

[Wedge activates the hologram unit, and shows the group a number of maps of Gall.]

Wedge Antilles. Now the moon has some pretty bad atmospheric conditions.  Big cyclonic storms that can get pretty mean.  You want to try and avoid them if you can.

Dash Rendar. Well maybe not you guys, but I eat thunderstorms for breakfast, Antilles.

Wedge Antilles. Now, the Enclave bases two Star Destroyers.  Each Destroyer has a wing of TIE fighters, and each wing is made up of six squads, which equals seventy-two TIEs per Destroyer.

Luke Skywalker. One hundred and forty-four versus the twelve X-Wings.  Thirteen, including me.  That makes the odds a hair less than twelve to one.

Leia. We’ve had odds worse than that.

Wedge Antilles. That’s about it.  What do you think, Luke?

Luke Skywalker. It’s a piece of cake.  And I’ve got an idea.

[The scene zooms out, as Luke explains his plan, inaudible to audience, then zooms back in as Luke finishes.]

Leia. That’s your plan?

Luke Skywalker. What’s wrong with it?

Leia. You and Rogue Squad are going to attack the Enclave, manage to keep one hundred and forty-four TIE fighters and two Star Destroyers at bay, while Dash leads us to Boba Fett?  Why, there’s nothing wrong with it.  It’s so stupid, it’s positively brilliant.

Luke Skywalker. Okay, so it’s simple.

Leia. Simple minded.

Luke Skywalker. Do you have a better idea?

Leia. Unfortunately, no.

Luke Skywalker. Then it’s settled.

Dash Rendar. I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but if we’re going to sneak in the back way, we’re going to have to do some pretty fancy flying.  Treetop level stuff.  Think you can handle it, Calrissian?  That Corellian piece of junk you’re in should be able to hold together.

Lando Calrissian. If you can fly it, I can fly it.  And besides, the Falcon has had some modifications added since she belonged to me.

[Chewbacca says something in Wookie.]

Dash Rendar. Really?  Where’d you get a sublight engine that fast?

[Chewbacca says something else.]

Dash Rendar. Well, I guess Solo would be dumb enough to try something like that.  Okay, if you boys can keep the TIE fighters busy, I can get Lando to where Boba Fett is.

[Chewbacca says something in Wookie.]

Lando Calrissian. You don’t have to do that, Chewie.

Leia. What’d he say?

Lando Calrissian. He’s volunteering to go along.

Leia. Well, in that case, I’m going, too.

Lando Calrissian. I really don’t think that’s a good idea, Leia.

Leia. Look, if the TIE fighters break through Rogue Squad’s blockade, you’re going to need someone at the turrets.

Luke Skywalker. She’s got a good point, Lando.  And she’s a pretty good shot.

Wedge Antilles. Then that’s all settled.  Rogue Squad would be glad to fly under your command, Luke.

Luke Skywalker. Thanks, Wedge.  And I’d be glad to command.

Dash Rendar. Want to see something, kid?

[Dash gestures to a nearby hanger.  He walks over, opens the door, and leads Luke and the others inside.]

Luke Skywalker. Wow.

[In the doorway, Leia peers over Luke’s shoulder, and sees Dash’s ship, the Outrider, sitting there.  The ship is almost identical in design to the Millennium Falcon, with a saucer-like body and offset control cockpit.]

Dash Rendar. The Outrider.  Can go .75 past light speed.

Luke Skywalker. How were you able to afford a ship like that?

Dash Rendar. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t all clean living.  You like it, kid?

[Luke nods.]

Leia. Like boys with an expensive toy.

End Scene 12.

Begin Scene 13.

[INT. Luke’s X-Wing fighter.]

Luke Skywalker. You all set, R2?

[R2 whistles his assent.]

Luke Skywalker. Okay, Rogue Squad, this is Rogue Leader.  Lock your foils into attack position.

Wedge Antilles. Rogue One, copy that, Luke.

Rogue Three. Rogue Three, copy.

[Luke’s POV – The two Star Destroyers are dead ahead.]

Luke Skywalker. Okay boys, there they are.  Now, the TIE fighters can’t get up to top speed immediately, so we’ll have one relatively free pass.  Make it count!

Rogue Six (Wes Janson). Here they come, Rogue Leader!

Luke Skywalker. I see them, Wes!  Everyone, stay alert!

[Luke’s POV – The TIE fighters close in on the Rogue Squad.]

End Scene 13.

Begin Scene 14.

[INT. Millennium Falcon.  Lando and Chewbacca are sitting at the controls, with Leia and 3PO behind them.]

C-3PO. Do be careful, Master Lando, we’re awfully close to the tops of those trees.

Lando Calrissian. Really?  I hadn’t noticed.

C-3PO. Well, there’s no need for sarcasm.

Dash Rendar. [Over the Falcon’s intercom] You nervous back there, Calrissian?

Lando Calrissian. Who, us?  I thought you said we were going to be flying low, Dash.  We’re in the stratosphere way up here.

[Dash doesn’t respond in words.  Instead, he drops the Outrider four meters lower.]

Leia. He’s crazy!

Lando Calrissian. Yeah, but he can fly.  You’ve got to give him that.  Chewie, give me a little more thrust.

Leia. Lando, what are you doing?

Lando Calrissian. Well, I can’t let him think we’re scared, can I?

C-3PO. Certainly you can, Master Lando!

Leia. You’re as crazy as he is, Lando.

[Chewie says something in Wookie.]

C-3PO. Oh, dear!

Lando Calrissian. What?

C-3PO. Chewbacca says that if we lose another centimeter, we’ll snag the belly cannon!

Leia. What’s this guy trying to prove, anyway, Lando?

Lando Calrissian. Haven’t you heard the story of the Rendars?

Leia. Should I have?

Lando Calrissian. Dash was at the Imperial Academy, a couple years below Han.  His family was pretty wealthy, and *very* highly placed.  Dash’s older brother was a freighter pilot who worked his way up through the family’s shipping company.  However, an unfortunate accident derailed those plans.  One of the ship’s control systems blew out, not the pilot’s fault, and it crashed right after liftoff from an Imperial Center spaceport.  The ship was destroyed, and the crew was killed.

Leia. How terrible.  What’s that got to do with Dash?

Lando Calrissian. Well, as I said, the pilot was Dash’s brother.  But unfortunately, when the ship fell back to Imperial Center, it destroyed the Emperor’s private museum.  The ensuing fire destroyed a lot of stuff he kept in there.  Naturally, the Emperor wasn’t too pleased.  He seized the Rendar family’s property, and they were banished from Imperial Center; including Dash.  He was booted out of the Academy and off of Imperial Center, too.

Leia. So he’s got no love for the Empire.  Why isn’t he working with the Alliance?

[Lando shrugs.]

Lando Calrissian. He doesn’t want to owe anybody, and doesn’t want anybody to owe him.  He works for whoever pays the most.  He can pick wing nuts off of a tabletop and not even scorch the finish.  And as long as your money lasts, he’s a good man to have at your back when the going gets tough.

End Scene 14.

Begin Scene 15.

[INT. Luke’s X-Wing.  TIE fighters are everywhere, as are the other members of Rogue Squad.]

Luke Skywalker. Rogue One, look out!  On your port, bearing three-zero-five!

[Wedge’s X-Wing peels down and to the left.]

Wedge Antilles. Thanks, Luke.

Ben Kenobi. [V.O.] Use the Force, Luke.

[Luke grins.  He switches his com so he can talk to R2.]

Luke Skywalker. R2, turn off the targeting sensors and the rear shields.  Give me more power to the guns.

[R2 whistles his doubts.]

Luke Skywalker. Sorry, R2, but this way is better.

[Luke calms himself, and connects with the Force.  Quickly recharging his belly guns, Luke destroys two TIE fighters.]

Dix. Fine shooting, Rogue Leader.

Luke Skywalker. Thanks, Dix.  Watch yourself.

Rogue Four. More ships coming in, bearing in at one-seven-five!

Rogue. Watch your back, Luke!  You’ve got a tail!

[Luke peels his X-Wing into a hard downturn.  He flies up behind the TIE fighter and destroys the fighter.

Rogue Six (Wes Janson). Rogue Two, a pair of them coming in at two-two-four.  Move your butt!

Rogue Two. Copy that, Wes.  I owe you one.

Rogue Six (Wes Janson). Pay me back later.

Rogue Two. Luke, I’m hit!

Luke Skywalker. Rogue Two, return to base.  You can’t do us any good.  There’s no point in throwing your life away.

Rogue Two. I’ve still got manual controls, Rogue Leader.

Luke Skywalker. That’s an order.  Break off and return to base.

Rogue Two. I copy, Rogue Leader.  Rogue Two returning to base.  I’ll put on a kettle for tea.

Wedge Antilles. Luke, we’ve got another wave coming in.  Twelve blips at three-zero-three, and they’re closing pretty fast.

Luke Skywalker. Keep tight, Rogue Squad!

Wedge Antilles. Uh-oh.  I see a couple TIE Interceptors in this group.

Luke Skywalker. We’ll deal with it.  Just keep those fighters busy!

Wedge Antilles. Luke, we’re not going to be able to keep this up much longer.

Luke Skywalker. I hear you, Rogue One.

End Scene 15.

Begin Scene 16.

[INT. Millennium Falcon.  Dash is talking over the intercom.]

Dash Rendar. There she is, dead ahead!

[Lando and Leia look closely; they see the outline of Boba Fett’s ship, Slave I.]

Leia. There it is!

Dash Rendar. Been fun, people.  See you around.

[The Outrider rockets towards space.]

Lando Calrissian. Hey!  Where are you going?

Dash Rendar. You only paid me to guide, not to shoot.  I’m out of here.

Lando Calrissian. Blast you, Dash!

[Chewbacca says something in Wookie.]

Lando Calrissian. Oh, great.

Leia. What?

Lando Calrissian. We’ve got about half a dozen TIE fighters on our tail.

Leia. Half a dozen?  That should be easy work for a hotshot pilot like you.

Lando Calrissian. You wanna stop being sarcastic?  Why don’t you and Chewie go see if the dorsal and belly guns work.

End Scene 16.

Begin Scene 17.

[INT. Luke’s X-Wing fighter.  Rogue Squad is keeping the TIE fighters busy, as seen through his canopy.  Wedge then turns on his comm.]

Wedge Antilles. Luke, they’re all around us.  We can’t keep this up much longer.

Luke Skywalker. I hear you, Rogue One.  Rogue Squad, break off your attack and go to lightspeed.  I repeat, break off and go to hyper.  We’ll return to normal space in a few seconds.

[Rogue Squad copies the order, and breaks off their attack.  Suddenly, Luke feels something through the Force.]

Ben Kenobi. [V.O.] Luke!

Luke Skywalker. Ben?

[Luke jerks the control stick between his legs to his left, as a laser beam shoots past the ship.  Looking through his canopy, he sees Rogue Six copying his movements.]

Luke Skywalker. Wes, what are you doing?

Rogue Six (Wes Janson). I’m sorry, Luke.  Something has gone wrong with my R2 unit!  Its taken control of my ship!  None of my controls are responding, and my stick is dead!

Luke Skywalker. Yeah, and I’ll be dead soon, if we can’t fix this little problem!

[Another laser beams blasts past, this time from a TIE fighter behind Luke.]

Luke Skywalker. Oh, great!  Just what we need!  Rogue One, can you get this fighter off my tail?

Wedge Antilles. I’m sorry, Luke, but you’re too far away.  I won’t be able to get there in time.  I hate to say it, but you’re going to have to get rid of him on your own.

[Luke tries a number of different maneuvers, but still isn’t able to shake Wes’ fighter.  Getting an idea, Luke turns his fighter into steep climb.  At the peak, he kills his thrust, and Wes’ fighter flies past.  As the fighter loops around, the TIE fighter swoops in in front of Luke.  Luke dodges Wes’ laser fire, which destroys the TIE fighter.  After several more tries, Luke is able to fire at Wes’ fighter, and his bolts take out Wes’ laser and torpedo bays.  Wes’ guns are dead.  Luke heaves a sigh of relief.]

Luke Skywalker. Wedge, get a magnetic line to Wes’ fighter.  We’re going to have to tow him back to base.

Wedge Antilles. I copy, Luke.

Rogue Six (Wes Janson). I’m sorry, Luke.  I don’t know what happened.

Luke Skywalker. Forget it, Wes.  We’ll stamp out the details later.  Let’s just scram before the Empire comes back full force.

[The rest of Rogue Squad copies, and they move into hyperspace, Wedge dragging along Wes.]

End Scene 17.

Begin Scene 18.

[INT. The belly turret of the Millennium Falcon.  Leia is busy firing at the swarming TIE fighters.]

Leia. Lando, I’ve gotten about three of those fighters.  I don’t know how many Chewie has gotten.

Lando Calrissian. Well, keep at it.  We need to get through.

[Another TIE fighter flashes past.  Leia fires, but misses.]

Lando Calrissian. We can’t land.  If we do, we’ll get blasted for sure!

Leia. So what’s your plan, Lando?

Lando Calrissian. I don’t know.  But I…uh oh.

Leia. “Uh oh” what?

Lando Calrissian. Slave I is taking off.

Leia. Well, follow it!  We’re too close to lose Han now!

Lando Calrissian. How?  There’s a wall of TIE fighters between him and us!

Leia. Go around them!

[Lando tries a variety of different maneuvers, but still isn’t able to get past the fighters.]

Lando Calrissian. I hate to be the one to say it, but I’ve got a very bad feeling about all this.

End Scene 18.

Begin Scene 19.

[INT. The moon base of Rogue Squad.  Luke, Wedge, and the other Rogues are standing by Wes’ fighter.]

Wedge Antilles. You all right, Wes?

Rogue Six (Wes Janson). Yeah.  But I’d sure like to know what my R2 unit ate for breakfast.  I’m sorry about that, Luke.

Luke Skywalker. Forget it, Wes.  It couldn’t be helped.  Let’s just see if we can find out.

[Luke waves to a crew chief, and she wanders over.]

Luke Skywalker. Can you get a coupler onto this R2 unit?

[The chief nods, and plugs in a coupler, then plugs the coupler into the unit, once it settles to the ground.  R2 then rolls over, and plugs in an interface with the unit.  He then whistles very frantically.]

Wedge Antilles. What’s he saying, Luke?

Luke Skywalker. This R2 unit wasn’t malfunctioning.  Somebody programmed it to shoot at me.

Wedge Antilles. Who would do that?  And why?

[The crew chief then pulls a comlink off of her belt, and speaks into it.  She then listens to the incoming message.]

Chief. Rendar is on his way in.

Luke Skywalker. Alone?  Where are Leia and Lando?

[The chief shrugs.]

Chief. He didn’t say.

Luke Skywalker. That son of a bitch.  Come on, Wedge, Dash has a little explaining to do.

[Luke and Wedge walk off, followed closely by R2.]

End Scene 19.

Begin Scene 20.

[INT. The Millennium Falcon’s belly gun turret.  Lando is talking to Leia and Chewbacca over the intercom.]

Lando Calrissian. We can’t get through, Leia!  We’re going to have to…

[Lando’s voice is cut off mid-sentence.]

[Leia calls for Lando and Chewie over the com, but doesn’t get a response.]

Leia. 3PO, got see what happened to the com!  Make sure Lando and Chewie are all right!

C-3PO. Yes, Princess Leia.

[3PO walks off.  He returns several minutes later.]

C-3PO. Princess Leia, Master Lando says the com unit has been damaged.  We not longer have internal or external communications.  We must leave before the ship is destroyed!

Leia. But we can’t!  We’re too close to getting Han back!

[Leia’s POV – The Falcon is peeling away from the moon towards space.  Leia unbuckles herself, and runs up to the cockpit, where Lando is, safe and sound.]

Leia. Lando, what are you doing?

Lando Calrissian. Saving our lives.  I used every trick in the manual, plus a few of my own creation.  I just couldn’t get past those TIE fighters.  There were too many of them.

Leia. What about Slave I?

Lando Calrissian. I lost him.  But we can’t do Han any good if we’re scattered all over the landscape, now, can we?  And I don’t want to add more fuel to the fire, but we have no idea if Fett even had Han on his ship.  Fett could have stashed him somewhere.

C-3PO. Well, at least we’re alive.

^ topo da página