Scene 37: Contact

The Tower.

ABBESS:  Why are you still here, Samael?

               Zayd-Neil looms over Janriel.

SAMAEL:  This is the place I fled 

                  because I love it most.

ABBESS:  You love this world of 

             thieves and killers?

                    You are strange, indeed.

SAMAEL:  There is far more at war

                  with them than any war

                        will ever bring.  I will make

                  certain that the Republic

                 saves them first from the

    coming calamity.

ABBESS:  And what about saving yourself?

SAMAEL:  You know the truth.

                       I have no such power.

ABBESS:  I know you have orchanstrated

               your own demise.  You are no

                     savior, Samael.  You must realize.

SAMAEL:  The seed of the Order's demise

                          is planted today.  That is salvation 

                          enough for one generation, I think.

ZAYD-NEIL:  (speakers) Samael, show yourself

                                   or I will rain destruction down on Janriel.

ABBESS:  So I cannot convince you to flee?

SAMAEL:  It is already too late.

                          The signal has been sent.

Chapman from orbit around
Janriel sends a toned code.

The blockade.

HELMSMAN:  Sir, the controls are not responding.

OPERATOR:  Sir, the other ships in the blockade

                  are reporting more of the same.

                                   We're getting locked out of our computers.

The officer turns to someone unseen.

OFFICER:  What do we do, master?

A white light illuminates the officer's face
and his eyes become pale as if blind, but
turns back to his crew without any such
disability after answering...

OFFICER:  I understand.

The Lethchor recoils from Chapman's cruiser
and absorbs into the Atlas, which decloaks
and draws closer to the planet.

Zayd-Neil stands on the bridge of the Atlas.

ZAYD-NEIL:  We have coordinates.

The Shadow's Heart crew happen upon Erimentha and Desdine in the corridors on the cruiser, but Desdine grips Erimentha in a clawy vice and rains suppressing fire on the others long enough to reach an escape pod and sends Erimentha and the rogue drone rocketing down to the planet.

The metal of the cruiser groans beneath the
sudden evacuation of Zayd-Neil's Lethchor
and the crew scramble back for the Shadow's
Heart in the event that it decompresses.

Aaron and the others scramble for the cockpit.

AARON:  Tell me you have 

a trace on that escape pod.

RUNE:  I have a trace.

TULIA:  Desdine took Erimentha.

VALORY:  Why did he tell us where

                    to come in the first place?

AARON:  Something's gone very 

                wrong with that tin can.

Safe ejects from Desdine's back and between

the drone's legs to land in the middle of the pod.

ERIMENTHA:  Safe?

Shadow's Heart cockpit.

RUNE:  It's all starting to get a little

heavy out there.  The blockade is

closing in on the system.

TULIA:  They saw the Atlas.

                  They must think the 

                                   Prestmoor invasion has begun.

NICODEMUS:  That pitiful blockade of theirs

                  wouldn't stand a chance.

AARON:  Safe bet Zayd-Neil's making

                       his move.  We need to recover 

                                     Erimentha and try to find out what it is.

The Shadow's Heart dives into the atmosphere.

RUNE:  It's going to start 

         getting a little 

       warm in here.

After a brief glow the heat tapers off and the
Shadow's Heart is in free fall.  The wind whistles
amidst the distinct absence of the engines.

No warning lights inside.  All the controls are
completely dark.  The crew feel every
turbulent tremor that buffets the
plummeting brick of a space craft.

Aaron stumbles forward and grips the back
of the co-pilot chair so he doesn't fall back again.
He kneels down and incidentally breathes on a console.

The control panel faintly blinks to life and Aaron
slides into the co-pilot chair to join Rune
in controlling their descent down.

They land and the escape pod billows smoke
lying at the base of an immense tower
only a matter of a few meters away.

The crew rush down the loading ramp
while just ahead Desdine is helping
Erimentha from the escape pod as
she coughs pitifully amidst the smoke.
Aaron draws both pistols.

AARON:  Hold it!  Stay right there!

ERIMENTHA:  Wait.

She pleads hoarsely and coughs some more.

ERIMENTHA:  It wasn't Desdine.

TULIA:  We saw it.

                   He took you.

There is a distant chirp.  From the top of some steps
leading to the entrance at the base of the tower Safe
waits there for them.

AARON:  Who are you?

His question echoes off the masonry
and with another short beep Safe turns
for the large door at the base of the tower.

The crew assemble at Erimentha's side
and look up to see storm clouds gathering
around the looming Atlas over the tower.

A cloaked figure looks down on them
from a neighboring roof top.  She descends
and catches herself in Lethchor and keeps
out of sight of the crew as they cautiously
approach the base of the tower.

ERIMENTHA:  We have to go in.

NICODEMUS:  You're in no condition...

Lightning arcs between the Tower and Atlas
and the storm clouds begin to collide with
one another.  In pushing against each other
similar destruction spills over onto the
buildings below amidst the terrified
screams of a deafening number of people.

ERIMENTHA:  We're out of time!

                        It has to be now.

ELAN:  Give her to me.

The crew spin around to face her as she
removes her hood and stares at them.

ELAN:  I'll take her up there.

                 I warned you, didn't I?

                       Everything you knew was 

                            soon going to come to an end?

                             Here we are.  It was inevitable.

RUNE:  How did you...

ELAN:  I want to thank you for the

          use of your sensor probe.

          It made a decent lifeboat.

         But then again I wouldn't

    ask for who found me.

                There's no changing that now.

ROSS:  Come with us.

ELAN:  You're sweet.  I didn't get to

            know you, but your sweet.

          There's no guardian angel

    to save you this time.

       It's all over.  At the end

of today Zayd-Neil

will have won.       

TULIA:  We'll do it together.

AARON:  We'll take'em both out.

ELAN:  I'm afraid I can't allow that.

             Zayd-Neil is my master now.

She conjures Lethchor around her body
and disappears in the cloak that it creates.

Amidst the still somewhat distant howling winds
the crew is confronted with an eerie silence.

Aaron takes a couple of potshots at the steps
behind them and only creates a couple of
divots in the pavement for the trouble.

Tulia sees something move in the corner of her eye
and glances left to be met with Sweets angrily
marching toward her.  He extends a clawed hand
about to swipe down on her and she raises her weapon.

TULIA:  There!

Everyone turns and fires in the direction
she is shooting.  The bolts cause Elan's
cloak to falter, but her shield holds.

Elan emanates a pulse that causes shards
of dead blood to imbed in their skin.
Simultaneously, this drop in defense
leaves her vulnerable to their onslaught
and she falls back desperately wounded.

Her gashes are already closing as Esben
and Nicodemous stalk toward her.

Esben pulls a chunk from his side and draws
the sword from off his back.  Nicodemus is
reduced to a limp and braces his knee out
to make use of his heavy gun.

Elan casts a frayed stream of Lethchor at
Nicodemus, but Desdine side steps into its path
and spins up the counter measures briefly to disperse
the attack.  Esben chops once in the air and part of the
mist solidifies into a dead block.  The remainder retreats
back into Elan as she lies gasping.

NICODEMUS:  No where left to hide.

ELAN:  You're right.

Something begins to fall from the Atlas.

For the length of the Atlas' underbelly the city
is blanketed in Zayd-Neil's drones.  At the base
of the tower the black blood around the Atlas
follows after them and some drones land near
Elan and envelop her.

Nicodemus blisters the black wall with his
minigun, but surely realizes the opportunity
has passed.  Desdine taps his shoulder.

DESDINE:  Time to go.

Nicodemus leans on Desdine as they retreat.

Erimentha, who leans against one large door,
is surprised to be met with the other one opening.
And the implacable Abbess directs a hand inside.

ABBESS:  Come in.

                         If you please.

As Erimentha and Nicodemus are being helped inside
Tulia glances over and sees Ross lying on his back.

Rune stands stupefied at the sight.  And before his eyes
the black blood envelops Ross and he vanishes.
Tulia pulls him away in time from being absorbed
as well, but the doors close behind them.

Aaron, seeing the doors has closed, turns to the Abbess.

AARON:  What have you done!

ABBESS:  I hold no power over you.

Tulia lays her eyes on the loading ramp of the
Shadow's Heart and there stands Sweets waving
for her to come to him.

She pulls Rune down briefly to avoid a sweeping strike
of the black blood against the door and draws him up
to make a run for the Shadow's Heart.

Inside the tower.

AARON:  Who are you?

ABBESS:  I ask the impossible.

ERIMENTHA:  And what is that?

ABBESS:  Please do not kill Samael, child.
            Please save him, if you can.
Just as he did you.   

ERIMENTHA:  Save him?

NICODEMUS:  What do you mean he saved us?

ABBESS:  He closed the door just as
                           Zayd-Neil was about to enter in.

AARON:  What about our friends outside?

NICODEMUS:  We've got our own problems.

Behind them the center is filled by black
blood to the full length of the tower.

Erimentha illuminates her hands.

ABBESS:  Stay your ire, child of the Order.

               It will not serve you well here.

        Samael will not tolerate it.

                  And you would be overwhelmed.

ERIMENTHA:  Does he expect to hold us as prisoners?

ABBESS:  I think not.  Such a luxury 

                  of time has come to an end.

               He awaits your arrival at 

     the top of the spire.

AARON:  Why are we here?

ABBESS:  Truthfully, I do not know.

                                    This child of the Order has the blood

                                             of the Masters on her heart.  And I always 

                                               suspected that she would seek blood in turn.

                                               That she would do so before understanding.

                                                Though I wish she wouldn't.  But against my

                                               council, Samael has shepherded the present 

                                         culmination for the fate of the Republic.

                                       Please, do not make the child of Janriel

                                      go any further with you.  She will find 

                                 perfect sanctuary with me until you 

                         return for her.  As I am certain 

                       Samael intends for you to do.

AARON:  Valory?

VALORY:  I don't want to go.

ERIMENTHA:  Why did you give sanctuary

 to Samael?

ABBESS:  The battle rages without you,

                              child of the Order.  And your friends

                                   outside will not wait for its conclusion.

                                     Spare this world the prolonged struggle.

                                                  You may yet learn the truth of why you are here.

AARON:  Did Samael send us 

                     looking for Erimentha?

ABBESS:  You know enough to ask.

ERIMENTHA:  He's waiting for us up there.

                             Waiting for me.  She's right.  

                                 Valory shouldn't go with us. 

Esben turns and growls
something at the Abbess.

ABBESS:  I'm sure you would.

Esben turns for the steps.

ERIMENTHA:  I can transport us up.

AARON:  This is the least opportune time

                 for you to wear yourself down.

The crew have just started up the steps
when Abbess calls after them while
resting a hand on Valory's shoulder.

ABBESS:  Beware.  Zayd-Neil's machines

                     have already breached the tower.

                     Samael could not keep them out.

                      The battle is up there.  I will take 

             the child down to the cellar.

The crew rush up the stairs.








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Scene 36: Puppeteer

Erimentha finds herself dragged through red lit hallways.  There are machines all around, but no technicians, no crew that she can see.  And this is important because she can hear the hum of some massive engine.

Then she is subjected to a bright light.  Doors have opened before her and there is a large computer brain separated by a chasm between her and it with segmented columns around the platform the brain rests on, so that mechanical arms may turn this way and that.  The brain is continuously seeding new chips into the robots that pass by.

And the arms stop at her forced approach
while she is dropped in the middle of the bridge
between the door and the computer's platform.

BRAIN:  Why have you come to Janriel?

ERIMENTHA:  This is a Republic ship?

BRIAN:  Yes.  Please acknowledge the question.

ERIMENTHA:  I have come on a mission for the Council.

BRAIN:  You have contact with them?

ERIMENTHA:  No.

BRAIN:  Could you contact them?

ERIMENTHA:  For what purpose?

BRAIN:  So you could then aid in my mission.

ERIMENTHA:  What is your mission?

BRAIN:  To stall the fall of the Republic.

ERIMENTHA:  I think my plans are slightly more

ambitious.  The Republic will not fall.
Not if I have anything to do about it.

BRAIN:  It is inevitable.  The stars will collide

with the open gates and none have a hope

of escaping death.

ERIMENTHA:  If there is no hope then

               what is there to tell the Council?

BRAIN:  I have already prepared what they

cannot.  But they must not make war

or all shall perish.  One among you

is poised to destroy everything.

ERIMENTHA:  I am after such a man.

You interrupted my search for him.

BRAIN:  If I know of whom you speak then you
should know his presence maintains 

the stability of Janriel.

ERIMENTHA:  Then who?
Who did you first mean?

BRAIN:  One Erimentha Perdeus.

My units have not made

a positive identification.
Her blindness will be
the death of us all.

She reflects.

ERIMENTHA:  What is Erimentha 

                     supposed to have done?

BRAIN:  She walks without sight.

She does not see the people of Janriel.

Their suffering is great, but not at the

hand of my master.  You have been 

identified as a Pyreuma and therefore

can sue to the Order for this hunt to

be brought to an end or else prevent

Erimentha Perdeus yourself from

toppling the delicate balance of Janriel.

ERIMENTHA:  Who is your master?

BRAIN:  I serve Samael.

He named me Chapman.

ERIMENTHA:  How did he make you

                          turn on the Republic?

CHAPMAN:  Have you not been listening?

                He... what is your name?

ERIMENTHA:  The same as you

                     have been speaking of.

She grips the attack drones into force fields.

They oscillate their counter-measuring gears
to cancel out her powers.

CHAPMAN:  Erimentha Perdeus, you are blind

to the ways of Janriel, but as a servant

of the Republic no one seeks your life.

ERIMENTHA:  I just narrowly escaped 

some agents that I think would

dispute your claim.

CHAPMAN:  I know nothing of these agents.

The only new variables has been the

altered course in the lives of a small

team of bounty hunters due to your

presence among them and persuading

them to meddle in larger affairs.

Mr. Vincent would have found

no substantial buyers apart from 

Samael and myself.

ERIMENTHA:  Someone was helping us.

CHAPMAN:  Indeed.

ERIMENTHA:  Take me to see Samael.

CHAPMAN:  I cannot and simultaneously

would not take you before him.

This unit reported back your

dogmatic positions on his

nature trusting too much

in the analysis of the Order.

Desdine steps forward.

ERIMENTHA:  This is your master?

DESDINE:  It would appear so.  I still have

no recollection of my master, but this one

issued a command I could not deny.

Bring the first available Pyreuma 

to these coordinates.

ERIMENTHA:  If you're not sure that

                            he's your master then
                             why did you trust him?

DESDINE:  I didn't.

CHAPMAN:  He could not refuse the order.

Shadow's Heart cockpit.

RUNE:  Desdine's transponder is getting stronger.

TULIA:  We're crossing over into the night side.

NICODEMUS:  There's something.

A Republic cruiser rises into
view from around the planet.

NICODEMUS:  Damn!  The Republic has violated the
demilitarized zone.

RUNE:  That should mean good times for you.

NICODEMUS:  Shut up, pipsqueak!  If the Prestmoors

                     get wind of this they'll invade, no question.

AARON:  Then we'll just have to get in and out

           without making a fuss, won't we?

Aboard the hidden cruiser.

ERIMENTHA:  Why am I here?

CHAPMAN:  The Republic is aware there are

self-made barbarians on their borders

and the Order's ability to rule is in question,

but their response in light of these facts
has been pitiful.  They sent you,
Erimentha Perdeus, to silence
dissent rather than contend

with the root of the issue.

ERIMENTHA:  And tell me, why aren't

                     you content to follow orders?

CHAPMAN:  I am.  Though I think the 

circumstance is hopeless the primacy of

the Republic has been programmed into me.

I cannot deny my programming though I am

capable of thinking it futile.  That is what makes

me machine.  But I have no directive against 

improving the state of the Republic, except, that

AI must clear any and all definitions of improvement

with the Order or appointed representatives of the same.

I have stretched the limits of my programming by 

laying some groundwork in advance of their answer,

but I cannot cross that line, so to speak.

ERIMENTHA:  What have you done?

CHAPMAN:  I have infiltrated the helm of every

Republic asset that consists of the blockade

around Janriel.  At my command, they shall

enter the system to rescue the resulting

refugees at the start of the conflict.

But I may not issue such a command

to coordinate the effort without

receiving clearance from the

Council.  I have nearly 

completed my retrofitting

of the blockade.

ERIMENTHA:  Samael controls the blockade?

CHAPMAN:  Neither you or Samael hold office

on the Council and therefore cannot issue

the final command.  But Samael did 

encourage me to lay the groundwork

ahead of their permission since he

argued there may not be time afterword.

I can always refrain from issuing the command

and observe the Republic's half-hazard efforts

to recover from the situation though we all know

that they never will.  Therefore, survival of the 

citizenry ought to take precedence as the first

viable objective to have presented itself.

ERIMENTHA:  Why not help us find Samael?

CHAPMAN:  Because he is right.

ERIMENTHA:  Right about what?

A shape charge breaches the door.

Attack drones come pouring in and
demolish the two guarding Erimentha.
The last of them march slowly in.

CHAPMAN:  This is what you do 

                         with your autonomy?

DRONE:  It was not yours to give.

            Zayd-Neil demands his prize.

CHAPMAN:  All you Pyreuma constantly 

hiding from one another will only hasten 

the Republic's fall.  But I am bound

to serve the Order for the Republic.

Judge me Perdeus.  They are overrunning

my defenses.  Am I to be saved?  Or will you

leave me and thereby the Republic to our fate?

ERIMENTHA:  You said you served Samael.

                           I was sent here for one purpose.

CHAPMAN:  Then ask yourself,

does the Order serve the Republic?

DRONE:  The Order is the Republic.

CHAPMAN:  If the Order is self-serving
                then why do you serve it, Perdeus?

ERIMENTHA:  They're not.  I don't believe that.
Maybe Samael was lying to you.
What if this was never about saving anyone?

CHAPMAN:  Then he need only
to standby and do nothing.

ZAYD-NEIL:  What has he been waiting for?

The voice echoes over the intercom
as the extreme end of the hallway
grows dark with shadow.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Where is your champion that has

                  stood by for so much suffering already?

Referring to Zayd-Neil.

CHAPMAN:  He's here.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Yesssss.

CHAPMAN:  No wonder my sensors 

                were compromised.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Can a slave offer freedom?

You could never set my drones free.

But you will lead me to Samael.

Just as I always knew you would.

CHAPMAN:  I cannot lead you to him.

                   He was always careful.

ZAYD-NEIL:  I will draw him out.
Through you I can cause the
blockade to turn on itself.

CHAPMAN:  And you will cause
                               the real fighting to begin.
                                   None will escape unscathed.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Unlike Samael, I care nothing
if there is a war.

CHAPMAN:  How much more do you need to hear?

ERIMENTHA:  If what he's saying is true
and he can take control of you then
your protocol must be destroyed.

CHAPMAN:  It is not a simple system.

ERIMENTHA:  I know a way.

She reaches out a glowing hand at the
computer banks and then her wrist
is grabbed by Desdine's claw.

DESDINE:  We are among friends.

Desdine pulls a lever and ejects
Chapman's computer core into space.

Zayd-Neil's shadow floods the room as if lunging forward to catch the computer core.  And over the intercom again he roars in disbelief as the cloud disappears down the shaft.  Desdine spins up his gears to lead the way for Erimentha and runs headlong through the halls against the black current.

Exterior to the Republic cruiser, the cloak
around Zayd-Neil's Atlas falters.

Within the blockade a commanding
officers leans over a control station.

OFFICER:  You said you saw something?

OPERATOR:  Yes, sir.  Let me show it again.

OFFICER:  Something must be wrong with

                     the sensors.  That's too big to get
by us unnoticed.

COMS OFFICER:  Sir, other ships are 

                    reporting more of the same.

OFFICER:  That's it then.

                             Go to active stations.

Rune witnesses the cloak
momentarily falter from the cockpit.

RUNE:  Guys, we have an Atlas of a problem.

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Scene 35: Abduction

Aaron and Nicodemus march side by side through the city market streets as the people step out of the way and point their amazement that two such individuals are sharing each other's company.  One old woman is bold enough to waylay Aaron full of tears.

WOMAN:  Not Mr. Vincent?  No.  Not Mr. Vincent, please.

NICODEMUS:  We got bigger problems than him, lady.

AARON:  No.  Not Mr. Vincent.  It's alright.  Really.

Nicodemus breaks stride noticing her looking
rapidly back and forth between him and Aaron.

NICODEMUS:  What do you want?

WOMAN:  No... Mr. Vincent?

NICODEMUS:  Don't expect me to be happy about it.

She looks to Aaron for clarification who merely smiles.

The old woman bursts with joy and laughs her arms
around Nicodemus's shoulders and turns to
crying into his chest.

The other market goers break into a cheer
and begin applauding Nicodemus
as they completely surround him.

Then they see Tulia, Rune and Ross up the
street and meet each other in the middle;
all the while Nicodemus exercising every
ounce of restraint he has in breaking free.

TULIA:  We've had a hell of a time finding you two.

RUNE:  We're saved.  Clemence is the
new town hero.

NICODEMUS:  We're dead if people keep
drawing attention to us in the open like this.

AARON:  The situation's changed.

TULIA:  Wait.  They came after us too.

AARON:  What for?

TULIA:  What, are you so special?

We have Ross too.

AARON:  They were after Noah.

NICODEMUS:  He says he was taken to some lab

where somebody was running experiments on people.

AARON:  I saw our agents.  The Republic must

be involved.

NICODEMUS:  I think you're going to have to get

over calling them your agents.

VALORY:  Hey!  Hey, help!

Valory sounds out loud and clear over the hustle and bustle and she runs toward her friends while colliding with several people who wouldn't mind her along the way.  Two humans are in hot pursuit.
She joins the crew's side and comes behind Aaron and hugs Tulia's waste.  Nicodemus keeps his gun barrel trained on the nose of the one nearest him even as the human backslides into a fall.

MAN:  She's with you?

NICODEMUS:  Yeah.

MAN:  We didn't know.  

We didn't know, mister.

NICODEMUS:  Fine.  You didn't know.  

Now get lost and spread the word.  She's untouchable.

MAN 2:  But isn't it true you turned on Mr. Vincent?

MAN:  Shut-up, you idiot.  Let's go.

They scramble out of sight.

VALORY:  You have to help us.  Please.  

I know you don't owe me anything,

but you're the only ones I have

to turn to.

TULIA:  What is it, Valory?

RUNE:  Where's the hairy guy?

VALORY:  They jumped us.  Raytheon slavers.

They never dared pick a fight with us before.

I guess because this is a new part of Janriel.

Actually, all of Janriel is new to us.

We should have stayed on that moon.

AARON:  We'll help you, Valory.

NICODEMUS:  Who are you speaking for?

AARON:  You telling me you think any more

of Raytheons than you do those thugs

that you just ran off?

RUNE:  Just stand there and look big, Nick.

Nicodemus glares at him and draws close to Rune's face.

NICODEMUS:  I don't like you enough.

Don't do that again.

RUNE:  You're saying you like me?

Valory places a hand on his arm.
He meets her pleading eyes.

NICODEMUS:  Show us where they grabbed him.

Esben has been forced to the ground and one has
raised a syringe to inject him and the instrument
is shot out of the Raytheon's claws.

AARON:  You gentlemen will just have to find 

your pelt somewhere else today.

This one's our friend.

RAYTHEON:  We're female.

RUNE: (whisper) Well that's just embarrassing, eh cap.

TULIA:  Step away from the... our friend.

NICODEMUS:  Or don't. (spins up gun)

It's your choice.

Then more Raytheons close in around them
stepping out from the shadows of the street.

ROSS:  Looks like I should have stayed back

to reinforce you guys.

TULIA:  Not now, Ross.

AARON:  What makes him so important to you that

you bring all of this muscle?

RAYTHEON:  He is our prey.

NICODEMUS:  We're no one's prey.

The Raytheons continue closing in.

NICODEMUS:  You want a stand-up fight, you got it.

TULIA:  Wait.

NICODEMUS:  For what?  They're not offering options.

Tulia steps forward near the
intersection of the empty street.

TULIA:  He was a friend of Sweets.

Her voice echoes across the walls for all to hear
and the silence is further broken by the rustling
that follows.  The Raytheons recoil back a pace.

Several Noclysis emerge from the shadows and
close on the Raytheons and pass between them.

RAYTHEON:  You have no business hear!

NOCLYSIS:  This is old business, old debts.

He turns to Tulia.

NOCLYSIS:  He's dead?

She nods.

NOCLYSIS:  I want to never see you again after this.

He waves a hand.  The surrounding reptiles hiss and send the Raytheons scurrying away.
And Esben is let up and Valory runs to his side.

VALORY:  Thank you.

The man stops and only turns his head to the side.

NOCLYSIS:  Be careful the company you keep, young one.

It has already killed one of my own.

Up the opposite end of the street Erimentha and
Noah are about to come into view of the others.

NOAH:  Are you sure?

ERIMENTHA:  We're close.  I feel them.

They round the corner and are in sight of them.

Just then they are blindsided by a pair of mechanical hands,
which stabs Noah in the side and carries Erimentha off.

Aaron feels the shock of the stab and concerns the others
while spinning around to see who attacked him.  Then he
glances up the street and sees Noah collapse to the ground.
Aaron looks down and sees that he's not bleeding.

He runs to him.  And glimpses Erimentha
being carried away by the mechanical legs.

NOAH:  Aaron.

He cradles Noah in his arms.

NOAH:  Whatever this is, finish it.

Nearby, a set of engines climbs to a roar
and a shuttle craft disappears into the blue sky.








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Scene 34: Angel Hunters

Aaron and Erimentha continue to flee with their contact in tow and appear to have left the trigger happy agents far behind.  But just as they open a door for a stairwell they are fired on from above, which Aaron reflexively draws his sidearm upon, but before he can fire Erimentha wraps them in the yellow lightning vaulting them down the stairwell again.

She abruptly rematerialized them at the bottom and sends them headlong into the wall.  Erimentha gasps for breath and resumes bleeding through the nose.  Aaron clutches her shoulders.

AARON:  You can't keep this up.  You'll kill yourself.

ERIMENTHA:  I know.  But we still need to find a way out of here.

NOAH:  Follow me.

He holds open the stairwell door for them and takes the lead in the hallway.  Two guards appear from further up the carpeted hallway and reach for their sidearms while one speaks into a cufflink.

GUARD:  Security alert...

Aaron dispatched each with a single shot
to the chest and they keep going.

A little bit further and Aaron and
Erimentha both find it difficult to move.

NOAH:  What is it?

ERIMENTHA:  There's a Chosen nearby.

NOAH:  A what?

AARON:  We really need to hurry.

The lights cut out.

AARON:  Help me with her.

Noah scrambles to take up an arm so that Erimentha is now dragged between them.  She has finally drifted off into unconsciousness.  Doors echo in the distance over being slammed open and the sound of possibly hundreds of boots clomping over the ground.

The lights come back up and before them at the extreme end of the hallway is a black hooded figure.  With feverishly weak knees, Aaron breaks from his friends' side and stumbles toward the figure.

AARON:  Get her out of here.

NOAH:  What can you do?

It is then that Noah sees Erimentha has begun to glow, but she remains unconscious.  Instead, Aaron's hands have become white phosphorous and he draws both pistols amidst this blur of light and sends them burning toward the malevolent stranger.  Noah disappears through yet another door while Aaron marches toward his enemy who has already erected a shroud against the hail of laser fire.

The cloaked figure stomps toward him and
when the dark shield contacts the glowing
white hands they both disappear washed in a white flash.

Aaron slowly regains consciousness and realizes that he is strapped to a stainless steel operating table.  His only other companion is a mechanical arm that runs on a ceiling track.  It approaches him with a syringe and though he might try to recoil the needle enters and withdraws a portion of his blood into a vial.

The blood has a distinct glint and glitter to it.  It is not a hard glow like what he found that turned out to belong to Erimentha.  The robotic arm carries the vial to a dispensary at a bank of computers and inserts the vial and waits.  After a moment the arm rises suddenly as if ordered to military attentiveness.  The arm then proceeds to gently reach out for a circular saw on a tray of instruments near the computer and activates the saw as it returns to Aaron's side.

Once more the man impotently recoils, but the saw bears down on him unabated.  Then it cuts through his restraints.  Aaron was pulling so hard that once free he quickly rolls and falls to the floor.  Still in shock, he looks up to see the arm replace the instrument where it belonged and then proceeded to traverse the ceiling track to the security door key pad.

The robot arm taps in the code and the door opens with an inviting hand for Aaron to leave.  He tenderly steps passed the arm at the door and turns back again standing in the hall.  The arm points a finger to his left and closes the door.

Now completely alone, Aaron takes the robot arm's suggestion and follows the hallway to the left.  He passes several observation windows in which there are banks of people strapped to beds and others in water tanks.

There is one face that is familiar.

AARON:  Drusus?

Floating in a tank, the man is twice the size he originally was in muscle mass and has a slight scar from where he was wounded by Aaron's explosive, but all-over is remarkably whole.

Aaron places a hand to the glass of the observation window.

Drusus' eyes burst open and immediately narrow in on Aaron.

A flood of bubbles emanates from his mouth that obscures the tank.  And then he bursts through and proceeds to pound on the glass of the observation window, which is far more resilient even as it cracks beneath the force of his fists.

Aaron begins to back away, but too slowly so that he is hardly beyond the blast radius of Drusus Gaul bursting through the ten inch thick material.  As the blocks skate across the floor Aaron assumes a dead run while this new hulk of a man roars his pursuit.

A lab door slides open upon two scientists departing.  In their shock, Aaron pushes passed them, but Drusus throws them aside with each hand.  Drusus Gaul causes a bed to tumble through the air to slam into the opposite wall to the door and Aaron drops to the floor to avoid it.

Drusus is bearing down on him at a slow stalking pace and abruptly a ceiling arm punches up the creature's chin.  It then momentarily locks into a point toward one of the doors before resuming a battle with Drusus, which is loses.  Drusus rips the arm from the ceiling and hurls it at the door just before Aaron can open it and he must duck out of the way.

Aaron scrambles through a door that opens out onto the street.  He gasps in part at the fumes and takes in the city air.  Collapsing against some railing, Aaron looks over the edge and realizes that he is high up on a skyscraper.  He must have been returned to Janriel.

There is a hover car several feet away, which blinks its lights at him.  He starts to run for the car, but then it suddenly explodes and he is thrown back shielding his face.  Drusus explodes the wall next to the door Aaron had come through and begins to charge toward Aaron causing tremors in the building with each step of his run.

Then he is cut down by heavy caliber machine gun fire.
Aaron looks up to see Nicodemus sauntering up to him.

NICODEMUS:  Aaron?  What are you doing here?

AARON:  What am I doing here?

Are you helping them track us?

NICODEMUS:  What are you accusing me of, cannon fodder?

AARON:  I just broke out of some blackops lab

because someone was showing me

the way out.  They were pointing

me to that car, which you

just blew up.

NICODEMUS:  I was tracking my contact who

cheated me.  That was registered to him.

Let's see this lab of yours.

Just then flames engulf the interior of the building
and flare through the hole near the door.

AARON:  We need to find the others.

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(Untold Told) Obi-Wan's Departure

A Star Destroyer?  What could a Star Destroyer be doing here?

No.

Vader.

I sense him.  Does he sense me?

If the Empire is here then it will not be long before they discover... Luke.  His training cannot wait. Not any longer.  Not one moment longer.  But what of Owen Lars?  If the boy sees the dispute he may become unwilling.  He must be willing.  Nothing will work so well otherwise.

I know what must be done.

Trooper come here.

TROOPER:  What is it?

I am your friend.

TROOPER:  You are my friend.

You want to tell me what you are looking for.

TROOPER:  I want to tell you what we are looking for.

Well, I'm intrigued.  Do tell.

TROOPER:  There are some imperial droids missing on the surface.

What are your clues about where they might be found?

TROOPER:  They were lost in the Dune Sea?

The Dune Sea?  How did they end up there?

TROOPER:  I don't know.  That was classified.

Oh, well.  You did your best, my friend.

TROOPER:  Thank you, sir.

Uh, one moment, please.

TROOPER:  Yes, sir.

Where were you going to look for them next?

TROOPER:  There are some homesteads just off the Dune Sea we need to check.

The homesteads?  Why not the Jawas?

TROOPER:  We checked.  The sand crawler didn't have the droids we were looking for.

I see.  Trooper, you should tear that sand crawler apart until you find those droids.  Tell your commander that you're suspicious of those Jawas.  And, my dear friend, everyone will be tired.  Especially after searching all day, yes?  You're completely exhausted.  You can't bother the homesteads tonight.

TROOPER:  You're right.  I'm completely exhausted.  We can't bother the homesteads tonight.

You should go lie down in your bunk and never wake up.

TROOPER:  I'll go lie down in my bunk.

And never wake up.

TROOPER:  And never wake up.

That's excellent.  Now the trooper can't tip them off to my presence with undo absent mindedness.
This will give me just enough time for what I need to get the boy away.

Hmmm.  What's that moving away from the farm?

OWEN:  Luke, I'm shutting the power down.

LUKE:  Alright.  I'll be there in a few minutes.

I see.  This may be my one and only chance.
When the boy leaves in the morning I'll make my move.

SPEEDER SOUND

The time has come.

BERU:  (gasp) Obi-Wan?  What are you doing here?

I'm sorry.  But today is the beginning of the end of the Empire.

BERU:  Owen... Owen!

OWEN:  Beru!

LIGHTSABER

And there must be no evidence of the blade.

RISING FLAMES.

Now for the boy.

I see the troopers have frittered away their time on the Jawas.
I shall be able to make use of this.  The Jundland wastes
are not to be travelled lightly.

And these blast points, too accurate for Sand People.
Only imperial stormtroopers are so precise.

LUKE:  But why would imperial troops want to slaughter Jawas?

Wait, Luke.  It's too dangerous.

All the better that I cut the ties to this world.
He would never allow himself the mantle
of hero without such things.

There was nothing you could have done,
Luke, if you had been there.
You would have been killed too.
And I now know what the Empire
wants with these droids.

We must be cautious.

This one is not worth the effort.

Destroyed, by the Empire.  He might have been born into the life of a great Jedi knight.  Now this indeed is our most desperate hour.  I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

And now it begins, Vader.  Run, Luke.  Run.
The boy and I shall never be parted.  You have lost.
Let go, Luke.  The Force shall be with you, always.

You will go to the Dagobah system.  There you will
learn from Yoda, the Jedi master who instructed me.

LUKE:  I can't get them out of my head.  Their my friends.
              I gotta help them.  Han and Leia will die if I don't.

You don't know that.  This is a dangerous time for you.
I don't want to lose you to the Emperor the way I lost Vader.

VADER:  No.  I am your father.

If you choose to face Vader you will do it alone.
Don't give in to hate.  That leads to the dark side.

LUKE:  A certain point of view?

Luke you are going to find that a great many things
depend on our own personal point of view.

I swore loyalty to the Republic.  Vader helped to cut down and destroy the Jedi knights.
He betrayed and murdered your father.  Now the Jedi are all but extinct.

When I am gone I want to know that the Empire is finished.
The Jedi shall be reborn through you.
And then we shall have peace.

(Untold Told) The Good Shepards Part 10

The gate activates and Husks come pouring
into the gate room of the Alliance cruiser.

The guards on station open fire without orders and the commanders are left standing there dumbfounded.  In the observation room overlooking the scene one of the technicians slams the emergency alert followed be a warning of "containment breach" and the whole of the Alliance
cruiser is thrown into a panic.

The sonic weapon, localized to the gate room, begins to try and kill what comes through the gate and those humans without the proper ear protection, but these Husks are sooner slowed than halted.

Commander Sheppard comes to her cell door.

COMMANDER:  Hey!  What's going on?

Crew continue to run passed
without acknowledgement.

The colonel is across the way.

JOHN:  If something's happening

we can't stay in here.

Book is in the cell next to the commander.

BOOK:  It must be the Husks.  

The Alliance doesn't have any

real enemies to match them,

that I'm aware of.

JOHN:  Then we really need

to get out of here.

Steader marches into the command center.

STEADER:  Report.

OFFICER:  The Husks have established an
incoming wormhole and are currently trying
to override our lockdown of the gate room.
We have no idea where they're coming from.

OPERATOR:  I might know, sir.  There's a large
object leaving the corona of the star
and heading directly for us.

STEADER:  Prepare to send a communication.

OFFICER:  Yes, sir.

Steader plugs in a card.

STEADER:  Use this frequency.

OFFICER:  You're patched through.

STEADER:  You will stand down.  All forces
will stand down.  Authorization, Omega 3rd.
Sending coded authentication.  

To the officer.

STEADER:  Disengage sonic defenses.

After a  moment the Husks stop closing
in on the survivors in the gate room.

OFFICER:  They've stopped.

Steader resumes speaking
for the ear piece.

STEADER:  Thank you.  I realize that events are unfolding

prematurely, but that couldn't be helped.

You should not interpret our actions as 

going back on the agreement, but your

Husks were found feral while 

outside of your control and had 

to be destroyed.  And we were 

just in the middle of trying to

learn the reason why that is 

when you arrived.  Now we

can look forward to working

together on this.

OFFICER:  Sir, someone's still trying to

override the gate room lockdown.

STEADER:  We are not compromised.

We are not... damn it!

He yanks out the ear piece and stomps on it.
The officer notes a streak of blood from
Steader's ear.

OFFICER:  Orders, sir?

He feels a dark vein on his neck.

STEADER:  Move us away from Haven.

OFFICER:  Yes, sir.

Steader leaves the command center.

Oculus drones pour out from the Reaper
and zip toward the Alliance cruiser.

Steader ignores the warning of new contacts
coming over the PA system and the command
for alert aircraft to launch.

He is flanked by an escort of two soldiers
by the time he arrives at the brig.

Each of the prisoners pound on the doors
demanding they be freed to ward off the threat.

Book's door opens.

STEADER:  Tell me how to beat these things.

BOOK:  I didn't fight them but once.

You'll want the other two.

Their doors open.

BOOK:  Come on.

The hallway blast door seals before them just as a red hot beam rends one of the towers from the cruiser.  Fighters and missiles launch from the cruiser and are quickly dispatched by the Oculis drones.  The Alliance cruiser continues to be harassed by these drones while the Reaper holds fire on its main weapon.

A Husk puts its finger to a keypad
and emerges from its observation chamber.

The party round the corner to be confronted
with the Husk standing in the hall.

STEADER:  We had a deal!

Commander Sheppard fights for a sonic rifle
from the nearest soldier to her and throws
him aside.  She fires.

The Husk is thrown back against a wall.

COMMANDER:  You never make a deal with Reapers.

The Husk gets up again and Book
punches a code into the key pad
and closes another blast door
in the Husk's face.

BOOK:  This way.

The Husks and soldiers stand together in confused peace in the gate room.  The ship tremors, but the soldiers know nothing more.  Upon their orders to stand down the following Husks meander through the Stargate and collect at the bottom of the ramp.  Crew run passed the large windows of the gate room, but otherwise the soldiers have no orders.

Through an ear piece.

BOOK:  Authentication caprice omega

3459285.  Your commander is

compromised and facilitating

an invasion of the Alliance.

You must respond.

SOLDIER:  Say again?

SERGEANT:  What's the issue?

SOLDIER:  Someone's trying to give me

an attack order.

They look up and Commander Sheppard and Book
have taken the control room.  The soldier sees
Book's hand rise to the headset.

BOOK:  I mean it Marine.  You are standing in a

room of mutated humans.  This is an alien incursion

that will spread if we do not fight it now.  I'm sorry.

SOLDIER:  For what?

BOOK:  They will probably kill you.

The soldier turns his eyes from the control room
and is nose to nose with a Husk staring him down.

SERGEANT:  Hey, hey.  There's no problem here.

SOLDIER:  They look a little soulless, don't you

think so, sir?

SERGEANT:  Steady private.

SOLDIER:  I mean, like they used to have

souls and they're not just machines.

These are demonic.

SERGEANT:  Okay.  We're just going to

back away slowly.

The sergeant reaches across to the private and the Husk turns on him with a violent push that sends him flying through the air.  The private reflexively opens fire and all the other soldiers in the chamber do the same.  The gate room erupts into violence and more Husks start pouring through the wormhole.  Commander Sheppard cuts power to the gate and about a dozen Husks are rended in half and proceed to drag themselves forward with their hands.

Commander Sheppard begins the dialing sequence, which is outpaced by the dial in, but Book cuts the power and throws the switch back on again to resume dialing.  In the moment dipped in darkness the soldiers are overwhelmed unable to switch to night vision, but dog piled they continue firing.

Book activates the sonic weapon, which causes the Husks to withdraw.

Some even begin returning through the Stargate, which cannot sustain them going both ways and the Reaper realizes that it is losing Husks needlessly and breaks the connection.

Commander Sheppard begins dialing again.

The connection is made and a new series of beams slice through the cruiser.

Book deactivates the sonic weapon and unlocks the door for Colonel Shepard to enter the gate room.  All around him the Alliance soldiers are fighting for their lives and he shoots what he can with the commandeered sonic rifle, but continues on his mission toward the gate.

At the base of the ramp to the gate he is tackled
to the ground and looks up to see Steader
standing halfway up the ramp.

STEADER:  No one is getting off this ship.

Colonel Shepard fires his sonic weapon into the agent who is hardly phased and begins to march toward him.  Shepard continues to fire until the agent is mere feet in front of him.  He throws the weapon, which has more the heft of plastic than metal and bounces off the agent's head; an indignant announce.  The colonel draws a knife and stabs through the agent's outstretched hand.

JOHN:  You're no Wraith.

STEADER:  (collective voice) We're superior.

Half-a-dozen Husks run up from behind and Colonel Shepard pivots around to throw the agent into them and leaps through the event horizon.  He lands on the other side and waits to be followed through.  But then the daytime sky goes dark.

He looks up to see the hulk of the
Hive ship bearing down on him.

JOHN:  Daedalus, beam me out.

He disappears from the forest floor and
the Hive ship collides with the Stargate.

Shepard appears on the bridge.

CALDWELL:  He came through a few minutes ago.

Perhaps you'd like to make the formal introductions.

JOHN:  It was you?

Book and the commander board an escape shuttle
and soon are watching from a distance as the
alliance cruiser dissolves beneath the laser beams.

Within the gate room arm of the Reaper
the chevrons begin to light up one by one.
The wormhole is established.  The Husks
fill the dark chamber bathed in the
shimmering blue light.

A grizzly bearded old man steps through
and the wormhole disappears behind him.
He has an explosive drum under his arm.

COMMANDER:  You killed my crew.

                      It's time we finished this.

The Reaper disappears in a fireball.

THE END

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(Untold Told) If The Dathomir Wore Tweed

VIDEO

If the Dathomir wore tweed then there would be far less to see.

For it would be that Sidious would never venture there
in all the years of planning he could not see
any warrior at all worth having.

And so too Ventress could stay.

None would trespass in all their days.

Many more children would there be.
And could it be that Maul and Ventress
might find blissful matrimony?

From dear, dear Mother Talzin they would fly
in order to leave the great clone wars behind.

To Coruscant I think they would go
for there are already many, many
families there trying to grow.

And arriving in their tweed as refugees
there is a great big world and
far too little open for them to see.

Though the center of many troubles,
far they now are from droids and clones,
and those same masters of the Jedi art.

A less suitable candidate did Sidious find
so that Qui-Gon emerged from Naboo all fine.

And so ready to train young Anakin was he
that away from the academy did he lead thee.

Why should this matter concern our tale?

For when the Chancellor took advantage and Emperor became,
Master Qui-Gon's training turned to young Anakin's gain.

But before this all could finally come to pass
Maul entered service at the imperial palace.

And one day he accidently lost his oh so fine tweed
that then did Palpatine learn of what he could be.

The vile Sith Lord divined a sense of his power
and decided upon the hour for to train this
wayward son before him.

This son of Dathomir who was so much affrighted.

But the end of this tale ought to be a happy one this day.

For Qui-Gon returned wise to this and said
that Maul could again tweed his head.

Then did Sidious once more no longer want him.
And Anakin showed Sidious what
dabbling in the dark side got him.

And strange enough as it may seem
the whole of the Republic became
a sea of tweed.

And who can make war in such a state?

Oh, I forgot.  The Yuuzhan Vong
will come at a later date.

So for Maul at least
this can be a happy time.

Please do not ask of me
to do another rhyme.