EXT. DESERT – GROVE OF DEAD TREES – EVENING
Using the dead wood surrounding them, the last five remaining members of the team have built a large pyre for the creature that was Kathe Naad. The fire kindled, orange flames climb up the dry wood to lick the mangled, mutated cadaver.
As Vaness stands before the pyre, transfixed as the fire and smoke rise to claim the body lain upon it, Bail, Obi, Nik, and Cody stand off in the distance.
OBI-WAN: The creatures which attacked us … I finally recognize what they were now. They’re rakghouls.
ANAKIN: Rakghouls … I remember reading something about them in the records.
OBI-WAN: They were the products of Sith alchemy. Utterly mindless, their only motivation was their great, ever-present hunger. The Sith Lords made limited use of them during the Great Hyperspace War, before their use became a liability. (beat) The six we encountered must have been secreted away inside the temple, in stasis these past five-thousand years until we desecrated the tomb.
CMDR. CODY: These rakghouls – they could do … this?
OBI-WAN: Therein lies the efficacy of the rakghoul; anyone who survived their attacks with just a bite or a scratch became a rakghoul themselves.
BAIL: That isn’t going to happen to Raia.
OBI-WAN: Bail, I’m sorry …
BAIL: (shakes his head) No. If she was infected, she would have turned already. Naad –
OBI-WAN: (interrupts) Naad transformed faster because her exposure to the rakghoul plague was greater. (beat) It will take Raia longer to succumb to the plague, but she will succumb; it’s only a matter of when.
BAIL: (shakes his head) No … no …
OBI-WAN: All we can do is inform her, allow her to prepare herself for –
BAIL: (angry) No!
Storming away, he leaves the three men. Joining Vaness in front of the pyre, he rests a hand on her shoulder, desperately hoping for the gesture to bring some measure of comfort to them both.
EXT. DESERT – GROVE OF DEAD TREES – DAWN
Another day has come to Xuthltan. Rising with the hidden sun(s), Bail, Cody, Obi-Wan, and Nik get ready to resume their trek.
Vaness, for her part, remains asleep upon the ground.
BAIL: (approaches Vaness) Raia?
Crouching down, Bail gives her a shake. Waking with a groan, she turns over; she looks absolutely peaked.
BAIL: (frowns) Raia, are you feeling okay?
CMDR. VANESS: (nods) Just more tired than usual. I didn’t have that great a sleep; bad dreams.
BAIL: But you’re well to travel?
CMDR. VANESS: (sits up) Of course.
Smiling, the captain gives the commander a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
CUT TO
All four men and last remaining woman as they leave the grove of dead trees and the smouldering remnants of the pyre.
EXT. DESERT – MONTAGE
As the next couple hours pass on by, Vaness grows evermore tired and weary. As she steadily weakens, the others gradually have to take up her portion of the supplies to ease her progress.
EXT. DESERT – ZIGGURAT – DAY
The travellers come to a stop. A kilometre away, the ziggurat looms over the landscape like a slumbering titan from a lost dark age.
Vaness – her usually tan features pale, eyes dark and heavy, forehead slick with sweat – collapses.
BAIL: (alarmed) Raia!
Rushing to her aid, Bail gets down to the ground and takes her into his arms. Afraid of what he’ll find, he puts a hand to her forehead.
BAIL: (voice small) She has a fever.
The others say nothing. There is nothing they can say.
BAIL: (runs his hand through his hair) Jango, how much charge is left in your blaster?
CMDR. CODY: (pulls out his blaster and checks) There’s enough for about twelve shots.
BAIL: Hand it over to me.
CMDR. CODY: (hands the blaster to Bail) Sir?
BAIL: Commander, you and Anakin are going to stay here with Raia; make sure she’s comfortable. Kenobi, you and I are going on to the temple.
OBI-WAN: Bail –
BAIL: There may be more rakghouls lurking about, correct? We’ll have to clear any out if we’re going to make base camp at the temple, right?
OBI-WAN: (resigned) Right.
BAIL: Good to see you agree with me. Let’s go.
EXT. ZIGGURAT – DAY
Arriving at the ziggurat, the captain and the Jedi begin climbing the ramp, headed directly for the Sith tomb. Bail – face grim, hands clenched tightly around the shaft of a spear – takes lead.
INT. ZIGGURAT/ENTRANCE GALLERY – DAY
Bail and Obi appear in the entrance. As the captain goes on ahead, the Jedi activates his lightsaber.
Walking past the Sith statues, the two head on towards the tomb.
BAIL: Just cover me and slice anything that comes for my back.
INT. ZIGGURAT/TOMB
Bail and Obi-Wan enter the tomb. Much is as it was before – except for the six rakghouls which now occupy the chamber, arranged in a circle around the sarcophagus, kneeled like supplicants before it.
Unholstering his borrowed blaster, Bail takes aim and empties three shots into the back of one of the rakghouls, killing it instantly.
BAIL: Salutations from the Galactic Empire!
Alerted to the Human presence, the rakghouls rise and turn, growls low in their yellow throats. Bail gives them no opportunity to do more than that.
Charging, Bail impales one of the beasts, shoots it right through the head, then pulls the spear out just in time to spin around and open up the throat of another rakghoul coming for him. Bringing his blade to bear, Obi-Wan comes to his commanding officer’s aid, slicing the hands and head off another rakghoul.
CUT TO
Sometime later. The rakghouls are all dead and the two Imperials have finished investigating the rakghoul stasis chambers, finding no more hidden within.
OBI-WAN: The chambers are all empty. If there are any rakghouls left, they’re not to be found here.
Bail doesn’t respond. Instead he hefts up his black blood-stained spear and approaches the white jade sarcophagus; ramming the point of the spear under the lid, he begins prying it loose.
BAIL: Help me with this thing.
Joining Bail, the knight adds his weight to the spear. The lid is stubborn, but it soon begins to give way; in moments it pops off, sliding away and hitting the floor with a great big CRASH which breaks it in two.
There, nestled within the confines of the ancient sarcophagus, its arms crossed over its chest, is the mummified remains of a Sith Kissai priestess. The mummy is dressed in faded vermilion and aureolin robes, its stringy black hair beaded with precious gems.
BAIL: Hand me a torch.
Heading over to one of the many sconces lining the walls, Obi-Wan pulls an unlit torch free and brings it to the captain. Taking the torch, he lights it with one shot from his blaster.
BAIL: (raises the torch over the bones) Ashes to ashes.
Bail tosses the torch into the sarcophagus. The rotted clothes and dessicated flesh immediately catch, engulfing the mummy in flame – unnatural green flame. As the ancient corpse is consumed, a gust of wind blows through the tomb, carrying with it a sound not unlike a tortured wail.
BAIL: We’re done here.
Turning away from the violated sarcophagus and its burnt contents, the two men depart the tomb.