Gentle violins blow across the grass of Dantooine's open plain. Nearby, nested in a slight depression, is the refurbished landing zone for the Jedi academy.
Carth and Bastila are the last to walk up the Ebon Hawk's loading ramp. Ahead of them Zaalbar drags a crate just big enough for the door into the hold. He slumps on a plasteel cylinder with a grunt and Mission saddles up to him with a loving rub on the shoulder and a smile. Zaalbar barks his appreciation.
The crew proceeds to disperse into their various corners of the ship. Zaalbar lumbers slowly keeping pace with Mission's quick walk to the starboard bunk room. Jolee has long been occupying himself with making sure the medical supplies are in stock. Just outside the cargo hold Juhani and Canderous stand in deep conversation. HK-47 remains at perfect attention within the common area of the ship.
We follow Carth and Bastila through the corridors on their way to the cockpit.
BASTILA: We should reach Telos in a
couple days' time. The new academy there
will be in desperate need of these supplies.
CARTH: I don't understand how the Republic
could be losing so many ships.
The last freighter had a cruiser escort.
I can't see any way that pirates
would be bothering them.
A shadow passes unseen beneath their feet.
BASTILA: We shall soon learn the full extent
of their situation once we arrive.
The fledgling Jedi Order is counting on us.
CARTH: You don't need to convince me of the mission.
It's all just a little spooky if you ask me.
I'm not looking to take the Ebon Hawk
on its way to becoming a ghost ship.
BASTILA: I heartily agree with you, Carth.
Their conversation fades into the distance as Juhani and Canderous depart for the engine room. They pass Kreia meditating in the wash room.
JUHANI: Wouldn't you rather...
KREIA: What I'd rather is no significance.
There is hardly place for any privacy.
I am disturbed in my quarters and now am disturbed again.
CANDEROUS: You might try closing the door.
KREIA: I do not question your...
occupations in the engine room.
You are no party to mine.
JUHANI: We will all be cooped up together here for a few days.
Some of us will need to... share this space that you occupy.
KREIA: Share? And share they shall.
I will not be disturbed.
No more than I am while
I am able to hear everything
that happens on this ship.
CANDEROUS: I knew you were the type.
Let's go, Juhani.
They depart for their rendezvous. Let us stay longer with Kreia. She listens to the sound of the Ehob Hawk's launch and feels the slight tremor in the haul. She rises from where she had been sitting and walks at a calm, calculated pace to the cockpit.
KREIA: I sense an intruder aboard.
A moment's pause.
CARTH: What kind of intruder?
KREIA: Beastly. It survives on instinct.
And I sense that it is a murderer.
Though, its true thoughts are unknown to me.
I am not sure of its sentients.
Such a thing could be a manifestation of the dark side.
BASTILA: We must alert everyone at once!
KREIA: I think not. This thing is already in hiding.
It intends to prey upon us.
To alert it to our knowledge could prove disastrous.
We must be as cunning as it is.
CARTH: You want to use everyone has bait?
KREIA: Gather them in one place.
Arrive at a reasonable pretense.
Do not tip your hand to the creature.
And we may yet survive this encounter.
Everyone has gathered and stand in confused silence.
Juhani and Canderous remain absent.
BASTILA: Where is Juhani and the Mandalorian?
KREIA: Together, I think.
JOLEE: Where else would they be?
I'll go and fetch them.
KREIA: I think not. The first to venture
alone will be obviously become the first victim.
JOLEE: What is she talking about?
CARTH: We apparently have an
unidentified intruder aboard.
Everyone stays together.
Bastila and I will go fetch
Juhani and Canderous.
KREIA: Allow me.
She leaves without further discussion.
She stops in the hallway and places a hand against the wall.
KREIA: I know you cannot be persuaded to leave us peacefully.
This crew has seen much war, both together and apart.
If you think you will find victory here you are wrong.
This ship will be your death.
No matter how many you kill.
No matter how many you have killed.
You are mortal and I can see you.
Beast.
Kreia walks on toward the engine room.
KREIA: Come children.
You are being hunted.
It is time to see the predator become prey.
CANDEROUS: What are you talking about?
KREIA: I thought I was being clear.
We are in danger here.
Safety in numbers is only a small assurance,
but nonetheless it is a necessary recourse.
Accompany me.
It is paramount that we travel together.
Do not leave an old woman to
walk the dark passages of this ship alone.
Unprotected.
She leaves. Canderous and Juhani exchange a glance. The get up to leave and the creature sees them go from beneath their feet. It snarls its dissatisfaction. And with a single motion it slithers beneath the piping of the base interior of the ship.
Walking through the hallway the blast doors to the common area have been sealed. They are halfway to the doors when Juhani senses a shadow crawling up the wall next to her. Kreia only pretends to have not seen.
JUHANI: The walls!
She ignites her azure blade and the shadow falls away from her eyes beneath its light. Canderous is left dumbfounded and lowers his vibro-knife. He walks up to the wall and lays his hand flat on it.
CANDEROUS: There's nothing there, Juhani.
JUHANI: There was. There is. I'm sure of it.
CANDEROUS: What kind of tricks are you up to Kreia?
In the midst of directing the question to the old woman Canderous hears a sizzling beneath his feet. A hole large enough for his boot falls away and then proceeds to eat away the soles of the boot itself. He hops to remove them in time, but the attire is too well secured up his leg. With a single stroke Juhani slices the side of the boot away and his foot is able to escape.
Kreia reaches out and turns the lock in the blast door and they retreat into the common area with a clamor. Then Juhani realizes that Canderous is still writhing in pain. She looks down and can see her blade has struck a little close, but only slightly burned the sides. More importantly, the sole of his foot continues to sizzle. He is not rid of the acid.
KREIA: Do what you must to save him.
Juhani ignites her blade and touches the bottom of the exposed foot with the hot glow of her lightsaber. Heat rises from the burning flesh and Canderous calls out once more. Juhani looks and can see nothing more of the acid.
Silence falls upon the crew.
Jolee assumes his role of careful meditative healing. In time Canderous regains consciousness and Juhani elevates his head on her knee.
JUHANI: I... am not sorry.
CANDEROUS: I wouldn't expect you to be Cathar.
MISSION: How are we supposed to fight
this thing if we don't even know what it is?
KREIA: My intention was never to fight it.
I recommend extermination.
Seal off all critical systems and
drive it to ground. None of us
will survive a direct confrontation
with the beast. We must be cunning.
And ensnare it for the kill.
BASTILA: What do you propose we do?
KREIA: You are all hunters.
Am I to be the one to formulate the stratagem?
CANDEROUS: I've had my share of ship-board fights,
but going up against an animal is an entirely
different set of circumstances. Scared people
are more predictable than you'd think.
Scared animals are truly unpredictable.
KREIA: I doubt we can rely on fear
from a creature such as this. What do you say Jolee?
JOLEE: I've seen the Wookiees go up
against some pretty tough critters in my time.
If what we need is a hunter then I can think
of no better than our furry friend here.
CARTH: How about it Zaalbar?
MISSION: Do you think you can do it?
ZAALBAR: I do not know what it is to
hunt beyond the Shadow Lands. But braver Wookiees
have always snatched victory from unknown creatures
of the forest floor. Kreia, what can you tell me
that I need to know about my prey?
KREIA: It is the pinnacle of stealth.
And there is something strange
about its desire to feed.
I believe it intends to breed.
HK-47: Assertion - then perhaps this adversary will not
concern itself with droids. We are hardly vehicles for
meatbag procreation. And I would revel in the opportunity to
procure an exotic trophy that managed to maim the Mandalorian.
Canderous offers an angry grunt.
BASTILA: Then I see something of a way forward.
T3, Zaalbar, Canderous, Juhani and Mission make up one team.
HK, Carth, Jolee and I will make up another.
KREIA: And myself?
CARTH: We'll be working together
to corner this thing. Can you do that?
KREIA: Of course.
CANDEROUS: Watch your back, Republic.
Everyone arms themselves from the gun locker off of the common area. Each of the droids run their own echoing scans for the creature. Zaalbar's team goes by way of the cargo hold while HK's starts in the cockpit and will work their way up along the port side. Canderous notices the container.
CANDEROUS: Zaalbar, help me roll this.
They push the container on its side and there is a corresponding hole on the bottom of it and the floor. T3 roles up and shines a spotlight inside.
CANDEROUS: Empty.
MISSION: There goes the resupply mission.
CANDEROUS: There's no going back
for more until we kill this thing.
JUHANI: That is rather rash, Canderous.
We could be better served hunting
this creature back on Dantooine.
CANDEROUS: We would be better served
by feeding that old witch to it.
Zaalbar laughs.
CANDEROUS: We already have plenty enough
bodies to be tripping over each other as it is.
Stick close. The kid stays in the middle of us.
MISSION: Hey, I ain't no...
JUHANI: Shhh. You knew who
he was referring to didn't you?
A glistening black tail slides out of the cockpit of the swoop bike and incidentally flicks a switch. Canderous first responds to the motor by unloading his heavy repeating blaster into that corner. The others respond in kind with Juhani unleashing an attack of lightening.
The other party hears the attack.
BASTILA: Come on.
They've got in cornered.
KREIA: No. Remember the plan.
JOLEE: She's right.
I sense they have flushed in toward us.
HK-47: You sense it? I can see it
skulking through the interior of
our hull. I can understand why
you meatbags might make such
a fuss. I will show you a
rendering I have developed.
rendering I have developed.
CARTH: What is it?
HK-47: Species unknown.
I will study it extensively once I kill it.
KREIA: The machine's optimism aside,
it has proven to have a superior vision.
We must capitalize on it before it is too late.
BASTILA: HK, point out to us where it is.
HK-47: Tracking. Creature is moving toward us.
30 mils out... 25 mils out... 20 mils out...
15 mills out... 10 mils out
JOLEE: Get ready.
HK-47: Creature has ascended above us.
Too many vital systems to engage.
A ceiling panel explodes out at them and Bastila cleaves it down the middle with her saber. The creature has only created an opening large enough for its snout and spits out at HK as Kreia and Jolee jointly force push to leave a dent in the hall.
HK-47: Help! Help! I think I'm melting!
KREIA: You are, machine. Be silent.
Now indicate where you see the threat.
HK-47 lies with a caving chest,
but his head and limbs remain intact.
HK-47: Spitting quadruped 15 mils out.
Spitting quadruped now 30 mils out.
Spitting quadruped now 35 mils out.
Spitting quadruped now 30 mils out.
Spitting quadruped now 25 mils out.
Spitting quadruped now rrrrrrrrrr
The Ebon Hawk goes dark. The hallway is only illuminated by the glow of green and yellow. Carth stares hard through his blaster scopes in order to see. Suddenly the floor grating flies up from under them. They are plunged into total darkness amidst the collision by both lightsabers disengaging. One panel crashes down on Bastila and the monster on top of her with it. Her left hand is pinned with her lightsaber having just rolled out of reach. Her shoulder screams in searing pain having been grazed by the monster's drool.
Carth sits up and scans in the darkness with his blasters. He trains them on the dark outline and fires. It roars in agony and concusses Bastila by running across her and the heavy floor grating, to flee. Jolee in turns cries out. Small drops of blood have splattered across the left side of his face.
Canderous' heavy blaster fire erupts from where the creature had fled. Blindly hitting the wall, he ceases fire just before turning into their corridor and casts a spotlight on the sad crew.
CANDEROUS: This thing...
is going to be a problem.
Everyone reconvenes in the aft cargo hold.
MISSION: Can we starve it out?
CARTH: Not while we're on the menu.
JOLEE: It's ability to move through
the ship is an impressive feet of nature.
KREIA: Might you desist
from admiring the beast?
CANDEROUS: No, he's right.
We can't move through
our own ship as well it can.
This is a losing battle we're waging.
ZAALBAR: There is a lesson I learned from Czerka.
My people always believed in giving no ground
that belonged to us. Czerka gives in order to take away.
They told my brother we were free so long as he sold
our people into slavery. We can apply the same
principle here. Give our adversary the ship.
JUHANI: And then what?
ZAALBAR: Take it away.
CARTH: He wants to destroy the Ebon Hawk.
BASTILA: Madness.
KREIA: Sensible.
CANDEROUS: We aren't too far out for an
escape pod to reach Dantooine. At least it will
mean going back to friendly territory.
ZAALBAR: The problem will come if the creature
senses our desperation. It may, in fact, attempt
to stand in the way of our departure.
CANDEROUS: We'll fight our way out. I'll stop in the
engine room to tamper with the hyperdrive.
The rest of you keep moving. Don't wait for me.
KREIA: The thought never occurred to me.
CANDEROUS: But if I'm not there do me the
favor of throwing the old witch out too.
Zaalbar stands guard over the ladder and T3 rolls up and plugs in to open the hatch to the escape pod. Suddenly, the creature lunges down from the turret and locks arms with Zaalbar and they throw each other about. Carth fires wide of them for a start, as they roll out into the holographic table of the common area, but then he has to grab up Mission and shoves her down into the escape pod.
Zaalbar breaks free of its grip and stands on the back of one knee, grips its right arm and its tale with his left. For a split moment he has the dark-as-night creature squirming, but then spits directly on Zaalbar's right hand. He loses his grip and is flicked away by its tail. Carth abruptly drops lowering Jolee into the pod and rains fire down on the monster before it can advance on Zaalbar.
It disappears and Canderous arrives on the scene. As Bastila and Kreia climb inside Canderous and Carth scoop up Zaalbar and with immense difficulty drag him over to the escape pod. His entire lower right arm has been rended down to the bone, but he pads the floor with his left in order to retrieve Bacca's Blade. Canderous and Carth do not pause to stop for it and the Wookiee howls with anguish at being placed in the pod too soon.
While the two men are still bent over the escape pod opening, the intruder drops down from the ceiling and hisses angrily while standing over them. T3 slams into the adversary at full speed. And even while T3 has it pinned against the wall he continues to spin his wheels until they spark on the metal floor. Canderous and Carth drop into the escape pod and close the hatch.
They launch from the Ebon Hawk.
All that remains is silent contemplation. Mission and Jolee mournfully wrap Zaalbar's lost hand as he mourns the loss of the ceremonial blade. Juhani and Canderous drift off to sleep strapped in next to each other. Carth and Bastila attempt to communicate regarding the recent events in silence. Kreia looks on with her usual disgust.
Out the ceiling porthole the Ebon Hawk spins into the distance.
And the creature's drooling grin appears in the window.
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