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NUTE

What villainy hath come? What treachery?

[Vader approaches Nute.

The war is over—wherefore would you strike?

Lord Sidious hath giv’n his bond of peace.

VADER

This is the peace that he to you hath pledg’d—

A peace eternal is your promis’d due.

[Vader kills Nute.

Now all is quiet, enemies subdued.

Our victory complete hath come at last,

So wherefore do mine eyes begin to weep?

When I was young, this future I did ne’er

Imagine—wed to Padmé, made a Sith,

And killing far more people than I e’er

Would have believ’d existed. O, this life—

Yet have I not a righteous path pursued?

When right with right wars, who shall be most right?

Then should these tears dry by my righteousness,

But still they fall, as though for that small child

Who never saw the man he would become.

Forgive me, Padmé, for what I have done,

Yea, well I know thou’d not set me to kill,

To turn to murther, e’en for the Republic.

My fate is twisted with a thousand knots—

Shall I untangle all its complex weaves?

Or shall my cord of life be scissor’d short?

The needle turns its eye on me again:

Darth Vader I’ve become, not Anakin.

[Exit Vader.

SCENE 7.

On the planet Coruscant, in the chamber of the Galactic Senate, and at the Jedi temple.

Enter
D
ARTH
S
IDIOUS
and
SENATORS
,
including
P
ADMÉ
and
B
AIL
O
RGANA
.

SIDIOUS

The traitorous rebellion of the Jedi,

Hath been, by our clone army, foil’d and block’d.

BAIL

[
aside to Padmé:
] What hath occur’d ere I did hither come?

PADMÉ

[
aside to Bail:
] The chancellor with words unending doth

Tell how the Jedi treas’nously conspir’d

To overthrow the Senate mightily.

SIDIOUS

The Jedi who remain shall hunted be,

And when we find them, forfeit are their lives.

The vile attempt upon my life hath left

Me scarr’d, deform’d, yet listen to these words:

My fierce resolve hath ne’er known greater strength!

Now, to ensure the ongoing defense

And firm stability of our Republic,

I hereby make clear mine intention to

Reorder it into the first, the grand—

Galactic Empire! Thus, forsooth, shall our

Society be finally secure.

[The senators applaud heartily.

PADMÉ

[
aside to Bail:
] This thunderous applause sounds like a bell

That hath been forg’d within hell’s own dark heart;

With its sharp knell the hope of freedom dies.

[Exeunt Sidious, senators, Padmé, and Bail.

Enter
Y
ODA
and
O
BI
-W
AN
K
ENOBI
.

YODA

These troopers, once friends,

Now turn’d mortal enemies,

No match for us are.

Subdued them we have,

Thus proceed freely we may

To our objective.

OBI-WAN

Unto the temple we have safely come,

And, O—what sight horrific is herein!

The Jedi younglings slaughter’d—none survive.

YODA

Observe Obi-Wan,

Not by clones was this one kill’d,

But by lightsaber.

OBI-WAN

O, say it is not so! Who could do this?

YODA

Let us to our work,

And answers we shall pursue

When all complete is.

[Obi-Wan proceeds to a terminal.

OBI-WAN

The code hath been recalibrated, sir,

And any Jedi who receive its call

Shall know that Coruscant is no safe harbor.

YODA

’Tis well. For the clones

To discover this one change,

Much time it shall take.

OBI-WAN

Pray, Master, ere we two depart from here,

One thing I must needs know else there shall e’er

Exist a wondering within my soul.

YODA

If to th’recordings

Of security you’d go,

Pain there shall be found.

OBI-WAN

Wise Master Yoda, still: the truth will out.

[Obi-Wan turns on the recording. Darth Vader appears in beam, slaying younglings.

It cannot be—O, Anakin, my friend!

Mine heart doth not believe what mine eyes see.

Enter
D
ARTH
S
IDIOUS
above, on balcony. Enter
D
ARTH
V
ADER
,
kneeling before him.

SIDIOUS

Thou hast done well, my new apprentice bold.

Go hence, and to the Empire bring full peace!

[Exeunt Sidious and Vader.

OBI-WAN

No more mine eyes shall see, else I in torment

Shall live the length of my remaining days.

YODA

End the Sith we must,

Else thus shall the curtain draw

On our fondest hopes.

OBI-WAN

I beg you, Yoda, let me undertake

To slay the emperor, not Anakin.

I cannot kill my former Padawan.

YODA

To fight Sidious,

Pow’rful enow you are not.

Be me it must. Hmm.

OBI-WAN

The man is like a brother unto me;

I cannot do this, nay, and I shall not.

YODA

Twisted by the dark

Young Skywalker hath become;

Gone is he you train’d.

Consum’d he hath been,

Destroyèd by Darth Vader,

Ruin’d by the Sith.

OBI-WAN

I know not where the emperor hath sent

Him, or what errand he doth now pursue.

Where shall I look, were I to do this thing?

YODA

Feelings, Obi-Wan:

Stretch out with your feelings, yea,

And you him shall find.

[Exit Yoda.

OBI-WAN

O, give me some employment outside this:

Some message to deliver to Naboo,

Some task upon the dunes of Tatooine,

Some embassage to the Kaminoans,

Some matter for a distant galaxy.

My Padawan, my friend, mine Anakin,

How shall I make defeat of thy good life?

How can I reconcile this with my mind,

Which so repulses at the thought of it?

Mayhap what Yoda says hath seeds of truth:

The Anakin I knew is come to naught

And hath been slain by Vader’s presence vile.

Is this but rationalization, or

Is it some higher wisdom I may trust?

Methinks one day I may believe ’tis true—

When thought of from a certain point of view.

Enter
P
ADMÉ
.

PADMÉ

Good Obi-Wan, to see you does me well—

Such worry and such fright do fill my days.