Star Wars: Knight of the Empire (The Second Episode in DuracellEnergizer's New PT Re-Write) *CANCELLED* — Page 4

EXT. DESERT – MONTAGE

Bail, Vaness, Obi, and Anakin spend the next several hours hiking through the desolate landscape towards the mysterious ziggurat.

EXT. ZIGGURAT – DAWN

The team of four finally arrives at the ziggurat. Up close, it can now be seen that the magnificent edifice has been wrought out of large red granite blocks, each expertly cut and fitted without the use of mortar. Thousands of years old, the construct has remained remarkably intact in spite of the harsh climate around it.

In awe of the ancient ziggurat, the travellers ascend the long ramp leading up into the structure.

INT. ZIGGURAT/ENTRANCE GALLERY – DAWN

The four Humans pass through the open entrance into the gallery beyond. Phosphorescent pigments allied to the hieroglyphs carved in the walls afford the passage a natural illumination. Lining the walls at regular intervals between the hieroglyphic inscriptions are several tall statues, each carved in the likeness of humanoid beings, some with plaited beards, all with strange tusk-like protrusions erupting from their cheeks. Obi-Wan halts at the sight of these statues, an immediate recognition setting in.

OBI-WAN: My God.

BAIL: What?

OBI-WAN: This is a Sith temple.

BAIL: (confused) Sith?

CMDR. VANESS: Don’t you know your history, Bail? The Sith were a cult created by the dark Jedi Exar Kun four-thousand years ago.

Stepping up to one of the statues, Obi examines it closely.

OBI-WAN: No. This is a creation of the original Sith, a race which reigned in their own region of space in the thousands of years before Kun.

BAIL: These Sith, they’re bad news?

OBI-WAN: They were once – long, long ago. (beat) They’re extinct now.

Leaving the statue, Obi-Wan continues down the gallery. The others follow after.

INT. ZIGGURAT/BURIAL CHAMBER – DAWN

The Humans emerge into the burial chamber. A large, conical chamber, twelve panels line the walls, each engraved with murals depicting the personal history of the chamber’s lone inhabitant. In the centre of the chamber, bathed in rainbow light falling through a prismatic skylight in the distant ceiling above, is a sarcophagus of white jade, the life-like effigy of a lovely Sith woman chiselled into the lid.

ANAKIN: (shivers) It’s sure cold in here.

The others, including Obi, look on the Jedi apprentice strangely.

ANAKIN: (rubs his arms) Don’t you feel it?

OBI-WAN: I don’t feel anything.

CMDR. VANESS: It’s no cooler in here than it is out there.

ANAKIN: It’s got to be 10° in here. How can you not feel it?

CMDR. VANESS: It’s just this place. It gives me the creeps, too.

Leaving the others, Anakin approaches the sarcophagus. Examining the serene, sleeping face engraved on the sarcophagus lid, he then places a hand down on her crossed hands.

ANAKIN: (snatches his hand back) OW!

OBI-WAN: (takes a step forward; concerned) What’s wrong?!

ANAKIN: (holds his afflicted hand) It’s ice cold!

Striding over to the sarcophagus, Obi rests his own hand on it; he feels nothing out of the ordinary.

BAIL: Let’s go. There’s nothing here for us.

Bail heads off, the others following suit. Anakin dallies momentarily, giving the sarcophagus one last look before leaving with the rest.

EXT. ZIGGURAT – DAWN

Having emerged from the burial chamber, the four work their way up the staircase to the second level of the ziggurat; there they find another entrance leading into yet another chamber.

INT. ZIGGURAT/TREASURE CHAMBER – DAWN

Entering this second chamber, the ersatz explorers are greeted with a magnificent sight; countless dozens of chests and urns – all containing precious gems, metals, and other valuable items - line the walls in several columns, all surrounding a beautiful Sith yacht; onyx-black and inlaid with red jasper trim, the sensual organic contours of the ship look less the product of an automated assembly line and more the exquisite masterpiece of a peerless artisan.

ANAKIN: (whistles) That is one gorgeous ship!

Slowly, almost as if in supplication, they walk up to the Sith yacht.

BAIL: (runs his hand along the side of the ship) Amazing – it feels almost liquid!

OBI-WAN: Dark though the Sith were, it is hard not to be held in awe by them; they were master craftsmen – art was a religion to them, and they applied it to all walks of life.

CMDR. VANESS: It is a magnificent ship – too magnificent. (beat) There’s treasure in the top floor, a jade sarcophagus in the bottom – between the two, there’s a fair bit to steal; why isn’t this entire complex locked up tight?

OBI-WAN: Perhaps the builders were aware of their world’s fate and concluded that thievery wasn’t going to be a problem that would have to be dealt with.

Wandering over to one of the chests, Nik flings the lid open.

ANAKIN: (grins) Guys, you’re not going to believe what’s here.

The other three join him. Peering inside, they see just what it is that the apprentice has found.

BAIL: Food.

ANAKIN: Carbon-frozen food, as fresh as the day it was sealed.

CMDR. VANESS: (ecstatic) When the Sith pack a lunch for the afterlife, they sure pack it tight, don’t they?

Moving to another chest, Anakin flings it open, then moves over to yet another chest and flings it open; in both is more carbon-frozen food and water.

ANAKIN: There’s a month’s worth of food in these crates alone!

BAIL: We’ll take one back with us when we leave.

CMDR. VANESS: We should try getting aboard the ship. We can’t fly it out of here, but there may still be enough juice in its on-board systems to broadcast an SOS.

BAIL: (nods) Let’s do it.

INT. SITH YACHT/COCKPIT – DAWN

Having figured out how to open the entry hatch, they climb inside the cozy ship. As with the exterior, the interior is crafted along organic lines, making it look more like the inside of a living creature’s belly than a ship’s cockpit. Crossing over to the controls, they don’t find the usual switches or buttons but an array of control crystals, all embedded into the panel.

CMDR. VANESS: (frowns; to Obi-Wan) Do you know how to operate these controls? I certainly don’t and I doubt Bail knows, either.

OBI-WAN: (scrutinizes the control crystals) I’m not familiar with them, no, but most Sith technology was reputed to be Force-based; if these crystals are at all attuned to the Force, I may be able to intuit their function.

Positioning his hands over the crystals, Obi-Wan closes his eyes. Several moments pass, then he begins – with much concentration and consideration – to lay his hands down on the crystals, touching a select few of them in a non-random order. Once he has completed the sequence, those crystals which have been touched begin to resonate with a throbbing glow.

OBI-WAN: There – it’s done.

Grinning, Vaness takes Obi by the shoulders, spins him around, and plants a firm kiss on his lips.

CMDR. VANESS: If I wasn’t spoken for, I’d award you more than a kiss.

Try as he might, the knight can’t keep himself from blushing.

EXT. ZIGGURAT – DAY

With one of the chests of food and drink held between the four of them. Obi, Nik, Vaness, and Bail descend the ramp, en-route back to their three companions waiting by the drop.

INT. ZIGGURAT/BURIAL CHAMBER – DAY

Back inside the burial chamber, all is still and quiet. Suddenly, the twelve muraled panels on the walls begin to retract into the ceiling, revealing hidden compartments behind them.

As a heavy mist begins to billow out from the dark openings, a LARGE YELLOW HAND BEARING THREE LARGE BLACK CLAWS reaches out from one.

EXT. DRIED-UP RIVERBED – SUNSET

As another day draws to a close, Kathe Nadd stands crouched down on one knee over the dead waterfall, looking out to the ziggurat far in the distance; she can see the four travellers returning from the Sith edifice with chest in tow. Face unreadable, her eyes tell a different tale: one of uncertainty and perhaps even distaste.

Away from her, Zosime Moulin sits on the ground beside the reclining Jango Cody. Immersed in her own thoughts, she doesn’t notice Cody regain consciousness until she turns on a whim, finding him already sitting up.

DR. MOULIN: (Startled) WHA! (beat) Commander! I … I’m …

CMDR. CODY: (hoarse) Water.

Still unnerved, the doctor scrambles about until she finds herself a canteen. Taking the canteen from her, the Journeyman Protector gulps down what little water’s left at the bottom. Unsatisfied, he frowns deeply.

DR. MOULIN: I’m sorry, Commander, but we’re short on water. That was the last of our supply, to be honest; we finished off our other canteen earlier this afternoon.

CMDR. CODY: (looks about) Where are we? Where’re the others?

DR. MOULIN: I wish I could answer that first question, Commander, but I’m afraid I don’t know where we are; something went wrong with the Son’s hyperdrive – an explosion – catapulting us here, wherever here is. (beat) As for your other question, we spotted what looks like a ziggurat over in that direction the other day (points toward the ziggurat). The captain, Vaness, and the Jedi went off to see if there’s anything of value to be found there. They’ve been gone since then.

CMDR. CODY: Mal’Akhi?

DR. MOULIN: (looks down) Dead along with Antilles in the accident.

CMDR. CODY: (leans in close to the Gungan) Doctor, that accident was no accident.

DR. MOULIN: (frowns) No accident?

CMDR. CODY: No. It was a deliberate act of sabotage. I know because I saw the saboteur – I saw her in the engineering bay before we jumped back to lhyt-speed; I found what she left of Antilles in the hyperdrive access tunnel; I found the hyperdrive wired to explode. I tried to warn you – stop you – but you’d already made the jump.

DR. MOULIN: (horrified) One of us did this? Who!? Who was it?!

MSC. NAAD: (O.C.) It was me.

Hearing Naad’s voice so near to them, the Journeyman Protector and Gungan turn their heads, finding the young Human woman standing right there over them. In her left hand, inactive but held at the ready, is Obi-Wan’s lightsaber.

DR. MOULIN: (incredulous) Kathe!?

MSC. NAAD: I hoped to spare you this. I’m sorry.

As Kathe triggers the azure blade, Cody is already moving, rolling clear of the saber’s range, but for Zosime, it is too late; with a single broad sweep of the Jedi weapon, Naad clears the Gungan’s head from her body.

The Gungan dispatched, Naad turns her attention on Cody. Even unarmed, however, the Journeyman Protector’s military background gives him an edge over the untrained woman; seizing both of her wrists and pushing the glowing blue blade away from him, he knees her in the side, forcing her hands open.

The inactive hilt falls and hits the hard-packed ground, the commander makes a dive for it. Furious, the woman dives after him. Their hands both locking around the lightsaber, they begin struggling over it.

EXT. DRIED-UP WATERFALL – SUNSET

Coming to the length of line dangling overhead, the four stop, crouching down to lower their chest of foodstuffs to the ground.

ANAKIN: (rubs his hands together) What do we do with our booty? We can’t haul the chest up – do we call the others down and camp here tonight?

BAIL: We’ll unthaw what we can carry and take that up with us. The rest we’ll leave ‘til tomorrow to deal with.

CUT TO

Cody and Naad, still wrestling about the ground for Obi-Wan’s saber.

CUT TO

The four travellers as they shimmy up the line.

CUT TO

Naad as she goes to bite Cody’s throat.

CUT TO

The four travellers as they continue shimmying up the line.

CUT TO

Cody as he headbutts Naad, forcing her off him, winning him the Jedi weapon.

Rolling over away from Naad, he springs to his feet; with a SNAP-HISS, he engages the azure plasma blade.

EXT. DRIED-UP RIVERBED – SUNSET

Coming up over the edge, the four find Cody and Naad standing there before them, staring each other down, Obi’s lit lightsaber in the Journeyman Protector’s hands.

BAIL: (nonplussed) What the hell is this?!

Hearing the captain’s voice, both combatants swivel their heads in his direction.

MSC. NAAD: (points at Cody) He’s had your lightsaber, Obi; he stole it from your quarters and he’s had it on him this whole time. He was faking unconsciousness, and when he was ready, he attacked us. (points at Moulin’s remains) He killed Zosime – chopped her head off!

CMDR. CODY: She’s lying! Don’t listen to her!

MSC NAAD: And the explosion, the crash? It was him! He did it! He sabotaged the Son’s hyperdrive! He stranded us on this forsaken rock! He’s a spy for the Clonemasters! He did it all for them!

CMDR. CODY: (outraged) Never! I’d never side with the whitefaces!

BAIL: (unholsters his blaster) Commander, stand down.

CMDR. CODY: (angry) Captain, you know me – you know what happened on Concord Dawn, what happened to my family, my wife – you know!

BAIL: (levels his blaster at Cody) Yes, I know what happened to Jango Cody on Concord Dawn.

CMDR. CODY: (incredulous) What happened to Jang --! (beat) I am Jango!

BAIL: I don’t know that.

CMDR. CODY: I’m not a clone!

BAIL: Hand me the saber and we’ll talk about it.

Speechless, Cmdr. Cody is left with no alternatives; disengaging the lightsaber, he hands it to Bail. Bail – never taking his eyes off the Journeyman Protector for a moment – hands the hilt back to Obi-Wan.

BAIL: Raia, secure him.

Taking a length of line, Cmdr. Vaness moves in behind Cody, pulling his hands behind him and tying them fast together.

CMDR. CODY: (nods to Naad) What of her? Search her, search the bags; she may have taken the boy’s weapon as well. If you find it, you’ll know I’m telling the truth.

As Anakin moves in behind Naad and begins patting her down for hidden weapons, Obi-Wan begins looking through the knapsacks.

ANAKIN: (finishes frisking) She’s clean.

OBI-WAN: (finishes searching the knapsacks) Anakin’s lightsaber isn’t here.

BAIL: (sighs; to Cody) Well, Commander, that avenue’s out.

Cmdr. Cody responds with a harsh Concordian curse.

EXT. DRIED-UP RIVERBED – EVENING

Night has fallen. Cody remains tied up, seated upon the ground, his back against a large boulder. For the others, all but Vaness and Kathe have fallen asleep, dead-tired from all the activity of the last couple days.

Vaness sits there in the space between Cody and Naad, legs crossed, hands in her lap, eyes on the Journeyman Protector and cryptographer both. Vaness is only Human, however, and she, too, is exhausted; it is only a matter of time before her resolve fails her and she joins her companions in slumber.

Her eyelids heavy, Vaness slowly blinks, then closes them for good. Kathe waits, and once she is certain the commander is asleep, she slowly rises to her feet. Straightening her neck, she tilts her head back and opens her mouth; gagging silently, she slowly regurgitates a solid metal cylinder – Anakin’s lightsaber. Taking the Jedi apprentice’s weapon into her hand, she walks toward the restrained Journeyman Protector. Cody, eyes hard on her, doesn’t say a word.

MSC. NAAD: Aren’t you going to call out to the others?

CMDR. CODY: (looks over Naad’s shoulder) No need.

Following his gaze, Naad turns around; standing behind her, wide awake and none too happy, is Anakin. Bringing the hilt up, the woman swings it down to bash the Jedi’s head in, but he catches her wrist and pulls the saber out of her grasp. Lunging forward, she sinks her teeth into his wrist.

ANAKIN: ARGH!

Acting on reflex, Anakin loses his hold on her wrist. Turning on her heel, Naad dashes off into the night. Scowling, he takes off after her.

CUT TO

Naad running madly through the darkness, desperate to escape the Jedi Knight. Initially running high on a rush of adrenaline, she soon begins to exhaust her stamina; her speed drops and she comes to an abrupt halt. Breathing heavily, she rests her hands upon her knees for support.

Catching up to Naad, Anakin comes to a stop; there’s no sign of weariness in his stance whatsoever.

ANAKIN: No more games, Kathe. It’s over.

Still out of breath, Kathe doesn’t answer. Taking her silence for surrender, the apprentice takes hold of her arm. Before he can leave with Naad in tow, he halts, eyes widening with sudden alarm.

In the featureless darkness before them, like burning embers suspended in the ether, are six pairs of glowing yellow eyes.

Releasing his hold on Naad, Anakin engages his lightsaber. Blazing bright, the cyan light illuminates their surroundings. Standing there away from the two Humans are SIX RAKGHOULS; hulking yellow humanoids, they have two vertically arranged slits for nostrils high up on their faces, black spines growing out of their backs and heads, twelve sharp claws each growing out of their hands and feet, and large, wide maws filled with sharp, jagged teeth.

ANAKIN: Kathe – behind me!

Kathe isn’t fast enough. Lunging forward, one of the rakghouls takes hold of her. Pulling the woman close to its body, it yanks out her arm and then bites down, shearing through the cloth, skin, muscle, and tendon above her elbow.

KATHE: YYYEEEAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!

Grinding its teeth back and forth, the rakghoul saws through her arm. As the bone gives way, Kathe collapses, SCREAMING as blood jets from the ragged stump.

CUT TO

The others at the camp. Already wide awake, they hear Kathe’s shrieks in the distance. Taking up their weapons, Obi-Wan and Bail break off into a run. Vaness, freeing Cmdr. Cody of his bonds, takes up her own spear and runs off to join them.

CUT TO

Anakin as he attacks the rakghoul who took Naad’s arm. Striking with his lightsaber, he bisects the monster through the shoulder, killing it with the gnawed arm still in its jaws.

Two other rakghouls quickly make their move; one slams its balled fists down on the Jedi’s back, knocking him flat to the ground, while the other goes for Kathe, grabbing her legs.

Arriving on the scene, Bail and Obi leap to the Jedi and cryptographer’s defense; hefting up his spear, Bail hurtles it at Kathe’s rakghoul, taking it right through the skull, while the knight leaps up and over Anakin’s rakghoul, carving a fatal gash through its spine as he completes his arc.

ROARING, one of the remaining three rakghouls makes a dash for Bail. Pulling out his blaster, Bail opens fire; unfortunately the blaster pack – already low on power – releases a few dim shots which only lightly sear the beast’s yellow flesh. Unscathed, it tackles Bail to the ground. Holding the captain to the ground fast, it opens its jaws wide and prepares to rip his throat out.

CMDR. VANESS: EEEEYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Screaming like a banshee, Vaness charges the rakghoul holding her commanding officer down, spear held out before her. Colliding with the abomination, she runs the spear right through the beast’s sternum, knocking it off and away from Bail.

Gritting her teeth, Vaness pins the rakghoul to the ground, applying as much pressure to the end of the spear as she can. HISSING, the rakghoul throws out its arms and runs its claws down her back, cutting her flesh open. Bearing with the pain, she pulls out a vibroblade; stabbing down, she pierces the monster’s throat, putting a final end to its misbegotten existence.

As Obi-Wan and Anakin quickly finish off the last of the rakghouls, Cmdr. Cody finally arrives. Moving up to Kathe, he takes her into his arms and immediately applies pressure to her injury.

CMDR. CODY: She’s bleeding out fast. (to the Jedi) You’re going to have to cauterize it.

Swallowing, Obi-Wan steps forward to do the job. Bringing out his azure blade, he cuts through the ragged end of the stump.

KATHE: AAAAHHHH!!!

With the deed done, the Jedi Knight takes a step back. Breathing rapidly, Naad finally passes out, the shock too much to bear.

Approaching Vaness, Bail lightly lays his fingers down on her wounded back.

BAIL: These look bad.

CMDR. VANESS: (winces) Just flesh wounds. I’ll survive.

EXT. DRIED-UP WATERFALL – DAY

Having managed to lower the incapacitated Naad down the dry waterfall, the remaining members of the team set out for the Sith ziggurat; Anakin and Cody carry the traitor on the stretcher while Obi and Bail walk on ahead with Vaness behind them.

BAIL: (to Obi-Wan) She’s going to die.

OBI-WAN: Without proper medical attention, yes, eventually.

BAIL: (scoffs) Eventually. I don’t see a medcentre anywhere around, do you?

OBI-WAN: Our distress signal will be picked up in time.

BAIL: Naad’s running short on that particular item.

OBI-WAN: (stops and turns to face Bail) What do you suggest we do, Bail?

BAIL: She’s a traitor; she doesn’t deserve our food or our water and we shouldn’t be burdened carrying her sorry carcass around. You know what I suggest.

OBI-WAN: I will not be party to cold-blooded murder.

BAIL: You think she’d be half as generous to you if your situations were reversed?

OBI-WAN: I’m a Jedi; I’m better than that.

BAIL: Yes, and frankly sometimes it makes me sick.

EXT. DESERT – DAY

A number of hours later, the group decides to take a break. Naad, still weak, has regained consciousness.

MSC. NAAD: (weary) Hot. Need some water.

Cody exchanges glances with Bail.

BAIL: Give her some.

Uncapping a canteen, the Concordian lifts Naad’s head up and helps her take a drink.

CMDR. CODY: She’s burning with fever.

BAIL: It’s the least of what she deserves.

EXT. DESERT – GROVE OF DEAD TREES – SUNSET

Having continued on, the group now finds itself camped out in a grove of ancient trees; long dead, the gnarled plants have been bleached a pale bone-white.

As Vaness sets down her supplies, she swoons, suddenly disoriented.

BAIL: (concerned) Are you okay, Raia?

CMDR. VANESS: (puts her hand to her forehead) Just need to rest, that’s all.

As for Naad, she’s in even worse shape than she was earlier. Hair and face entirely drenched with sweat, her skin has taken on a sickly yellow tinge.

MSC. NAAD: Obi-Wan …

Hearing her weak call, the Jedi Knight crouches down beside her.

OBI-WAN: Yes?

MSC. NAAD: You need to know … Bring the others … they need to know, too …

Obi-Wan signals the others to join him by the dying woman’s side.

MSC. NAAD: Several decades ago … before the Clone Wars … the Republic Senate funded the Outbound Flight Project. Have you … heard of it?

BAIL: It was an expeditionary project spearheaded by Jorus C’Baoth; the plan was to send a mission of over 50000 colonists beyond the borders of the Galactic Republic into the outer edge of the Unknown Regions and eventually beyond the galactic rim itself, towards the Rishi Maze. Communication abruptly stopped months into the mission and Outbound Flight was presumed lost.

MSC. NAAD: (nods) But several new hyperroutes into the Unknown Regions were charted before their disappearance … sent back to Republic Intelligence … but they never had a chance to make use of them … before the Clone Wars broke out. (coughs) While the war with the Separatists was still being fought … the athas managed to procure some of these routes. My masters were already preparing for this war … so they decided to make use of them. (coughs) “Repurposing” several Starfleet vessels … you’ll find them listed as decommissioned or MIA in your records … the athas established a group of colonies in dozens of uncharted systems, far beyond Republic space. (coughs) This way … if they ever found the war going south for them … they’d have an entire enclave of troops held back in reserve.

CMDR. VANESS: The route to these … dark worlds … can only be accessed from Geonosis, correct?

MSC. NAAD: (nods) The Bajilon system leads to the Geonosis system … the Geonosis system leads to the Dark Worlds, as you’ve so aptly described them. (coughs) Once Geonosis has been taken … contact with the Dark Worlds will be re-established … their forces will rendezvous with ours … Geonosis will serve as the beachhead for a renewed assault against the Empire.

BAIL: I don’t believe you. You wouldn’t betray the Clonemasters; you’re hardwired against it.

MSC. NAAD: (laughs weakly) Look at me, Captain. (holds up her yellow hand) Look at my skin. My “hardwiring” isn’t what it used to be.

CMDR. CODY: You’re still a clone.

MSC. NAAD: A clone … with all the memories of the original Kathe. (coughs) The athas had to create me like that, you know; the deception couldn’t have been pulled off otherwise. (coughs) She had a good life … before she was harvested … Loving parents … two great brothers and an awesome cousin … She knew how to make everyone her friend … how to laugh at herself … (coughs) You would have liked Kathe and she would have liked you … just as I did.

The clone doubles over, grimacing as she clutches her gut with her single hand. Alarmed, the others back away.

MSC. NAAD: Please understand … I didn’t want to do what I did … I didn’t want to kill Antilles or Zosime or strand us here … I had no choice; I had to obey my masters.

Black blood begins to seep from Kathe’s eyes, nose, and mouth.

MSC. NAAD: (cont’d) Now I only wish they were here … so I could rip their soulless hearts from their chests and eat them.

With those final angry words, Kathe undergoes her final transformation. Gray eyes turn a feral yellow; muscles quadruple in size; thick black claws erupt from hand and feet; hair falls out to be replaced with black spines; and the head distorts – the mouth widening to accommodate sharp, new teeth – leaving her transmogrified into a bestial rakghoul.

Unholstering his blaster, Cody shoots the rakghoul right between the eyes, putting an end to her tortured existence.

Vaness looks upon the slain inhuman creature that once was the clone of Kathe Naad, horrified beyond words.

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.

EXT. ZIGGURAT – TWILIGHT

Cody and Anakin have brought Vaness to the ziggurat, and the team now sits camped outside of the monument, off a ways to the right from the entrance into the tomb.

Vaness, in the advanced stages of her transformation, is now so weak that she needs Anakin’s assistance to take a drink of water. Lips blue, skin tinted yellow, she can only take two swallows before she begins coughing.

The other three men stand away from the Jedi apprentice and the poor woman.

OBI-WAN: Here they are, Bail, the final symptoms of the plague: yellow skin, blackened lips, paralysis. In three hours, maybe less, she will complete her transformation; Raia Vaness will be consumed by the plague, everything she was lost to the voracious hunger of the rakghoul. Is that what you want to see happen, Bail?

BAIL: Damn you, of course I don’t!

Reaching into Bail’s holster, the Jedi pulls out the blaster.

OBI-WAN: Then put an end to her suffering. Let her die with the dignity she has left.

Bail, torn between the love for his best friend and confidante and the knowledge that he can’t let her leave this life as a profane monstrosity, doesn’t know what to do.

CMDR. CODY: Bail, if you can’t do it …

BAIL: (angry) No! (beat) I’ll do it. Give me the damn blaster.

Obi-Wan hands the blaster to Bail. Accepting the gun, the captain approaches Vaness and Anakin.

BAIL: I’ll take over from here, son.

Nodding, Nik gets up, keeping his hands on Vaness to keep her from toppling over. Bail moves in, taking the young man’s place as he steps away. Vaness’ condition has worsened in the brief time that has passed since we saw her last. Her lips have turned completely black, her skin a solid ghastly yellow.

BAIL: Raia?

Vaness’ eyes crack open. They remain the same rich brown they have always been.

CMDR. VANESS: (weak) Bail?

BAIL: (smiles faintly) I’m told you’re not feeling well.

CMDR. VANESS: (laughs) Not feeling well’s putting it quite mildly.

BAIL: (drops the smile) Raia, what happened to Naad is happening to you. There’s nothing I or any of us can do to stop it.

CMDR. VANESS: (rolls her eyes) I know that. I wasn’t born yesterday, Bail.

BAIL: (tearing up) You know what I have to do.

CMDR. VANESS: (nods) I’ve known before you did.

No longer able to hold back, Bail begins to weep.

CMDR. VANESS: Bail, it’s better this way – better this than to become one of those things.

BAIL: (wipes tears out of his eyes) I know, I know. (beat) I don’t want to lose you.

Mustering up the last of her strength, Raia reaches up to touch Bail’s face.

CMDR. VANESS: You proposed to me once, remember?

BAIL: (nods) I remember.

CMDR. VANESS: I couldn’t return your affections then. (beat) I can now.

She tries to lift her face to Bail’s but she can’t. Instead, he lowers his face to hers. Then, for the first and last time, they share a tender, loving kiss.

CMDR. VANESS: (sighs) Remember me as I was.

Cmdr. Raia Vaness then loses consciousness.

Shuddering, Bail gently lowers Vaness into a reclining position. Rising to his feet, he takes a step back and brings the blaster into firing position.

DARK FORCE’S P.O.V.

At first there is only blackness, then a pinpoint of light appears in the centre of that blackness. That pinpoint quickly widens and grows, overtaken the blackness until there is nothing but a white brilliance. The brilliance then subsides, affording us a view of the dim skylight situated in the ceiling of the Sith tomb directly above the sarcophagus.

Moving, the Dark Force reorients itself. Turning in a circle, it takes in the view of all the open doors; ignoring those leading into the stasis chambers, it focuses in on the doorway leading out into the entrance gallery. Moving forward, the Dark Force leaves the sarcophagus for the gallery.

The Dark Force speeds through the gallery, passing the stock-still statues and the walls of glowing hieroglyphs in a blur of motion, emerging out into the open air of Xuthltan’s approaching night. Turning on its left, the Dark Force spies the five Imperials. Advancing, it closes in on the most vulnerable of their number.

EXT. ZIGGURAT – TWILIGHT

Closing his eyes, Bail prepares to press the trigger which will release the bolt of green plasma that will end Vaness’ life and send her to the Force.

Suddenly, Vaness’ eyes open wide, the irises now a feral yellow. Eyes focusing on the man with the gun before her, she lunges at him with a GROWL. Grabbing his wrist, she pulls him to her then takes hold of his shoulder and twists him around, wrenching his arm from its socket.

BAIL: AAAAHHHH!!!

With a push, the woman that was Raia Vaness sends Bail flying; landing on his dislocated arm, he issues a second cry of agony. Done with Bail, she then lifts herself up with the Force, using it to levitate a couple centimetres above the ground. Lifting up her hands, she then releases a subhuman HOWL.

As Obi-Wan, Nik, and Cmdr. Cody back away from the floating woman in terror, Possessed Vaness turns toward them, eyes blazing, bared white teeth contrasting sharply with her pitch black lips.

POSSESSED VANESS: (dual-toned) Defilers! The death-screams of my children called out to me through the darkness, roused me from my ancient slumber! Now you murderers – you profaners – now you all shall die!

Taking up a spear, Cody is the first to make a move against the possessed woman. As the Journeyman Protector lunges at her, stabbing twice with the spear, she simply dodges, moving left then right faster than he can strike. As he strikes a third time, Possessed Vaness grabs the point of the spear, holding it and him in place.

Igniting his lightsaber, Obi-Wan enters the fray. Dashing forward, he leaps up into the air, over Cody and Possessed Vaness, landing behind her. As the Jedi strikes, though, she catches the blue blade, the superheated plasma failing to burn through her hand. Chanting an incantation, she begins to resonate with a dark violet aura; the lightsaber blade then explodes, hurtling the Jedi away with plasma burns all over his face and hands.

Turning her attention back to the commander, Possessed Vaness pulls the spear to her, bringing Cody close. Tossing the spear aside, she takes the Concordian’s face into her hands and begins clawing at it, gouging bloody furrows into his cheeks, nose, and forehead.

Realizing his lightsaber could be hazardous to use against the possessed woman, Anakin takes up the fallen spear and charges, aiming for her back, but at the last second she spins around and Anakin ends up running Cody through instead. Eyes flinging wide with surprise, he utters only a short CHIRP in response to the length of cold metal running through his abdomen.

Grinning, Possessed Vaness tosses Cody aside, sending him sailing right off the ziggurat to the ground below. Desperate, Anakin reaches to his lightsaber, but she telekinetically pulls it from his belt, calling it to her hand instead. Raising her other hand, she releases a blast of violet energy, knocking Nik off his feet.

As Anakin lies there, fighting to think of what to do next, Possessed Vaness chants another incantation. In response to that arcane recitation, several vines erupt from the stone under and around the apprentice, entwining and thickening around his body to hold him in place. Struggling, he tries to loosen the hold of those conjured vines, but they refuse to slacken.

That horrid grin still plastered across her yellow face, Possessed Vaness glides over to Anakin, raising her free hand towards him; the black nails on that hand elongate and sharpen, forming glistening ebon claws.

Moving up close to the trapped Jedi apprentice, she rests her hand upon his forehead, sinking her black nails beneath the pliant flesh.

ANAKIN: AAAAHHHH!!!

EXT. NYKRE EIKHAN’S MINDSCAPE

Anakin stands in an unsettingly mindscape. A dark sky of violet clouds sits overhead, a thick layer of fog hiding the ground beneath his feet. Before the Jedi stands an attractive red-skinned humanoid woman attired in vermilion and aureolin robes with precious gems beaded in her hair – the very same figure whose bones rested within the jade sarcophagus, the very same figure who appeared in Nashira’s nightmare.

ANAKIN: You … who are you?

RED-SKINNED WOMAN: Nykres Eikhan. When I lived I was a Kissai of the Third Order, archpriestess in the Pearl Cloister of Ch’hodos. I served the Immortal Gods and their appointed Sith Lords until the sundering of the Empire.

ANAKIN: Why have you brought me to this place?

NYKRES EIKHAN (RED-SKINNED WOMAN): You are a young one, aren’t you?

ANAKIN: I’m twenty years old.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Barely a man. And how long have you spent in tutelage to your Jedi master?

ANAKIN: Six years.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (nods) I sense there is much you are ignorant of, much which has been concealed from you, a great many truths.

ANAKIN: I’m no history buff, if that’s what you’re after.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (laughs) Oh, you’re a witty one. How I would have cherished you for a protégé. (grows serious) Unfortunately, that time is past; all I have left is vengeance unfulfilled. You will saite that vengeance, as will your companions. But first I will reveal to you the truth.

ANAKIN: What truth?

NYKRES EIKHAN: The truth of my past and your future.

Taking hold of the folds of her robes, Eikhan sweeps them over Anakin, casting everything into oblivion.

CUT TO

The nightside of a planet floating in the depths of outer space. Billions of lights glow on the surface of the planet, creating a web of artificial stars across its continents.

ANAKIN: (V.O.) Where are we?

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Over 28000 years into the past. This is Sith, the birth world of my race.

CUT TO

Eikhan and Anakin standing on the surface of the original Sith homeworld. Though not spectacularly advanced by any means – there are no signs of speeders, starships, interstellar communication, etc. indicative of a starfaring civilization on the planet – neither is it particularly primitive; millions of land vehicles move along a series of roads and freeways spanning the globe, passing thousands of towering skyscrapers which reach for the clouds and the air vehicles which fly above them.

NYKRES EIKHAN: In this age, the Sith have subdued and filled their world, but they still know no unity; hundreds of nation-states span the globe, all controlled by disparate leaders, all in direct competition for control of the planet’s dwindling resources. (beat) This will all change with the coming of King Adas.

CUT TO

To a grand citadel situated deep in the centre of a Sith metropolis. Like a titanic reaching hand, it towers over the other buildings of the sprawling city.

ZOOM IN

On a balcony situated in the citadel’s highest level. Standing upon the balcony, overlooking the city beyond, is an IMMENSE CHARCOAL-SKINNED SITH MALE dressed in turquoise robes with a silver circlet worn upon his head.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) King Adas had a dream: to unite the Sith nations under one government, one rule – his own.

FADE TO

Adas on a wartorn battlefield. Now dressed head-to-toe in ebon-black armour – a spiked helm worn over his head, an alchemically forged battle axe in hand – leads Sith troops armed with automated slugthrowers in battle against Sith of a rival faction, mercilessly mowing down enemy soldiers by the dozens with his crystalline blade.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) A formidable sorcerer-warrior, Adas had the power to make his dream reality.

CUT TO

Adas standing before a jubilant crowd. Still attired in his ebon armour, he has removed the helmet; his hair long and white, skin weathered and wrinkled, he is now an old man. Raising his gauntleted hand before the crowd, he presents them the severed head of a deposed rival.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) It took three-hundred years of ceaseless battle, but Adas triumphed. He ruled unrivalled over Sith – the people and the planet both.

CUT TO

Adas seated in his throne in his citadel. Dressed in turquoise robes and silver circlet, he appears weighed down by both, sickly and weak.

NYKRES: (V.O.) But the fruits of his victory were short-lived.

CUT TO

Adas lying in his deathbed, attended to by his physicians, aides, and friends.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) He died without ever appointing an heir …

CUT TO

A violent riot raging through the streets. Adas’ soldiers try and fail to contain the violence, losing their lives in the process.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont’d) … and his vision of unity died with him. (beat) With the passage of centuries, the Kissai came.

FADE TO

A TRIO OF BLACK-ROBED SITH. Standing before a small assemblage, they preach to the congregation with much passion and flourish, reading from a tome bound in Sith skin and inked in Sith blood.

NYKRES EIKHAN: This priesthood brought with them the word of new gods: the Immortal Gods, living manifestations of the Force itself. (beat) The true nature of the Force was revealed to the people; the Force – that universal energy field which bound the universe together – was absolute darkness, an all-hungry, all-consuming chaos which none – not even the dead – could claim sanctuary from in time. (beat) Ultimate salvation lay only through deification by the Immortal Gods, and they would share their godhood only with those who paid a specific price: lives for life – unending blood sacrifice for eternal existence.

CUT TO

Frightened parishioners talking amongst themselves in hushed, terrified tones.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Swayed by the fearful gospel of the Kissai, the Sith entrusted themselves to the priests for deliverance.

SITH HOMEWORLD – MONTAGE

We see a series of images: the rebuilding of Sith civilization; the advancement of Sith technology; Sith starships leaving for the stars; and mass sacrifices of men, women, and children overseen by the Kissai.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Over the span of millennia, the Sith rebuilt their world; they even sent ships out amongst the stars to colonize new worlds. (beat) It all came at the cost of billions of innocent Sith lives.

FADE TO

Dozens upon dozens of non-Sith starships dropping out of hyperspace near a blue-and-green planet.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Deliverance finally came in the form of the Legions of Lettow.

CUT TO

The ships landing on this world.

As the passengers file out of the ships, we can see that they consist of individuals from several different races; Humans, Duros, Twi’leks, and various other familiar and unfamiliar creatures make up their number. Worn on their belts are archaic lightsabers – lightsabers with externally mounted focusing crystals and energy cords that feed into hip-worn power packs.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Travellers from distant stars, the Lettow had been exiled from their own region of space, banished for their beliefs. Sent out into the unknown, they were meant to perish in the cold void between worlds. Instead they found Korriban, a minor colony situated on the edge of Sith space.

ANAKIN: (V.O.; astonished) They’re Jedi?!

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) That they were.

CUT TO

The Lettow Legionnaires as they enter a village. Making their way through this squalid village, they regard the dozens of Sith which stand or sit about them – clad in filthy rags, suffering from disease or malnutrition – with pity.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The exiles found Korriban a wretched hive of scum, of villainy; the citizens lived in filth and squalor without adequate housing, food, or medicine while their governor lived in great opulence.

CUT TO

A corpulent Kissai seated in the pleasure dome of his citadel. Laden with jewellery and robes of fine silk, he has his harem of beautiful slave girls feed him rich, fatty foods.

CUT TO

The legionnaires as they make their way through a hallway in the Kissai citadel. The pale yellow, nearly colourless blades of their lightsabers engaged, they cut through the citadel’s staff of Massassi warriors.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Finding the situation on Korriban intolerable, the Lettow deposed the governing Kissai …

CUT TO

The Lettow Legionnaires as they drag the fat Kissai out into the open, before a gathering of emaciated, sickly Sith peasants. Forcing the Kissai to his knees, they then behead him. Taking up the headless corpse, the Lettow toss it to the assembled peasants, who strip it of its finery before tossing it in a sacrificial pit of everlasting flame.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont’d) … and assumed control of Korriban, declaring it a world free of the Sith Empire’s tyranny.

CUT TO

The village on Korriban as it undergoes a radical transformation. The streets are cleaned up, the buildings repaired, and the people provided fresh new clothes and plenty of good food to eat.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Over the course of a few short years, the legionnaires established a new and better quality of life on Korriban. (beat) News of this eventually spread to the other worlds in the Sith Empire …

SITH EMPIRE – MONTAGE

We see a series of images of Sith throughout the Empire receiving and reacting to the news of the Lettow Legionnaires on Korriban.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The news even reached the ears of those in the populace who had grown weary of the Kissai and the dark religion they had brought to the Empire.

CUT TO

A group of Kissai standing on a tower on the Sith homeworld, watching a fleet of warships departing for space.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) Deciding that the Lettow placed too great a risk to their rule, they dispatched an armada of warships to Korriban.

CUT TO

The Sith armada as it bombards Korriban with energy weapons and thermonuclear weapons, sterilizing the planet of life.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The Kissai had been unwise with their course of action; they only fanned the flames of rebellion.

SITH EMPIRE – MONTAGE

We bear witness as a significant number of Sith dissidents assemble and rise up to oppose the Kissai. Capturing a number of important worlds and claiming a fleet of warships for their own use, they go to war with the Kissai forces.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The Dissidents ultimately won, claiming victory in a final, desperate action.

CUT TO

A Sith captain aboard a Dissident warship.

Resting her hands upon the control crystals, the Dissident captain activates a Force-based weapon which reaches deep into the heart of the Sith sun, wrenching out its core and destabilizing it.

Rapidly collapsing in on itself, the star goes nova, annihilating everything in the system – the world of Sith included.

CUT TO

Ziost, a cold, night-shrouded planet.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) With the Kissai defeated, the Dissident leaders assumed command of the Sith Empire and made Ziost the new throne world.

CUT TO

The Dissident leaders in their council chambers. There are eleven of them; one stands at the centre with the others kneeled in a ring around him, hands planted on the hilts of their swords in obeisance.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) They formed a new system of government to replace the one founded by the Kissai; the Sith Empire would now be ruled by a council of Sith lords and ladies which, in turn, would be ruled by a single appointed Lord or Lady of the Sith.

CUT TO

The Sith Lords as they revamp the Kissai religion, revising the Kissai holy texts and establishing a new priesthood.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The Sith Lords then received new revelation. Whereas the Kissai had preached that the Force was darkness and chaos – the gods covetous and flesh-hungry – the lords revealed that the Force was order as well as chaos, that benevolent gods ruled alongside the evil ones in infinity. This newfound truth established, the Sith Lords entrusted it to a revamped Kissai priesthood to honour and protect.

SITH EMPIRE – MONTAGE

We watch as the Sith Empire goes through a golden age of great prosperity and expansion.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Under the Sith Lords, the Sith Empire entered a golden age; the Empire expanded to encompass several thousand worlds; we experienced prosperity the likes of which we had never experienced before. (beat) But our golden age eventually came to an end; apathy set in; with it, stagnation.

CUT TO

Eikhan and Anakin standing on the surface of a desolate world.

The Sith and the Jedi stand within a sheltered valley, the walls of which have had innumerable temples built into them. Effigies and statues adorn the temples, carved in the likenesses of Sith gods and warriors and guardian beasts.

ANAKIN: Now where are we?

NYKRES EIKHAN: Korriban, thousands of years after the nuclear armageddon. In honour of the fallen Lettow, the Sith Lords made it the Empire’s mausoleum world – the final resting place of the great Lords and Ladies of the Sith and their vassals.

Leaving the pair, we come to focus on a funeral procession. A SOLEMN SITH LORD leads the procession; behind him, six Kissai pallbearers carry aloft the body of a recently deceased Lord; behind them are several other Kissai, mourners, Massassi warriors, and labourers.

ANAKIN: Who died?

NYKRES EIKHAN: Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos.

The processioners end their march before the steps of a grand temple. Lowering the body of Ragnos to the ground, the Kissai step back to allow the Sith Lord – LUDO KRESSH – to step up to it. Bringing forth a horned helmet he has been holding in his hands, he slips it down over the swaddled head of the dead Lord.

LUDO KRESSH: (in Sith, subtitled) Marka Ragnos, great Lord, wear this victory helmet during your battles in the afterlife.

The blessing given, the Kissai take up the body and Kressh leads them up the steps to the Grand Temple’s entrance.

As the Kissai slip inside the tomb, Kressh turns to face the onlooking mourners.

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled) All hail the memory of Marka Ragnos! His legacy will live for centuries among the Sith people and their rulers!

As this is happening, a Sith yacht descends from the sky. Landing in the valley close to the Grand Temple, it disgorges ANOTHER SITH LORD and his personal Massassi entourage.

ANAKIN: Who’s that?

NYKRES EIKHAN: Naga Sadow – fellow lord and sworn enemy of Ludo Kressh.

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled) We wait for no man, Sith Lord or slave. (to the Kissai) Let the flames blaze high!

Touching torches to the carved hands of the effigy framing the tomb entrance, the Kissai ignite a pair of braziers, sending great orange flames skyward.

Arriving at the temple steps, Lord Sadow and his Massassi ascend, on approach for Lord Kressh and his entourage.

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled) I have come to take my place at the funeral of Marka Ragnos.

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled) Go back, Naga Sadow! You do not belong here!

Silently ordering his Massassi to stay back, Sadow climbs the rest of the steps.

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled) I belong where I choose to belong, Ludo Kressh!

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled; angry) Your rebellious actions and experiments are a threat to us all! I command here!

The two Sith Lords now stand apart, facing each other, eye-to-eye.

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled; cont’d) You would destroy the greatness Marka Ragnos maintained in the Sith Empire when he was Lord! You shame his memory!

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled) Marka Ragnos was the Lord and I obeyed him while he lived, as everyone must obey the new Lord of the Sith. By rights, it should be me!

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled) Your ways will ruin the Empire, Naga Sadow! Stepping in dangerous waters, unleashing powers you do not understand – powers the Sith Lords do not need to insure our continued dominance here!

NAGA SADOW: (angry; subtitled) The Sith Empire is stagnant! For centuries we have done nothing but wallow in our riches and relive our ancient conquest of these worlds! That is no longer enough!

Reaching to his side, Sadow grasps the hilt of his sword.

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled) The fate of the Sith Empire must not rest in the hands of a backwards thinker such as you, Kressh.

As Sadow unsheathes his crystalline blade, one of Kressh’s followers hands the other lord his own blade.

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled) There can be only one Lord of the Sith.

Taking his sword, Sadow plants the tip into the stone beneath his feet. Summoning dark Force energy forth from the enchanted amulets worn upon his hands, he channels it through the sword’s blade, charging it with violet energy.

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled) I, Naga Sadow, call upon the power of the Sith … (wrenches out the blade and hefts it before him) the power of my royal blood … the power of the Force!

Charging his own sword with dark blue energy, Kressh points it skyward.

LUDO KRESSH: (subtitled) I fight for the Sith Empire, Naga Sadow – you fight for yourself!

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled) I fight for the future …

Striking simultaneously, the two Sith Lords cross blades, releasing a blast of violet-blue Force energy.

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled; cont’d) … and the future is now!

As the duel rages, another ship – the Starbreaker 12, a ship not of Sith design – pasts overhead, unleashing a great sonic BOOM which resonates through the valley, disrupting the battle and drawing the attention of the Sith.

Passing over Sadow’s yacht, the Starbreaker 12 comes to hover a ways away from the Grand Temple and the Sith multitude. As the mourners approach the alien craft, lines drop down from the main body of the ship, allowing them to anchor the ship in place.

The Starbreaker 12’s hatch opens, allowing two young Humans – brother and sister explorers GAV and JORI DARAGON – out to greet the Sith, big smiles on their innocent faces.

GAV DARAGON: Greetings from the Republic! We come in peace!

JORI DARAGON: We’re interested in setting up a fine trade relationship with your civilization.

With a wave of her hand, Nykres Eikhan causes this vision from the past to dissolve away.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Gav and Jori Daragon were taken into custody, escorted to Ziost and imprisoned until the Sith Lords could glean their true purpose for coming to the Empire. (beat) Naga Sadow saw this as his opportunity to succeed Marka Ragnos as Lord of the Sith and expand the borders of the Sith Empire; he took it.

With another wave of her hand, Eikhan calls up another vision – one of Naga Sadow and his followers leading a series of attacks against his fellow Sith to free the Daragons from captivity and planting evidence to make it look as if the Human siblings are the vanguard of a full-scale Republic invasion of Sith territory.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Using the Daragons as scapegoats, Sadow created the spectre of an outside enemy, an opposing force that would unify us and ignite the Sith Empire into a golden flame again.

As Anakin watches on, we see Naga Sadow lead Jori to the Starbreaker 12 sans Gav. Climbing aboard, she escapes Ziost, en-route for Republic space, unaware that there is a biomechanical tracking device attached to the outer hull.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Thus began the great war between our two empires …

Anakin watches as ancient Sith and Republican ships battle in space and over the surface of worlds; as Jedi Knights – now armed with modern lightsabers – lead troops into pitched, deadly groundside battles against Sith warriors bearing alchemically forged swords and battle axes; as the innocent bystanders on both sides of the conflict die in the senseless anarchy unleashed by Sadow’s greed and ambition.

NYKRES EIKHAN: At first the Sith prevailed – our ships were the fastest, our shields the strongest, our weapons the most destructive. However, our Empire was far smaller than your Republic, and so our superior technology eventually fell before your superior numbers.

Anakin watches as the Republic fleet drives the remnants of the Sith fleet out of Republican territory, back to Sith space.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (turns) It should have ended here – you were the victors, the Sith Empire was in ruin – but you didn’t.

With a great clap of her hands, Eikhan brings them to the surface of another world.

Standing out in an open plain, Anakin watches as Sith – not lords nor vassals nor Kissai nor Massassi but defenseless commonfolk – flee in terror as cloaked figures bear down on them astride large caninoid steeds; these cloaked figures, ignited lightsabers in hand, are Jedi.

ANAKIN: (frowns) No – what is this?

Corralling the Sith like rabbits, the mounted Jedi warriors steer the dozens of Sith adults and children, trampling underfoot those not swift enough to keep pace with their faster companions.

Once the Sith have been driven to a dead end – with no space in where to hide – the Jedi bring their sabers down on them, hacking left and right, massacring them indiscriminately.

ANAKIN: (horrified) No!

Bolting forward, Anakin leaps up and tries to tackle one of the Jedi murderers from his steed, but he passes right through the warrior. Hitting the ground, he rolls then jumps back up, still determined to end the slaughter; as the angry BUZZS of blazing lightsabers mix with the agonized SCREAMS of wounded and dying Sith, he continues trying to stop the violence, all to no avail.

Finally it ends as it must; collapsing to his knees, butchered Sith strewed about the ground like broken toys around him, Anakin Skywalker weeps, sobbing into his palms.

Nykres Eikhan, her face contorted with rage, strides up to Anakin. Grabbing him by the hair, she forces his head up, forcing him to look back upon the bloodshed.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Do you see? Do you finally see?! This is what the Jedi did to my people! Every Sith – every Sith – was hunted down, killed to the last man, the last child. (beat) What is it you Jedi claim to be? Guardians of peace, of justice? Is this peace? Is this justice?! Answer me!

ANAKIN: (outraged) No!

Pulling, the priestess forces Anakin back to his feet.

NYKRES EIKHAN: I am not finished. I showed you to my past; now it is time to see your future. Then – then – you can finally die!

The plain with its massacred Sith and fallen Jedi dissolves away, leaving Eikhan and Anakin standing within the throne room of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant.

It is some time in the near future, and a coronation ceremony is currently being held. A man – Human, slim, but with his facial features inexplicably obscured – sits upon the throne as the grand vizier reads from the Rite of Ascension.

NYKRES EIKHAN: In the years to come, corruption will infect your Empire. More and more senators, seduced by power and wealth, will ally themselves with special interests and corruption will spread to numerous worlds! (beat) Out of that turmoil, this man will rise to power as your new emperor.

Once the reading is finished, the vizier takes the Imperial crown from a servant. Turning to the man on the throne, he lowers the crown onto his head, officially bestowing him the title of Emperor of the Galactic Empire.

NYKRES EIKHAN: He will emerge as a dynamic and pragmatic figure, getting the government to work again. He will fill the heads of the people with grand rhetoric, promising to lead the Empire into a golden age like those of ancient dynasties past.

The vision changes; the grand vizier and the other onlookers disappear, leaving the emperor alone in his throne; the throne room is draped in shadow now, the emperor clad in a black robe which hides his face.

NYKRES EIKHAN: This will be but a pretense. Once secure in his power, he will reveal his true face to the Galaxy. (beat) He will be a most powerful sorcerer, a master of that which you call the dark side.

Anakin sees the robed emperor standing now. Having thrown his hands into the air, they radiate dark blue tendrils of crackling dark side energy.

NYKRES EIKHAN: He will conquer the Jedi. They will serve him.

Anakin and Eikhan now stand within the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

The hooded emperor passes between two columns of Jedi Knights, a Jedi master in maroon robes on his left and a Jedi master in ultramarine robes on his right. He inspects the knights, all of whom stand ramrod straight, faces devoid of emotion, their customary charcoal uniforms traded in for militaristic black synth-leather uniforms.

NYKRES EIKHAN: This army of Jedi at his command, your new emperor will have those who refuse to swear their fealty to him hunted down …

We now see these dark Jedi in black synth-leather hunt down those Jedi who refuse to bow to the New Order; following the fugitives to the farthest corners of the Empire and beyond, they cut them down with their blue, green, and yellow lightsabers.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (cont’d) … and this will be only the beginning. The real horror – that is yet to come …

Anakin now sees a flurry of new, evermore disturbing images. Imperial officials have children taken from their parents; Imperial agents force themselves upon helpless women and men; star destroyers bombard defenseless worlds with torrents of green laserfire; battalions of soldiers encased in white plasteel armour swarm forth across the surface of worlds both disloyal and alien, mowing down all whom they find in the scopes of their blaster rifles; a moon-sized battle station targets a beautiful blue globe and unleashes a powerful superlaser, shattering it and killing everyone alive on its surface in one horrendous instant.

ANAKIN: (shakes his head) No! No, no, no, no!

NYKRES EIKHAN: Yes! And you do not have the power to stop it! No Jedi will ever have the power to stop this future from coming to pass!

ANAKIN: There has to be a way to stop this man from becoming emperor!

NYKRES EIKHAN: There are none!

ANAKIN: (turns to Eikhan) The Sith! What about the Sith?!

NYKRES EIKHAN: The Sith are gone, their fire extinguished! You extinguished it!

ANAKIN: No! (grabs Eikhan by the front of her robes) The Sith worlds – do they still exist? Where are they?!

NYKRES EIKHAN: They are all dead and empty, as dead and empty as Korriban!

ANAKIN: Korriban! The Sith Lords interred on Korriban! (beat) Their spirits – do their spirits reside there?!

NYKRES EIKHAN: They sleep in stone as I did, and their power is greater than my own, but they will never aid you – Jedi.

ANAKIN: Tell me how to reach Korriban!

NYKRES EIKHAN: (bears her teeth) I will tell you if you can pry the words from my dying lips!

The Kissai seizes Anakin’s throat in a chokehold, and he reciprocates. The two combatants then struggle there, locked in violent telepathic battle as the mindscape grows distorted, on the verge of collapse.

EXT. XUTHLTAN – ZIGGURAT – TWILIGHT

Returning to reality, we find Possessed Vaness and Anakin still there, the apprentice on his knees, trapped in the thick vines with the yellow-skinned Human/rakghoul hybrid hovering over him, claw-like nails of her left hand buried under the skin of his brow; their faces are both blank of emotion, betraying no sign of the furious battle currently being waged within their shared unconscious.

Behind the two, Bail remains prone upon the stone, wounded arm trapped beneath him. Gritting his teeth, he forces his free hand beneath his body; finding the blaster pinned under him, he wrenches it free. With the possessed woman’s back turned to him, Bail levels the blaster at her and opens fire, emptying the last of the weapon’s stored energy into her back. The green plasma bolts strike with deadly precision; the connection between she and Anakin abruptly severed, she collapses into a heap, uttering not a sound as she falls; the vines entangled around Nik quickly dry up, wither, and decay into ash, allowing him to collapse alongside her.

Cradling his wounded arm, Bail scuttles over to the motionless form of his former second-in-command; checking her throat for a pulse, he finds none. Moving away from her, he goes to Anakin.

BAIL: Skywalker? (shakes Anakin) Skywalker? Anakin, can you hear me? Anakin!?

The young man, though still alive, is in a catatonic shock. His eyes, fixed open, stare straight ahead into nothing.

EXT. ZIGGURAT – DAY

The next day, Bail and Obi-Wan sit with Cmdr. Cody and Anakin. Though in serious condition, Cody is remarkably still alive; by rolling down the sloping exterior wall of the ziggurat instead of plummeting straight to the ground below, he broke his fall, sparing him immediate death. For his part, Anakin remains catatonic, unaware of anyone or thing around him.

As Obi looks down at his burnt, bandaged hands in his lap, a low mechanical HUM begins to resonate through the air. Looking up, he and Bail spot a homely, ungainly freighter descending from the sky towards them.

CUT TO

The Jedi and captain walking down the ziggurat ramp as the freighter lands.

As the two Humans approach the ugly ship, the entry hatch opens, allowing a BOTHAN and a DRESSELLIAN to step out into the dry Xuthltanian air.

INT. UNGAINLY FREIGHTER/MAIN CORRIDOR – DAY

As his crew helps bring the unconscious/catatonic forms of Cody and Anakin aboard, the Bothan captain turns to regard Bail, who has just entered the ship, the shrouded form of Vaness’ body held in his arms.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: What happened to you guys down here?

BAIL: (solemn) That’s a long story, Captain. Maybe I’ll tell it to you when I’m in the right mind for it.

As Bail glumly files inside, he’s followed by Obi-Wan. Turning to the burned Jedi, the Bothan captain quickly exchanges wordless glances with the Human before closing the hatch.

EXT. DRIED-UP RIVER BED – DAY

As the freighter flies through the air on its way back to space, it passes over the wreck of the Wayward Son.

INT. UNGAINLY FREIGHTER/COCKPIT – DAY

The Bothan captain and Dressellian co-pilot sit behind the controls of their ship, Obi-Wan and Bail seated behind them.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: (notices the Wayward Son) That’s the ship you came down here on?

OBI-WAN: Yes.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: A YT-1300 – that’s a great ship; my cousin has one of those. Sad it see it in such sorry condition. (turns to the Humans) Will you be comin’ back for it?

BAIL: It’s scrap now.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: (shrugs) Looks like a fixer-upper to me.

BAIL: You’re welcome to it if you want it.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: Thanks. I think we’ll come back this way ‘round after our current run, give it a once-over and see if we can’t get it towed back to Rinel. (beat) Y’know, even if it’s a strike-off, it’s bound to have good parts worth salvaging.

INT. ORRON III – DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/KITCHEN – EVENING

Nashira is in the kitchen, busy loading used dishes into the dishwasher, when a mechanical WARBLE begins to ululate from the vidphone cubicle.

NASHIRA: (sets down a greasy plate) Anyone got that?

Getting no reply from either of her parents, Nashira sighs and leaves the kitchen to answer the incoming call.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/VIDPHONE CUBICLE – EVENING

Entering the cubicle, Nashira turns the flatscreen on. The display immediately lights up, displaying the logo of the Corporate Sector’s HoloNet provider.

COMPUTER: You have one incoming transmission from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Do you accept or decline?

NASHIRA: Accept.

Obi’s headshot automatically appears on the display. His face is haggard, his expression perturbed.

NASHIRA: Obi, hi. (frowns at his unkempt appearance) What’s up?

OBI-WAN: Nashira … I … (runs a hand through his hair) Nashira, it’s about Anakin.

NASHIRA: (concerned) What about Anakin?

The Jedi Knight swallows, uncertain as to how to proceed with the bad news he has to deliver.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA – EVENING

Nemec and Corin are seated in the room – he reading a datapad, she watching free-style zero-G swimming on the holovid display – when Nashira walks in stiffly, mouth agape. Noticing their daughter’s strange, zombie-like behaviour, they immediately turn from their activities to focus on her.

NEMEC: (frowns) Is something wrong, ‘Shira?

NASHIRA: It’s Nik. (raises her hand to her mouth) He’s been in an accident.

Her strange, stoic shock breaks and an expression of absolute dread passes over her features. That is when she collapses to the floor, fainted dead away.

CORIN: (horrified) ’Shira!

EXT. DELANTINE – ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE – DAY

Under the pale beige sky of the Outer Rim world of Delantine stands the Abieds-Brannrid Medical Centre. Cylindrical in shape, the main section of the centre is connected to an inward-curving back wall and a silo-shaped forward section.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/CORRIDOR – DAY

Obi-Wan steps away from a vidphone booth as a female nurse approaches him.

NURSE: Mr. Kenobi? Dr. Reyem’s about to begin the examination.

Obi-Wan nods once to her.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN ROOM – DAY

Anakin, clad in a pale green hospital gown, eyes still fixed open, lies motionless atop a medical examination table. Overhead, a bioscanner attached to a motorized arm comes to life; emitting gold light, the medical device scans the Jedi apprentice’s head.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN CONTROL ROOM – DAY

On the other side of a transparisteel window which looks out into the bioscan chamber is Obi-Wan and DR. NADI REYEM, a pretty Human doctor with curly brown hair worn back in a loose bun.

As the scan of Anakin’s brain is completed, Dr. Reyem looks the data over.

DR. REYEM: (frowns) This can’t right.

OBI-WAN: What is it?

DR. REYEM: I have to do another scan.

Reinitializing the bioscanner, Reyem takes another encephalogram of Anakin’s brain. The resulting diagnosis is exactly the same.

DR. REYEM: (shakes her head) No, this is definitely not right. The machine must need recalibration.

OBI-WAN: Why? What does the data show?

DR. REYEM: (turns to Obi-Wan) Mr. Kenobi, the encephalogram doesn’t show any of the tell-tale signs of low brain activity associated with catatonic stupor.

OBI-WAN: What does it show?

DR. REYEM: It shows that your friend is fully conscious, alert to external stimuli. (beat) That’s simply not possible.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN’S ROOM – DAY

Taking Anakin from a hoverchair, two orderlies lay the apprentice down in a narrow hospital bed. After they have tucked him in, they depart, leaving the catatonic Jedi alone with Dr. Reyem and his master.

OBI-WAN: What now, Doctor?

DR. REYEM: Mr. Kenobi, I’ve specialized in neurosurgery for thirty-three years, and this just flies in the face of everything I know about the Human brain. By rights, Anakin should be up and about, walking and talking, this very minute. (beat) You want my honest appraisal?

OBI-WAN: Please.

DR. REYEM: This isn’t a neurological condition. I don’t believe this is a type of medical condition whatsoever. (beat) This – this is supernatural. (laughs humourlessly) I’ve always considered myself a rationalist, but here and now, I believe a witch doctor would have greater success rousing your friend from his torpor than an actual doctor.

Shaking her head in bewilderment, Reyem turns and leaves the room. Now alone with Anakin, the knight looks down upon his seemingly oblivious apprentice.

OBI-WAN: Well, my friend, the medical community has thrown in the towel. Perhaps the doctor’s correct; perhaps it is time to resort to non-rational means ….

Reaching out, Obi rests his fingers lightly upon Anakin’s brow. Closing his eyes, he concentrates on making contact with Anakin’s mind, on penetrating the haze entrapping it and drawing it back to the surface.

Suddenly Anakin’s eyes come into focus, pupils dilating into pinpoints in their orbs.

ANAKIN: YYYEEEAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!

Bolting up in bed, his face twisted into a terrifying grimace, an enraged Anakin seizes Obi-Wan’s throat in a chokehold. Startled, the Jedi staggers back, but Nik remains latched on. Falling backward to the floor, the apprentice collapsing atop him, Obi-Wan desperately tries to pry the clenched fingers from his soft throat, but the apprentice, still raving, only tightens his grip.

As Obi-Wan’s face starts to turn purple and his struggles against Anakin’s fierce attack begin to falter, the door bursts open. Dr. Reyem and the two orderlies dash inside, with the orderlies rushing Anakin, pulling the maniacal Jedi off his master and pinning him to the floor. Pulling out a hypo-syringe, Reyem moves forward, avoiding Nik’s thrashing legs, and plunges the needle deep into his gut, administering a large dose of sedative.

It takes over a minute, but the sedative’s effects finally kick in; losing his strength, Anakin slips back into unconsciousness.

DR. REYEM: (to Obi-Wan) What did you do?!

Obi-Wan, still sprawled out on the floor, hand at his reddened throat, can only answer with a fearful look from his eyes.

INT. ABIEDS-BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN’S ROOM – SUNSET

Hours have passed, and Anakin lies back in his bed, restraints tightly secured around his wrists and ankles. Awake, he looks out his window at Delantine’s three setting suns.

The room’s door opens, allowing Obi-Wan and an orderly to slip inside. The apprentice pays neither of them any heed.

OBI-WAN: (approaches Anakin’s bed) Nik?

Anakin doesn’t respond.

OBI-WAN: (uneasy) You gave me quite the throttling earlier. Not to worry, though – I’ll live.

Anakin doesn’t respond.

OBI-WAN: (gestures at the orderly) I’d ask him to leave, but –

ANAKIN: (distant) Why didn’t you tell me?

OBI-WAN: (frowns) What about?

ANAKIN: About the Purge.

Obi-Wan doesn’t respond.

ANAKIN: (turns to Obi-Wan) The sorceress took me inside her mind; she showed me visions of the past, her past. (beat) I saw Jedi Knights hunting down Sith – not lords, but the people. They took their lightsabers and butchered them. Not just the men, but the women and children, too. They were like animals; they slaughtered them like animals. (beat) It wasn’t a horrible illusion, was it? It happened, didn’t it? Don’t lie to me.

OBI-WAN: (sighs) The Jedi Shadows, a faction dedicated to ridding the Galaxy of all things Sith, helped the old Republic hunt down and destroy the Sith race. (beat) They betrayed the Jedi Creed; they were no longer true Jedi.

ANAKIN: Were they punished?

OBI-WAN: Many Jedi protested the Sith Purge ….

ANAKIN: Were they punished?

OBI-WAN: (resigned) No.

ANAKIN: (turns away from Obi-Wan) Everything you taught me about the Jedi was a lie.

OBI-WAN: Anakin, no --!

ANAKIN: (angry) The Jedi respect life, in all its forms! Were the Sith not alive?! (turns back to Obi-Wan, tears running down his cheeks) Give me no platitudes about creeds or true or false Jedi. Our order turned a blind eye as billions were put to the sword; that is beyond excuse. (agonized) And it’s all going to happen again, only the bloodshed will be on a grander scale, a thousand times worse.

OBI-WAN: Bloodshed? Anakin, what are you talking about?

ANAKIN: The sorceress showed me the past, but she didn’t stop there; she also showed me the future. A darksider will become emperor, and the Jedi will follow him as he rapes the Galaxy.

OBI-WAN: No, Anakin! Don’t believe it! Whatever the witch showed you – whatever future you witnessed – it was a deception! The Jedi will never follow the dark side!

ANAKIN: (sneers) By your own admission, they already have.

I decided the script needed a scene where Obi-Wan informed Nashira about Anakin’s condition before the apprentice’s “recovery”, so I went back to the last entry and put one in before the scenes set in the medical centre.

INT. CORUSCANT – JEDI TEMPLE/ROOM OF A THOUSAND FOUNTAINS – DAY

Located at the base of the Jedi Temple’s northwestern side, the Room of a Thousand Fountains is, for all intents and purposes, a seven story-tall greenhouse. Within the chamber, dozens upon dozens of elevated platforms take up space throughout each of the seven stories. Engineered into artificial garden islands, not a single millimetre of space is uncovered by earth or foliage or ponds. Several bridges connect the platforms, ensuring easy access to each of them. Utilizing a combination of special lighting and a holographically projected sky, the glass walls and ceiling of the chamber are obscured from direct view, creating an almost flawless illusion that this microcosm isn’t even located within the Jedi Temple – or anywhere else on Coruscant, for that matter.

Between two of the platforms, walking leisurely along one of the bridges, are Siri and Master Windu.

MACE WINDU: (cont’d) We have uncovered the identity of one your attackers. (beat) The DNA samples we took from the Wookiee’s remains matched those on file within Kashyyyk’s bio-database. Your hirsute attacker was apparently Mahttoh, a Wookiee who – with aid from an unidentified Trandoshan – managed to break the Kashyyyk blockade ten years ago and escape off-world. (beat) The governor of Kashyyyk was very pleased when we informed him of their wayward escapee’s final fate.

SIRI: Unidentified Trandoshan? So that’s it? We’re still in the dark as to who exactly they were and what their motivation for seeking out Obi-Wan was?

MACE WINDU: Yes.

Halting in mid-stride, the Jedi master walks over to the side of the bridge. Resting his hands along the guardrail, he looks over the side to the mist-enshrouded depths below them. Siri soon joins him.

MACE WINDU: (smiles) It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

SIRI: Yes. (smiles) Mistress Gallia used to take us out here every day for our meditations. I’d spend hours lost in the scents and sounds of the plants and waters. (sighs) Now I’m lucky if I get to visit the fountains once a month.

MACE WINDU: That can be remedied. (turns to Siri) Siri, how would you like to come back to the Temple?

SIRI: (cocks an eyebrow) Master?

MACE WINDU: Adi and I have given what has transpired considerable thought, and we believe your safety remains a concern. It is in your best interest that you avoid your apartment – stay here where your brethren-in-arms can watch over and protect you – until the Trandoshan has been apprehended.

SIRI: I appreciate the gesture, Master, but it’s unwarranted. The Trandoshan isn’t so foolish as to stage such a heedless assault.

MACE WINDU: (raises his finger) You underestimate his tenacity. He will not sleep until he’s revenged himself upon you for taking his arm and the life of his partner.

SIRI: I have crossed blades with many dangerous opponents over the years, ever since I was old enough to join my mistress on away missions. I am not afraid of a one-armed lizard in cortosis armour.

MACE WINDU: Of that there’s no doubt, yet don’t forget Sakan Do’nair’s Admonition: “The slightest blade can slip between the plates of the heaviest armour.” I believe the interpretation is clear.

SIRI: (sighs) What of Obi-Wan?

MACE WINDU: Your husband is away on the front; it will be months before he returns. (places a hand on Siri’s shoulder) Leave future concerns for the future.

Siri takes a moment to digest Windu’s words.

SIRI: Can I have my old room back?

MACE WINDU: (half-smiles) Of that, we’ll have to see.

INT. DELANTINE – IMPERIAL BASE/HOLOPROJECTION CHAMBER – EVENING

Bail enters the holoprojection chamber. Upon stepping up upon the holoprojection platform, the blue-tinted image of MOFF MARTHAN, a tall, lean Duros, materializes before him.

BAIL: Moff Marthan. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, sir.

BAIL: Likewise, Capt. Organa. (beat) I read your mission report, Captain – many times, in fact. It made for some particularly heavy reading. I had to make certain I wasn’t … misreading your recollection of the events which transpired on your mission.

BAIL: I swear that it’s 100% true to the facts, sir.

MOFF MARTHAN: Hmm … yes, I’m certain they are. That is, I believe you believe that to be the case. Certainly, you did encounter something out there – the mutagenic beasts, for example.

OBI-WAN: Rakghouls.

MOFF MARTHAN: Rakghouls, yes. (beat) As for your reports of a ghost, a “Sith sorceress” ….

BAIL: (frowns) Sir, she was real.

MOFF MARTHAN: Captain, I know all too well the tricks the mind can play on you when you’re suffering from heat stroke. Cmdr. Vaness suffered a psychotic break as a result of the transformations wrought to her DNA, and in your state, you misinterpreted her violent behaviour as a case of spectral possession. It’s perfectly understandable, Captain.

BAIL: Moff, why am I here? If it’s to put my faculties under a microscope –

MOFF MARTHAN: I’m sorry, Captain. I’ve gone off on a tangent. You’re not here to be re-evaluated; the doctors on Delantine have assured us you’re of sound mind and body. (beat) I’m offering you another mission.

BAIL: Sir, Raia’s body is being shipped back to Alderaan. I have all intention of being there when she is laid to rest. So all due respect, but get somebody else on the job.

MOFF MARTHAN: This mission is completely optional, Captain, I assure you; you can decline if you so wish.

BAIL: I decline.

MOFF MARTHAN: (frowns; cont’d) Just give me the honour of hearing me out first.

BAIL: Very well, sir.

MOFF MARTHAN: Yours was not the only reconnaissance team dispatched to the Bajilon system. Are you aware of that?

BAIL: No, I wasn’t.

MOFF MARTHAN: Four other teams were sent out into Wild Space alongside yours. Beside yourselves, only one team found their way back to Imperial space. They succeeded in their mission, actually, and they gathered much intel on the Athan presence in the system.

Typing a command into an unseen panel, Moff Marthan brings a panoramic shot of Bajilon Prime into view over both their heads. More Athan ships than can be counted orbit the crystalline world.

BAIL: (dumbfounded) My Lord! All those ships – half the Athan fleet must be stationed there!

MOFF MARTHAN: 63.11%, if our estimates are correct.

Entering in another command, the moff zooms and focuses in upon a specific craft: a large artificial spheroid twenty-two kilometres in diametre.

MOFF MARTHAN: Do you recognize that type of ship?

BAIL: A battlemoon? But weren’t all three battlemoons destroyed above Mustafar?

MOFF MARTHAN: All three that we knew of, Captain. (beat) Actually, from what the team was able to glean, it’s no longer a battlemoon as such. It’s been retrofitted to serve as a … hyperspacial distribution board.

BAIL: (nods) For maintaining all the interdictor generators the Clonemasters have in operation cutting off the system. Instead of having a maintenance crew work the stations of each individual generator, just slave them all to this one machine for convenience’s sake.

MOFF MARTHAN: Exactly. (beat) That battlemoon’s what’s keeping the entire interdiction field up. Take it out and the field goes down.

BAIL: Restoring the hyperroutes into the system.

MOFF MARTHAN: And that’s the new mission – to infiltrate the battlemoon and take it out of the game, knock down the field so that we can send our ships in to pulverize the whiteface fleet before they can send for their reinforcements.

BAIL: I don’t understand – why not just send a defender or destroyer in to take the battlemoon out?

MOFF MARTHAN: You haven’t read up on battlemoon capabilities, have you, Captain? They have powerful deflectors – stronger than the ones utilized by Imperator-class star destroyers. It took an entire fleet of cruisers to disable only one of the three at Mustafar.

BAIL: So how are we to blow this battlemoon out of space if a fleet had trouble getting it done?

MOFF MARTHAN: Not blow, Captain, fry. Our people have devised a particularly nasty computer virus, one potent enough to infect all the battlemoon’s on-board systems and give it a complete digital lobotomy. It’s not as spectacular as a fiery explosion, but just as effective. (beat) So, Captain, still uninterested?

I returned to the last entry and overhauled it.

EXT. GEONOSIS – CONDAWN CITY – DAY

Located atop a plateau surrounded on all sides by open, barren, cold desert is Condawn City, capital of Geonosis’ Condawn Province. Though there are veritable metropolises built deep underground in immense subterranean caverns, at 122.19 km2 in area, Condawn City is the largest settlement located atop the surface of the planet.

CUT TO

The Condawn Capitol House, located near the heart of Condawn City. While once a resplendent monument at some early point in its long history, unnameable generations of destruction and restoration wrought by the planet’s harsh elements and fierce battles have left it only a little less nondescript – a little less shabby – than its neighbouring buildings.

INT. CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE/CHLORIAN VADER’S OFFICE – DAY

Within the spacious office room, GOVERNOR CHLORIAN VADER sits behind his pearlwood desk. Clad in a simple brown Imperial uniform stripped of any and all rank insignia, Vader is burly with solid gray hair, a man in late middle age – possibly somewhere in the neighbourhood of 115 to 120 years old. Exhausted, his face pasty and gray eyes bloodshot, he can no longer read over the pile of datapads strewn atop his desk; closing his eyes, he rubs the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

SHMI WARKA then enters the room. A slender woman with long, braided brunette hair and a pleasant face marked by laugh lines and crow’s feet, she, too, can be considered middle-aged, though she is at least ten years Vader’s junior.

A tray of food and drink held between her hands, Shmi walks up to Vader beside his desk.

CHLORIAN VADER: Shmi. (notices the tray) What’s this?

SHMI WARKA: It’s food.

CHLORIAN VADER: I can very well see that. I didn’t ask for anything to eat.

SHMI WARKA: It’s been two days since you’ve had a meal.

CHLORIAN VADER: I’ve been too busy to eat, Shmi. (beat) Besides, how can I eat when the people are going hungry out there? (shakes his head) No, take it away, take it home. You and your son could do with it more.

SHMI WARKA: Darth and I are well enough off, don’t you worry. (clears a space on the desk and sets the tray down)

CHLORIAN: We both know that’s a damn lie. (laughs mirthlessly) No one’s well enough off.

Rising from his chair, Vader crosses over to the twin transparisteel doors which lead to the balcony outside. He doesn’t open the doors to go outside; he just stands there, looking out across the dismal brown cityscape beyond.

CHLORIAN VADER: What has it been, now – almost three months? Three months cut off from the rest of the Galaxy. We can’t leave and no one can arrive. The Underdwellers have sealed the entrances into their cities, hoarding their caches of supplies, leaving us topside to starve. We can’t even call to ask what is going on out there; all hyperwave transmissions are being jammed. (sighs) By the Ancients, it feels like it’s been a hundred years, not three months.

Walking up to Vader, Shmi rests her hands on his shoulder.

SHMI WARKA: Don’t trouble yourself so, Chlor. Have faith that Providence will provide for us when the time is ripe. (beat) Now come – your brunch awaits.

Smiling slightly, Vader rests a hand on Shmi’s own. Turning around, they head back to the desk.

At that very moment, the light coming in through the doors grows dim, casting the office into a deep twilight of shadow.

CHLORIAN VADER: (frowns) What’s this?

The governor and his servant return to the twin doors. Looking out through the transparisteel panes, their mouths drop agape.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY – DAY

Having arrived from the depths of space, the Imperator-class star destroyer Purifier now resides over Condawn City, its vast bulk blocking out the sun. Thousands of TIE-fighters accompany it, swarming about like metallic locusts, choking up the skies.

It’s been a number of months since I last attended to this script, and anyone following its progress is probably wondering what’s going on with the lack of updates.

Unfortunately, I have no good news. Anakin’s story is firmly established, and so I know exactly where I’m going with him and how to bring him there. Everything else, though – the Geonosis invasion/occupation, this new battlemoon subplot, Obi-Wan’s role in all of it – it’s all become so convoluted, so hopelessly confused, and I don’t know how to bring any order to the chaos.

I feel I may have to discard everything I’ve done so far in regards to the clone invasion, just cut it out and start again from scratch. Any suggestions as to how I could go about doing that would be most welcome at this point.

Well, I’ve figured out a way to fix this screenplay. I’m simply going to excise the SGW-0027 character from the narrative. I still find the character interesting to write for, but her story is detracting from the main story I want to tell with Anakin and Obi-Wan; it quite simply doesn’t belong here.

I’ll be retaining the clone invasion of Geonosis, but instead of following its progress from her POV, I’ll be following it from the POV of the young Darth Vader. This means I’ll have to introduce Darth and his parents at an earlier point in the story, effectively making Darth the third main character.

I don’t know when I’ll get to work revamping the screenplay; it could be sooner, it could be later. In either case, I’ve decided that I’m going to start a new thread to showcase the revised draft. This present draft may be a failure, but I consider it an admirable failure; I want to preserve it as it is.

All that said, if anyone has any thoughts they’d like to give or questions to ask, feel free to give them. If not, then this thread is officially closed.