The ARCADIAN AUXILLIARIES are among them.
MURRAY
Who’s in charge here?
SERGEANT AT ARMS
I am.
DAVE RECOGNISES the SERGEANT AT ARMS.
DAVE
Fletcher?
The SERGEANT’S FACE TURNS to DAVE.
A WHITE FLASH.
CUT TO.
14. INT. ORION PARLIAMENT BUILDING. DAY.
WHITE FLASH. It is a FLASHBACK SCENE. The SCENE looks BLEACHED OUT.
The SERGEANTS HEAD turns IN THE SAME WAY it does in the OTHER SCENE. He LOOKS SLIGHTLY YOUNGER and HAPPIER. HIS UNIFORM appears to BE OF A NICER QUALITY.
The INTERIOR of the PARLIAMENT BUILDING is MADE of WOOD PANELLING and WALLS that APPEAR to be MADE of BLUE CRYSTAL. In PLACES the SUNLIGHT SHINES through the CRYSTAL WALLS casting BLUE LIGHT PANELS on the FLOOR.
PEOPLE wearing VARIOUS MONK-LIKE ROBES and MEDIEVAL DRESS walk PAST.
DAVE
So what am I going to do without the best Sergeant at Arms in all the land?
FLETCHER
I don’t know. Obviously you’ll have to come up with a different way to make yourself look good.
DAVE
That’s funny, very funny.
Seriously, aren’t you going to miss all this fun?
FLETCHER
What? Hobnobbing around with the elite?
All of these buildings like tiny pieces shards of heaven.
Yeah I’ll miss it.
But it was never me.
You know that.
You were born to it. To this life.
I wasn’t.
DAVE
Doesn’t mean I feel part of the elite.
They start to WALK down a CORRIDOR in the BUILDING.
FLETCHER
Well you never were one for meditation and self reflection.
DAVE
I’ve seen too much in the service of my kingdom. And I get bored really easily.
Its okay for some. But I’m not sure whether this is the way God wants us to seek perfection.
To isolate ourselves from the people and put ourselves in ivory towers soaring above the ground.
Do spiritual pursuits really need to take place separate from everyone else?
Like the ordinary people are going to contaminate us.
I’m not sure what I think about the whole subject of God either.
FLETCHER
A member of the Royal Court expressing doubts, who as ever heard of such a thing.
DAVE
Okay, okay, old man.
Knock it off.
FLETCHER
Whatever you say, you’re the boss.
THEY sit DOWN on A BENCH NEXT to A CRYSTAL WALL.
DAVE
Okay, what have we got for your last day.
FLETCHER brings out A COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE. It obviously SERVES as a COMPUTER as well.
FLETCHER
The lovely people at the office of the Seneschal would like us to investigate unconfirmed rumours of somebody poisoning the food of the Byzantine order.
DAVE
Oh, that’s a must! Some kids will probably have put some salt in their gruel again. I can’t stand ascetics. What else?
FLETCHER
We’re to make sure that the trouble we had in the Grecian quarter last night doesn’t reoccur.
DAVE
That was a wedding party that got out of hand.
The way the Seneschal’s been talking you’d think it was a full blown riot.
We’ll go down there and rouse them from their slumbers.
That should be enough to get them to be a little more careful next time.
FLETCHER
And finally we’re to check the security on Brother Aidan’s pet project, yet again!
DAVE
The Liberation Chambers? I don’t know about you but I’m not feeling very liberated by their existence at the moment.
I just feel annoyed that they drag me down to the catacombs again and again.
Are you really sure you don’t want to rethink that transfer you’ve put in for.
FLETCHER
No thank you. I’m going home. Back to the hill country. Time for some quiet days before my inevitable retirement.
I can’t see you staying here forever though.
DAVE
No you’re right. I was never one for Orion society. I only came back to spend some time with Athena. And when she’s wed I’ll be back out there at some far flung outpost shining the light of civilisation.
FLETCHER
What ever you say.
DAVE
Okay let’s get this day started.
Are you sure you’re not going to miss the guardhouse food?
FLETCHER laughs as they walk off down the CORRIDOR.
WHITE FLASH
CUT TO.
15. EXT. ARCADIAN INCURSION SITE. DAY.
MURRAY PULLS DAVE to ONE SIDE. TINKERBELL follows them. They talk QUIETLY.
MURRAY
You know this guy?
DAVE
He served with me when I was on detatchment to the parliamentary guard.
A good man.
From what I remember at least.
MURRAY
Well if he was in the Capitol when it all kicked off I wouldn’t count on your assessment of him being a good man still being true.
DAVE
He wasn’t. He’d transferred out to one of the hill country security units about three months earlier.
Which tells me where in Arcadia we are right now.
He shouldn’t give us any trouble
TINKERBELL
Are you suggesting we trust him.
DAVE
No. I’m just not sure its necessary to rake him over the coals.
Also, if I remember his service record right, I’m not sure interrogation would work.
MURRAY
Dave’s right. There’s no sense going in all guns blazing. Lets hang back. Talk to him first of all.
If that gets us nowhere we can always lean on him later on.
The WALK BACK to THE PRISONERS.
There are about FIVE PRISONERS, all Arcadian Auxiliaries.
FLETCHER STANDS as THEY APPROACH AGAIN.
FLETCHER
Lord Agricola.
DAVE
Come on fletch, you haven’t called me that since you first started working with me.
FLETCHER
That’s as maybe your Lordship, but things have changed quite a bit the last couple of years so I’m just going to stop short of familiarity for a while, sir.
DAVE
But its me, Fletch.
FLETCHER
I know, sir but that isn’t the reassuring thing it once was.
MURRAY
What do you mean?
FLETCHER ignores MURRAY and TALKS TO DAVE.
FLETCHER
Coming in with all this soldiers and vehicles isn’t helping your case, sir.
DAVE
What case?
FLETCHER
Just after you left, the Regents Council convened a special session of Parliament. The Regents Council then abolished Parliament and decreed that absolute power was now held in the office of the Crown and the Regents Council.
They convened the Council as the highest court in the land and proceedings against many of the most prominent citizens of the land.
You were at the top of their list and were declared a murderer and a traitor to the Crown and the People of Arcadia.
For the last two years there have been shoot to kill orders out on you.
And your friend here is considered to have corrupted you and spread sedition amongst the general population.
You are the greatest enemies of the new order.
And although a lot of what has happened over the last couple of years has been strange to say the least, I still don’t want to believe that my nation has changed that much.
So that makes me think that you’re a traitor and I can’t believe that either.
So tell me, my lord Agricola, if you aren’t a traitor, why have you come into Arcadia with a foreign army if not to undermine the true and proper government?
MURRAY pulls DAVE AWAY.
MURRAY
I’m sorry.
DAVE
About what?
MURRAY
How long did you serve with this man?
DAVE
Three years, why?
MURRAY
And did he trust you?
DAVE
You know the bonds of a warrior.
He trusted me with his life and I trusted him with mine.
MURRAY
And now he thinks you’re a traitor.
Dave, I’m just beginning to realise how much has changed in your dimension since you were last here.
DAVE
That wasn’t your fault.
MURRAY
Its my fault it took two years to get you back here.
DAVE
You did your best.
MURRAY
It looks like my best wasn’t good enough.
DAVE
We’re here.
MURRAY
Yeah but we’re getting nowhere with your old friend and compadre.
DAVE
I noticed. What do you suggest?
MURRAY
Follow my lead.
HE WALKS back over to FLETCHER.
MURRAY
Excuse me, Mr Fletcher?
Good to meet you. Look I know that I’m public enemy number one or two depending on how you’re ranking me and Dave over there.
I’m getting sidetracked.
We can tell you why Dave isn’t a traitor and why I’m not the end of some conspiracy theory. I’m no one armed man.
Not that you would understand that reference.
Yet again, getting sidetracked.
But I need to make sure this place is safe first.
Tell me what power generating system you’ve been using so that we can set up with out blowing us all up and we’ll tell you who you should be trusting.
Deal?
FLETCHER
Okay.
MURRAY
Great.
16. INT. MCC INTERROGATION ROOM. DAY
FLETCHER sits at A TABLE in a SPARTAN INTERROGATION ROOM. INADEQUATE FLOURESCENT LIGHTS give the room a COLD LOOK.
The WALLS have an INDUSTRIAL LOOK like the REST of the MCC. JENSEN, MURRAY and DAVE stand BEHIND ONE WAY GLASS in ANOTHER ROOM.
JENSEN
You really think this is a good idea?
MURRAY
It’s not like we had any choice.
We couldn’t bring the MCC through without the information he’s given us.
JENSEN
Why what would have happened?
MURRAY
I thought they’d be using a Crimson Guard unit to power everything. it’s a high spec unit that our technology wouldn’t have reacted badly with.
JENSEN
And they were using?
MURRAY
A basic generator used for powering basic land vehicles.
JENSEN
A car battery?
MURRAY
Basically the Arcadian equivalent.
Obviously much more sophisticated.
But not what I would expect them to be using.
JENSEN
And if we’d come through without knowing that?
MURRAY
The word Hiroshima mean anything to you.
JENSEN
So that may explain why they were using this…
MURRAY
Power source? So that even if we defeated their goons we’d be blown off the face of the planet. It did occur to me, yes.
JENSEN
So are we safe now?
MURRAY
The MCC came through the Incursion perfectly and Caspar did a good job on the signals and I managed to adapt our technology so that it wouldn’t cause a critical outcome.
JENSEN
So what did we have to give Sergeant at Arms Fletcher for this information.
DAVE
We have to tell him everything we know about why Arcadia is such a mess.
JENSEN
Is this a good idea? Knowing what the Liberation chambers appear to do to people.
DAVE
If we’re going to stop an attack on Earth every time an incursion is established, we’re going to need allies here. And I trust this man. I served with him for three years. Broke bread with him, bled with him. He doesn’t seem any different.
MURRAY
And it appears that in the last two years Dave and I have been turned into national hate figures by the upper echelons of Arcadian society. It would be a good idea to try and get the word out that we’re not baby killing maniacs.
JENSEN
Okay, I hope you know what you’re doing.
MURRAY
So do I.
JENSEN
Not filling me with confidence, Cal.
MURRAY
I’m not filling you with confidence?
Imagine how I make myself feel.
DAVE and MURRAY walk THROUGH A DOOR and into the INTERROGATION ROOM.
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