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.
