"Departure I"
ACT FIVE
CROSS FADE TO FERON PRIME-IN MOTION
The image transitions slowly into a real planet with real skies and real ice. The entire rock is a harsh unyielding white mixed with a few sparse frozen oceans. The planet is by no means deserted, in fact hundreds of tiny star ships and satellites criss cross the orbit around Feron Prime, indicating a bustling space port.
Camera zooms all the way through the atmosphere, rushing into a spot on the central continent near some mountains. It flies over tossing seas with breaching whale-creatures, past a frozen tundra, and over icy wastes till it reaches a large city carved out of some glacier ice. It swoops through the narrow snow covered streets over hundreds of people to a single window on a massive castle-like building.
INT. SYNDICATE HOUSE-DAY
CU on a hard stone floor, then there’s the resounding crack of flesh hitting flesh as HUANG WEI falls into frame with a bleeding lip. He isn’t strictly Asian, he’s just got one of those faces where you can’t tell what his ethnicity is or where he’s really from. It’s the perfect criminal face: suspicious enough to be interesting but bland enough not to get recognized.
Widen out to reveal a lavishly decorated room with low lighting and a luxurious bed, surrounded with silk curtains. Dozens of burly ORINION thugs stand around waiting for an order. One of them is dressed in a nice black suit with beautiful gold bracelet around his wrist. His name is HADAR BARAN.
BARAN leans over to the bed, listening to a whisper. A female silhouette moves just behind the curtains, indicating the presence of THE MISTRESS. BARAN smiles as THE MISTRESS whispers into his ear, and then turns to WEI’S rumpled body.
BARAN
Good news! In light of your past service to our Syndicate, the Mistress has decided not to castrate you.
WEI (sarcastic)
Lovely, that’s cause of celebration. Break out a bottle of kanar.
BARAN (mock disappointment)
Such a poor attitude you have, perhaps the Mistress will change her mind.
WEI (angry)
Stop it, just stop it! I’ve earned for you, Baran, I’ve brought in money and I’ve been a good little Syndicate man-
CU on BARAN, he’s deadly serious now.
BARAN
And that’s the only reason you’re still alive, Wei. You’ve done for us, so we owe you your life and that’s what you’re going to walk out of here with.
WEI crawls over to BARAN’S feet and spits blood all over the Orinion’s fancy shoes.
WEI
You gutless bastard! I’ve done for you and you hang me out to dry? AFTER ALL I’VE DONE FOR YOU!
BARAN (coldly)
You can drink for free at the bar; maybe get a slave girl on comp if you’re feeling lonely. Other then that your relationship with us is over.
The Thugs start to drag WEI out of the room.
CU on WEI screaming his head off.
WEI
You’ll regret this Baran! You hear me? NOBODY HANGS HUANG WEI OUT TO DRY! NOBODY!
The Thugs drag him out the door and past a pair of very familiar boots…
…it’s KOLOTH and he’s carrying some sort of metal brief case and wearing a massive fur coat.
BARAN leans down to get further instructions from his Mistress, and then smiles broadly to welcome the visitor.
BARAN
Her exalted beauty, the High Mistress of the Orion Syndicate is most pleased to see you once again, Mr. Koloth. What can we do for you toda-
Without saying a single word, KOLOTH reaches into his coat.
Every thug in the room pulls a disruptor and points it at him.
KOLOTH continues, this time much slower. He removes something that at first looks like a ball. He rolls it on the floor towards BARAN.
It stops just at his foot. It’s a skull with some Romulan writing carved into the forehead.
BARAN gets very nervous. The thugs quietly put away their weapons, even the silhouette of the MISTRESS seems to tense up.
CU on KOLOTH.
KOLOTH
You pledged your support to The Lord of Bones. You promised him weapons, warriors, and money to further his cause. Yet I see none of those things. I decided to ask one of your people why…(points to skull) He was less then cooperative.
BARAN leans down for further instructions. THE MISTRESS hesitates, and then she finally starts whispering in his ear.
BARAN (relaying his instructions as he gets them)
Her Magnificence regrets that unforeseen events have hindered us but that we will contribute to your master’s cause.
KOLOTH
I was told to be on this planet by the end of the week, I came early because I did not trust you enough to allow you to prepare unsupervised. You will be ready and I will make you ready before the Lord of Bones arrives-
BARAN (panic)
He…is coming…here?!
KOLOTH
Do not interrupt me again. (continues) …I will see that you are ready for his arrival, and if you are not then perhaps the next skull I roll across the floor will be yours.
KOLOTH leaves them, pushing his way through the stunned thugs to the door.
CUT TO NELSON TRANSPORTER ROOM
The Marines, CALLAHAN, JIMENEZ, and PROVIX, are dressed in Starship Troopers-style power armor and loading up their backpacks with all sorts of weapons and equipment. Against the wall is a big long cylinder inside a carrying case.
In my day, we did it with a tricorder and a phaser.
CALLAHAN
That explains a lot.
Excuse me?
PROVIX
It’s just that…most of the time Starfleet security officers have a tendency to suffer heavy losses on away missions.
CALLAHAN (laughing)
They even used to wear those big red shirts so they were easy to hit!
The Marines all laugh.
SARA
Mr. Wolfe please speak to your people.
WOLFE
Come on guys. Keep it simple, okay? Just side arms and comms. No armor, no grenades-
WOLFE freezes when he sees the big long cylinder shaped gun.
He glares at CALLAHAN, he’s either impressed by her chutzpah or annoyed by her audacity.
WOLFE
A Proton Accelerator Cannon? Really Callahan?
CALLAHAN (shrugs)
You never know.
The Marines start replacing the gear and taking off their armor.
Everybody except
SARA
I want this to be a clean extraction; most of the population is Orion so they’ll already be pretty jumpy-
WOLFE
Sorry, did you say Orion?
SARA
Yes.
WOLFE
Excuse me.
WOLFE steps off camera, Three shot holds, SARA continues her instructions.
SARA
When we get down there we’ll split into three teams. Sergeant Jimenez and I will search the Northern suburbs, the Doctor and Major Wolfe will take the markets, and Callahan and Sergeant Provix have the rest of the colony. If you spot our suspect, contact the rest of us and wait for further instructions. Do not attempt to capture him on your own.
WOLFE steps back on to the transporter pad, now wearing the chest body armor he told his people not to bring.
Everyone stares at him.
CU on WOLFE, grinning sheepishly.
WOLFE
It’s the Orions. Every time I meet one they end up trying to stab me.
He suddenly realizes NERI, who IS an Orion, is right next to him.
WOLFE (stammering)
Uh….I mean….you certainly haven’t, Doctor.
NERI (angry)
The day is young, Major.
SARA
Energize.
INT. SYNDICATE HOUSE-DAY
Part of the house has been converted into some sort of alien sports bar; dozens of aliens bustle back and fourth. Some of them are watching various alien sports games and cheering when their team scores a point.
WEI is at the bar, pouring himself yet another glass of kanar and trying not to cry into it.
KOLOTH is at the far end of the room with a glass of ale, watching a Klingon sports game on a holo-TV. The game appears to be a form of polo where Klingons ride around a dirt arena on lizard horses while trying to steal a targ corpse and put it in the other team’s goal circle. This is based on an actual, real life Afghani sport called Buzkashi. No bullshit.
KOLOTH is completely absorbed in the game as the two teams give up the pretense of rules and just start brawling each other. He smiles when one of the Klingon players pulls a bat’leh and beheads the opposing goalie.
He turns to see GROX, a wimpy little Ferengi, sits down beside him and pours himself a hearty helping from KOLOTH’S ale pitcher.
GROX
Who’s winning?
KOLOTH
You are late!
GROX
You are early. Did you have any trouble with the Syndicate?
KOLOTH (sips ale)
No. The “fearsome” Orion Syndicate will supply all that we need. Every pirate in the sector now works for us.
GROX
Good, good. I have forty men ready to help you and Vyrk is bringing sixty of his best. You have my money?
KOLOTH holds up several bars of gold pressed latnium, GROX tries to swipe it but KOLOTH pulls it away.
KOLOTH
Tell no one.
GROX nodds and KOLOTH hands him his cash. The little Ferengi walks away, greedily sliding the money into a secret pouch on his belt.
KOLOTH scowls at him before continuing to watch the game.
CUT TO EXT. FERON PRIME MARKETS-DAY
A light snow flurry falls as the citizens of Feron Prime flood the narrow sidewalks of
WOLFE
Would you get a look at this place?
NERI
It’s a market. When you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
WOLFE
I keep forgetting you’re Orion, you probably grew up in places like this.
NERI (whirls around)
What in the hell is that supposed to mean?
WOLFE
Nothing! I was just…I mean, I just assumed-
NERI
Assumed what?
WOLFE
NOTHING! (They keep walking) I mean, I just didn’t know there were a lot of Orions in Starfleet.
NERI
There are twelve.
WOLFE
Oh.
NERI
Ten men, two women including myself.
WOLFE
Guess you know all of them.
NERI
I do.
WOLFE
Are they good friends of you-
NERI
I can’t stand them. Especially that moron serving on the Endeavour.
They pass an Orion brothel, where Animal Women entice men from the front porch and a large ORION PIMP collects the money at the door. A couple of the girls make whistles and beckoning motions to WOLFE, who blushes bright red.
One of the PROSTITUES notices NERI
ORION PROSTITUE (mocking)
Greetings, sister! Tell your boyfriend we will give him a discount.
NERI
He is NOT my boyfriend!
As she yells at them, NERI’S right sleeve rides up to reveal a strange tattoo on her wrist. It looks like some sort of chain with writing inscribed on the links.
CU on the ORION PROSTITUTE, she sees the tattoo and immediately goes ape shit. She starts yelling and rushes after NERI
ORION PROSTITUTE
[Scream in Orion]
NERI (fighting her off)
You don’t understand, I had permission to leave!
One of the big ORION PIMPS grabs NERI by the shoulder and pulls back his hand to slap her. WOLFE is on him in a second, pushing the bigger man away.
WOLFE
Sir, I would appreciate it if you-
The PIMP pulls a knife and slashes WOLFE across the chest, scratching the body armor. He tries to bring the knife around for another stab but WOLFE grabs him by the wrist and uses a series of very brutal looking martial arts moves to send the man crashing to the street.
WOLFE (worried)
Sir, please stop this before somebody gets hurt.
PIMP
To me my brothers!
Four more burly looking ORIONS appear from a shack behind the prostitutes and charge WOLFE.
CU on WOLFE. He doesn’t want to do this, he almost seems sad. The attackers get close to WOLFE but don’t get the chance to touch him. Suddenly he’s twirling, kicking and punching. His fighting style is rough and ugly, very militant and controlled.
Another CU on WOLFE, His face has gone stone cold, like he’s on auto pilot. One of the ORION’S tries to smash a club over WOLFE’S head but WOLFE grab’s the man by his elbow and bends his attack arm all the way behind his head. The ORION screams but WOLFE keeps bending until the shoulder dislocates, then smashes him in the throat with a closed fist.
The ORION PIMP that started all of this gets up from the ground behind WOLFE and nicks the marine in the arm with his knife. WOLFE back hands him and then drives his palm into the PIMP’S nose, breaking it.
One thug tries to grab WOLFE from behind but he drives an elbow under his chin, and then pushes him into another approaching ORION.
The final ORION tries to throw a punch; WOLFE catches it and performs a shoulder throw into the wall of a shack.
The rickety little building collapses.
The dust clears and WOLFE is the only one standing, the prostitutes are shrieking in terror while five ORIONS are on the ground screaming in pain.
CU on WOLFE, ashamed and embarrassed. He really doesn’t like doing that. He leans over to help the five men he just completed annihilated. NERI watches in stunned silence.
WOLFE (horrified)
Sir, are you conscious? Can you hear me? Sir? (to Neri) Doc, could you give me a hand over here?
NERI (flabbergasted)
Uh…yes. O-of course.
Continue on to ACT SIX...