EXT. SPACE, OFF ALDERAAN - CONTINUOUS
The Infinity Lance, the Falling Star, and a small squadron of
Republic fighters sweep into the breach. Between Kitch's
squadron and the automated turrets on the nearby relays, the
dark fighters are dispatched relatively quickly.
INT. INFINITY LANCE, COCKPIT - CONTINUOUS
Anakin grins and nods his head.
ANAKIN
Not too bad, huh Captain Kitch?
Suddenly a huge bolt of energy streaks by.
EXT. SPACE, OFF ALDERAAN - CONTINUOUS
The destroyers of the dark armada have approached the breach,
and are firing upon the planet. Their second volley destroys
two Republic fighters on its way to the surface.
INT. FALLING STAR, COCKPIT - CONTINUOUS
Manx grits her teeth.
MANX
We've got to plug this hole.
KITCH
(into comms)
Heph? How's it going in there?
INT. PRIMARY SHIELD PLATFORM - CONTINUOUS
Heph is in the midst of a heated discussion with a tech.
CHANDRILLAN TECH
We've diverted as much power as we
can, the breach is as small as we
can make it.
HEPH
Spread out the relays, get more
coverage.
KITCH (O.S.)
Heph? Report.
HEPH
(into comms)
There's a hole in the shield.
KITCH (O.S.)
We know. Can you seal it?
HEPH
Gee, I dunno Cap'n. Sure would be
nice. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK
WE"RE TRYING TO DO OVER HERE??!!
(to tech)
Sorry about that.
CHANDRILLAN TECH
If we spread out the remaining
relays, gaps will develop all
around the planet.
HEPH
Sounds like we need more power.
CHANDRILLAN TECH
Impossible.
HEPH
We'll see about that. Boys!
Heph's droids wheel over toward a row of consoles, extend
datalink appendages into ports and begin scanning the
platform's systems.
Heph strides towards an important looking apparatus, studies
it closely, then hits it hard with a wrench, knocking a piece
to the floor in a hail of sparks. The lights flicker, and
everyone in the control room looks his way.
HEPH (CONT'D)
What?
EXT. ALDERAAN, BATTLE FIELD - CONTINUOUS
Canaris cuts his way through the clones. Suddenly, the long
leg of a stilt walker crashes into the earth right in front
of him.
Canaris cuts it in two, and as the walker dips forward, off
balance, Canaris leaps atop it, quickly slaying the entire
crew and diving off before it falls.
Across the battlefield, Faal deflects blaster fire with his
light saber, his palms, clone troopers.
A tall insectoid Jedi appears before him and beats him back
with a flurry of quick saber strikes and a blast of Force
energy.
Faal rights himself, bends his head, and charges forward,
tackling the Jedi and driving him into the dirt. As Faal
rises to his feet, he casually beheads the prone Jedi.
Back across the battlefield, Jardin spies Faal. He sneers,
and starts to move in Faal's direction, but stops short as a
massive artillery blast flies overhead and an explosion hits
the Republic trenches. Another huge explosion follows
closely, and a third, striking amidst the melee of the
battlefield.
More, explosions scorch the battlefield -- hitting the
trenches, the Jedi, even the clones.
The tough looking alien who dodged the friendly fire closes
her eyes briefly mid-combat, senses an imminent strike, and
dodges, narrowly avoiding an artillery blast. As she recovers
her footing, she is incinerated in a second blast.
The Jedi fight on, valiantly holding back the horde as best
they can, felling the tall stilt walkers with their
lightsabers and the Force, causing the grass to ensnare the
legs of the clones, and then cutting them down, confusing
their minds and making them fire upon each other. But they
cannot stem the tide.
Clone troops begin to overwhelm the trenches, thermal
detonators blasting dirt into the air, blasts from the stilt
walkers disintegrating Republic soldiers, clone boots
trampling bodies.
The clones push toward the city.
INT. ALDERAAN CASTLE, COMMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS
Leore screams into the comms.
LEORE
Fall back to the city! I repeat
fall back, fall back.
Kenobi closes his eyes.
KENOBI (V.O.)
Yoda. We need you.
EXT. ALDERAAN, MOUNTAINTOP - CONTINUOUS
On a mountaintop overlooking the field of battle, Yoda nods,
wind blowing through his wispy hair. He is surrounded by the
rest of the Jedi council.
They look toward the sky, arms outstretched, and begin to
exhale slowly.
INT. ALDERAAN CASTLE, COMMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS
Kenobi's eyes are still closed.
KENOBI (V.O.)
Odo, they're beginning to break
through.
EXT. ALDERAAN, CAPITAL CITY - CONTINUOUS
Odo Luff stands in the middle of a main street, with the
sensei and her pupils. He looks at the window of a nearby
home, where a citizen of Alderaan grips his blaster and nods
grimly.
ODO
(bellowing)
To your positions! These are your
homes now, your shops, schools,
your families. Fight hard and true,
and the Force will protect you.
INT. ROHN'S SHIP, BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS
Rohn stands tall, his hands clasped behind his back,
observing the orbital barrage.
ROHN
And what will you do now, proud
Jedi?
CLONE OFFICER
Incoming transmission.
A holographic image of a clone captain appears before Rohn.
CLONE CAPTAIN
Commander, we're caught in some
sort of tractor beam, but we're not
picking it up on our sensors.
ROHN
A tractor beam strong enough to
move a destroyer? Reverse thrust,
all engines.
CLONE CAPTAIN
Commander, it's no use, it's too
strong.
CLONE OFFICER
Another transmission.
A second hologram appears.
CLONE CAPTAIN TWO
Commander, we can't find it on the
scanners, but...
INT. CLONE DESTROYER, BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS
The clone captain looks in horror at the giant view panel in
front of him, as Alderaan draws nearer and another destroyer
drifts in front of his.
CLONE CAPTAIN TWO
...we're being pulled toward the
planet's surface by a tractor beam,
and we're not the only ship.
EXT. SPACE, OFF ALDERAAN - CONTINUOUS
Two destroyers are being pulled from formation, even as the
rest continue to bombard the planet's surface. One of them
drifts into friendly fire.
INT. ROHN'S SHIP, BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS
One of the holograms starts to flicker.
CLONE CAPTAIN
Commander, we're taking heavy
damage. Cease fire, I repeat, cease-
The hologram disappears. Rohn slams his fist against his
palm.
EXT. SPACE, OFF ALDERAAN - CONTINUOUS
The destroyer breaks apart in a series of explosions. The
second destroyer picks up speed as it is pulled closer and
closer to Alderaan.
EXT. ALDERAAN, BATTLE FIELD - CONTINUOUS
The battle drags on, the ground littered with mounds of clone
corpses, artillery continuing to take its toll on Republic
soldiers and Jedi alike, as the soldiers make a ragged
retreat and the Jedi hold the field.
Clone reinforcements are still taking the field and dying in
droves.
Uther Halladan and the Jedi with the eye patch fight back to
back, an impervious barrier that no clone passes through
alive.
EYEPATCH
We can't keep this up.
HALLADAN
We have to.
EYEPATCH
These orbital strikes...
HALLADAN
Trust in the Force. Trust in Kenobi
and the Council.
An nearby artillery blast sends them both flying. As the dust
clears and they gain their feet, Jedi One looks up at the
sky.
EYEPATCH
You were right.
The clone destroyer has entered the atmosphere, glowing with
the heat of reentry.
EXT. ALDERAAN, MOUNTAINTOP - CONTINUOUS
The council focuses hard as they bring the ship down. The
falling destroyer sweeps past the field of battle and into
the side of the mountain, where it explodes without causing
collateral damage.
EXT. ALDERAAN, BATTLE FIELD - CONTINUOUS
The sight of the smitten destroyer invigorates the Jedi, and
their surge of morale is measurable in clone losses.
EXT. ALDERAAN, CAPITAL CITY - CONTINUOUS
The crash of the capital ship is clearly visible, even from
here.
The citizens of Alderaan fire upon the approaching clones
from makeshift bunkers and barricades in streets and homes.
Odo, the Sensei, her pupils, and a handful of other Jedi cut
down as many clones as they can, leaping onto and off of
roofs and through shops and living rooms. Odo fights with
surprising daintiness, dancer-like in his light movements --
a hippo in a tutu, but ever so deadly.
The blonde handmaiden fires from the window of her apartment,
just off a main street. A brother and two parents fight
alongside.
INT. PRIMARY SHIELD PLATFORM - CONTINUOUS
Heph, holding a large steel component argues with a
Chandrillan tech. Forbee backs him up.
HEPH
I'm telling you if we reroute power
from the thrusters into the
generator, we can compensate for
the loss of those relays!
CHANDRILLAN TECH
It'll overheat the system, short
the hole shield.
Forbee beeps angrily.
CHANDRILLAN TECH (CONT'D)
It most certainly will!
HEPH
But not instantaneously, right? How
long will we have?
CHANDRILLAN TECH
Before the whole shield goes down?
(dourly)
Two hours maximum.
Forbee whistles.
HEPH
Two hours! Two hours?! That might
as well be a bloody lifetime.
(into a communicator)
Kenobi, I can close the gap, but
we'll fry the system in under two
hours.
INT. ALDERAAN CASTLE, COMMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS
Kenobi claps his hands together.
MOTHMA
Mr. Tosca, waste no more time
talking to us. Get it done.
INT. ROHN'S SHIP, BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS
The ship lurches.
CLONE OFFICER TWO
Commander, the enemy tractor
beam...
ROHN
That's no tractor beam.
Rohn closes his eyes.
ROHN (CONT'D)
Aim canon one half degree
starboard, tilt up point one three
degrees.
CLONE OFFICER TWO
It's just a mountaintop, minimal
life form reading.
ROHN
I wouldn't say that. Fire!
EXT. ALDERAAN, MOUNTAINTOP - CONTINUOUS
The council all stop what they're doing and look at each
other. Kneeling in a circle they spread their arms out to
their sides.
Suddenly the massive blast from Rohn's canon strikes them...
and doesn't. A huge explosion, but deflected somehow.
As the smoke and fire clear, Yoda and the council become
visible -- dirty, weakened, but all alive.
Then the ground beneath them begins to shift, the mountain
top is beginning to collapse. Cracks appear in the ground,
large boulders break off and tumble past.
DALU DALU
Go! I'll hold it.
The Jedi nod their deep respects and retreat down the
mountain side in great leaps and bounds. Yoda jumps from a
shear ledge in a controlled fall, thousands of feet down. He
lands at the feet of the mountain decelerating before
touchdown.
And then the top of the mountain crumbles and collapses.
INT. ALDERAAN CASTLE, COMMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS
Obi Wan winces and a tear forms in his eye.
INT. ROHN'S SHIP, BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS
The ship stops.
ROHN
Let that taste fill their mouths.
INT. ALDERAAN CASTLE, COMMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS
Mothma looks sympathetically at Kenobi.
KENOBI
(to himself)
Heph, tell me you're close.