Act V: Scene I
On Aquilae, the rebels make contact with the leaders of the resistance to Alderaanian occupation. Prominent among them is Elora Danan – dark-haired, green-eyed daughter of a nobleman of the Aquilaean Council who was killed in the Alderaan troops’ first attack. Elora says that the Resistance has tried to enlist the green Hubble nomads of the desert in their struggle, but so far to no avail.
Mace knows that every extra human(oid) in the rebel armies could make a difference. Prince Luke says that the Hubble may be willing to reconsider… if he meets with their leader personally. Elora Danan agrees to lead Luke and Cora (by now growing rather attached to one another) to the Hubble nomads’ camp.
The nomad encampment is in the ruins of an abandoned temple, deep in the badlands of Aquilae. Here Prince Luke meets with Han Solo, the Hubble leader.
Han declares that he has no respect for civilized “weaklings” who run from battle. Prince Luke insists that he is not a weakling. Moreover, with the cities of the Bebers mainly subdued, soon the Alderaanian occupiers will turn their attention to the Hubble people. When that happens, he says, their way of life will die out. But help us, Luke argues, and we will guarantee you lands in which to roam over the desert – fertile lands, newly enriched by Beber technology.
Han Solo declares that his prior judgment stands. The Hubble will not help the weak “pinkskins” who all seem alike … unless Luke dares to take him on in a trial of strength and win.
Luke tenses, but he agrees.
The two fight with Hubble ceremonial axes. The duel is long and dramatic, with many flesh wounds inflicted on both sides. Luke falls on his knees, and it seems that Han will have the victory – but suddenly Luke Skywalker jumps up and pins Han to the ground! His feint has won the battle, and Han Solo is impressed.
The leader of the green-skinned Hubble nomads realizes this civilized prince is no weakling after all. Han Solo declares that, for once, he has misjudged. The Hubble will go to war against the Alderaanians after all.
Taking counsel in the ruined temple, the heroes formulate a battle plan.
Most of the Alderaanian troops are in fact robots – not the farcical comic-relief battledroids of The Phantom Menace, but scary silver androids out of THX 1138, silent murderers with uncanny faces. Massed in their full ranks, they could crush the Aquilaean resistance as soon as it declared itself.
So, Mace decides, they must draw this army away from the central city, where Crispin Sunrider now holds court, in the former summer palace of the Aquilaean kings. A force of Hubble nomads will approach the city, and then hang back outside it—standing as a very visible, very tempting target for Lord Sunrider’s soldiers. Han Solo, Kane and Clieg Highsinger, and Elora Danan will command in this battle, with the gangly, hairless C-3PO acting as translator for the various army groups.
Meanwhile, Mace Windy, Prince Luke Skywalker, and Cora Sunrider, will infiltrate the Aquilaean royal palace through the sewer system underground. This massive series of subterranean canals provides water for the cities of Aquilae, and takes waste away for processing. From here, the four rebels will make their way up into Lord Sunrider’s chambers, where Cora hopes she can persuade her father to surrender.
But even if this succeeds, the android army can only be deactivated for good by disabling its control ship, a space station complex floating high in orbit over Aquilae. As most of Kane’s fighter ships were destroyed or damaged in the assault upon Norton II, this will have to be done by the Aquilaean Resistance’s ragtag assembly of fighters – they have experienced crews, but the craft are of questionable reliability.
But, such as it is, this plan represents their best hope of success.