Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Ahead, the bright sphere of what looked like on of Yavin's moons but wasn'tbegan to glow with increasing brightness. It shone with an eerie metallic glowutterly unlike that of any natural satellite. As he watched the giant battle stationmake its way around the rim of Yavin, Blue Leader's thoughts traveled back over theyears. Over the uncountable injustices, the innocents taken away for interrogationand never heard from again—the whole multitude of evils incurred by an increasinglycorrupt and indifferent Imperial government. All those terrors and agonies wereconcentrated, magnified, represented by the single bloated feat of engineering theywere approaching now. "This is it, boys," he said to the mike. "Blue Two, you're too far out. Close itup, Wedge." The young pilot Luke had encountered in the temple briefing room glanced tostarboard, then back to his instruments. He executed a slight adjustment, frowning."Sorry, boss. My ranger seems to be a few points off. I'll have to go on manual." "Check, Blue Two. Watch yourself. All ships, stand by to lock S-foils inattack mode." One after another, from Luke and Biggs, Wedge and the other members of Blueassault squadron, the replies came back. "Standing by…" "Execute," Blue Leader commanded, when John D. and Piggy had indicated theywere in readiness. The double wings on the X-wing fighters split apart, like narrow seeds. Eachfighter now displayed four wings, its wing-mounted armament and quadruple enginesnow deployed for maximum firepower and maneuverability. Ahead, they Imperial station continued to grow. Surface features becamevisible 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 breathinggrew faster. Automatic life-support machinery detected the respiratory shift andcompensated properly. Something began to buffet his ship, almost as if he were back in his skyhopperagain, wrestling with the unpredictable winds of Tatooine. He experienced a badmoment 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