by Cavan Scott
She kicks it open.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
But once inside, the trail grew cold. The building was a maze of dank corridors, mold and spirit knew what else climbing up the walls. Glute could have been hiding behind any of the warped doors, but I knew in my gut that he wasn’t here. Maybe it was the Force. Maybe it was a hunch, but I decided to wait, sheltering on the roof of a nearby warehouse as it started to rain.
There’s the rumble of thunder, the pattering of rain, which continues in all scenes in this location.
VENTRESS:
Unfortunately, I wasn’t alone…
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
This all comes so naturally to you.
VENTRESS:
Still wish you’d taken me to the Temple?
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
They could have done so much for you. Unlike me.
VENTRESS:
Please. Spare me your self-pity.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
I failed you.
VENTRESS:
Yes. Yes, you did.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
At least that silenced him, but I couldn’t let it go, like picking at a scab.
VENTRESS:
Dooku says they abandoned you.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
He’s Sith. He lies.
VENTRESS:
Really? All the time we were together, all the time we trained, you never contacted them, and they never contacted you. Why was that?
There’s no answer.
VENTRESS:
Hello? Are you there? Or are you pulling a Yoda. I’m ready to learn, Master! Why won’t you open your eyes!
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
You’re mocking me.
VENTRESS:
Only because you make it so easy.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
He chuckles. Actually chuckles. I find myself smiling. I can’t let myself get sucked in. I need to stay focused, to remember why I’m here.
She pulls the data disks from her pouch.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
What are you doing?
VENTRESS:
Following orders. Maybe you should’ve done the same.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
Then I wouldn’t have met you.
VENTRESS:
No, but you’d still be alive.
She pulls the projector from her pouch.
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
That’s the reader from Dooku’s cabin.
VENTRESS:
What he doesn’t know won’t kill me. Do you mind?
KY NAREC: (GHOST)
Could I stop you if I did?
VENTRESS:
Better men have tried.
She slips a disk into the reader. A hologram activates.
VENTRESS: (NARRATION)
I wince when I say it. Better men? Like Dooku? He stopped me quickly enough. He stares back at me from the hologram, now a Padawan, seventeen, maybe eighteen years of age, no sign of the cruelty that will follow.
Why am I doing this? If Ky really is there, if he’s found a way to come back, surely I should be spending every moment I can with him, rather than wading through the past of the man who’s enslaved me all over again. Because that’s what I am, isn’t it? A slave. Back where I began.
I could run right now. I could jump on a cruiser and never look back.
But where would I go? Rattatak? Dathomir?
I’d thought I’d come so far.
She presses play.
DOOKU: (SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD, HOLO-NARRATION)
Jenza. I hope you are well. I…I have just returned from a mercy mission, but things did not go to plan. There is much we could have done differently…much we should have done, but they wouldn’t listen. They never listen…
SCENE 38. EXT. JEDI TEMPLE. MEDITATION BALCONY.
Atmosphere as before, traffic zipping past, et cetera.
DOOKU: (SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD)
Ferana, come on, girl. Where are you?
DOOKU: (HOLO-NARRATION)
I’ve been caring for Lene’s convor while she’s offplanet, which turns out to be more often than not…
The convor flies down to roost on a rail, chirping.
DOOKU:
There you are. Hello, girl. Yes, hello. Hello. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?
There’s a rustle of a bag of seed.
DOOKU:
There you are. Do you like that, eh?
The bird trills.
SIFO-DYAS: (SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD)
Careful. Last time I fed her she nearly took off my fingers.
DOOKU:
Sifo-Dyas!
SIFO-DYAS:
Good to see you, old friend.
They embrace, slapping each other’s backs.
DOOKU:
Old?
SIFO-DYAS:
It must be the beard. Very distinguished. One might almost say…regal.
DOOKU:
Don’t start. When did you get back?
SIFO-DYAS:
This morning. Zang said you were up here.
DOOKU:
Like she’d know.
SIFO-DYAS:
I have something for you.
He rifles through his robes, producing a crystal.
SIFO-DYAS:
There you go.
DOOKU:
Thank you. It’s…it’s beautiful. (HE TURNS IT OVER) Is it kyber?
SIFO-DYAS:
No. I got it on Palek. The Palekians use them to meditate. Here, let me show you. (HE TAKES IT BACK) You hold it in your hand like this and focus on the vibrations in the cortex. Go on. You try.
Dooku takes it.
SIFO-DYAS:
Can you feel them?
DOOKU:
Yes. Yes, I can.
SIFO-DYAS:
It’s incredible, isn’t it? A hyperstorm hit when we were there, and even in the middle of it—
(CRIES OUT IN SUDDEN PAIN)
DOOKU:
Sifo. Sifo, what’s wrong?
Sifo drops the crystal. It shatters.
SIFO-DYAS:
(PAINED) The storm.
DOOKU:
On Palek?
SIFO-DYAS:
No. Flames. Flames rushing in. The planet is burning.
DOOKU:
Planet? What planet? Sifo. Look at me. Focus on me.
SIFO-DYAS:
I can’t stop them. Why can’t I stop them, Dooku?
A door slides open. Lene enters.
LENE:
Dooku?
DOOKU:
Lene. Something’s wrong with Sifo-Dyas.
LENE:
Not again.
DOOKU:
It’s happened before?
LENE:
Too many times. Sifo. Sifo, listen to me. You need to come back. You need to center yourself.
SIFO-DYAS:
Master?
LENE:
That’s right. Breathe. Focus. The Force is with you.
SIFO-DYAS:
The Force is with me.
LENE:
What did you see?
SIFO-DYAS:
(SHAKEN) The sky was falling. There were screams. So many screams.
LENE:
Where were you?
SIFO-DYAS:
I don’t know. A planet. Not far from here. Millions will die.
LENE:
It’s a warning.<
br />
DOOKU:
What do you mean?
LENE:
Sifo-Dyas suffers from…premonitions.
DOOKU:
Since when?
LENE:
Since he learned to open his mind.
DOOKU:
Does Yoda know?
LENE:
I was hoping we could keep it…
DOOKU:
Secret?
LENE:
Under wraps.
SIFO-DYAS:
This was different, Master. I’ve never seen such devastation.
DOOKU:
We should tell the Council.
SIFO-DYAS:
Dooku, no.
DOOKU:
We must.
LENE:
Dooku’s right. It’s too important.
SIFO-DYAS:
They won’t listen.
DOOKU:
Then we’ll make them.
SCENE 39. INT. JEDI COUNCIL CHAMBER.
Atmosphere as in the prequels.
YODA:
Worrying, this is, Master Kostana.
LENE:
Yes, yes. I know what you’re going to say. The future should remain unseen, but unfortunately Sifo-Dyas has little choice in the matter.
SINUBE:
How long have these visions been plaguing you, Padawan?
SIFO-DYAS:
A few months.
BRAYLON:
And yet your Master didn’t think to bring it to our attention.
LENE:
I’ve been training Sifo how to withstand his…episodes.
BRAYLON:
(EXASPERATED) Why?
LENE:
Because they come from the Force. What right do we have to ignore its warnings?
BRAYLON:
If this has something to do with your obsession with the Sith…
LENE:
It has to do with saving lives! Millions upon millions of lives. He saw entire cities wiped out, Yula. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the pain and the suffering? Because Sifo-Dyas can. He saw it. He felt it.
YODA:
Hmm. Come forward, Padawan.
SIFO-DYAS:
Yes, Grand Master.
YODA:
Visualize the disaster, you must. Painful it may be.
SIFO-DYAS:
I…I understand.
YODA:
Pinpoint the disturbance we shall. You, too, my Padawan. Join the circle, you should.
DOOKU:
Master.
BRAYLON:
Tell us what you saw, Sifo-Dyas.
SIFO-DYAS:
It was…a paradise. Long grass blowing in the wind. Fields the size of countries.
SINUBE:
Show us. Picture it in your mind.
SIFO-DYAS:
(BECOMING AGITATED) The wind…it turned into a storm. A terrible storm. People were falling. Screaming. Flames reaching up to catch them. Burning fingers reaching into the sky.
LENE:
You’re safe, Sifo-Dyas. Remember that.
SINUBE:
He can’t take much more.
DOOKU:
But I can. Sifo-Dyas, draw on my strength.
YODA:
No. Too dangerous it is.
DOOKU:
Master, we need to see.
SIFO-DYAS:
It’s all right. I can manage.
BRAYLON:
Where is it, Sifo-Dyas? Show us the planet.
LENE:
It doesn’t work like that.
SIFO-DYAS:
No. I can do it.
SINUBE:
Anything you can give us. Constellations? Suns?
SIFO-DYAS:
Sun. One sun. Bloated. Old.
YODA:
I sense…a Core world.
LENE:
Or the Colonies. Somewhere central.
BRAYLON:
Open a holomap.
A hologram shimmers on.
BRAYLON:
Bardotta?
LENE:
No. That’s not right. The grass Sifo described…they’re…they’re crops.
YODA:
Hmm. An agriworld, then.
BRAYLON:
Remove all other planets from the display.
There’s a beep. The hologram shifts.
YODA:
Focus. Focus on what Sifo-Dyas saw.
DOOKU:
There. Protobranch.
BRAYLON:
Are you sure?
SIFO-DYAS:
Yes. Yes, that’s it. I know it is.
YODA:
Hmm. And what do we know of Protobranch? Dooku?
A datapad beeps.
DOOKU:
The homeworld of the Bivall. Traditionally agricultural. Main exports include grain and bacta.
BRAYLON:
Have there been reports of any unusual meteorological phenomena?
More beeps.
DOOKU:
Not that I can see.
SIFO-DYAS:
We should warn them.
YODA:
No.
DOOKU:
But Master, if they could prepare themselves…
YODA:
No, I said.
DOOKU:
But why?
YODA:
Because misleading visions can be. Never certain the future is. Meditate on this we must.
LENE:
Meditate? And what will we do if disaster strikes while we search for answers? Will we meditate on the lives that could have been saved?
BRAYLON:
The Council’s decision is final, Master Kostana.
LENE:
Then the Council is wrong.
DOOKU: (HOLO-NARRATION)
Lene stormed from the Chamber. I watched as she swept from the Temple, her robes billowing as she crossed the Republic Plaza, marching toward the Senate…
SCENE 40. EXT. OUTSIDE THE SENATE BUILDING.
Atmosphere: The busy hubbub of the Senate. Crowds of people. Air traffic above.
Lene is walking purposefully up the steps, Dooku chasing after her.
DOOKU:
Lene. Wait.
LENE:
You’re supposed to be at the Temple, Dooku.
DOOKU:
I could say the same about you.
LENE:
Just go back. You don’t have to be a part of this.
DOOKU:
A part of what?
TAVETTI:
(CALLING OVER) Master Kostana!
Lene walks toward him.
LENE:
Senator Tavetti, it’s good to see you.
DOOKU:
(WHISPER) That’s the Bivall senator.
LENE:
(WHISPER) Yes, it is.
DOOKU:
(WHISPER) But Yoda said…
LENE:
(HISSED) I know what he said. (TO TAVETTI) Senator. You’ve had opportunity to review my message?
TAVETTI:
You think I would agree to meet if I had not? If what your apprentice saw is true…
LENE:
There is no way to be certain. It was only a vision.
TAVETTI:
But the landscape he described.
LENE:
You recognize
it?
TAVETTI:
Of course. The Tabor Plains.
DOOKU:
Where the majority of your bacta is produced.
TAVETTI:
And this is?
LENE:
Padawan Dooku.
TAVETTI:
The Padawan who had the vision?
DOOKU:
No, but I was there. Sifo said there would be a fire. A fire that would rage over the entire globe.
TAVETTI:
A disaster of this scale would be catastrophic to the planet’s economy.
DOOKU:
Not to mention all the people who would die.
TAVETTI:
Without our bacta, the galactic death toll would be much worse. What does the Council intend to do about it?
LENE:
We cannot be seen to interfere.
TAVETTI:
Interfere?
LENE:
Not without definite proof that something is about to happen. Have you contacted Protobranch?
TAVETTI:
Straightaway. But the weather is strictly regulated. No storms are scheduled until well after harvest.
LENE:
There must be something we can do.
TAVETTI:
I will talk to the chancellor. Maybe she can order the Council to investigate.
LENE:
Whatever you think is best, Senator.
TAVETTI:
I shall see her at once.
Tavetti hurries off.
TAVETTI:
(CALLING BACK) But your mission must be kept secret, Master Jedi. We mustn’t cause panic among the people.
LENE:
Of course, Senator.
DOOKU:
Master Yoda isn’t going to like this, you know.
LENE:
Not in the slightest.
SCENE 41. EXT. SPACE.
A Jedi shuttle zips by.
SCENE 42. INT. JEDI SHUTTLE.
Atmosphere: The interior of a Jedi shuttle coming down through clouds.
Yoda is meditating, Dooku nervously hovering at the door.
DOOKU:
(CLEARS HIS THROAT) Master Yoda. We have arrived in the Protobranch system.
YODA:
Aware of that, I am. Thank you, Padawan.
DOOKU:
Sorry. I…Master Kostana asked me to let you know.
YODA:
Prepare we must. Waiting on the surface, the prime minister will be.
DOOKU:
Master, I…
YODA:
Yes?
DOOKU:
I’m sorry Master Kostana went behind your back.