This user has been banned.
A. You’re a prick
Then just call me Mr. Prick.
B. Why do you even read this topic? You obviously don’t like this tvseries.
Right question, wrong thread. Re-post it here.
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 28,000 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 bridges 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 war torn battlefield. Now dressed head-to-toe in jet-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 black 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 EIKHAN: (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 large 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) A novel interpretation of the Force was presented 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, horrified 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 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 with 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 which 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.
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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.
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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, the Kissai dispatched an armada 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 warblades 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 new age of great prosperity and expansion.
NYKRES EIKHAN: Under the Sith Lords, the Sith Empire experienced a renaissance. 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 heroes 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 warblade, 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 warblade 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 – passes 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 plant 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 warblades 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 smaller than your Republic by far. Thus 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. It 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 which 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 buzzes 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 about 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 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, he telekinetically holds aloft a lowly servant. Closing his hands into fists, he causes the poor creature to spontaneously combust, immolating him alive from the inside out.
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 disloyal worlds, 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 prevent 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 Xuthltan, 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 dead lips!
The Kissai seizes Anakin’s throat in a chokehold and he reciprocates. The two combatants then struggle there, locked in violent mental 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, the woman 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.
Imagine the chaos that would ensue if fans had that kind of technology and could convincingly imitate whomever they wanted.
The glorious, glorious chaos.
Why do you even watch this show? You obviously don’t like it.
A. He’s a masochist
B. He wants to fan the flames of his hatred
INT. GEONOSIS – ESCAPE TUNNEL/EXIT – TWILIGHT
After days of travelling on foot, the escapees have come to the end of the tunnel. A narrow doorway stands before them, leading out into a cave.
EXT. PLATEAU WALL – CAVE – TWILIGHT
Chlorian emerges out of the cave. The cave is situated up in the wall of the plateau, a winding pathway leading down to the flat, open desert terrain which stretches out to the horizon.
Chlorian begins climbing down the pathway, the hundreds of escapees following after him single-file.
EXT. XUTHLTAN – 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, you feeling okay?
CMDR. VANESS: (nods) 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 to make base camp at the temple, right?
OBI-WAN: (resigned) Right.
BAIL: Good to hear 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 point.
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: (enraged) 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, he 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 as it breaks in two.
There, nestled within the confines of the ancient sarcophagus, arms crossed over chest, are 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 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: 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 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 any of us can do to stop it.
CMDR. VANESS: (rolls her eyes) 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 jade 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 silent statues and walls of glowing runes 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 on to the Force.
Vaness’ eyes fling open wide, the irises now a feral yellow. 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, Possessed Vaness lifts herself up with the Force, using it to levitate 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, she 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 green aura. The lightsaber blade overloads with power 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 weapon 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, trained for her back. At the last second she spins around, using Cody’s body as a shield. Before he can stop himself in time, Anakin ends up running Cody through. Eyes flinging wide with surprise, the commander 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 hurtling over the edge of 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 green 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. NYKRES EIKHAN’S MINDSCAPE
Anakin stands in an unsettling 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: 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.
Since the SW Universe isn’t some Carrollian fantasy universe where the laws of logic are made up as they go along, I don’t expect people and militaries to act or react any differently than they would in the real world just 'cause Lazy Lucas, was Lazy.
You’re weird.
As much as I love Mara’s groovy eyeshadow, I’m gonna have to go with Kor. He’s a most magnificent bastard with a most magnificent mustache.
Since the SW Universe isn’t some Carrollian fantasy universe where the laws of logic are made up as they go along, I don’t expect people and militaries to act or react any differently than they would in the real world just 'cause Lazy Lucas, was Lazy.
The more I see of Krennic the more he reminds me of JeJerrod in earlier and superior draughts of Revenge of the Jedi. I wish there was a way of making JeJerrod less weak in the final film.
Somehow make his deleted scene in the third act HD and reinstate it into the film.
Not really enough though is it? I would replace him with a new scripted performance.
By 2040, CGI will become so photo realistic and the software to create it so inexpensive that this will certainly be an achievable goal to the common man within that timeframe.
Why are Lando and Han, two scoundrels who had little to no interest in the Rebellion, suddenly generals capable and willing to lead the Rebellion’s final attacks?
Yeah, I always hated the way anyone could become a goddamn general in this franchise without being a commissioned officer/having any military experience beforehand.
Yeah, it’s almost as if they’re a ragtag band of rebels rather than a well-organized military with an established and stable hierarchy.
If there are no real-world cases of this ever happening, I won’t buy it.
I gotta say, I much prefer the Klingons of the TOS era. They were more cunning than the later depictions.
They had better hygiene and table manners, too.
Honor blah blah blah. Klingon Warrior blah blah blah. Stovokor blah blah blah. Blood wine blah blah blah. Rinse and repeat. Worf has the occasional moment but they are few and far between.
Said it far better than I ever could.
Worf/klingons episodes are also great
Now we can never be friends.
INT. GEONOSIS – MEDCENTRE/CORRIDOR OUTSIDE SHMI’S ROOM – EVENING
Doctors, nurses, and patients are hurriedly leaving the medcentre for the escape tunnel.
Summoned to the medcentre, Chlorian finds a doctor sitting with Darth; the boy is catatonic.
Rising from his chair, the doctor takes Chlorian out of earshot of Darth and tells the governor that Shmi died of a stroke. Chlorian goes into shocked silence for a moment, unable to believe what he is hearing. Chlorian then tells the doctor to take Darth and join the others gathering at the tunnel entrance, that he will personally take care of Shmi’s body.
INT. CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE/MEAT LOCKER – EVENING
Chlorian enters an empty meat locker, the still form of Shmi’s body held in his arms. Opening a secret compartment beneath the floor, he gives his final farewells to the dead woman, kisses her forehead, then seals her within the makeshift tomb.
INT. WAREHOUSE – EVENING
The DENIZENS of the Capitol Centre – all 400+ of them – have come to the warehouse, gathered around a large turbolift platform which will take them below-ground.
Entering, Chlorian goes to the head of the crowd. Addressing them, he tells them to make sure no one is missing and to leave behind any non-essential belongings.
The first group of escapees climb aboard the turbolift platform and are lowered down into the escape tunnel.
EXT. XUTHLTAN – 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; 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 approaches the restrained Journeyman Protector. Cody, eyes hard on her, doesn’t say a word.
KATHE 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 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 in 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 reveals SIX RAKGHOULS standing there before the two Humans. Hulking yellow humanoids, the rakghouls 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. Drawing the woman in close, it pulls out her arm and bites down, shearing through the cloth, skin, muscle, and tendon above her elbow.
KATHE NAAD: 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 fast to the ground, it opens its jaws wide 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 its 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 makeshift knife; 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 NAAD: 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.
INT. GEONOSIS – ESCAPE TUNNEL – DAY
After hours trekking through the dank, dark tunnel, the escapees had decided to establish a camp and take a rest.
Chlorian tries to strike up a conversation with Darth, but the boy hasn’t said a single word since Shmi died. After some more prodding from Chlorian, Darth finally mutters that it’s his fault his mother is dead and that he wants to lay down and die himself. Fed up with Darth’s attitude, Chlorian tells him that if he does lay down and die, he’ll be dishonouring her memory and rendering her death meaningless; if he doesn’t want Shmi’s death to have been in vain, he’ll get his act together and fight to stay alive.
EXT. XUTHLTAN – 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 commodity.
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 if your situations were reversed?
OBI-WAN: 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.
KATHE 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 hue.
KATHE NAAD: Obi-Wan ….
Hearing her weak call, the Jedi Knight crouches down beside her.
OBI-WAN: Yes?
KATHE 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.
KATHE 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 mission was to send 50,000 colonists beyond the borders of the Galactic Republic into the Unknown Regions then past the galactic rim out towards the Rishi Maze, but communication abruptly stopped months into the mission and Outbound Flight was presumed lost.
KATHE NAAD: (nods) But several new hyperroutes into the Unknown Regions were charted before their disappearance … sent back to Republic Intelligence. 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 files … the athas established 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 the Townowi system.
KATHE NAAD: Townowi leads to Geonosis … Geonosis to the Dark Worlds, as you’ve so aptly christened them. (coughs) Once Geonosis has been taken … contact with the Dark Worlds will be re-established. Their forces will rendezvous with ours … and Geonosis will serve as the beachhead for a renewed assault against the Empire. The war will be prolonged for several more years, (coughs) long enough perhaps for the Supremacy to secure victory. (coughs)
ANAKIN: With the interdiction field up, there’s no way to stop them. We can’t possibly track down and dispatch every inter-field generator in the web.
KATHE KATHE: Within the centre of the interdiction zone rests a battlemoon …. It’s been repurposed to serve as a … hyperspatial redistribution board …. All the inter-field generators have been slaved to it, allowing the entire field to be maintained from a sole location …. Seize the battlemoon and you can collapse the field.
Kathe then gives them a series of hyperspace coordinates which lead to the battlemoon’s location and the access codes they’ll need to attain passage through those points in the interdiction zone.
BAIL: I don’t believe any of this. You wouldn’t betray the Clonemasters; you’re hardwired against it.
KATHE NAAD: (laughs weakly) Look at me, Captain. (holds up her yellow hand) Look at my (coughs) skin. My “hardwiring” isn’t what it (coughs) used to be.
CMDR. CODY: You’re still vathead slime.
KATHE NAAD: Vathead slime … 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.
KATHE NAAD: Please understand … I didn’t want to do what I did …. I didn’t want to kill Andue 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.
KATHE 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. Rakghouls.
ANAKIN: Rakghouls … I read 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 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.
Due to my aforementioned dearth of love for the Geonosis scenes, I’ve decided to go the outline route with further scenes set on that planet; I’ll just provide rough descriptions of the locations/actions/dialogue/etc. and dispense with all the needless elaboration which only tires and bores me. If I absolutely need to go into detail on those points for the sake of character/story development, then of course I will make exceptions in their case. Otherwise, I’m putting no more effort into the Geonosis parts of the story.
And before I forget to mention this: I changed Petra Antilles’ last name to “Andue”.
Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls.
This design isn’t terrible
You take that back!
Galen Erso eats gourmet Soylent Green.
Watched the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show.
I didn’t get this show as a kid, but after twelve years of stewing in my burgeoning psychosis, I now understand its appeal.
8/10
And yhwx sublimely pwns us all.
I have little interest and no intention of ever watching this.
Why are Lando and Han, two scoundrels who had little to no interest in the Rebellion, suddenly generals capable and willing to lead the Rebellion’s final attacks?
Yeah, I always hated the way anyone could become a goddamn general in this franchise without being a commissioned officer/having any military experience beforehand.
Finally had a dream which wasn’t depressing.
Trying to describe it isn’t all that easy. All I can say is that it was filled with imagery from my home town, permeated with a distinct '90s atmosphere, had locomotives, some posh-looking scientist who looked like a cross between the Monopoly guy and Col. Sanders, and was completely disjointed.
This is also the first dream I recall ever having that was anywhere near being a lucid dream. There was a point in the proceedings of the dream where everything became very realistic – the colours and textures took on an almost life-like quality – and I willed her to appear. I didn’t want her to appear as she has been appearing in my last couple dreams – largely unseen, distant, and afraid of me – but as someone who loved me and cared about me. So she appeared, a broad smile across her face, and we embraced.
That’s all I remember.
Must resist making dinosaur boob joke … must resist making dinosaur boob joke …
Ah, fuck it.
“Wow! Get a load of those honkers!”