“Two Tubes” A Comic

Written By Jim

Page One, Four Panels

1. BLACK PANEL: Just the lettering.

Cap.1: “Two Tubes”

2. CLOSE ON: An Imperial holdout pointed at the head of BENTHIC TWO TUBES. His glassy, metallic eyes stare upwards off-panel at his captor.

COMMANDER RITK (O.P): Do you believe in ?

3. BLACK PANEL: Just the lettering.

Cap.1: A Star Wars Comic

4. PULL BACK: COMMANDER RITK, an IMPERIAL TANK COMMANDER, stands before Benthic, gazing down at the Tognath. They are surrounded by several stormtroopers, all covered in the dirt and grime of the Jedha plateau-laden desert around them. The tank Ritk commands is off to the left-side of the panel. The bodies of several partisans that were with Benthic lie around the area - blaster holes and scorch marks signifying how they died.

COMMANDER RITK: I don’t think I do.

Cap.1: Jedha

Cap.2: Third month of Imperial Occupation. Page Two, Five Panels

1. Benthic still on his knees. Ritk still has the blaster to his forehead, but now he’s looking away from Benthic to the horizon.

RITK: All my life I’ve felt I’ve understood the galaxy and my place in it.

RITK: But there are moments when I feel like there is something…

RITK: Something beyond myself. Something moving through us all.

2. Ritk stares off into the distance still, his men gathered around him, slouched - their body language is confused and kind of anxious. Two are looking at each other with a “?” in the air between them.

RITK: I still doubt that the Force exists.

3. PULL BACK: A wide-shot of the group, the tank, and the stormtroopers looking insignificant against the massive, toppled, millennia weathered statue of a .

RITK: But I can’t really escape it in this place.

4. One of the stormtroopers steps forward toward the commander.

STORMTROOPER #1: Sir?

5. RITK holds a free hand out to the in a “stop” gesture.

RITK: Go back to the GAV.

RITK: I’ll finish up here. Page Three, Five Panels

1.The stormtrooper is stepping backward as Ritk, now looking directly back at Benthic over the barrel of his blaster, continues to speak. The other Stormtroopers are walking away.

COMMANDER RITK: You tried to murder my men.

COMMANDER RITK: Accordingly, and by the will of the Emperor, you are sentenced to die.

2. CLOSE ON: Benthic stares up at RITK.

3. CLOSE ON: The pistol shifts upwards, away from Benthic’s forehead, and fires.

SFX: CHOO

COMMANDER RITK: But not today.

4. Ritk waves his men back towards the tank. Some have already turned back towards it, looking at each other. Ritk is still speaking to Benthic.

COMMANDER RITK: My mercy comes with a warning.

COMMANDER RITK: Tell Saw Gerrera and the rest of his men to leave Jedha or die.

5. Commander Ritk has turned away from Benthic now and is walking back towards the tank and his waiting men.

COMMANDER RITK: Call it the will of the Force.

COMMANDER RITK: Don’t let my men see you. Page Four, Six Panels

1. Benthic watches the tank depart in the distance, the tracks making a weight in the dirt. The sun begins to go down.

2. Benthic walks across the desert at night. The plates and buttes rise high in the distance. Perhaps a in the distance as well?

3. The sun begins to rise behind SAW GERRERA’S BASE - a towering collection of buttes with a cave system at the base. Benthic walks towards it.

4. OUTSIDE THE CAVE: EDRIO, Benthic’s egg mate and fellow Tognath, walks toward him. Behind Benthic stands the figure of SAW GERRERA, but a little younger than his appearance in and with shorter hair.

5. Edrio faces Benthic, clasping his hand on his egg mates shoulder. Benthic looks down at the ground, ashamed. Page Five, Five Panels

1. Commander Ritk rides in his tank along with his cadre of stormtroopers over the desert. The stormtroopers walk alongside the tank.

2. WIDE-SHOT, BEHIND RITK: Ritk’s helmet is pointed in the direction of one of the massive Jedi statues in the distance. The troopers in front of him walk steadily ahead.

3. The stormtrooper on point collapses as the blaster bolt punches through his helmet.

SFX (Bolt striking helmet): KRAK

4. SAME PANEL: Blaster fire erupts off panel. Another trooper goes down as one fires back. Ritk is pointing in the direction of the fire and shouting.

SFX (Blaster fire): Kachoo Kachoo

COMMANDER RITK: REBELS!

COMMANDER RITK: TURRETS FORWARD RIGHT!

COMMANDER RITK: PREPARE TO FIRE!

5. An explosion rips apart the forward part of the tank and the last remaining stormtrooper. Ritk shields himself from the blast as it takes him.

SFX: CHOOM.

Page Six, Six Panels

1. CLOSE ON: Commander Ritk lays in the sand to the right of the destroyed tank. He does not move as the smoke from the smoldering machine moves over him. A guttural noise issues from his vocalizer.

COMMANDER RITK: AGH.

2. Commander Ritk shifts onto his arms, trying to push himself up. He’s looking upwards, off- panel. A Benthic shaped shadow has fallen over him.

COMMANDER RITK: You -

COMMANDER RITK: Of course.

3. Benthic looks down on him as the smoke curls around his body. He’s pointed his slug thrower rifle at Ritk’s head. Behind him are the silhouettes of other rebels in the smoke, including Edrio and Saw.

COMMANDER RITK: Do you believe in the Force?

4. CLOSE ON: Benthic stares down at the stormtrooper. He fires his blaster rifle off-panel.

SFX: KRAK

5. PULL-BACK: Benthic stares down at the body of Ritk, who is now collapsed in the sand. His slug thrower now lowered. Saw and Edrio are both visible there.

SAW: He was the one who spared your life?

6. He has turned his back toward the reader, dissolving into the smoke and the desert along with Benthos and Saw.

SAW: Hmm.

SAW: You did well.

CAP.1: End.