ACT FIVE
FADE IN:
EXT. SPACE
Shuttlepod 01 slowly drifts toward Horizon. Thrusters fire intermittently to alter the course and finally, the 'pod mates with the larger ship. There are the expected hisses and whirs as the larger craft extends a docking tube.
INT. SHUTTLEPOD 01
Travis consults his board as Captain Archer begins to unbuckle his restraints. To his visible annoyance, both Major Reed and Lieutenant Cole are quicker in freeing themselves and move to the 'pod's hatch. Hoshi begins unbuckling her own restraints while shooting an uncomfortable look at the starfield beyond the pilot's console.
SATO
I don't think I'm ever going to get accustomed to this.
From her tone, she doesn't mean it in a good way.
MAYWEATHER
Me either.
From his tone, he does.
Archer shakes his head in slight amusement at the two before glancing to Reed. The major responds to the unspoken question.
REED
Lights read green. We have hard seal.
ARCHER
Let's go say hi.
As the captain stands, Reed is opening the hatch. Lieutenant Cole is the first person through it, followed immediately by Reed. Although neither of them have drawn their weapons, their hands are resting on the sidearms as if they expect trouble.
We follow Archer as he follows them into...
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. HORIZON - AIRLOCK ACCESS
...the Boomer ship. Archer stops abruptly at the rigid stances of the two UEM officers. Both are just inside the airlock and appear poised to draw their sidearms at a moment's notice.
Standing two meters away, we see two Boomers armed with sidearms themselves. JUAN is rough-looking man with dark hair and eyes in his mid-20s while NORA is a slender blond woman in her early-20s. They appear very uncomfortable with the presence of the two soldiers and have already drawn their weapons (although they are lowered). Sensing the atmosphere, Captain Archer takes a step forward.
ARCHER
I'm Captain Archer. I believe we're expected.
NORA
Yes sir.
(with a sour glance at Reed)
Nothing was said about soldiers.
ARCHER
(smiling)
Nothing was said about being met at the airlock by armed personnel either.
(beat)
I guess both of us ... forgot something.
Juan frowns darkly at that even as Nora flushes slightly. Behind Archer, we can see Travis enter the ship.
MAYWEATHER
Nora!
The named crew member of Horizon gives Travis a look so bleak that it causes him to stop his forward progress. We briefly focus on the ensign's startled expression at his less than happy homecoming.
JUAN
This way. The captain is waiting.
Without another word, the two Horizon crew members turn and start down the corridor. Cole starts to follow, her hand never straying from her holstered pistol and Archer shoots Reed a look.
ARCHER
(whispering)
I said low profile.
Reed gives him an exasperated look but says nothing as the captain walks forward, followed by Ensign Sato. As the major falls in step behind Archer, we once again focus on Travis as he looks around with an expression on his face that is nearly impossible to identify. A BEAT later, Reed glances back at him and slows his pace slightly. A sheepish expression appears on Mayweather's face as he quickly rushes forward to catch up with the rest of the Enterprise party.
MAYWEATHER
(softly, to Reed)
Sorry.
The major gives him a discreet nod of understanding as they walk through...
INT. HORIZON - CORRIDOR
The interior of the old ship is in an obvious state of disrepair and crew is hard at work making repairs. An air of grim resolution seems to hang over these people and they look at the uniformed personnel walking through the corridor with ill-concealed hostility.
Travis brightens slightly as they approach several people but the dark expressions that greet him quickly cause his good cheer to wane almost instantly. More than anyone else, he seems to be the target of most of the black looks from the repair crews and, almost imperceptibly, Major Reed sidles closer to the ensign, his own expression darkening with an implied threat to anyone who is glaring at Travis.
A BEAT passes in silence as they walk and Travis' expression begins to transform into one of stunned disbelief at the sheer amount of damage he is seeing.
MAYWEATHER
(emotional)
My God...
REED
(softly)
Something wrong, Ensign?
MAYWEATHER
The damage...I've never seen it so bad...
As he speaks, they pass one of the Horizon's repair crew who shoots him a dark glare and tightens his grip on the welder he holds. Although Travis doesn't notice it, Reed does and pins the hostile Boomer with a look that promises a lot of pain if the man does anything stupid. The man quickly turns back to his repairs.
INT. HORIZON - MESS HALL
They enter the communal dining facility of the Boomer transport to discover that there are already four people present. Paul Mayweather turns to the newcomers, nodding to Juan. Behind him, RIANNA MAYWEATHER, Travis' mother, stands quietly along with two other crewmembers. Although Travis stares intently at his mother, she doesn't return the look and actually seems intent on avoiding eye contact with him.
ARCHER
Captain Mayweather...
Archer takes a step forward, offering his hand in greeting. For a BEAT, Paul studies the outstretched hand before gesturing to a table.
PAUL
Have a seat, Captain.
Archer lowers his hand and does accept the offered chair. He is displaying no hint of anger at being snubbed by the Boomer captain.
ARCHER
Thank you, Captain.
(beat)
I hope that we can resolve this entire situation in a peaceful manner that doesn't result in additional deaths.
The crew of the Horizon is visibly surprised at that.
PAUL
Deaths? We've gone out of our way to make sure that we haven't killed anyone. We only take the cargo.
(beat)
Our complaints are with the ECA, not the crews of their ships.
ARCHER
Is that a fact?
Archer doesn't even try to conceal the fact that he doesn't believe Paul.
PAUL
(bitter)
Is that going to be the ECA's angle? That we're raving lunatics who've been out here in the black so long that we kill everyone we run into?
(under his breath)
Typical.
ARCHER
I don't represent the Earth Cargo Authority, Captain Mayweather, and am basing my opinion on what I've seen.
He gives Paul a look that conveys his thoughts.
ARCHER (CONT’D)
Thirty hours ago, I looked at the wreck of an ECA ship that had been stripped of every single piece of functional equipment.
The expressions on the faces of the Horizon crew grow tense, almost as if they know something that they're not comfortable talking about.
ARCHER (CONT’D)
I suppose that you're going to blame someone else for that?
Paul glances at Rianna.
RIANNA
It had to be them.
PAUL
We don't know that.
RIANNA
It's the only thing that makes sense!
Archer frowns at this byplay and exchanges a quick glance with Major Reed.
ARCHER
Excuse me.
(beat, off their look at him)
Who are you talking about?
PAUL
Aliens.
(beat, off Archer's disbelieving expression)
At first, we thought it was the Nausicaans again.
At that, both Archer and Reed tense slightly.
PAUL
But it's not. It's some new alien that we've never seen before.
(beat, suddenly tired)
They come out of nowhere and strike without any warning.
Archer's expression begins to sour.
ARCHER
(disgusted)
That's an old line, Captain. Blaming it on mystery aliens-
PAUL
(interrupting, hard)
This isn't a damned excuse! You have no idea what it's like out here! These bastards killed my father when they boarded us and we barely got away!
Focus on Travis: He visibly jolts at his brother's words and his eyes widen.
RIANNA
We lost over half of our crew, Captain.
(beat)
You've seen the damage we suffered. That was a month ago and we still haven't repaired it all.
REED
Do you have any proof?
Attention shifts slightly to the major. He still seems to be on the verge of drawing his sidearm.
PAUL
Yes.
(off Archer's look)
We have one of the bodies on ice in our hold. And this...
He gestures to one of his crew. The bulky man reaches down and pulls a box from under a table. The box is placed on table and Paul reaches in, pulling out what appears to be a pistol of some sort. Reed draws a sharp breath at its familiar lines:
It's an Orion disruptor.
PAUL
It doesn't work anymore and we can't figure out how to make it work.
Archer's expression has shifted from one of disbelief to very, very worried.
ARCHER
(concerned)
These aliens...what did they look like?
Paul and Rianna exchange a glance, clearly recognizing that Archer may know something.
RIANNA
Humanoid but with green skin.
All five of the Enterprise officers react to that.
PAUL
You've met them?
ARCHER
Unfortunately.
(beat)
They're called Orions.
(beat, grim)
And they're slavers.
A LONG BEAT of silence follows his pronouncement and we do a quick PAN around the mess hall, focusing briefly on the expressions of the people as they digest this statement. We end with the focus on Travis and he looks like he's about to throw up.
MAYWEATHER
(soft, grieved)
Dad's dead?
Both Paul and Rianna appear slightly startled at the question and, for the first time actually look at him. Nora gives him a look as well and the look in her eyes reveals a lot.
PAUL
Yes.
(beat, grim)
He was killed by those bastards a month ago.
(beat)
We barely managed to escape...
Travis looks too stunned to really react to this revelation and stares blankly at his older brother. Rianna's expression softens slightly and we can see the hint of tears in her eyes as well.
Hoshi reaches out and lays a hand on Travis' arm. Her eyes are full of compassion and, beyond her, we can see Nora react slightly to the friendly gesture, a hint that there may have been something more between Travis and Nora before he left Horizon.
ARCHER
(with feeling)
You have my deepest condolences.
And off of his saddened expression, we
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE – CLOSE TO BOOMER SHIP
Once more, we focus on the unusual-looking object on the hull of a Boomer ship. The pulsing light seems to speed up slightly.
We PULL BACK slightly and can see the name of the ship emblazoned upon the hull:
ECS HORIZON
As we continue to PULL BACK, the flash from the odd object fades from sight entirely.
FADE TO:
INT. ENTERPRISE - BRIDGE
Despite the fact that she is in command, Sub-Commander T'Pol is manning the Science board and her attention seems completely focused on the holo-viewer on her board.
Sitting at the tactical station, 1ST LIEUTENANT GEORGES PICARD watches the Vulcan science officer with a concerned expression on his face. The hiss of the turbolift door opening attracts his notice as Commander Tucker emerges, a clipboard and PADD in hand.
At once, Trip notices that T'Pol appears glued to her sensors and he smiles slightly.
TUCKER
(partially teasing)
Aren't you in command?
T'Pol glances up briefly from her sensors, giving the engineer an annoyed look, before returning her attention to the holo-viewer.
T'POL
Yes.
Trip's smirk fades and he approaches her station, lowering his voice slightly.
TUCKER
Is there something wrong?
(beat, off her silence)
T'Pol?
The Vulcan straightens slowly and glances at him with an upraised eyebrow.
T'POL
Do you need something, Commander?
Trip doesn't miss the tension in her voice.
TUCKER
I wanted to run some numbers by you...I think I may have found a way to rig up the sensors so your little trick won't drain so much power.
(beat, nodding to her sensors)
But it can wait if you're busy...
T'Pol nods slightly and promptly leans back down to study the holo-viewer.
TUCKER
(softly)
You didn't answer my question: is something wrong?
Again, she glances at him and her severe expression softens slightly when she sees that he's not trying to insult or argue with her.
T'POL
Unknown.
(beat)
Sensors have detected an electromagnetic wavelength of unidentified origin. I am attempting to isolate and identify it.
TUCKER
What sort of wavelength?
It's said with open curiosity and she reacts to it with a quirk of her right eyebrow before inputting several commands onto her console. A small display snaps to life and a line image of the unusual wavelength can be seen.
Without thinking, Trip leans toward it to get a better look.
TUCKER
It looks familiar...like a carrier wave or something.
T'POL
Indeed.
(beat, as she inputs additional commands)
I have been comparing it to similar patterns in Enterprise's database.
TUCKER
You've run it through the spectrograph?
T'Pol gives him a sidelong look that says it all. Trip abruptly grins at her look, clearly recognizing the “don't insult me” expression in her eyes, and studies the display for a BEAT as he tries to puzzle it out himself. Finally shaking in head, he looks at Picard.
TUCKER
No update on your little alien hunt, Lieutenant?
Picard frowns.
PICARD
Lieutenant Chen is positive he saw something on D Deck, Commander. We'll find it...
TUCKER
If there's actually anything there.
(beat, smirking)
I think the lieutenant is just going space crazy. Not enough fresh air can do that to a person.
Picard glowers briefly at Trip and refocuses his attention on his board, which causes Tucker to smile even broader.
T'POL
Curious...
Trip glances back at her as she straightens.
T'POL
It appears to be a primitive form of evanescent wave coupling...
We can see Picard's look of total incomprehension over Trip's shoulder.
TUCKER
(surprised and now more interested than ever)
Really? That would make it some form of communication...
They look at each other in sudden comprehension.
TUCKER
It's a beacon...
T'Pol turns to the ensign manning the communications console.
T'POL
Contact Captain Archer immediately.
She moves by Trip and walks toward the command chair.
PICARD
Is there a problem?
T'Pol is about to respond when a beep sounds from the Science station. As the closest person, Trip steps up and inputs a command. His eyes widen.
TUCKER
Multiple warp signatures detected!
The Vulcan first officer doesn't hesitate.
T'POL
General Quarters.
TUCKER
Six displacements at 2.9 light-minutes.
He inputs additional commands and the main viewscreen changes to an image of the incoming ships. They're all too familiar in appearance.
PICARD
Orions...
T'POL
Lieutenant Picard, sound Battle Stations.
EXT. SPACE
The six Orion Interceptors surge forward and, off of their sudden appearance, we
FADE TO BLACK
As the screen goes black, a line of text appears at the bottom.
TO BE CONTINUED
FADE OUT.
END OF ACT FIVE
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