INT. BUNKER 13/SUBLEVEL R/TRANSMITTER ROOM - EVENING
After years of construction, the transmitter is almost finished; all the remains left to do is the installation of a vital transistor.
Hefting up the large transistor, Orowi flies over to Siri and Anakin and hands it over to them. Taking the component, the two Jedi slide their upper bodies in through an open cavity into the guts of the machine and, securing the transistor in its alcove, begin soldering the proper connections into place. Once that is done, they move out and place a panel over the open cavity, bolting it shut.
ANAKIN: Alright, that's it.
SIRI: We're done.
The small crowd of workers gathered around the machine give each other a round of applause.
OROWI: All that remains to be done is the calibration. Once that's out of the way, we can begin broadcasting immediately.
SIRI: And we're all clear on what we're broadcasting and how we're broadcasting it.
OROWI: (nods) The transmission will be a sting of carefully coded pulses, not visual or aural messages, so that if the Mandalorians manage to intercept it, they won't recognize it for what it is and just assume its naturally occurring background radiation. Along with the general information of our situation and location, the transmission itself also contains instructions to respond only in kind so that the Mandies will think that the transmissions of our benefactors are also natural and ignore them.
SIRI: (nods) Good. (turns to Anakin) Our job here is done, Anakin. The others can take over from here.
Together, the two Jedi then leave the transmitter room for the dirty, cluttered corridors beyond.
ANAKIN: How long do you think it'll take before someone picks up our transmission?
SIRI: I don't know that, Anakin. It may never be picked up or ignored as natural phenomena.
ANAKIN: But you said the transmission would be coded in a recognizable Imperial format.
SIRI: Which only helps us if an Imperial ship happens to pass along this way. Without knowing where in the galaxy we are, we have no way of knowing how likely that possibility is.
ANAKIN: Primeday seems certain it'll happen soon.
SIRI: I admit that there was more to Primeday than met the eye, but she's still loopy. From her perspective, a thousand years could be a single day.
ANAKIN: So what are we going to do now? Just keep going with the Mandalorian program as we've been doing?
SIRI: Yes, but we also have to prepare ourselves, to get ready in case our transmission is picked up by friendly ears in the near future. (beat) It's about time Obi-Wan and I got our lightsabers back, don't you think?
INT. CENTRAL TOWER/PENTHOUSE/SHRINE - EVENING
Zull kneels before a series of idols carved to represent the Meketrex gods, her hands clasped together and her eyes shut tight as she prays in silence.
SIRI: (O.S.) Zull.
Hearing the Jedi Knight's voice, the former priestess opens her eyes.
ZULL: What are you doing here?
SIRI: (O.S.) I need to talk to you.
Rising to her feet, Zull turns to acknowledge her visitor. Seeing the Jedi, her eyes narrow.
SIRI: (notices Zull's bulging abdomen) I didn't realize you were pregnant. (beat) Is Vizsla the father?
ZULL: He will be. (beat) I didn't invite you here, Tachi.
SIRI: I'm sorry. I'll try to be as brief as I can so you can return to your prayers.
ZULL: Very well. Tell me what it is you want.
SIRI: Zull, I want you to retrieve the lightsabers that were taken from me and Obi-Wan.
ZULL: Your lightsabers? (walks up to Siri) Why in the worlds would I do that, Jedi?
SIRI: Zull, you know why -- Primeday showed us both. We have to get ready for the uprising.
ZULL: Uprising? There will be no uprising.
SIRI: We can't know that.
ZULL: Even if your toy succeeds in drawing your allies to this planet, neither you nor they will succeed against us.
SIRI: (frustrated) Do you even hear yourself? We share the same enemy!
ZULL: Your enemy is not my enemy. Your enemy is my master, and I will not betray him.
SIRI: (angry) What loyalty do you owe him? He kidnapped you and forced you to fight for a cause you didn't believe in!
ZULL: (angry) That may have been true, but only in the beginning. Pre has opened my eyes. Through his kindness, through his love, he has shown me the truth of the Mandalorian way.
SIRI: (incredulous) Kindness!? Love!? Are you even aware of what he has done?! Thousands have been massacred in the raids he orchestrated, all whom he could have spared. Where was his love and kindness then?!
ZULL: (averts her gaze) It was unfortunate but it was necessary. Sometimes the few must be sacrificed for the sake of the many.
SIRI: You've been brainwashed and you don't even know it.
Her eyes flaring wide with anger, Zull refocuses her gaze on the Jedi.
ZULL: (sneers) You are one to point fingers, you sanctimonious hypocrite.
SIRI: What are you talking about?
ZULL: I know who you are, Siri Tachi, knight of the Coruscanti Order. I did my research. You belong to the same sect of Jedi Pre once belonged to -- a sect of baby snatchers who mold those they kidnap into unquestioning extensions of the emperor's will.
SIRI: When we become aware of an acolyte's dissatisfaction with our ways, we allow them to leave to follow their own path. Vizsla just has the unruly beaten down until they're forced to submit or die.
ZULL: Submit or die ... submit or die. (laughs bitterly) Death isn't always physical, Tachi.
SIRI: I don't follow you.
ZULL: You don't know what happened to Pre, do you? You don't know what it was that led him to leave the Coruscanti Order.
SIRI: No, I don't. Why don't you enlighten me?
ZULL: During the First Clone War, he met and fell in love with a fellow soldier. This soldier, of course, wasn't a Jedi -- she was just an average, non-sensitive sentient. In spite of that, Pre chose to marry her, rejecting over a thousand years of dogma in favour of love.
SIRI: And so he left. Am I supposed to feel empathy or sympathy? He knew the price for marrying outside the Order.
ZULL: But he didn't leave. Their relationship was discovered, and his title was stripped from him and he was cast out.
SIRI: That changes nothing --
With lightning speed, Zull seizes Siri's throat in an ice-cold grip.
ZULL: (brings her face close to Siri's) His wife was not yet cold in her grave when they excommunicated him. Instead of consoling him, instead of serving as beacons for the light side they claimed to represent, they kicked him out to rot in the cold, dark world of his own misery. And all this was done for what? For falling in love. (beat) Anyone who would choose to serve an order like that is no friend or ally of mine. If you wish assistance in your war, you'll find none from me. (beat) Now begone. Never show your face to me here again.
Releasing her hold on Siri's throat, the near-human turns away from the Jedi and returns to kneeling before her idols. Siri, for her part, can only stand and stare at this coldly formidable woman.
SIRI: Zull ... I --
ZULL: (closes her eyes) Go.
SIRI: (resigned) Alright. I'll go. (beat) Zull.
ZULL: (impatient) What now?
SIRI: (sighs) What the Council did to Vizsla was wrong, but does that make what Vizsla is doing here and now right?
The Jedi Knight turns and departs, leaving the Mandalorian Knight alone with her own conflicted thoughts and feeling.