CUT TO:
INT. COMMAND BATTLESHIP - BRIDGE
The Neimoidian bridge crew are all wearing masks and trying to work through a tinge of red mist.
BRIDGE CREWMAN #1 (from farther off): Malfunction in life support distribution.
BRIDGE CREWMAN #2 (closer): Sir, the intruders have entered the supply bay. They're stealing a shuttle!
YINRAY (limping over): Unleash the Droidekas.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMAND BATTLESHIP - ARMAMENTS ROOM
Two deactivated insect-like droids suddenly come alive with blinking lights, fold up into wheels, and begin rolling down the corridor.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMAND BATTLESHIP - SUPPLY BAY
Back at the shuttle burglary, the heroes are moving aboard their chosen craft. Qui-Gon grabs onto a hand-rail in the cargo hold to keep from falling. He is shivering all over.
QUI-GON: So...cold....
OBI-WAN: Master, you're not well.
SLATE: Worse than that, he's infected.
She attends to him and helps lay him down on a side bench. Ransom pauses there only briefly before heading toward the cockpit.
RANSOM: I'll power up the flight systems.
SLATE: You know how?
RANSOM (hesitating): Yes, I do.
OBI-WAN (to the droid): Keep an eye on Ransom here, will you?
ODD-IG: Yes Sir.
The Boy enters the cockpit, takes stock of the controls, then begins switching on flight systems like a pro. ODD-IG walks in, sees what he is doing, and seems satisfied.
RANSOM: Look!
Outside the cockpit window the doors to the supply bay are open and the pair of Droidekas roll in. They unfold and begin firing at the shuttle. The ship rocks with the impacts.
RANSOM: Deflector shields aren't charged yet!
He flips on the shuttles communicator.
RANSOM: Obi-Wan, droids attacking!
Obi-Wan looks up from the feverish and convulsing Qui-Gon.
OBI-WAN: I'll keep them busy, get ready to take off!
ODD-IG (returning from the cockpit): I shall assist.
OBI-WAN: Does he know what he's doing in there?
ODD-IG: Affirmative.
Obi-Wan runs down the ramp and begins engaging the Droidekas, which calmly divert their laser attention to him. Obi-Wan's hands are full deflecting blasts, but of course, these droids have a protective force field around them.
OBI-WAN: These have shield generators! Draw them this way!
They retreat farther down the supply bay to another row of shuttles, and the Droidekas lumber after them, less graceful than their spin-mode.
CUT TO:
INT. COMMAND BATTLESHIP - CONTROL ROOM
From a room overlooking the docking bay, a small crowd of Neimoidians is spectating through the window, rooting for the Droidekas and hooting at the fireworks of the stalemate.
JE LEEST
STAR WARS - Episode I: Millennium's Dawn
SciencefictionThis is a piece of fan fiction imagining what might have happened if 1999's Episode I: The Phantom Menace was rewritten. I kept elements from the film which I liked and freely invented new ones as I saw fit. I wanted to recapture the magic of the or...
