MANIAC sits at a table, drinking, a bottle on the table before him. Holds up his glass to CASEY as he comes in. CASEY: Maniac! MANIAC: (tipsy) CASEY! CASEY, my only friend. Let's celebrate. CASEY joins Maniac, who pours him a shot. CASEY: What are we celebrating? MANIAC: My voluntary demotion. I am no longer a squadron commander. CASEY: I thought you always dreamed about running your own squadron? MANIAC: Dream? Ha! More like a nightmare. Pilots whining to me about their stats. The CAG screaming for results. All pain, no pleasure. Nothing but headaches ... (beat) A toast. To the simple, free and easy life of a Wing Commander. He drinks the toast. Then we hear ... PAVO: Lieutenant CASEY. You are wanted in the Ready Room, at once. MANIAC: They're all ready to give you that medal, Kid. KISS THE CAG FOR ME, WILL YA? CASEY: Are you going to be alright, Maniac? MANIAC: Sure, Sure. Hey, Kid, take my advice. Rake in their medals, but they offer you a squadron ... tell them to shove it! For just a moment, the mask falls away, and we see the pain beneath. Then Maniac smiles, returns to his bottle.
INT. READY ROOM (PLAYS)
The CAG, Spyder, STILETTO, MAESTRO, ZERO, Blair, and many PILOTS are all present, all standing at attention as CAPTAIN Wilford hands him an ornate black box. CAPTAIN: Congratulations, Lieutenant. It's not every day a member of my command receives the Confed Flying Cross. Wear it with pride. It's well deserved. CASEY: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. They exchange salutes. CAG: Assembly dismissed. The CAG shakes CASEY's hand and exits with the CAPTAIN. The remaining PILOTS fall out and surround CASEY. Adlibs all around: great work, kid. Attaboy, CASEY, etc. Most leave. Finally, STILETTO and MAESTRO have a moment with our hero. STILETTO: A Confed Flying Cross and a promotion to Midway's Newest bad Ass squadron. Not a bad day's work. CASEY: Hey, you guys got promoted to the Wolf Pack with me. MAESTRO: Where we will no doubt be hopelessly lost in your shadow. Let's celebrate! They exit. Blair looks after them.
EXT. THE MIDWAY (CG)
The big carrier moves off into deep space.
EXT. KILRATHI SPACE
MEANWHILE: Wormhole is completed and cornes to life. A huge Dreadnought, folded, cornes through. Unfolds and screams past.
EXT. SPACE AN EMPTY STARFIELD (CG)
Hold for a BEAT. Then the Midway drifts into view. We SEE a makeshift gantry under construction on the bow--a partially completed Ship Killing Plasma Weapon. The crystal matrix of the stripped-out heart of this weapon glimmers in the makeshift mounts under the Midway's intakes.
INT. BRIEFING ROOM (PLAYS AS MOVIE)
ON screen as a SERIES OF FUTURISTIC BLUEPRINTS flash by. FINLEY: (OS) I downloaded these files from the data banks of the Ship Killer we just captured. Cut to CASEY and Finley as they report to Blair and the CAG. CAG: So, you're saying the wormhole these aliens are using as their invasion point is artificial!? FINLEY: Well, artificially induced over a potential anomaly in their space that allows them into access into Confed space. It took massive planning to pull this off--even with their technology. Here look. She pulls up another view. FINLEY: (CONT.) After also analyzing the data from the beacon, Tactical thinks that the Aliens initial foray into this system was recon only. I don't think that they expected to find us there. In any case, they didn't bring their whole fleet in. CASEY: There's more?! FINLEY: (nods) Look closer at this structure. They're clearly reinforcing it to make it a permanent passage. CASEY: (pointing) What are those plumes? FINLEY: Judging from the IR emissions, they could be the equivalent of cooling towers for a power array. The amount of heat generated by a structure to hold open this physical anomaly must be massive. CASEY: What would happen if we took those out? FINLEY: It could cause an overload--but I don't yet know enough about their technology to be sure. CAG: It may not matter Judging from this, the towers appear heavily shielded. Probably take a full-on torpedo hit. We need to find a way to shut the whole array down. and soon. But destroying something this size will take a lot more firepower than the Midway has to offer. CASEY: No Problem. We have the big gun we need ... right here. He taps a console. The IMAGE we saw in the (G3) briefing of the Ship Killer Plasma Weapon in operation comes up on the main screen. Finley frowns: FINLEY: Yes, Problem. Even if we worked around the clock and could get this thing to even work with our technology-- which I am not saying we can--I'm not sure we won't get blown to Kingdom Come the first time we try to use it. CAG: (cutting in) Be sure. It may be the only chance we've got.
EXT. SPACE MIDWAY FLYBY- CG
FEATURE gangway under intakes, supporting large crystalline structure.
The CAG meets CASEY as he comes up the ramp. CASEY: I missed my shot at those cruisers. Sorry, sir. CAG: (shrugs it off) The bad news is those cruisers are now hitting the Eisen carrier group. CASEY: Hard? CAG: Hard enough. You'll have to do better next time. The CAG exits. CASEY ponders this news, then checks his stats
STILETTO and CASEY come up the ramp together. STILETTO: Killing a Ship Killer! I'm beginning to believe your press! STILETTO walks off, smiling. CASEY checks his stats.
BLAIR and the CAG conduct this briefing. Blair is at the podium. BLAIR: Thanks to Lieutenant CASEY's success in his last mission, we can now use our new plasma weapon to hit the enemy where it hurts. And that's just what we intend to do ... Commander? As everyone applauds an embarrassed CASEY, the CAG steps forward, almost smiling at CASEY. CAG: Let's not celebrate too early. Now we'll have to work twice as hard because they'll be twice as ready. Let's begin. CASEY looks down.
