Wing Commander in Real Time - Day 3 - 1259 Zulu

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Script

280 EXT. BEHIND JOVIAN PLANET MOON

The Kilrathi admiral's flagship, the Snakeir, fires its
massive ion engines and d rifts from behind the shadow of
the moon.

281 INT. SNAKEIR - BRIDGE

The murky green atmosphere allows only silhouettes as
Kilrathi move about. The Kilrathi Captain approaches the
Admiral's chair.


KILRATHI CAPTAIN
(subtitled)
A manned Confederation fighter is
approaching the quasar jump point,
Admiral. We're not in position to
intercept.


KILRATHI ADMIRAL
He's going to warn the Confed fleet of
our jump coordinates. Follow him.
Instruct all ships to mark our course
and follow us through. Sixty second
intervals.

SC. 282 OMIT

283 EXT. SNAKEIR

The giant ship turns, and accelerates, following a distant
speck of light... Blair's Rapier.

284 EXT. TIGER CLAW - BRIDGE

To the relief of everyone on the bridge, the Kilrathi
cruiser veers right.


RADAR MAN
She's changing course!


PALADIN
(roaring)
Mister Gerald, prepare to lower our
shield. Starboard missile battery,
prepare to fire!


GERALD
Sir, the missile guidance systems won't
activate at this range.


PALADIN
They won't need to. Arm warheads.

285 INT. TIGER CLAW - MISSILE ROOM

Men and women lock and load missiles, preparing to fire.


286 INT. TIGER CLAW - FLIGHT DECK

Peterson and his crew brace themselves.


287 INT. RAPIER COCKPIT - BLAIR

The shaking is infernal.


MERLIN
(voice only)
Light speed mach point eight two.
Twenty seconds to jump. Can you do it?


BLAIR
(Distorted by the shaking.)
Only one way to find out.
(Closes his eyes.)
Coordinates: 1 7 2 9 4 mark 3 3 4 3
vector 4 4 2 7 1 angle of attack 6 3 9
5 6 1 by 3 2 4 9....


HE closes his eyes.

288 EXT. TIGER CLAW & KILRATHI CRUISER

The Kilrathi pour cannon fire onto the Tiger Claw's shield
as the two great ships come abreast of each other.


289 INT. TIGER CLAW - BRIDGE

The ship is rocking with shock waves.


PALADIN
Lower shields. Give 'em a broadside,
Mister Gerald.


290 INT. TIGER CLAW - TORPEDO ROOM

The missile room crew, fire their salvo, even as they are
rocked by explosions from the cannon fire.


291 EXT. MANIAC's RAPIER

Maniac blows a last Krant escort out of the air and turns
upside down to avoid the fireball. Then he s tares at the
sight below him.


MANIAC
And they say I'm crazy.

292 EXT. TIGER CLAW AND KILRATHI CRUISER

A DOZEN GUIDED MISSILES streak from the Tiger Claw's
battery as they bear on the cruiser, each striking the
cruiser, piercing the shield, and EXPLODING AGAINST THE
HULL!


A missile finds the Kilrathi bridge and destroys it. The
cruiser rolls over and "capsizes" as its stern clears the
devastating field of fire...


The Tiger Claw pulls clear as the Kilrathi ship is
SHATTERED BY A SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS, finally
disintegrating in the void.


293 INT. RAPIER COCKPIT - BLAIR

The vibration is accompanied by a strange noise. BLAIR
continues to spout numbers: 4, 7, 5, 5, 3, 9, 9...as MERLIN
counts down the seconds to jump.


MERLIN
Five seconds to jump. Four, three, two.


Suddenly, time and motion stop. All is silence.

294 INT. TIGER CLAW - BRIDGE & VARIOUS STATIONS

As one, officers and crew of the Tiger Claw scream, cheer,
hug one another.

294A EXT. EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM

Placid, calm. We can clearly see our system's nine
planets, with Earth, blue, lush, alive...vulnerable,
spinning in the distance.


Suddenly, a blinding flash of light, and Blair's Rapier
appears, blasts past us, jump drive engines glowing.


SC. 295 OMIT

296 INT. RAPIER COCKPIT - BLAIR

Blair is ecstatic.


BLAIR
We did it! We did it! I love this baby!
She held together.


MERLIN
(voice only)
I'm not sure I did.


Blair flicks his radio switch.


BLAIR
Lieutenant Christopher Blair of the
Tiger Claw calling any Confed Ship. A
Kilrathi battle group has the Charybdis
jump coordinates. They will breach at
167 mark 889, Sol system. Repeat, 167
mark 889, Sol system. Do you read?
(to Merlin)
Check your frequencies for any sign of
the Confed fleet.


MERLIN
Nothing. Wait a minute. Check behind us.


BLAIR
Behind us?


Space, where Blair had been a moment before: A second,
bigger, flash of light and the gigantic Snakeir appears
through the warp in the time space continuum.


MERLIN (O.S.)
Kilrathi capital ship... Snakeir class
They came through the jump point.

SC. 297 OMIT

298 INT. RAPIER COCKPIT - BLAIR

Blair pounds the instrument panel in frustration.


BLAIR
Shit! We're too late!

Storyboards

Novelization

CHAPTER 29

KILRATHI BATTLE GROUP
SNAKEIR-CLASS
CRUISER
KIS GRIST'AR'ROC
ULYSSES CORRIDOR
MARCH 17, 2654
1259 HOURS
ZULU TIME
1 MINUTE FROM
CHARYBOIS QUASAR
JUMP POINT


Admiral Bokoth's plans, based on an unholy pact between
himself and a now-dead Pilgrim, were falling apart before him.
But Captain Thiraka would not wave his prior reservations in
the admiral's face. He delivered his report meekly, comfortable
with the knowledge that the admiral's next error would be his
last. Commander Ke'Soick's fingers itched with the desire to
murder Bokoth, and Thiraka would permit his shintahr that
honor now. Thiraka would sacrifice the life of a dear friend for
the preservation of the Empire. As agonizing as it was to lose
Ke'Soick—who would be executed for the admiral's
murder—Thiraka had come to see the truth and the honor in
disposing of Bokoth. He bowed before the old one. "Kalralahr. A
manned Confederation fighter is approaching the quasar with
its jump drive engaged. We're not in position to intercept."
"A fighter?" Bokoth asked, turning in the command chair.
"Using what coordinates?"
"Apparently the right ones, sir. The ship is on course."
Bokoth's good eye bulged. "He's going to warn the Confed fleet
of our jump coordinates. Follow him. Instruct all ships to mark
our course but follow original coordinates through.
Sixty-second intervals."
"As you wish. But I should remind you that our enemy is
capable of jumping gravity wells, pulsars, and now a quasar.
They must have Pilgrims among them. If the Tiger Claw is not
destroyed, I believe she will jump behind our fleet."
"If she does, then I'll have three destroyers from the fleet
waiting for her. Satisfied?"
"Only with victory, Kalralahr. Only with victory." Thiraka
nodded and stepped away. He gave the new orders to the helm,
then stood beside Ke'Soick.
"Now?" the commander asked.
"I agree with his orders," Thiraka said. "We'll wait until after
the jump. But don't worry, my friend. You'll have your chance."
* * *
Gerald did a double-take as he watched the Kilrathi cruiser
turn hard to port, away from the Tiger Claw. "Mr. Falk?"
"She's changing course, sir."
"Why?"
"Frankly, sir, I'm not sure."
"Mr. Gerald," Taggart said. "Prepare to lower our shield.
Starboard missile battery prepare to fire."
After setting the shield to perform a flash shutdown, Gerald
discovered an error in Taggart's order. "Sir, missile guidance
systems won't activate at this range."
"They won't need to. Arm warheads."
* * *
In the Secondary Ordnance room, Spaceman Ashley Galaway
rushed down her line of torpedoes, typing in arming codes on
each missile's control panel.
When she finished, she looked across the room at a cocky,
good-looking ghost who smiled back.
* * *
Boss Raznick slammed down his computer slate and opened
up the deck wide intercom. "Peterson? Why has my flight deck
not been policed? Why am I looking at tools all over my runway?
Why is my flight deck not one hundred percent battle-ready?"
"I don't know, sir. But I'm on it, sir. Flight crews? Get your
unprofessional butts over here. Now!"
* * *
So many concussions rumbled through Blair's Rapier that he
swore he now plunged into an atmosphere, a degree shy of
burning up. To call the vibration infernal was to appreciate it
only as a spectator.
"Merlin?" he shouted, warping the computer's name.
"Velocity?"
"Light speed mach-point-eight-two," the little man
responded, his voice as shaky as Blair's. "Twenty seconds to
jump. Can you do it?"
"Only one way to find out."
When Blair had plotted the course through Scylla, he had
closed his eyes, fingered the touchpad, and played a song of
coordinates written at the subatomic level. He had obeyed the
feeling and felt the need to surrender to it now. "Computer.
Switch to voice recognition and prepare to plot course."
"Acknowledged. System ready."
He reached out with his mind, with his body, into the quasar,
feeling his way through a transparent maze of gravity and
magnetic fields. Then he pictured the correct trajectory, a
star-rich vortex yawning open. "Coordinates:
one-seven-two-nine-four mark three-three-four-eight. Vector:
four-four-two-seven-one. Angle of attack:
six-three-nine-five-six-one by three-two-four-nine."
"First set of coordinates plotted. Warning. Deviation in jump
course found. Do you wish to adjust course?"
"Ignore deviation. Maintain speed and heading."
* * *
The Tiger Claw convulsed as the Kilrathi cruiser came
abreast, its cannons spewing thousands of bolts that struck and
irresistibly weakened her shields. The two great ships would
soon pass each other, headed in opposite directions.
Gerald buckled into his seat, seeking assurance in his
torpedo status display. "Commodore. Four tubes loaded and
online. Warheads armed. Range of target: four hundred and six
meters and closing."
Taggart sat in the command chair, his expression of quiet
intensity reminiscent of Captain Sansky during battle. He
clutched his armrests and leaned toward the Kilrathi cruiser, as
though he would leap at it himself. "Lower shields. Give 'em a
broadside, Mr. Gerald."
"Fire all batteries!" Gerald cried.
"Aye-aye. Fire all batteries," came the reply from the
starboard ordnance room.
Kilrathi cannon fire hammered the unshielded cruiser in
rumbling waves, but Gerald ignored it, focusing on the four
torpedoes. Three lanced through the cruiser's shield to impact
on its hull, ravaging portside batteries and a launch bay in an
impressive conflagration. The fourth torpedo found the ship's
bridge and severed the entire superstructure from the hull in a
cascade of detonations.
As the cruiser yawed, a dozen of the Claw's guided missiles
burrowed into her hull, stopped short somewhere inside the
ship, then exploded. Fiery light filtered through the ruptures.
"Commodore," Falk said. "Two fighters have broken through
our wing. One has targeted ion engine control. If he scores a
direct hit, we'll lose all propulsion."
"Where are our fighters?" Taggart demanded.
Falk grimaced. "They're being swarmed."
* * *
"Hey, Maniac? Where the hell are you going? Don't leave my
wing!" Polanski shouted.
Maniac continued in his eighty-degree dive to escape the
raging furball over the cap ships. "Two Krants broke loose.
They're after the Claw. Now don't leave my wing!"
"I'm with you, buddy."
The blue blip that was Polanski's Rapier slid onto Maniac's
radar display. "Take the one going for the bridge. I'll get the
other."
"Dammit, he's really moving," Polanski said.
"Get him, man! Get him!"
Jamming the stick back, Maniac pulled out of his dive and
streaked toward the carrier's stern. He targeted the Krant
swooping down on the Claw, and his VDU showed that the
bastard had missile lock. Maniac hollered his war cry and
issued last rites to the cat with Neutron guns. Once a fighter,
the Krant blew into a flaming trail that cut through Maniac's
path. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he muttered, going inverted.
Showers of burning fuel doused the Rapier's belly. He angled
away, and the last of the fuel burned off.
From his new vantage point, Maniac saw that the Tiger Claw
glided alongside the cruiser at point-blank range. "And they say
I'm crazy."
A flash at his port quarter gained his attention. Polanski's
Rapier cut a jagged line across the heavens. "That's six kills
today, Maniac. You won't top me."
"Oh, no?" Maniac pinned the throttle and went ballistic. The
horde of fighters rushed toward him.
"Hey, don't do anything reckless," Polanski warned. "Not
without me."
* * *
Obutu actually grinned as he looked up from his console.
"Commander. The cruiser has lost guidance and propulsion.
Life support failing. We got her, sir."
As the bridge crew whooped and cheered, Gerald unbuckled
and went to the viewport. The cruiser's stern floated ahead,
fires still flashing behind breaches and portholes. Were she a
seafaring vessel, she would be capsized and ringed in foam. As it
was, she plunged into the void, expelling gas and fluids and
sloughing off scorched and twisted plates of plastisteel.
"Clearing the cruiser," Obutu said. "The destroyer has moved
out of range."
Taggart left his command chair. "Not bad for a rogue, eh?" he
asked, coming toward Gerald.
"Sir, you have to understand that I was putting the safety of
this ship and her crew—"
"Relax," Taggart said, backhanding sweat from his brow.
"You don't surrender your trust to just anyone. Know what?
Neither do I."
* * *
The jump drive shrieked, and the rattle had become an
indistinct noise that made it nearly impossible to concentrate.
"Second set of coordinates at
four-seven-five-five-three-nine-nine," Blair shouted.
"Warning. Course deviation. Do you wish to—"
"Hell, no. Stay on course."
"Five seconds," Merlin reported. "Four, three, two—"
The striped vortex winked out of existence.
"Mother?"
"You shouldn't do this to yourself, Christopher. You weren't
meant to see me. This is not your continuum."
"It is mine. I chose it."
"You don't have the right to choose. Only one does."
"What do you mean? There aren't any rules. I feel this. I can
do what I feel."
"Then you'll fall. Like the others."
"You're not my mother, are you?"
"I'm everything your mother was, is, and will be. I'm in
every part of the universe at once, as you are now, as you
shouldn't be."
"Why?"
"I wish you could understand. I wish that more than
anything. But I've seen your path. And there's nothing I can do
to change it."
"Wait. We've had this conversation before. This has already
happened."
"No, it hasn't. But it will."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to."
"Where are you going? We have to talk! I need to know—"
Thunder overpowered his words, and the harness dug into
his shoulders. His head fell forward, then ripped back. Star
lines whirled, grew shorter, coalesced into points as the jump
drive disengaged with a whine. The faint stench of heated metal
permeated his O2 flow. He shook his head to clear the mental
gossamers of the gravity field, then squinted at the stars and
knew, knew with his eyes and with his blood, that he was on the
perimeter of the Sol system. "We did it," he muttered. "We did
it!" He patted the canopy. "I love this baby. She held together."
"I'm not sure I did," Merlin moaned.
Blair quickly dialed up a secure Confederation channel on his
comm system. "This is Lieutenant Christopher Blair of the TCS
Tiger Claw calling any Confed ship. A Kilrathi battle group has
the Chary bdis jump coordinates. They'll breech at
one-six-seven mark eight-eight-nine, Sol system. Do you read?"
Only static replied.
"Merlin. Check your frequencies for signs of the fleet."
"Nothing… Wait a minute. Check behind us."
"Behind us?"
The still and silent void exploded in a terrific white orb
spanned by phosphorescent webs of energy. Out of the orb
surfaced a colossal vessel whose copper-colored hull and sharp
angles betrayed it as a—
"Kilrathi capital ship," Merlin said gravely. "Snakeir-class."
Blair pounded the instrument panel. "Shit! We're too late."