A Question of Survival

Opening crawl

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, 
there came a time of revolution, when rebels 
united to challenge a tyrannical empire. Now,
it is a dark time for the Rebellion. At bay 
on the ice planet of Hoth, the Rebels are 
attempting to reorganize their harried, 
scattered forces.

And somewhere, out on the frozen landscape, 
Luke Skywalker and Han Solo have been 
stranded in an emergency shelter through the 
long and bitter Hoth night.

Now, sunrise is near. Within the ice caverns 
of the Rebel base, the Princess Leia Organa 
watches preparations for the effort to rescue 
her two friends.

Plot summary

In Echo Base, General Rieekan oversees the launch of the effort to find and rescue the Rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, who have been lost all night in the frozen wastes of Hoth. As he and Princess Leia look on, the base's shield door opens and the snowspeeders of Rogue Flight take off. Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are awake in their emergency shelter. They have survived the freezing night and are trying to make contact with the base. They learn that rescue is coming when they hear a comm signal from Rogue Two, who has detected the homing beacon that Han brought along.

Back at the base, the medical droid Too-Onebee tends to Luke. He is recovering quickly thanks to his time in a regeneration tank, and he can return to duty soon. Luke's first visitors are Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio, followed quickly by Han and Chewbacca. All are overjoyed to see him. Threepio express worry about the strange energy source detected by the base's new network of warning sensors. Leia arrives next, and Han tries to flirt with her again. Leia responds by giving Luke a long kiss to welcome him back. Then she departs for the command center, leaving Han annoyed, Chewie amused, and Luke with an elevated heart rate that concerns the droids.

In the command center, General Rieekan discusses the unidentified blip with Leia, soon joined by the others coming from Luke's room. A controller picks up an audio signal which Threepio suspects to be an imperial code. Han volunteers to go out with Chewbacca to investigate; Rieekan orders speeders to fly in close formation nearby. Han and Chewbacca see an unidentified droid floating across the terrain and recognize it as a danger. Han decides to attack it right away rather than wait for the speeders. Chewbacca creates a diversion and Han shoots. The droid's response is to immediately destroy itself, confirming it to be an imperial probe droid. Rieekan and Leia decide to begin the base's evacuation immediately.

Far away, Darth Vader strides through a starship buzzing with the sounds of officers and techs. He approaches Admiral Ozzel and asks about the status of the search for the Rebels. Ozzel responds proudly that the search proceeds ahead of schedule—but Vader impatiently criticizes the lack of results. While Ozzel protests that more ships are needed, Captain Piett interrupts with news. Ozzel orders him to stand by, but Vader insists on hearing what the captain has to say. A probe droid has found a piece of heavy equipment in the barren Hoth system. The droid was destroyed quickly, suggesting that someone attacked it. Ozzel dismisses this as just another unproven lead, but through the Force, Vader is confident that it is the Rebel base. He orders Ozzel to take the fleet to Hoth and General Veers to prepare his Stormtroopers for a cold-weather ground assault.

Continuity

"A Question of Survival" very closely follows the events of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. The opening, depicting the launch of the Rogue Flight speeders, is the only entirely new scene (the radio dramas consistently refer to "flights" rather than "groups" or "squadrons" of fighters). Some additional dialogue shows Ozzel trying to put Piett in his place, further developing the rivalry between the two officers. Luke and Leia's kiss lasts fourteen seconds, far longer than in the film.^[3]

Credits

Appearances

Sources

• The Empire Strikes Back: The National Public Radio Dramatization

Notes and references

External links

• Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama on the Internet Archive