Wing Commander in Real Time - Day 3 - 1200 Zulu

Script

251 EXT. TIGER CLAW NEAR MOON

The Tiger Claw, firing on one ion engine, moves away from

the moon crater.

251A INT. TIGER CLAW - BRIDGE. (PREVIOUSLY SC. 250)

GERALD and PALADIN stand, watch as the massive ship lifts

up. OBUTU works on a shattered console. Blair and

Deveraux wait.

GERALD

Prepare a drone. Input the Kilrathi

jump coordinates. Send it through the

Charybdis Quasar to Admiral Tolwyn.

(To Paladin:)

They should be able to target the exact

location of the Kilrathi jump entry.

It'll be over before they can get their

weapons on line.

Obutu bangs at the console.

PALADIN

If Tolwyn's there, Mr. Gerald. If he's

there.

OBUTU

Sir, we have a problem. Drones are off

line. Executive over-ride.

GERALD

Sansky. Without those coordinates,

Tolwyn doesn't have a chance and we're

too big to slip past the Kilrathi and

warn the fleet.

PALADIN

We'll have to send a fighter through.

GERALD

Impossible. There are over a thousand

singularities in that Quasar. To jump

it would be suicide without NAVCOM

coordinates.

PALADIN

We don't need a NAVCOM, Mr. Gerald.

Blair, you will navigate the Quasar.

Lt. Commander Deveraux will follow your

lead.

BLAIR looks at Paladin.

BLAIR

It's statistically impossible, sir.

PALADIN

We don't have another option, sir.

(a beat)

You have the gift.

BLAIR fingers for his cross. Except it's not there. HE

shakes his head.

BLAIR

I don't have the faith.

PALADIN

It's not faith. It's genetics. It's

the capacity to feel magnetic fields.

But if you believe you need faith...

PALADIN reaches into his tunic, pulls a cross from under

his vest--a Pilgrim Cross. GERALD reacts.

PALADIN (CONT'D)

Take mine.

HE tosses the cross to Blair. BLAIR looks at it.

BLAIR

Why didn't you tell me?

PALADIN

You didn't ask.

Two men's eyes hold for a long time.

OBUTU

Long range scanners are picking up

Kilrathi ships, sir. Looks like a

destroyer and a cruiser.

GERALD

We'll create the diversion. Get those

coordinates to Tolwyn.

252 INT. TIGER CLAW - FLIGHT DECK

DEVERAUXS climbing into her Rapier as BLAIR moves down

the flight line. He stops when he hears a familiar

voice: Hunter's:

HUNTER

Pilgrim.

BLAIR turns to Hunter, ready for a confrontation.

HUNTER (CONT'D)

I heard what you did on that Kilrathi

ship. We all heard. I was wrong.

HUNTER extends a hand. BLAIR nods, takes it. As BLAIR

walks down the flight line, each surviving member of the

wing nods to him, shakes his hand. BLAIR stops by

Maniac. MANIAC smiles. BLAIR's about to speak when

Maniac holds up a hand.

MANIAC

Don't say anything. I want to remember

you pretty face just like this. See

you on the other side, bro.

He bangs fists with Blair, and BLAIR swings into his

cockpit. Canopy lowers. Both fighters are firing their

engines up. Sound is deafening. Both salute the deck

officer...

253 EXT. TIGER CLAW

Blair and Deveraux's fighters launch into the void, swing

left towards the asteroid fields the Tiger Claw turning

to the right.

Further out: Empty space... Then a long, large missile

with a warhead materializes as if from nowhere. It

adjusts course, AIMS AT THE TIGER CLAW in the distance,

vanishes.

SC. 254 OMIT

Novelization

CHAPTER 27

UNITED CONFEDERATION CARRIER TIGER CLAW

ULYSSES CORRIDOR

MARCH 17, 2654 1200 HOURS ZULU TIME

1 HOUR FROM CHARYBOIS QUASAR JUMP POINT

"Hey, Blair. What happened to you out there? One minute

you're manning the Ion cannon, the next you're gone. Not that

Polanski and I needed your help, but it's nice to know your ass'll

be covered in a clutch."

Blair sat on his bunk, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his

hands.

"I didn't mean to make you cry…"

He made a face at Maniac, who lay bare-chested on his bunk,

scratching at his bandages. "C'mon, Chris. What's up?"

"In a couple of minutes, Gerald's going to announce that

Captain Sansky is dead. He might even mention how Sansky

betrayed the Confederation. Hell, he betrayed humanity."

"You're shitting."

"Wish I were. I think Sansky was a Pilgrim. At the least, a

Pilgrim sympathizer."

"So that's why you're bummed. Well, you've been wanting to

find out more about the Pilgrims. Satisfied?"

Blair shot to his feet and unzipped his flight suit. Leaving a

trail of clothes, he headed into the shower. As the hot spray

warmed and loosened his aching muscles, he closed his eyes

and wondered if his mother had engaged in anything as terrible

as Sansky and Wilson.

"Hey, Chris?" Maniac called. "I'm sorry, man. Really."

Without answering, Blair grabbed a bar of soap and a

washcloth.

He needed to get clean.

* * *

By the time Blair finished his shower, Maniac had already

changed and left. He had probably headed down to the rec to get

that drink Polanski owed him. Thankful for the solitude, Blair

stood in his towel and reached instinctively for his cross,

feeling only the chain. He panicked for a moment, then slumped

in resignation as he remembered where he had left it.

Was its loss another omen that he should not explore his

roots? Maybe. But he knew he would never abandon that goal no

matter how much pain it caused. Not knowing hurt more.

He padded to where he had dropped his clothes and dug out

Admiral Tolwyn's ring from a pocket. He needed to give it to

Taggart, who could return it to the admiral.

After donning a new flight suit, he made sure to place the ring

in his breast pocket. He wished now he could keep it, a new

symbol of who he might become.

But the ring had to go back.

Blair felt a distinct jolt as he stepped onto the bridge. The

Tiger Claw ascended, and the shadows folded back to expose

the pockmarked and grooved surface of the crater's wall.

Lieutenant Commander Obutu lay on his back, assisting a

tech with repairs on the portside observation station. The other

officers stared determinedly at their screens, uttering reports

into headsets.

"I heard about your business," Deveraux said, meeting him at

the rail. "Gerald's not going to inform the crew until we're dead

or out of this. He's breaking regs, but he's right. We have to

keep morale high, speaking of which, how's yours?"

"I'm all right."

"Wow. Very convincing."

"I'll be all right. Soon. Maybe."

"At least now you're honest."

He gestured toward Taggart, who stood behind Gerald's

command chair. "I need to speak with him." Deveraux released

him with a nod, and he crossed to stand at attention beside

Taggart. "Sir, I have something for you." He fished out Tolwyn's

ring.

Taggart grinned at the sight, then shook his head as Blair

offered it to him. "Keep it for now. We get out of this, you can

return it yourself."

"Thank you, sir."

"Have you ever met the admiral?"

"No, I haven't."

"I'm sure you'll find the experience… memorable."

"Yes, sir."

"We're clear of the crater," the helmsman abruptly reported.

"Very well," Gerald said. "Mr. Obutu. Prepare a drone. Input

the Kilrathi jump coordinates. Send it through the Charybdis

Quasar to Admiral Tolwyn."

"Aye-aye, sir." Obutu slid out from beneath the observation

station.

Gerald glanced back to Taggart. "They should be able to

target the exact location of the Kilrathi jump entry. It'll be over

before they can get their weapons online."

"If Tolwyn's there, Mr. Gerald. If he's there."

Out of the corner of his eye, Blair saw Mr. Obutu smite his fist

on a touchpad. The radar and comm officers gathered around

him, and all three murmured excitedly.

Finally, Obutu spun to face Gerald. "Sir, we have a problem.

All communications and decoy drones are off-line. Executive

override."

"Sansky," Gerald said as though swearing. "Without those

coordinates, Tolwyn doesn't have a chance—and we're too big to

slip past the Kilrathi and warn the fleet."

Taggart gave Blair an appraising glance, then said, "We'll

have to send a fighter through."

"Impossible," Gerald argued. "There are over a thousand

singularities in that quasar. To jump it would be suicide

without NAVCOM coordinates."

"We don't need a NAVCOM, Mr. Gerald." Taggart placed a

hand on Blair's shoulder. "Lieutenant, you will navigate the

quasar. Lieutenant Commander Deveraux will follow your

lead."

Stunned by the order, Blair's voice cracked. "It's statistically

impossible, sir."

The commodore tightened his grip. "We don't have another

option." His voice lowered to a near whisper. "You have the

gift."

Blair slid out of Taggart's hold and looked to the deck,

reaching for his phantom cross. "I don't have the faith."

"It's not faith," Taggart said, coming up behind him. "It's

genetics. It's the capacity to feel magnetic fields. But if you

believe you need faith—* He circled in front, reached into his

tunic, and withdrew a Pilgrim cross. "Here. Take mine."

Awestruck, Blair took the cross, then gazed curiously at its

owner. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Taggart cocked a brow. "You didn't ask."

The reverence in Taggart's eyes when he had examined Blair's

cross and the pain he suffered when speaking of the Pilgrims

were now clear. But how had he come to fight for the

Confederation? Blair hoped he lived long enough to find out. He

attached the cross to his own chain, then thought better of

tucking it under his flight suit. People should see it. People

needed to see it.

"Long-range scanners are picking up Kilrathi ships, sir,"

Obutu told Gerald. "Looks like a destroyer and a cruiser."

"Mr. Blair. Can you do it?" Gerald asked.

"I think so, sir."

"Not good enough, Lieutenant!"

"Sir, I can do it, sir!"

"Very well. I'll have the Kilrathi jump coordinates

transferred to your Rapier and copied to Deveraux's. We'll

create the diversion. Just get those coordinates to Tolwyn."

"Aye-aye, sir." Blair quickly exited the bridge, and Deveraux

joined him in the lift.

"I guess we're in for a wild ride," she said.

"You don't have to come. I can get Maniac to fly my wing. He's

brave and stupid enough."

"And I'm not?

"You're smart, Angel. Very smart. That's why everyone

respects you."

"I'd like to believe that."

"You should."

"Well, in any event, I'm coming along. Commodore's orders.

And you can't change my mind."

"Then I'm honored to fly with you, ma'am." He eyed her

sternly. "Just don't get me killed."

Men sacrificed themselves over a smile like hers. Blair would

be no exception.

As Deveraux hurried off toward her fighter, Blair continued

along the flight line. The order had come down from the bridge

to prep two Rapiers, followed by a second order for battle

stations. Flight crews jogged to Rapiers and Broadswords,

finished hasty repairs, and criss-crossed the hangar in

ordnance carts. The energy created by them struck and excited

Blair. He saw Polanski, Hunter, and Maniac in the throes of

preflighting their fighters. He thought of saying good-bye to

Maniac, but his friend seemed too busy for the interruption.

Ahead, his own flight crew swarmed his Rapier, and he

quickened his pace, wanting to lend them a hand.

"Pilgrim," a familiar man called out.

Blair craned his head as Hunter came toward him. I don't

need this now, he thought. Why can't this bastard just let it go?

Blair held his ground, muscles growing tighter with Hunter's

every step.

"I heard what you did on that Kilrathi ship," the big Aussie

said. "We all heard. I was wrong." He extended a hand.

Trying to hide his feeling of relief, Blair took the hand and

give the pilot his firmest shake.

"Good luck." Hunter ambled back to his Rapier.

As Blair turned, he found Maniac standing in his path. "You

trying to sneak out and die without me knowing?"

"I—"

"Unh-uh, don't say anything. I want to remember your pretty

face just like this. See you on the other side, bro." He banged

fists with Blair, then winked and dashed off.

The bellow of firing turbines seized the flight deck as he

reached his fighter. She had waited faithfully for him, and Blair

ran fingers along her fuselage. One last hurrah, old lady. That's

all I ask. With the crew already finished, he settled into the

cockpit as the commotion outside came to a crescendo.

"Somebody said you're going to navigate the quasar, sir," his

crew chief shouted, her short blond hair tossed by thruster

wash. "Is that true?"

"How did you hear?"

"I just did. Is it true?"

He nodded. "Wanna come?"

"Sure. But I got nothing to wear." She slipped under the

Rapier and emerged on the starboard side to lift a thumbs-up.

"That's a nice loadout." Then she stared wistfully at him, as

though he were already dead.

Blair returned a tight smile and a thumbs-up, then tapped a

switch, lowering the canopy. He broke external moorings and

routinely performed the rest of his preparations, despite the

growing lump in his throat.

Within sixty seconds the deckmaster waved him into position

for launch. He saluted, got clearance from Raznick, and for the

first time in his military career felt uneasy about punching his

thrusters. The Rapier accelerated through the energy curtain

and over the runway. He flipped on his VDU and watched the

Tiger Claw shrink into the vast tableau. Deveraux formed on his

wing and sent him the order to maintain radio silence as they

entered the asteroid belt.

He glanced down at Taggart's cross, which had turned onto

its back. He noticed an inscription and lifted the cross to read

it:

TO JAMES

REMEMBER LOVE ACROSS THE DISTANCE

REMEMBER ME

AMITY

He turned over the cross and whispered, "Well, Amity, I

think he does."