Original Air Date: 15th October 1995
Written by: Stephen Zito
Directed by: Stephen Cragg
Edited by: Chris Willingham
This transcript is taken from the initial airing on the Sci Fi channel. Transcription by Sue, begun - October 2001, finished - October 2001
Enclosed in {} are parts where it is hard to hear the dialogue and I've given it my best guess. (These parts have been checked using the closed captioning but that did not help. If you have suggestions let me know at swanage@rocketmail.com)
When I needed to do some checking on various details related to this transcript I used the Space: Above and Beyond Ready Room at
http://www.space-readyroom.de/
A wonderful resource!
Langston Forward Fire Base,
Groombridge 34
Night. A jeep pulling a passenger-carrying trailer arrives and is admitted to a military installation. McQueen is in the passenger seat. As the vehicle comes to a halt he jumps down to the ground.
McQUEEN: All right. Let's go people. We're cutting it pretty close.
WANG: Man, I don't want to miss my ride.
Soldiers begin to disembark from the vehicle with their kit bags.
DAMPHOUSSE: The MacArthur will wait for us.
MONK: {I bet it'll wait.} I've been T.D.Y. Groombridge 34 since April.
VANSEN: You going Earth-side?
MONK: I haven't seen my wife since before the war. She's probably forgotten what I look like.
Exchanges look with Vansen whilst Hawkes observes the conversation.
MONK: I know. I know. In my case maybe that's a good thing. Still it'll be nice to have dinner at home.
VANSEN: Man, would I love a meal that wasn't freeze-dried.
MONK: Just having a break's going to be good.
The soldiers head towards the building when a surprise attack begins. They respond by drawing their weapons and returning fire.
McQUEEN: Take cover.
MALE VOICE: Take cover.
They retreat behind the vehicle they just arrived in.
MALE VOICE: Chig snipers in the tower. Chig snipers in the tower.
McQUEEN: Cooper, Monk, cover the right flank. Vansen, West, take the left.
Hawkes runs forward and dives under a vehicle for cover. Monk is following behind him.
HAWKES: Monk, keep down.
Monk is hit and goes down.
HAWKES: Medic!
Hawkes runs towards Monk putting down a covering fire as he runs. He kneels by Monk's side, lays down his weapon, removes his gloves and gives aid.
HAWKES: Come on.
McQueen joins Hawkes, kneeling on the ground.
McQUEEN: Hold on.
MONK: I'm not going to die. Not yet. Please not yet.
Cut
Supporting Monk upright, Hawkes walks him closer to the building and puts him down on to a stretcher. We hear voices and see people rush about aiding the wounded.
HAWKES: Medic!
MONK: Cooper, don't leave me. Don't let me die alone.
A medic approaches.
MEDIC: Two migs Morphine. Lasix 80 mills. I.V. push.
The medic reaches Monk.
MEDIC: Vitals?
HAWKES: His name is Solomon Monk.
The medic examines Monk then stands and moves away towards other injured.
MEDIC: He doesn't need a doctor, Lieutenant. He needs a Rabbi.
HAWKES: Look, look, maybe there's a chance.
MEDIC: These men have a chance.
MONK: Tell my wife ... I don't mind going, except for her. She was my ... my life.
Monk dies.
Vansen approaches.
VANSEN: Cooper, we're taking off in five. We're hitching a ride on a cargo ship.
HAWKES: He's dead.
Vansen pushes Hawkes away, removes Monk's tags and gives them to Hawkes.
VANSEN: His family will want these. Come on, let's go.
S.S. MacArthur
Deep Space Freighter
A shuttle approaches the freighter.
MALE VOICE: 58th you're clear for docking.
Cargo Hold
0512 GMT
58th disembark shuttle and enter cargo hold.
McQUEEN: Captain Llewellyn, I'm Colonel McQueen, 58th air commando group en route from fire base Langston to the carrier Saratoga.
McQueen and the Captain shake hands.
CAPTAIN LLEWELLYN: I waited for you, Colonel. I didn't want you to miss your ride. ... How bad is it down below?
The conversation continues as they walk through the cargo area. The 58th follow them.
McQUEEN: Langston's still hot. We lost a good man to a sniper tonight. We have new orders. Our course will take us through Blood Alley. It's dangerous but it's the only way out.
CAPTAIN LLEWELLYN: I don't suppose there's a chance of a fighter escort.
McQUEEN: Not this lifetime.
A crewman passes them walking in the opposite direction carrying a box.
CAPTAIN LLEWELLYN: Be careful of that. ... 16 pounds, prime rib. Black market.
McQUEEN: What did that cost you?
CAPTAIN LLEWELLYN: I traded my only 1986 Dan Fouts card.
McQUEEN: Better be pretty good prime rib.
Hawkes hangs back as the 58th continue walking. He approaches one of the airlocks in the cargo bay. It is labelled 46/12 (section/container). He wipes condensation away from the window and peers in.
HAWKES: Invitros.
Opening credits.
External shot of freighter travelling through space.
Hawkes is running through the cargo hold then other parts of the freighter until he reaches ...
Nuclear Engine Room
0730 GMT
Hawkes gazes around the engine room. He's wearing a tank top and when he removes the towel from around his neck you can see he's an invitro.
KEATS: You've come to the right place. ... Every man down here's a tank. ... J.J. Keats.
Hawkes and Keats shake hands.
HAWKES: Hawkes, Cooper Hawkes.
KEATS: Ashby? The engine room foreman.
Ashby and Hawkes shake hands.
KEATS: Sorrel, chief engineer.
ASHBY: Howdy.
Sorrel and Hawkes shake hands.
SORREL: Hi.
HAWKES: Everyone on the crew a tank?
KEATS: Six of us. Seven humans including the Captain. Computers ... do the rest of the work.
SORREL: Ever notice how tanks always get the dirty jobs?
HAWKES: Isn't that why we were made?
SORREL: You've got that right.
HAWKES: (to Keats) You did good for yourself.
KEATS: There's no trick to becoming the chief petty officer on a tramp steamer. Do the dirty jobs, keep your mouth shut, go along. Captain Llewellyn ... better than most. I've got a standing invitation to take meals in the captain's mess.
Hawkes and Keats walk out of the engine room and into the cargo hold.
KEATS: Most of the cargo's humans, suspended in cryogenic sleep. Put you under, five years later you wake up and it's the next day of your life. We're carrying six containers of unborn invitros. They're being shipped to a plutonium mining facility in the Corvus star system.
Hawkes wipes a window and peers into a container.
KEATS: They don't stand a chance. ... What are a few tanks more or less?
HAWKES: Do you know who they are?
KEATS: Right now they're just numbers on a cargo manifest. ... Can't believe invitros are still being shipped like that.
Bridge
0821 GMT
LLEWELLYN: Set course for Canus Majoris star system.
HARKIN: Plotting course for Canus Majoris star system.
POTTER: Bring us to 2-60 A.U.s
HARKIN: Aye, aye, sir. 2-60 A.U.s
LLEWELLYN: Plot course heading two-one-fiver.
POTTER: That's Blood Alley. The nav-channel's 200 clicks wide.
LLEWELlYN: Things change, Potter. There's a war on.
POTTER: Captain, that course takes us between Adhara and Aludra. The hydrogen gases play havoc with the radio communication. The solar flares screw up the on-board computers.
LLEWELLYN: It's the fastest way from Groombridge 34 to the battleship Saratoga.
POTTER: I don't recall hiring on for a suicide mission.
LLEWELLYN: When I give an order, Mr. Potter, ... be so good as to follow it.
POTTER: Plot a course heading two-one-fiver, Mr. Harkin.
LLEWELLYN: All ahead full, Mr. Mercer.
MERCER: All ahead full.
Potter passes McQueen as he leaves the bridge.
McQUEEN: Quite a cargo you've got here. ... First five years out of the tank I worked at the uranium mines at Omicron Draconis. 34 of us were shipped out. Six came back. ... I don't know if there's a hell but if there is I've already been there.
LLEWELLYN: That was before the World Federation banned indentured servitude, Colonel. The Invitros I'm hauling signed on for the job.
McQUEEN: You have a cargo of unborn, Captain. What did they sign on for?
McQueen leaves the bridge.
Entering trans-solar nav-channel
The 58th are in some kind of common recreation room. They are scattered around the room in small groups. Damphousse is reading a letter.
MAN'S VOICE: Janice loved your present. I took her to Detroit Disneyland for her birthday. She loved Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I miss you. You're still my favourite wild ride.
Damphousse exchanges a look with West and shows him the letter and picture.
DAMPHOUSSE: My boyfriend's little girl.
WEST: She's cute.
DAMPHOUSSE: Yeah. She still misses her mother though, big time.
WEST: She'll learn to love you.
DAMPHOUSSE: Love isn't learned, Nathan. It just is.
Cut.
Wang is typing on a keyboard.
VANSEN: How can you fall in love with someone you've never met.
WANG: Marty and I talk everyday.
VANSEN: You met her through a personals ad. in SpaceNet, Wang. You don't even know what she looks like.
WANG: I like the way she thinks. She's got a great sense of humour.
VANSEN: Okay, let's say that you guys get along great at seven light years. What happens when you have to sit across a table, eye to eye? How d'you know how to act with each other?
WANG: Is that a question or a confession?
Cut
Hawkes is slouched in a booth, playing with Monk's tags, watching McQueen trying to write a letter Hawkes gets up and joins him at the table.
HAWKES: You writing Monk's wife?
McQueen nods.
HAWKES: How'd you know what to put?
McQUEEN: I tell his wife he was a good man and will be missed.
HAWKES: Is that what it says in the regs?
McQUEEN: No, that's what it says here.
McQueen taps his head.
HAWKES: How do you know what humans are feeling?
McQUEEN: {I see them} Laughter and tears, and I know.
HAWKES: I don't feel that stuff.
McQUEEN: They take us out of the tank at 18 years, Hawkes. You can't get 18 years back in a day.
HAWKES: Do you ever wonder what it would be like ... to have a mother or a father?
McQUEEN: I don't think about what never was.
HAWKES: What? It don't bother you, that when you die there's gonna be no blood relation there to say words over you?
McQUEEN: The Corps. is my family, Hawkes. The men and women I serve with will know what to say.
HAWKES: Well, you got that right.
Captain Llewellyn's mess.
DAMPHOUSSE: It's great to have real food, Captain.
HAWKES: Captain ... the invitro manifest.
KEATS: Cooper, not now.
HAWKES: I'd like to see it.
POTTER: You know what he's trying to do, Captain. The same thing they all do. Look for family. No offence, but how can something grown in a tank consider itself related to anything else? ... Except maybe algae.
LLEWELLYN: Stuff a sock in it, Potter.
The freighter begins to judder and the emergency alarms start to blare.
VOICE: What is it?
VOICE: What's going on?
LLEWELLYN: What the hell? ... Take a damage control team aft. Secure the cargo hold.
They all rise from the table.
Cut to the engine room.
ASHBY: Coolant temp's spiked to 700.
SORREL: Shut the rods down.
ASHBY: Got it.
SORREL:Take it off-line.
ASHBY: Going off-line.
Generator Room
1300 GMT
MALE VOICE: Generator room, go to secondary power.
Alarms are sounding, emergency lighting is on. A crewman makes his way through the generator room.
CREWMAN: All right, come on, Clyde. Don't fail me now.
Cut to bridge.
LLEWELLYN: Back up generators have kicked in
Cut to engine room.
LLEWELLYN'S VOICE: Engine room? Bridge.
ASHBY: Reactor's scrammed, we're off-line. Core is unstable.
Cut to bridge.
LLEWELLYN: What hit us?
HARKIN: Solar flare.
POTTER: What else can one expect when flying between two unstable suns?
LLEWELLYN: I want you midships with Keats.
POTTER: Yes, Sir.
Potter leaves the bridge.
McQUEEN: What's your weapons package?
LLEWELLYN: Two laser pulse cannons, unmanned.
McQUEEN: Vansen, Wang. With your permission, Captain? Just in case that wasn't a solar flare.
Vansen and Wang leave the bridge.
LLEWELLYN: Under the circumstances I think there's room for two on the bridge.
McQUEEN: Damphousse.
DAMPHOUSSE: I know, Colonel. Engine room.
Damphousse leaves the bridge. McQueen turns to Hawkes.
McQUEEN: Hawkes, I want you to work with Keats. I want one of us on damage control.
McQueen accompanies Hawkes to the exit.
HAWKES: Keats is one of us.
McQUEEN: He's a civilian, we're Marines.
Hawkes begins to leave but McQueen holds him back.
McQUEEN: And Hawkes, ... forget the invitro manifest. The 58th is your family. Looking for a past you never lived can only get you hurt.
HAWKES: Feeling pain is part of being human.
McQUEEN: Who said you're human?
There's a moment's face off before Hawkes leaves.
Cut
An alarm is blaring in the cargo hold. Hawkes uses an extinguisher to put out a fire. Potter closes off a valve with a wrench. Hawkes moves towards container 46.
POTTER: Hey? Where are you going?
HAWKES: What about Section 46, we don't inspect it?
POTTER: People are the priority here.
HAWKES: Oh yeah, I forgot, tanks aren't people.
POTTER: Look you stay away, pal. You've got no business over there.
Cut back to the bridge.
West is seated in front of a scope.
LLEWELLYN: What the hell is going on here?
WEST: Navigator is right. White-light solar flare.
McQUEEN: I know what the machine says but what do you say?
WEST: There's no way to tell.
McQUEEN: Trust your instincts, West. ... That's how you stay alive. There's something out there. I can feel it.
1323 GMT. Bridge.
McQUEEN: Engine room? Bridge.
Cut to engine room.
ASHBY: Core temperature stabilised.
Cut to bridge.
McQUEEN: Estimate to get the reactor on-line?
Cut to engine room.
DAMPHOUSSE: Maybe today, may be Malaba day.
Cut to bridge.
McQUEEN: Stored energy?
MALE VOICE: 4.5 kilotonnes in the containment vessel.
McQUEEN: Keep the engine on-line.
MALE VOICE: Yes sir.
Cut to engine room. Ashby, Sorrel and Damphousse are all sat at consoles, checking readouts, etc.
SORREL: Clad temperature 600. ... Let's go back on-line.
ASHBY: Don't know what caused the coolant temp to spike. It could happen again.
DAMPHOUSSE: The worst that could happen is we could blow up, Mr. Ashby.
ASHBY: Then I don't see the problem.
DAMPHOUSSE: The coolant density is at 800 kilograms over M cubed. I think we're in the clear.
SORREL: Let's do it.
DAMPHOUSSE: Raise rod one.
Ashby goes over to a piece of equipment and turns two handles in parallel.
ASHBY Rod one raised.
DAMPHOUSSE: Raise rod two.
Ashby turns two other handles, on the same piece of equipment, in parallel.
ASHBY: Rod two raised. You know your stuff.
Cut to fire control. Wang and Vansen are working on getting the laser cannons on-line.
VANSEN: Bridge? This is fire control. Request permission for weapons check.
McQUEEN'S VOICE: Fire control? Bridge. Permission granted.
VANSEN: Fire light status green.
WANG: Fire light status green.
McQUEEN'S VOICE: Commence firing.
They test the cannons by firing into space.
VANSEN: Bucks like a mule.
Cut back to the bridge.
McQUEEN: West? Anything?
WEST: I'd have better luck reading tea leaves, Sir.
McQUEEN: At least tea leaves would tell us something.
West is fiddling about with the pendant Kylen gave him.
McQUEEN: Let me see that.
West hands the pendant over.
McQUEEN: She the girl you went AWOL for?
WEST: Yes, Sir.
McQUEEN: This is behind you, the only thing on your mind is that radar screen.
McQueen pockets the pendant.
Cut to Hawkes wandering around the hold.
KEATS: I figured you'd show up. ... The tank cargo manifest.
Keats has the document in his hands.
KEATS: The number on the left is the date of conception. Middle number is the gene pool. This is the batch number on the right. The place of conception is indicated in the margin. I've been looking ten years, Cooper, so I know what you're feeling. ... You're wondering what it would be like to have family.
HAWKES: Only all the time.
KEATS: What are you?
HAWKES: March 6th, 2040. Genepool 16A, Batch Alpha-three-four-three-nine, Philadelphia facility.
KEATS: Brooklyn facility. Not that it really matters. All I know is that somewhere there's someone whose data reads, A-T, C-G, T-A, G-C-C-G-A-T. That's black hair ... hazel-green eyes. See, I know what my family would be like but I can't find them. ... You enjoy the read.
Cut to fire control.
WANG: Hand me a reverse torque wrench.
Vansen does.
VANSEN: Here's what I think. Human beings are nothing more than highly evolved animals.
WANG: Tell that to Einstein.
VANSEN: We're attracted to a person because of the way that they look, the way that they smell, the way that they ... feel to the touch.
WANG: So what's your point?
VANSEN: How can you fall in love with a woman that you met on SpaceNet?
WANG: You don't believe in the soul? In spiritual connection?
VANSEN: I believe in what you can reach out and touch.
WANG: Then reach out and touch that, morph-head.
Vansen hands over another spanner.
Cut to bridge.
WEST: I'm getting something.
McQUEEN: Range and bearing?
WEST: Looks like an energy pulse, Colonel. Can't get an exact reading. ... It's gone.
McQUEEN: Just tell me what you saw.
WEST: I don't know. ... Solar spike.
McQUEEN: I need to know what's out there, West. Figure it out.
Cut to engine room.
DAMPHOUSSE: Ceramic fuel temp. 1200 and holding. Bridge? Engine room. Reactors on-line.
McQUEEN'S VOICE: Well done, Damphousse. I'll need full power.
DAMPHOUSSE: Full power.
SORREL: So, how come you got detailed down here.
DAMPHOUSSE: Four years at Cal-tech. Two summers, I interned at San Onofre.
ASHBY: What kind of lunatic interns at a nuclear power plant?
DAMPHOUSSE: My father was chief engineer.
ASHBY: Lot of people won't work with nipple-necks.
DAMPHOUSSE: Let me tell you something, Mr. Ashby. I'll work with anyone who wants to work.
SORREL: Not a lot of people feel that way.
DAMPHOUSSE: I'm not a lot of people.
Cut to the cargo hold. Hawkes is reading the manifest as he walks. Halts. Heads in a different direction looking for a specific section/container.
POTTER: What is it with you people? How can you expect to be a marine? You can't follow a simple order. Huh?
Potter pushes Hawkes.
HAWKES: Don't ever touch me again.
POTTER: Oh, and what's so special about you? I got a petri dish. I can always make another tank.
Cut. The freighter begins shaking and juddering again.
ASHBY: Scram it.
Damphousse hits the appropriate button.
Cut to bridge.
DAMPHOUSSE'S VOICE: Bridge? Engine room. Scrammed. Taking all systems off-line.
LLEWELLYN: Generator room? Bridge. Go to secondary power supply.
Cut to generator room.
CREWMAN: Doing it now.
Crewman presses a number of buttons. Something goes wrong.
CREWMAN: Captain! Fire in the generator room.
Cut to bridge.
LLEWELLYN: Potter, this is the Captain. Get a fireteam to station four.
Cut to generator room.
CREWMAN: Help. (Screams)
Cut to a corridor the crew are running to the generator room.
POTTER: How bad is it?
KEATS: Bad.
They arrive in the generator room.
KEATS: We've got to get to the emergency shut-off valve.
POTTER: Bruckheimer, can you get to it?
KEATS: We've got to do something or we're going to lose the generator.
POTTER: There's protective gear in the cargo hold.
KEATS: We don't have the time.
POTTER: There's no other way.
Hawkes and Potter exchange a look and Hawkes heads off.
KEATS: Cooper? What are you doing? You don't owe them this Cooper.
MALE VOICE: Cooper.
MALE VOICE: You'll kill yourself.
MALE VOICE: Don't do it ...
Hawkes heads down steps into the area where the fire is. Steam/smoke is everywhere and it's very hard to see.
KEATS: Protect yourself down there, Coop. ... Protect yourself.
Hawkes finds a piece of metal cladding that he can use as a shield.
MALE VOICE: It's crazy. Come back. Come on back.
Hawkes goes forward and uses a long wrench to shut off a valve. It's hard work and takes a while.
POTTER: Bruckheimer. Cargo hold.
1407 GMT Bridge.
WEST: I'm getting something.
McQUEEN: What's its signature?
WEST: There is no signature.
McQUEEN: What does your gut tell you, West? What's the level of threat?
WEST: I can't tell Colonel without more information. All I'm getting are microwave emissions.
McQUEEN: Enlarge it, West. ... Do you happen to remember the U-three-78 specs?
WEST: What we have here is an unidentified blob.
McQUEEN: Give me the U-three-78 specs.
WEST: The U-three-78s. Alien, class D destroyer, a hunter/killer.
McQUEEN: Weapons package?
WEST: Rockets, mines, guided weapons.
McQUEEN: What else?
WEST: Special ops. thinks she has advanced microwave technology that screw up ... communications.
McQUEEN: Causes reactor temperatures to spike.
WEST: Goes for the soft kill
McQUEEN: My gut tells me that your unidentified blob is a U-three-78 and he's coming in for the hard kill.
Lights flicker.
WEST: Sir, I have radar contact, bearing two-seven-six, range two parsecs, azimuth four-niner
McQUEEN: There's not enough power to get us out of harm's way.
LLEWELLYN: There's only one way to take the load off the secondary generator. Cut power to one section of the cargo hold.
McQUEEN: You mean kill people.
LLEWELLYN: It's math, Colonel. One section dies or we all die. Is there really a choice? Section 46 gives us the most power for the fewest lives. ... Generator room. This is Captain Llewellyn. Stand by to cut power to section 46. Repeat. Stand by to cut power to section 46.
Cut to generator room.
KEATS: Section 46 houses 12 containers of invitros, Captain. That's 168 lives.
Cut to the bridge.
LLEWELLYN: It's the only way to get the reactor back on-line.
KEATS' VOICE: There has to be another way, Captain.
LLEWELLYN: That's an order, Keats. Section 46 stand by.
Cut to generator room.
HAWKES: McQueen won't let this happen. He's one of us.
KEATS: You hear his voice raised in protest just now? ... What did you find?
HAWKES: I got a sister in section 46.
Bridge.
McQUEEN: Engine room? Bridge. Can you go on-line?
Cut to engine room.
DAMPHOUSSE: Negative. I can't get you power.
Cut to bridge.
LLEWELLYN: It's time to pull the plug. ... Keats, this is the Captain. Cut power to section 46.
Cut to generator room.
KEATS: Negative, Captain.
Cut to bridge.
LLEWELLYN: Just what the hell is the problem.
Cut to generator room.
KEATS: I'm the problem, Captain.
Cut to bridge.
LLEWELLYN: There's not a lot of room for interpretation in your orders.
Cut to generator room.
KEATS: I won't do it, Captain. ... Too many of us have died fighting your wars.
Cut to bridge.
LLEWELLYN: You're putting every life on this ship at risk.
Cut to generator room.
KEATS: Then we die equal.
POTTER: Keats! Some are more equal than others.
Potter has a weapon and aims it at Keats. Hawkes knocks Potter down, a shot goes off and Keats wrestles the weapon from Potter's hand with help from other crew members.
KEATS: Stay right there. Right there.
KEATS: Lift him up.
They get duct tape and bind Potter's wrists behind his back then stand him up. Two other crew members take him away.
KEATS: (to Hawkes) You gonna help me save those tanks? 'Cause I know one thing, you're not going to kill your own people.
LLEWELLYN'S VOICE: Keats, confirm you're cutting power to section 46. ... Keats. Answer me. Keats, what's going on. ... Come on, or we're going to lose the ship. Keats. Keats, do it man. Keats. Keats.
Hawkes contemplates cutting the power to section 46 but can't bring himself to do it.
Cut to engine room.
DAMPHOUSSE: Ceramic fuel temp. 1,600.
Keats enters.
KEATS: Ashby. Sorrel. Come here.
ASHBY: Yes, Sir.
SORREL: What's the problem?
MALE VOICE: Sir?
KEATS: Captain's given orders to kill the invitros in section 46.
SORREL: You can't let him do that.
KEATS: I can't stop him ... not alone.
1432 GMT Keats starts handing out weapons.
KEATS: Here we go.
CREW: Thank you
KEATS: Come on.
Cut to bridge. Alarms go off.
WEST: Missile launch.
McQUEEN: Confirm that.
WEST: They're off the rails.
McQUEEN: Engine room? Bridge. Give me everything you've got.
Cut to engine room.
DAMPHOUSSE: Report six kilotonnes thrust.
Cut to bridge.
McQUEEN: Maximum power. ... Vansen, Wang. Missile incoming. Lock on.
Cut to fire control.
WANG: Bingo.
VANSEN: We're locked on. Let's rock and roll.
Cut to bridge.
WEST: 2,100 clicks. 1,800 clicks. ... Colonel, launch the cargo haulers. The missile will go for them, not us.
McQUEEN: Launch starboard cargo haulers.
The starboard cargo haulers are launched.
McQUEEN: Prepare ship for impact.
WEST: Eight - seven - six
McQUEEN: Fire.
Cut to fire control. Firing commences.
VANSEN: Come to mama.
Cut to bridge.
McQUEEN: Hard left rudder.
HARKIN: Hard left rudder.
Alien missile hits the cargo haulers. The explosion shakes the freighter.
McQUEEN: West, radar contact?
WEST: Negative but the U-three-78's going to come looking for confirmation of the kill.
McQUEEN: Good call. I'm going aft.
McQueen leaves the bridge.
Cut to corridor where the mutineers are making their way.
KEATS: Come on. Come on.
POTTER: You're a dead man, Keats. A dead man.
Cut to fire control. Ashby arrives with a weapon.
ASHBY: I don't want to kill you but I will if I have to.
WANG: What the hell's going on.
ASHBY: A change in command. You two stand down.
VANSEN: I'm not taking orders from you.
ASHBY: You are now. Stand down.
Vansen and Wang stand up with their hands raised in surrender.
Cut to cargo hold.
HAWKES: How can you let him kill invitros?
McQUEEN: Our operating systems are down, Hawkes. The Captain has no choice.
HAWKES: You can stop him.
McQUEEN: The Captain's word is law.
HAWKES: When someone decides to kill an invitro it's not my law and it shouldn't be yours.
McQUEEN: Keats gave you the manifest. ... What'd you find?
HAWKES: A sister. ... How can you kill your own people? How can you? ... Answer me.
Cut to bridge. Keats enters with his weapon drawn. He's followed by other members of the crew.
KEATS: Captain! I'm taking the helm.
LLEWELLYN: Are you adding mutiny to your resume, Mr. Keats?
POTTER: Mutiny, Captain, he's adding murder. He'll kill us all.
KEATS: Whatever it takes as long as invitros don't die. Sit him down.
West stands.
LLEWELLYN: Stay at your post, son. I need you alive.
Potter is sat down by the helm. He's still tied up.
KEATS: Tell McQueen you need him on the bridge. ... Tell him.
Cut to cargo hold.
McQUEEN: I'll buy us a little more time.
McQueen sets his stop watch.
McQUEEN: I'll give Damphousse five minutes ... to get the reactor back on-line. If she can't, I have to pull the plug.
LLEWELLYN'S VOICE: Colonel McQueen, report to the bridge.
Cut to the bridge.
LLEWELLYN: You're making a mistake, Keats.
KEATS: It won't be the first, Sir.
Potter jumps up and Sorrel sprays bullets around the bridge. Potter and the Captain are hit. McQueen enters the bridge.
SORREL: Don't even think about it.
KEATS: This isn't what I wanted.
McQUEEN: That's not good enough. Get your men back to their stations. I'm taking the bridge.
KEATS: I can't allow that.
Keats points his weapon at McQueen. Hawkes enters the bridge.
HAWKES: (to Keats) You are not going to kill him and (to McQueen) you are not going to kill the tanks.
McQUEEN: You can't have it both ways.
WEST: I'm picking up an active gamma pulse. He's doing a Yankee search.
McQUEEN: Yankee search is an old navy term. He's coming in to confirm the kill. And right now there's not a damn thing we can do.
1502 GMT Fire control.
WANG: Bridge, fire control. Fire light status red. Repeat. Fire light red. Get us power.
VANSEN: What does the Colonel want us to do now. Throw rocks?
Vansen returns to her seat. Wang follows suit. Ashby points his weapon at them.
VANSEN: Pretty soon you're going to have to decide if you're going to kill us.
Cut to bridge.
WEST: Pulse intervals decreasing.
McQUEEN: Clock's run out, Hawkes. Time to decide, whose side are you on?
HAWKES: There are no sides, Colonel. Just right and wrong. (to Keats) Give me the gun. The Colonel will do the right thing. You have to trust that.
KEATS: Do you, Cooper? Do you trust him?
HAWKES: Yes.
McQUEEN: Don't make it worse.
Keats hands over his weapon to Hawkes. West grabs the weapon of the nearest mutineer. Sorrel hands his over to Harkin
HAWKES: Sir, the bridge is yours.
Hawkes hands McQueen Keats' weapon.
McQUEEN: Thank you, Mr. Hawkes. ... Engine room? Bridge. We have incoming, get me back on-line.
Cut to generator room.
DAMPHOUSSE: No can do. Pressure shocks hit the primary system hard. This whole damn thing is going to melt down if I don't get some help here.
Cut to bridge.
McQUEEN: We work together or we die. It's that simple. ... I need your help, Mr. Keats. Be good enough to get your men back to the engine room.
KEATS: Fire control? Bridge. The Captain's dead, we're a class nine emergency. Report to the engine room or the nuclear reactor's going to melt down.
Cut to fire control. Ashby begins to leave.
WANG: May be later you'll tell us what the hell is going on.
ASHBY: You ever try to do the right thing, only it turns out wrong?
Cut to engine room. The invitro crew members return.
ASHBY: Kick in the emergency core coolant system in five - four - three - two - one - now.
Ashby, Damphousse and other crew members work the equipment.
DAMPHOUSSE: Reload initiated. Phew. Glad to have you back.
SORREL: Bridge? Engine room. 90 minutes to get your reactor back on-line.
Cut to bridge.
WEST: He's coming right at us.
McQUEEN: (to Hawkes) We can't fight. We can't run and your five minutes are up. Now what the hell do you expect me to do?
HAWKES: Cut power to another section.
McQUEEN: Pop quiz, Hawkes. You cut power to section 46, 168 tanks die. You cut power to any other section, 400 humans die. Now how does the math work out? What do you do?
WEST: We're dead in the centre of the gamma pulse.
McQUEEN: We have one advantage, Hawkes. The U-three-78 doesn't know we're ready to fight. Are we? Are we ready to fight?
Cut to generator room.
We see Hawkes cut the power to section 46.
1507 GMT Bridge.
VOICE: Power is cut to section 46.
HARKIN: We have generator power, Sir.
Cut to fire control.
WANG: Bridge? Fire control. Fire light green.
McQUEEN'S VOICE: Hold your fire till U-three-78 closes. At two clicks, he can't fire his missiles.
Suddenly there's a flash of very bright light.
WEST: Solar flare. I've got no screen.
Cut to fire control.
Vansen: We lost the targeting system. The solar flare scrambled the screen.
Cut to the bridge.
WEST: The only way the U-three-78 can make contact is visual. Right now we are not on his radar screen. Estimated time for his radar retrieval is three minutes. We're blind and he's blind.
McQUEEN: Let's play a little hide and seek. Hard left rudder.
HARKIN: Hard left rudder, Sir.
McQUEEN: Fire control? Bridge. We don't know where she is but she's out there. (to the bridge) Lower the blast shield.
MALE VOICE: Lowering the blast shield.
As the blast shield lowers we see the enemy ship.
McQUEEN: It's coming right at us. Wang, Vansen. Bogey bears three-three-niner. One point five clicks. Azimuth ninety degrees. Weapons hold. Fire perigee kick motor, Mr. Mercer.
MERCER: Sir, we'll break up.
McQUEEN: Fire a perigee kick motor.
The motors fire.
Cut to fire control.
VANSEN: Come on, give the order.
WANG: What's he waiting for?
The alien ship attacks and scores a number of hits.
Cut to bridge.
McQUEEN: Weapons hold. ... Weapons hold, ... Now, fire. Fire.
Wang and Vansen fire the laser cannons and destroy the alien ship.
VOICE: All screens are clear.
Cut to engine room.
DAMPHOUSSE: Pressure's at 18.5, climbing. The core temps. cooling. Bridge? Engine room. The reactor has stabilised. We have 90 mikes until we're on-line.
McQUEEN'S VOICE: Good work, Damphousse.
DAMPHOUSSE: I had a little help from my friends, Sir.
SORREL: There's going to be hell to pay.
KEATS: It was my call, Sorrel. I'll take the responsibility.
ASHBY: We stand together.
Cut to bridge.
McQUEEN: Plot a new course, Mr. Harkin.
HARKIN: Yes, Sir.
McQUEEN: West, ... launching the cargo haulers was a great counter measure.
McQueen returns Kylen's pendant to West.
McQUEEN: I thought I had to make a point.
WEST: No. You were right. What I did going after ... was selfish. It won't happen again.
McQUEEN: I know that, West.
WEST: Thanks.
West leaves the bridge.
McQUEEN: My pleasure.
Cut to fire control.
VANSEN: How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty, with love, false or true? But one man loved the pilgrim's soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face. ... Try sending that via SpaceNet.
WANG: The way I figure it, if you've had bad times and joy, then you've lived.
VANSEN: No. The way I see it you only end up with a broken heart and I don't have the time.
Wang touches her hand on the cannon.
Cut to Hawkes as he enters the cargo hold. McQueen follows him but remains standing in the doorway.
McQUEEN: You did the right thing. We're marines, Cooper ... not tanks.
HAWKES: What's going to happen to Keats.
McQueen comes all the way into the hold.
McQUEEN: Keats and Ashby will stand trial for mutiny. Sorrel for murder. Sorry f... I'm sorry
HAWKES: What would you know about sorrow?
Hawkes walks away from McQueen. He halts when McQueen starts to speak.
McQUEEN: I know this much. ... I never had the courage to look for my family. Not because I was afraid of what I might find ... but because I was afraid of what I might feel.
Hawkes enters one of the containers, illuminating his way with a torch, searching until he finds his sister.
HAWKES: Kate. ... Kate. ... I'm sorry.
Comments? Did you find this transcript useful? Please email me at swanage@rocketmail.com Any and all feedback is appreciated. Sue.