EXT. SPACE – CORELLIA
A small shuttle leaves the surface of the green-and-blue world of Corellia on a rendezvous for the titanic Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser Sunsabre.
INT. SHUTTLE/PASSENGER DECK
TWO JEDI, a knight and an apprentice, sit together in uncomfortable seats. The older Jedi is OBI-WAN KENOBI; he is twenty years old and wears his platinum blond hair cropped short except for two braids which hang down from his temples. QUI-GON JINN is sixteen years old; tall for his age, he wears his long dark hair up in a topknot.
While Obi-Wan reads from an activate datapad in his hands, Qui-Gon stares out the window to his right, an anxious expression creasing his face.
OBI-WAN: (cont’d) … in 96 PE, the last of the Jafan were ousted from power. That is when Char Naberrie stepped in. Claiming the throne and crown for himself, he assumed control over – (notices Qui-Gon’s daydreaming) Qui-Gon, are you listening to me? I don’t want to have to go over this with you a third time.
QUI-GON: I have a bad feeling about this.
OBI-WAN: (cocks an eyebrow) Bad feeling? About what?
QUI-GON: I sense something. Something elsewhere. Something … elusive.
OBI-WAN: You’re letting your anxiety over the coming mission get the better of you. Don’t dwell on it.
QUI-GON: Master Dohku said I should be mindful of the future ….
OBI-WAN: (returns to his datapad) I’m certain Master Dohku would also tell you to keep your concentration here and now where it belongs. (beat) Now, as I was relating to you before you so quietly distracted me ….
INT. SUNSABRE/DOCKING BAY
The shuttle cruises slowly through the opening of the Sunsabre’s dock. Touching down on the scuffed surface of the docking bay floor, the craft’s hatch pops open and lowers. With the hatch fully extended, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon exit the vessel.
Two Imperial officers, COMMANDER BAIL ORGANA and LIEUTENANT COMMANDER RAIA VANESS, approach the Jedi. Bail is a broad shouldered man in his late twenties with a thick head of solid black hair while Vaness is a young olive-skinned woman not much older than Organa.
OBI-WAN: (embraces Organa) Bail Organa. It has been too long.
BAIL: (grins) You’re on the team, you slick trickster? Good! Glad to have you aboard. (nods to Vaness) this is Raia Vaness, my trusted first officer and future wife – if she agrees to it, that is.
CMDR. VANESS: (salutes Obi-Wan) It is a pleasure to meet you, Knight Kenobi.
BAIL: (to Obi-Wan) Three years. (beat) How’s life been to you? Have you graduated yet or are you still carrying Yoda about on your shoulders?
OBI-WAN: I went through my final trials ….
BAIL: And …?
OBI-WAN: (cont’d) I passed. Master Yoda granted me knighthood four months ago.
BAIL: Congratulations! You should have informed me, though. We could have thrown a party.
OBI-WAN: (places a hand on Qui-Gon’s shoulder) Bail, this is Qui-Gon Jinn.
BAIL: (shakes Qui-Gon’s hand) Pleased to meet you, kid. (to Obi-Wan) So, the teacher’s on vacation?
OBI-WAN: Hmm?
BAIL: Just wondering why a trainee’s tagging along with you on your missions. You’re obviously not his instructor.
OBI-WAN: His master was badly injured fourteen months ago while on a mission on Orbos IX. He is still recuperating.
QUI-GON: Master Dohku thought it best that I tag along with Obi-Wan until he resumes active duty.
BAIL: (to Qui-Gon) Well, you’re in good hands; trust me on that one. (beat) Come, I want you two to meet the captain.
INT. SUNSABRE/BRIDGE
A door slides open and Organa, Vaness, and the two Jedi enter the bridge. The area is buzzing with activity, the bridge crew preparing the ship for transit.
A GRIZZLED, GRAY-HAIRED MAN in his late 130s rises from the seat placed at the centre of the bridge and, turning on a stiff hip, walks over to them.
BAIL: Capt. Malthus Antilles, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi and his partner Qui-Gon Jinn – the Jedi Knights assigned to our team.
CAPT. ANTILLES: Kenobi, eh? I heard of your work during the Alderaanian Incursion. From what I gather, you saved a lot of lives and the world itself from destruction.
OBI-WAN: It was a team effort, sir.
CAPT. ANTILLES: Regardless, even if you’re only a fraction as good as Organa and the news vids let on, you’ll still do all right.
OBI-WAN: Thank you, sir.
BAIL: (to Obi-Wan) We should go and get ready for the journey. (to Antilles) Request for dismissal, sir.
CAPT. ANTILLES: Denied.
BAIL: (taken aback) Sir?
CAPT. ANTILLES: (grins) Joking, Commander. On your way.
BAIL: Thanks sir. (to Obi-Wan) Obi-Wan.
Bail, Vaness, and the two Jedi leave the bridge through the door whence they came. As the door slides closed, the captain turns and returns to his seat, training his old eyes on the forward viewscreen.
CAPT. ANTILLES: Prepare the ship for lhyt-speed.
NAVIGATOR: Right away, sir.
EXT. SPACE – CORELLIA
The Sunsabre leaves the orbit around Corellia and begins to accelerate.
INT. SUNSABRE/BRIDGE
ADM. ANTILLES: Punch it.
EXT. SPACE – CORELLIA
The dreadnought elongates into strings of light, spaghettifying out of existence into the incomprehensible depths of hyperspace.
INT. SUNSABRE/DOCKING BAY
Bail and Vaness escort the Jedi to the Ptolemy. Shaped roughly like a milk carton turned on its side, the Ptolemy is an old, beat-up shuttle – far older and far more beat-up than any of the other vessels currently residing within the docking bay.
BAIL: Here’s the piece of junk we’ll be riding down to Nabu on. Let me give you the grand tour.
Passing through the shuttle’s open hatch, the four enter the Ptolemy.
INT. PTOLEMY/COCKPIT
Bail and Vaness bring Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon into the shuttle’s cramped cockpit. Several mechanics and technicians already take up the small space, checking and calibrating the onboard instruments.
BAIL: (to a simian technician) How goes it, Andross? The engine tape holding?
ANDROSS: Just checking the flux capacitor readings, Commander.
BAIL: Good job. Wouldn’t want to go to lhyt-speed with that thing hanging loose.
ANDROSS: No sir!
BAIL: Keep it up. (to Obi-Wan) Sure is something, isn’t she? The ship, I mean.
OBI-WAN: (gives the shabby interior of the cockpit a once-over) Oh, she certainly is at that.
BAIL: Well, the Ptolemy’s nothing special, to tell you the Lord’s honest truth. Civilian-standard armour and shields; limited offensive and defensive capabilities; hyperdrive rates at the low end of the spectrum. She’s definitely not a warship.
OBI-WAN: Pity.
BAIL: I’ll tell you something, though. It really all comes down to the sublight engines. The Ptolemy puts all other standard shuttles to shame in that regard. Do you know how long it takes a turbolaser blast to travel a distance of 384,400 km?
OBI-WAN: Well –
BAIL: The Ptolemy can reach Nabu’s surface in half the time. And when it comes to dodging – boy, can this rust bucket dodge!
OBI-WAN: Bail ….
BAIL: Yes?
OBI-WAN: You’re still damning with faint praise. I thought you’d be over that by now, but here you are, going on like we were back on Alderaan. Tsk, tsk.
The commander and the Jedi Knight laugh together over their shared secret joke. The four allies then depart the craft, leaving the workers within to finish their work.
INT. NABU – DUKE JUSTIN’S MANSION/VAULT – SUNSET
JUSTIN NABERRIE, Duke of Hales, sits at a small table playing dejarik with the short 'droid ICU-132, a single lamp illuminating the small rough-hewn stone walls of the vault.
DUKE JUSTIN: (gleeful) I’m winning, Eye-Seeyou.
ICU-132: That is because you programmed me to lose, milord.
DUKE JUSTIN: Don’t be absurd. This is raw skill on display!
ICU-132: You are a bad loser, Lord Justin. Though it grieves you to hear that, nothing in either my soft or hardware prevents me from making that clear to you.
DUKE JUSTIN: (annoyed) It’s your move, (under his breath) you bucket of corroded bolts.
Before the 'droid can make it’s move, sparks begin to fly from the thick durasteel door of the vault. Freezing solid with dread, Justin watches as an orange circle is slowly cut into the metal door. Once the circuit is complete, the excised metal is pushed out, allowing Gen. Sheelal to enter the vault with a pair of battle 'droids.
DUKE JUSTIN: What are you waiting for Eye-Seeyou?! Defend me!
A pair of vibroblades extend from ICU-132’s wrists and the little 'droid pounces upon the intruders. One of the BXs aims its blaster at the 'droid and fires, blasting ICU-132 apart.
DUKE JUSTIN: No!
Justin stands up and backs away into a corner as Sheelal draws a vibrosword and approaches him.
DUKE JUSTIN: Please, don’t kill me! I’ll give you anything you want – anything! I’m very, very rich! I mean it!
GEN. SHEELAL: (activates the vibrosword) There’s only one thing you have that I want, Duke.
DUKE JUSTIN: Ancestors preserve me!
Sheelal slashes upward, separating the duke’s head from his shoulders. Blood splashes back on the stone walls as the lifeless body collapses.
GEN. SHEELAL: (cont’d) Your head.
Sheelal turns away from the headless corpse and leaves the cold vault. The two automatons follow after him.