159474808X (14 page)

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Authors: Ian Doescher

Turn Utapau from lair of vicious knave
Into a freedom land for the Republic.
Our Council is adjourn’d, so fare ye well.
[Exeunt Mace, Ki-Adi, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and the rest of the Jedi Council from beam.

TROOPER 1

[
to Yoda:
] Sir, do behold: the army of the droids
Hath just engag’d their power generators.

YODA

Then now the time is,
Commander, ne’er a better
Time henceforth shall come.

TROOPER 1

Yea, Master, all shall be as you do say.

TARFFUL

Auugh!

CHEWBACCA

—Egh!

TROOPER 1

—Keep ready, all: the droids attack!

Enter
BATTLE DROIDS
in vehicles.

DROID 1

Forsooth, forsooth!

TROOPER 2

—Take cover, lads, and fight!

YODA

O, battle senseless:
Vicious blasts and lasers vile,
All life destroying.
[Exeunt all as the battle continues offstage.

Enter
O
BI
-W
AN
K
ENOBI
and
C
OMMANDER
C
ODY
,
on balcony.

CODY

’Tis fortunate, good sir, most cities on
Yon planet Utapau are found upon
The farthest side, on one small continent.

OBI-WAN

I shall keep their attention till thou com’st.
Yet be not too long in the coming, sirrah.

CODY

Nay, when was it I last did let you down?

OBI-WAN

’Tis true. My task, then, is not to destroy
The droids entire until thou dost arrive.
I’d not deprive thee of that pleasure fine.

CODY

Until we meet again, my liege, godspeed,
And I shall see you o’er on Utapau.
[Exit Cody.

Enter
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
,
on balcony.

ANAKIN

You shall have need of me on Utapau.

OBI-WAN

Indeed, I shall. Yet, peradventure, it
May be a foolish bantha chase, no more.

ANAKIN

My Master, let me speak: I fear that I
Have giv’n you reason to be disappointed.
Methinks I’ve not the proper gratitude
Display’d for your great care in training me.
I have been proud, and do apologize.
’Tis my frustration with the Council that
Hath color’d mine exchanges with you, sir.

OBI-WAN

Thou art both passing strong and deeply wise,
My dear friend Anakin. Of thee I’m proud.
Thou have I train’d since thou wert but a boy,
And taught thee ev’rything that I do know.
Thou hast surpass’d me quite, and hast become
An abler Jedi than my fondest hope.
Be thou but patient, gallant Anakin:
I’ll warrant that, in time, the Council shall
Bestow on thee the rank of Jedi Master.

ANAKIN

Good Obi-Wan, as you depart, hear this:
The Force shall ever be with you, my friend.

OBI-WAN

Farewell, my loyal comrade Anakin,
The Force be with thee till we meet again.
[Exeunt.

SCENE 6.

On the planet Coruscant, in Padmé’s apartment.

Voices of
P
ADMÉ
and
O
BI
-W
AN
K
ENOBI
are heard offstage.

OBI-WAN

O, Padmé, listen, you shall see this through:
Store up your energy, all shall be well.

PADMÉ

It shall not be, I do not have the strength.
My soul doth ebb, an ’twere the tide receding.

Enter
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
.

ANAKIN

O, plague of visions dancing in my mind.
Methought I saw my Padmé sore beset
By agony of childbirth, done to death,
Whilst Obi-Wan stood by with helpless words
As though he could, by speaking, heal her pain.
O, Obi-Wan, what knowledge to me comes?
I sense his presence here, within this place,
’Tis like a stench that lingers in the air.
I treasure him, yet wherefore should he come
Into the private dwelling of my love?

Enter
P
ADMÉ
.

My Master, Obi-Wan, hath been here, aye?

PADMÉ

Indeed, this morning he did visit me.

ANAKIN

What was it he did want?

PADMÉ

—Fear not, nor sigh:
All his concern was lavish’d over thee.
He doth report much stress of late thou’st got,
Which I do know, and share with thee thy load.

ANAKIN

I have of late—but wherefore I know not—
Lost all my mirth, and feel I’ve lost my road.

PADMÉ

Yet wherefore lost? Thy words my sense outrun.

ANAKIN

Those who should be my friends have turn’d away:
The Jedi Council and good Obi-Wan.
Their trust for me hath somehow gone astray.

PADMÉ

They trust thee with their lives; is’t not enow?

ANAKIN

I feel a change that cometh over me:
A troubling in my soul—I know not how—
Methinks I’m not the Jedi I should be.
I yearn for more of power, fame, and might,
Yet this is wrong, I know with all mine heart.

PADMÉ

Thine expectations are too far from sight—
Press not thyself beyond thy rightful part.

ANAKIN

I have discover’d how I shall save thee.

PADMÉ

Save me?

ANAKIN

—I mean but from my nightmares, pet.

PADMÉ

They pain thee so, these dreams that thou dost see?

ANAKIN

O, Padmé, I’d not lose thee—nay, not yet.

PADMÉ

I shall not die in childbirth, Anakin.
My promise I do give thee, love: ’tis so.

ANAKIN

I render thee thy promise back again—
Thou shalt be safe by what I’ll come to know.
[Exit Anakin.

PADMÉ

O, warrior heart, O, noble, troubl’d man:
This talk of power, fame, and might—and death—
How shall I understand these muddl’d words,
How calm the man who by them is so vex’d,
How be a comfort midst his inner grief,
How raise a child amid such turmoil, how?
I must away, mine orisons to lift
For Anakin, whose soul is cut adrift.
[Exit Padmé.

SCENE 1.

On the planet Utapau.

Enter
O
BI
-W
AN
K
ENOBI
,
in fighter with droid
R4-G9.

OBI-WAN

On Utapau I have with haste arriv’d,
A planet of magnificence profound,
Though somewhere on its beauteous, vast land
A terror doth await for Obi-Wan:
Here Gen’ral Grievous hides most cravenlike,
A coward seeking cover from our might.
He would be but a jape were he not so
Well arm’d and well protected by his host
Of droids who do watch o’er him night and day.
Yet now the den where he doth cower’s mine,
I shall within and find the general,
And slay the half-man, half-droid grievously.

Enter
T
ION
M
EDON
and
GUARDS
.

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