CONTINUED..........
The Falcon emerged from hyperspace where Alderaan should have been, only to find the planet destroyed and a massive space station-- the Death Star --nearby. When the Falcon was sucked inside the station, the passengers stowed away in smuggling holds. Ben soon left the ship to disable the tractor beam and allow their escape. Although he warned Luke and Han to stay behind, they were soon engaged in an ill-planned attempt to rescue Princess Leia.
Amazingly, the plan worked--but Ben was killed on the Death Star. The Falcon went to the Rebel base on Yavin IV, where the technical readouts of the Death Star were analyzed. Fighter pilots for X-wings and Y-wings were chosen from the ranks. Luke passed flight-simulator tests and was awarded a T-65B X-wing fighter, with R2-D2 to fly as his on-board astromech droid.
Luke was reunited with his friend Biggs, also flying in the mission against the Death Star. Both were flying with the X-wing Red Squadron. Unfortunately, Han decided not to join the mission, calling it a suicide run. Luke was sorry to see the Corellian gambler go; he had grown to like him.
When the Red Leader's first strike team was killed on their approach down the Death Star trench, Luke, Biggs, and a young man named Wedge Antilles started their run of destruction. Luke led, with the other two pilots as backup. Unfortunately, Darth Vader and two TIE fighters dogged the trio. First Wedge's ship was hit and he had to abort, and then Biggs' X-wing was destroyed in a blast from Vader's ship. Luke choked back his remorse over the loss of his friend and completed his run alone. With the timely arrival of the Millenium Falcon, Luke's pursuers were scattered. He heard Ben's voice, telling him to use the Force. Shutting off his targeting computer and calmly reaching out with the Force, Luke fired his proton torpedo into the targeted thermal-exhaust port. His missile destroyed the Death Star.
As he zoomed away from the exploding space station, Luke heard Ben's voice again, "Remember, the Force will be with you....... always."
Over the following three years, Luke would become an integral part of the Rebel Alliance, flying on many missions, both solo and with many others. He found traces of Jedi and Force-strong individuals, but Luke was still largely untrained himself. Meanwhile, Luke began to construct a new family, R2-D2 was almost constantly at his side. He grew to love Han, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and especially Leia.
Luke went with Leia and the droids on a diplomatic mission to Circarpous, but they were forced to make an unscheduled landing on the jungle planet of Mimban, where they were caught up in the search for the Force-powerful Kaiburr Crystal at the Temple of Pomojema. At the temple, Luke and Leia faced Darth Vader, who had arrived to get the crystal as well. Luke used his lightsaber to drive Vader back into a pit, then used the power of the crystal to heal the wounds Leia had received from Vader's attack.
Luke was instrumental in the discovery of the ice planet of Hoth, which would become the Rebel base after the evacuation of Yavin Four. He was promoted to Commander by General Jan Dodonna, and later given leadership of the elite X-Wing Rogue Squadron. On the icy planet of Hoth, Luke and Rogue Squadron learned how to handle combat snowspeeders, custom-modified Incom T-47 repulsorlift speeders. The training proved very useful when Imperials attacked Hoth, launching All Terrain Armored Transports --AT ATs-- toward the Rebel's Echo Base. Luke helped repel the attack, but the base was overrun. Most of the Rebel forces had evacuated, but rather than meeting them at their secret rendezvous point, Luke had another mission.
Ben's spirit had appeared to Luke on Hoth, telling him to go to the Dagobah system, where he could train to be a Jedi under Yoda, the Master who had taught Kenobi. Luke and Artoo went to the dense swamp planet, crashing the X-Wing into a watery bog. Shortly thereafter, Luke met a strange little green creature who talked in disjointed sentences. The creature promised to take him to Yoda, but Luke became impatient.
It was then that he found out the diminutive being was Yoda. The Jedi Master discussed Luke's future with the spirit of Kenobi, then commenced training Luke immediately. He lectured him about the Force while Luke performed rigorous physical and psychological exercises, warning him against the easy path of anger and the lure of the dark side. One of Luke's most difficult tests was when Yoda told him to go into a tree suffused with dark-side energy. When Luke asked what was inside, the enigmatic Master only said, "Only what you take with you."
Inside the tree, Luke dueled with an apparition that resembled Darth Vader -- until the helmet cracked and Luke saw his own face. He too could become part of the dark side.
Luke learned other valuable lessons when Yoda had him practice levitation using the Force. Luke despaired when he spotted his X-Wing sinking in the bog. Yoda ordered him to use the same powers to raise his ship as he had on the rocks and supplies. Luke said he'd try, but was cut off curtly by Yoda. "No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try."
Finally, Yoda instructed Luke to open his mind to memories of old friends, and the possibilities of the future. Jarred by visions of Han Solo and Leia in pain on Cloud City, Luke decided to leave to rescue his friends. Yoda and the spirit of Kenobi both warned Luke that the decision could destroy everything his friends had fought for, and that he was much too susceptible to the dark side of the Force. Torn between his knowledge that Yoda and Ben were right, and the visions of his friends in danger, Luke left Dagobah, promising to return to complete his training.
Bespin's Cloud City was a trap; instead of his friends, Luke found Darth Vader. The two engaged in a tremendous lightsaber duel, and Vader finally drove Luke out onto a gantry above a reactor shaft. The Dark Lord distracted Luke long enough to lop off his right hand. Still clutching the lightsaber, Luke's hand fell into the warm winds below.
But the worst was yet to come, as Vader told him the truth of his past that Ben Kenobi had hidden from him: "I am your father," he said solemnly. "Search your feelings. You know it to be true."
Vader told Luke that they could overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy together as father and son. Luke didn't even reply. Looking sadly at the monster his father had become, he calmly stepped off the platform and fell.
He was sucked into an exhaust pipe and emerged on the underside of the floating city, where he barely caught an electronic weather vane to stop his fall. Using the Force, he called out weakly to Leia, who was escaping the city aboard the Millenium Falcon. They turned back and rescued Luke as he was about to fall to his death. But as they flew away, Luke could feel the presence of Vader in his mind.