EXT. SPACE - KMN-0
As the twin blue-green suns of the water world codenamed KMN-0 dip behind their child planet, casting the side farthest away from them in darkness, a small arrowhead-shaped starfighter -- painted red-and-white with a ring-shaped hyperdrive apparatus affixed to its body -- exits the realm of hyperspace. The pilot of the ship approaches the looming form of the planet at a leisurely pace, taking care not to draw undue attention towards themself.
INT. STARFIGHTER/COCKPIT
Sitting at the controls of the small fighter, a headset secured upon her brow, is Siri Tachi. Reaching forward, she activates the craft's transceiver, opening a transmission to the planet below.
SIRI: This is Siri Tachi, Jedi Knight of the Order of Coruscant, representative of the Imperial Senate. Please respond.
TRANSCEIVER OPERATOR: (O.C.) What is your business on KMN-0, Ms. Tachi?
SIRI: I am here on an official investigation concerning a series of attacks and raids a faction of Mandalorians has been making along the Outer Rim. We have reason to believe one such attack occurred over this planet, and that the remains of an attacked ship have been reclaimed by the crew of one of your terraforming facilities. (beat) I request permission to land so that I may question this crew.
TRANSCEIVER OPERATOR: (O.C.) Just give me a minute to check your story out, ma'am, alright?
SIRI: Alright.
The radio goes silent, and Siri sits there silently, gazing out at the amazing view of the blue world beyond. After a minute, the man on the other side of the transmission re-establishes contact.
TRANSCEIVER OPERATOR: (O.C.) Well, Ms. Tachi, your story checks out -- the crew of Terraforming Station C31 did recover the remains of a Consular-class space cruiser. (beat) I'm sending you the landing coordinates now.
SIRI: Thank you.
EXT. SPACE - KMN-0
Detaching from its hyperdrive ring, the Jedi starfighter's sublight engines blaze to life, taking it on a downward course to the water-filled world below.
EXT. KMN-0 - TERRAFORMING STATION C31/DOCKING PLATFORM - DAY
Opening the canopy of her landed starfighter, Siri steps up and out of the craft, stepping out onto the platform. A heavy rainstorm rages all around the terraforming station, drenching everything and everyone left out in the open. Bringing the hood of her red cloak up over her head, Siri pulls out her ship's beckon call, using it to close the canopy.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: (O.S.) Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?
Turning toward the source of the voice, Siri spies an Arkanian female standing a ways away from her on the platform. Tall and slender, the Arkanian sports the long white hair, pupilless eyes, and four-fingered hands distinctive of her species; she is not a genetically engineered hybrid like the others manning the station.
SIRI: (approaches the Arkanian) I take it storms like these are common on your world.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: This isn't my world. (beat) But we have our fair share of sunny days. (gestures toward an entrance leading into the station) Please, come this way.
Regarding the aloof Arkanian with a raised eyebrow, the Jedi knight follows her into Terraforming Station C31.
INT. TERRAFORMING STATION C31/CORRIDOR - DAY
As Siri and the Arkanian make their way along the antiseptic metal corridors of the station, the Jedi can't help but to notice all the strange hybrid creatures which make their way to-and-fro about them.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: You've taken notice of our rather particular crew, haven't you?
SIRI: Yes, yes, I have. (beat) I don't claim to be an expert on xenobiology, but --
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: They are genetically engineered hybrids, created from the spliced DNA of various unrelated species.
SIRI: (incredulous) What!?
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: They were created by my people during the Second Clone War when Arkania was occupied by the Separatists. The Separatists were apparently interested in seeing how specially tailored hybrids would perform on the battle field.
SIRI: But that's illegal! Even according to the conventions of the --
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: Social mores are trifling matters in times of war. (beat) They never did see combat, and after the war it was decided that, instead of exterminating them, they would be put to work on various projects throughout the colonies. They have served us faithfully ever since.
SIRI: (disgusted) As slaves.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: (turns to regard her) They have wages. (beat) The ones with higher brain functions, at any rate.
As they pass out of the corridor, a human-ranat janitor currently engaged in cleaning the floor stops to give Siri a short once-over. Once she has disappeared from view, he returns to his work.
INT. TERRAFORMING STATION C31/WALK-IN FREEZER - DAY
The door to a nearly empty, ice-covered walk-in freezer slides open, allowing Siri and the Arkanian overseer to step inside.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: This station doesn't exactly come equipped with facilities designed to deal with bodily remains and other forensic artifacts, so we've stored the bodies of those we found aboard the pod in here to keep them preserved.
Stepping further into the freezer, Siri spots fourteen humanoid-shaped bodies on the floor, each wrapped in plastic sheeting and laid out in neat rows. Approaching one of the bodies, she bends low and reaches for it, unraveling the sheeting around its head to reveal the naked face and shoulders of a Mandalorian belonging to the Kaleesh species.
SIRI: (frowns) Where are his affects?
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: We removed them for inspection.
SIRI: You shouldn't have done that.
Rising up to her full height, Siri turns away from the dead Mandalorian to face the Arkanian.
SIRI: Where did you take them?
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: They have been taken to a storage room. Trust me, the belongings of each individual body have been placed in their own separate crates.
SIRI: I want to see them at once.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: (nods) Of course.
Pressing a button on a panel in the wall, the door slides open, allowing the two women to exit the frozen chamber.
INT. TERRAFORMING STATION C31/STORAGE ROOM - DAY
The door to the storage room slides open, and the Arkanian woman leads Siri inside. Throughout the room, strewn about the floor and in piles stacked to the ceiling, are various crates and storage containers holding various parts and supplies.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: I'm the only one who has access to this room, so no one has been in here since the artifacts were brought in.
SIRI: I assume you have security records to corroborate your story.
Replying silently with only a half-smile, the overseer takes Siri over to the far corner of the room, which has been cordoned off with red tape. There, in a small pile -- along with the deactivated forms of R2-D2 and C-3PO -- are fifteen identically shaped-and-sized containers.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: You'll find everything is in its place -- nothing has been misplaced or lost.
SIRI: (points at the 'droids) The ship's only known survivors, I presume?
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: After a fashion. The astromech is in prime condition -- it has merely been powered down. The protocol 'droid, on the other hand, has been critically damaged -- possibly in an altercation with the Mandalorians. (beat) We thought about having it shipped away for repairs, but then we figured that it is evidence and you wouldn't want us tampering with it ...
SIRI: (looks the containers over) There were only fourteen bodies stored in the freezer, but there are fifteen containers here.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: Naturally, not all the trinkets we found could be correlated with an individual body, so we set them apart. (beat) The container housing them has been clearly marked with a "15".
Locating the container marked with the digit for "15", Siri grabs hold of it and pulls it away from the others. Carrying it off, she lays it down atop the surface of a large, table-sized crate. Breaking the seal, she opens the container and begins to go through its contents, placing each and every one out on top of the crate after she's examined it. Soon she stops, freezing in place, her brow furrowing at a particular object lying at the bottom of the container -- a platinum medallion on a broken chain.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: (frowns) Is something the matter?
Reaching into the container, Siri grabs hold of the medallion and pulls it out. Placing it in her hand so the surface bearing a small, ice-blue crystal in its centre faces upward, she grips it tightly, then passes her other hand slowly over it.
Suddenly, from the heart of the crystal, a small, three-dimensional holographic projection of a planet flashes into existence. With concentration, Siri makes the planet change shape, transforming it into another planet. After eight more such transformations, each into a different planet, the medallion returns to the projection of the original world it started with.
ARKANIAN OVERSEER: It's some sort of holoprojector.
SIRI: (shakes her head) Oh, no, it's not just a holoprojector -- not at all.
Relaxing her concentration, the crystal at the heart of the medallion goes dead, the projected planet winking out of existence.
EXT. TERRAFORMING STATION C31/DOCKING PLATFORM
Siri now stands before her starfighter. Though the heavy rainfall has died down somewhat, a fierce wind has picked up to replace it, blowing the folds of the Jedi knight's blood-red cloak about her. An astromech 'droid, resting in a recess located near the front of the space-faring vehicle, eyes her with its single mechanical photoreceptor.
SIRI: (to the 'droid) Arfour, relay this -- "scramble code five" -- to Coruscant, care of "the old folks home".
Arfour beeps and whistles. A transmitter disk extends from the starfighter, and the astromech begins to record the Jedi knight's image.
INT. CORUSCANT - JEDI TEMPLE/COUNCIL CHAMBERS - TWILIGHT
Within a stately room located at the apex of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, twelve Jedi masters -- Mace Windu, Micah Giiett, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Plo Koon, Saesee Tiin, Even Piell, Yarael Poff, Oppo Rancisis, Yaddle, Eeth Koth, Adi Gallia, and Depa Billaba -- sit in seats arranged about in a semi-circular formation. Though dressed in uniforms nearly identical to Siri's, they also sport large, heavy black capes indicative of Jedi masters of the Coruscanti Order.
A holographic projection of Siri flashes into existence within the Council's semi-circle, standing at attention before the masters.
SIRI: Greetings, Masters. (to Adi Gallia) Mistress.
ADI GALLIA: (smiles) Hello, Siri.
MACE WINDU: (stern) We take it you've found something of importance?
SIRI: (nods) T'rot's information was correct -- the Mandalorians attacked and destroyed a Consular-class cruiser in orbit above the Arkanian colony KMN-0. Several Mandalorian cadavers survived intact aboard the ship's salon pod when it fell to the planet and was recovered by the crew of Terraforming Station C31.
YADDLE: Able were you to uncover the reasons behind the attack?
SIRI: No, but I think I know who was behind it, and where they'll strike next.
Reaching into her tunic, Siri withdraws the platinum medallion and holds it out for the Jedi masters to look upon.
MICAH GIIETT: Isn't that --?
KI-ADI-MUNDI: (interrupting) It's a Jedi meditation device!
SIRI: (nods) An initiate's tool for helping to focus one's concentration in the Force -- a child's plaything.
MACE WINDU: Are you sure it belonged to the Mandalorians?
In response, Siri turns the medallion around until the back side faces the Council; there, stamped into its surface, is the symbol of the Mandalorian Death Watch.
SIRI: This isn't a keepsake, a spoil of war -- it was manufactured by the Death Watch itself.
ADI GALLIA: This can only mean one thing ...
EVEN PIELL: That a fallen Jedi has joined the ranks of the Death Watch.
OPPO RANCISIS: More than that -- they're training Mandalorian sensitives to use the Force.
MACE WINDU: You said you knew where they'll strike next?
SIRI: (nods) When activated, the meditation device projects holographic images of ten planets -- nine of which have each been attacked by the Mandalorians, each in the order in which they're displayed on the device.
Bringing up the medallion, Siri activates it. Cycling through the planets, she comes to the ninth -- the water world KMN-0 itself.
SIRI: This is KMN-0, the last planet we know of that the Mandalorians have staged an attack around.
Siri switches to the next -- and last -- planet encoded into the meditation device, a barren desert planet with no apparent water on its surface.
SIRI: This is the next and final planet on the list -- a world located within the Hutt Empire known as Tatooine.