The Most Delicate Instrument

The Most Delicate Instrument is the third episode of Wing Commander Academy.

The Most Delicate Instrument
Episode Number	1x03
Production Code	unknown
Story	Mark Edens
Writer(s)	Shari Goodhartz
Air Date	October 5, 1996
Run Time	20m55s
Animation Studio	Madhouse
Theme	Version 2
Previous	The Last One Left
Next	Word of Honor

Characters

Speaking

• 

  Commodore Geoffrey Tolwyn

• 

  2nd Lt. Christopher "Maverick" Blair

• 

  2nd Lt. Gwen "Archer" Bowman

• 

  2nd Lt. Todd "Maniac" Marshall

• 

  2nd Lt. Lindsay "Payback" Price

• 

  2nd Lt. Yulan "Hyena" Chang

• 

  2nd Lt. Alan "Blizzard" Getz

• 

  Tech Specialist Maya McEaddens

• 

  Doctor Guthrig Andropolos

• 

  Sensor Tech

• 

  Communications Tech

• 

  Head Security Guard

Nonspeaking

• 

  Devi Soulsong & Major Arnold Blair

• 

  2nd Lt. Hector "Grunt" Paz & Pilot

• 

  Tortuga Guard #2

• 

  Tortuga Guard #1

• 

  Tortuga Ground Crewman

• 

  Gharal nar Hhallas

• 

  Kilrathi Soldier #2

Ships

Terran Confederation

Fighters

• 

  CF-105 Scimitar

• 

  F-54 Epee

• 

  CF-117 Broadsword

Capital Ships

• 

  Bengal

Empire of Kilrah

Fighters

• 

  Grikath

Small Arms

Terran Confederation

• 

  Pistol

• 

  Rifle

Trivia

• The pirate shuttle is based on the Avenger bomber from Wing Commander IV.

• This is the only episode to feature the Kilrathi Dorkir transport.

Animation Errors

• The list of cadets summoned to the briefing rooms includes "Zoharian" (Emil "E-Z" Zoharian); he is not present in the briefing scene.

Credits

Role	Name
Story by	Mark Edens
Written by	Shari Goodhartz
Producer	Larry Latham
Executive Story Editors	Mark Edens
	Michael Edens
Executive Consultant	Ralph Sanchez
Executive Story Consultants	Richard Hilleman
	Adam Foshko
Starring	Mark Hamill (Maverick)
	Tom Wilson (Maniac)
	Malcolm McDowell (Tolwyn)
	Dana Delany (Archer)
Also Starring	Lauri Hendler (Payback, Maya)
	Kevin Schoen (Hyena)
	Pat Fraley (Guthrig)
Music by	Alexander Van Bubenheim
Voice Direction and Casting	Susan Blu
Pre-Production Sound by	Screenmusic Studios, Inc.
Pre-Production Sound Mixer	Pete Elia
Recording Assistant	Mark Caballero
Storyboards	Tim Eldred
	JC Ponce
	Barking Bullfrog Cartoon Co. Inc.
Storyboard Cleanup	Judy Nielson
Timing Directors	Zeon Davush
	Gerard Baldwin
Character Design	Larry Lathan
	Tim Eldred
Prop Design	Lee Go
Background Design	Derek Carter
Background Color Key	Kathryn Yelsa
Computer Color Key	Cynthia McIntosh
Studio Production Manager	Alex Johns
Production Manager	Patty Jausoro
Production Coordinator	Estrella Capin
Production Assistants	Aaron Justman
	Scott Huml
	Manuel Canoa
	Monte Alexander
	Junior Gonzalez
	Danik Thomas
Executive in Charge of Post Production	Barbara Beck
Editors	Jay Bixsen
	Paul D. Calder
Assistant Editor	Michael Trueba
Track Reading	Glenwood Editorial
Negative Cutting	Executive Cutting
Post Production Video	Unitel Video, Hollywood
Post Production Sound	West Productions Inc.
Supervising Sound Editor	Rick Hinson
Re-Recording Mixers	John Boyd
	Stuart Calderon
Overseas Animation Studio	Madhouse Animation
Overseas Animation Director	Masao Maryuyama
Produced in Association with	USA Network

Transcript

Act One

SCENE - Maverick's Quarters

Maverick: I'm recording this message as the Tiger's Claw moves through jumpspace. So I won't be able to send it until we're out of here. We're moving faster than the speed of light, dad. So fast that to the rest of the universe we don't even exist. We're completely cut off. Completely alone. Just thinking about it I feel a... a deep sense of wonder, of awe. And maybe it's a little frightening too. I think most of the other cadets feel like I do about being out here in space but not all of them show it.

SCENE - Racquetball Court

Maniac: Good return Archer, but try to get a racket off this. (grunt)

Archer: Any time, Maniac.

Maniac: Oh man. (grunt)

Archer: (grunt) Woo! Game played, Maniac. Want to try two out of three?

Maniac: Ow. No fair, you've been practicing.

Archer: Yeah it wouldn't hurt you to practice every now and then. Or does everything have to come easy for you?

Maniac: Hey, if you can't do it right the first time, why bother?

PA: Attention all hands, prepare to exit jumpspace. Brace for node deceleration. Repeat: all hands brace for node deceleration.

SCENE - Outside Maverick's Quarters

PA: Node decceleration complete. Secure ship for subjump flight. All duty personnel return to stations. Cadets Blair, Marshall, Paz, Price, Bowman and Zoharian report to the briefing room.

Maverick: Hey Marshall, you're going the wrong way.

Maniac: I've got my own shorcut, Maverick.

Maverick: This is the quickest way to the briefing room.

Maniac: You wouldn't know up from down if it weren't for gravity. We'll ust see who gets to the briefing room first.

Maverick: Okay, Maniac, you're on.

SCENE - Tiger's Claw Hallway

McEaddens: Hey, who lit your afterburners, pal?

Maverick: Sorry, I didn't know anyone was coming around the corner. Here. I was just on my way to... uh, to the briefing room.

McEaddens: Back the way you came, turn left at the next corridor, even you can't miss it.

Maverick: Thanks, uh..

McEaddens: McEaddens. Tech Specialist Maya McEaddens.

Maverick: Well, thanks again.

McEaddens: Space jockeys.

SCENE - Briefing Room

Maverick: Looks like we have to call this one a draw.

Maniac: At least we're the first ones here.

Tolwyn: Blair, Marshall. Good of you to join us. At last.

Maverick: Sorry sir.

Tolwyn: I used to get lost myself my first few weeks on a carrier. But see that you learn your way around.

Maniac: I, I wasn't lost sir. I was, uh, I was unavoidably detained.

Maverick: I was organizing a search party for Cadet Marshall, sir.

Tolwyn: Yes, I see. Well, now that we're all here (clears throat) we can begin. As you see M421A is not an impressive system, but its proximity to more well traveled jump routes give it some strategic importance. Your mission is reconnaissance, turning over rocks. You'll divide into three flights of two fighters each. I want each pla net and its moons checked out thoroughly. This is an uninhabited system. There's been no Confederation activity since the initial survey just before the war. I don't anticipate any excitement, but stay alert. Any questions?

Maniac: Uh sir, that name on the system exploration report. Uh, D. Karnes. Is that Damon Karnes?

Tolwyn: Yes it is.

Payback: Friend of yours?

Maniac: Damon Karnes was the best pilot that ever flew for the Confederation.

Maverick: I've heard of Karnes. Didn't he disappear in space about ten years ago?

Tolwyn: Look, this isn't a history lesson, get moving.

SCENE - Space

Maverick: Engaging automatic navigation.

Maniac: (sigh) Autonav engaged. Some hotshot pilots, we might as well take the bus.

Maverick: Maniac, proximity alert. Switch to manual control.

Maniac: Huh, what's up?

Maverick: Unidentified ship coming in. Shut down your systems, we'll blend into the background. I've got target lock. A Kilrathi transport!

Maniac: All right! Let's take it out.

Maverick: Negative. You must have been asleep in tactics class, we slip into his particle trail and follow him. That transport might lead us to a Kilrathi base or a fleet.

Maniac: Yeah, well, there better be a whole fleet of transports.

Maverick: Multiple contacts closing on transport. Small ships, fighters!

Maniac: Oh, I knew it! We waited too long, now its picked up a fighter escort. Oh, that's the last time I ever listen to you.

Maverick: Wait, the transport's changing course. It's trying to evade the fighters. It's under attack.

Maniac: What do you mean under attack? I wish somebody 'd tell me what's going on here. Oh, I had to ask!

Maverick: Missile lock red! We're in their sights.

Act Two

SCENE - Space

Maverick: Missile's locked on. (grunts) I can't shake him. Launch decoys and break formation.

Maniac: I still got a lock, it's no good.

Maverick: Maniac? Maniac!

Maniac: Hey! I'm alive. (laughs) Shields are down... and I've lost main engines.

Maverick: Hang on, I'm coming.

Maniac: Negative Maverick, get back to the 'Claw. This is just great! Alright jerk, what are you waiting for? Get it over with. Maverick!

Maverick: (grunts)

Karnes: Surrender immediately or be destroyed.

Maniac: Tell him to blow it out his afterburners, Mav.

Maverick: We surrender.

SCENE - Tortuga Hangar

Dral: Welcome to Tortuga. Believe me, you won't like it.

Maniac: Oh, I don't know... it seems like a nice place you've got here.

Dral: This is not my place. It belongs to him.

Maniac: What? It can't be.

Maverick: What's wrong, Maniac.

Maniac: It's Damon Karnes.

SCENE - Tortuga Dining Room

Maniac: What's Damon Karnes doing here with these... renegades?

Maverick: Right now, he's holding us prisoner.

Maniac: I mean, I had a holovid about Karnes when I was a kid, The Last Hero. I, I must have watched it about a hundred times.

Karnes: Propaganda. That vid was made by the Confederation to persuade gullible children to become pilots. Apparently it worked.

Maniac: But... you were the best!

Karnes: Sometimes being the best isn't enough.

Karnes: One day I realized I no longer cared who won the war. I had no hatred for the Kilrathi and no love for the Confederation. I had no feelings at all. Space has that effect on some people. When you look too long into emptiness, the emptiness gets inside you. So one day I went out on patrol and I just kept going. Eventually I found others like myself. Humans, Kilrathi, renegades, outcasts. Now, we take what we need to survive from all sides. You disapprove?

Maverick: Is that why you keep us alive? You want our approval?

Karnes: I let you live because I'm bored.

Maverick: I believe a person's life should serve a purpose.

Karnes: There are two kinds in the galaxy, only two. Those who fly in order to get somewhere and those who love to fly.

SCENE - Tortuga Prison Cell

Maverick: Tolwyn could send out search parties for a thousand years and still not find this place, it's too well hidden.

Maniac: If you'd have let me take out that transport when we first spotted it none of this would've happened.

Maverick: Yeah, if your hero hadn't gone insane...

Maniac: He was out here for twenty years. You don't know the things he's seen. The things he had to do.

Maverick: He wasn't strong enough to take it.

Maniac: You don't have the right to judge him!

Maverick: Give me that! You should've studied your unarmed combat manual.

Maniac: (screams) Give me.

Karnes: That's enough. Sensors have detected another transport. We're going to take it.

Maniac: Uh, I'd like to go along.

Maverick: What?!

Maniac: Ever since I was a little boy, I wanted to fly with you.

Karnes: What about you?

Maverick: Is it a Kilrathi ship, or Terran?

Karnes: Does it matter to you?

Maniac: No.

Karnes: Then come with me.

SCENE - Space

Dral: The Confederation coward is running. I knew he couldn't be trusted.

Karnes: He's no coward, he's going back to Tortuga. Continue the attack. I'll deal with Maniac.

Maniac: Maniac to Tiger's Claw. Come in, Tiger's Claw.

Act Three

SCENE - Space

Maniac: Come on, you piece of junk. (screams) You were the best, Karnes. That should've been enough. What? Hey!

Karnes: Your long range communications and weapons don't work. It's been a long time since I trusted anyone.

Maniac: (screams)

Karnes: You should've joined us. You're the first pilot in a long time good enough to stay on my tail.

Maniac: I'm not like you.

Karnes: I know, I was like your friend, Maverick.

Maniac: No way, he'd never turn his back on the Confederation like you did.

Karnes: You think you know him. But people change. They have to. War isn't a game for children.

Dral: Dral to Karnes. Emergency, come in.

Karnes: What is it, Dral?

Dral: It's a trap. The transport was bait to lure us into the open... there are too many of them. We're being taken over...

Karnes: Dral? Dral?

Maniac: It's over Karnes. The world you built is falling apart.

Karnes: Perhaps. But every soldier must fight his last battle.

Maniac: Oh! Maverick always said I should study the tech manuals more. I hate it when he's right.

SCENE - Tortuga Orbit

Karnes: The whole universe to fight.

SCENE - Tortuga Exterior

Soldier #1: My Lord, this is the last one left. We found him locked in a cell.

Thrakhath: Why were you locked up, Terran?

Maverick: I guess I'm just a renegade.

Thrakhath: (laughs) Vermin. I am Thrakhath nar Kiranka, Prince of Kilrah, the Fang of Sivar, Destroyer of Worlds. You renegades attacked Kilrathi ships. For that offensive I have destroyed you to the last man. But you will be left alive. You will tell what happened here so the galaxy may be warned: to attack the Kilrathi is to die.

SCENE - Tortuga Hangar

Maverick: Ow!

Maniac: Must have been some party. I'm glad I missed it. You know I was lying to Karnes, didn't you?

Maverick: I hoped you were. If I can get mine started, we'll take a look at the heap you're flying. Sounds like you need a tune up.

Maniac: Hey, what do you mean heap? That heap can out fly you any day.

SCENE - Commodore Tolwyn's Office

Tolwyn: It seems the Kilrathi task force has jumped out of the system. Probably its only purpose was to destroy the renegades. This whole Damon Karnes affair was classified top secret by the Confederation years ago. You're never to mention Karnes again. Not even to the other cadets.

Maniac: You mean the Confederation knew what he'd become? They knew he was a renegade?

Tolwyn: They knew. They thought the truth about Karnes would be bad for morale. People need heroes.