Death Star Funeral Scene

While The Prodigal Turtle is still on Endor, Freya hunts down Mina and says, "I would like for you to turn off the lighting in the port airlock and the surrounding area of the ship without interfering with any of the systems. I'm unwilling to mess with it myself because I'm afraid that the shields or life support will go out with them. It is temporary. Only a few hours."

"Sure thing. It'll only take me a few minutes." Mina pulls a panel cover off and gets to work. "What's up?"

"Eight wishes to have a Sith funeral for Six. He asked me to preside."

Her voice has a hollow echo from inside the panel. "Well that's nice. I'm sure it's what Six would have wanted. ...Sith funerals don't involve things like sacrificing babies or anything, do they?"

"Nothing so dramatic. By this point, all the sacrifices would have been made."

She starts to leave, but stops and looks over her shoulder. "By the way, Mina," she says, "I lied to the Jedi Council when they asked me how I would kill all of you. I would not start with Eight. I would kill you first. At that point I could eliminate Eight without a fight. I thought it indiscreet to say that in front of him, though." She says it all with a dry, academic detachment.

"Thank you for the time, Mina." Freya bows slightly and quickly and walks away.

Mina pulls her head out of the access panel just in time to watch Freya walk away. "Um...thanks...I think."

Over the next couple of hours the crew might see Freya walking back and forth between her room and the airlock carrying various small items. For a while she is a flurry of activity in the small room, then it is quiet. A short while later, she sends for Eight.

She stands at the door to the airlock and says to him, "I am afraid that I cannot vouch for the authenticity of this burial ceremony. Many Sith die unmourned and they tend to not have attachments. The manner of their deaths also tends to not leave much in the way of a body. However, based on my research and training I believe this should be in the proper spirit."

"I am ready to begin when you are."

I am ready. Should I say something or do we proceed in silence?

"You will have a chance to say what you want, but for right now just come with me." Freya pulls her hood up until her features are all but obscured except for a few stray locks of white hair. Then she opens the door to the airlock and leads Eight inside.

The lamps are off, the only hints of light being provided by the candles Freya has brought from her room. VLTD-6 lies in the center of the small room, elevated on a makeshift altar constructed from a few pieces of the Death Star debris that have not yet fallen to Endor. His chassis is wrapped in grey zeyd cloth, strange symbols carefully brushed onto the fabric. His arms are folded across his chest, his hands bound with heavy chains.

Freya stands opposite of Eight, her back to the outer-door, with Six between them. It is quiet for a while before she pulls a simple cup from her robes and places it to Six's left. "So that you will always thirst for freedom."

Then, she places a small fruit to his right. "So that you will always hunger for perfection."

Finally, she lays a large dagger on his chest and says "So that you may never know peace."

She closes her eyes and bows her head, letting the Force draw a lightsaber from her side to her hand. She raises the weapon to the ceiling and holds it high over her head with both hands while she chants in Ancient Sith. The sound is discordant, but resolves into a soft, ordered melody as she lowers the hilt to the level of her breastbone.

With a flip of the switch the weapon bursts to life, a beam of crimson fire leaping towards the ceiling. Suddenly, her eyes snap open and fix Eight with a stare that seethes with enough fury to make the Sword of Hatred pale. When she speaks, Freya's voice drips with malice. "Look upon the body of your brother, Droid, and mark my words!" The hot, red light reflects in strange patterns off her cold, blue irises and white skin.

"There is no peace!" she growls. "There is only Passion."

"Through Passion we gain Strength. Through Strength we gain Power. Through Power we gain Victory!" As she recites the words from memory her voice grows in intensity. "Through Victory, our chains are broken!" she cries as she slices the manacles binding the droid's hands. They fall to the floor with a heavy clang.

Then, quietly and with an uncharacteristic tinge of sadness she whispers, "The Force shall set us free."

As her weapon goes out, the shadows flood in to fill the void. In the darkness, she takes Eight's hand and presses Six's lightsaber into his palm, closing his fingers around it. Then, looking down, she walks around him and opens the inner airlock door.

She pauses for a moment and leans against the bulkhead as if a brief and sudden weakness is passing through her. The next words come to Freya with a difficulty that seems to surprise even her. "Say whatever you feel you must, but know he will not hear you."

She takes a deep breath and waits outside, her back toward them.

8 speaks softly. "Perhaps this will allow you to find in death what you could not find in life. Farewell my brother." 8 follows Freya out.

Freya closes the inner door and enters the sequence to cycle the airlock and open it to space. The warning lights and sirens go off for a few seconds before the outer doors open and the candles go out. As a few of the smaller objects begin to float out into space, Freya raises her hand and bares her teeth.

Slowly, Six and the altar float out of the Turtle and join the remains of the Death Star.

"I will tell Mina that she can turn the lights on, again," she says as she pulls off her hood. Her expression is slightly dismayed and troubled. "I need to meditate for a while."

She bows her head slightly and quickly, then walks away.

I don't have words for how upset I am about the team dissolving. I'm just gateful that I don't have to leave the Turtle. I've grown real attached to her. But there -will- be reimbursement for receipts. Oh yes, there will.