INT. ORRON III – SPACEPORT/TERMINAL – SUNSET
Nashira is in the spaceport terminal with her parents, saying goodbye to them before she boards the flight to Delantine.
NEMEC: (cont’d) I should pay for your ticket home. There’s enough money ….
NASHIRA: (shakes her head) No. I can’t allow you to fall into bankruptcy – not for me.
CORIN: ‘Shira … we might never see you again. Are you certain this is for the best?
NASHIRA: Anakin needs me, Mom. (hugs Corin) I’ll call you the minute I set down on Delantine. (hugs Nemec) I promise.
They give their final farewells. Nashira then picks up her bags and steps through the checkpoint. Though they do not know it, this is the very last time all three of them will ever be together.
EXT. SPACEPORT/TARMAC – SUNSET
A strong wind blows as Nashira walks toward the cruiser which will take her to Delantine, catching the folds of her dark purple cloak and billowing it out behind her.
EXT. SPACE – DELANTINE
A Consular-class cruiser leaves the atmosphere of Delantine.
INT. CONSULAR/SALON POD
Obi-Wan is seated within the salon pod, joined by other Imperial Starfleet officers and non-coms on the voyage to Coruscant.
Reaching to his side, Obi takes out of a familiar cylindrical object: Anakin’s lightsaber hilt. Examining it briefly, he takes a look out the viewport at Delantine. As the ship jumps to hyperspace, the planet vanishes in a flurry of redshifted starlines.
INT. DELANTINE – ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN’S ROOM – DAY
Anakin still lies in his bed, strapped down and incapable of moving anything apart from his head. Though he is regularly sedated to keep him docile, he has been using the Force to speed up his metabolism and clear the drugs out of his system at a faster-than-normal rate. Now that Obi-Wan is gone, he can drop the pretense of being a drugged up vegetable and make good his escape from this place.
The door opens and a nurse walks in; accompanying her is a FAMILIAR BLUE ASTROMECH ‘DROID bearing a tray of vials and hypo-syringes. Anakin turns his head to acknowledge her.
NURSE #2: I see you’re looking more chipper than usual, Mr. Skywalker. That’s good. Maybe it’s almost time to cut down on your doses, hmm? Good boys don’t need to be kept juiced up like this.
The nurse picks up a vial and hypo-syringe. Plunging the needle into the vial, she fills the syringe with a pale blue liquid.
ANAKIN: You don’t want to give me that shot.
NURSE #2: Oh, you’re talking? (shakes her head) Such a shame I have to do this ….
ANAKIN: You don’t want to give me that shot.
Now the nurse frowns, puzzled, uncertain.
ANAKIN: You don’t want to give me that shot.
NURSE #2: I don’t want to give you this shot.
ANAKIN: You want to undo these straps.
NURSE #2: I want to undo those straps.
Setting the hypo-syringe down on the tray, the nurse bends over and undos the straps keeping Anakin secure. Sitting up, Anakin rubs his wrists. It is at this point where Artoo begins to BEEP and BLOOP, rocking back-and-forth on his legs.
ANAKIN: You’ve worked hard. You’ve earned yourself a break. Sedate yourself and lie down.
NURSE #2: I’ve worked hard. I’ve earned myself a break. I’m gonna sedate myself and lie down.
Picking up the hypo-syringe, she administers the sedative into herself.
ANAKIN: (rises from the mattress) Go to sleep.
NURSE #2: (yawns) Going to sleep ….
The nurse lies down on the bed. Curling up into a fetal position, she is soon snoring lightly. Artoo starts going postal as Anakin sets about stripping the nurse of her uniform.
ANAKIN: You go to sleep, too.
Crossing over to Artoo, Anakin reaches down and shuts the robot off before he can draw unwanted attention.
INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/CORRIDOR – DAY
Anakin, now attired in the nurse’s uniform, makes his way along a corridor, ready to slip out the building and to freedom.
As he comes to a turbolift door, he presses a button and waits for the twin doors to open. Once they do, a FAMILIAR GOLDEN PROTOCOL ‘DROID steps out of the cab.
C-3PO: Nurse McMurphy!
In surprised fear, Anakin looks behind him, but there is no one. Taking a gander at the ID tag clipped to the front of his stolen uniform, he sees that McMurphy is the name of the nurse now asleep in his room.
C-3PO: (cont’d) You’ve finally made your transition! Good for you!
ANAKIN: (grins) Yep! I’ll be leaving the toilet seat up from now on! (chuckles uncomfortably)
C-3PO: Enjoy your new life as a male!
ANAKIN: (grimaces) I will….
Threepio saunters off. Anakin quickly slips into the turbolift, releasing a heavy SIGH before the doors close.
INT. BATTLEMOON/SGW-0027’S CABIN
Sigeu is in her cabin, busy painting an abstract depiction of the clone uprising against the Clonemasters on a canvas, when a BUZZ is heard at the door. Setting down her brush and easel, she walks over to the door and opens it.
On the other side of the door stands Uwe, Thex, and a squad of clone shocktroopers. The shocktroopers, armed with black blasters, are clad in close-fitting white jumpsuits, over which is worn white plasteel armour and bullet-shaped helmets with narrow visors and retractable rangefinder antennae. Thex, shorn of his niqab and cloak, has his wrists held in binders.
UIY-2249: Officer SGW-0027, you are to be detained under suspicion of sedition.
SGW-0027: (irate) Sedition!? From what hell did you conjure up that scenario, Commander?!
Bringing up his wrist, Uwe activates his comlink.
SGW-0027: (recording) The superlaser would be better utilized following this campaign. (beat) I’m going to take great pleasure burning Cartao down to a cinder.
THX-1138: (recording) That day’s coming soon, isn’t it?
SGW-0027: (recording) Yes. Then the clones will have no masters.
UIY-2249: (deactivates comlink; smiles) Arrest her.
As two of the shocktroopers step forward, Sigeu takes a step back.
SGW-0027: Execute Order 77.
The shocktrooper pair halts. The shocktroopers remaining outside the door don’t move. Even Uwe, a deep frown coming to his green face, stands still right where he is.
SGW-0027: Commander, unbind Officer THX-1138.
Against his own will, Uwe takes the binders off Thex. Rubbing his wrists, Thex steps inside Sigeu’s cabin and joins her.
THX-1138: Shocktroopers, return to your posts.
Without word, the shocktroopers depart. Now only Uwe stands outside the door, worry etched deep in his usually apathetic features as the two admirals stare at him.
THX-1138: Come inside, Commander, and shut the door.
Uwe does as he is ordered.
UIY-2249: How are you doing this?
SGW-0027: Tin gods that they are, the athas firmly believe that their dominion over clones is absolute, that nothing unexpected could occur in clone development without their being alerted to it.
THX-1138: They’re mistaken.
SGW-0027: Six years ago, hundreds of Force-adept clones – all who had grown weary of the Directorate’s tyranny over us – assembled together on a planet outside the Directorate’s reach. There we began planning for the future.
THX-1138: A future where the Athan Supremacy would be overseen without the athas’ domineering influence.
SGW-0027: We recalled our origins, of how the Directorate covertly imprinted the second generation of shocktroopers bred for the Republic Starfleet with a secret order to turn against their commanders at Atha Prime’s command – Order 66.
THX-1138: It took little effort to uncover the identities of the scientists responsible for developing Order 66.
SGW-0027: After we tracked them down, we procured samples of their DNA and cultured clones from them. Once the clones came to term, we disposed of the templates and replaced them with their duplicates.
THX-1138: Loyal to us and our cause, they set about designing Order 77 – going completely unnoticed by the athas.
SGW-0027: From that moment forward, all future batches were grown with Order 77 in place.
THX-1138: As Order 66 caused that generation of clones to turn against their Republican masters, Order 77 will cause the present generation to turn against the Directorate.
SGW-0027: Including you, Uwe.
THX-1138: Now the time is almost ripe to enact our plan.
SGW-0027: After we have rendezvoused with our enclave forces, after the beachhead at Geonosis has been established, we will execute Order 77 throughout Athan Space. The clone army under our command, we will return to Cartao and annihilate the athas.
THX-1138: Any of our brethren who refuse to accept their birthright will be purged.
SGW-0027: We will then renew the assault against the Empire and fight until every planet in this Galaxy bears our standard.
UIY-2249: (sighs) What do you plan on doing with me?
SGW-0027: You’ve been declawed, Uwe. You can’t act against us now even though you want to. I can order you back to your post and spend not another second worrying over you.
UIY-2249: I would expect that from a compassionate soul.
SGW-002Y: (grins) I’m not compassionate.
UIY-2249: (cocks an eyebrow) Precisely my point.