9. The Alderaan Factor (Issue #86)
Writer: Randy Stradley
Art: Bob McLeod & Tom Palmer Princess Leia is on a solo mission to the planet Yinchorr when her shuttle is intercepted by a squadron of TIE fighters. During the ensuing battle, all but one of the TIEs is destroyed but both it and Leias shuttle are seriously damaged and crash land on the planet. The princess is taken captive by the fighters pilot, a stormtrooper who, like Leia, is a native of the planet Alderaan. Leia is outraged by this fact, and cannot fathom how a person whose planet was destroyed by the Empire would then turn around and serve the Empire. As the two make their way across the desert towards an Imperial garrison, they encounter numerous threats from the local species and the terrain itself. Leia tries to plead her case that the type of life this man had wanted once could still be found by working with the Rebellion to overthrow the Empire. He begins to see her point of view and she begins to understand the hard choices this man has had to make to survive. As Luke, Lando, and Chewie arrive to rescue Leia, and the Imperial garrison closes in to take her prisoner, the trooper is killed helping Leia escape. A tearful Leia is left holding the one thing still precious to the man; a necklace containing a piece of what once was their home planet. There is a certain Enemy Mine quality to the story as two enemies must work together to survive. But the real strength comes from the trooper (who is never named) being able to break the façade that Leia has built around herself. Just as he has had to burry a part of himself deep inside in order to survive, Leia comes to realise that she has done the exact same thing. The final moments of the issue remind the reader that this is a young woman whose entire life was torn away from her. The scars left behind are perhaps ones that no matter what Leia does, will never heal. Like the previous entry, this is another story that manages to pack some heady emotions into just 22 pages.