SYNOPSIS
On board the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin presents Leia with a choice: tell him the location of the secret Rebel base, or watch her home planet of Alderaan be destroyed. Feeling dejected, Leia reveals Dantooine as the planet containing the Rebel base. Tarkin is pleased and continues with his demonstration none-the-less. The Death Star superlaser decimates the princesses homeworld in a fiery ball of superheated gasses.

Onboard the Millennium Falcon, Obi-Wan feels a disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices had just cried out in terror and then were silenced. Han lets everyone know they can stop worrying about the Imperials chasing them, and becomes miffed when everyone ignores him.

Ben is instructing Luke in lightsaber training with a hovering remote. He explains to Luke that the Force will help guide your actions and obey your commands. Han scoffs at the possibility that a mystical energy field can control anyone's actions.

An Imperial officer reports the remains of a Rebel base on Dantooine. Tarkin becomes upset and orders Leia to be terminated immediately.

The Falcon emerges from hyperspace in an asteroid storm, in the spot where Alderaan should be. Han tracks a one man TIE fighter back to an apparently small moon. As they get closer, however, they realize it's actually a very large space station. Before they can turn around, they become caught in a tractor beam and pulled into a docking bay.

An imperial informs Tarkin they have just captured the same freighter that blasted out of Mos Eisley. An officer tells Vader the ship is empty, but he demands it searched. He senses something, he has not sensed in long time.

Han, Luke and Ben all emerge from under some plates hidden in the floor of the ship. The officer in charge can't communicate with his trooper so he goes to check it out and is attacked by Chewbacca. Luke and Han, in stormtrooper outfits enter into the control room.

Artoo plugs into the computer and discovers where the tractor beam is holding the ship. Ben goes alone to dismantle the device. Just after he leaves, Artoo discovers that Princess Leia is also aboard. Luke and Han decide to rescue her and use Chewbacca as a prisoner to walk into the detention block.

They play on the ruse that Chewie is a prisoner being transferred from cell block 1138. While the detention officer confirms this, Chewie 'breaks free' and Luke and Han, still in the stormtrooper armor, begin shooting the other guards. Han discovers where the princess is and Luke heads for her cell. Meanwhile Han agrues with an imperial on the other end of the comlink.

Luke opens cell 2187 revealing Princess Leia. He tells her that Ben and her droids are with him. While in the conference room, Vader tells Tarkin that he's sure that Obi-Wan Kenobi is on board. An alert that the dention block the princess is held in confirms his suspicions. In the cell block, the escape route is cut off by another squad of stormtroopers.

Seeing no other good way out, Leia grabs Han's blaster and creates a hole that leads them right into the trash compactor. Unable to blast the door open, the heroes are surprised when Luke is pulled under the dirty water by some snake-like creature. Luke is released as the walls begin closing in. Using his comlink, Luke begins screaming for Threepio to answer him.

Threepio answers and Luke tells him to shut the garbage mashers on the detention level down. Luke then asks the droid to open the hatch on unit 3263827. In the power generator trench, Ben Kenobi, adjusts the functionality of some computer terminals, altering the state of the tractor beam holding Solo's ship the Millennium Falcon.

As the heroes escape the trash compactor, Leia and Han bicker about the way this operation is being lead. Meanwhile back at the trench, Ben manages to evade the detection of several squads of stormtroopers as he heads back to the main hangar.

Princess Leia gets her first view of the Falcon, noting that Luke is braver than she thought, if he arrived in that ship. A pair of stormtroopers discovers the Rebels and Han charges them, shouting at Luke and Leia to head for the ship.

Luke and Leia duck into a sub hall and nearly tumble off an undeployed bridge. Pulling some cable from his utility belt, Luke secures it on some pipes above them and he and Leia swing to freedom across the chasm.

Ben eludes even more troopers when Vader steps out in front of him. The two ignite their lightsabers and begin sparring, as a crowd begins to gather. Luke and Leia meet up with Han and Chewie and the droids, and head towards the ship, only to see Vader strike Ben down. The robes fall to the floor, but there is no sign of the aged Jedi.

Luke screams and begins firing his blaster in vain, but Leia convinces him that they must not dally, lest Kenobi's sacrifice be for naught. Luke hears the familiar yet different voice of Ben Kenobi. He turns and heads into the spaceship saddened by the loss of his mentor. The Millennium Falcon blasts out of the Death Star into the deep vastness of space.