The Star Wars Page #13

Starkiller smiles rather sarcastically.

STARKILLER:

Orders...The invasion force has cut us off. We'll probably be here for some

time. You ought to stretch a bit.

PRINCESS:

Is that a command, General? Maybe I feel like watching after my brothers.

Starkiller looks back at the two sleeping boys.

STARKILLER:

They're not going anywhere. They're asleep.

PRINCESS:

I want to stay with them.

STARKILLER:

What's the matter? You afraid I might eat them?

66. LIBRARY - PALACE OF LITE - AQUILAE

The king's old library has been converted into an office for General Vader.

He is sitting behind his desk as Prince Valorum, the black knight of Sith,

enters and salutes. The black knight is dressed in the fascist black and

chrome uniform of the legendary Sith One Hundred. The general returns his

salute.

VADER:

Welcome, Prince Valorum. Your exploits are legendary. I have long waited to

meet a Knight of the Sith. If there is any way I can assist you, my entire

command is at your bidding.

VALORUM:

I want a tie-in to your computer network, a control center, and communication

access.

VADER:

Right away! I'll also transfer all information we have on the general. His

command post was self-destroyed, but we believe he is still alive.... Do you

really believe he's a Jedi?

VALORUM:

If he was not a Jedi, I wouldn't be here.

67. WASTELAND - AQUILAE

The speeders make their way across the grey desert. It is dawn. The twin

suns have yet to rise over the distant hills. The speeders are coated with

dust and grime, indicating that they have travelled far. The two captains

drive through the night as everyone else sleeps. Starkiller calls Whitsun on

the intercom.

STARKILLER:

How are your fuel packs? I'm reading minus four.

WHITSUN:

I'm too low to transfer any.

The general, who appeared to be asleep, opens his eyes, and takes the

microphone from Whitsun.

GENERAL:

There is a fuel station fourteen degrees by two meters. The occupation force

should have control of it by now, so hide your weapons...but keep them within

reach.

68. FUEL STATION - AQUILAE

A series of low concrete structures rise out of the desert. The speeders stop

in front of an old weather-beaten block house. The rusted hulk of a

landspeeder lies half-buried to one side of the building. Starkiller and

Whitsun jump out of the speeder and go into the block house.

69. INTERIOR - FUEL STATION - AQUILAE

The two young captains, dressed as farmers, enter the dingy little fuel

station. It is quiet. A few power packs line the walls and a dismantled

speeder rests in the repair bay. There is a sharp dripping sound coming from

the speeder. It appears that no-one is there.

STARKILLER:

Greetings! ... Who's in charge here?

They look around the deserted station, but find no attendant. An eerie quiet

pervades the building.

WHITSUN:

I don't get it...

STARKILLER:

You don't have to. It's abandoned.

Whitsun opens a door leading to a storage area, and stops short.

WHITSUN:

Not quite abandoned...

Starkiller moves to the doorway and sees the attendant, his wife, and small

daughter hanging upside down, tortured to death. Whitsun cuts them down.

WHITSUN:

They shouldn't have resisted.

Starkiller grabs two power packs from the shelf.

STARKILLER:

Help me with these power packs. We'd better move out of here.

Whitsun covers the family with an old work tarp. He bows to the dead, then

reluctantly grabs a couple of power packs and they start for the door.

Whitsun stops for a moment.

WHITSUN:

Hear that? Someone's here. (yelling) We're friends. Show yourself.

Silence. Whitsun shrugs his shoulders and they start out the door, only to

run straight into a burly stormtrooper.

STORMTROOPER:

Get out of here!

70. FUEL STATION - AQUILAE

Whitsun and Starkiller are pulled out of the doorway and shoved into the

center of a group of fifteen or twenty Imperial stormtroopers who have

surrounded the two speeders. Several troops have pulled General Skywalker out

of the speeder. He acts senile, like a man twice his age.

GENERAL SKYWALKER

I'm all right. I can still move about by myself.

A rough looking sergeant grabs Whitsun.

SERGEANT:

What are you doing here?

WHITSUN:

We're out of power, sir.

SERGEANT:

Let me see your travel passes!

WHITSUN:

I have it here, somewhere. We've been relocated...to a Bantha hortastation,

by Imperial order...

Whitsun fumbles to retrieve something from his pocket, and eventually pulls

out a small, round disc. The sergeant puts the disc in a small portable

reader. Various computer readouts are displayed on the monitor. Starkiller

starts to put a power pack into one of the speeders.

SERGEANT:

What are you doing there? All power has been restricted.

GENERAL SKYWALKER

We've run out. We must have power, or be forced to stay here....and become

your responsibilities.

The sergeant thinks about this for a moment, as the old, wise general watches

him. Tension fills the air. Starkiller shuffles around to a position where

he can reach his weapon. A trooper hands the sergeant a message.

SERGEANT (to Whitsun)

Take only two of those power packs, and then move out quickly.

The sergeant hurries to a military craft, where he takes a call on an

intercom. General Skywalker and his two young captains load the remaining

power packs into the speeder, and roar away from the station.

71. WASTELAND - AQUILAE

The speeders race along through the rocky desert wasteland. The general

speaks into the intercom to Starkiller.

GENERAL:

Keep a close watch. If that sergeant runs an analysis on those passes, we

might be seeing him again...We should be safely inside Gordon within the day.

Everyone is in good spirits. The princess and her young brothers sing an

Aquilaean melody, which is transmitted to Starkiller in the smaller speeder.

The general takes little Windy, and lets him sit on his lap in the forward

compartment of the speeder. Artwo flexes Threepio's arm back and forth,

attempting to discover the cause of a loud squeak.

ARTWO:

Z-2 doesn't seem to help at all.

THREEPIO:

It's all this filth and dust. This environment is murderous.

Starkiller notices a small speck on the horizon.

STARKILLER (into intercom)

Object approaching, bearing three point two.

The general looks through an electrotelescope mounted in the speeder. He

spots a distant row of troopers riding strange dune birds.

GENERAL (to Starkiller)

It's a patrol. It could mean trouble. We'd better split up. You stay on a

direct course. We'll meet you at the western edge of ravine 23-64. Stay in

contact.

The larger speeder makes a sharp left turn, speeding off across a deep ravine.

Starkiller can begin to distinguish the approaching troopers.

STARKILLER:

It looks like there's ten of them. They're heading right for me.... Wait a

second. They've disappeared! I've lost them.

GENERAL:

Continue on.

73. WASTELAND LAKEBED - AQUILAE

Whitsun deftly maneuvers the bulky speeder through a narrow, boulder strewn

ravine. They eventually come out on a dry lake bed, where they stop.

Standing not more than a hundred feet away, apparantly waiting for the

speeder, are five Imperial troops on their dune birds.

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