by Ian Doescher
Enter OBI-WAN KENOBI above, on balcony, listening.
GRIEVIOUS
You, Viceroy, should have gratitude enow
That you’ve not felt the power of my grasp.
Behold, your ship awaiteth at the dock
And flies direct to Mustafar anon.
[Exeunt Nute, Wat, Shu, San, Poggle, and other council members.
OBI-WAN
I may not have another chance to meet
This Grievous face-to-face; the time is now.
[Obi-Wan leaps from the balcony and lands next to Grievous.
My greetings, General—we meet again.
GRIEVOUS
Ah, General Kenobi, you are bold.
My fearless droids, kill him upon the instant!
[Several MagnaGuards approach Obi-Wan threateningly. He uses the Force to make part of the ceiling collapse onto them, destroying them.
OBI-WAN
Your bodyguards should guard their bodies, ha!
They are but chaff to me—a Jedi Knight!
GRIEVOUS
All back away, remove yourselves from us:
I shall destroy this Jedi filth myself.
OBI-WAN
Your move, O, grievous, feeble General.
GRIEVOUS
Those words shall be your last, you noisome fool—
Count Dooku train’d me in the Jedi arts.
[Grievous removes his robe to reveal four arms, each holding a lightsaber.
Lay on, Kenobi, if you’d dare!
OBI-WAN
—Forsooth!
[Grievous approaches Obi-Wan while spinning two of his lightsabers, carving grooves in the ground as he does so.
[Aside:] What frightful trick of baseborn hell is this?
I see that he hath arm’d himself so well,
Mine only recourse is to take his arms—
One at a time, if ’tis what’s needed. Ho!
[They duel. Obi-Wan strikes one of Grievous’s hands, severing it.
GRIEVOUS
Unhand me, wretch, yet I shall come again!
E’en mightier, and now with hate severe!
OBI-WAN
You shall be disarm’d ere this fight is through!
[They continue to duel. Obi-Wan severs one of Grievous’s arms.
GRIEVOUS
Two gone, but still the two I have are strong!
Enter CLONE TROOPERS led by COMMANDER CODY, engaging BATTLE DROIDS in combat.
OBI-WAN
Commander Cody comes in perfect time.
GRIEVOUS
Your warriors may take some lot of mine,
Yet you shall never taste of victory.
Your morsel of success shall turn to doom—
A rotten bit to make your insides rise.
OBI-WAN
Nay, there you err: the sweetest meats of triumph
Already tease mine hungry, eager lips.
[Obi-Wan uses the Force to push Grievous back against a wall. Grievous’s two remaining lightsabers fall from his hands. Grievous climbs into a nearby wheel bike and begins driving it toward Obi-Wan.
GRIEVOUS
You’ll have an answer for your insolence!
[Grievous rushes past Obi-Wan, barely missing him. Obi-Wan jumps out of the way.
OBI-WAN
O, Boga, wise and noble Boga, come!
Enter BOGA.
BOGA
Braaee! Braaee!
OBI-WAN
—Good lady, follow him anon!
[Grievous pilots his wheel bike down the levels of the complex, with Obi-Wan and Boga in pursuit. Obi-Wan drops his lightsaber.
Unseemly creature, half droid yet half man!
I’ll follow you forever if I must,
Until I do bring forth your swift demise.
Go, Boga, we shall catch the villain up!
Astride him now, I’ll take his laser spear,
And stop his wheel bike from its forward flow.
[Obi-Wan rides next to Grievous and grasps his spear. Grievous yanks it back and Obi-Wan leaps onto his wheel bike behind him.
GRIEVOUS
[aside:] Alack! This Jedi is a wily brute—
Too close to kill sans damaging myself!
Toward the precipice we quickly roll;
Leap now I must, or face a grimmer fate.
[Obi-Wan and Grievous leap from the wheel bike and duel near a cliff.
OBI-WAN
No lightsaber need I to finish you—
This spear shall serve as instrument enow
To be the end of Gen’ral Grievous here.
GRIEVOUS
You strike me, yet my strength is greater still—
I’ll kick at you and fling you, like a doll,
Against the metal hulk of nearby ship,
Then crush you with my fist’s almighty blast!
OBI-WAN
I dodge at once, escaping his sharp knock—
If I cannot be stronger, I’ll be faster.
Look there! His core—the half-droid’s beating heart—
If I destroy it, he shall be no more.
[Obi-Wan attempts to wrest open Grievous’s metal chest cavity, but Grievous strikes him.
GRIEVOUS
Down, down, you fall! There, lying on the ground,
I’ll finish you at once. Devour the air,
As I do toss you o’er the cliff beyond.
OBI-WAN
Alas, I’m thrown, but not yet tumbl’d down.
By fingertips I grasp the precipice.
He cometh—with the spear is Grievous arm’d.
He means to kill me here, or let me fall.
Yet I espy, across the platform there,
The blaster he did try to wield ’gainst me.
O, Force, reach out and take the blaster, yea!
[Obi-Wan takes the blaster using the Force and shoots Grievous in his heart, killing him.
GRIEVOUS
Ahh, struck! The man destroy’d, the droid doth fall.
[Grievous dies. Obi-Wan climbs back onto the cliff.
OBI-WAN
The blaster—so unciviliz’d a thing,
A random, clumsy weapon, by my troth.
Yet in this instant did it prove its worth,
For Gen’ral Grievous now is dead and gone,
And our most brave Republic shall be freed
From ev’ry tyranny the Sep’ratists
Did visit on our peaceful galaxy.
Thus do I thank thee, blaster, for thy pains.
Unlike my lightsaber, thou art no friend,
Yet thou hast serv’d me well, and there’s an end.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 4.
On the planet Coruscant.
Enter MACE WINDU, ANAKIN SKYWALKER, and THREE JEDI.
MACE
Young Skywalker, we have receiv’d report
That Obi-Wan hath Gen’ral Grievous kill’d.
We’ll go anon unto the chancellor,
Ensuring that the powers granted him
In this time of emergency are pass’d
Directly back unto the senators,
Else we must swat him with the Force’s might.
ANAKIN
The man shall not give up the pow’rs he holds.
Good Master Windu, I have learn’d a truth
Most frightening and terrible at once:
Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord,
The one for whom we have search’d earnestly.
MACE
Thou art a jumper in thy loyalties,
Yet for the good. How camest thou to know?
ANAKIN
He knoweth all the mysteries of th’Force,
And hath been train’d to use the dark side, too.
MACE
If this is true, then unto the Republic
Thou art a patriot; games play thou not:
Art thou most certain Palpatine’s the Sith?
ANAKIN
Yea, as sure as I have a thought or sou
l.
MACE
Then all our greatest fears are realized.
We must move quickly ’gainst this cunning Sith,
Else ev’ry one who holds the Jedi name
Shall be the dead man out ere day is done.
ANAKIN
Brave Master, I believe the chancellor
Is powerful, not easy to defeat.
You shall require mine aid if thou’d arrest him.
MACE
For thine own safety, do not thither come.
We know not whether ’tis a deadly threat
Or barely lethal. Nonetheless, remain:
Thou art too close unto the chancellor,
And much confusion I do sense in thee.
Much fear doth cloud thy judgment, young Skywalker.
ANAKIN
I shall go with thee, Master Windu.
MACE
—Nay.
Like mother and child I shall teach thee plain:
If what thou say’st is true, thou hast my trust.
Thy words shall be confirm’d within a trice:
I bid thee, Anakin, remain till then.
Within the Council’s chambers shalt thou stay
Until we four return.
ANAKIN
—My Master, yea.
[Aside:] This waiting shall not rest well with my soul:
Shall I stand by whilst Master Windu takes
The glory for the capture of the Sith?
Enter PADMÉ above, on balcony.
PADMÉ
I sense the troubl’d heart of my belov’d,
Mine Anakin, what is it ails thee so?
O, heart, knock not with such intemp’rate beat—
O, mind, be not by worries sore abus’d.
ANAKIN
[aside:] By darkness I’d be lost, and she’d be sav’d—
By darkness I would have my mentor still.
PADMÉ
Let light break in thine errant, stormy spirit,
Let light surround whate’er grim thoughts thou hast.
[Exeunt Padmé and Anakin severally as Mace and three Jedi make their way to Palpatine’s quarters.
MACE
We go, a company of Jedi small,
But four of us against a brutal Sith.
Mayhap ’tis but arrest that shall unfold,
Perchance he shall surrender peacefully.
Yet if, as I fear, Palpatine’s embroil’d
In some strange, true romance with evil’s ways,
Belike another method we’ll require
To subjugate the dark side that’s within.
Lightsabers out, my brothers in the storm:
Thus shall he know the tenor of our presence.
Enter CHANCELLOR PALPATINE.
PALPATINE
O, Master Windu, you have come at last.
Methinks this meaneth Grievous is destroy’d,
Though you arrive far sooner than expected.
MACE
Your time hath come, misguided Chancellor.
I do adjure you, in the name of the
Proud family of systems—yea, e’en our
Galactic Senate of our strong Republic—
Submit to us who now make your arrest.
PALPATINE
You dare to threaten me, you Jedi knave?
MACE
I shall not be ghostwriter to your fate;
The Senate shall decide what comes of you.
PALPATINE
I am the Senate; aye, the Senate’s mine.
No Jedi rogue shall stand athwart my way.
MACE
You may not hold the Senate by your will,
Code one-eight-seven doth forbid it so.
PALPATINE
’Tis treason, then, and I shall haply mete
To each of you a traitor’s punishment.
[Palpatine brandishes his lightsaber and attacks quickly, dueling with all four Jedi. He quickly kills all but Mace.
MACE
[aside:] His skill is far past mine imagining.
This fighting’s hard—eight Jedi more I should
Have brought with me. Yet still I may prevail—
A Jedi Master, I!—so fear him not.
He flips and parries, such as I’d not think
Is possible for one so old as he.
[Mace breaks the window of the chancellor’s apartment.
I press him, merely steps from death’s embrace.
I have th’advantage. Ha! He falls and drops
His lightsaber beyond the window frame.
[To Palpatine:] Desist at once—I make th’arrest, my lord.
[Palpatine is cornered near the window as Mace advances.
PALPATINE
O, ahh, O, help! What treachery, I’ll die!
Enter ANAKIN SKYWALKER.
ANAKIN
Good sir, my soul could not sit idly by.
Yet what is this—how hath this stage been set?
PALPATINE
Observe, mine Anakin, observe this scene—
I said to thee that it would come to this,
The Jedi taking over forcefully.
Observe, O, Anakin, with thine own eyes!
MACE
His cunning lies are verily among
The great performances of our time, ha!
Yet pray, do not believe his villainy.
Th’oppression of the Sith must ne’er return,
Not were another thousand years to come.
The curtain falls on you, vile Palpatine.
PALPATINE
Nay, there you badly have misspoke your line:
’Tis you shall die, as I bring forth my fire!
The traitor shall endure a traitor’s end.
[Palpatine shoots lightning from his fingers at Mace, who deflects it with his lightsaber back onto Palpatine.
MACE
O, awful trick of Sith’s great treachery,
Yet I shall turn his weapons back on him.
See, Anakin, ’tis he who traitor is.
Prithee, listen not to how the black
Snake moaneth unto thee—he’s but an actor,
A player from whose mouth doth spew forth lies!
[Palpatine begins to wither under the blast of the lightning.
PALPATINE
’Tis only I who have what thou dost need:
The secret that may save the one thou lov’st.
Make thou the choice e’en now, brave Anakin,
Else he shall be mine end; my strength doth fail.
The mighty weaver, Fate, doth bid me exit—
No more can I endure this torture harsh.
MACE
Withhold from him thine ears, young Skywalker—
No monologue of his shalt thou believe.
A time to kill hath, in its time, arriv’d.
I’ll end his life for all eternity.
ANAKIN
Nay, nay! ’Tis not your place to sentence pass—
He must stand trial in the Senate, see?
MACE
Use thou some logic! We must never grant
This hard—as temper’d iron—man two chances.
Forsooth, he is too dangerous to live!
PALPATINE
I bid thee, beg thee: let me not be slain.
I am so weak, defeated by your might.
ANAKIN
’Tis not the Jedi way! He must not die—
I need him, O, I need him more than life.
[Mace begins to strike down Palpatine, but Anakin cuts off Mace’s hand with his lightsaber.
MACE
O, agony! Mine hand dead—and alive
I suffer by the hand of Jedi Knight!
PALPATINE
Ha! Power reigns, and thus you meekly die—
O, pow’r unlimited, I am your god!
[Palpatine/Darth Sidious strikes Mace with lightning, and Mace falls out the window, dead.
ANAKIN
Alas, what have I done? This nob
le man,
Whom with a crack’d heart I have sent to death,
Lov’d me above the measure of a father,
Nay, Jedi Master he made me, indeed.
SIDIOUS
’Tis here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
Thou dost begin to know thy destiny
And see it well fulfill’d, strong Anakin.
Become my true apprentice; thou shalt learn
To use the potent dark side of the Force.
ANAKIN
As you command me, thus shall I perform.
SIDIOUS
’Tis well.
ANAKIN
—But help me safeguard Padmé’s life,
And you shall have mine endless loyalty.
Sans her, my life is forfeit. O, my life!
SIDIOUS
To conquer death but one man hath achiev’d,
Yet I am certain we shall make it so
And know the secret if we work as one.
[Anakin kneels before Sidious.
ANAKIN
Mine utmost fealty I pledge to you,
Unto your teachings and your wise command.
SIDIOUS
Thy meek subservience I do embrace,
As if thou wert the match to mine own heart.
The Force is strong with thee, good Anakin,
And thou a Sith impressive shalt become.
Henceforth thou shalt be call’d a diff’rent name,
A name that shall inspire both dread and fear
In all who hear it utter’d: rise, Darth Vader.
[Anakin rises as Darth Vader.
VADER
Thank you, my Master. I shall serve you well.
Enter YODA, on balcony.
YODA
Alas, what is this?
Some disturbance vast shakes me,