Chronicles of Earth-USB: Charlotte
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 1:16 pm
Little preliminary message. Just like the previous Chronicle, this story is a lot shorter and less ambitious than other projects. (And I recycled a scene from a previous chapter.) Consider it something akin to an appetizer, before the main saga resumes, a way to flesh out the characters.
This tale is a prequel. The events take place before the beginning of the main "Marvel Saga". Chronologically, this story takes place some time after the events of “Chronicles of Earth-USB:Taylor”.
I tried something different from usual when it comes to the narration and the style. I hope you will enjoy it.
**************
“Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“Charlotte. I hate movie marathons.”
“Then there’s no problem. It’s a series!”
“I also hate semantics.”
“Come ON Taylor! We never do anything together outside of missions! I thought we could have some fun! A girls sleepover! Just us Three Caballeros, in our cozy Montreal apartment!”
“Stop trying to coddle me, Charlotte. You literally chose this show because there are uniform thieves in it.”
“Sarah agreed with me.”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“You didn’t say no~”
“Ugh. There’s no arguing with you. Just put the stupid show on already.”
“YAY!”
**************
Cue Opening credits. They begin by showing a selection of action scenes, fistfights, blaster shoot-outs, and spaceship battles.
Then there is the roll call of the main characters – complete with the names being shown.
Willek Jaris is your typical male lead character. Reasonably handsome, fashionably rugged, a bit cocky and in-over his head, but ultimately with his heart in the right place.
Cheris Tal’Vara is your typical female lead character. Strong-willed, athletic, and attractive. She has reddish brown hair, amber-colored eyes, and a softly tanned skin. Her haircut is a tight crown braid.
Jysell Alhena Charil-Pol is a young female human with a light skin, smooth shoulder long black hair, and brown eyes. There is still something innocent and juvenile about her looks, with her round-shaped face and rosy cheeks. Back when she was a criminal, she had used her appearance to deceive many victims. While she genuinely regrets her past, she however still retains her skills at smuggling, blaster shooting and deception – and is now putting them to use against the Empire.
Eileen Rulqh’Zan is a human woman with white skin and blue eyes, an athletic body type from a past as an acrobat, and blonde hair in a pigtail style. She is taller and fitter than her partner, and better at hand-to-hand combat or physical tasks. She’s accompanied by DEE-20, cute droid clearly riding the coattail of other marketable droids.
PAUSE
FEATURE: SKIP THE CREDITS
“Charlotte. Are these two the characters you keep gushing about? They’re not even the main heroines!”
“Come oooooon, Taylor! Don’t be meeeaaaan! Clearly this show’s main strength is the secondary cast!
"You just skipped through the rest of the credits. We missed, like two or three secondary characters, plus all the bad guys."
"Oh, most of them are dudes and none steal clothes. They're not important.
"What happened to the "main strength" of the show?”
"Taylooooooooooorrrrrr! You're ruining the marathon!"
Opening credits end.
The first episode begins with the shot of an Imperial Superdestroyer in space. The spaceship–
FAST FORWARD
“Charlotte… Did you just fast forward the first episode?”
“Just focusing on the interesting stuff~.”
PLAY
The scene takes place in some sort of huge gambling house that doubles as a cantina. A familiar music is being played.
Willek and Eileen are sitting around a table, pretending to share drinks together.
“Cheris must be locked in the backstage area.” Willek whispers.
“The Cartel is cautious. There are too many guards for us to cause a fuss.” Eileen objects. “We need subtlety, so keep your blaster in its case, Ladykiller.”
“I’m open to any suggestion.”
Eileen glances to around.
The camera does a panoramic shot to show the various patrons. As the gambling house doubles as a cantina, there are also various performers to entertain the guests. Among them, there are exotic dancers.
The camera lingers on one dancer in particular. A tall buxom human woman with high cheekbones, a soft-looking tanned skin, golden brown eyes, and light brown hair.
Like all the other exotic dancers, she’s wearing an outfit meant to evoke belly dancers. The bottom half of her costume is a red silk skirt with separate panels suspended from a gold metal belt, and the top part of her outfit is a red piece of cloth wrapped around the breasts. A translucent veil adorned with golden-colored sequins covers the lower half of her face. Her hair are tied up into a long flowing high ponytail with a golden yellow ribbon and gold ring. Loose gold bracelets, designed to chime together when she dances, are tied around her forearms and her calves. She’s walking in brown sandals.
Currently, the dancer seems to be off-shift.
“I have an idea. Wait for me here.”
Eileen leaves her seat without giving Willek the time to object.
She approaches the dancer.
“Excuse me, are you the famous Maree Desyk?”
The other woman puts a hand on her cheek. “Oh. I wouldn’t say I’m that famous...” However, it’s pretty clear she’s flattered by being called a celebrity.
She isn’t – Eileen only knows her name because she read it on a flier on the wall. Of course, she doesn’t mention it. “You’re just the person I need… I was looking for someone important here. I heard they’re looking for new dancers. I wanna get the job.”
“You sure could. You move like a dancer.”
“I was an acrobat.” Eileen puts her hands together. “Could you give me some tips, please? I’m sure I could stand to learn from someone with your experience!” A credit ingot suddenly appears in her hand, and she rolls it in-between her fingers. “And you could give a good word for me to the manager...”
The final flattery – with the assorted bribery – wins Maree over. “Oh, why not?”
Eileen beams. “Great! Why don’t we talk about it over here?”
A hand resting on the oblivious woman’s back, Eileen leads her in an empty lounge room which is meant to be used by patrons who want some ‘private’ time with a dancer. She closes the door behind them.
Comically exaggerated punch sounds follow suit, with the assorted grunts and moans.
Eileen opens the door, glances right and left, then exits the room. She’s now wearing Maree’s exotic dancer outfit, down to the veil, the sandals, the ring and ribbon in the hair, and the bracelets around the limbs.
The blond ‘newly-hired exotic dancer’ returns to the table she had left. Nobody has noticed the disappearance of the real dancer. Everyone is too engrossed in their games or their drinks. Apparently, Maree is a lot less famous than she thinks...
Willek rolls his eyes. “Was the change of outfit really necessary?” He’s however making a conscious effort to not stare too much at his teammate.
Eileen notices his embarrassment, and wiggles her body to show off her well-toned curves. The exotic dancer garb highlights how gorgeous she looks. “Change of clothes was mandatory.” she retorts. “Plus, now I can access the backstage area.”
PAUSE
“So… What happens to the real dancer...? I mean… She’s not even hidden in a remote place… How... can she not be found in the next five minutes...?”
“She probably fell into a plot hole.”
“What she means, my dear Sarah, is that you’ve been introduced to the wonderfully frustrating world of off-screen scenes.”
“Seems anticlimactic.”
“Right?! I actually commissioned an artist to draw the aftermath. Look!”
CHANGE THE WINDOW
The screen shows a fanart of Maree lying unconscious on the floor of the lounge room, her untied light brown hair are spread around her head like a halo. Her wrists are bound behind the back, her ankles are tied together, and her mouth is cleave-gagged with makeshift restrains made of the clothes Eileen wore before the ambush. The dancer’s only article of clothes left are black bikini panties. Eileen’s discarded trousers have been used to cover her breasts like some blanket.
“Why did you include censorship in your fanart?”
“It felt in-character Eileen wouldn’t leave the woman exposed! She’s a good girl!”
“Uh uh...”
“Also the artist didn’t want to do topless.”
CHANGE THE WINDOW
RETURN TO THE SERIES
“So you’re just going to show us random off-screen muggings for disguise?”
“Not convinced? Wait wait wait. There’s more.”
FAST FORWARD
“Will this be a recurring thing? You skimming through entire episodes?”
“Hush! This is one of the best parts yet…”
PLAY
The camera shot shows an air vent grill being discreetly kicked open. Two women jump onto the floor, and land inside an empty storage room of the main Imperial command center of the Lothal system.
Jysell checks her tablet. “So far so good. DEE-20 hacked the cameras. I anticipate we have one hour before they notice and raise the alarm. The room in which they hold Minister Tua is over there.”
She exits the storage room, with her partner on the trail. It is the middle of the night. The building is quiet, with only the bare minimum of guards to patrol it.
“Entering is one thing, but how are we gonna leave with her?” Eileen whispers.
Jysell hushes her when she hears footsteps nearby, and takes a glance across a corner.
There are two female officers wearing the Empire’s standard dark grey military uniforms. Their outfits consists of a gaberwool uniform tunic, uniform trousers, a pair of black leather boots, a utility belt, and an Imperial kepi. Code cylinders and a rank insignia plaque are worn on the breast of the tunic.
One low-ranked officer has platinum blond hair and light blue eyes. She has a chin-long square-shaped haircut. The other officer is slightly taller. She has medium brown hair tied up into a military-like low bun, a light skin, and hazel eyes. Both are cute, but in the generic way of anime extras.
Jysell smiles. “I have a solution. Why don’t we simply exit through the front gate and take a shuttle?”
Eileen also grins at the bold plan. “Who’d think we’d be foolish enough to disguise ourselves and pretend we’re transferring the Minister?”
“Good thing then they don’t know we really are that dumb...”
Hiding around the corner and stalking their targets, they watch the two low-ranked officers unlock the automatic door of a storage room and enter. Jysell and Eileen run after them. The automatic door closes right behind them.
The camera lingers on the closed metal panels.
Cartoonish off-screen punch noises and grunts follow suit.
One jump cut later, Jysell and Eileen are shown exiting the storage room. They are wearing the Imperial uniforms.
The camera lingers inside the storage room for a few seconds, showing the two Imperial officers lying on the floor in-between metal crates, unconscious and trussed up in their lingerie: light blue panties and t-shirt bra for the blonde, light pink panties and t-shirt bra for the brunette. Both are bound hands and feet with black cables, and gagged with two strips of brown tape on the lips forming an X pattern.
The automatic door closes.
PAUSE
“Why is it the best part yet?”
“Because they showed the aftermath. Can you believe there were FIVE off-screen scenes before they finally delivered the good stuff?!”
“I would. Except you skipped four of them.”
“Yeah, but those four happened all in a row in Episode 5. It was a cheap joke anyway. They kept encountering locked doors, and always needed a higher clearance level. Episode 5 is the weakest of the series, honestly. Just pointless filler. You don’t need it to understand the main plot.”
“You’re one to talk about understanding the plot. You literally skimmed through the entire first season.”
“Technically this is the mid-season two-parter, not the finale. I know it’s a bit confusing, but the showrunners mentioned in interviews they envisioned Seasons 1 and 2 as one self-contained story arc, and only split it in two because the producers wanted-”
“For pity’s sake, just keep playing your show!”
FAST FORWARD
PLAY
Willek and Cheris are walking the streets of a frontier town of (in)famous desert planet Tatooine.
“Things are too quiet. Streets shouldn’t be as empty. The people are scared by something.” Cheris comments.
“What are the odds the Empire already knows we’re here?” Willek retorts.
“Freeze!”
Two Imperial stormtroopers are aiming their blasters at the duo’s back.
They are wearing the inimitable eighteen-piece armor set made of white plastoid over a black body glove, and white reinforced combat helmet.
Cheris raises her arms, and glares at her teammate. “Willek, next time – if there is a next time – please don’t tempt fate.”
“Walk over here. Rebel scums.”
The two stormtroopers lead the duo in an empty alleyway.
“So you’re just going to execute us in the street?”
“We have other plans. Better plans.”
Then, suddenly, the two soldiers lower their weapons, and take off their helmets.
“Surprise!”
Under the armors and helmets, there are Jysell and Eileen. Both look very satisfied with their trick.
Cheris frowns and Willek glares at them with his mouth agape.
Eileen grins. “The Empire is combing the whole city for you. You should really be more careful, Ladykiller…”
“How did you-”
Eileen winks. “Girl secret.”
The camera cuts to inside a maintenance closet.
Two bound-and-gagged women are sitting on the floor. One is a light-skinned redhead with sharp facial features, freckles, and yellow eyes. The other is a dark-skinned woman with black hair and brown eyes. They share similar slim and muscular body figures, and have the same haircut – a tight military-looking low bun.
Both women are wearing the same standard-issue underwear: a black tank top, and dark grey knee-long boxer undershorts. Their wrists are bound behind the back with ropes. An other rope is wrapped around the upper-arms. Their thighs are bound together, and their ankles are also bound together. They are cleave-gagged with thick strips of clothes tied together.
Both women are squirming comically in their bonds, moaning angrily and glaring around them.
They are obviously meant to be the real stormtroopers, divested of their equipment and battle armors.
Jump cut to Cheris. She rolls her eyes, and glares at Eileen. “Must you always show off like that?”
PAUSE
“So, you noticed?”
“Noticed what?”
“They had the scene with the non-revealing underwear AFTER the scene with the revealing ones. Odd, right? My theory is that they animated this episode first to bypass censorship, but then moved it later in the broadcast order to better build up the love triangle between Willek, Cheris, and Eileen. Did you notice the slight hostility between the two girls when Cheris-”
“Charlotte. We don’t care.”
“Tough customer, uh? Alright. I’ll pull out the big guns!”
FAST FORWARD
PLAY
The panning shot shows a big spaceship hangar. Dozens of TIE fighters are stationed inside.
Jump cut to behind a pile of metal crates. Cheris takes a peak at the small spaceships. She, Eileen, and Jysell are hiding behind the pile of metal crates.
“That’s your plan?” Cheris complains.
“You want to rescue your boyfriend, or not?” Eileen retorts.
“He is NOT my boyfriend.”
“Good. Then you won’t mind if I steal him.”
“Maybe this debate can be postponed.” Jysell intervenes just as Cheris is opening her mouth to retort something. “I snagged the ID codes, but they won’t help us if we get caught because we’re too busy arguing with each other. Besides…” She takes a peak as well. “Our flight is coming.”
She mentions three TIE Fighter pilots who are passing nearby. The women are chatting idly, carrying their black flight helmets under their arms. One is a dour-looking fair-skinned brown-haired hazel-eyed woman, with a square-shaped jaw, a tight neck bun, and an intimidating-looking scar on her left cheek. One has black hair, a square cut, a white skin, and blue eyes. The last one is a black-haired black-skinned woman with dark brown eyes and short hair.
The TIE Fighter pilots are wearing black uniforms composed of an energy-shielded fabric, with a life support chest piece with breather tubes that are supposed to be connected to the helmet to provide necessary gases, and black positive gravity pressure boots. An equipment belt with a blaster in a holster is tied around the waist.
“Stun setting. We don’t want holes in the uniforms.” Jysell instructs her partners.
They jump out of their hide-outs, and shoot the unsuspecting Imperials in the back – not giving them any chance.
The three pilots are hit with the blue rings of the stun shots. The charged particles overload their nervous system, sending the receiver's biosigns wild. In less than a second, the electrical impulses force the organism to mentally and physically reset due to the shock to their system. With faint groans, the three pilots drop their helmets, and fall onto the hangar’s floor.
Cheris, Eileen, and Jysell each drag one pilot behind the crates.
Then a short montage shows them picking up the discarded flight helmets, and stripping the pilots of their equipment belts, boots, and uniforms.
They stop once the TIE pilots are down to their undergarments. Two are clad in standard Imperial underwear – plain grey tank tops, matching boxer undershorts, and black socks. The third one – the dour-looking scarred brunette – wears a girly candy pink tank top with a red heart pattern, and matching boyshorts and socks.
Eileen snickers.
“No comment.” Jysell warns her.
“What do we do with these three?” Cheris intervenes.
“It seems a bit petty to shoot them when they’re unconscious, don’t you think? Besides, I always wanted to test some of those babies.” Jysell pulls out three pairs of thick metal handcuffs. The inside of the cuffs if glowing a faint blue light.
“How did you get your hands on stuncuffs?!”
Jysell rolls her eyes. “Really? After all this time, you’re still asking?”
“Right. Former smuggler. Sorry. Always forget.”
They handcuff the three women’s wrists. Like any tinkerer worth her salt, Jysell is carrying a roll of duct tape – even in sci-fi future duct tape is still good for everything. They use the roll to bind each pilot’s ankles, and gag each woman with a few strips.
Jysell hacks into the electronic lock of a metal crate, and opens it.
“Let’s stash them here.”
They throw the three underwear-clad pilots inside the crate, and Jysell closes the lid to conceal them.
The lid being closed is used as a transition shot.
Next shot shows Jysell, Eileen, and Cheris wearing the Tie pilot uniforms. They put on the TIE pilot black helmets, and adjust them to conceal their identities.
“Superdestroyer, here we come.”
PAUSE
“So?”
“So what?”
“Did you see the symbolism?”
“Symbolism?”
“Cheris and Eileen mugged women together. It shows they have more in common than they think. Also, it’s the first time the series has a whole uniform theft, from beginning to end.”
“Charlotte… Please tell me there are no scenes left…”
“Weeellll...”
FAST FORWARD
PLAY
Establishing shot shows a fancy room in a prestigious hotel. Fancy bed, fancy curtains, fancy carpets, fancy ornaments, and fancy floors.
Eileen giddily jumps on her bed. “Ah… So soft…” she says with a purr. “I could get used to that...”
“Need I have to remind you we’re not on vacation?” Cheris dryly comments.
“I know. That’s why I called room service while you were in the bathroom.”
“I don’t see what this has to do with-” Cheris interrupts herself as realization dawns upon her. “Ooohhh…”
Someone knocks on the door. Two young women clad in the maid uniforms of the hotel enter. This specific hotel employs living employees instead of droids, as some rich clients hate the idea of being served by machines.
One maid is a Mirialan woman with short brown hair fashioned into a pixie cut, brown eyes and a yellowish-green skin with black geometrical tattoos under her eyes. The other is a Pantoran woman – a blue-skinned humanoid with pastel purple hair and golden yellow eyes. Her haircut is a crown braid.
They are wearing orange long robes with red long sleeves. A red piece of cloth is tied around the waist like a sash. (The owner is from Naboo, so he drew inspiration from the uniforms of the royal handmaiden – minus the hood.)
The Pantoran maid is pushing a food cart. “Your dinner.” she announces.
Eileen answers with a shrewd grin. “Perfect. Come on in.”
The scene ends with a shot from the corridor of the door being closed behind the two unsuspecting maids.
After a time skip, the camera jump cuts to the luxury suite of the hotel. The kind that’s given to the most important guests – like an Imperial Moff for instance.
Eileen and Cheris exit the elevator. They are pushing the cart, dressed in the uniforms of the hotel’s maids.
They are stopped by two Imperial Guards. The soldiers are completely covered in flowing blood-red robes and featureless scarlet masks that conceal their faces. They are armed with force pikes.
Eileen and Cheris share a quick glance. They know Crimson Guards are recruited among the best soldiers. Under their robes are concealed a heavy blaster pistol, a vibroblade, and various other weaponry. Usually, they protect the Emperor himself, though he sometimes lends a few to his favorite governors.
“What’s this?” one red-clad soldier asks. The voice is distorted by the mask, but clearly female.
“Room service.”
“Moff Feldrong warned your manager he wouldn’t eat here tonight.”
“And where are the usual girls?” the second guard adds.
“Oh they’re all tied up in work.”
Brief cut to the bedroom Eileen and Cheris had left. The two maids, now clad in white knee-long slips with pink shoulder straps, are sitting on the floor against one bed. They’re unconscious, and leaning against each other, being slumped shoulder to shoulder. Both are bound hands and feet and gagged with sheets.
Camera returns to Cheris and Eileen.
“Shoot. Sorry for the mistake.” Eileen shrugs. “Well, since we’re at it, want to take the food?
“Crimson Guards don’t eat on duty.”
“A shame.”
She still removes the metal cover of the food.
The small ball-shaped droid concealed inside springs to life, and shoots powerful blue stunning blasts are the two sentries.
The Imperial Guards groan, and have a few spasms. Their senses are immediately overflown. Then they fall onto the floor with heavy thuds. Unconscious.
“Good work, DEE-20.” Eileen comments. “Jysell wasn’t joking when she said those new stun blasters could bypass the best armors...”
The ball-shaped droid floats in the air, and lets out a couple of happy beeps.
“Never thought there were women among the Crimson Guard… The Empire is more progressive than I gave it credit for.” Cheris dryly commented.
“I can think of one reason why the Emperor would want a few female bodyguards…” Eileen jokes with a sly smile.
Cheris gagged. “I didn’t need that mental image, thank you very much.” Still, she chuckles afterwards.
They begin stripping the Crimson Guards, though the camera focuses on them pulling off the clothes. The women who are being stripped remain off-screen.
“So this is it. You know we have next-to-zero chance this plan works.” Cheris comments as she's holding a mask.
“Has never failed me before.” Eileen retorts while putting a boot away.
“Has never been tried with Inquisitors before.” Cheris objects while struggling with a red robe.
“Inquisitors are not Vader or the Emperor. They’re not infallible. If your willpower is strong enough.” Eileen concludes while taking a weapon belt.
Cheris glances sideways at her. “Eileen… You seem to know a lot of things about the Force and the old ways of the Jedi…”
“That’s a story for an other time. You’ll have to survive this if you want to hear it. Consider it your motivator.” Eileen glances at her partner. “You better not die on me. I can’t do that to your Ladykiller.”
“Eileen, we never wanted to hurt you-”
“No need to apologize. In a competition, there’s always a loser. And I pride myself in being a graceful one. Life’s too short to waste time feeling sore.”
“Eileen, I-” Cheris interrupts herself. “Maybe we should deal with these two first…”
The camera cuts to the guards lying on the floor clad in black tank tops and matching boxer undershorts. One is shown to be a platinum blonde with a pale white skin, and a ponytail. The other is a redhead with a pixie cut and freckles.
“You’re right.”
Jump cut to the two Crimson Guards bound and cleave-gagged with bed sheets, and stuffed in a seated position inside a built-in closet with automatic sliding panels. The panel closes.
Eileen dusts her hands. She’s now clad in the red uniform of the Imperial Guard.
“That was a good talk by the way. You know the saying. Nothing beats a ‘mugging for disguise’ to open up to your partner.”
“I don’t think that’s a saying.” Cheris is also in disguise – save for the helmet.
Eileen grabs her Crimson Guard helmet. “Good. Then I can take credit for it.” She puts the helmet on.
“If you say so.” Cheris also puts on her helmet.
FAST FORWARD
**************
“Soooo… What do you think of the show?”
“I think this was no series marathon at all. You just ‘fast-forwarded’ from one uniform stealing scene to an other.”
“I meant the characters, Taylor! They’re pretty rad, uh? It’s thanks to them I found my calling as a uniform thief!”
“These girls are lucky their plot armor is thick enough to withstand nuclear strike.”
“TAYLOR, that’s so meeeeaaaaannnnn… What about you Sarah?”
“…”
“Are you listening to your I-pod?!”
“Well, that was a complete waste of time.”
“So unfair…”
“Oh, stop the puppy eyes. They don’t work on me. I’ll admit it was a slightly amusing waste of time.”
“YAY!”
“Can I… choose the next downtime activity?”
“… Sarah… Did you just take an initiative?”
“Of course you can.”
This tale is a prequel. The events take place before the beginning of the main "Marvel Saga". Chronologically, this story takes place some time after the events of “Chronicles of Earth-USB:Taylor”.
I tried something different from usual when it comes to the narration and the style. I hope you will enjoy it.
**************
“Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“Charlotte. I hate movie marathons.”
“Then there’s no problem. It’s a series!”
“I also hate semantics.”
“Come ON Taylor! We never do anything together outside of missions! I thought we could have some fun! A girls sleepover! Just us Three Caballeros, in our cozy Montreal apartment!”
“Stop trying to coddle me, Charlotte. You literally chose this show because there are uniform thieves in it.”
“Sarah agreed with me.”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“You didn’t say no~”
“Ugh. There’s no arguing with you. Just put the stupid show on already.”
“YAY!”
**************
Cue Opening credits. They begin by showing a selection of action scenes, fistfights, blaster shoot-outs, and spaceship battles.
Then there is the roll call of the main characters – complete with the names being shown.
Willek Jaris is your typical male lead character. Reasonably handsome, fashionably rugged, a bit cocky and in-over his head, but ultimately with his heart in the right place.
Cheris Tal’Vara is your typical female lead character. Strong-willed, athletic, and attractive. She has reddish brown hair, amber-colored eyes, and a softly tanned skin. Her haircut is a tight crown braid.
Jysell Alhena Charil-Pol is a young female human with a light skin, smooth shoulder long black hair, and brown eyes. There is still something innocent and juvenile about her looks, with her round-shaped face and rosy cheeks. Back when she was a criminal, she had used her appearance to deceive many victims. While she genuinely regrets her past, she however still retains her skills at smuggling, blaster shooting and deception – and is now putting them to use against the Empire.
Eileen Rulqh’Zan is a human woman with white skin and blue eyes, an athletic body type from a past as an acrobat, and blonde hair in a pigtail style. She is taller and fitter than her partner, and better at hand-to-hand combat or physical tasks. She’s accompanied by DEE-20, cute droid clearly riding the coattail of other marketable droids.
PAUSE
FEATURE: SKIP THE CREDITS
“Charlotte. Are these two the characters you keep gushing about? They’re not even the main heroines!”
“Come oooooon, Taylor! Don’t be meeeaaaan! Clearly this show’s main strength is the secondary cast!
"You just skipped through the rest of the credits. We missed, like two or three secondary characters, plus all the bad guys."
"Oh, most of them are dudes and none steal clothes. They're not important.
"What happened to the "main strength" of the show?”
"Taylooooooooooorrrrrr! You're ruining the marathon!"
Opening credits end.
The first episode begins with the shot of an Imperial Superdestroyer in space. The spaceship–
FAST FORWARD
“Charlotte… Did you just fast forward the first episode?”
“Just focusing on the interesting stuff~.”
PLAY
The scene takes place in some sort of huge gambling house that doubles as a cantina. A familiar music is being played.
Willek and Eileen are sitting around a table, pretending to share drinks together.
“Cheris must be locked in the backstage area.” Willek whispers.
“The Cartel is cautious. There are too many guards for us to cause a fuss.” Eileen objects. “We need subtlety, so keep your blaster in its case, Ladykiller.”
“I’m open to any suggestion.”
Eileen glances to around.
The camera does a panoramic shot to show the various patrons. As the gambling house doubles as a cantina, there are also various performers to entertain the guests. Among them, there are exotic dancers.
The camera lingers on one dancer in particular. A tall buxom human woman with high cheekbones, a soft-looking tanned skin, golden brown eyes, and light brown hair.
Like all the other exotic dancers, she’s wearing an outfit meant to evoke belly dancers. The bottom half of her costume is a red silk skirt with separate panels suspended from a gold metal belt, and the top part of her outfit is a red piece of cloth wrapped around the breasts. A translucent veil adorned with golden-colored sequins covers the lower half of her face. Her hair are tied up into a long flowing high ponytail with a golden yellow ribbon and gold ring. Loose gold bracelets, designed to chime together when she dances, are tied around her forearms and her calves. She’s walking in brown sandals.
Currently, the dancer seems to be off-shift.
“I have an idea. Wait for me here.”
Eileen leaves her seat without giving Willek the time to object.
She approaches the dancer.
“Excuse me, are you the famous Maree Desyk?”
The other woman puts a hand on her cheek. “Oh. I wouldn’t say I’m that famous...” However, it’s pretty clear she’s flattered by being called a celebrity.
She isn’t – Eileen only knows her name because she read it on a flier on the wall. Of course, she doesn’t mention it. “You’re just the person I need… I was looking for someone important here. I heard they’re looking for new dancers. I wanna get the job.”
“You sure could. You move like a dancer.”
“I was an acrobat.” Eileen puts her hands together. “Could you give me some tips, please? I’m sure I could stand to learn from someone with your experience!” A credit ingot suddenly appears in her hand, and she rolls it in-between her fingers. “And you could give a good word for me to the manager...”
The final flattery – with the assorted bribery – wins Maree over. “Oh, why not?”
Eileen beams. “Great! Why don’t we talk about it over here?”
A hand resting on the oblivious woman’s back, Eileen leads her in an empty lounge room which is meant to be used by patrons who want some ‘private’ time with a dancer. She closes the door behind them.
Comically exaggerated punch sounds follow suit, with the assorted grunts and moans.
Eileen opens the door, glances right and left, then exits the room. She’s now wearing Maree’s exotic dancer outfit, down to the veil, the sandals, the ring and ribbon in the hair, and the bracelets around the limbs.
The blond ‘newly-hired exotic dancer’ returns to the table she had left. Nobody has noticed the disappearance of the real dancer. Everyone is too engrossed in their games or their drinks. Apparently, Maree is a lot less famous than she thinks...
Willek rolls his eyes. “Was the change of outfit really necessary?” He’s however making a conscious effort to not stare too much at his teammate.
Eileen notices his embarrassment, and wiggles her body to show off her well-toned curves. The exotic dancer garb highlights how gorgeous she looks. “Change of clothes was mandatory.” she retorts. “Plus, now I can access the backstage area.”
PAUSE
“So… What happens to the real dancer...? I mean… She’s not even hidden in a remote place… How... can she not be found in the next five minutes...?”
“She probably fell into a plot hole.”
“What she means, my dear Sarah, is that you’ve been introduced to the wonderfully frustrating world of off-screen scenes.”
“Seems anticlimactic.”
“Right?! I actually commissioned an artist to draw the aftermath. Look!”
CHANGE THE WINDOW
The screen shows a fanart of Maree lying unconscious on the floor of the lounge room, her untied light brown hair are spread around her head like a halo. Her wrists are bound behind the back, her ankles are tied together, and her mouth is cleave-gagged with makeshift restrains made of the clothes Eileen wore before the ambush. The dancer’s only article of clothes left are black bikini panties. Eileen’s discarded trousers have been used to cover her breasts like some blanket.
“Why did you include censorship in your fanart?”
“It felt in-character Eileen wouldn’t leave the woman exposed! She’s a good girl!”
“Uh uh...”
“Also the artist didn’t want to do topless.”
CHANGE THE WINDOW
RETURN TO THE SERIES
“So you’re just going to show us random off-screen muggings for disguise?”
“Not convinced? Wait wait wait. There’s more.”
FAST FORWARD
“Will this be a recurring thing? You skimming through entire episodes?”
“Hush! This is one of the best parts yet…”
PLAY
The camera shot shows an air vent grill being discreetly kicked open. Two women jump onto the floor, and land inside an empty storage room of the main Imperial command center of the Lothal system.
Jysell checks her tablet. “So far so good. DEE-20 hacked the cameras. I anticipate we have one hour before they notice and raise the alarm. The room in which they hold Minister Tua is over there.”
She exits the storage room, with her partner on the trail. It is the middle of the night. The building is quiet, with only the bare minimum of guards to patrol it.
“Entering is one thing, but how are we gonna leave with her?” Eileen whispers.
Jysell hushes her when she hears footsteps nearby, and takes a glance across a corner.
There are two female officers wearing the Empire’s standard dark grey military uniforms. Their outfits consists of a gaberwool uniform tunic, uniform trousers, a pair of black leather boots, a utility belt, and an Imperial kepi. Code cylinders and a rank insignia plaque are worn on the breast of the tunic.
One low-ranked officer has platinum blond hair and light blue eyes. She has a chin-long square-shaped haircut. The other officer is slightly taller. She has medium brown hair tied up into a military-like low bun, a light skin, and hazel eyes. Both are cute, but in the generic way of anime extras.
Jysell smiles. “I have a solution. Why don’t we simply exit through the front gate and take a shuttle?”
Eileen also grins at the bold plan. “Who’d think we’d be foolish enough to disguise ourselves and pretend we’re transferring the Minister?”
“Good thing then they don’t know we really are that dumb...”
Hiding around the corner and stalking their targets, they watch the two low-ranked officers unlock the automatic door of a storage room and enter. Jysell and Eileen run after them. The automatic door closes right behind them.
The camera lingers on the closed metal panels.
Cartoonish off-screen punch noises and grunts follow suit.
One jump cut later, Jysell and Eileen are shown exiting the storage room. They are wearing the Imperial uniforms.
The camera lingers inside the storage room for a few seconds, showing the two Imperial officers lying on the floor in-between metal crates, unconscious and trussed up in their lingerie: light blue panties and t-shirt bra for the blonde, light pink panties and t-shirt bra for the brunette. Both are bound hands and feet with black cables, and gagged with two strips of brown tape on the lips forming an X pattern.
The automatic door closes.
PAUSE
“Why is it the best part yet?”
“Because they showed the aftermath. Can you believe there were FIVE off-screen scenes before they finally delivered the good stuff?!”
“I would. Except you skipped four of them.”
“Yeah, but those four happened all in a row in Episode 5. It was a cheap joke anyway. They kept encountering locked doors, and always needed a higher clearance level. Episode 5 is the weakest of the series, honestly. Just pointless filler. You don’t need it to understand the main plot.”
“You’re one to talk about understanding the plot. You literally skimmed through the entire first season.”
“Technically this is the mid-season two-parter, not the finale. I know it’s a bit confusing, but the showrunners mentioned in interviews they envisioned Seasons 1 and 2 as one self-contained story arc, and only split it in two because the producers wanted-”
“For pity’s sake, just keep playing your show!”
FAST FORWARD
PLAY
Willek and Cheris are walking the streets of a frontier town of (in)famous desert planet Tatooine.
“Things are too quiet. Streets shouldn’t be as empty. The people are scared by something.” Cheris comments.
“What are the odds the Empire already knows we’re here?” Willek retorts.
“Freeze!”
Two Imperial stormtroopers are aiming their blasters at the duo’s back.
They are wearing the inimitable eighteen-piece armor set made of white plastoid over a black body glove, and white reinforced combat helmet.
Cheris raises her arms, and glares at her teammate. “Willek, next time – if there is a next time – please don’t tempt fate.”
“Walk over here. Rebel scums.”
The two stormtroopers lead the duo in an empty alleyway.
“So you’re just going to execute us in the street?”
“We have other plans. Better plans.”
Then, suddenly, the two soldiers lower their weapons, and take off their helmets.
“Surprise!”
Under the armors and helmets, there are Jysell and Eileen. Both look very satisfied with their trick.
Cheris frowns and Willek glares at them with his mouth agape.
Eileen grins. “The Empire is combing the whole city for you. You should really be more careful, Ladykiller…”
“How did you-”
Eileen winks. “Girl secret.”
The camera cuts to inside a maintenance closet.
Two bound-and-gagged women are sitting on the floor. One is a light-skinned redhead with sharp facial features, freckles, and yellow eyes. The other is a dark-skinned woman with black hair and brown eyes. They share similar slim and muscular body figures, and have the same haircut – a tight military-looking low bun.
Both women are wearing the same standard-issue underwear: a black tank top, and dark grey knee-long boxer undershorts. Their wrists are bound behind the back with ropes. An other rope is wrapped around the upper-arms. Their thighs are bound together, and their ankles are also bound together. They are cleave-gagged with thick strips of clothes tied together.
Both women are squirming comically in their bonds, moaning angrily and glaring around them.
They are obviously meant to be the real stormtroopers, divested of their equipment and battle armors.
Jump cut to Cheris. She rolls her eyes, and glares at Eileen. “Must you always show off like that?”
PAUSE
“So, you noticed?”
“Noticed what?”
“They had the scene with the non-revealing underwear AFTER the scene with the revealing ones. Odd, right? My theory is that they animated this episode first to bypass censorship, but then moved it later in the broadcast order to better build up the love triangle between Willek, Cheris, and Eileen. Did you notice the slight hostility between the two girls when Cheris-”
“Charlotte. We don’t care.”
“Tough customer, uh? Alright. I’ll pull out the big guns!”
FAST FORWARD
PLAY
The panning shot shows a big spaceship hangar. Dozens of TIE fighters are stationed inside.
Jump cut to behind a pile of metal crates. Cheris takes a peak at the small spaceships. She, Eileen, and Jysell are hiding behind the pile of metal crates.
“That’s your plan?” Cheris complains.
“You want to rescue your boyfriend, or not?” Eileen retorts.
“He is NOT my boyfriend.”
“Good. Then you won’t mind if I steal him.”
“Maybe this debate can be postponed.” Jysell intervenes just as Cheris is opening her mouth to retort something. “I snagged the ID codes, but they won’t help us if we get caught because we’re too busy arguing with each other. Besides…” She takes a peak as well. “Our flight is coming.”
She mentions three TIE Fighter pilots who are passing nearby. The women are chatting idly, carrying their black flight helmets under their arms. One is a dour-looking fair-skinned brown-haired hazel-eyed woman, with a square-shaped jaw, a tight neck bun, and an intimidating-looking scar on her left cheek. One has black hair, a square cut, a white skin, and blue eyes. The last one is a black-haired black-skinned woman with dark brown eyes and short hair.
The TIE Fighter pilots are wearing black uniforms composed of an energy-shielded fabric, with a life support chest piece with breather tubes that are supposed to be connected to the helmet to provide necessary gases, and black positive gravity pressure boots. An equipment belt with a blaster in a holster is tied around the waist.
“Stun setting. We don’t want holes in the uniforms.” Jysell instructs her partners.
They jump out of their hide-outs, and shoot the unsuspecting Imperials in the back – not giving them any chance.
The three pilots are hit with the blue rings of the stun shots. The charged particles overload their nervous system, sending the receiver's biosigns wild. In less than a second, the electrical impulses force the organism to mentally and physically reset due to the shock to their system. With faint groans, the three pilots drop their helmets, and fall onto the hangar’s floor.
Cheris, Eileen, and Jysell each drag one pilot behind the crates.
Then a short montage shows them picking up the discarded flight helmets, and stripping the pilots of their equipment belts, boots, and uniforms.
They stop once the TIE pilots are down to their undergarments. Two are clad in standard Imperial underwear – plain grey tank tops, matching boxer undershorts, and black socks. The third one – the dour-looking scarred brunette – wears a girly candy pink tank top with a red heart pattern, and matching boyshorts and socks.
Eileen snickers.
“No comment.” Jysell warns her.
“What do we do with these three?” Cheris intervenes.
“It seems a bit petty to shoot them when they’re unconscious, don’t you think? Besides, I always wanted to test some of those babies.” Jysell pulls out three pairs of thick metal handcuffs. The inside of the cuffs if glowing a faint blue light.
“How did you get your hands on stuncuffs?!”
Jysell rolls her eyes. “Really? After all this time, you’re still asking?”
“Right. Former smuggler. Sorry. Always forget.”
They handcuff the three women’s wrists. Like any tinkerer worth her salt, Jysell is carrying a roll of duct tape – even in sci-fi future duct tape is still good for everything. They use the roll to bind each pilot’s ankles, and gag each woman with a few strips.
Jysell hacks into the electronic lock of a metal crate, and opens it.
“Let’s stash them here.”
They throw the three underwear-clad pilots inside the crate, and Jysell closes the lid to conceal them.
The lid being closed is used as a transition shot.
Next shot shows Jysell, Eileen, and Cheris wearing the Tie pilot uniforms. They put on the TIE pilot black helmets, and adjust them to conceal their identities.
“Superdestroyer, here we come.”
PAUSE
“So?”
“So what?”
“Did you see the symbolism?”
“Symbolism?”
“Cheris and Eileen mugged women together. It shows they have more in common than they think. Also, it’s the first time the series has a whole uniform theft, from beginning to end.”
“Charlotte… Please tell me there are no scenes left…”
“Weeellll...”
FAST FORWARD
PLAY
Establishing shot shows a fancy room in a prestigious hotel. Fancy bed, fancy curtains, fancy carpets, fancy ornaments, and fancy floors.
Eileen giddily jumps on her bed. “Ah… So soft…” she says with a purr. “I could get used to that...”
“Need I have to remind you we’re not on vacation?” Cheris dryly comments.
“I know. That’s why I called room service while you were in the bathroom.”
“I don’t see what this has to do with-” Cheris interrupts herself as realization dawns upon her. “Ooohhh…”
Someone knocks on the door. Two young women clad in the maid uniforms of the hotel enter. This specific hotel employs living employees instead of droids, as some rich clients hate the idea of being served by machines.
One maid is a Mirialan woman with short brown hair fashioned into a pixie cut, brown eyes and a yellowish-green skin with black geometrical tattoos under her eyes. The other is a Pantoran woman – a blue-skinned humanoid with pastel purple hair and golden yellow eyes. Her haircut is a crown braid.
They are wearing orange long robes with red long sleeves. A red piece of cloth is tied around the waist like a sash. (The owner is from Naboo, so he drew inspiration from the uniforms of the royal handmaiden – minus the hood.)
The Pantoran maid is pushing a food cart. “Your dinner.” she announces.
Eileen answers with a shrewd grin. “Perfect. Come on in.”
The scene ends with a shot from the corridor of the door being closed behind the two unsuspecting maids.
After a time skip, the camera jump cuts to the luxury suite of the hotel. The kind that’s given to the most important guests – like an Imperial Moff for instance.
Eileen and Cheris exit the elevator. They are pushing the cart, dressed in the uniforms of the hotel’s maids.
They are stopped by two Imperial Guards. The soldiers are completely covered in flowing blood-red robes and featureless scarlet masks that conceal their faces. They are armed with force pikes.
Eileen and Cheris share a quick glance. They know Crimson Guards are recruited among the best soldiers. Under their robes are concealed a heavy blaster pistol, a vibroblade, and various other weaponry. Usually, they protect the Emperor himself, though he sometimes lends a few to his favorite governors.
“What’s this?” one red-clad soldier asks. The voice is distorted by the mask, but clearly female.
“Room service.”
“Moff Feldrong warned your manager he wouldn’t eat here tonight.”
“And where are the usual girls?” the second guard adds.
“Oh they’re all tied up in work.”
Brief cut to the bedroom Eileen and Cheris had left. The two maids, now clad in white knee-long slips with pink shoulder straps, are sitting on the floor against one bed. They’re unconscious, and leaning against each other, being slumped shoulder to shoulder. Both are bound hands and feet and gagged with sheets.
Camera returns to Cheris and Eileen.
“Shoot. Sorry for the mistake.” Eileen shrugs. “Well, since we’re at it, want to take the food?
“Crimson Guards don’t eat on duty.”
“A shame.”
She still removes the metal cover of the food.
The small ball-shaped droid concealed inside springs to life, and shoots powerful blue stunning blasts are the two sentries.
The Imperial Guards groan, and have a few spasms. Their senses are immediately overflown. Then they fall onto the floor with heavy thuds. Unconscious.
“Good work, DEE-20.” Eileen comments. “Jysell wasn’t joking when she said those new stun blasters could bypass the best armors...”
The ball-shaped droid floats in the air, and lets out a couple of happy beeps.
“Never thought there were women among the Crimson Guard… The Empire is more progressive than I gave it credit for.” Cheris dryly commented.
“I can think of one reason why the Emperor would want a few female bodyguards…” Eileen jokes with a sly smile.
Cheris gagged. “I didn’t need that mental image, thank you very much.” Still, she chuckles afterwards.
They begin stripping the Crimson Guards, though the camera focuses on them pulling off the clothes. The women who are being stripped remain off-screen.
“So this is it. You know we have next-to-zero chance this plan works.” Cheris comments as she's holding a mask.
“Has never failed me before.” Eileen retorts while putting a boot away.
“Has never been tried with Inquisitors before.” Cheris objects while struggling with a red robe.
“Inquisitors are not Vader or the Emperor. They’re not infallible. If your willpower is strong enough.” Eileen concludes while taking a weapon belt.
Cheris glances sideways at her. “Eileen… You seem to know a lot of things about the Force and the old ways of the Jedi…”
“That’s a story for an other time. You’ll have to survive this if you want to hear it. Consider it your motivator.” Eileen glances at her partner. “You better not die on me. I can’t do that to your Ladykiller.”
“Eileen, we never wanted to hurt you-”
“No need to apologize. In a competition, there’s always a loser. And I pride myself in being a graceful one. Life’s too short to waste time feeling sore.”
“Eileen, I-” Cheris interrupts herself. “Maybe we should deal with these two first…”
The camera cuts to the guards lying on the floor clad in black tank tops and matching boxer undershorts. One is shown to be a platinum blonde with a pale white skin, and a ponytail. The other is a redhead with a pixie cut and freckles.
“You’re right.”
Jump cut to the two Crimson Guards bound and cleave-gagged with bed sheets, and stuffed in a seated position inside a built-in closet with automatic sliding panels. The panel closes.
Eileen dusts her hands. She’s now clad in the red uniform of the Imperial Guard.
“That was a good talk by the way. You know the saying. Nothing beats a ‘mugging for disguise’ to open up to your partner.”
“I don’t think that’s a saying.” Cheris is also in disguise – save for the helmet.
Eileen grabs her Crimson Guard helmet. “Good. Then I can take credit for it.” She puts the helmet on.
“If you say so.” Cheris also puts on her helmet.
FAST FORWARD
**************
“Soooo… What do you think of the show?”
“I think this was no series marathon at all. You just ‘fast-forwarded’ from one uniform stealing scene to an other.”
“I meant the characters, Taylor! They’re pretty rad, uh? It’s thanks to them I found my calling as a uniform thief!”
“These girls are lucky their plot armor is thick enough to withstand nuclear strike.”
“TAYLOR, that’s so meeeeaaaaannnnn… What about you Sarah?”
“…”
“Are you listening to your I-pod?!”
“Well, that was a complete waste of time.”
“So unfair…”
“Oh, stop the puppy eyes. They don’t work on me. I’ll admit it was a slightly amusing waste of time.”
“YAY!”
“Can I… choose the next downtime activity?”
“… Sarah… Did you just take an initiative?”
“Of course you can.”
)