Heres a story I wrote - I would appreciate it if you would post it toyour site - please send any responses to haight3898@hotmail.com , mynormal account. Criticism welcome. Thanks

Written by: Sean Bonner (See bottom for disclaimer)

email: haight3898@hotmail.com  - Please email me if you likethis story, or if you hate it, I like opinions. Unfaircriticism will be mocked mercilessly.

This story takes place directly before, and during the eventsin Star Wars, A new hope. It tells what happened directlybefore A new hope begins, as well as telling a little about whatVader, and Princess Leia were doing when the camera wasn't onthem.

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Chapter 1 - Before

Darth Vader looked out of the large forward viewport on the bridge of his flagship, the Executor. His sterile breath hissing loudly in and out of his black, life sustaining helmet. He was standing, arms crossed, with his back to his second in command, Admiral Jared Josil, who had approached Vader to give his hourly report. Admiral Josil waited nervously as Vader continued to gaze out towards the view of the vast star field that lay before him.

The ship that they were tracking was not yet visible to the naked eye, rather, to any normal person's vision. Vader could see it quite clearly using the force, but the craft was clearly visible on the ship's sensors. They had been tracking it for a few hours, and despite his long time Jedi training, Vader was growing a little anxious for the small ship to make its next move.

Stretching out to the force, he slowed his breathing, and closing his old eyes inside his helmet, Vader was enveloped in a Forced induced calm. He was a Jedi Knight, and A Jedi was always calm in any situation.

"Report, Admiral." Vader said. His synthesized voice flowed with a hatred contained within an iron clad mind and millennia of Jedi knowledge. Keeping his eyes closed, Vader had known Josil was standing there, in fact, Vader had sensed his approach all the way from the turbolift, but being a Dark Lord of Sith gave one the luxury of keeping people waiting. Josil swallowed audibly, and straightened respectfully.

"My Lord. Communications has intercepted a signal sent by the long range Correllian scout ship to another, larger Corellian Corvette in orbit around Tatooine, half a light year away. My Lord, sensors indicate that it is the Tantive IV, and sir..." Josil hesitated nervously. "Sir, records show the ship is carrying Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, a member of the Imperial Senate." Admiral Josil finished his report and continued to stand arrow straight, waiting for a reply from the dark Jedi.

"Very good Admiral." Vader replied, unmoving. "Prepare to jump to light speed and intercept the corvette upon arrival. I want a boarding party with full weapons ready to board the ship when we dock. Your men will eliminate any resistance that is encountered, but I want Senator Organa taken alive. You are free to use any means necessary, as long as she is not permanently injured" Vader turned from the transparisteel viewport to face Admiral Josil with a pointed finger. "Is that clear Admiral?" Vader demanded.

"Completely my Lord. We will bring you the Senator, and in perfect health." responded Josil. Vader turned his back once again to Josil and went back to looking out the front viewport. Taking the hint, the Admiral clicked his heels and dashed off to get underway.

Vader was willing to pardon the ship that sent the signal, and it's occupants for the time being, the ships scans had recorded everything it picked up concerning the Rebel scout ship and could be used for future encounters. However, he knew that if he took the time to intercept the Rebel scout ship, he might lose the opportunity to capture the bigger prey and nip this rebellion in the bud.

Vader thought about his daughter and the position she had taken in this futile, disruptive attempt at rebellion. Though Vader had, by this time, been buried under years of Dark Side influence, he often thought of the two children that he had fathered eighteen years previous. Luke, his son that he had not seen since his birth resembled himself, thought Vader (Anakin). From the moment Luke was born, he could feel the Force talent that flowed through, and from the newborn infant. And Leia, who looked so much like her mother, Padme. Vader continued to relive the past within his memories but was broken out of his thoughts when he noticed his ship was moving into hyperspace. All the dark feelings rushed back into Vader with renewed strength, as he turned to walk away from the viewport, to prepare for what lay ahead.

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Chapter 2 - Tantive IV

"Sir! We will be approaching the Tatooine system within five minutes, shall I raise shields?" The officer sitting at the ops console shouted out to Captain Antilles, startling him out of his reverie. The Captain looked around, remembering where he was, and nodded an affirmative to the officer. "Yes... yes, do that, yes raise the shields. When we come out of light speed, take us into orbit around Tatooine."

Captain Antilles paced worriedly around the bridge of his ship. Worried about what the Empire would do to him if he were caught doing this.

His ship, the Tantive IV was a Correllian Corvette, or a blackade runner as was the more common term. It had been built only last year, one of a newer model that was a definite improvement over the older, blockier, and heavier model used for the past fifty years since the Clone wars. Antilles had fought in that war, along with Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker back when he was a young and cocky fighter pilot eager to kill Mandalores.

The captain stopped his pacing again for a moment and composed himself, it wouldn't do for his crew to see him in such an agitated state. He walked over to the communications console, where a young man sat monitoring the communications station. "Ensign." Said the captain, with a nod of greeting. "Please inform Princess Leia that I would like to see her on the bridge immediately."

"Aye sir." Came the prompt response. Walking away from the console, Antilles found his way back to the oval transparisteel window to resume worrying. He was soon met by Princess Leia, who walked onto the bridge with her usual determined look.

Leia, who was the youngest member of the Imperial Senate in over four hundred years, was the adopted daughter of system Viceroy of Alderaan, Bail Organa. Growing up, away from any Jedi teachings, Leia lived a life of luxury and extravagance, constantly doted upon by government aides, and her adopted sisters. Though Leia was raised as a Princess, she hardly fit the role. As a child, she was adventureous and mischievious. Her closest friend and aide, Winter, was often mistaken as the princess because of her quiet, reserved personality.

"You wanted to see me Captain?" Leia asked with only a curt nod as a greeting.

"Ah yes, Princess. I just wanted to inform you that we are just now entering the Tatooine system, and after we establish orbit around the planet, we will await the transmission from the contact ship."

"Excellent Captain, I will be in my quarters. As soon as the plans are downloaded, please have the plans re-encoded, then patch them to the terminal in my quarters. We will have to begin the search for Kenobi immediately. If My Father's information is correct, it should be a simple enough matter. If we can't find him within five hours, we'll have to go on to Alderaan first, then come back for him, we can't afford to arouse suspicion with the Emperor, if we're late getting to Alderaan, he will notice. In the mean time Captain, I shall be waiting." Said the young Senator.

"Yes your Highness, I will have the plans sent down the second we receive them." Leia gave another nod, and walked off the bridge leaving the captain standing at the window.

Antilles went back to looking out the viewport and watching the star lines fly by at speeds far exceeding the speed of light. If they could just pull this off, it would be a great leap for the Rebellion. Simply put, the concept of a super space station, capable of reducing a whole planet to space debris scared the hell out of Antilles. If some sort of vulnerability could not be found, then the end of the Rebellion he knew, would soon be over.

After a short, tense wait, the transmission came in and his staff began to download the information. Antilles continued looking out the viewport.

"Captain! Please come here quick!" Came a sudden call, that once again gave Antilles a start. He turned from the viewport and walked over to the officer at ops.

"Yes Commander?" Antilles prompted his second in command. "Sir, theres an Imperial Star Destroyer coming out of hyperspace, two hundred thousand kilometers port and closing."

'Oh God' Thought Antilles with a sudden sickening horror. 'I'm dead'.

"Sir. The Imperial ship is hailing us." Antilles looked from the officer down to the information on his console. Breaking out into a cold sweat, but doing a good enough job of keeping himself composed, he thought of his alternatives. He could either surrender or fight. While fighting meant certain death, in a glowing ball of ignited gasses and flying debris, the thought of just surrendering his ship sickened him. "Open a link to the Imperial ship, commander, audio only" Antilles waited a moment for his order to be carried out.

"Sir, we have established contact." The Captain didn't have time to respond, before a stern voice came over the speaker.

"Correllian vessel! You will surrender immediately and prepared to be boarded at once! Do not attempt to resist! Any such attempt will result in heavy damage to, or destruction of your ship! I repeat, you will lower your shields and surrender your vessel at once! Cut all power to your weapons and eng-" Antilles cut the volume on the speaker.

"Did we already receive the complete download of the transmission?" Asked Antilles. "Aye sir." Came the reply from the officer.

Captain Antilles ground his teeth with tension for a moment, then made the decision. "Commander, get us out of this gravity well as fast as you can so we can make the jump to light speed."

"But sir-"

"You have your orders commander, you will follow them." The Captain interrupted curtly.

"Aye sir, right away."

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Chapter 3 - Battle over Tatooine

The Tantive IV broke orbit and began to make its escape attempt from the much larger Imperial ship. Moving at top sublight speed, the smaller blockade runner didn't get very far before shots began to explode off her rear deflectors. Space around the ship lit up like small suns and she shook as if boulders were being bounced off her hull.

"Increase as much power as you can to the rear deflectors!" Shouted Captain Antilles, anger rising. He wasn't about to let these dirty Imps take him without a fight. "And keep firing turbolasers. We're going to have to outrun them." Antilles knew that he had not a chance in hell of outfighting the Imperial Star Destroyer, but if he could only outrun it, he could move out beyond Tatooine's pull of gravity and make the jump to light speed. Hyperdrives on starships could not initiate warp power while in the gravity well of a large object such as a planet, or a star. Another direct hit rocked the ship and Captain Antilles had to hold on for support.

"Sir, our shields are down to twenty percent and falling." Said the young officer. "Another direct hit on our rear deflectors and we will be defenseless." No sooner had he finished his sentence, when another direct hit shook the ship, rendering the shields useless. The young officer looked up at the Captain with fear in his eyes. "Sir...we are now without shields." Two more blasts hit the ship, triggering warning klaxons all over the bridge. "Sir, our hyperdrive has just been taken out and our sublight engines are damaged. We're slowing to fifty percent speed. Sir, the ship is gaining on us."

Antilles knew he was beaten. He nodded with defeat on his face and addressed the officer. "Take main engines offline, we dont want them to overheat and-" Antilles was cut short as a groan of metallic stress issued throughout the ship. The lights flickered off for a moment, then came back to life. "What the was that??" Demanded the Captain.

"Sir, we've just been grabbed by a tractor beam. We do not have sufficient power to break free." The officer waited a moment then continued. "Sir, shall I order the crew to evacuate?"

Antilles thought about it for a second. "No." He finally said. "The Imperials would blast every escape pod to space dust as soon as we become visible. No, what I want you to do Commander, is mobilize the troops, I want them posted at the main airlock. Also, Make sure the Princess is guarded. I don't think we're going to get out of this alive and I'd rather go out shooting." He looked to his second in command for a response.

"Aye sir, me too. I will mobilize the troops at once." The officer turned smartly to leave but Captain Antilles grabbed him lightly by the forearm. The officer stopped and looked at his captain. "Sir?"

Antilles looked at his officer with a sense of loss, and sighed. "It's been good serving with you, Commander Glensu. If you make it home in one piece....." The The Captain hesitated, then straightened, with pride. "May the force be with you, Commander."

Commander Glensu straightened as well "And the same to you sir, it's been an honor. And if I may be so bold sir, if I don't make it, I'll meet you on the other side." The two men shook hands.

"Last one there buys the Sullustan ale." Said the Captain with a smile. Commander Glensu smiled back, weakly, then two men released hands, and parted ways.

** ** **

The Tantive IV, now poweless, began to turn in position, held in the iron fist of the Imperial tractor beam. Looming closer and closer, the gigantic Imperial star Destroyer completely blocked the view of the stars from the top of the small Correllian ship. Moving slowly, it crept up into the huge belly of the Imperial ship.

Inside the Tantive IV, rebel troops ran frantically into the corridor that led to the main air lock. They took up thier positions, blasters aimed at the door. They could all feel the slight rocking of the ship and the metallic clanging of the ship being docked with the other. Moments passed by, tensely as the troops psyched themselves up, and waited.

The shuddering and the clanging stopped, and for a moment all was quiet. Suddenly, the silence was pierced with a loud hissing and a bright light as the main air lock was blasted outward from behind. Blaster shots began to fly.

** ** **

Princess Leia Felt the Imperial turbolasers buffetting the ship with destructive force, and knew what was happening. She removed the encoded datachip from the terminal in front of her and slipped it into a side pocket. Getting up, she retrieved the blaster that was in one of the desk drawers, and making sure the weapon was set to kill, she went to the entrance of her quarters and opened the door.

Leia poked her head around the corner, with her blaster raised defensively. Seeing that nobody had yet arrived on this deck, she stepped quietly out of the doorway, shutting the door behind her. She then locked it, using a long string of random numbers. if they came looking for her, this would slow them down a bit.

Finishing her task, leia made her way down the corridor to a maintenance hatch a few meters away. She could hear the ensuing battle on the decks above her, which only made her move faster. Leia reached the hatch at the end of the corridor, and looking around again to make sure no one was watching, shoved the blaster down the front of her robes.

Leia removed the covering of the maintenance hatch and crawled in. Closing the hatch behind her, she took out a black rectangular object and placed it on the floor in front of her. Pushing a button in the center of the object, a bright holo-map schematic of the entire ship flashed into existance. Leia manipulated the controls to center on the flashing red dot inside the transparent walls of the holographic ship which indicated where she was on the ship. Leia hit another button and the computer suggested the most efficient escape routes to a hidden section of the ship. Leia recorded the coordiantes in her head and switched off the holo-map display.

Leia returned the map device to her pocket and then from the other pocket, took out a small commlink, and switched it on. "Artoo, do you read me?" A prompt response in the form of a chirp and a few beeps came back to her over the commlink. Leia smiled. "Good. Now listen Artoo, Ive got a very important job for you to do." Artoo responded with more bleeps, blatts, and chirps. "I need you to meet me at the coordinates that Im going to send you. I need you to meet the there in five minutes. I'll be sending the coordinates now. Leia out."

Leia switched off the commlink and placed it back in her side pocket, then sent Artoo the coordinates from the holo-map, using the weakest, thinnest band necessary to get through the walls of the ship, to reduce the odds of being detected.

Taking a moment to listen, and look around, Leia placed the holo-map unit back into her pocket, then crawled down the low ceiling tunnel towards a maintenance ladder straight ahead.

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Chapter 4 - Stolen Plans

Vader, followed by two stormtrooper guards, walked through the ruined air lock and stopped for a moment to look around and survey the damage. These trouble makers brought it upon themselves, Vader thought to himself. Vader ceased his inspection and continued to walk into the ship. He felt no sympathy for the fallen rebels, anybody that defied the law of the Emperor, was only asking to be repressed. He saw Admiral Josil standing at the end of the corridor, with two storm- troopers and a captured rebel officer who currently had his hands on his head.

Vader approached the group, and addressed Josil. The rebel physically shrinked back in fear. "Report Admiral."

"My Lord. The ship's Captain was killed when he was captured and attempted to resist arrest. This is his second in command, Commander Kade Glensu. Vader probed the man's thoughts and found exactly what he was looking for. Grabbing Glensu by the throat, he lifted him off the ground, raising him higher into the air. The man struggled, quite futilly, against Vader's grasp. His rage remained unbroken as a stormtrooper approached to give a report. The trooper came to a halt in front of Vader.

"The Death Star plans are not in the main computer." Vader turned back to his victim and tightened his grip around Glensu's neck.

"Where are those transmission you intercepted, what have you done with those plans?" Vader demanded. Glensu tried to respond, but could get no air into, or out of his lungs.

"We intercepted no transmission!" Said Glensu painfully through the vice-like grip around his throat. He bagan fading in and out of conciousness. "This is a consular ship....... we're on a...diplomatic mission!" Vader could feel the lie flowing from the man in waves, and it infuriated him. How dare he lie to a Dark Lord of Sith? Vader began squeezing Glensu's neck until the sound of cracking bones could be heard in the corridor.

"If this is a consular ship, WHERE is the AMBASSADOR?" Demaded Vader with uncontrolled fury. Vader tossed the Glensu's lifeless body into the bulkhead like a ragdoll, and turned to give Josil an order. "Commander tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the passengers, I want them alive!"

** ** **

Princess Leia reached the top of the ladder, which incidentally was the floor of the deck above her. She stopped to listen for footsteps nearby, and hearing none, carefully pushed open the cover to the maintenance tunnel, and poked her head out. Leia looked around again for safe measure, and then pushed herself up on her arms and sat down on the rim of the hole. She wished that she could get rid of the cumbersome robes that she was wearing for something more convenient, or at least more camouflaged. She thought about her lifelong friend, Winter, and what she would say about her current situation. She would probably scold her for being so wreckless.

Leia quietly replaced the cover on the opening of the tunnel and stood up in the storage hold corridor. Looking at her chronometer, she waited anxiously for one of the ship's Astromech Droids, R2-D2 to arrive. It was most crucial for her to make sure the stolen Death Star plans were passed on safely to Kenobi, and she felt every ounce of the pressure of the importance of that. She reached into her pocket and retrieved the data chip in preperation. After a few moments, she heard Artoo's whistles, and cursed inwardly at how loud it sounded. She could also hear Threepio, the annoying protocol droid, following behind him, whining about something or other. She sure wasn't going to miss him she thought, rolling her eyes.

Leia didn't have to wait very long. Artoo came rolling around the corner, stopped in front of her, and chirped cheerfully. "Shhhh" Leia said, putting her finger over her lips. "Do you want the whole ship to hear us?" Artoo came back with a low quiet moan of apology. "It's ok, just be more quiet in the future ok?" Artoo replied with a color change of his optical sensor from blue, to red.

"Okay Artoo, I need you to take down a holo-recording of me to pass on to General Kenobi. It is most important that he gets this message, also, Do not divert from your mission for any reason, is that clear?" Artoo blinked an affirmative with his optical sensor. Leia bent down and switched on the droid's holo-cam. Leia stood back up, in respect, and began to speak.

"General Kenobi. Years ago you served my Father in the Clone wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my Father's request in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit, my Father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi...you're my only hope." Leia looked around, to make sure nobody had heard her, and detecting no one, bent down to switch off Artoo's holo-cam.

While she was already bent over, Leia inserted the data chip into the slot on Artoo's domed head, and Artoo's internal computer brain downloaded it, encoded it, and erased the data chip, reducing it to a blank data storage unit. Artoo kept the chip inside his drive as to not leave any evidence behind for the Imperials to find. She could hear blaster shots getting closer so she patted Artoo on the head and bid him farewell. "Thanks Artoo, and may the Force be with you. Now go, now" Prodded Leia. Artoo chirped an affirmative and shook side to side. Artoo turned, and extending his third, center leg, rolled off to carry out his mission.

Leia pulled the hood off her head, and watched Artoo roll away. She gave a short prayer, for his success, and ducked back into the small corridor behind her.

She made her way to another corridor, and finding some cover, waited out the inevitable. She reached down the front of her robes, and pulled out the blaster she had been hiding. She'd be damned if she was going to go without a fight.

Leia didn't have to wait very long before she heard the metallic sound of plasteel covered feet clanging on the metal floor heading her way. It was a bad choice for a hiding place she realized to herself, a bit too late but it was all that she could find with all the activity around her. The Imperials had spread over the ship with amazing speed and space had grown scarce at an equally fast rate. If she stayed where she was, the approaching troops could not miss her, so she checked her blaster setting once again, and peered around the edge of her hiding space. The lead stormtrooper, who was looking around, glanced up and saw her standing there.

"There's one, set for stun." Leia levelled her blaster at the trooper's chest and pulled the trigger. The trooper was thrown backwards, with a smoking black hole in his chest.

Leia took advantage of the situation and dashed off in the opposite direction. If she could make it around the corner of the intersecting corridor, there might be a chance that she could find another hiding spot and maybe take out the persuing troopers one by one. Leia got about two meters, when she felt the stun blast hit her in the back, and collapsed heavily onto the floor.

Leia lay there parylized. She was still concious, but fading. She saw a white leg walk up next to her, but since she couldn't move her head, all she could see was a leg and a foot. She was able to keep a grasp on conciousness only for a few seconds more, and heard the trooper say something before blackness overtook her.

"She'll be alright...."

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Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction story, and to my knowledge, no copyright laws have been violated. This is a story based upon Star Wars, but is in no way intended for profit. The author recognizes that all names