Welcome to Disney's Magic of Storytelling podcast, sponsored by Wake Med Children's, because inside every child is a story waiting to be told.
Our storyteller is ABC 11 News anchor Steve Daniels.
This is Star Wars A New Hope, Destroy the Death Star.
For years, the Rebellion had struggled against the evil Galactic Empires.
Now, for the first time, the rebels had an advantage.
They had discovered a weakness in the Empire's greatest weapon, the Death Star.
They could use a good pilot.
Like you, Luke Skywalker said to his friend Han Solo as the rebels prepared for their attack.
Sorry, kid, Han said.
The smuggler isn't interested.
He had more important things to do.
Luke walked away disappointed, but he needed to keep his mind on the mission.
At times like this, he missed his old teacher, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Luke climbed into the cockpit of his X-Wing while they loaded his astromech droid R2-D2 into the ship.
Luke was glad the little droid was his co-pilot.
The two friends had been through a lot together.
The fleet of X-Wings flew toward the space station.
Look at the size of that thing, one of the pilots said.
As they approached the massive Death Star, everyone started to get nervous.
Luke heard a mysterious voice inside his head.
Luke, the force will be with you.
Soon the Death Star's cannons began to shoot at the X-Wings.
Laser fire exploded all around Luke and his friends.
But there was no time for hesitation.
I'm going in, said Luke.
Luke heard the voice again.
Luke, trust your feelings.
The voice seemed familiar and it helped Luke focus.
He dodged the laser fire and swooped toward the surface of the Death Star with the other X-Wings.
But the X-Wings were not alone.
A fleet of TIE fighters appeared behind them.
That was going to make things even more difficult, especially since Darth Vader himself was leading the enemy ships.
The TIE fighters fired on the X-Wings.
Luke's ship was shot.
I'm hit, but not bad, Luke told the other pilots.
R2, see what you can do back there.
R2-D2 got to work fixing the damage.
The little droid was both brave and smart.
The first of the X-Wings entered the Death Star's trench.
The lead pilot got close to the exhaust port, the one weakness of the giant space station.
The pilot fired, but he missed.
Back at the Rebel base, Princess Leia and C-3PO were worried about their friends, but they were also worried about the Death Star.
If it got too close to the base it would destroy them all.
The second attack run of the rebel ships dove into the canyon to take their shot, but they missed too.
It was all up to luke.
He just had to dodge darth vader and the enemy tie fighters on his tail.
Luke tried to use the targeting computer to make the shot, but he heard the familiar voice in his head again use the force, luke.
It was Obi-Wan.
Luke shut off the computer and trusted himself.
Right as he was about to take his shot, Darth Vader's TIE fighter appeared behind him.
Darth Vader's lasers locked onto Luke's X-wing.
I have you now, Vader said triumphantly.
But before Vader could fire, another ship swooped in and shot all the TIE fighters.
It was Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon.
He had returned just in time to save his friend.
Yahoo!
Han shouted with excitement.
Then he added, you're all clear, kid.
Now let's blow this thing and go home.
Luke was so happy his friend had joined the fight after all, but everything still rested on luke's shoulders.
If he didn't make the shot, the rebels were doomed.
Luke thought about what obi-wan had said.
Luke closed his eyes and used the force.
He waited and then, when the moment was right, he fired.
Luke did it.
The torpedoes flew into the exhaust port.
Great shot, kid han solo said that was one in a million Rebel ships sped away from the Death Star as fast as they could.
Seconds later, the entire space station exploded in a giant burst of light.
The Death Star had been destroyed.
As Luke and his friends flew to safety, he heard Obi-Wan's voice in his head one last time.
Remember, the Force will be with you, always.
Luke smiled to himself.
He and his friends had defeated the Empire and rescued the rebels, and soon they would save the entire galaxy.
Wake Med Children's is proud to support the ongoing enrichment of children in our community and beyond through our sponsorship of the Disney Magic of Storytelling podcast.
To learn more about Wake Med Children's, please visit kids.wakemed.org.
