MOMENTS EARLIER

Leia had seen enough. Between seeing the large figure kill a man with his bare hands, and torturing a nearby droid, she wanted to be as far away as possible.

As she left the area, Artoo, was contemplating. Since commander Antilles was killed, and, the entire crew of the Tantive IV have been neutralized, there was no point in monitoring the transmitter. In going through his memory banks, he came across the data that he had downloaded for the prince. Logically, the prince may still require it, since he may not have been captured. The problem was getting to him. Logically, pondered the droid, the young girl, who posed no threat earlier, might be able to assist its purpose. The droid then started to follow her tracks, with a new purpose.

Moments later, a squad of stormtroopers located the abandoned transmission tower. As they examined it, one trooper indicated to the ground.

"Look sir! Droid tracks!"

As the other troopers examined this find, they also discovered Leia's tracks, and started to follow them.

Leia ran to her speeder, when she heard a voice boom above her.

"HALT!" sounded an amplified voice. She quickly froze in her tracks.

As she turned around, she saw three troopers on the ridge high above, aiming their weapons at her. With numb terror, she raised her hands.

Halfway above the same ridge, R2D2, witnessing these events, quickly executed a distraction. Using the footage he had taken earlier of the reptile, he projected it towards some nearby boulders, giving the appearance of a giant desert monster attacking the troopers. The troopers, surprised at this, fired toward the creature.

As Leia saw these turn of events, she immediately scrambled toward her speeder. However, one trooper spotted her, and started to open fire. The other two, discovering the trick, started after her. One trooper started to shimmy down the rock face, while the other, noticing artoo as the source of the projection, approached the droid.

Blasts fired above her head as she was crouched next to her speeder. She cursed herself for leaving her blaster in the speeder out of reach. It was then, that she remembered the lightsabre Ben had given her. Perhaps, she thought, it could somehow distract the troopers long enough to reach her blaster.

She activated the weapon and rose up behind her cover. At that moment, the trooper on the ridge continued firing at her. However, as if by reflex, she blocked the blast with her light saber. It reflected back towards the trooper, hitting him, and caused him to fall off the ledge.

The other trooper, seeing this, aimed his weapon towards Leia. However, Artoo took advantage of this by firing an electric shock, which sent the trooper flying over the ledge, to his death below.

Leia, observing this turn of events with astonishment, failed to notice the third trooper, who managed to sneak behind a boulder next to her speeder.

"DROP YOUR WEAPON!" commanded the trooper. Immediately, she spun around. The trooper fired a shot at point blank range, like before, Leia was able to deflect it away from her. However, she quickly retaliated by swiping her light saber, slashing him in the process. The trooper then stumbled back, and collapsed to the ground.

Leia stood dumbstruck for the next few moments.

She had killed a stormtrooper.

She didn't even notice the artoo unit coming towards her vehicle. The shock of the last few moments made her oblivious to everything around her.

She had killed a stormtrooper.

She was brought back to reality when she noticed the artoo unit board her speeder. She was about to stop it when a voice sounded on the trooper's radio.

"PATROL THREE. WE HEARD GUNFIRE. IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?"

She had to leave.

Immediately, she scrambled into her speeder, and revved it up. By this time, the droid boarded her speeder in the back. She was well away when another patrol arrived to access the situation.

AT THE TANTIVE IV, MINUTES LATER

Lord Vader was making final preparations for the attack party when he noticed a stormtrooper patrol returning with some fallen comrades.

"What happened here?"

"Patrol three was ambushed. We have sent out a reconnaissance crew, but so far, they have found nothing Lord Vader."

As the trooper spoke, Vader examined the bodies. The two with blaster hits were nothing unusual, but the third…

Only a light saber could have made such a mark.

"Lieutenant…" he said to a nearby aide, "Has there been any progress in locating Obi Wan Kenobi?"

"Nothing concrete, however one team is investigating a possible lead, based on some stories from local inhabitants."

"Inform me of any significant developments." The dark lord hissed.