The Millennium Falcon was at last safely docked on a huge Rebel cruiser.  Gleaming
in the distance was a glorious red glow that radiated from a large red star—a glow that
shed its crimson light on the battered hull of the small freighter craft.
    Luke Skywalker rested in the medical center of the Rebel Star Cruiser, where he
was attended by the surgeon droid called Too-Onebee.  The youth sat quietly,
thoughtfully, while Too-Onebee gently began to look at his wounded hand.
    Gazing up, Luke saw Leia, followed by See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo, entering
the medical center to check his progress and, perhaps, bring him a little cheer.  But
Luke knew that the best therapy he had received yet aboard this cruiser was in the
radiant image before him.
    Princess Leia was smiling.  Her eyes were wide and sparkling with a wondrous
glow.  She looked just as she had that first time he saw her—a lifetime ago, it
seemed—when Artoo-Detoo first projected her holographic image.  And, in her
floor-length, high-necked gown of purest white, she looked angelic.
    Raising his hand, Luke offered it to the expert service of Too-Onebee.  The
surgeon droid examined the bionic hand that was skillfully fused to Luke's arm.
Then the robot wrapped a soft metalized strip about the hand and attached a small
electronic unit to the strip, tightening it slightly.  Luke made a fist with his new hand
and felt the healing pulsations imparted by Too-Onebee's apparatus.  Then he let his
hand and arm relax.
    Leia and the two droids moved closer to Luke as a voice came over an intercom
loudspeaker.  It was Lando:  "Luke…" the voice blared, "we're ready for takeoff."
    Lando Calrissian sat in the Millennium Falcon's pilot's chair.  He had missed
his old freighter, but now that he was once again its captain, he felt quite
uncomfortable.  In his copilot's chair, the great Wookiee Chewbacca noticed his new
captain's discomfort while he began to throw the switches to ready the ship for
takeoff.
    Luke's voice came over Lando's comlink speaker:  "I'll meet you on Tatooine."
    Again Lando spoke into his comlink microphone, but this time he spoke to Leia:
"Don't worry, Leia," he said with emotion, "we'll find Han."
    And leaning over, Chewbacca barked his farewell into the microphone—a bark
that may have transcended the limits of time and space to be heard by Han Solo,
wherever the bounty hunter had taken him.
    It was Luke who spoke the final farewell, though he refused to say good-bye.
"Take care, my friends," he said with a new maturity in his voice.  "May The Force
Be With You."
    Leia stood alone at the great circular window of the Rebel Star Cruiser, her slim
white-draped form dwarfed by the vast canopy of stars and the drifting ships of the
fleet.  She watched the majestic scarlet star that burned in the infinite black sea.
    Luke, with Threepio and Artoo tagging along, moved to stand next to her.  He
understood what she was feeling for he knew how terrible such a loss could be.
    Standing together, the group faced the inviting heavens and saw the Millennium
Falcon moving into view, then veering off in another direction to soar with great
dignity through the Rebel fleet.  Soon the Millennium Falcon had left the fleet in its
wake.
    They needed, no words in this moment.  Luke knew that Leia's mind and heart
were with Han, no matter where he was or what his fate might be.  As to his own
destiny, he was now more uncertain about himself than he had ever been—even
before this simple farm boy on a distant world first learned of the intangible
something called the Force.  He only knew he had to return to Yoda and finish his
training before he set off to rescue Han.
    Slowly he put his arm around Leia and together with Threepio and Artoo, they
faced the heavens bravely, each of them gazing at the same crimson star.