STARCALLED
Book 1, Chapter 7: Terminal Velocity
INT. APPLIED SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
Comms chirp.
Aboard the colonial space station, in the applied sciences and engineering lab: Acting Chief Science Officer Elona Zoren sleeps, curled into the arms of a well worn chair. Across the lab, pulse energy discharges from a trekometer into Rider’s damaged drive core.
Her comms chirp.
Away from the flickering blue light, scaly hands pilfer through bins of equipment. The zaridian assassin, Oddie Konidarian, reassembles the coffee machine into a sinister device.
Elona opens her eyes and yawns.
Her comms chirp.
ELONA ZOREN: Zoren here.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) Zoren, this is Captain Landris. The zaridian is loose; we’re still learning how. Sensors are tracking his movements to the upper decks. What’s your status?
ELONA ZOREN: The zaridian -- uh, I’m in the lab, sir. I’m waiting for --
A quiet clatter calls her attention.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) Stay alert, Zoren. We’ve already got two casualties. I’m sending support your way.
ELONA ZOREN: Captain, I don’t think I’m alone.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) Keep Rider safe.
ELONA ZOREN: Yes sir. Yes sir.
She sits up in her chair, wiping the sleep from her eyes. A monitor flashes red. She glances across the lab -- Rider’s damaged drive core is gone.
ELONA ZOREN: Dralk!
Elona jumps to her feet, drawing her pulse pistol. Red and blue light clash across her insectoid face.
ELONA ZOREN: Larus, online.
LARUS: Larus virtual interface, now online.
ELONA ZOREN: Initiate lockdown, authorization imprint: Elona Zoren.
LARUS: Authorization denied.
ELONA ZOREN: Initiate lockdown.
LARUS: Authorization denied.
ELONA ZOREN: Activate lights.
Lights switch on overhead, revealing an empty laboratory. Elona sweeps the room with her pistol.
Oddie Konidarian crawls across the ceiling behind her.
Something darts behind the colonial. She aims -- nothing. Elona turns her attention to the computer next to her and recovers Rider’s intact drive.
Behind a workbench, Oddie crouches in a serpentine pose, one padded hand clasped over his chest.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Dralk…
Another hand clutches Rider’s damaged drive core tight in its grip. A third hand pinches the blinking diode protruding from the side of his neck. The fourth holds a set of colonial forceps.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Grrk! Mmmfff -- ack!!
Slowly, he draws the diode from his throat -- a long, blinking needle full of a glowing red fluid. Oddie grasps his throat, vibrant orange blood spilling through the pads of his fingertips.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Hrgh… hkk!
He snaps the device in his hand.
Across the lab, Rider’s drive core lights up. Elona yanks it from the computer and tucks it into her belt. She raises her pistol and backs toward the door.
Oddie spits a glob of acid into a metal cylinder and screws it onto the coffee machine. He gathers himself and pulls away.
Elona spins -- nothing. A reptilian tail drops down behind her.
Her comms chirp.
SARANUS KRON: (comms) Kron to Zoren.
ELONA ZOREN: He’s here, Kron!
Oddie’s tail lashes out and wraps around the colonial’s throat, yanking her off the ground.
ELONA ZOREN: Hrrk!
She looks up -- Oddie glares down at her, scaly lips curled back, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. The Zaridian’s reptilian tail draws tighter.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Arrgh!
The colonial’s boots drag over the edge of a workbench. She kicks out off the surface, ripping Oddie off the ceiling and sending them tumbling to the ground.
Elona gasps for breath and hurls whatever objects she can reach. Oddie dodges and deflects them but is struck in the throat. He falls, scales scattering across the floor.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Hh-ack!
Elona dives and scrambles for her pulse pistol, searching for a target. Oddie darts past her and she fires a volley -- too late.
She leaps to her feet.
ELONA ZOREN: You’re making a mistake, zaridian! If you surrender now, we can --
Oddie’s tail lashes out, knocking away her pistol then slamming her into a bank of computers.
ELONA ZOREN: Ugh! Oof!
The lab falls still.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Ugh…
Oddie drags himself to his feet, gulping air and tenderly checking his bruised body. He glances down at the unconscious colonial.
Lieutenant Saranus Kron tackles the zaridian, sending the two aliens tumbling across the lab. Kron throws punches, but can’t connect. His fist slams into a computer server.
Oddie goes on the offensive, getting hard hits in on Kron. He knocks Kron back into equipment.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: You’re out of your league, colonial!
Kron reaches for his pistol -- it’s gone.
Oddie twirls the lieutenant’s pulse pistol in one hand and throws a grav charge with another. Kron catches the grenade on instinct. It detonates, sending him flying back into workbench.
Oddie levels the weapon at the colonial. Behind him, Elona grabs the damaged drive core and runs. Oddie snarls and lunges after her.
INT. CORRIDOR
Elona scrambles through the hatchway. Oddie bounds after her.
ELONA ZOREN: AC Zoren to Captain Landris, the zaridian is on Deck 8 trying to take the Rider Module!
Oddie leaps from the wall to the ceiling and tackles her, delivering a storm of brutal punches. He slams her into the bulkhead.
ELONA ZOREN: Don’t… do this…
He sneers down at her.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Grekking drones… Following programming you don’t understand.
Oddie snatches the damaged drive core from her tarsal claws and tosses her aside. She glares up at him, struggling for breath.
ELONA ZOREN: We’ll grekking come for you.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: We’ll see.
Soldiers round the corner, and the zaridian slips away.
SOLDIERS: Chief Zoren? Chief Zoren!
ELONA ZOREN: He doubled back for the lifts! The lifts!
The soldiers divide in pursuit.
Elsewhere, Kron grimaces and pulls himself up.
SARANUS KRON: Dralk…
In the corridor, Kron runs to his friend’s side.
SARANUS KRON: Elona! Are you okay?
ELONA ZOREN: I’m okay, I’m okay…
She looks up at him, blood dripping from her head.
ELONA ZOREN: It’s gone… he took a copy of Rider. We can’t let him leave the system. We can’t let him get off the station.
He spots the intact drive core tucked under her belt.
SARANUS KRON: He’s not gone yet. Can you stand?
ELONA ZOREN: Yes -- yes.
Kron extends a claw to Elona.
SARANUS KRON: Then come on. He’s not working alone.
She takes his claw and he helps her up.
ELONA ZOREN: Neither are we.
They share a long look.
INT. APPLIED SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
Red digits countdown across a timer.
It’s the modified coffee machine, tucked underneath a computer workstation. Mismatched wires run from the timer to an improvised ignition switch mounted to the device.
It triggers -- and explodes.
INT. ARMORY
A colonial sergeant distributes pulse rifles to a queue of soldiers.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) This is Captain Mor Landris. The zaridian prisoner Oddie Konidarian has escaped custody and is now a fugitive aboard this station. The zaridian’s protections as a prisoner are no longer a consideration. All colonial operatives are authorized to engage with extreme projudice.
INT. DELEREV’S LAB
Communications Officer Delerev stares at his pistol belt, hanging by the door of his lab.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) The zaridian and the human are working together, exploiting a vulnerability within the Larus virtual interface. We are working to disable Larus protocols.
He looks at his workbench -- the comm relay lies disassembled before him.
INT. HANGAR 12
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) Capture the human alive, by any means necessary. All hands, switch to your assigned emergency channels. Landris out.
Flight Officer Drejen stares out the open hangar bay. The Berenian rests on the flight deck behind him.
SOLDIER: Officer Drejen, the support squadron is ready for deployment.
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: Okay, they’re clear to launch.
SOLDIER: Yes sir.
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: Deck officer!
DECK OFFICER: Sir!
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: Let’s move!
Colonial fighters power up and fly out the hangar.
INT. CORRIDOR
Kron’s eyes open slowly to a smoldering corridor on.
SARANUS KRON: Kron -- ...Lt. Kron to all points: deteonation event on Deck 8.
He stares into the furious maw of the ASE-lab. Dark smoke curls out of the hatchway, and whispers of flame beckon from deeper within. The colonial turns to his friend.
SARANUS KRON: Dralk! Elona! Dralk, oh please…
He rolls her over.
INT. CORRIDOR
A hatchway slides open, and Kron helps Elona limp down a station corridor. He stumbles, and braces himself against the bulkhead. He clutches at his side and grimaces. She stares at him with a distant expression.
ELONA ZOREN: This is my fault.
SARANUS KRON: What?
ELONA ZOREN: I left Osborn on Edari. I was scared. All I could think about was what the director would do if I lost Rider, and…
Kron meets her gaze.
ELONA ZOREN: I made the wrong call. I made the wrong call, and I lost Rider. The lab. Everything. Everything.
She stares at the door.
SARANUS KRON: We’ll stop them.
Elona rallies.
ELONA ZOREN: Yeah. We should get to the hangar.
SARANUS KRON: We should get you to the med bay.
ELONA ZOREN: If you think we’re grekked now --
SARANUS KRON: Come on!
ELONA ZOREN: Kron! Without the infrastructure to contain her --
SARANUS KRON: That’s not the only problem. On our way off Edari, we found a comm relay orbiting the planet.
ELONA ZOREN: No, that’s impossible.
SARANUS KRON: Dorgo Konidarian was using it to coordinate the attack with someone else in the system. They had help.
ELONA ZOREN: Our scanners would’ve picked it up. The holkari don’t have the technology...
SARANUS KRON: How did they even get through the jump relay?
ELONA ZOREN: I don’t know, Kron. The Vedrahn person they keep talking about seems pretty well connected.
SARANUS KRON: What if it wasn’t the holkari?
ELONA ZOREN: You think it was colonial?
INT. MEDICAL BAY
Commander Strakker Tygg sits up in the medical bay, casting off the tubing and equipment tethering him to the bed. He clutches his thorax.
COMMANDER TYGG: Agh! Grek...
He spots an open medical pack on the counter and limps his way over. He rifles through it and produces a stim-injector. He jabs it directly into his carapace and winces.
COMMANDER TYGG: Ugh…
He grabs his helmet, and more stims.
INT. MEDICAL BAY - MAIN BAY
DR. TORRELL: If you have not received clearance from myself, or one of the senior medical officers, you are not permitted to leave this medical bay. Any attempt to abandon your medical observation will be logged as a demerit to your commanding officers. Do I make myself clear?
SOLDIERS: Yes sir.
The doctor turns to see Tygg donning his uniform. Tygg’s visor is impenetrable.
DR. TORRELL: Commander…
COMMANDER TYGG: Doctor…
DR. TORRELL: I can’t advise this, sir.
COMMANDER TYGG: Duly noted.
Tygg grabs the doctor’s pulse pistol.
COMMANDER TYGG: I’m requisitioning this.
Corvan vents nearby. The travorian steps forward, partially repaired.
CORVAN: Colonial.
COMMANDER TYGG: Travorian.
INT. CORRIDOR
COMMANDER TYGG: Get to the hangar, travorian. Tear that damn ship apart if you have to -- do not let them off this station. I’m going after the captain. He may still be a target.
CORVAN: You are unfit to protect the captain.
COMMANDER TYGG: Just follow your grekking orders. Should’ve killed them when I had the chance…
Tygg storms around a corner. Corvan watches after him and vents.
INT. DELEREV’S LAB
Wires run across a table in Delerev’s laboratory, stitching the comm relay to his workstation. He works across several holographic displays. An assortment of disassembled components litters the workspace before him.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: ...several internal hardware systems have been replaced with modified civilian components. I’ve traced the original colonial fabrications to a production site on Borla 9. Service records are not available for the original unit, however radiation analysis indicates an extended deployment in the Denorvian Sector.
His comms chirp.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) Captain Landris to Delerev. What’s your status?
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: The decryption is complete, but I still have metraclicks of communication logs to process. Sir, I really think I should be out there helping capture the prisoners.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) When the director learns of the full extent of the situation on Edari… Do not underestimate her wrath, Delerev.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Yes sir. Sir --
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: (comms) Landris out.
The comms click off. Delerev sighs.
INT. COMMAND DECK
Captain Landris parses readouts at his command console.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: I want a location on the zaridian, now!COMMAND: We’re still working on reestablishing tracking, sir.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: What about the human?COMMAND: No response to our communications, sir.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Damn you, Osborn! Notify me as soon as Nitari Squadron returns imaging on Bisson.
COMMAND: Captain, there’s an incoming transmission from the planet.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Just disregard it.
COMMAND: It’s one of the senators… requesting an audience for Sub-Commander Stell.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Disregard it.
DR. TORRELL: (comms) Medical to Captain Landris.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Go ahead, doctor.
DR. TORRELL: (comms) Sir, the holkari prince is awake and… asking for your attention.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Doctor, please keep the prince under a heavy sedative until we have resolved this situation.
DR. TORRELL (comms) Yes sir.
CONTROL: Captain, there’s activity on the jump-wave -- it’s the director.
The captain’s mandibles tense.
INT. CORRIDOR
Commander Tygg stalks down a crowded corridor.
INT. STATION VAULT
A door slides open. Tygg enters the station vault on Deck 61.
An assortment of confiscated exotic weapons and equipment are stored along metal shelves: karlaxian power gauntlets, a gothrendi singing hammer, a dusty blaster pistol, one of Dorgo Konidarian’s knives.
Tygg takes the ornate blade in his tarsal claw. A grin betrays him.
INT. HANGAR 12
The bay doors draw shut across Hangar 12. The Berenian sits atop the flight deck, silhouetted against the red planet.
A door opens, and Corvan steps onto the flight deck.
DECK OFFICER: Hey! Halt! Halt!!FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: Deck officer! Grekking cardonna, I said every doorway locked down! Get every doorway locked down right grekking now! Right grekking now!
DECK OFFICER: Yes sir! Yes sir!
Drejen nods to the travorian.
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: I’ve got two squads patrolling the hangar…
Corvan turns to the colonial, but Drejen’s eyes are on the Berenian.
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: No sign of them yet. I think we can talk to the human down.
Corvan looks at him and vents.
CORVAN: You are a fool.
On the catwalks high overhead, Osborn watches the colonials patrol the hangar. His cybernetic eye lights up.
A sound at his side -- he draws his pistol and finds -- Oddie.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: I got the damn -- thing. Let’s shift.
BEN OSBORN: Once we take off, we’re gonna have to jump the system. Every colonial who’s fit to fly is gonna be on our ass until we get through the relay, assuming the codes Vedrahn gave us still run.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Yeah. After we go back to Edari.
BEN OSBORN: We can’t go back to Edari.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: We’re not leaving the system without Dorgo.
BEN OSBORN: Oddie…
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: We are not leaving the system without Dorgo.
BEN OSBORN: Oddie… Dorgo’s dead, man. I’m sorry.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: What? But… How… No…
Oddie grieves. He wipes tears from his eyes.
BEN OSBORN: I would’ve told you sooner, but…
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: But you needed my help…
BEN OSBORN: Yeah.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: We’ll come back.
He looks down at the drive core in his hand.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: We’ll bring him home. We will kill every last colonial in the system. Crash this grekking station…!
Oddie shoves the damaged drive core into the pilot’s arms. The zaridian’s scales flush red.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Kill every last colonial.
Oddie darts over the railing and out of sight.
BEN OSBORN: No wait! Grek!
Osborn drops to the flight deck and ducks into cover. He navigates the hangar, while Oddie attacks colonials unseen. Osborn slips between cover. He peeks out at the Berenian. Corvan patrols the flight deck.
BEN OSBORN: How the grek am I supposed to do this…
A rifle cocks behind him.
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: Don’t move.
BEN OSBORN: Drejen --
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: Don’t move. I’m taking you in.
BEN OSBORN: You’ve gotta get out of here. Listen to me, you’ve gotta get out of here.
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: I can’t do that. Why did you save me?
Osborn sighs.
BEN OSBORN: I didn’t.
Drejen steps closer.
FLIGHT OFFICER DREJEN: Please…
A reptilian tail lashes out and wraps around Drejen’s neck. He struggles until -- snap. The colonial falls to the ground. Oddie slithers up.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Let’s shift. Can you get the hangar doors open?
BEN OSBORN: Yeah.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Do it. And get to the damn ship.
Oddie slips away. Osborn lingers over Drejen for a moment and runs to catch up with the other renegade.
INT. CORRIDOR
Kron and Elona approach the hangar with a squad of soldiers. Elona tries the door.
ELONA ZOREN: It’s locked down from the inside.
SARANUS KRON: Check the other doors. Check the other doors!
The soldiers break away.
ELONA ZOREN: AC Zoren to command, I need a door override at Hangar 12.
INT. HANGAR 12
Osborn sprints past, making a beeline for the hangar control panel. His eye lights up.
BEN OSBORN: Oddie, the whole system is on lockdown. Looks like they put some kind of inhibitor on the Larus interface! The hangar systems are on some kind of… automated… time delay…
At his side, Corvan vents and lunges out, smashing the panel. The travorian swings violently around, and the human dodges desperately.
BEN OSBORN: Oddie!
The three brawl.
The travorian levels his pulse cannon at the renegades. They draw their pistols.
CORVAN: You are attempting to escape. Go.
Osborn holsters his pistol and runs to the ship.
BEN OSBORN: We’ll just call it even, then.
CORVAN: Konidarian. The story you told. Was it true?ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Every word. Come with us.
Corvan vents.
The star field of Edari passes outside. The Berenian’s pulse engines spin up. It takes off from the station. Corvan watches from the flight deck.
The hangar hatchway is carved open, and colonials spill through.
SARANUS KRON: What the grek.
CORVAN: I was unable to prevent their escape.
ELONA ZOREN: Grek!
SARANUS KRON: Kron to Captain Landris --
He spots Officer Drejen.
INT. COMMAND DECK
CONTROL: Captain, Nitari Squadron is in position and reporting --
Outside the forward windows of the command deck, the Berenian whips past, arcing into the asteroid field of Edari. The command staff turn to look at Captain Landris.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Lieutenant… stop them.
INT. HANGAR 12
Against the open hangar bay, Elona kneels by Officer Drejen’s side. She rests a tarsal claw on his still carapace. Kron stands beside her, his face downcast. They wipe away tears.
SARANUS KRON: Yes sir.
INT. BERENIAN - COCKPIT
Holographic readouts display across the Berenian’s cockpit, illuminating Osborn’s face. He glances out the window -- the rings of the colonial jump relay lie dormant in space, drifting beyond a screen of lithic debris.
He flips a switch. The jump code cycler comes to life.
BEN OSBORN: You better be good for something.
An alarm sounds -- multiple colonial fighters close in on their position. He pushes forward on the throttle.
INT. BERENIAN - GUN CONTROLS
The reflection of a distant sun drifts across a reptilian eye. Oddie stares out at the stars from the control cradle of the Berenian’s rear turret. He racks the weapon control.
EXT. SPACE
Colonial fighters whip past.
NITARI LEADER: (comms) Control, this is Nitari Leader, we are closing in on the target. Nitari-2, take your wing and adjust course bearing --
INT. BERENIAN
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: They’re closing on us, Osborn.
BEN OSBORN: Yeah, I see them. I have to stay in range to run the codes. Just stay on that gun and do what you can to keep our tail clear!
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: What a grekking catastrophe.
The zaridian releases the safety.
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
Among the drifting asteroids, the colonial fighters begin their assault. The Berenian breaks suddenly from its course, diverting nimbly through the debris field. Blaser shots and pulse fire rip through space. Pulse fire bounces off the Berenian’s deflector shields.
INT. BERENIAN
On the rear turret, Oddie exchanges fire with colonial fighters.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Osborn, two fighters shifting hammot-side by 31.7.
BEN OSBORN: I see them. Hang on, I’m coming around.
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The Berenian spins on its axis and fires -- a damaged fighter slams into an asteroid, sending debris scattering across the field.
INT. BERENIAN
The ship is pelted with debris. Oddie is jostled in his cradle.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Argh! What the grek -- argh!
Osborn works frantically at the controls.
BEN OSBORN: Hang on back there!
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The Berenian maneuvers around debris.
INT. BERENIAN
An alarm trips -- the code cycler stops. He sits up and glances at the jump relay -- nothing. He tries the switches.
BEN OSBORN: Oddie get up here, we’ve got a problem.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: (comms) None of this qualifies?
The zaridian slithers into the cockpit.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: What’s wrong now?
BEN OSBORN: The grekking jump code cycler Vedrahn gave us just died.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Dralk!
INT. HANGAR 12
Framed in the open hangar bay, stars shine over Edari. Flashes of light erupt within the asteroid field.
INT. COLONIAL GUNSHIP
Kron and Elona settle into the cockpit of a colonial gunship. Elona slots Rider’s intact drive core into the ship. The colonials share a look.
ELONA ZOREN: Rider?RIDER: I am here, Acting Chief Zoren.
SARANUS KRON: The prisoners have escaped. We’re stopping that ship.
RIDER: Understood, Lt. Kron. Engaging thrusters.
Systems engage across the cockpit and the shuttle flies out to join the battle.
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The Berenian breaks away from the pursuing fighters, slipping deeper into the asteroid field. The colonials are relentless.
INT. BERENIAN
Another alarm sounds in the cockpit.
BEN OSBORN: Damn! Deflectors just went critical, Oddie. Damn it, get those jump codes cycling again!
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: I’m working as fast as I can! If this doesn’t work…
BEN OSBORN: We’re not going back to Edari.
INT. COLONIAL GUNSHIP
SARANUS KRON: They’re breaking away.
ELONA ZOREN: Rider, analyze the Berenian’s flight patterns and formulate a model.
RIDER: Adjusting navigational projections. Intercept course locked.
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The colonials chase after the Berenian. Rider closes the gap, predicting Osborn’s erratic maneuvers. Pulse fire rips into the Berenian’s hull.
NITARI LEADER: (comms) Control, this is Nitari Leader, we’ve got a rogue gunship engaging the target out of formation.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: All points continue pursuit! Stop that ship!
INT. BERENIAN
The Berenian is rocked by pulse fire.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Come on Osborn! Lose these drones!
BEN OSBORN: Shut up, Oddie! What the grek do you think I’m trying to do!
INT. COLONIAL GUNSHIP
ELONA ZOREN: Where the grek are they going? I thought they were trying to get through the jump relay.
SARANUS KRON: They must be stalling.
ELONA ZOREN: For what?
The lieutenant’s brows furrow.
SARANUS KRON: Target their engines, Rider. Stand by to fire everything --
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
In space, the rings of the jump relay activate and begin to shift.
INT. BERENIAN
Osborn glances out the window. The jump relay lights up.
BEN OSBORN: Oddie -- you did it! I can’t believe you did it! We’re getting out of here! I gotta double check the jump vectors…
He pulls on the controls.
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The Berenian doubles back and speeds toward the jump relay.
INT. BERENIAN
Oddie looks up slowly from the disassembled code cycler in his hands.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: That… wasn’t… me…
INT. COMMAND DECK
CONTROL: Captain Landris, the jump relay!CAPTAIN LANDRIS: I see it. Captain Landris to all points, somebody shoot that grekking ship down, now!!
INT. COLONIAL GUNSHIP
RIDER: I am detecting a significant jump space distortion on approach.
ELONA ZOREN: On approach…?
Kron looks up.
SARANUS KRON: I’m breaking off our pursuit.
ELONA ZOREN: What?! Kron, we can’t lose them!SARANUS KRON: Rider, get us out of the jump lane!
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The gunship pulls back and flies away from the relay.
The rings of the jump relay lock into place. Through the relay’s aperture, space heaves. The Berenian zeroes in.
A colonial battlecruiser tears down the jump lane.
INT. BERENIAN
Proximity alarms erupt across the cockpit as the battlecruiser fills the entirety of the Berenian’s forward view.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Osborn!BEN OSBORN: Shit!!
He jams on the controls.
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The Berenian only barely manages to avoid a direct impact with the colonial ship. It skims the hull and adjusts its course.
INT. BERENIAN
The relay shimmers beyond the colonial vessel. Osborn wrestles with the controls.
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Osborn!
BEN OSBORN: Oddie, get back on that terminal and put everything we’ve got into the engines!
ODDIE KONIDARIAN: Osborn!
BEN OSBORN: Now!
Oddie jumps to the panel. Osborn jams on the throttle, cackling.
EXT. ASTEROID FIELD OF EDARI
The Berenian skims the hull of the battlecruiser, barely threading the gap between the ship and the relay’s containment ring. The shimmer dissolves, revealing again the stars beyond Edari.
INT. COLONIAL GUNSHIP
RIDER: Signature lost.
ELONA ZOREN: No!
Kron and Elona stare at the jump relay. They share a look.
INT. COMMAND DECK
Captain Landris stares out the command deck windows over Edari.
COMMAND: There’s an incoming transmission from the battlecruiser, sir… It’s…
Landris sighs.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Put it through.
A holographic projection of a high ranking colonial officer emerges from the digital gloom.
CAPTAIN LANDRIS: Director Tetzi…
DIRECTOR TETZI: (comms) Captain Landris. I’m coming aboard.
The captain’s mandibles tense. The battlecruiser looms outside the asteroid ring.
INT. DELEREV’S LAB
In his lab, Delerev works alone, huddled over the components of the communications relay. Behind him, a holographic display shows the comm relay in orbit over Edari, transmission vectors connecting the device to Bisson.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Okay. Let’s see who you were talking to.
He reconnects wires. New vectors appear on the holographic model, spanning from the communications relay… to the colonial space station.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Oh dralk…
Suddenly, his door opens.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Oh dralk!
A shadow stretches across the room.
COMMANDER TYGG: Delerev.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Commander Tygg.
COMMANDER TYGG: What’ve you found.
Tygg stalks toward him.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Sir…
COMMANDER TYGG: Captain Landris told me everything.
Tygg studies the holographic display behind Delerev.
COMMANDER TYGG: Ahh…
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Sir…
Delerev glances at his pulse pistol -- just out of reach. He looks back at Tygg.
Tygg draws his pistol and fires.
Delerev recoils in shock at the impact. Blood spills from his wound. Delerev clasps at his carapace.
Tygg stalks around the lab.
COMMANDER TYGG: You know you were a good officer, Delerev.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Tygg…
COMMANDER TYGG: There’s a lot here that you… you just can’t… just can’t understand.
Tygg fires his pistol around the lab, blasting computers and equipment. The holographic display goes dark.
Tygg approaches Delerev, and draws Dorgo Konidarian’s dagger from his belt.
COMMANDER TYGG: Ahh…
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER DELEREV: Tygg…
COMMANDER TYGG: I’m just sorry I was too late to save you. It’s a shame. It’s a shame. You’ll be remembered for this. You’ll be a hero.
Tygg chuckles to himself. He places the blade against his own thorax. Delerev drifts away.
COMMANDER TYGG: Just like me.
He jams the knife into his carapace.
END