INT. VJUN — BAST CASTLE/AUDIENCE CHAMBER — DAY
The members of the Resurrected Brotherhood of the Sith have assembled in this spacious chamber for a very special occasion: the marriage of two of their own.
Atop the podium stand Anakin and the betrothed. The Dark Lord of the Sith, clad in a robe of white shimmersilk, stands before the altar. The prospective man and wife, in turn, stand before him. They face each other eye-to-eye, held fast together by the forearms.
ANAKIN: Friends, do you take each other as one, vowing to be unto each other loving and faithful partners, 'til the Force wills your separation?
Nodding in tandem, they separate. Pivoting to the altar, Anakin takes up a pair of objects: a crystal chalice containing a colourless liquor and a razor-sharp stiletto dagger. He presents the fiancé the stiletto.
FIANCÉ: (accepts stiletto) Before this assembly I take my friend Euanthe to be my wife, vowing to be unto her a loving and faithful husband, 'til the Force wills our separation.
The fiancé glides the blade along his palm, drawing blood. Opening his hand over the chalice, he allows his blood to trickle into the clear fluid, staining it bright red. Taking the stiletto back, Anakin presents it to the fianceé.
FIANCEÉ: (accepts stiletto) Before this assembly I take my friend Narinder to be my husband, vowing to be unto him a loving and faithful wife, 'til the Force wills our separation.
The fianceé repeats her betrothed’s gesture. As her blood trickles into the chalice, an alchemical reaction occurs; the blood-tinged liquor turns solid black.
ANAKIN: (smiles) The wine has gone black. Your bond is true.
With Anakin’s nod of assent, Euanthe and Narinder take turns drinking deep of the black wine. The attendees erupt with wild cheers of congratulation.
EXT. BAST CASTLE — COURTYARD — DAY
The marriage ceremony concluded, the Sith masses file out onto the stone courtyard adjoining the castle’s west face. There they take to dancing, eating, or talking — enjoying themselves. Galen is the only one who doesn’t appear invested in the festivities. Indeed, he appears rather apathetic to the entire affair.
Once he is certain he won’t be missed, he slips away.
EXT. BAST CASTLE — SLUICEWAY — DAY
Behind Bast Castle, Galen sits crouched atop the granite sluiceway which allows the river passage through the castle’s foundations and over the waterfall. Hunkered low, he watches the clear water cascade over the vertical drop, the droplets catching the cloud-diffused rays of sunlight to form a faint, miniature rainbow. Here — away from the others — he is tranquil.
Immersed in his bliss, Galen doesn’t seem to take notice of Ahsoka as she appears behind him, throwing a long leg out as she takes a running leap forward. At the last possible second, Galen spins around, avoiding a blow which quite literally would’ve knocked his block off. Landing across from him, Ahsoka makes a roundhouse kick; this time Galen takes the blow to the jaw and stumbles back.
Ahsoka launches into a flurry of attacks, sending a series of punches, kicks, and chops at Galen. No pushover, Galen does a fair job blocking most of these strikes, but he fails to counter the kick which sweeps him off his feet. Landing on his back, the wind is knocked from him. Ahsoka plants her heel on his throat, silently warning him not to struggle lest he wants a crushed windpipe.
AHSOKA: Out here alone, Galen? Unarmed? Quite foolish. I’m always tailing you, two steps behind.
Seizing the boot at his throat, he twists, tossing Ahsoka off her feet. Leaping atop her, he takes her head in his hands, threatening to snap her neck at the first sign of a wrong move.
GALEN: Unarmed’s a matter of perspective.
Galen feels a cold pressure at his nether regions. Glancing down, he sees that Ahsoka has the blade of a slim dagger pressed into his crotch.
AHSOKA: (cocks brow) I’ve a fair vantage point from here.
None-too-eagre to part with his three-man army, Galen releases her, spreading his hands wide in surrender. Taking him by the thighs, Ahsoka pulls Galen to her while simultaneously flipping him right on his back again. Throwing herself atop him, she pins him there.
AHSOKA: How’s the eye?
GALEN: Healing.
AHSOKA: You should put bacta on that. Otherwise it’ll scar.
GALEN: Maybe I want it to scar.
AHSOKA: We’re missing the party.
Seizing the Togruta’s buttocks, he forces her closer to him.
GALEN: No we’re not.
AHSOKA: There’s cake.
GALEN: I prefer pie.
AHSOKA: Pie? (half-smiles) Which flavour?
GALEN: Strawberry-rhubarb.
AHSOKA: Sweet….
GALEN: With just a trace of bitter….
Lowering her face over Galen’s, Ahsoka locks lips with her lover.
INT. BAST CASTLE/ANAKIN & NASHIRA’S QUARTERS/BED CHAMBER — DAY
Anakin is with Nashira in their bed chamber. As he stands before the open wardrobe clad only in briefs and socks, placing his clerical robe back inside, she — clad in a gown of gleaming black — sits on the bed watching him.
NASHIRA: It was a beautiful ceremony.
ANAKIN; (nods) It was.
NASHIRA: Euanthe and Narinder … they really are a pair. (beat) They remind me so much of ourselves. Remember how we were at that age?
ANAKIN: Mmm-hmm.
Anakin takes out his blue uniform and sets about getting dressed.
NASHIRA: They want children.
ANAKIN: (cocks eyebrow) Narinder never struck me as the paternal type.
NASHIRA: (shrugs) Nevertheless.
ANAKIN: May the Force be with them.
Once in his blue tunic and slacks, Anakin retrieves his black boots and slips into them.
NASHIRA: (morose) I wish … (trails off)
ANAKIN: Yes?
NASHIRA: I wanted to be the wife you wanted, Anakin. The wife who could’ve been the mother of your children.
Crossing over to Nashira, Anakin sits down beside her.
ANAKIN: Don’t do this. Please don’t. (beat) To have been a father … would’ve been heaven, but you’ve already given me so much of yourself. Sixteen years — sixteen years — on a fool’s errand to rebuild an order four millennia dead, and you’ve been here. At any time you could’ve quit this madness, but you stayed. I owe you everything, 'Shira. You owe me nothing.
They kiss. Then Anakin returns to the wardrobe and retrieves his cloak.
NASHIRA: Will you be gone awhile?
ANAKIN: (dons cloak) There’s a short task to be done. I shouldn’t be longer than eight hours.
NASHIRA: (smiles) I’ll be counting the minutes.
ANAKIN: (cocks eyebrow) Not the seconds?
NASHIRA: I need some time to myself.
EXT. SPACE — MUSTAFAR
The Slipstream enters the vicinity of Mustafar. Once a verdant, water-rich planet not unlike Vjun only decades before, Mustafar was reduced to an inhospitable sphere of searing rock and magma after three of the Cartan Autonomy’s battlemoons devastated it with a concentrated superlaser blast.
EXT. MUSTAFAR — VOLCANIC FIELD — NIGHT
Landing on the rocky surface, the Slipstream’s entry hatch opens and the boarding ramp extends. The stasis casket — supported by the Force — glides out, Anakin following shortly behind.
Anakin and the casket soon come to the edge of an active volcanic pit. The lid of the casket springs open and the armour-clad cadaver is levitated out. Swivelling upward until it appears to be standing in mid-air, the still figure then is guided forward until it is suspended over the open pit. The heat wafting up from the magma kilometres below is intense enough to affect the dead flesh secreted beneath the plates of armour; it spontaneously ignites. As the humanoid shape is engulfed in orange flame, the eyeholes of the iron helm blaze with preternatural yellow light. Anakin gazes into those eyes. As he does, he can almost hear the voice of Sar Maland whispering to him, offering sublime promises of staggering power and limitless reward if Anakin will but call the enchanted armour back from the pit.
The spectral form of PRE VIZSLA then materializes, standing between Anakin and the burning armour.
PRE VIZSLA: Enticed? You can’t be blamed. Sar Maland was a contemporary of Adas himself. Our records are scant, but there is every indication he had been an ally of the Dark Lord, perhaps a rival even. And here he persists. Think on it; to not only anchor your soul to a physical talisman but keep it anchored for seventy centuries; even the Lettow themselves hadn’t the skill. Maland’s knowledge was indeed awesome. And if he would be willing to share his magicks? If he could be persuaded? The Galaxy could be brought to heel. That power at your disposal? With a moonfall and a sunrise, the Dark Emperor would plummet and the Sith Brotherhood ascend. (beat) But Sar Maland’s will is iron and he does not share. Sar Maland seeks only to impose his will on the universe, and he will impose himself on you, his hapless vessel, and your thousand thousand worlds will be deluged in variegated blood.
Digesting Vizsla’s words, the Dark Lord takes a final gander at Sar Maland’s armour. The body of the unfortunate fool who made the unwise choice to submit to the armour’s siren song five-thousand years ago has been wholly consumed; not even ash lingers. All that remains is the suit itself, black-hot, eyeholes still aglow. Anakin releases his hold. The armour comes apart, each of its separate pieces falling into the molten abyss, the final tomb of Sar Maland.