William Shakespeare's Star Wars Trilogy Read online

  [To Luke:] A Jedi uses

  The Force only for knowledge

  And defense. Is’t clear?

  The Force is no club,

  Neither is it a weapon

  Us’d for attacking.

  LUKE

  Yet it is still a weapon for defense.

  So wherefore may I not the Force employ—

  YODA

  Nay, there’s no wherefore.

  Nothing more shall come today.

  From thy questions, rest.

  LUKE

  [aside:] Reliev’d am I this training to complete,

  If only for this day, which hath been years.

  But is this not a strange and troubling thing?

  Where only moments past I felt at ease,

  Now there’s some sprite within that troubles me—

  A chill, a solemn aura in my bones.

  I would not much ado o’er nothing make,

  But still shall I ask Yoda what it is.

  [To Yoda:] I feel a cold, a presage here of death.

  What is it that I sense within this place?

  [Yoda points to the opening of a cave.

  YODA

  With the Force’s dark side

  Is that place yonder quite strong.

  A place of evil.

  Discover thou shalt

  That wherever good is found,

  Evil is nearby.

  Here on Dagobah

  ’Tis also so. For e’en here

  That evil place is.

  Bound thou art now, Luke,

  To enter it, and face its

  Deepest darknesses.

  LUKE

  But Sir, I prithee, tell me: what’s within?

  YODA

  Only that which thou

  Shalt take away with thee, Luke.

  [Luke begins to enter the cave, carrying his weapons.

  Take not thy weapons.

  R2-D2

  Beep, meep, meep, squeak, beep, whistle, meep,

  beep, nee!

  [Luke enters, bringing his weapons, as Yoda and R2-D2 remain outside.

  LUKE

  What twists of knotted vines and tangl’d fates

  Await me in this hole? I shall go in,

  And prove that I am not afraid of it,

  Nor any task or misadventure here.

  What evil can await I have not seen?

  For I have facèd evil enemies

  Who kill’d my mentor and my family.

  What evil in this place can greater be?

  Now doth time seem to slowly beat its pace.

  And all is like a thick and restless dream.

  But wait, who comes unto this deep, dark place?

  It moves with grace—is it my father good?

  Enter shadow of DARTH VADER.

  Nay, nay, how I have been deceiv’d, abus’d!

  For it is Vader here, my greatest foe,

  The cruel defiler of my father’s youth.

  I stand preparèd to do battle as

  A Jedi, full of rage and righteous hate.

  Now up, lightsaber, light my keen revenge!

  Lay on, Darth Vader, damnèd henchman vile.

  And now we fight! Yet seems it that my limbs

  Are made of stone—but he is slower still!

  I see my chance to strike, and let it fall—

  The blow that shall release my father’s soul.

  Now Vader’s head doth fall onto the ground

  And I feel no relief, but only pain.

  The mask doth split, his visage to reveal!

  O, I shall see the face that kill’d a man,

  That kill’d a thousand fathers like my own.

  But wait, what is this here—and can it be?

  This is no face of Vader: ’tis my face!

  The horror, O the horror! Darker yet

  That e’er I had imagin’d possible.

  The greatest evil I may face—myself!

  [Exit Luke, in fear.

  YODA

  Now hath he seen it,

  And he shall ever see it

  Till he sees it through.

  [Exit Yoda.

  R2-D2

  O strange and somber night that falleth here—

  My master Luke all out of sorts from what

  He spies inside this hole. What lesson is

  It Yoda hath reveal’d to him inside?

  I would that I my master could protect,

  But such is not the role I have to play.

  And thus, since I may not protector be,

  My path shall be to play the fool and watch:

  I shall maintain my droidlike silence and

  Bear witness as the boy becomes the man,

  The learner doth become the Jedi true.

  Content yourself with this, R2, and rest,

  For other times than these require your best.

  [Exit.

  SCENE 6.

  Space, aboard the Empire’s Super Star Destroyer and the Millennium Falcon.

  Enter ADMIRAL PIETT and IMPERIAL CONTROLLER, with DARTH VADER and BOUNTY HUNTERS, including BOBA FETT, aside, aboard the Super Star Destroyer.

  PIETT

  These bounty hunters, O they reek! We have

  No need for their most wretched scum.

  CONTROL.

  —Aye, Sir.

  PIETT

  The rebels surely shall not ’scape us now.

  CONTROL.

  We have been hail’d by the Avenger ship.

  PIETT

  Now let us hear it.

  VADER

  —There shall be rewards

  Aplenty for the one who finds the swift

  Millenn’um Falcon. Ye may use whate’er

  Approaches, weapons, means, or what ye will,

  But mark ye well: I want them all alive.

  [To Boba Fett:] There shall be no disintegrations. Clear?

  FETT

  As you wish. [Aside:] The darkest Sith that e’er

  did live, and I am his choice to find those he cannot.

  Yet who am I? A mere bounty hunter like the others

  here? Nay, far more. I am Boba Fett, the vilest,

  fiercest, most deadly hunter in the galaxy. More

  than that, Darth Vader knows that I shall serve

  him well and faithfully in the pursuit of Solo. He

  knoweth well that Boba Fett doth worship at sweet

  compensation’s throne, and would happily

  betray my own kin to earn the great reward

  that hath been promis’d. I would kill Solo

  without a thought, for what is he to me?

  Disintegrations, indeed. I would disintegrate,

  disembowel, dismember, destroy utterly Han Solo,

  for I know him not nor care what he hath done

  to earn Darth Vader’s ire and the scorn of Jabba

  of the Hutt. I shall play my bounty hunter’s part,

  obey the dark lord, take my prize from the Empire,

  and receive a second prize on the dunes of Tatooine.

  A double prize—’tis wonderful a bounty hunter to be.

  PIETT

  [to Darth Vader:] My Lord, the ship hath been discoverèd!

  [Exeunt Darth Vader, Boba Fett, other bounty hunters, Admiral Piett, and Imperial Controller.

  Enter HAN SOLO, CHEWBACCA, PRINCESS LEIA, and C-3PO aboard the Millennium Falcon.

  C-3PO

  O, praise the maker! We are venturing

  Out of the ast’roid field, and are alive—

  Miraculous! [Aside:] I almost am convinc’d

  That Captain Solo bears a hero’s air.

  HAN

  Now let us hence. Chewbacca, art prepar’d

  For lightspeed?

  CHEWBAC.

  —Auugh!

  HAN

  —Now one, two, three, and go!

  [The Millennium Falcon makes a sound and fails.

  CHEWBAC.

  Egh.

  HAN
>
  —’Tis not fair. I say, it is not just!

  C-3PO

  [aside:] A hero, did I say? O man of folly!

  CHEWBAC.

  Auugh, auugh!

  HAN

  —The transfer circuits do not work

  ’Tis not my fault!

  LEIA

  —No lightspeed once again?

  HAN

  ’Tis not my fault. In troth, ’tis not my fault!

  C-3PO

  The rear deflector shield is compromis’d,

  And if we do sustain another hit

  Upon the ship’s back quarter, ’tis our end.

  HAN

  [aside:] ’Tis madness, this maneuver I’ll attempt.

  But desp’rate times for desp’rate measures call.

  [To Chewbacca:] Turn thou this ship around.

  CHEWBAC.

  —Egh?

  HAN

  —Turn it ’round!

  I shall put all our pow’r to shields in front.

  LEIA

  Thou wilt attack a Star Destroyer?

  C-3PO

  —Sir!

  The odds of our success in a direct

  Attack upon a Star Destroyer—

  LEIA

  —Tut!

  [Exeunt, flying toward the Star Destroyer.

  Enter CAPTAIN NEEDA, TRACKING OFFICER, and COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER.

  NEEDA

  They move into attack position—shields!

  But now, where are they gone? Pray, track them straight.

  TRACK.

  The ship’s no longer shown in any scopes.

  NEEDA

  That is impossible. No ship that small

  Hath any ways or means to cloak itself.

  Nay, they cannot, as magic, disappear.

  COMM.

  Good Captain Needa, our Lord Vader doth

  Demand an update of our keen pursuit.

  NEEDA

  [aside:] O dreaded moment. This shall mean my death.

  Farewell now, for my life’s gone with the ship.

  [To Communications Officer:] Prepare a shuttle for me. I’ll accept

  The full responsibility for their

  Escape, and shall apologize unto

  Lord Vader. Keep thy watch most vigilant.

  COMM.

  Aye, Captain Needa.

  [Exit Tracking and Communications officers.

  Enter DARTH VADER, as Captain Needa makes his way toward him.

  NEEDA

  —On thy mercy great

  I throw myself and all my hopes, dear lord.

  The great Millenn’um Falcon now is fled.

  It hath evaded even our vast fleet.

  Take my apology—

  VADER

  —The ship is lost?

  And thus thy life—dead for a ducat, dead!

  [Darth Vader chokes Captain Needa with the Force, killing him.

  The necks of fools deserve a crushing Force.

  Let this serve as thy dying lesson, Needa.

  With that last breath thy recompense is done

  And all apologies accepted.

  Enter ADMIRAL PIETT.

  PIETT

  —Lord,

  Our scan of the surrounding area

  Is now complete, but has, alas, found naught.

  Lord, if the swift Millenn’um Falcon hath

  Made good the jump to lightspeed, it may be

  Beyond the far end of the galaxy.

  VADER

  Alert thou every Imperi’l post,

  And calculate the ship’s most likely course

  From its trajectory as it did flee.

  PIETT

  Aye, Lord, I’ll warrant we shall find them soon.

  [Exit Admiral Piett.

  VADER

  O ancestors, pray save me from these fools

  Who with their instruments and scanners could

  Not find a bantha in a womp rat’s hole.

  But calm thyself now, Vader, be at ease.

  This momentary failure may yet prove

  Most beneficial, and I’ll warrant that

  The time shall not go dully by us, for

  It shall be us’d to finalize my plans

  And think upon the moment when I shall

  Both meet and then defeat the Skywalker

  Who dares to call the Empire enemy.

  So let these rebels go for now, my soul,

  And ponder how to make their downfall whole.

  [Exit.

  SCENE 7.

  The Dagobah system.

  Enter YODA, R2-D2, and LUKE SKYWALKER, who practices lifting things with the Force.

  YODA

  Use the Force, Luke, yes.

  Now, lift thou the stone. Feel it.

  The Force within flows.

  [R2-D2 begins to beep as Luke’s ship sinks.

  Nay, listen thou not

  To the droid and all his beeps.

  Do thou concentrate!

  [Everything that was lifted falls.

  R2-D2

  Nee, nee, beep, meep, beep, squeak, squeak, whistle, squeak!

  LUKE

  Fie! We shall never extricate the ship.

  YODA

  So certain are you?

  Always with you, my pupil,

  It cannot be done.

  What have we done here—

  Hear’st thou nothing that I say?

  Dost thou attend, Luke?

  If depend upon

  The Force thou shalt, anything

  Possible shall be.

  LUKE

  But Master, moving stones with the great Force

  I do admit may be achiev’d. But this,

  This ship—to lift its hulk, its mass, its size—

  ’Tis different, aye, wholly different!

  YODA

  Nay! No different.

  Only within thy mind, Luke,

  Different it is.

  Thou must unlearn all

  Those things that thou hast learnèd.

  Dost thou understand?

  LUKE

  In troth, I understand, and I shall try.

  YODA

  Nay, nay! Try thou not.

  But do thou or do thou not,

  For there is no “try.”

  LUKE

  [aside:] I shall stretch out my mind, and shall attempt,

  But this is madness—lifting e’en a ship?

  The greatest Jedi still cannot achieve

  That which is patently impossible.

  Methinks no Force can move this ship, and thus

  I certain am I never shall do this.

  [Luke tries to lift the ship with the Force, but the ship sinks lower.

  R2-D2

  Beep, hoo.

  LUKE

  —Nay, I cannot. ’Tis much too big.

  YODA

  Nay, size matters not.

  Look thou at me, I prithee.

  Judge me by my size?

  And where you should not.

  For my ally ’tis the Force.

  A pow’rful ally.

  Life doth create it.

  Its energy surrounds us,

  Binds us together.

  Luminous beings

  We are, not this crude matter.

  You must feel the Force.

  All around thee, here—

  Between thou and me, tree, rock:

  Ev’rywhere it is.

  E’en between the land

  And your ever-sinking ship,

  The Force is there, too.

  LUKE

  I know now thou dost ask th’impossible.

  [Luke sits aside, as Yoda lifts his hands.

  YODA

  [aside:] Be mindful, young one,

  And watch what inner strength great

  May come from small size.

  [Yoda moves the ship out of the swamp using the Force.

  LUKE

  The ship! It cometh out—thou hast done it!

  I ne’er imagin’d i
t was possible.

  With eyes I see, but mind does not believe.

  YODA

  Thus is your error.

  Against the Force you do rail;

  That is why you fail.

  [Exeunt.

  SCENE 1.

  Aboard the Millennium Falcon, moored to a Star Destroyer.

  Enter CHORUS.

  CHORUS

  With such deep wit Han hath the Empire trick’d

  That now the Falcon hides within its fleet!

  With skill he doth the Empire’s moves predict,

  And bravely plans to make his move discreet.

  [Exit.

  Enter HAN SOLO, PRINCESS LEIA, CHEWBACCA, and C-3PO.

  C-3PO

  I tell thee, Captain Solo, thou hast gone

  Beyond all measure with this reckless move.

  Thou hast put all aboard in danger grave,

  And yet thou seem’st to have but little care.

  CHEWBAC.

  Auugh!

  C-3PO

  —Nay, I’ll not be silent! Wherefore am

  I never listen’d to?

  HAN

  —The fleet doth break

  Itself up into pieces. [To Chewbacca:] Go thee now,

  Chewbacca; stand aside the manual

  Release to liberate the landing claw.

  CHEWBAC.

  Egh.

  [Exit Chewbacca.

  C-3PO

  —Truly, I see not how that shall help.

  Surrender is, in circumstances such

  As these, a fair alternative. Perhaps

  The Empire may yet reasonable be.

  [Leia turns off C-3PO.

  HAN

  Great thanks I give thee for the gift of peace.

  LEIA

  Brave soul, what dost thou think thou next shalt do?