101 Over Outer Space 101
Title Crawl
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
STAR
WARS
Episode IX
THE EMPRESS OF DEATH
Finn has vanished. In his
absence, the Empire and Republic
have made the CERODE TREATY,
where no planet under their
protection will be targeted by a
Death Star.
The truce has let each side stockpile
planets for an upcoming war. They
have both grown massively, but the
Empress of Death and her reformed
PRINCES OF DAWN have the majority.
All Jedi are plagued with visions of
destruction across the galaxy. Their
terror begins with the Sith Empress'
battle for Shanglacius…
.
102 Shanglacius Battleship Corridor – Int. 102
Our view of the stars is from the viewport of a Shanglan battleship. The transparent material reflects flashes of red and blue, of a hectic battle directly outside our sight. A "Frozen Man" of Shanglacius' warrior class falls dead on the viewport.
A glowing blue strand slices the corpse's hand then yanks it back. A man in a black and silver robe catches the hand with a smirk. Three soldiers attack him with their blasters and heat-thieves. The man swings his right hand once as blue strings of energy whip around. They chop the Frozen Men into pieces —then the whips instantly vanish.
The man strides through the warzone as one walks a sidewalk. His skin is soft, his lips flush, his long black hair drapes over his "crown" of metal cranial plugs. He is Cassariot Dawn. The slave Knight of Ren now carries himself with the pride of a Prince of Dawn.
A trooper to his left is stabbed by a heat-thief and is frozen dead instantly. Cassariot walks away. He thoughtlessly slaughters the Frozen Men who lunge at him. Out of the corridor viewports, we see the many more battleships under attack, trying to protect the large, spindly satellite behind them.
Cassariot rounds a corner into a corridor crowded by Imperial Troopers. They open their line to let him in, never stopping laying fire down on both sides.
CONFUSED TROOPER Prince Cassariot, sir, where did you go? We need your command to breach…
CASSARIOT Making a point.
Cassariot plucks a ring off the hand then discards the flesh. He keeps the ring in his left hand. Confused Trooper remains confused.
CONFUSED TROOPER … sir?
CASSARIOT Ready on my mark.
The men shift in final preparation.
CASSARIOT These Frozen Men will fight like hell at this last point. OUR EMPRESS' GLORY LIES BEYOND THEM. BREACH!
The explosion punctures through. Shield troopers in the front protect the group from the explosion and then the torrent of blaster fire erupting out after.
Cassariot pulls his right hand back, the blue strand threading between a gap in the shields, slicing a man's head off.
CASSARIOT TO GLORY!
The stormtroopers stomp forward, Cassariot in the back plucking Frozen Men, troopers in the middle march on with guns in hand, and the front shield troopers spearheading them.
.
103 Shanglacius Battleship Command – Int. 103
Once through the door, the front troopers mount their shields and unholster their blasters. The middle troopers spread out, surgically eliminating all inside. Cassariot walks over the smoking corpses. He positions rings in his left hand. Unguarded, he watches on. From his perspective, we see the room:
A command center with monitors and loyal men manning them. Even now, at the end, these men keep fighting. Behind them, a massive viewport, showing all of the planet Shanglacius: a planet with two huge polar ice caps, between them a shining small band of bright summer colors. The ice caps have visible lights of civilization but are not as concentrated as those in the band. And behind this marbled planet, the MDS Krannek looms with its fleet of fifty warships.
The Frozen Men never stop. The last of them batched together on the bottom level, behind the right entrance to the command center.
The entrance explodes behind them. The breach charge kills most. Newly invading shield troopers and middle troopers kill the rest. Behind them, another Prince of Dawn enters. His black and silver robe without smear. He hurriedly looks at the death in the room with disappointment. He looks up to see Cassariot.
He holds up his hand: Two rings.
Cassariot chuckles. Shows his left hand: Eight.
The Prince of Dawn curses as the troopers secure the command center. Cassariot looks eagerly at the lush equator of Shanglacius. Smirking, he says to himself:
CASSARIOT Hmph. So slow, Empress. If you brought us along, we would have finished this war before you too.
.
104 Vault of the Young King – Int. 104
Here on the surface of Shanglacius sits a wealthy city carved defiantly into a frozen mountain. The advanced city can be defined by its tall radiant towers, floating gardens, waterfalls, rivers, and pristine small high-arched bridges.
Looking closer, one can find the truly defining feature of Shanglacius: Thermal control. The roads, under the bridges, their thin fabric robes, their guns, and especially "heat-thief" daggers of the Frozen Men, all use the same device. A small box with two symmetrical lit circles and two lit wires that meter entropy where connected. When a wire breaks, both will dim. This technology caused their Ice Age and is the only thing protecting their equator from freezing over.
The wealthy "Cariyas" stay in the ring. The rest survive in the ice. It has made a brutal people called the Frozen Men, hundreds of cultures united in both struggle and spite. They curse the Cariyas for bringing this upon the once lush world.
Within the tallest tower, on the top room, surrounded in wealth and comfort, three Cariyas and one Frozen Man discuss matters.
He lays back on a lavish red sofa, feigning comfort to project confidence. His jade skin youthful, his rock protrusion grows cylindrically off his chin in a familiar regal style. A gold head ornament woven into his wavy black hair. He is the young king, Watphaba.
WATPHABA Any update outside Secretary Taifosha?
Taifosha stands attentive, monitoring the war. He is an aged Cariya, ashy gray skin, with small rock protrusions that dot his jawline. He is the Military Secretary.
TAIFOSHA The Frozen Men on Squadron Magenta are overwhelmed on North Medial. They only have two ships left… My King, neither is surrendering.
WATPHABA & NOONAK Of course they aren't!
Both Watphaba and Noonak are offended by the suggestion, but chuckle at their synchronized response. Taifosha is taken aback.
WATPHABA …death is warm to a Frozen Man, right Noonak?
Noonak cracks a grin. His outsider-friend understands. He stays leaning on the doorway behind a praying priestess. He is middle-aged, skin a softer shade of jade, tattoos on his face, the rock protrusions on his temples pierced, wearing armor and weapons. He is Absolute Chief of the Frozen Men.
NOONAK We of the Frozen Men aren't like you Cariyas. We don't pray to escape death but to find it.
LANTUAHON Heresy.
Lantuahon speaks factually, without scorn. She never breaks from her prostration, never opening her eyes, always keeping prayer.
TAIFOSHA …may we send reinforcements to them, Young King Watphaba? The enemy is small enough to be chased off.
Noonak stops smirking and looks back to Watphaba.
WATPHABA No. We will not break the line at the equator. We can never win on offense. Continue to lay bait near the poles. If they want to punch through our shields and trap their ground forces on Frozen Man territory, we let them.
Noonak remembers the King is not a Frozen Man.
NOONAK Cariyas don't need to die after all.
Watphaba looks back.
WATPHABA Half of all Cariyas are cowards who want to surrender. The Frozen Men are the only ones who CAN save this planet.
Lantuahon speaks with an affectionate correction.
LANTUAHON Heresy, my King.
Watphaba closes his eyes, annoyed by the bowed enemy they keep in their company. Then continues:
WATPHABA Now that we can swallow the Krannek's shot into Hyperspace, defense has become an option. Every Shanglan together: Every Cariya believer, every Frozen Man warrior —every innovation your Young King ever made— must hold their position. And make our guests' stay long and painful. 'til they have lost too much for a single planet.
TAIFOSHA …we still don't know if your innovation can stop the Krannek.
WATPHABA No… we don't. It's hard to test without our own Death Star.
Watphaba leans out to look at a hologram of many marked towers on the surface of the planet.
WATPHABA (cont.) But it will. I was placed here, at this time, to make the Hypermatter Protection Grid. No other planet, no single other man in any other circumstance… it would have been impossible without High Priestess Lantuahon and the church bending all Shanglacius to this great theory-craft.
LANTUAHON Praise nothing but the High One. He placed me to serve you.
NOONAK I thought your god wanted The Empress of Death will kill us all? You're fine committing "heresy."
LANTUAHON The King's actions are the commands of the High One. Only through him is heresy allowed.
NOONAK But not when heresy would mean ourselves opposing our own genocide?
Lantuahon rises from her prostration. She wears an elaborate white robe with gold trim. She holds aged beauty. Her skin is light bronze, blonde hair, and marbled eyes of gold and green (being female, she has no rock protrusions). She stares into the godless Frozen Man.
LANTUAHON Yes.
Noonak keeps pushing this hopeless fight.
NOONAK And if he doesn't even believe any of this?!
WATPHABA Woah! I never said that! I just disagree with the interpretation.
TAIFOSHA I don't believe, but even I see the coincidences are too mu—
WATPHABA Taifosha, don't get her started
LANTUAHON "The mother of silver demons. The eight-headed dragon. The darkness invades. A final war on frozen ground." We have examined the apocrypha. It is time. May the High One find a place for us in his new world.
WATPHABA Lantuahon, stop. She didn't "birth them," if anything, Harold Zaltan did. You can't ignore the details. You especially can't omit the last one.
LANTUAHON The High One has yet to name the New Holy City. Though you as his actor have chosen this one—
WATPHABA This city is only a bunker. I do not name this the New Holy City.
Lantuahon has grown numb to constant disappointment.
LANTUAHON As the King wishes.
An alert goes off, the city war sirens signal.
TAIFOSHA Imperial ship entering our airspace.
WATPHABA Why here?
NOONAK Shoot it.
TAIFOSHA They have been…
A silent mass realization among the party. The priestess happily announces:
LANTUAHON The Empress of Death is here.
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105 Shanglacius City – Ext. 105
An Imperial speeder races to the city. A womanly figure hangs out the side opening in a black full-body coat, hidden in a mask and hood. Defensive heat blasters take two shots at the scrappy craft. The figure deflects them in flashes of energy.
Once close enough, the figure jumps off, hands outstretched as though treading water. Jagged bolts push up against the ground, landing her softy on her feet. Far up, we see five red jets leave the ship.
She smites the two defensive blasters. Military Police hovercraft race over. With the brief pause in the action, she is allowed to feel the refreshing heated atmosphere of the city. She sheds her coat:
Empress Rey Sidious makes her entrance!
Remarkable female. Her garb proudly displays her body. The beauty presented voluntarily by Rey is beyond mortal; no armor, no weapon, and not a scratch on her. Not even a hair misplaced. Her entire being radiates confidence. The sight is an ethereal wonder on the battlefield. The Military Police resist her divinity.
They respond in heavy assault, Rey returns their volleys back into the attacking ships. The ground unit establishing a perimeter is untouched. Rey floats over to a government building. She gets ready —several soldiers atop nearby buildings ready missile launchers aimed behind her.
High-powered shots violently end every Shanglan squad targeting Rey. Red jetpack Vetalav troops (the same kind as in Escape from Ren!) support their Empress.
Rey breathes in. Then jets of lightning drill into the entire base foundation of the building. She stops.
She breathes out. The sight of the fresh crater stuns the Shanglans.
Breaths in. A woven web of lightning pulls the buried bunker out as her flying snipers cover her from attack. The bunker stops in front of her.
And out.
.
106 Vault of the Young King – Int. 106
Tension has set in on the calm group. Every monitor is light red, some with footage from Military Police cars. Noonak has his hands on his heat-thief, eyeing High Priestess Lantuahon.
WATPHABA Why is she here! There is nothing for her!
TAIFOSHA She is looking for you, Young King Watphaba.
WATPHABA No one knows I am here. Disinformation was spread everywhere…
NOONAK Only those of us in this room know the truth.
Noonak grabs Lantuahon.
WATPHABA Noonak… stop…
The speedy Noonak rejects Watphaba's negotiation. The High Priestess puts no guard up, no struggle, not even looking at the Frozen Man with his dagger to her throat. But he demands an answer.
NOONAK You betrayed your King to some perverted prophecy?!
LANTUAHON No.
WATPHABA Noonak, Drop it. Lantuahon did nothing.
NOONAK If not her, then who!?
Watphaba looks into the High Priestess' eyes. Complete faith looks back at him.
WATPHABA If it were her, the Empress wouldn't have gone for the capital building. It's not her. No matter how much she wants it to be. It's no one here. The Empire has ways of ripping information out of everyone. Everything. It was all of us in some way —something we all missed.
Noonak sighs and releases the High Priestess. Her heart rate slightly higher. Maybe.
TAIFOSHA (joking) I am slightly offended by the total lack of suspicion, sir.
Watphaba smiles at that. Glances at a monitor of Rey cracking the bunker.
WATPHABA Who did you end up putting there?
TAIFOSHA Latecomers to the pilgrimage.
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107 Shanglacius City – Ext. 107
Rey finishes cracking a hole into the bunker. And out.
She readies her stance to confront this upstart king. The punctured inside pitch black, Rey takes caution stepping forward. Two lights ignite.
Off guard, Rey barely dodges the lightsabers. The two ambushing Jedi prevent the Empress from getting her footing back. Rey fires a wild shot, nimbly blocked the older Jedi. The younger goes for a swing at her head —ducked under.
Off her back foot, with eyes locked on the older Jedi's incoming saber, Rey breathes in:
Her entire arm ignites white with layers of crackling, wailing energy. She catches the lightsaber with this gauntlet —the Jedi gazes into Rey's eyes with terror. Rey breathes out steam.
She kicks this Jedi away just as her arm returns to normal. The younger advances. She parries three hits the same Force gauntlet technique until she locks his blade. In one smooth motion, she slides her hand down then grabs his grip hand, melting the lightsaber and forearm into a stump of metal and flesh. The Jedi passes out from the pain.
The older Jedi rushes in too fast. Without his guard up, she stabs him with lighting, ending him.
REY (thoughts) Not in the bunker. Jedi are here.
KYLO (thoughts) He is here. I have landed northside. Taking more info. Someone knows.
REY (thoughts) Stay out of the sky. I am attacking all aircraft hereon.
Rey vaults up by her foot, pushing off from the ground, a single straight chain of energy stilting her. Once slowing, she switches feet, controlling direction with curved electric cords from her hands. Every fleeing ship Rey spots, she clips, darting from one to the next.
.
108 Vault of the Young King – Int. 108
A few soldiers, Frozen Men, and clergy now crowd the room, deciding on a plan. Watphaba and Noonak stand alone together to watch Rey devastate their skies. Lantuahon stays by the king, praying alone.
WATPHABA Didn't see that in the weather report.
NOONAK Your humor is a beacon to us all, Wat.
TAIFOSHA Our ground vehicles won't move any faster! We need to free our air control!
WATPHABA She won't stop till she finds me.
NOONAK This planet's future dies with you.
WATPHABA High Priestess Lantuahon: if I die today, will the religious Cariyas continue to operate the Hypermatter Protection Grid towers?
LANTUAHON There is still no substitute king. No male Cariya on the entire planet has passed the tests nor trials as you did. It may take a year to process.
WATPHABA Will you follow my orders until a new king revokes them?
LANTUAHON I would feel no obligation to do so. You are no longer here to legitimize the heresy.
NOONAK Typical. It was never an option for us to take regardless.
WATPHABA …High Priestess, what would you recommend this city do to protects its king?
Lantuahon pauses. It takes all her training in cold objectivity to maintain her highest vow. She arrives at a conclusion:
LANTUAHON Order all pilots down. Keep them on standby. In the meantime, have the Geothermal Heat Exchange Center reverse flow downward. While a church member monitors for the critical point, you will stow away on a single ship. Then launch them all. The Empress will be distracted and overwhelmed, and then the volcanic eruption will be instant. No one in the city will survive.
Silence falls on the two men.
LANTUAHON (cont.) Heresy of this magnitude may only be legitimized on your order, my King.
Watphaba's widened eyes show his touted youth. As Lantuahon spoke, his every conception as the planet's savior shattered. He instantly knew he would accept. Yet now, he trembles to finalize the command.
WATPHABA (shaking) …well, I guess some Cariyas do get to die too, eh 'nak?
The forced joke flops for the concerned Noonak. Lantuahon also does not laugh. Though Lantuahon never laughs.
WATPHABA (tearing) …let it be done, High Priestess.
Lantuahon has grown numb to constant disappointment.
LANTUAHON As the King wishes.
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109 Shanglan Brewery – Int. 109
The Shanglan Military has its own base of operation, but the foreign Frozen Men have had to appropriate citizen property to seat their command. This nifty brewery uses the city's artificial rivers to serve, power, and ship product to customers. This was entirely aesthetic at the time.
Now the building is dim, the gears dead, the barrels now stuffed with weapons. The aqueducts through the site are mostly drained, only trickling streams now. The walls newly covered with maps, charts, and codes.
Tense silence. Frozen men lay still in hiding. Behind tanks, under pipes, over vents, inside aqueducts. Their eyes darting for any sign. Helpless to know where he will strike next. Water drops as a slow count to the inevitable.
He appears behind the one lying in the aqueduct. His black mask and robe familiar, but as the sole Cardinal Knight, he bears the distinctive red trim upon himself. This is Kylo Ren.
The Frozen Man turns just in time, shooting Kylo in the head. Kylo vanishes, a Frozen Man hidden in the vent above is hit instead. Kylo's spectral projections flood the room. Confusion everywhere.
A red lightsaber cuts the aqueduct just in front of the aqueduct Frozen Man. Just as he looks at this cut, another swipe cuts behind him. The cut piece of aqueduct falls to the floor —he is stopped mid-air by Kylo, Force-choking him in place. Drug forward, then with his other hand, Kylo rips into the Frozen Man's mind.
Nothing.
Kylo ends him and moves on, obscured by the hysteria. This Kylo is new, his movements controlled, efficient. His newly constructed lightsaber's blade is calm, nearly without sound; the garish cross guard replaced with a phrick bell-guard.
One Frozen Man falls under a tank. Kylo reaches for the man, only realizing now he is bait. A Frozen Man above punctures the tank right over Kylo's head, leaking the water over Kylo as the bottom man stabs through the tank with his heat-thief, freezing the liquid.
Too late.
Kylo pushes the water entirely away from himself and at the man under the tank, it freezes with him inside. The Frozen Man above tries to shoot Kylo directly. Kylo stops the shot and throws it at another trying an ambush. The man falls with his leg shot. Kylo grips his face, looking for anything.
Nothing. Chopped and tossed.
Kylo stays in place, pondering. Shots rain on him from all sides. His body automatically deflecting the shots aimlessly over the room. He pieces the information he does have.
KYLO (thinking) The Frozen Men think the church knows. Is it destroyed?
REY (thinking) Not yet.
KYLO (thinking) Good.
Kylo returns his focus. Scatters five specters from his position. The fakes distract the Frozen Men, and one gets isolated. Kylo takes him. Kylo learns the speeders are on standby, where the best is, as well as the church's location. Kylo crushes him into a wall.
Jumping between tanks to the vents, dodging and deflecting in every stride, he cuts through to the roof. The army reaction is too slow as Kylo jumps inside a speeder. The pilot inside tries, but with a flick of the wrist, his struggles are over.
Kylo takes the controls, puts the hood down, and punches it.
Clipping a few buildings, he sees the cathedral in the middle of its gorgeous surrounding garden. He plows right into the topmost spire.
.
110 High One's Mercy Cathedral – Int. 110
Kylo Force-pushes the hood off the ship. The room remains dignified even in the new rubble. As the living priestesses flee, one trips on her robe.
Kylo drags her to him. His power digs into her.
Nothing. But he sees through her, one lives here with the role of the High Priestess' attendant. She must know. But wher—Kylo senses her.
Kylo lets the girl go. He turns around and finds his target's leg crushed under a piece of wall. The attendant is young, wearing a white robe with gold trim, less elaborate than the High Priestess. She cries out from the pain. Kylo places his hand over her.
Nothi— oh no. Worse.
Kylo places the injured woman unconscious.
KYLO (thoughts) Have multiple ships scattered yet?
REY (thoughts) Yes, that's happening right now. What is going on?
KYLO (thoughts) A trap! They have triggered an eruption!
REY (thoughts) So be it.
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111 Shanglan Tower – Ext. 111
We return to the tallest tower. Rey lands on the very top, where just below her, the Young King once hid. She looks on at the city, the soldiers, the frozen men, the citizens, the panic. She studies every street, every building, the very foundations of the city.
Rey closes her eyes. Floating, she crosses her legs into a meditative pose. Entering a state of singular focus, losing sensation until only a manifested idea exists in her place.
Light shines from within Rey.
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112 Shanglan Hover Tank – Int. 112
The ship is quiet and somber. Young King Watphaba is away from any window, but his mind stays on the city he chose to sacrifice. Waiting for it to happen. Praying it never comes.
WATPHABA …am I worth this 'nak?
NOONAK …I don't know. I can say what you are worth to me: My closest friend. To the Frozen Men: The man who brought back wealth to our caves. Who never betrayed us. To Shanglacius: To have advanced hypermatter mining and brought her glory back. It's all you. You are the first king to truly rule this entire planet. The only one who could win it, Wat.
WATPHABA A savior would have found a way.
The quiet returns punctuated by the soft hum of the engine. A shrill gasp.
The soldiers crowd the windows, the ship leaning left from the weight shift. The gasp came from Lantuahon, her hands over her mouth, her eyes streaming with tears, her very soul broken from the sight.
Watphaba rushes to the window when the hillside erupts. It shakes the hover tank. Everyone falls; the pilot barely maintains control. Lantuahon is on her knees, sobbing on the floor. Watphaba gets up again, needing to see it. The sight rocks him.
LANTUAHON To think… I… I almost destroyed the New Holy City.
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113 Ice Mountains/New Holy City– Ext. 113
The circular foundation of the entire city has been lifted into the skies above. Every building maintained, all the people in it safe. Bearing witness to the volcanic action beneath them.
Then they behold her above the tallest tower. The Empress of Death sits supreme, as blinding as a sun. Her white light bathing the city, electric currents emit from her keeping everything together. Until finally, she lands the city into a new mountain.
The action broke the Geothermic Exchange Center. No more rivers, nor waterfalls, nor heated atmosphere. The first natural white snow gently coats the city after hundreds of years. Empty, Rey closes her eyes and drops. A flying trooper catches her from falling too far. The contact keeps her just barely conscious. As he drapes her on his arm, he slowly flies down. Other flying troopers join him in the descent. Approaching the crowded ground, Rey snaps awake. She leaves the man's support.
Rey floats down, her guards behind her. The Cariyas bow, the Frozen Men stand in terror. Kylo looks on from the cathedral, carrying the attendant in his arms. The last guest arrives in the hover tank.
The Young King gets out, waving off his guards.
NOONAK Wat! What are you doing!?
The man is breaking inside. His old friend looks back to him, the hopelessness on the king's face unrecognizable.
WATPHABA …I'm so sorry 'nak.
The Young King turns his back on the Frozen Man. He kneels before the Empress of Death.
Noonak lowers his head, and all the Frozen Men do the same. Never trust a Cariya.
Rey is void in ending the war; the praise by the people passes through her. She only feels sickened by the sight of the familiar betrayal. She knows what will happen to their planet now, what she will do to it. But she has long learned that revulsion is her sole reward for a job well done.
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.
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