Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
by: James Fehrenbacher

Cenas 91 a 100:

Begin Scene 91.

[INT. Xizor’s strong room.  Guri bursts through the door.]

Xizor. What is it?

Guri. She got away.  She was waiting when I got there.  I am undamaged, but it gave her time to slip out.

Xizor. Blast!

[Xizor moves to his desk, and pulls out a blaster.]

Xizor. Let’s go find her, as well as whoever is causing these problems.

[They exit.]

End Scene 91.

Begin Scene 92.

[INT. A corridor in Xizor’s castle.]

Lando Calrissian. Wait, just a minute.

Luke Skywalker. What?

[Lando gestures to a box hanging on the wall.]

Lando Calrissian. That’s a security breaker.

Luke Skywalker. So?

Lando Calrissian. Move aside.

[Luke does, and Lando moves forward.  He blasts the lock off the breaker, and opens up the panel, revealing a number of wires.]

Lando Calrissian. All of the holocams and sensors are routed through these fiber-optic cables.

Luke Skywalker. How do you know that?

Lando Calrissian. Trust me.

[Lando then blasts the cables.]

Lando Calrissian. Now they can’t see us, at least on this level.  If we take out all of the breakers we see, they’ll go blind.

[Chewie moans something in Wookie.  Lando translates, revealing a number of guards behind them.  The foursome fire back, and continue on their way.  They round a corner, zigzag through a side corridor, and sprint towards a door at the end of the hall.  Before they reach it, the door begins to slide back.  Lando and Dash raise their blasters.]

Luke Skywalker. No!  Don’t shoot!

[The door opens to reveal…Leia.  She and Luke run to each other, and embrace.]

Leia. Took you long enough.

[She wrinkles her nose.]

Leia. Gah!  What have you been swimming in?

Luke Skywalker. The ship broke down, so we had to take a shortcut through the sewer.

[Leia glances at Lando.]

Lando Calrissian. What are you looking at me for?  It was Han’s modification!

[Luke’s comlink crackles.]

C-3PO. Master Luke!

Luke Skywalker. What now, 3PO?

C-3PO. We seem to have caught the attention of a robotic police vessel.  It seems to be following us.

Luke Skywalker. So lose it.

C-3PO. How, Master Luke?

Luke Skywalker. Fly like Han does.

[Leia drops her jaw in surprise.]

Leia. You’re letting the droids fly the ship?  Are you crazy?

Luke Skywalker. They’re doing all right.  Just a few jitters, that’s all.

C-3PO. No, R2, you heard Master Luke, I’ll just loop around like…whoa…yaahh!

Luke Skywalker. 3PO?

C-3PO. Ah, that’s better.  We seem to have lost our pursuer, Master Luke.  I think they smashed into that walkway we flew under when we were upside down.

Leia. I can’t believe you let the droids fly the ship!

Luke Skywalker. Will you stop saying that?  3PO, get to the coordinates like I said.  And be more careful!

C-3PO. We’re doing quite well, Master Luke, don’t worry.

[Luke glances up at the ceiling and sighs.  The five of them then start off again.]

End Scene 92.

Begin Scene 93.

[INT. Xizor’s strong room.]

Guri. Should I sound the general alarm?

Xizor. No.  How would that look?  The head of Black Sun allows his security to be breached?  Tell the perimeter guards to watch their backs.  Whoever got in had better not get out.

[Xizor and Guri run down the corridor where Leia’s room was to a nearby surveillance station.  Guri taps a number of commands into a keypad.  She changes the reader from pad to voice controls.]

Guri. Display level fifteen.  Anyone not wearing an employee uniform.

[The images break into a million tiny dots, and swirl around like water being drained, and the screen goes black.]

Guri. Where is the image?

Computer. Holocam and sensor feed on level fifteen is currently non-operational.

Guri. Display level sixteen.

[The screen remains black.]

Guri. Display level seventeen.

[Again the screen remains black.]

Guri. Display level eighteen.

[The screen lights up, and shows a number of corridors in the building.  No one is there sans Black Sun employees.]

Xizor. They’re on seventeen.  They’re blowing out the breakers so we can’t see them.  If they had gotten to eighteen, that floor would also be gone.  We’ll go to level twenty.  Knowing that it is Skywalker, I will dispatch him personally.  I will *not* be embarrassed in my own castle.

[Xizor leads Guri to a nearby turbolift.  The doors open, and they enter.]

End Scene 93.

Begin Scene 94.

[INT. A stairwell in Xizor’s castle.]

Leia. So what *is* the plan?

Luke Skywalker. Get to the Falcon and get offworld as soon as possible.

Lando Calrissian. Let’s worry about getting to the Falcon, first.  If we don’t get out of here, it won’t matter who’s flying what.

Luke Skywalker. Nobody will think we’re stupid enough to go upwards, so they’re going to try and cut us off at the ground level.

Lando Calrissian. That’s the problem with our opposition.  No one ever thinks we could ever be that stupid.  Too bad they don’t know that we *are* that stupid.  Fools them every time.

Luke Skywalker. Come on, let’s go.

[The five of them begin climbing the stairs.]

End Scene 94.

Begin Scene 95.

[INT. A stairwell in Xizor’s castle.  Luke and co. are still climbing.]

Dash Rendar. Level twenty.  The stairs end here, so we’re going to have to zip in and find another set.

Lando Calrissian. [Breathing heavily] How many levels are in this place?

Dash Rendar. As I recall, one hundred and two above ground.

Lando Calrissian. Oh, man!  And we have to all the way to the roof?

Luke Skywalker. No.  There’s a landing pad extending out from level fifty.  That’s where I’ve told R2 and 3PO to meet us.

Dash Rendar. That’s nothing.  Another thirty flights, and we won’t even be breathing hard.

Lando Calrissian. I’m breathing hard already.

Dash Rendar. You’re getting old, Calrissian.

Lando Calrissian. Yeah, and I’d like to get a lot older, too.

[The five of them open the door, and enter, just as Xizor and Guri step around the corner at the other end of the hall.  Xizor stops when he sees Luke, then turns sideways, and raises his blaster, aiming at Luke’s left eye.  Luke, having spotted Xizor, grabs his lightsaber off his belt, and ignites it.  As Xizor fires, Luke moves the saber and blocks the bolt.  Xizor fires again, but Luke, moved by the Force, blocks the bolt.  A look of fury spreads over Xizor’s face.  He fires again, but Luke manages to block the bolt.  During this fracas, Guri has ducked into a nearby office, and returned, carrying a large wooden chair, which she hurls at Luke and co.  At the end of the hall, Luke sees the chair hurling towards him.  Chewie jumps up next to him, raises his bowcaster, and fires, shattering the chair.  Xizor realizes that he is outgunned and Luke can block his blaster fire.]

Xizor. Move!

[Guri jumps in front of Xizor, and he ducks into the office from which she got the chair.  After several moments, she joins him.]

Xizor. That’s an interesting trick he does with that lightsaber.

Guri. He *is* related to Vader.  Shall I call the guards now?

[Xizor sighs.]

Xizor. Call them.

[Guri pulls out a comlink and speaks into it.  Meanwhile, back out in the corridor:]

Leia. That was Xizor!

Luke Skywalker. Good, let’s get him!

Lando Calrissian. I don’t think so.  Look!

[He gestures to the opposite end of the hall, where Xizor’s guards have appeared, firing their blasters.  There is a nearby door, and Chewie smashes through it.  Leia, Lando, and Dash follow, while Luke deflects another barrage of bolts.  He then enters the room, and switches off his saber.]

Leia. Now what do we do?

[Lando glances at Luke, who nods.]

Lando Calrissian. Well, it’s common knowledge that desperate times call for desperate measures.

[He reaches into his backpack, and pulls out a small, shiny metal ball, about the size of a man’s fist.  The ball has controls, a finger-wide slot around the equator, and a number of diodes on the top and in the slot.  Dash takes the ball from Lando.]

Dash Rendar. This is called a thermal detonator.  Lando’s got three of them.  They run either on a timer or a deadman’s switch.  Flip this switch here, press that button, and hold it.  If you release it without disarming the deadman’s switch first, it will detonate.

Leia. And it will do what, exactly?

Dash Rendar. Create a small, thermonuclear fusion reaction.

Leia. A small, thermonuclear fusion reaction.

Dash Rendar. Yeah.  Powerful enough to take out a decent sized chunk of whatever’s next to it.

Leia. Including us if it detonates in here?

Dash Rendar. Yeah, but your friend from Black Sun won’t want us to trigger it while he’s around, least of all inside the castle.

Leia. Let me see it.

[Dash hands her the detonator.]

Leia. What happens if you don’t use the deadman’s switch?

Dash Rendar. It runs on a timer.  The default setting is five minutes.  Once you lock it in, no one can turn it off.

Leia. Got it.

[She tucks the detonator into her bounty hunter helmet, which is clipped to her belt.]

Luke Skywalker. I think we’d better have a little talk with Xizor.

[Lando hands him another detonator.  Luke flips on the deadman’s switch, and presses a button.  The detonator starts beeping.

End Scene 95.

Begin Scene 96.

[INT. A hallway in Xizor’s castle.  Xizor and Guri have exited the office they were in, and step behind a dozen guards, who are pointing their blasters towards the opposite end of the hall.  Suddenly, Xizor hears a repetitive beeping sound.  At the opposite end of the hallway, Luke steps out from the office he and the others were in, carrying the thermal detonator.]

Xizor. Don’t shoot!  Lower your weapons!

[The guards do so.  At Luke’s end, Leia and the others step out behind Luke.  Luke raises the arm holding the detonator.]

Luke Skywalker. I’m sure you’re familiar with the thermal detonator.

Xizor. I am.  What do you want?

Luke Skywalker. To leave.  My friends and I.

Xizor. If you release the bomb, you’ll die.  So will your friends.

Luke Skywalker. We’re dead already.  What about you?  You ready to give all of this up?

[With his free hand, Luke gestures to the castle around them.]

Xizor. I think you’re bluffing, Skywalker.

Luke Skywalker. Only one way to find out.  Your move.

[After several minutes of silence, Xizor finally decides.]

Xizor. All right.  Leave.  No one will stop you.

[Leia, Lando, Chewie, and Dash edge past Xizor and his guards, who scramble to try and get out of the way.]

Xizor. You have caused me a great deal of trouble, Skywalker.

Luke Skywalker. That’s too bad, because you’ve had it coming.

Xizor. I could still shoot you, Skywalker.

Luke Skywalker. You could try.

[Luke pulls his lightsaber off of his belt with his free hand, and ignites it.]

Xizor. I could shoot one of the others.  The Wookie or the princess.

Luke Skywalker. We’d all be vapor before we hit the floor.  You included.

[Xizor turns around and looks at the other four.  Suddenly, Lando pulls out another detonator from his pack, and turns it on.

Xizor. What’s the point of that?  You can’t blow us up any more with two of those.

[Lando grins.  He then turns to a door on a nearby wall, which leads to a garbage chute.  He opens it, and drops the detonator in.]

Xizor. No!

Lando Calrissian. You’ve got five minutes to leave the building.  If I were you, I’d get moving.

Xizor. Get to the turbolifts!  Get down to the sub-subbasement, find that thing, and get it out of there!

[Xizor’s guards panic, and almost bowl him over trying to get out of the building.  By the time Xizor has straightened himself out, Luke and the others have already gone.  Xizor runs to his private express turbolift.  The lift rises, taking Xizor to his personal ship, the Virago.]

End Scene 96.

Begin Scene 97.

[INT. A turbolift in Xizor’s castle.  Luke and co. are headed towards level fifty.  After a minute or so, the lift slows, and the doors open.  Luke and co. see a large number of citizens running around in a panic, waiting for the nearest lift to arrive.]

Dash Rendar. Must be quitting time.

Lando Calrissian. They have four whole minutes.  They’d better hurry.

Luke Skywalker. That was pretty cold, Lando.

Dash Rendar. The landing pad is this way.

[Dash leads them down a nearby corridor.  Suddenly, Luke feels something in the Force.]

Luke Skywalker. Go on, guys.  I’ll be right there.

[The others go on, while Luke hangs back.  He pulls his lightsaber off his belt and ignites it.  Then, someone speaks from behind him.]

Guri. Behold the Jedi Knight.  The man of legend.

[Luke turns around and sees Guri.]

Guri. You have caused my master much misfortune.  You should die for that.

[Luke points the saber blade towards Guri.]

Guri. You have that blade, Skywalker, and I am unarmed.

[She holds her hands out, palms pointing towards Luke.  Luke deactivates his saber, and re-hooks it to his belt.]

Luke Skywalker. What do you want?

Guri. Simply a test.  My master pits himself against the deadliest opponents he can find.  There is no man my equal in hand-to-hand combat except, if the stories are true, a Jedi Knight.

Luke Skywalker. This building is going to blow to pieces in three minutes, and you want to play games?

Guri. It won’t take that long.  Are you afraid to die, Skywalker?

Luke Skywalker. Of course I am.

[As he says this, Luke realizes that he isn’t; he has the Force with him, and whatever happens, happens.  He crouches into a fighting stance, and Guri crouches into her own.  Very suddenly, Guri leaps at him.  Luke is just able to sidestep her, and kick her in the hip.  The blow knocks her sideways, but not off her feet.]

Guri. Good.  Very good.

[The two begin circling each other, Guri looking for an opening, when…]

Leia. Luke!

[Luke turns, and sees the other four at the end of the hallway, looking at him.  As he turns back around, Guri sidesteps, and punches him in the gut.  He backpedals, but she hits him hard.  She follows that up with an elbow, but he dives away.  Suddenly, Luke loses contact with the Force.  Taking this advantage, Guri slaps Luke next to the ear, and he falls to the ground, dazed.]

Ben Kenobi. [V.O.] The Force.  Let it work for you, Luke

[Hearing Ben’s voice, Luke inhales, then exhales, blowing his fear out with the air.  From Luke’s POV, Guri is moving exceptionally slow.  Luke takes this advantage to roll over and pick himself up.  He then thrusts his open palm against the descending chop, then hooks his left foot behind Guri’s right, and kicks her feet out from under her.  Guri falls to the ground with a crash, and Luke pulls his saber off his belt, ignites it, and points the tip at her.]

Guri. You won fairly, Skywalker.  Go ahead.

[Luke hesitates, then deactivates his saber, and clips it back onto his belt.]

Luke Skywalker. Come with us.  We can have you reprogrammed.

Guri. No.  If somehow my memory is downloaded, it will be fatal to me as well as my master.  Better to kill me now and get it over with.

[Luke shakes his head.]

Luke Skywalker. No, there’s been enough killing.  I’m not adding to it today.

[He nods at Guri once, turns, and runs towards the others.  Once he catches up with them, they all turn and head towards the landing bay.]

End Scene 97.

Begin Scene 98.

[EXT. The Virago, Xizor’s personal ship.  Two guards are standing near the boarding ramp.]

Xizor. The building is going to blow up in two minutes.  Take one of the airspeeders and get clear as fast as you can.

[The guards bow, and head off.  Xizor boards the ship, and reaches the cockpit.  He waves his hand over the motion-controlled sensors, and the ship hums to life.  After several seconds…]

Computer. All systems go.

[Xizor reaches for the control lever, and glances out of the viewscreen at his castle.]

Xizor. Too bad about its destruction.  But I can rebuild it, at least until I can take over the Emperor’s castle.

[The Virago rises into the air, and speeds away.  About one hundred meters away, Xizor spots a beat-up Corellian freighter, the Millennium Falcon, zooming right at him.  Xizor hits his emergency boosters, and narrowly avoids being hit.]

Xizor. What kind of idiot is in control of that vessel?

End Scene 98.

Begin Scene 99.

[EXT. A landing pad on level fifty of Xizor’s castle.  Luke and co. are there, awaiting the arrival of R2 and 3PO and the Falcon.  Suddenly, Dash points up into the sky.]

Dash Rendar. Mother of Madness!

[Luke glances up, and sees the Falcon coming in, a little too fast for comfort.]

Luke Skywalker. 3PO, cut your drives!  Bring the ship in on the repulsors!

[The ship does a number of maneuvers except for landing on the platform.]

Lando Calrissian. Bring it *down*, you fool droid!

[The Falcon finally is able to land on the platform, and the boarding ramp lowers.]

Luke Skywalker. Go!  Go!  Go!

[The five of them run for the ship, and climb up the ramp.  Dash races into the cockpit and shoves 3PO aside.  His fingers dance over the controls.]

Lando Calrissian. Come on, Dash!

[The Falcon  rises into the air, and zooms away.  Luke glances out of the cockpit, and sees the landing platform crumble and fall away.]

Luke Skywalker. Well, so much for Xizor’s castle.  The hard part is over.

End Scene 99.

Begin Scene 100.

[INT. The Virago.  Xizor is talking to the captain of his private Navy.]

Xizor. There is a Corellian freighter leaving the planet shortly.  It is a TY-1300, a little over twenty five meters long.  Locate and destroy it, by any means necessary.  However, if it is able to get past your blockade, commander, you and anyone else I consider responsible will be fertilizer before the sun rises.  Understood?

Captain. Understood, Prince Xizor.

[Xizor cuts the communication.]

End Scene 100.  

^ topo da página