As CASEY joins a tense DALLAS at the back window. CASEY: You okay? DALLAS: I'd be a whole lot better if I had a one-way ticket home. (beat) We're in a fine mess ... CASEY: You lost me. DALLAS: Okay, I'll talk real slow. The Kilrathi were tied up on the Feudal Planets--they got problems of their own. The Border Worlds were dead quiet with the Black Lance out of the picture. Things have been pretty cozy around here for some time. Last thing I expected was actually having to fight. I am so hosed. CASEY: We're in Confed to do a job. There are no guarantees. DALLAS: Is that supposed to make me feel better? CASEY: No ... but we have to stop whatever is going on here. DALLAS, listen to me, we're the only ones out this far. That means we can only depend on each other. That's it. He pounds DALLAS' shoulder with his fist for emphasis. CASEY: (CONT. ) Until we get word back to Confed, we need to be there for each other, one hundred percent. You for me and me for you. Got it? DALLAS appears fortified. As DALLAS exits, CASEY notices STILETTO at the bar, looking bis way. She's clearly overheard everything. She raises her glass and smiles a very little bit. She's de-icing.
INT. BRIEFING ROOM -- SPECIAL BRIEFING ENDER FOR C1 (OPTION 1 - lF YOU TALKED TO DALLAS)
As the Pilots break up and head for the door. DALLAS approaches CASEY. DALLAS: Hey, Frosty--one hundred percent! CASEY: One hundred and fifty! DALLAS: Let's go kick some alien ass . As they EXIT together, STILETTO steps into frame and smiles to herself, then exits with her gear.
INT. BRIEFING ROOM SPECIAL BRIEFING ENDER FOR C1 (OPTION - IF YOU DIDN'T TALK TO DALLAS)
DALLAS brushes past CASEY on his way to the Flight deck. DALLAS: Move it or lose it. He EXITS frame. CASEY, stunned, stops. STILETTO pauses for a moment to prep her suit. CASEY: What's his problem? STILETTO: DALLAS is one of your wingmen. You can see he's having a hard time of it and yet you ignore him. Keep it up and he may not be there when you really need him. Or didn't they teach you that in Flight school? She curtly moves on, leaving him alone in frame. He exhales and follows. This isn't getting any better.
CASEY enters and heads for the bar. Finley's there. She has that same wicked bottle in front of her. He walks up as she slams down a double ... and gags. CASEY winces at the sight of it, but is intrigued by her capacity for punishment. She pours another. CASEY: Tough day at the office? FINLEY drains her glass, takes a deep breath. FINLEY: (slightly sarcastic) No, everything is fine. Why? She slams it down again. Same results. CASEY: No reason. It's just that I've never seen anyone drink like this-- and live. FINLEY: Want to see it again? She pours another and is about to slam it when he stops her. CASEY: What's wrong? FINLEY: You want to know what's wrong? Everything. Science Division hasn't got a clue what we're up against ... all we have are a bunch of unknown contacts, some dead cats and a cryptic story about the end of the world. CASEY: Wait ... back that up. End of the world? FINLEY: The Kilrathi's Kn'Thrak. CASEY: ZERO said something about it meaning Darkness or something. FINLEY: Not just Darkness, CASEY. Evil. We looked it up in the archives. There's an ancient Kilrathi prophecy about the end of the world ... and the Kn'thrak figures prominently. CASEY: Alright, putting legends and folklore aside, didn't that happen when we won the Kilrathi war and Kilrah was destroyed? FINLEY: Not to get too superstitious on you, Flyboy, but according to the Kilrathi that was just the beginning. The Prophecy doesn't mean just Armageddon, like on Earth. To them, the end of the world means the end of all things. Everything. CASEY: I see. Did you tell this to the CAPTAIN? FINLEY: (shakes her head) He wants answers not ghost stories. To make matters worse, we've been trying to send a distress comm to the nearest Confed Starbase ... it's only a few systems away. But our link through the jump has been cut. CASEY: Which means the Communications Relay Station in the H'hrass system must be out of commission. FINLEY: (impressed) Good guess, bright eyes. CASEY: Tell me, what's a Lieutenant Commander doing here in Pilot Country? Why aren't you in the forward officer's lounge? FINLEY: I guess Testosterone and Adrenaline has always appealed to me more than brass. CASEY: You know a very smart person once told me that's a dangerous mix. There is a genuine moment between them. PAVO: All pilots report to the BriefingRoom immediately. They break. CASEY gets up to leave. CASEY: See you later. FINLEY: Hey, CASEY. He exits frame without hearing her. Finley looks at her drink and is about to slam it, when she thinks better if it and sets it on the bar. FINLEY: (to herself) Good Luck.
CASEY ENTERS with his ICIS and a drink to find ZERO playing a coin over his knuckles. CASEY deposits the ICIS on the table. ZERO: Can't a guy quietly commune with his drink? CASEY: Sorry, I didn't notice the Do Not Disturb sign. CASEY sits, then stares glumly at his own drink ... ZERO sneaking him looks. Finally, ZERO can't help himself--he has to ask the question that's been bugging him for days. ZERO: ... What's it like? CASEY: What's what like? ZERO: Being the Iceman's son. I bet you got a free ride straight through the Academy? ZERO has struck a chord. CASEY: I never got a ''free ride.'' Not to the Academy. Not anywhere. ZERO: Get off it, CASEY. Your old man was a great war hero. CASEY: He was great alright. Highly decorated by the Confederation during his illustrious career-and, of course, posthumously. My mother received his last medal while I was still in diapers. If anything, being his son made it harder because I had to live up to the reputation of someone I never really knew. ZERO digests this. Slowly nods. ZERO: God. Maybe you were better off. My Dad was alive ... but you never would've known it. He was a cultural anthropologist, at least before Confed intel got ahold and put him to work during the Kilrathi war. He spent years studying the Kilrathi; their history and technology--"to give us an edge", he used to say. And then, he could never really talk about it. Funny, I wanted to be just like him. CASEY: Maybe you are. ZERO raises his glass in acknowledgment of CASEY's observation. CASEY: ( CONT . ) ZERO, what do you think we're up against here? What about the Kn'thrak? ZERO: My father was the real expert. I heard the word Kn'thrak only once or twice before ... and that was in relation to an ancient Terran Biblical text and a race called the Nephilem. I thought it was a fairy tale really. I can remember being so scared that I had to sleep with the light on for days. ZERO stops his musings when he sees CASEY looking lost. ZERO: ( CONT . ) Oh, what the hell. It doesn't matter anyway. CASEY: Yes it does, ZERO. We're two of a kind, you and I. We both fly to outrun our father's shadows. ZERO reacts to the tone in his voice. And softens. ZERO: And those shadows can be damn long. They clink glasses and slam their drinks down.
INT. BRIEFING ROOM--SPECIAL BRIEFING ENDER (IF YOU TALKED TO DALLAS)
The pilots rise to exit the briefing room. DALLAS approaches CASEY on the way out. DALLAS: Looks like I'm your wingman. CASEY: One hundred and fifty percent. DALLAS: I'm there, Frosty, two hundred percent. See you on deck. DALLAS walks on, CASEY stops for a moment ... something's not right. He shakes it off and exits.
