EXT. GEONOSIS – DESERT – DAY

A hunting party led by Chlorian traipses across the flat plains of the cold Geonosian desert in search of prey, but they haven’t had luck finding any yet. Indeed, all evidence supports the unwelcome conclusion that an earlier wave of Condawni refugees swept through this region a long time before they themselves decided to leave Capitol Centre; the long-dried carcasses of butchered animals strewn about the landscape like organic litter bear this out.

In time, the hunting party comes across a small pack of dog-like massiffs. The reptilian creatures are emaciated, indirect victims of the mass hunting which has depleted the region’s fauna. Taking their blasters, the hunters make short work of the massiffs.

CUT TO

Several hours later. It is now dusk, and Chlorian’s hunting party has rendezvoused with their camp’s other hunting parties. Aside from one party managing to scavenge bits of useful meat from a creature someone or something else had killed, none of them succeeded in procuring any food.

EXT. CONDAWNI CAMP – EVENING

The hunting parties have returned to the ramshackle camp they have established in the open desert. Stripping the meat from the massiff carcasses, they toss it into a broth of boiled red algae and cook it into a stew. Once the stew is cooked, it is fed to the youngest and weakest members of their camp. Due to the size of the camp, the stew is all gone before most of them get the chance to have any.

Later in the night, Chlorian has a talk with the other leaders. Due to the lack of food in the area, they decide that they will pack up tomorrow and move on.

INT. ORRON III – DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/KITCHEN – EVENING

Nashira is in the kitchen, busy loading used dishes into the dishwasher, when a mechanical warble begins to ululate from the comm booth.

NASHIRA: (sets down a greasy plate) Anyone got that?

Getting no reply from either of her parents, Nashira sighs and leaves the kitchen to answer the incoming call.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/COMM BOOTH – EVENING

Entering the cubicle, Nashira turns the flatscreen on. The display immediately lights up, displaying the logo of the Corporate Sector’s HoloNet provider.

COMPUTER: You have one incoming transmission from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Do you accept or decline?

NASHIRA: Accept.

Obi’s headshot automatically appears on the display. His face is haggard, his expression perturbed.

NASHIRA: Obi, hi. (frowns at his unkempt appearance) What’s up?

OBI-WAN: Nashira … I …. (runs a hand through his hair) Nashira, it’s about Anakin.

NASHIRA: (concerned) What about Anakin?

The Jedi Knight swallows, uncertain as to how to proceed with the bad news he has to deliver.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA – EVENING

Nemec and Corin are seated in the room – he reading a datapad, she watching free-style zero-G swimming on the holovid display – when Nashira walks in stiffly, mouth agape. Noticing their daughter’s strange, zombie-like behaviour, they immediately turn from their activities to her.

NEMEC: (frowns) Is something wrong, ‘Shira?

NASHIRA: It’s Nik. (raises her hand to her mouth) He’s been in an accident.

Her strange, stoic shock breaks and an expression of absolute dread passes over her features. That is when she collapses to the floor, fainted dead away.

CORIN: (horrified) ’Shira!

EXT. DELANTINE – ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE – DAY

Under the pale beige sky of the Outer Rim world of Delantine stands the Abieds-Brannrid Medical Centre. Cylindrical in shape, the main section of the centre is connected to an inward-curving back wall and a silo-shaped forward section.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/CORRIDOR – DAY

Obi-Wan steps away from a comm booth as a female nurse approaches him.

NURSE #1: Mr. Kenobi? Dr. Reyem’s about to begin the examination.

Obi-Wan nods once to her.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN ROOM – DAY

Anakin, clad in a pale green hospital gown, eyes still fixed open, lies motionless atop a medical examination table. Overhead, a bioscanner attached to a motorized arm comes to life; emitting gold light, the medical device scans the Jedi apprentice’s head.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN CONTROL ROOM – DAY

On the other side of a transparisteel window which looks out into the bioscan chamber is Obi-Wan and DR. NADI REYEM, a pretty Human doctor with curly brown hair worn back in a loose bun.

As the scan of Anakin’s brain is completed, Dr. Reyem looks the data over.

DR. REYEM: (frowns) This can’t right.

OBI-WAN: What is it?

DR. REYEM: I have to take another scan.

Reinitializing the bioscanner, Reyem takes another encephalogram of Anakin’s brain. The resulting diagnosis is exactly the same.

DR. REYEM: (shakes her head) No, this is definitely not right. The machine must need recalibration.

OBI-WAN: Why? What does the data show?

DR. REYEM: (turns to Obi-Wan) Mr. Kenobi, the encephalogram doesn’t show any of the tell-tale signs of low brain activity associated with catatonic stupor.

OBI-WAN: What does it show?

DR. REYEM: It shows that your friend is fully conscious, alert to external stimuli. (beat) That’s simply not possible.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN’S ROOM – DAY

Taking Anakin from a hoverchair, two orderlies lay the apprentice down in a narrow hospital bed. After they have tucked him in, they depart, leaving the catatonic Jedi alone with Dr. Reyem and his master.

OBI-WAN: What now, Doctor?

DR. REYEM: Mr. Kenobi, I’ve specialized in neurosurgery for thirty-three years, and this just flies in the face of everything I know about the Human brain. By rights, Anakin should be up and about, walking and talking, this very minute. (beat) You want my honest appraisal?

OBI-WAN: Please.

DR. REYEM: This isn’t a neurological condition. I don’t believe this is a type of medical condition whatsoever. (beat) This – this is supernatural. (laughs humourlessly) I’ve always considered myself a rationalist, but here and now, I believe a witch doctor would have greater success rousing your friend from his torpor than an actual doctor.

Shaking her head in bewilderment, Reyem turns and leaves the room. Now alone with Anakin, the knight looks down upon his seemingly oblivious apprentice.

OBI-WAN: Well, my friend, the medical community has thrown in the towel. Perhaps the doctor’s correct. Perhaps it is time to resort to non-rational means ….

Reaching out, Obi rests his fingers lightly upon Anakin’s brow. Closing his eyes, he concentrates on making contact with Anakin’s mind, on penetrating the haze entrapping it and drawing it back to the surface.

Suddenly Anakin’s eyes come into focus, pupils dilating into pinpoints in their orbs.

ANAKIN: YYYEEEAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!

Bolting up in bed, his face twisted into a terrifying grimace, an enraged Anakin seizes Obi-Wan’s throat in a chokehold. Startled, the Jedi staggers back, but Nik remains latched on. Falling backward to the floor, the apprentice collapsing atop him, Obi-Wan desperately tries to pry the clenched fingers from his soft throat, but the apprentice, still raving, only tightens his grip.

As Obi-Wan’s face starts to turn purple and his struggles against Anakin’s fierce attack begin to falter, the door bursts open. Dr. Reyem and the two orderlies dash inside, with the orderlies rushing Anakin, pulling the maniacal Jedi off his master and pinning him to the floor. Pulling out a hypo-syringe, Reyem moves forward, avoiding Nik’s thrashing legs, and plunges the needle deep into his gut, administering a large dose of sedative.

It takes over a minute, but the sedative’s effects finally kick in; losing his strength, Anakin slips back into unconsciousness.

DR. REYEM: (to Obi-Wan) What did you do?!

Obi-Wan, still sprawled out on the floor, hand at his reddened throat, can only answer with a fearful look from his eyes.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN’S ROOM – SUNSET

Hours have passed, and Anakin lies back in his bed, restraints tightly secured around his wrists and ankles. Awake, he looks out his window at Delantine’s three setting suns.

The room’s door opens, allowing Obi-Wan and an orderly to slip inside. The apprentice pays neither of them any heed.

OBI-WAN: (approaches Anakin’s bed) Nik?

Anakin doesn’t respond.

OBI-WAN: (uneasy) You gave me quite the throttling earlier. Not to worry, though; I’ll live.

Anakin doesn’t respond.

OBI-WAN: (gestures at the orderly) I’d ask him to leave, but –

ANAKIN: (distant) Why didn’t you tell me?

OBI-WAN: (frowns) What about?

ANAKIN: (turns to Obi-Wan) The sorceress took me inside her mind. She showed me visions of the past – her past. (beat) I saw Jedi Knights hunting down Sith; not warriors, but the people. They took their lightsabers and butchered them. Not just the men, but the women and children, too. They were like animals; they slaughtered them like animals. (beat) It wasn’t a horrible illusion, was it? It happened, didn’t it? Don’t lie to me.

OBI-WAN: (sighs) The Jedi Shadows, a faction dedicated to ridding the Galaxy of all things Sith, helped the old Republic hunt down and destroy the Sith race. (beat) They betrayed the Jedi Creed; they were no longer true Jedi.

ANAKIN: Were they punished?

OBI-WAN: Many Jedi rallied against the Sith Purge ….

ANAKIN: Were they punished?

OBI-WAN: (resigned) No.

ANAKIN: (turns away from Obi-Wan) Everything you taught me about the Jedi was a lie.

OBI-WAN: Anakin, no --!

ANAKIN: (angry) The Jedi respect life, in all its forms! But were the Sith not alive? Did they not live and love and think as we do? (turns back to Obi-Wan, tears running down his cheeks) Give me no platitudes about creeds or true or false Jedi. Our order turned a blind eye as billions were put to the sword; that is beyond excuse. (agonized) And it’s all going to happen again, only the bloodshed will be on a grander scale, a thousand times worse.

OBI-WAN: Bloodshed? Anakin, what are you talking about?

ANAKIN: The sorceress showed me the past, but she didn’t stop there; she also showed me the future. A darksider will become emperor, and the Jedi will serve him as he rapes the Galaxy.

OBI-WAN: No, Anakin! Don’t believe it! Whatever the witch showed you – whatever future you witnessed – it was a deception! The Jedi will never follow the dark side!

ANAKIN: (sneers) By your own admission, we already have.

INT. CORUSCANT – JEDI TEMPLE/ROOM OF A THOUSAND FOUNTAINS – DAY

Located at the base of the Jedi Temple’s northwestern side, the Room of a Thousand Fountains is, for all intents and purposes, a seven-storey-tall greenhouse. Within the chamber, dozens upon dozens of elevated platforms take up space throughout each of the seven storeys. Engineered into artificial garden islands, not a single millimetre of space is uncovered by earth or foliage or ponds. Several bridges connect the platforms, ensuring easy access to each of them. Utilizing a combination of special lighting and a holographically projected sky, the glass walls and ceiling of the chamber are obscured from direct view, creating an almost flawless illusion that this microcosm isn’t even located within the Jedi Temple – or anywhere else on Coruscant, for that matter.

Between two of the platforms, walking leisurely along one of the bridges, are Siri and Master Windu.

MACE WINDU: (cont’d) We have uncovered the identity of one your attackers. (beat) The DNA samples we took from the Wookiee’s remains matched those on file within Kashyyyk’s bio-database. Your hirsute attacker was apparently Mahttoh, a Wookiee who – with aid from an unidentified Trandoshan – managed to break the Kashyyyk blockade ten years ago and escape off-world. (beat) The governor of Kashyyyk was very pleased when we informed him of their wayward escapee’s final fate.

SIRI: Unidentified Trandoshan? So that’s it? We’re still in the dark as to who exactly they were and what their motivation for seeking out Obi-Wan was?

MACE WINDU: Yes.

Halting in mid-stride, the Jedi master walks over to the side of the bridge. Resting his hands along the guardrail, he looks over the side to the mist-enshrouded depths below them. Siri soon joins him.

MACE WINDU: (smiles) It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

SIRI: Yes. (smiles) Mistress Gallia used to take us out here every day for our meditations. I’d spend hours lost in the scents and sounds of the plants and waters. (sighs) Now I’m lucky if I get to visit the fountains once a month.

MACE WINDU: That can be remedied. (turns to Siri) Siri, how would you like to come back to the Temple?

SIRI: (cocks an eyebrow) Master?

MACE WINDU: Adi and I have given what has transpired considerable thought, and we believe your safety remains a concern. It is in your best interest that you avoid your apartment – stay here where your brethren-in-arms can watch over and protect you – until the Trandoshan has been apprehended.

SIRI: I appreciate the gesture, Master, but it’s unwarranted. The Trandoshan isn’t so foolish as to stage such a heedless assault.

MACE WINDU: (raises his finger) You underestimate his tenacity. He will not sleep until he’s revenged himself upon you for taking his arm and the life of his partner.

SIRI: I have crossed blades with many dangerous opponents over the years, ever since I was old enough to join my mistress on away missions. I am not afraid of a one-armed lizard in cortosis armour.

MACE WINDU: Of that there’s no doubt, yet don’t forget Sakan Do’nair’s Admonition: “The slightest blade can slip between the plates of the heaviest armour.” I believe the interpretation is clear.

SIRI: (sighs) What of Obi-Wan?

MACE WINDU: Your husband is away on the front. It will be months before he returns. (places a hand on Siri’s shoulder) Leave future concerns for the future.

Siri takes a moment to digest Windu’s words.

SIRI: Can I have my old room back?

MACE WINDU: (half-smiles) Of that, we’ll have to see.