Star Wars Journal - The Fight for Justice by Luke Skywalker by John Peel Page A

a feel for the controls, see how sensitive its responses were.
    But when Biggs blasted out of the hangar without a word, I realized how wrong I was. He was still angry and had something to prove.
    “All right, Darklighter, you’re on,” I said out loud, even though he couldn’t hear me.
    The thrill of flight filled me as I chased him down.
    It would have taken me thirty seconds to catch that T-16 if anyone other than Biggs was flying it. I could see it swaying and shaking like it was going to break up. Any other pilot would have been forced to slow down to get control. But not Biggs. He was so good, he was actually speeding up.
    After about five minutes of chase, I finally caught him. Just as I pulled even with him and was about to commend him on his performance, I saw something small and metallic drop out of the bottom of the T-16. Two seconds later, something big fell out. Something very big. Before I could figure out that his bottom had given and the engine was gone, Biggs’ ship was down.
    It must have rolled end-over-end at least five times. When it finally stopped, the cloud of dust was so huge that I couldn’t see anything. All I could do was yell his name over and over. But every time I cried “Biggs!” I was met with a deafening silence.
    When the dust finally settled, I could see that he wasn’t in the pilot’s seat. Had he fallen out after the first tumble? Was he buried under the wreckage?
    That’s when I was tackled from behind.
    I thought a krayt dragon had jumped me. But krayt dragons don’t laugh. And they don’t know my name is Luke. I turned and there was Biggs! And he was laughing! He was laughing so hard, he had tears in his eyes. But he was fine ! He was looking at his wrecked T-16 and having a great time. I was amazed. How he could go through a crash like that, come out unharmed, and find the whole thing so funny I’ll never know.
    But then my mind was back in the present. I was in my X-wing and Biggs wouldn’t be laughing after this crash. I reminded myself that I would have to mourn my friend later. Right now, I was in real trouble. The exhaust duct was coming up fast, but the TIE leader was coming up even faster.
    I wasn’t going to make it.
    There were no other fighters out there, so I knew I was doomed. I could see the ship moving in behind me, and knew it was only a matter of seconds before it fastened onto me and opened fire. One shot raked my ship, and the link with Artoo died. I didn’t know how badly he was injured, but he was out of the battle for now. The stabilizer could go again at any second, and we were almost at the target.
    If I could hit it. I mean, I knew I was a good shot, but so were the others, and they’d failed. Maybe this is an impossible shot, I thought. Maybe this is different from shooting womp rats back home. I could feel my mind start reeling with panic, when suddenly I heard Ben’s voice.
    “Let go, Luke,” I could hear him say. “Trust me. Reach out with your feelings.”
    And I knew immediately what he meant. The computer couldn’t make the shot. It was too difficult for the machine. There was one way and only one way to do this.
    I had to trust the Force.
    I had to reach out with the Force and feel exactly the right time to fire the torpedo. Me, the novice Jedi, who’s had about ten lessons. Who wasn’t even sure he could feel the Force.
    Ben wanted me to forget everything, disconnect the computer, and rely on my gut instincts. If I had any.
    I knew it was the right thing to do.
    I did as he told me and switched off my targeting computer. That caused some panic back at the base. They were monitoring me, of course, and asked me what was wrong. The feeling was that if the computer couldn’t hit the target, there was no way I could.
    And they were right. There was no way I could on my own.
    But it wasn’t just me. It was me, plus Ben, plus the Force.
    Darth Vader was still after me, and closing fast. Without Artoo, I had so much to look out for, I