7. INT. SPECIAL OPERATIONS DIVISION EARTHSIDE FACILITY. DAY.
RANALLO, PLAYBOY and THE TACTICAL SQUAD are RUNNING DOWN a
CORRIDOR in the FACILITY. AN ALERT is SOUNDING. Other SOLDIERS run PAST them.
PLAYBOY
So, would
you like to tell me who your little fan club were back there?
RANALLO
Star
Chamber, who else?
PLAYBOY
You’re
kidding! Don’t those guys ever quit?!
RANALLO
Not when they
think they’ve got a watertight legal case for taking over the Project!
PLAYBOY
Do they?
RANALLO
Do they
ever?
Aird is
obsessed with taking over though. He gets some traction because there are some
on the executive advisory committee who dislike the fact that this is a
primarily military led project.
So every time
they even get a glimmer of some legal breakthrough they attempt to take over
the facility and the mission into the incursion.
Aird seems
to have got it into his head that this is some kind of game of legal pass the
parcel. Whoever is holding the facility and the rift when the music stops is
the winner.
In the end
he’s like Captain Ahab and we’re his white whale!
PLAYBOY
What?
RANALLO
Captain
Ahab, as in Moby Dick.
PLAYBOY looks NONPLUSSED.
RANALLO
It’s a metaphor.
Argghhh, Playboy you really need to read a book!
Ahab is a
whaler captain who becomes obsessed with catching a great white whale, Moby
Dick, that he’s never been able to catch, in the end it leads to his destruction.
PLAYBOY
And that’s
Aird?
RANALLO
That’s
Aird. He is so obsessed with taking over. With proving he was right and we were
wrong. Proving that his decisions were right at the original incursion site, that
he should be allowed to take a field command again.
PLAYBOY
He’s not
allowed to take a field command?
RANALLO
They tend
to throw the book at you when the pooch gets as monumentally screwed as it did
then. There is a reason why he’s in charge of what amounts to the Special
Operations Division Internal Affairs department.
PLAYBOY
I just
thought he liked being a sneak.
RANALLO
I don’t
think anyone enjoys that, except perhaps Weasel.
His
obsession is going to burn him up in the end and us right along with him.
PLAYBOY
So if he’s
so bad, why are you here and not in New York? Not that I’m exactly complaining.
PLAYBOY looks RANALLO up and down in an EXTREMELY UNSUBTLE way.
RANALLO
I would
look elsewhere if I were you! You can’t afford another notation in your jacket
for attempted, note I say attempted, overfamiliarity with the opposite sex.
Also if you don’t, I’ll rip your eyes out of their sockets and feed you them.
I’m not
here to get ogled by you. I was at the gym when a contact of mine sent me word
that Aird was going to make another pathetic but enthusiastic attempt to take
control of the facility.
Also, I have
to warn Colonel Murray and Jensen about other developments which could affect
our position in the future. I’d tell you about them, but the smaller the group
of people who know about it, the better.
That’s why
Mr Browning leant me his car to get here.
PLAYBOY
You drove
here from New York
RANALLO
No, of
course not! I picked up the car at an
airfield.
PLAYBOY
Well, you
could have bought it over on a cargo plane.
RANALLO
I don’t
have time for this!
We need to get through the incursion rift as
soon as possible.
They have REACHED a DOORWAY.
PLAYBOY
This way.
8. INT. MCC CONTROL ROOM. DAY.
The CONTROL ROOM is BUSTLING with ACTIVITY. TECHNICIANS and
MILITARY SCIENTISTS WALK through the CONTROL ROOM. JENSEN is SAT in the ROOM’S
COMMAND SEAT.
JACKSON has A CONSOLE’S EXTERIOR REMOVED and is POKING about
with his TOOLS within it.
TINKERBELL is WORKING at A CONSOLE, as is CASPAR. CASPAR seems
SLIGHTLY ANNOYED. HE MAKES ANNOYED and FRUSTRATED NOISES.
TINKERBELL
What is
wrong?
CASPAR
I’m not
sure. There’s something not quite right in the communications system. Can’t
quite isolate the problem but there is something there.
JENSEN
Is it
affecting our ability to send signals?
CASPAR
Not
particularly. The system’s feels sluggish however.
JENSEN
Run a
diagnostic just to be sure.
CASPAR
You got it,
chief, I mean sir.
He STARTS to TAP into HIS CONSOLE. TINKERBELL PUTS a HAND to HER
COMMUNICATIONS EARPIECE.
TINKERBELL
Receiving a
message from Playboy, sir, he says he has made contact with Lieutenant
Commander Ranallo and is requesting permission to enter the incursion rift. He
says the Lieutenant Commander is quite adamant that he hurries up.
JENSEN
Had enough
of him already?
TINKERBELL
It would
seem so, sir.
JENSEN
Permission
granted. Transmit telemetry and recognition signal.
He may
enter the rift when ready.
TINKERBELL
Message
transmitted…
And we have
confirmation, telemetry received and understood.
CUT TO.
9. EFFECTS SHOT. EXT. ARCADIAN CAPITOL. MORNING.
The FIRST TIME that we HAVE SEEN the ARCADIAN CAPITOL from the
OUTSIDE. It is a HUGE METROPOLIS. As WITH ALL MAJOR ARCADIAN ARCHITECTURE, it
has a FEELING OF ANCIENT CROSSED with NEW. Medieval style BATTLEMENTS and
CRYSTALLINE TOWERING SPIRES. It is BEAUTIFUL, DESPITE this AREAS of IT shows
FLAGS and IMAGES at ODDS with its BEAUTIFUL EXTERIOR as if the PEOPLE LIVING
THERE are MERELY SQUATTING in SOMEONE ELSE’S CITY. Which DUE to the AFFECTS OF
THE LIBERATION CHAMBERS is not that far from the TRUTH.
CUT TO.
10. INT. OBSIDIAN GUARD HEADQUARTERS. DAY.
LADY ERIS’ CHAMBER from the PREVIOUS EPISODES. DE MORTE ENTERS. He
WALKS with SLOW and MEASURED DEFERENCE to the SPOTLIT AREA in the CENTRE of THE
ROOM.
LADY ERIS is STOOD LOOKING out OF A SMALL WINDOW. It is UNCLEAR
what SHE is LOOKING at for THE REFLECTED LIGHT in her FACE does NOT APPEAR to
be DAYLIGHT. She DOES NOT TURN to RESPOND when DE MORTE ENTERS the ROOM.
DE MORTE
Lady Eris.
LADY ERIS
Why are you
here, De Morte?
Did I not
say that I do not wish to be disturbed?
DE MORTE
You did, my
lady.
LADY ERIS
And yet,
here you are!
I trust
your appearance here is for a reason otherwise the consequences will be severe.
DE MORTE
We have
decoded another message sent by the Earth forces.
They are
about to send another craft through the rift.
I thought
you would want to know.
LADY ERIS finally TURNS away from whatever has HER ATTENTION.
LADY ERIS
Indeed I
would. It is time for us to strike back against the Earth people. We have
learnt enough information about their capabilities. The time for holding back
is over.
We will
make sure that they realise who is in control here! We are the Children of the
Chambers, reborn in chaos and in fire. We will send them back where they came
from and then we will fall upon their land and feast upon it! Nothing shall
stand in our way.
She REACHES into the WINDOW. She PULLS out WHAT LOOKS like An
IGUANA SIZED NEWT with MASSIVE FANGS and large SPINES on its BACK. She MOVES it
towards DE MORTE. HE RECOILS, a HORRIFIED LOOK on his FACE. LADY ERIS SMILES at
HIM.
LADY ERIS
The Shadow
Salamander, the very symbol of the Obsidian Guard! Born like us from the ashes
of our previous weakness!
And like
us, hungry for the fight.
SHE PLACES the SALAMANDER in A CAGE with A LARGE RAT. The
SALAMANDER GOES for ITS NECK. The Camera cuts AWAY and we hear PATHETIC NOISES
from the RAT as it DIES, DE MORTE LOOKS on with A FAINT LOOK of DISDAIN on HIS
FACE. LADY ERIS, looks on BLOOD THIRSTILY. The CAMERA CUTS BACK, THE SALAMANDER
NOW STANDS in THE ENTRAILS of THE RATS REMAINS.
LADY ERIS
Activate
the Disruption Beam!
DE MORTE
With
pleasure!
DE MORTE BOWS and LEAVES. LADY ERIS REMAINS where SHE IS,
LOOKING at the SALAMANDER.
LADY ERIS
And we will
feast!
CUT TO.
11. INT. MCC CONTROL ROOM. DAY.
As before, the CONTROL ROOM is a HIVE of ACTIVITY. CASPAR is
STILL LOOKING ANNOYED. He FROWNS. MURRAY and DAVE can be SEEN BEHIND him
ENTERING THE ROOM and TALKING to JENSEN.
TINKERBELL
Earthside
Facility reports transport shuttle has taken off sir. Nearing Event Horizon of
the Rift, Entering in T Minus 10, 9, 8
CASPARS EXPRESSION CHANGES, he LOOKS HORRIFIED. He JUMPS UP. HE
RUNS to A PANEL in the WALL and STARTS FRANTICALLY TYPING into it.
CASPAR
Stop the
countdown!
TINKERBELL
6, 5, What,
3, 2, 1.
CASPAR
Stop the
countdown… Oh hell!
JENSEN
Caspar,
what’s wrong?
CASPAR
We’ve been
hacked, that’s what was wrong with the communication channel. They hacked
us!!!!
JENSEN
Star
Chamber?
CASPAR
I don’t
think so. It came from this side of the rift. Whoever it is has all our
telemetry, including all the shuttle’s flight plans. They could shoot it out of
the sky.
TINKERBELL
There’s no
way to stop them now they’ve entered the Event Horizon. Wait, Just receiving information,
forward scout group is registering a massive build-up of energy coming from the
capitol also some kind of energy beam.
JENSEN
Dave, have you
any idea what this could be?
DAVE
It sounds
like a disruption beam. It hits the rift and disrupts the delicate physics that
make the rift work. Any craft caught in the rift becomes frozen until the
effect passes at which point the renewed forces of the Rift will rip the craft
apart.
MURRAY runs TO ANOTHER WALL PANEL.
JENSEN
We need to
get the shuttle out of there.
MURRAY
No time,
they’re only just clearing the event horizon. They have five minutes of travel
time left, that energy beam has fewer than three. They’re dead in the water!
CUT TO.
12. EFFECTS SHOT. EXT. INCURSION RIFT. DAY.
The TRANSPORT SHUTTLE is JUST CLEARING a GLOWING RED LIGHT, THE
EVENT HORIZON.
IT flies THROUGH the WHITE SUBSTANCE of THE RIFT.
A PINK BEAM SLICES through the RIFT.
The SHUTTLE tries to DODGE it, but CAN’T. The SHUTTLE is HIT.
CUT TO BLACK SCREEN.
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