ELDER THOMAS falls to the GROUND.
LADY ERIS puts her SUNGLASSES back on.
LADY ERIS
They were here. Bloodhelm and his earthly cohort.
Also a Sergeant at Arms called Fletcher.
DE MORTE
There was a Sergeant at Arms by that name believed to be killed when their craft came through the veil.
Looks like that report was wrong.
He CONSULTS a COMPUTER DEVICE that LOOKS like THE COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE.
DE MORTE
He has a family.
LADY ERIS
I remember.
DE MORTE
So should we take them into custody. I’m sure I can persuade to give up his location.
LADY ERIS
Why am I surrounded by intellectual infants.
We already know where he is. He’s with them.
And we have no evidence that their craft has left that area.
And we can’t attack them until we’re ready.
We’ll watch the family and when he visits them as he surely will, we’ll have him.
And he can tell us all the weaknesses of their operation.
DE MORTE
Do we know why they were here?
LADY ERIS
Elder Thomas was right.
They were here to find out about the Resistance.
But it seems the village elders were smarter than we were.
Only one of them ever had contact with the intelligence about the resistance.
And it wasn’t our friend here.
DE MORTE
So we have no idea of their next move?
LADY ERIS
None. But that’s okay. They’ll make a mistake at some point, they’ll put a foot wrong and when they do we’ll have them. We are the Obsidian Guard and the night always falls and we always succeed.
Now lets go.
DE MORTE points at ELDER THOMAS’ BODY.
DE MORTE
What about him?
LADY ERIS
Leave him for the beasts of the fields and the birds of the air.
He has served his purpose or rather he didn’t.
He deserves nothing better.
They WALK BACK up the RAMP into the OBSIDIAN GUARD CRAFT.
The CAMERA STAYS on ELDER THOMAS BODY as the CRAFT TAKES OFF. We SEE the VILLAGE GO DARK.
CUT TO.
9. EXT. ARCADIAN INCURSION SITE. NIGHT.
A SMALL CRAFT FLYS towards the MCC. THE MCC is STILL LANDED in FRONT OF THE INCURSION. The SMALL CRAFT is a PROJECT BIFROST SHUTTLE.
It DROPS TOWARDS the MCC and ENTERS the MCC SOMEWHERE.
10. INT. MOBILE COMMAND CENTRE MESS HALL. NIGHT.
The POKER GAME has mostly FINISHED. CHERNENKO and NIGHTINGALE are still SAT at the TABLE. CHERNENKO is DRINKING and NIGHTINGALE is READING a BOOK.
CASPAR is LAYING on a LONG MESS HALL TABLE. He has a COVER on HIM.
MURRAY, DAVE and FLETCHER ENTER the ROOM.
CHERNENKO
Hail the conquering heroes.
Vodka?
DAVE
Your own brand?
CHERNENKO
Alas, no, its mass produced alcohol with no kick whatsoever.
DAVE
Sounds perfect. I’d love some.
You want to join us, Fletch?
FLETCHER
No, thank you. If its all the same with you I’m going to go and get my head down. Is there somewhere for me to sleep?
MURRAY
We’ve set up quarters for you along with the security officers.
FLETCHER
And where’s that?
MURRAY
Level 3. Billet 322.
Two levels up.
FLETCHER WALKS OUT of the MESS HALL. DAVE and MURRAY SIT DOWN at the TABLE.
CHERNENKO
It seems to me that our Arcadian friend is still not at ease with his place with us.
DAVE
I know. I can’t really blame him though. His whole world’s been turned upside down. And although he’s willing to fight with us to find out just went on, there’s a small part at the back of his mind that’s asking whether he should really be trusting us. Whether everything the Regent’s council been saying about us is true.
MURRAY
We really have our work cut out for us.
NIGHTINGALE
So did we get a result?
MURRAY
Don’t know yet, its all tied up in this.
HE puts the DATA RECORDING CRYSTAL on the TABLE.
MURRAY
If we can crack the encryption on it. Which should keep Caspar busy for a few hours. Speaking of which. Why is the boy genius asleep on that table.
NIGHTINGALE
He’s afraid to go back to his room.
MURRAY
Afraid to go back to his room? What’s he afraid is going to be in there? Flying monkeys, creepy assassins in robes, Freddy Krueger perhaps?
NIGHTINGALE
It seems Playboy sneaked into his room last night and put Caspar’s hand in a bucket of water.
MURRAY and DAVE START LAUGHING.
MURRAY
Did he wet the bed?
CHERNENKO
Janitorial made him wash it himself.
MURRAY and DAVE CONTINUE LAUGHING.
NIGHTINGALE
Cal, its not funny you’ve got to do something about them.
This hazing’s got to stop.
MURRAY
You’re right.
I’ll talk to them in the morning.
They really made him wash the whole lot?
CASPAR
Yes!
Have I not been humiliated enough?
I have to hear you guys laughing at me?
MURRAY
Well its not as if you’re exactly innocent, either.
Who was it who programmed the ships internal chrometers to give Hotshot and Playboy heavy metal alarm calls at 5 am all of last week?
CASPAR is STILL LAID BACK ON HIS TABLE. He BARELY MAKES a MOVE as HE RESPONDS.
CASPAR
Did they, I wasn’t aware.
MURRAY
Yeah sure you weren’t. So how is you piping Sabbath into their rooms any different than what they did to you?
CASPAR
I had to wash the bedclothes, that’s what.
MURRAY
Well it stops, now! I’m quite amused by the three of you and if this was a secondary school field trip I might be inclined to let you continue. But its not, we’re in quite hostile territory and I’m responsible for you. So all three of you will quit it.
And first thing in the morning you will decrypt this crystal and we’ll see what we’re dealing with.
And just for once can we have it without the incessant complaining?
That’d be just great.
CUT TO.
EFFECTS SHOT of the MCC in the MORNING.
CUT TO.
11. INT. MOBILE COMMAND CENTRE CONTROL ROOM. DAY.
CASPAR is SAT AT his STATION. MURRAY is LEANING OVER HIM. DAVE is LEANT AGAINST ONE of the BANKS of COMPUTERS on the other side of the CONTROL ROOM. He is PLAYING with A SMALL THROWING AXE. TINKERBELL is THROWING KNIVES at the DARTBOARD from EPISODE ONE.
MURRAY
Come on, Come on, we haven’t got all day. This is kind of urgent.
CASPAR
Really, and I thought when I took this job it was going to be working at my own pace, all the breaks I need.
MURRAY
What did I say about the complaining?
CASPAR
That wasn’t complaining, that was sarcasm.
MURRAY
And a straight left to the jaw is what you’ll be getting if you don’t decrypt this.
CASPAR
Well can you step back a bit.
Goodness. You have no concept of personal space and can you stop the two meatheads from throwing things around. I know its supposed to unnerve me but now its just getting boring.
Anyway, you’re a physicist, you could do this if you wanted.
MURRAY
If I had a week, maybe. Although it pains me to say it, you’re better at codes and computers than I am.
CASPAR
I know, Its just fun to make you admit it.
A KNIFE is thrown into the WALL NEXT to CASPAR’S HEAD.
CASPAR
Oh, honestly enough!
MURRAY
How long?
CASPAR
Two hours. Or more, or less.
MURRAY
Just get it done.
He walks out of the CONTROL ROOM. TINKERBELL follows him. DAVE moves towards THE DOOR. He throws the AXE at the WALL. It lands next to THE KNIFE ALREADY THERE.
CASPAR
Thanks a lot, Dave, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
That guy has no impulse control whatsoever. Seriously, can somebody get me a burger.
The CONTROL ROOM is now empty APART from HIM.
CASPAR
Never a moronic musclebound fool around when you need him. You can’t live with them…
CUT TO.
12. INT. JENSEN’S OFFICE. DAY.
This is JENSEN’S OFFICE. Despite being THE COMMANDING OFFICERS OFFICE it is SMALL AND UTILITARIAN with the SAME INDUSTRIAL feel of the REST of the MCC. The walls are covered with PICTURES, REGIMENTAL INSIGNIA and other PERSONAL EFFECTS that A MAN LIKE JENSEN might COLLECT in the COURSE of HIS DUTY.
MURRAY and DAVE are SAT ACROSS FROM JENSEN.
JENSEN
You’ll notice I didn’t debrief you two last night, which was supposed to be something of a gift, a recognition of how difficult the last few weeks have been and how your conduct has been nothing less than exemplary. But I said 0900 hrs for this meeting and this is what?
MURRAY
A bit later.
JENSEN
1300 hrs.
MURRAY
There’s a reason I didn’t mind you taking the command.
JENSEN
Really?
MURRAY
I don’t have to deal with guys like me.
JENSEN
Very nice, Cal, very nice. So ignoring the fact that this meeting is 4 hours late what did you find out.
MURRAY
Absolutely nothing… yet.
JENSEN
The intelligence lead was a fraud?
MURRAY
Oh, know it was real alright, its just on a data crystal that’s going to take a while to decrypt.
JENSEN
And you can’t decrypt it Dave?
DAVE
I was never much a technician. And this is a level of Arcadian tech that I’ve never seen before. Its entirely possible that its only been in operation since the Liberation Chambers.
MURRAY
Also we may have left a trail.
JENSEN
Oh, fantastic.
So we have no usuable intelligence.
MURRAY
Yet.
JENSEN
Yet.
MURRAY
Yet.
JENSEN
And we left a trail.
And you two geniuses decided to be late to a scheduled debrief.
DAVE
Nothing much we could do about it.
JENSEN
Setting an alarm tends to help.
DAVE
I meant in relation to the mission. One of the village elders had sold us out to someone.
We got out of there as quickly as possible. So did the villagers.
JENSEN
Sold you out to someone? Who.
DAVE
Well the craft we saw landing in the village looked like Obsidian Guard but I’ve been thinking it could easily have been one of the other Guards regiments.
JENSEN
How many are there again?
DAVE
Five. Obsidian, Crimson, Emerald, Sapphire and Argent.
JENSEN
And it could be anyone?
DAVE
Well, its unlikely to be the Sapphire Guard as they’re mainly a maritime organisation.
But the others have colliding jurisdictions so it could be any of them.
JENSEN
So we could have alerted yet another one of the guards regiments or we could have tipped our hand to the force who originally attacked us.
MURRAY
That’s about the size of it.
JENSEN
We have no idea what’s going on here, do we?
MURRAY
No, we know what the Liberation Chambers do, but that information is two years old, we don’t know if they’ve been altered since then. We don’t know the layout of their military. Dave hasn’t been here for two years and Fletcher isn’t highly ranked enough. we’re blind.
We need to contact the resistance, it’s the only next step we have.
JENSEN
And we’re relying on Caspar to get us that information.
CASPAR bursts through the OFFICE DOOR.
JENSEN
No, my door wasn’t closed for a reason, I wasn’t in an incredibly sensitive meeting and it isn’t incredibly rude to burst in unannounced.
CASPAR
Oh, right, good. I wasn’t sure.
I’ve cracked it. 1 hour and 36 minutes. A new record.
CASPAR walks BACK OUT of the OFFICE.
JENSEN
I was being sarcastic.
Caspar!
Go after him.
MURRAY
Yes sir.
JENSEN
And tell him to get some manners.
MURRAY
I’ve tried.
DAVE
I’ve threatened him.
MURRAY
It doesn’t work.
DAVE and MURRAY run OUT of the OFFICE, leaving the DOOR OPEN.
JENSEN
And shut the door, damn it!
Nobody listens to me, I swear, I might as well not be here.
Corporal Hernandez!
A HISPANIC LOOKING FEMALE CORPORAL enters the OFFICE.
HERNANDEZ
Yes, sir.
JENSEN
Shut the door.
HERNANDEZ
Yes, sir.
SHE shuts the DOOR.
JENSEN
I’m in a madhouse.
A PICTURE falls off the WALL.
CUT TO.
13. INT. MOBILE COMMAND CENTRE CONTROL ROOM. DAY.
CASPAR is sat at his STATION. MURRAY and DAVE come RUSHING IN.
MURRAY
Okay, so lets see what was worth wading through marshes and evading evil mutant sheep.
The CAMERA shows CASPAR’S CONSOLE SCREEN.
CASPAR’S CONSOLE SCREEN APPEARS to use COMMANDS in a LANGUAGE similar to MSDOS or other earlier DISK. OPERATING. SYSTEMS.
It is SIMPLE BLUE WRITING on A BLACK SCREEN.
The SCREEN SAYS…
The Fellowship of the Failed.
The Races,
Frodingham Township,
Contacts name is Dietrich.
Dietrich will be waiting in the Paddock. Dietrich will be wearing a White Rose. Anyone wishing to find the Fellowship should make a wager on Luther’s Remedy at None.
CASPAR
That’s all you got. It seems pretty pointless though. You’ve got a place but no time to meet and no date.
MURRAY
Now I know for certain you didn’t read the briefing book for this project. The Arcadians use a 24 hr clock with the same measurements as ours. But unlike us they also still use terminology to describe time based on the Liturgy of Hours.
CASPAR
What’s that?
Sounds like a bad 80s synth band
MURRAY
It’s a Catholic prayer cycle based on one used by medieval society. Originally it was based on prayers at three hourly intervals. Each interval was given a name such as Matins, Vespers or Prime.
CASPAR
And that helps us how?
MURRAY
Three o’clock under that system is None.
I’m not sure about the date though.
DAVE
Two days time.
The Frodingham Township races are famous. Been going on for nearly a millennia as far as anyone can tell. And they only take place on one particular day in the year.
MURRAY
In two days time.
DAVE
In two days time.
CASPAR
What about the name, Dietrich? Or the Fellowship of the Failed?
MURRAY
Well, every good resistance movement needs a name. And Dietrich is probably some sort of codename. Something to protect the identity of the resistance member. Every resistance contact is probably called Dietrich.
CASPAR
So what are we going to do?
MURRAY
Put on your finest clothes.
It looks like we’re going to the races.
CUT TO.
14. INT. MOBILE COMMAND CENTRE BRIEFING ROOM. DAY.
The Briefing Room. A LECTURE HALL style room. It is HALF FULL. ABOUT 20 OFFICERS are SEATED. PLAYBOY, HOTSHOT, VALKYRIE, NIGHTINGALE, CHERNENKO, CASPAR, JACKSON, TINKERBELL and DAVE are SAT AMONGST THE OTHER OFFICERS. MURRAY is STOOD at the BRIEFING PODIUM. Everyone is TALKING.
MURRAY
Okay, settle down, settle down.
The briefings about to start.
Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to our fourth weekly briefing within Arcadian territory and I’m pleased to, finally, announce that we have our first mission proper since we established a foothold here. Now I know we’ve all loved being stuck having nothing to do.
We’ve all loved Freaky Fredickson’s movie nights.
A CHORUS of BOOS ERUPT from his AUDIENCE.
MURRAY
Even though somehow you only managed to bring one movie through with you. Off all the movies on Earth, how did you only bring through Power Rangers the Movie?
FREDERICKSON is a LIEUTENANT sat on the BACKROW.
FREDERICKSON
We took off before I got all the entertainment supplies through. I had to raid my personal stash.
MURRAY
(laughing)
I don’t even want to know.
Can me make sure then that when we get some supplies in from earth, our entertainment stores are updated.
And of course, we’ve all loved Williamson’s gigs.
ANOTHER CHORUS of BOOS.
MURRAY
How many people did you get to the last one?
LIEUTENANT WILLIAMSON is SAT NEXT to FREDERICKSON.
WILLIAMSON
There were extenuating circumstances.
MURRAY
What, you mean the fact that the bands you had performing were the “Fantastic Reactor Core Boys” followed by “Core Breach”. Can I suggest that bands sounding like bad Star Trek episodes are never going to be a big draw.
LAUGHTER.
MURRAY
Okay. Okay.
Simmer down.
Now that our resident freaks have been dealt with its time to get onto the main event.
As you are all aware one of our major objectives during this mission has been to identity any resistance movements hostile to the present administration of Arcadia in the hope that we could make overtures towards these groups and possibly prevent an attack such as the one that came through the incursion rift, three months ago.
Also our intelligence on Arcadia is limited. Although we do have two Arcadians working with us, they only know certain things and its possible a resistance movement could tell us more. They may have been active throughout the operation of the Liberation Chambers and they may also have members who are high ranked within the Arcadian administration.
He POINTS to FLETCHER who is LEANT AGAINST A WALL near the DOOR to the BRIEFING ROOM.
MURRAY
With the help of Sergeant at Arms Fletcher, we are finally a step closer to achieving that goal.
Using contacts that Fletcher has in the Arcadian hill country, a data crystal has come into our possession with details of a rendez-vous for people wishing to join the resistance.
PLAYBOY puts his hand up.
PLAYBOY
Define what you mean by rendez-vous.
MURRAY
Not the sort of the assignation you’re referring to.
We are supposed to meet a contact known only as Dietrich, which I’m sorry to tell you, Lieutenant, tends to be a man’s name.
Dave?
MURRAY steps DOWN from the LECTURE PODIUM. DAVE steps up to it.
He PRESSES a BUTTON on the PODIUM and the BRIEFING ROOM SCREEN ACTIVATES.
A DIAGRAM of A MEDIUM SIZED VILLAGE nestled in HILLS APPEARS on the SCREEN.
The DIAGRAM moves AROUND THROUGHOUT DAVE’S BRIEFING.
DAVE
This is Frodingham Township.
Situated in the northern province of Arcadia, roughly 400 klicks away from here.
The township is part of a group of five closely connected villages that we call the Ironstone Belt. Although the villages are relatively small and the area undeveloped, this does not mean that the area is going to be light on Arcadian military personnel.
The area is of incredible strategic and symbolic importance. Many influential families including members of the Regent’s Council and the royal family have their roots in this area. And there is no greater symbolic event than The Races.
Taking place on the same date, every year, for nearly a thousand years, The Races are the culmination of a week long cultural event known as The Ironstone Meet.
Regardless of whatever may have happened over the previous two years, this an event that will be well attended by the cream of the crop of Arcadian society.
So, this isn’t exactly going to be a day at the races.
There are going to be unbelievable levels of security which is going to make infiltration incredibly difficult.
CHERNENKO
What will be looking at?
DAVE
Representatives of all Five Guards divisions.
That will include both drill units giving demonstrations as well security units throughout the race grounds.
We could be looking at upwards of 50,000 civilians with 5,000 troop providing security.
Its going to be sewn up tight.
HOTSHOT
Do we think this operation is worth it?
It seems like a whole lot of risk for not much reward.
MURRAY TURNS in HIS SEAT and LOOKS BACK TOWARDS HOTSHOT.
MURRAY
You’re right.
We have no idea what we’re going to get out of this operation. And if the whole thing goes south, we’re going to be in a world of pain.
HOTSHOT
So why are we even going through with this.
MURRAY
Because we’re absolutely nowhere.
Lets face facts. We came here for a reason. We came here to protect our world, we came here because of everything that happened last time we were here, we came, idealistically enough, to do the right thing.
And since our first day here, we’ve done exactly nothing. This place is so isolated noone’s bothered to check what happened to the troops we killed or the fortress we destroyed on our first day here.
We have no idea who knows we’re here. We still don’t know why DeMorte and his forces came through the incursion, we still are exactly nowhere on discovering exactly what the Liberation Chambers do and we’re all going stir crazy in here.
There might be only a small chance of anything positive coming out of this, the whole resistance message might be a plant by the Arcadians for all we know, but its time we did something.
We can’t sit around here forever.
We’re always one step away from Star Chamber being sent through the incursion to take this operation over and that is something none of us want.
This is the only lead we have, myself and Colonel Jensen have talked with Mr Browning and he agrees with us.
Either we go through with this, or we might as well pack up and go home.
Sorry, Dave, Carry on.
DAVE
Its going to be harder than you think.
Neither myself or Fletch are going to be there. We’re too easily identifiable to the authorities. Which means we’ll be staying with the support vessel.
The IMAGE on the SCREEN CHANGES. It now shows a GRIDDED MAP TYPE VIEW of the IRONSTONE BELT. A FLASHING ICON DENOTES the SUPPORT CRAFT, NESTLED in the HILLS. A DOTTED LINE runs from it, OVER HILLS and into the VILLAGE.
DAVE
We’ll co-ordinate things from there.
FADE INTO.
15. EXT. FRODINGHAM TOWNSHIP. DAY.
The GATEWAY to a SMALL WALLED VILLAGE. A CROWD of PEASANTS is walking THROUGH the GATEWAY into the VILLAGE. Bored looking CRIMSON GUARDSMEN are SEARCHING OCCASIONAL PEASANTS. The CAMERA is OPERATING in a HANDHELD STYLE. The PEASANTS are wearing CLOAKS.
DAVE
(V.O.)
A small team will leave the vessel and make their way into the Township.
CASPAR
(V.O.)
Won’t they be just as noticed as you would be, I mean they’re not going fit in exactly.
DAVE
(V.O.)
You’ll be in disguise, you moron.
CASPAR
(V.O)
What do you mean I’ll be in disguise
I’m not going on this mission!
MURRAY
(V.O.)
Well volunteered, Caspar.
The LAUGHTER of the BRIEFING ROOM can be heard on VOICEOVER.
The CAMERA is NOW FOLLOWING SIX PEASANTS through the GATEWAY and into the VILLAGE. The CAMERA CUTS JERKILY BETWEEN THE CROWDS of PEASANTS, the GUARDS and the VILLAGE BUILDINGS.
The VILLAGE BUILDINGS are A MIXTURE of MEDIEVAL and GLEAMING BLUE CRYSTAL. TECHNOLOGY and PRIMITIVE ALL in the SAME PLACE.
ONE of the SIX PEASANTS THROWS HIS CLOAKS HOOD BACK.
It is CASPAR.
He STARTS COUGHING and SNEEZING in an EXAGGERATED WAY.
ANOTHER FIGURE pulls OFF HIS HOOD. It is MURRAY. He GRABS CASPAR
MURRAY
What are you doing!
CASPAR
I get allergies, okay. And where did you get this cloak from anyway, it smells.
MURRAY
It might smell, but if you don’t stop making a fuss, you’ll never smell anything again. Do you have any idea what the meaning of the word infiltration is? This is supposed to be a covert attempt to meet a resistance contact right under the noses of all the Arcadian bigwigs and you’re making more noise than an entire American frat house in the middle of rush week!
They catch us, you won’t be smelling anything, you’ll be dead!
The OTHERS have REMOVED THEIR HOODS.
They are NIGHTINGALE, HOTSHOT, PLAYBOY and TINKERBELL.
CASPAR
Will you calm down. I didn’t want to come on this mission anyway.
MURRAY
Well this isn’t a flipping democracy so you’ll do what you’re told!
Just keep your mouth shut and our signals open.
How’s everyone else doing.
NIGHTINGALE
We’re fine.
PLAYBOY
Yeah, dude, we’re great. But myself and Hotshot were wondering where the horses were so we can make our bet.
TINKERBELL
I thought it was unusual, you two volunteering for an operation without your machines to fly in on.
You came here to gamble!?!
PLAYBOY
You know it, baby!
I love the horses.
You get dressed up. Well we’re not wearing suits, but its still dressing up.
And you put your money down.
And myself and Hotshot. We are like the kings of horse betting.
MURRAY
I can’t believe you. Okay have we got all the silliness out of our systems?
Good!
Oh and Playboy, didn’t you read the briefing book either?
They don’t race horses here.
They walk towards a LARGE FUTURISTIC LOOKING STADIUM.
PLAYBOY
What do they race?
MURRAY
Pigs.
PLAYBOY AND HOTSHOT
Pigs!
MURRAY
Pigs.
PLAYBOY
I blew off a date with Corporal Cavendish for this.
HOTSHOT
I was going to watch the boxing.
MURRAY
Why do you think I accepted you two volunteering?
HOTSHOT
Man, that is cold.
MURRAY
Yeah, I’m a really bad man.
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