Obi-Wan Kenobi (Part 6)

Welcome back everyone.  I have finally set up my Twitter, so I decided to post a day early, while I have time to ensure all notifications are working properly.

We are almost to our halfway point for the Obi-Wan Kenobi rewrite.  Please feel free to read back through Episodes 1 through 3 if you haven’t already.  If you’re caught up, if you just want the quick recap, let’s dive right in.

Series Recap

After a decade in isolation on Tatooine, Obi-Wan is found by Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth, the leader of a radical rebel cell called the Hidden Path.  C’baoth invites Obi-Wan to join his effort to rebuild the Jedi Order.  Knowing that C’baoth has been abducting Force-sensitive children, Obi-Wan accepts the offer, hoping to divert C’baoth’s attention away from Tatooine and thus protect Luke.

Obi-Wan and C’baoth travel to Jabiim, where Obi-Wan sees C’baoth operation.  He is dismayed how similar C’baoth’s training methods are to the raising of the clone soldiers for the Grand Army of the Republic.  He also recognizes Leia among the children.  (Looking back at Part 5, I realize that this is a detail I failed to include in the original post of the Children of the Path scene; it has since been edited in.)

Meanwhile, the Third Sister arrives on Daiyu and occupies the capital city as she hunts for a local Hidden Path safehouse.  The Jedi in charge of the safehouse, Haja, calls C’baoth for aid. C’baoth dispatches Obi-Wan to rescue Haja before Third Sister can capture him.  Obi-Wan bypasses the blockade by exploiting the greed of the local Hutt ruler.  With Hidden Path operatives Tala and NED-B by his side, he infiltrates the capital.  The Third Sister, however, is aware that a Jedi has come to the city, and she readies herself for a confrontation.

EPISODE 4 – THE WRETCHED HIVE

Opening Scene

Obi-Wan and the Path operatives emerge from a maintenance access tunnel into the streets of Daiyu.  This will be similar to the establishing scene from the original Kenobi show, with two notable exceptions.  The first is that Obi-Wan will have a clear sense of direction.  Tala knows the location of the safehouse, so the three of them move through the crowds with a sense of purpose.  The second is that there will be Imperial patrols, complete with walkers.  Obi-Wan and Tala will have to keep to the crowds to avoid being stopped and searched.

There’s a specific element from this scene that I want to capitalize upon: Obi-Wan speaking with the homeless clone from the 501st Legion.  As Obi-Wan and Tala move through the city, he sees destitution, corruption, and suffering.  He averts his gaze from it, but at the sight of the veteran, he pauses, hesitates (much like in the show), and then gives the man a few coins.  Before he can move off, a pair of battered clones, one wearing armor (let’s make is the red-patterned armor of the 265th Legion) and one wearing an overcoat.  The two clones help the 501st clone up, thanking Obi-Wan for the donation, and lead him away, indicating that they’re going to get him someplace warm to sleep for the night.

Tala doubles back and scolds Obi-Wan for falling behind.  Obi-Wan stares after the clones for a moment before following.

Cut to the title cards.

Smuggler’s Hole

Obi-Wan, Tala, and NED-B arrive at Haja’s shop.  When Obi-Wan introduces himself as Ben, Haja considers him for a moment before ushering the trio into the safehouse.  It’s an impressive complex housing more than thirty Force-sensitive children, built into an abandoned maintenance junction.

Obi-Wan and the Path operatives discuss their options while reviewing a holographic map of the city.

OBI-WAN: How were you planning to move all these children before the Empire turned up?

HAJA: There are automated cargo haulers that run into and out of the port.  We were going to move the children there in deliver speeders, load them onto a hauler, then hijack it once it jumped to lightspeed.  We’ve done it a few times before.  Imperials just blame pirates if a hauler doesn’t reach its destination.

OBI-WAN: That’s definitely off the table now.  We didn’t see any cargo ships getting through the blockade.  [His gaze shifts to the Imperial garrison.]  Tell me about the garrison.

[As these lines of dialogue progress, we get cuts of Obi-Wan, Haja, and Tala scouting out the locations being described, with shots to highlight various details.]

HAJA: Garrisons.  There are two now.  The original base held a few dozen stormtroopers and a few hundred Army troops.  Then the Inquisitor dropped her Star Destroyer’s prefabricated base at the edge of the city, and at least five thousand stormtroopers with it.  It’s a massive encampment now.

OBI-WAN: Too risky, then.  What about the original base? How secure is it?

HAJA: It’s small, discrete.  It’s more of an embassy than a military installation – something to remind Sotola that the Empire’s in charge without making her feel threatened. 

OBI-WAN: Then that will be our target.

TALA: You can’t be serious.  We don’t have enough people to assault the place while escorting our recruits.  Even if we did, every stormtrooper in the city would come crashing down on us. We’d be dead before we could even get a ship off the ground.

OBI-WAN: Don’t worry.  We won’t need to bring the padawans through a warzone.  [His gaze lingers of the area of the map where Sotola’s palace is located.]  You said you’d move the children to the landing zone is delivery speeders.  Could you still acquire those?

HAJA: Possibly.

OBI-WAN: Get it done.  [He glances at Tala.]  I’ll deal with our manpower shortage.

Four Lights

Leia and the other conscripts are mustered within one of the rooms of the mining complex.  They are forced to line up while small devices are fitted onto their temples and wrists.  As Leia is fitted, we see the datapad of the Path operative who is distributing the devices.  Biometric information begins to scroll across it.

The children are then forced to stand before a large holoprojector with a chair beside it.  C’baoth enters the room.  The children are ordered to salute him; Leia and several others do not.  C’baoth smiles at them all and sits in the chair.

C’BAOTH: Please, my children, be seated.  [He waits for the children to comply.]  Today, we are deviating from your usual classroom exercises.  I have a very special lesson for you.

[The holoprojector projects a model of a star system with a sun and three planets.]

C’BAOTH: Now, all together, I want you to tell me how many planets there are in this picture.

[The class choruses that there are three.]

C’BAOTH [casually waving his hand]: No.  There are four.  There is one sun, and four planets.  Now, how many planets are there?

[The answer is a bit more confused this time, with some saying three and others saying four.  The operative with the datapad, now standing at the back of the room, glances at the screen; we see red lights across each image.  She glances at C’baoth.]

C’BAOTH: I can tell that you don’t believe me.  Look closely, children.  [He waves his hand again as she gestured at the projector.] There are four planets.  All together, now.

[This time, as the children answer, more say that there are four.  On the datapad, a few of the names light up in green.  She holds up fingers for C’baoth to indicate how many.  He smiles.  Leia notices this and glances back, but one of the instructors in the room barks for her to face forward.  The image on the projector changes to a pair of Star Destroyers.]

C’BAOTH: How many Star Destroyers are in this image?  [He waits for an answer.]  No, no, my children.  [Again, he waves, this time more subtly.]  There are three.

Old Soldiers

Obi-Wan and Haja move through the streets of the city.  They stop outside a cantina.  Obi-Wan confirms with Haja that this is the correct location before instructing him to return to the safehouse.

More than a third of the patrons within the cantina are clone veterans.  Flags on the wall are marked with the iconography of various clone battalions and legions.  Many of the troopers are wearing their old armor.  Pieces of disassembled CIS battle droids are integrated into the décor, included a mangled droideka that is mounted on a pedestal and B1 heads being used for the taps at the bar.  No one pays Kenobi much attention as he scans the room; his gaze settles upon a table where one of the clones has the yellow armor of the 212th Attack Battalion (one of the units Kenobi commanded in the clone wars).  The clones who’d helped the homeless man earlier in the episode are also at the table.

Obi-Wan offers to buy the troopers a round, claiming to have been a member of the Onderron resistance during the Clone Wars.  (For those who haven’t seen The Clone Wars, there was a story arc where Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka aided an anti-CIS insurgency on the planet Onderron.)  He bonds with the troopers, using his knowledge of trooper tastes (such as sugary foods) to get into their good graces.  The clones do not seem to recognize him, accepting his explanation that he remains masked due to severe scarring during that conflict.  From the discussion, he learns that the clones have been forced to work as hired thugs and Hutt enforcers since the Empire squeezed them out of the military.

Obi-Wan explains that he wants to seize an Imperial landing craft from the garrison (I use “landing craft” loosely here – we’ll later see that it’s a Sentinel-class, which has a hyperdrive), and he needs professionals with current knowledge of military protocols to pass as stormtroopers.  One of the troopers states that it is impossible unless Obi-Wan already has the weapons and armor.  Obi-Wan assures them that he can acquire these things and that he can compensate them for the trouble.

Acquisitions

We cut to a montage of Obi-Wan and Haja hunting stormtroopers.  This will be a very dangerous and devious hunt.  They will pick off isolated patrols of two troopers at the time, using traps and mind tricks to immobilize and kill the stormtroopers without inflicting blaster damage to their armor.  Soon they have enough equipment for an entire squad.

Near the end of the montage, Obi-Wan compliments Haja for the immense skill he’s displayed with mind tricks.  Haja proudly admits that C’baoth taught him the finer points of the technique.  He then reveals that he’s already figured out who Obi-Wan really is.  He’s quite pleased to be able to meet Obi-Wan in person: while Obi-Wan doesn’t recognize him, Haja and his master had heard all about Obi-Wan and Anakin’s accomplishments during the Clone Wars.  Haja explains that he survived Order 66 because he and his master were behind CIS lines with only a few clones when the order were received.  Although his master was gunned down, Haja managed to kill the other clones before stealing a CIS ship.

At this point, Haja explains the chips implanted in the clones’ brains, and how those chips force the clones to engage in contingency orders such as Order 66.  (I personally hate this addition to canon, but rather than ignore it, I’m going to recycle of concept from the newer Star Wars comics.)  He warns Kenobi not to let the clones know they are Jedi, lest the clones turn on them.

Three Moves Ahead

Third Sister is at the garrison (the prefabricated one), studying a map of locations where stormtroopers have gone missing over the past few days.  The ISB officer enters the room.

ISB OFFICER: Reporting as requested, Inquisitor.

THIRD SISTER: How’d the teardown of the blockade runner’s ship proceeding?

ISB OFFICER: The navigational data is irretrievable, Inquisitor.

THIRD SISTER: I see.  Another dead end, then.

ISB OFFICER [speaking quickly]: However, I ordered our mechanics to disassemble the hyperdrive.  They tell me that they can calculate the number and range of the jumps made within the past few days.  We should be able to provide you with a list of potential planets of origin.

THIRD SISTER [with a faint smile]: You’re improving, Agent.  Good.  Anything suspicious from Sotola?

ISB OFFICER: She’s put out a contract to have you assassinated.  Otherwise, everything’s quiet.  The only movement in or out of her palace is over land.  She’s fueling up her yacht; we suspect she might try to flee the planet.  It’s fast and well-armored, Inquisitor – we may not be able to shoot it down before it jumps to hyperspace.

THIRD SISTER: Let her run.  If she does, the Empire claims this world in full.  [She stares at the location of the old garrison on the map.]  How many landing craft are currently operational at your facility?

ISB OFFICER: Five, Inquisitor.

THIRD SISTER: Move one of them into a maintenance bay.  I want multiple trackers installed – short range, long range, S-thread.  Tear up some non-essential systems so that the mess hides them, but keep the ship ready for takeoff.  Then double security around the landing pad so that any intruders will be routed to the maintenance bay.  Be subtle about it, Agent.

ISB OFFICER: Yes, Inquisitor.

THIRD SISTER: And do it fast.  C’baoth’s about to make his move.  I can feel it.

Five Lights

We cut back to the classroom.  A few days have passed: C’baoth is wearing different clothes.  We see him continuing the exercises wherein he shows the children something on the holoprojector and then tells them something different.  This time, each time the children give the false answer, all the indicators on the datapad light up, except for two.  One of these is Leia. C’baoth is barely moving his hands now as he tells the children what they should see.

That night, Leia gets into a fight with the other girls.  She challenges them for always saying the wrong thing.  They retort that she is a liar, and that they see everything that C’baoth tells them is there. The fight draws the attention of the instructor, who hauls Leia out of the room.

Final Preparations

The Hidden Path meets one last time at the safehouse.  Obi-Wan reminds Tala and Haja not to deviate from the timetable, and that the speeders need to be in motion before he and the clones enter the garrison.  After being assured that everything is ready, Obi-Wan sets out to meet the clones.

We see Obi-Wan and a squad of hired clones donning their armor in a warehouse.  One of the clones asks Obi-Wan if he ever saw the Jedi who were on Onderron.  Obi-Wan claims to have seen Skywalker and spoken to Ahsoka, and he asks the clones if any of them had close contact with Jedi.  (For the sake of visualization, I’ll color-code the clones based upon their armor prior to changing into stormtrooper armor.)

CLONE YELLOW: Hard to say we were ‘close’.  Those Jedi were our generals.  You don’t expect a general to rub elbows with every lowly soldier.

CLONE RED: Besides, they were monks, weren’t they? They were supposed to be detached from everything.

OBI-WAN: I heard not all of them were like that.  Commander Tano worked closely with us.  Skywalker seemed to be good friends with his captain, too.

CLONE YELLOW: Skywalker was a special case.  He wasn’t very … Jedi-like, you know?

CLONE PURPLE: Besides, for every Skywalker or Tano or Koon, there was Pong Krell.  Did you ever hear of Pong Krell?  [Obi-Wan feigns ignorance.]  He lost it at the Battle of Umbara.  Threw the 501st into enemy fire like he scattering seeds.  When some members of the 501st protested, he punished the whole legion by sending the 212th towards them.  Dozens of our boys were killed by friendly fire.  Then the sick Jedi just laughed about it.

OBI-WAN: They can’t have all been like Krell.  Otherwise, the galaxy would have turned against them long ago.

CLONE YELLOW: Look, we get it.  Good soldiers follow orders.  Sometimes soldiers crack.

CLONE RED: Maybe that’s the problem.  They weren’t supposed to be soldiers.  Keepers of the peace and Balance, and all that?

CLONE YELLOW: Kenobi did all right.  He may not have been the one with all the plans, but he seemed like he was made for war.

CLONE PURPLE: Are you all still gossiping?  They’re all dead now.  If we don’t focus, we could be, too.

Now fully armored as stormtroopers, Obi-Wan and the clones emerge from the warehouse and move up the street, falling into a formation of two columns of five as they walk.  As they approach the garrison gates, we see that the Hidden Path have loaded the children into two delivery speeders and are beginning their own journey.

Princess of the Empire

It is still night on Jabiim.  Leia is sitting in C’baoth’s office when he enters. He’s freshly dressed and fully awake; he dismisses the guard, leaving him alone with Leia, and settles into his chair.

C’baoth then begins to question Leia about her disruptive behavior and “attitude”.  Leia pushes back, pointing out that he kidnapped her and that he should just let her go home.  C’baoth tells her that her father knows that she’s with him, omitting the detail about sending a bounty hunter.  When Leia expresses surprise, he asks if she really thought that her father would bring the whole Empire down on him just to save her.

The conversation shifts.  C’baoth begins probing Leia’s loyalty to the Empire.  Each time she tries to recite a rote answer about why the Empire is good, he twists it, always bringing it back to the question of why her father won’t trust them to help her (without ever outright telling her that she’s Force sensitive, of course).  After the third time he draws her to this conclusion, he again shifts focus, this time to the tests he’d been having them do over the past few days.  He activates the holoprojector on his desk.  A system with three suns appears upon it.

C’BAOTH: Thus far, I have been testing everyone’s ability to lie.  I have given you a falsehood, and pushed you to convince me that you believed it to be true.  Tonight, we are going to do something different.  There will be no monitors for your heartbeat or brain waves.  Instead, I want you to give me the honest answer, not matter how many times I ask.  Do this, and you can skip tomorrow’s classroom session.  Agreed?

When Leia nods, Jorus attempts to get her to say that there are four suns in the hologram, not four.  She refuses to say anything but that there are three suns.  Jorus waves his hands, then resorts to reaching them out towards her, but Leia does not yield, though she does get woozy and admits that she is getting a terrible headache.

C’BAOTH [grinning as he drops his hand]: Excellent, Leia.  I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am.  I will be watching your progress with great interest.  Now – off to bed with you.  I’ll make sure your instructors know that you have the morning off.

Garrison Assault

Obi-Wan and the clones infiltrate the garrison.  It goes smoothly.  The Imperial Army has not changed the codes a great deal; the clones are able to bluff that they are a returning patrol.  Once inside the compound, the squad makes their way towards the landing pad, only to divert towards the maintenance bay when they see the different levels of security.

Obi-Wan stops them from entering the maintenance bay with the landing craft.  He declares that this is too easy.  While the clones insist that he’s being paranoid, Obi-Wan announced that there is a change in plans.  They won’t be stealing a landing craft after all.  Instead, they’ll be stealing a patrol transport (an LAAT/le – for those who don’t know Star Wars vehicles, this thing is not space-worthy).  The clones grumble, but they acquiesce when he promises to double their pay.  There is a patrol transport within the maintenance bays; this one has better security than the landing craft.  A firefight erupts as Obi-Wan and the clones engage the stormtroopers.  While the stormtroopers are in a better position, the clones have better training.  Soon security is overwhelmed, and the infiltrators board the transport.

Taking off, Obi-Wan orders the clones to open fire on the landing pad.  Clones Yellow and Red protest, arguing that the stormtroopers aren’t the enemy, just citizens serving the public.  Obi-Wan is visibly frustrated.  Before he can rebuke them, Clone Purple intervenes, reminding them of the risk of being chased.  Red and Yellow reluctantly open fire, blowing away the landing craft and setting off alarms across the garrison and the city.  With all Imperial eyes upon them, the patrol transport bears Obi-Wan and the inquisitors out into the night and down into the dark canyons that surround the city.

Confusion

Third Sister is meditating within the prefabricated garrison when she receives news of the attack.  At first, she is pleased, only to become furious when she learns that the Hidden Path stole a patrol transport instead of the landing craft with the tracking device.  She gives orders to start scrambling TIEs and other patrol craft to track down the stolen ship.

We cut to Third Sister aboard a patrol transport, flying across the city.  The ISB officer calls her via commlink.  He reports that Sotola is demanding Imperial aid.  While the garrison was being assaulted, smugglers broke into her palace and stole her yacht.  There’s no report from the blockade of the yacht breaching orbit.

The commlink sparks and the image flickers as Third Sister partially crushes the device. “Well played, C’baoth,” she muttered.  She then orders the ISB officer to devote every available resource to finding the yacht.

Order 66

Obi-Wan guides the patrol transport to a rendezvous point within the canyons that he’d previously coordinated with Haja.  The clones are impressed when they see Sotola’s yacht.  Obi-Wan apologizes for deceiving them, explaining that he and his associates had needed a distraction.  He gives them all the money had has left and tells them that the patrol transport itself it the remainder of their fee.  Clone Purple seems pleased with this, commenting that it’s a better deal than they ever got from the Jedi.  Obi-Wan disembarks and heads towards the yacht, where Haja is waiting on the ramp.

Before he can reach the ramp, a trio of patrol transports come roaring around the bend of the canyon.  They accelerate towards the landing zone.  The transport that Obi-Wan and the clones stole is hit by laser fire, disabling the repulsorlifts and grounding it.

Obi-Wan shouts for the clones to run for the yacht.  They scramble to comply.  As they cross the open ground, the Imperial-controlled transports swerve and open their side doors.  Third Sister is revealed in the centermost ship, her lightsaber drawn, Purge Troopers flanking her.  Obi-Wan raises his blaster rifle and fires at her.  She bats the blaster bolts aside and leaps from the transport.

As she hits the ground, Haja’s voice echoes over the landing zone, magnified by the Force.

HAJA [waving one hand and pointing to Third Sister with the others]: Troopers!  A Jedi is among us! Execute Order 66!

The clones stagger to a halt.  With mechanical precision, they swing towards Third Sister and open fire with their blaster rifles.  Obi-Wan cries out and moves to pull them towards the yacht with the Force, but Haja beats him to it.  Obi-Wan is yanked up the ramp as Third Sister and the Purge Troopers cut their way through the clones.  By the time the last clone is dead, the yacht is already smashing through the patrol transports and hurtling skyward.

Obi-Wan stares in horror at the closed hatch.  He turns to Haja.

OBI-WAN: What have you done?

HAJA: Skywalker would have done the same.

OBI-WAN: Anakin would not sacrifice the people under his command!  They weren’t fodder!  He would at least have left them the option to surrender!

HAJA: We are the defenders of the Republic, Obi-Wan.  They should be honored to die for us.  Now, come on. Once we make the jump to hyperspace, C’baoth will want to hear from us both.

Haja heads up the corridor.  Obi-Wan does not follow him.  He simply stares at the closed hatch, trying to process the senseless sacrifice.

CONCLUSION

Just like that, we have reached the midpoint of our journey.  I hope you have found it entertaining and satisfying thus far.

One thing I have noticed, going through this, is that I am having trouble adhering to a consistent length, especially with concerns to time.  I’m a novelist, not a script writer, and that lack of experience really does show.  I suppose this downside isn’t as huge an issue on a streaming platform. Without tight packets of airtime that need to be managed, shows can be more flexible with the run times of each episode.

Working on this series has taken a greater deal more time and effort than anticipated.  We are now overshooting what I thought would be the final entry.  The time needed to work on this is also cutting into my limited time to work on my novels.  In the interest of helping me to mentally reset and providing you all with some variety, we’re going to take a two-week hiatus from Obi-Wan Kenobi before returning for the back half of the story.

Fear not, though – I will still upload content for both of those weeks.  I recently completed a TV show that, while originally watched out of morbid curiosity, I ultimately found myself enjoying.  While I cannot claim that it was a masterpiece that everyone would enjoy (breaking down my grievances would require me to go episode by episode, and this show had 67), I think there are valuable lessons that storytellers can learn from it - specifically, the right way to do a remake.  It truly honors its source material while including more than enough changes to justify its existence.

So, let’s get anime.  Please join me on October 17th and 24th as we dive into You Can (Not) Remake: Digimon Adventure (2020).

Alternatively, if you don’t want to hear me ramble about a children’s show, please tune in on October 31st. We’ll resume Missed the Mark: Obi-Wan Kenobi with Episode 5, “Masters and Apprentices.”