The second episode of the Star Wars radio drama, titled "Points of Origin," debuted on National Public Radio on Monday, March 9, 1981. This episode is a prequel, with the entire story occurring before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV. The narrative focuses on Princess Leia Organa and her activities leading up to the acquisition of the Death Star plans, which ultimately trigger the events of the movie.
The episode commences amidst the chaos of a battle, where the villainous Lord Tion is spearheading an imperial subjugation on the planet Ralltiir. Princess Leia's starship, the Tantive IV, arrives at the planet. Despite its humanitarian purpose, Tion is suspicious of Leia's involvement with the Rebel Alliance and orders the ship's detention. The princess, along with Captain Antilles, disembarks and travels via speeder to Tion's location to voice their objections to this treatment.
Tion responds to Leia in an arrogant manner as he defends his blockade, the invasion, the occupation, and the execution of many Ralltiir citizens, including the entire Ralltiiri High Council. He rebuffs Leia's protests and instead attempts to charm her, expressing a desire to visit her and her father on Alderaan. Their conversation is interrupted by renewed fighting. In his absence, a Rebel operative approaches Leia and Antilles. He explains that the attack was a diversion to allow him to convey intelligence that had been hypno-imprinted in his mind. Because the area is about to be linked to an audio surveillance system, he cannot reveal any information openly. Antilles conceals him in their speeder.
Darth Vader interrupts the conversation as he passes by. He informs Leia that her presence on Ralltiir raises suspicions of Rebel activity, and she will be confined to the system until her ship undergoes a search. Antilles has already expressed his fear that if the Tantive is searched, they will be arrested. While they are not carrying any weapons, all of their supplies are clearly intended for military use by the Ralltiir rebels. After Vader departs, Leia devises a plan to avoid capture by exploiting Tion's ego and the Empire's audio surveillance. Speaking loudly to Antilles, she suggests she is attracted to Tion but feels that he is overconfident. She says she hopes he will search their ship because it will make him look bad, both to her and to her father, and she will be able to slow him down a little in his pursuit of her. She furthermore doubts that he will be such a "gentleman" as to let them them go without a search. The ruse is successful, and the ship is soon granted clearance to leave the planet.
Leia goes back to Alderaan, her pacifistic home planet. After a lengthy walk from the spaceport to the palace, she greets her father Prestor Organa. She reflects on her experiences: having witnessed the atrocities on Ralltiir, she now believes that Alderaan should more actively assist the Rebellion, even through armed conflict. Her father disagrees, insisting that Alderaan maintain its peaceful stance. Instead he reveals the intelligence that had been retrieved from the wounded Rebel: that the Empire is working on a secret weapon code-named "Death Star." Furthermore, Lord Tion is now coming to the planet, taken in by Leia's ruse. Her father sees it as an opportunity to learn more.
Leia, Prestor, and Tion gather for a tense dinner. Tion boasts of his violent actions and criticizes Alderaan's pacifism. He also expresses interest in participating in what he describes as a large wildlife hunt on Alderaan's continent of Thon. The hunt is in fact an action by Alderaan's wildlife service to manage the herds. Leia finds herself disgusted by the idea of killing for pleasure. Tion suddenly pivots to proposing marriage between himself and Leia; in making the case, he carelessly boasts that his position in the Empire is about to rise considerably. Prestor and Leia prompt him to say more, and he reveals that he is involved in a project to build the Empire's secret weapon: a battle station as big as a moon, whose prime weapon will have the power to destroy entire planets. Leia, shocked and angry, accidentally calls this station the "Death Star" - revealing to Tion that she had knowledge of the secret project. Tion realizes that Leia must be part of the Rebel Alliance and attempts to arrest her. The three struggle, and Tion's blaster goes off accidentally, killing him.
Shortly after, Leia arranges for Tion's body to be taken to Thon, where his death will be staged as a hunting accident. Meanwhile, her father learns that the Rebel Alliance has won a space battle at Toprawa, using the intelligence that Prestor had coaxed from Tion during their dinner. During the battle, the rebels captured the Death Star plans. Prestor now wants to take the Tantive IV to Toprawa to intercept them. Leia persuades her father to allow her to go instead. He instructs her that after securing the plans, she should proceed to Tatooine to find the exiled Jedi Knight, General Obi-Wan Kenobi. Prestor desires his assistance in the fight against the Empire.
Similar to the preceding episode, "A Wind to Shake the Stars," the events in "Points of Origin" unfold before the beginning of Star Wars Episode IV, the film upon which it draws inspiration. Unlike the first episode, this episode is entirely original, not based on deleted scenes or the Star Wars novelization. Certain events from the initial segment of this episode received further exploration in the 2003 two-part comic series, Princess... Warrior.
The scenes are centered on Leia, illustrating her efforts to reconcile her roles as Imperial Senator, member of a royal family, and leader within the Rebel Alliance. They depict her use of the Tantive for humanitarian voyages, explaining Vader's references to "mercy missions" in the film. The episode is the earliest depiction of life on the peaceful planet Alderaan and the first appearance of Bail Prestor Organa, who is identified as "Prestor" in the credits but is not named in dialogue. In the Prequel trilogy and associated works, he is the husband of Alderaan's ruling monarch, Queen Breha; but in the radio drama he is depicted as ruler of the planet. The title "King" is never used, but his aide Tarrik addresses him as "your Majesty," and it is never mentioned that he has a wife.
"Points of Origin" also provides the earliest explanation in Star Wars media of how the Rebellion obtained the Death Star plans. In subsequent years, numerous conflicting accounts of these events emerged within Star Wars Legends, leading Pablo Hidalgo to remark that "...if you had to throw a dinner party and invite everyone who had ever stolen the Death Star plans, you'd be surprised at how many place settings you'd have to worry about."