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 rescue effort. 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 shelter, trying to make contact with the base. They know 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 goes to the command center, leaving Han annoyed and Chewie amused.

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 does not recognize but 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 a droid floating across the terrain and recognize it as a danger. Han decides to attack it right away rather than wait for the speeders to attack. Chewbacca creates a diversion and Han shoots. The droid destroys itself quickly, 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, the sounds of people at work heard in the background. 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 "squadrons" of fighters). Some additional dialogue shows Ozzel trying to put Piett in his place, bringing more development to the rivalry between the two officers. Luke and Leia's kiss lasts fourteen seconds, far longer than in the film.^[2]

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