EXT. VOLCANIC MOON - PLATEAU - TWILIGHT
On the surface of a moon several light-years away from the Dania system, a Theta-class shuttle and three TIE fighters sit atop a plateau overlooking a landscape dotted by several smouldering volcanoes. The air thick with ash, the mother planet of the moon can barely be seen as a hazy, dirty purple half-disk in the dark black-and-gray sky.
A ways away from the shuttle and TIEs, five figures can be seen fleeing from a large swarm of hostile natives; they are all crew members of the Deliverer, a search party led by Commander Salem Piker.
As the hostile natives -- heavily-armoured humanoid females with prominent forehead ridges, pointed ears, and dark green skin -- close in on the party, they take aim with their staff-shaped energy weapons and open fire, sending beams of devastating orange-and-yellow energy toward the visitors; the party members return the favour by firing green blaster bolts at them.
CMDR. PIKER: C'mon, now! Hurry it along! Move, move, move!
In a few short minutes, the crewmembers of the Deliverer make it to their ships. Wasting no time, they hurry to climb aboard their starcrafts.
INT. THETA-CLASS SHUTTLE/COCKPIT - TWILIGHT
Clambering into the shuttle, Piker enters the cockpit and quickly sits down beside the pilot.
CMDR. PIKER: Take us out of here!
Obeying instantly, the pilot engages the shuttle's engines and prepares for liftoff.
EXT. PLATEAU - TWILIGHT
The alien warriors arrive just the four starships take off. Aiming their weapons upward, they open fire; while one of the TIEs is quickly overtaken by the devastating beams and reduced to an orange fireball, the remaining craft manage to evade the lances of energy and escape to the ash-filled sky above.
INT. THETA-CLASS SHUTTLE/COCKPIT - TWILIGHT
CMDR. PIKER: (exhales loudly) That was too close.
PILOT: It isn't over yet, Commander. I'm picking up ten alien fighters closing in on us from behind.
CMDR. PIKER: (annoyed) Oh, for the love of Clapton!
EXT. SPACE - VOLCANIC MOON
As the Theta-class shuttle and its escort of twin TIE fighters escape the atmosphere of the moon behind them, ten medium-sized fighters shaped like foreboding birds of prey converge on them, discharging orange-yellow energy beams their way. Two of the beams pass right through the shields of the shuttle and burn through the left wing, severing it from the rest of the craft.
INT. THETA-CLASS SHUTTLE/COCKPIT
CMDR. PIKER: What the hell was that!?
PILOT: Whatever those beams are made of, they passed right through our shields. Our left wing has been sheared completely off.
CMDR. PIKER: How long to hyperlaunch?
PILOT: Just under a minute, sir.
EXT. SPACE
As the seconds pass by, one of the enemy fighters succeeds in blowing one of the TIEs away.
INT. THETA-CLASS SHUTTLE/COCKPIT
PILOT: Coordinates locked ... now!
CMDR. PIKER: Punch it!
The pilot pulls back a lever, and the stars outside the cockpit window suddenly elongate into infinite strings of white light.
EXT. SPACE
Both the shuttle and the remaining TIE fighter make the jump into hyperspace, leaving the enemy ships behind.
INT. THETA-CLASS SHUTTLE/COCKPIT
CMDR. PIKER: (sighs) I hope they can't follow us through hyperspace.
INT. DELIVERER/DOCKING BAY
Sometime later, the Theta-class shuttle and the last remaining TIE fighter return to the Deliverer through the open docking bay. As they touch down, Bail arrives to greet them.
The shuttle's hatch opens and lowers, allowing Piker and the rest of the team members aboard the craft to climb out. As the commander wearily runs a hand through his hair, Bail walks up to him.
BAIL: How did it go, Commander?
CMDR. PIKER: I'm sorry, sir, but the moon was a dead end. When we went to check out that base, all we found were natives -- very beautiful, very deadly, natives. (beat) If there were ever any Mandies there, they left or were killed by the locals a long time ago.
BAIL: (sighs) This was our best lead.
CMDR. PIKER: I'm sorry, sir.
BAIL: Don't be. (beat) We'll just have to keep looking.
Turning his back on Salem Piker, Admiral Bail Organa leaves.