Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring Painting

Leia Organa sat silently before the huge display screen on which Yavin and its moonswere displayed. A large red dot moved steadily toward the fourth of those satellites.Dodonna and several other field commanders of the Alliance stood behind her, theireyes also intent on the screen. Tiny green flecks began to appear around the fourthmoon, to coalesce into the small clouds like hovering emerald gnats.Dodonna put a hand on her shoulder. It was comforting. "The red represents theprogress of the Imperial battle station as it moves deeper into Yavin's system." "Our ships are all away," a Commander behind him declared. A single man stood alone in the cylindrical hold, secured to the top of a rapier-thin tower. Staring through fixed-mount electrobinoculars, he was the sole visiblerepresentative of the vast technology buried in the green purgatory below. Muted cries, moans, and primeval gurglings drifted up to him from the highesttreetops. Some were frightening, some less so, but none were as indicative of powerheld in check as the four silvery starships which burst into view above the observer.Keeping a tight formation, they exploded through humid air to vanish in seconds intothe morning cloud cover far above. Sound-shadows rattled the trees moments later,in a forlorn attempt to catch up to the engines which had produced them. Slowly assuming attack formations combining X- and Y-wing ships, the variousfighters began to move outward from the moon, out past the oceanic atmosphere ofgiant Yavin, out to meet the technologic executioner. The man who had observed the by-play between Biggs and Luke now loweredhis glare visor and adjusted his half-automatic, half-manual gunsights as he checkedthe ships to either side of him. "Blue boys," he addressed his intership pickup, "this is Blue Leader. Adjustyour selectors and check in. Approaching target at one point three…"