Starship Iris 3.04 Relapse

 3.04.01 RADIO.

VIOLET

Hey, Junie. It’s—um, sorry, I didn’t realize until the call went through to voicemail that it’s so late in Telemachus, even you might be asleep. You know how time works in space, though. Dark outside no matter what. Hovering between any planet’s time zones. It’s zero o’clock. 

I guess I should skip to the chase and tell you that I haven’t done it yet. There’s never a good time, and—that’s an excuse. You know, I thought it meant something when she was willing to say “I love you” even before I’d said it. But I don’t think she was even sure I’d come along for the mission. To be with her, and everyone, doing something that could tip the war back in our favor, and anyway. It’s Tripathi. After what we’ve been through, how could she think I’d be able to stay at home? 

And I don’t know how to look in the face of that, whatever that is, and say, “Hey, after the war, if we’re both still alive, do you want to bend our lives together to live in the same place, out of any place in the universe?” It’s funny, this is the best dating relationship I’ve ever had, and also I can tell she does not want to talk about living together when the war’s done. But I can’t just—”Oh hey, captain, no, everyone’s vitals look great, we’re four days out from an impossibly dangerous mission to rescue your best friend from Cresswin Landing, you remember: the prison planet that brings up a ton of your past, can we have a little chat about your commitment issues?” I’ve been avoiding her a little since we had this talk—this very much not-a-talk, and I know what you’d say, but.

I miss you, jerk.

Everyone else is doing well, I think. As well as we can. Brian seems lighter lately. McCabe’s got a little spring in their step, even. Park is focused but not in a bad way. And Krejjh…to be honest, I can never tell with Krejjh. 

3.04.02 INT. FRUITBAT COCKPIT. 

THEME

KREJJH

(SINGING TO THEMSELF, TO THE TUNE OF “TINY DANCER” BY ELTON JOHN”, 2:33-2:58)

Hold me closer, tiny dancer

How’d this dancer get so tiny?

It’s okay, I need no answer,

I’ll just try hard not to sneeze…

BRIAN

(SINGING THE PIANO PART) Ba da da dum da da da da da dum!

FX: COCKPIT DOORS OPEN

VIOLET

Hey Krejjh, hey Brian.

FX: FEET STEP THROUGH, COCKPIT DOORS CLOSE

BRIAN

Hey.

VIOLET

Mind if I hang out here for a few?

BRIAN

Actually, we—

FX: COCKPIT DOORS OPEN.

ARKADY

Krejjh, what the Hell are you trying to pull?

KREJJH

(TENSE) Oh, so that’s what this is. I had a drip of an inkling you’d be returning with reinforcements, Captain Patel. So I thought, I’ll bring my own, make this a reinforcements party. A backup box social.

BRIAN

A supplemental soiree.

KREJJH

(GRIM) Five it.

FX: HIGH FIVE.

VIOLET

What is happening right now?

ARKADY

We’re about to slip behind schedule on our mission, on the most important mission we’ve ever had because Krejjh—Krejjh!—suddenly isn’t willing to do their goddamn job and take a calculated risk!

KREJJH

Oh? When’d you attend flight school, Captain Patel?

BRIAN

Dude, Captain, maybe don’t try to explain it to them.

KREJJH

You don’t think I can see my own panel? You think my funny little alien brain can’t comprehend that we move faster in a straighter line? I am not doing this for giggles, Captain Patel.

ARKADY

Not loving the attitude right now, Krejjh.

KREJJH

Oh that is a sobbing shame because I am having an absolute slice right now!

ARKADY

If we show up even half a minute too late—

KREJJH

Oh, because there’s no way I could’ve done that math on my own! I must just be taking it easy! 

ARKADY

I don’t know, Krejjh, you had time to do whatever this is to the walls!

KREJJH

I took one hour when the ship was in autopilot to zazz up the paintjob so that for one second, we’d have something to smile about! Look around, there is not much else for us right now!

VIOLET

Wait, wait, hang on—why aren’t we flying the most direct route to Cresswin?

ARKADY

Because Krejjh won’t—

KREJJH

Because Angela Kim is dead. 

VIOLET

Who’s Angela Kim?

KREJJH

A pilot, from Negev. One of the best human pilots left. She was out in this part of space seven hours ago. Her last transmission—a drone got her. There’s an extra drone out there, one we haven’t accounted for. Scanners say there’s three main spots it could be and breesht, I don’t care what you say, Captain Patel, we are steering the shit clear of all of them!

ARKADY

Krejjh, if we follow your route, we have less than half an hour to land on Cresswin Landing, find Sana, get her out of there, and get her intelligence to headquarters. You’ve outrun Regime ships, you’ve outrun explosions, you landed a ship almost upside down. So why the absolute Hell are you choosing this moment—

KREJJH

I’m not sitting there with a chocolates box, picking and plucking! Look. I’m the best. I know I am. But best doesn’t matter with a drone. You can’t out-think them. You can’t outfly them. They just keep coming til you’re dead.

ARKADY

Just because nobody’s escaped a drone yet…

KREJJH

Angela Kim couldn’t do it in a good ship. Does this look like a good ship to you?

ARKADY

If we move through just one of those spots…our odds are one in three, right? Krejjh, I know for a fact you’ve taken worse risks. This is the mission. This is the window we need to attack the source of these goddamn machines in the first place. This is Captain Tripathi. We need more than half an hour. You’ve gotta know that.

KREJJH

You think I don’t care enough, that’s it.

ARKADY

You’re not showing me that you do.

KREJJH

Right, right, what could I possibly care about saving the life of one of ten people left in the universe who will ever understand me? 

ARKADY

We don’t have time for this! We do not have time!

FX: COCKPIT DOOR OPENS.

MCCABE

Because putting off our feelings until later has worked so well in the past. Hi, um, we heard shouting.

PARK

Sound really does carry in here.

ARKADY

Hey, can we table this part of conversation til after we’ve recovered Sana?

KREJJH

I don’t know. I don’t know.

BRIAN

This feels like something we address. 

ARKADY

This feels like something we address later, when we’ve done the mission and Captain Tripathi is here to help us deal with whatever the Hell it is!

VIOLET

Could we just—Krejjh. Are we flying the fastest we can without putting ourselves in danger?

KREJJH

Taking into account that we gotta save fuel for the return trip and we gotta duck and weave to avoid a coupla big stars and the likeliest drone sites, yeah.

VIOLET

One of my first memories of Tripathi is her telling Brian to sleep. I think she’d be upset if we died not taking proper precautions. 

PARK

Fair.

VIOLET

Even if that’s what she would do.

MCCABE

Are you calling Captain Tripathi a hypocrite?

VIOLET

I’m calling her a human being. “Same as anyone, a bundle of contradictions.” We lose something, if we treat her as a paragon.

ARKADY

She’d hate that. (A BEAT) She’ll hate that.

VIOLET

The rest is up to you, Captain.

MCCABE

She means you, Arkady.

ARKADY

Right. I think, uh. (DEEP BREATH IN AND OUT) What’s the range? How far can these drones sense us coming?

KREJJH

We don’t know.

ARKADY

How cautious are your projections right now?

KREJJH

I don’t…pretty cautious.

ARKADY

I’m not saying we sail straight through the middle of a possible drone site, but if we moved 5%, 10% closer to just one. Say, that one. That’s better than a 2 out of 3 chance of avoiding it, and we’d save…looking at the map, can anyone do the math?

PARK

We’d gain five hours.

ARKADY

Five hours. Krejjh. That’s huge.

KREJJH

Yeah.

BRIAN“Yeah” really? Are we good, Krejjh?

KREJJH

I like five and change hours way more than less than one.

VIOLET

Okay, then. Are we, um. Are we agreed.

KREJJH

Tweaking course.

ELLA

Flight path amended.

PARK

Could anyone else use a cuppa?

ARKADY

Park, have you been hiding a still in here?

MCCABE

He meant tea. Presumably whatever we couldn’t sell on Graylands.

ARKADY

Right.

PARK

When people who aren’t Sana say “cuppa,” they don’t mean moonshine.

ARKADY

Of course. Tea, then?

VIOLET

Lead the way. 

3.04.03 INT. FRUITBAT COCKPIT CONT. 

FX: DOORS OPEN. ARKADY, VIOLET, MCCABE, AND PARK EXIT. DOORS CLOSE.

TRANSITION

BRIAN

Hey, love, have you talked to Thasia or Swarnsh today?

KREJJH

I know, I know—even if we just get the Neevath onboard, any chunk of Dwarnian aid’d be a huge asset.

BRIAN

I meant, maybe they could help with some of what you’re feeling. What you said just now, about the universe.

KREJJH

But also…

BRIAN

Yeah.

KREJJH

The war.

BRIAN

Maybe if you—

KREJJH

I should call Swarnsh. Maybe I’d feel less (ANGUISHED SOUND) if I could actually do something. Talk them into committing to something.

ELLA

Attempting connection. Att—

SWARNSH

Krejjh, haversh-le, iblix glu’u?

KREJJH

Hiya, Swarnsh. Uh, Crewman Jeeter’s here too.

BRIAN

Hey.

SWARNSH

Do you terribly mind if I practice my English, then? Such a complex language. So many, ah, crannies.

BRIAN

Go right ahead.

SWARNSH

How are you faring?

KREJJHU

h, been better, Swarnsh. Look, we are strapped tight right now. Dwarnians have software, hardware, you’ve got advanced anti-aircraft stuff and we’ve got…people and pluck and not much else.

SWARNSH

Krejjh. I am sorry. You need to understand that I am doing everything I can. I am talking to everyone I can talk to. The situation here is volatile.

KREJJH

What if a little something happened to go missing? The shielding tech! Just the shielding tech.

SWARNSHT

hen the Dwarnian Federation would consider that a hostile action committed against the state by humans and they would likely declare war again. Over the strenuous objections of the Neevath. Like always.

KREJJH

War on the humans, which humans?

SWARNSH

I have made the case many times, but the Dwarnian Federation does not draw a meaningful distinction between the Regime and the Rooks. They see you as a failed coup of a larger coup. If you could establish an election across all Rook territory—

KREJJH

They’re shooting our ships outta the sky. A whole lotta places are struggling to get food, meds, basic supplies.

SWARNSH

Suppose you could mark one major military victory, prove your side has a chance of becoming a galactic power.

KREJJH

You won’t help us unless we score a win. And we can’t score a win unless you help us.

SWARNSH

It is much like they say in—have you ever seen that marvelous soap—

KREJJH

Sh’th Hremreh? Pal, I could quote it shot by shot.

SWARNSH

No, uh. It’s newer. The English title would be something like Secret Flight? It’s espionage historical fiction.

KREJJH

Fly in Secret? Like Fselsh-ka-Dlameer?

SWARNSH

Qu-Shlaveth-Fselch.

KREJJH

Oh. Right. 

SWARNSH

I believe I remember Sh’th Hremreh, though. Was that what, five years ago? With the—outlaw and…

KREJJH

Pirate. It was a space pirate.

SWARNSH

So sorry. I believe some of my senior advisors enjoyed that one.

KREJJH

Of course. Listen, can I talk to you later?

SWARNSH

Of course.

ELLA

Connection ended.

KREJJH

(LONG SHAKY BREATH)

KREJJH

Qu-Shlaveth-Fselch.

BRIAN

Sounds like a good one.

KREJJH

Thasia never mentioned it to me.

BRIAN

They’ve got a lot on their mind right now, bud.

Bud?

KREJJH

When I was young, we had a—you’d call it a computer, probably? And it was for me to do, uh, basically homework. Diplomat homework. And I used to sneak flight simulators onto there. They’d add another layer of security, I’d figure out how to weasel my way through. It was an old tango.

BRIAN

You can hack?

KREJJH

No, I can weasel. And not on human-built machines, that bends the brain in too many ways at once.

BRIAN

Makes sense. That’s cool, though. That you can.

KREJJH

I just wanted to be somewhere else, so so bad. Even before the war ended and I saw what we’d done. I always wanted to be gone.

You’re from a place, and you know you have to leave. So you do. But everywhere you go, everyone who meets you says, “Oh hey, you’re the one From That Place!” It’s always who you’re gonna be to them. And you know: you’re too far from it to go back in a way that matters. 

And then you start to realize that as much as you will always be The One From The Place to those who’ve never been, your connection to the place is kinda only in your head. It’s a memory that gets fuzzier every day. And you hate it, and you miss it, and you hate that you miss it. And you just—sometimes you wanna go the heck back, when you didn’t even have to really think about—being from anywhere.

BRIAN

Yeah.

KREJJH

I’ve been dreaming in English. And I love you, Crewman Jeeter, and I love the way you feel about languages, and I love what we’ve built together but I don’t want— 

BRIAN

Of course, love. Of course.

KREJJH

Sorry, I should be—everybody’s got so whopping much on their plates all the time, I shouldn’t gum up the works. It’s me, folks expect— sunshine and a cool little zinger and frankly impeccable perfect style.

BRIAN

Speaking of, that scarf—!

KREJJH

I do what I can.

BRIAN

There’s room for you to feel whatever you’re feeling. We’ll make room.

KREJJH

I can’t even—I can’t get any movement on the diplomatic dealings. I don’t even know what they’re watching, back on the homeworld. They live in the mountains and I live in the past.

I’d make an awful human, but. I’m a worse Dwarnian.

BRIAN

You’re not an awful anything. You’re an amazing spouse, you’re a wonderful friend, you’re an astonishing pilot—hang on, if I’m gonna do this right, I’ll need to pull up a thesaurus—

KREJJH

There’s always gonna be a big chunk of me that doesn’t fit anywhere.

3.04.04 INT. FRUITBAT COCKPIT. CONT. 

FX: BEEP BEEP

KREJJH

No…

FX: BEEP

KREJJH

No, please.

BRIAN

Is that—? 

KREJJH

Yeah.

ELLA

Danger. Drone approaching. Missile targeting systems locking on the ship in 3, 2,—

KREJJH

COWABUNGA, LOSER!

FX: A BURST OF SPEED.

BRIAN

Whoa!

KREJJH

Crewman Jeeter, my wonderful spouse, can you flip that big red switch?

FX: SWITCH FLIPPED

FX: EVEN FASTER BURST OF SPEED! BRIAN AND KREJJH MUST HALF-SHOUT TO HEAR EACH OTHER.

BRIAN

What did I just do?

KREJJH

Don’t worry about it!

BRIAN

Krejjh, love? 

KREJJH

We overrode the iohseri:io catch! 

BRIAN

What?

KREJJH

The safety that stops the engine from overheating!

BRIAN

Don’t we need that?

KREJJH

We need a whole heck of a lotta things right now, my pal!

ELLA

Drone range clear.

KREJJH

(SHAKY SIGH)

BRIAN

Did you just outrun a drone?

KREJJH

Hard to say.

ARKADY

Was that what I think it was?

KREJJH

Captain Patel, did you think it was a heavily armed flying weapon straight from the bad guys?

ARKADY

Shit.

KREJJH

Don’t you worry, it is making a positive meal of our dust.

ARKADY

Krejjh, I’m sorry. If you could go back to the more cautious route…

KREJJH

It’s a little late for that.

ARKADY

Okay. Do your best. Arkady Patel out.

BRIAN

You okay?

KREJJH

Of course. You?

BRIAN

If there was anybody I’d trust to get us out of this…

KREJJH

We can’t just wait around to get shot. 

FX: BEEP BEEP 

BRIAN

What’re the odds, another drone, and we can just…again—

FX: BEEP

KREJJH

It’s the same one. 

ELLA

Danger. Drone approaching. 

KREJJH

It’s the same one, it never left.

ELLA

Missile targeting systems locking on the ship in 3—

KREJJH

OH NO YOU DON’T!

FX: SUDDEN SURGE OF SPEED.

BRIAN

Wow! Okay. 

ELLA

Drone range clear.

ARKADY

Hey.

KREJJH

Drone range clear. For now. 

ARKADY

How’s our fuel? How many more times can we surge like that?

KREJJH

Hang on, just lemme— (“OH SHIT”) Um.

BRIAN

Krejjh? Buddy?

KREJJH

Five.

ARKADY

Five. Are you sure?

KREJJH

Yeah, and every time we do it, we put a whole big load of stress on the engine. Which would be fixable, but only if we had a mechanic.

ARKADY

Five in—how much more time do we have?

KREJJH

Maybe…eleven hours, fifty minutes.

BRIAN

If we jettisonned everything that wasn’t, like, essential—

KREJJH

We already did that on Graylands. The main thing slowing us down is the ship itself. Fruitbats weren’t built for speed.

ARKADY

We’ve gotta have something we can fire at them. We’ve got explosives, can’t we jettison something out the back airlock?

KREJJH

Even if we scrounged up a way to aim, we couldn’t get the flotsam and jetsam moving fast enough to make a dent.

BRIAN

If we eject it at the exact same time as we put on a burst of…crap, this is a physics problem. Why am I so bad at physics?

KREJJH

It’s okay. (DEEP BREATH) Drone facts. Drone facts. What do we know about the drone?

ARKADY

Advanced targeting system. Devastating weapons. Locked on to our location. Not an ounce of deadweight. Doesn’t experience doubt, fear, or pain.

KREJJH

What do we—Breesht.

FX: BEEP BEEP BEEP

KREJJH

It’s back.

ELLA

Danger: drone approaching. Missile targeting systems locking on the ship in 3, 2—

FX: SURGE OF SPEED.

ELLA

Drone range clear.

ARKADY

So we have four more?

KREJJH

Three and a half. Captain Patel. What do I do?

ARKADY

…I don’t know.

KREJJH

Captain Patel?

3.04.05 INT. FRUITBAT.   ARKADY & VIOLET’S ROOM.

TRANSITION

KREJJH

Captain Patel?

ARKADY

(DELIBERATE BREATHING)

VIOLET

Arkady?

ARKADY

I screwed us. It was my call, and I got it wrong.

VIOLET

Krejjh needs you.

ARKADY

Krejjh needed me, hours ago. I failed them. We’re gonna die out here, and it’ll be my fault. My plan. My goddamn mistake.

VIOLET

Listen. There was a 2 in 3 chance your plan would’ve worked, and we’d all be singing your praises. That doesn’t make you bad at this. It just means we rolled the dice. It’s not a risk if it can’t go wrong.

ARKADY

We have three and a half surges left. That goddamn thing’s bearing down on us. It’s over.

VIOLET

Like Hell it is.

Krejjh. This is beyond me. But you’re a good pilot, you’re a clever pilot, and if there is a way out of this, you’re gonna find it. This is me saying you’re gonna find it, and you’re gonna solve it your way. 

KREJJH

It’s still there. I can see it on the scanners. It’s not leaving. It won’t leave. And we can’t—no amount of charm or brains or footwork’s gonna clear it.

VIOLET

I know. We know. And that’s why it’s gonna be so incredible when you save us.

ARKADY

Krejjh. Do you want us up there with you?

KREJJH

That’d be good. Uh, can you get the others? In case we need to—in case.

FX: DOORS OPEN. VIOLET AND ARKADY EXIT THEIR ROOM. TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS DOWN THE HALL. 

ARKADY

Arkady Patel to all crew. Look, you all know about the drone. It’s still coming. We have about three hard accelerations left, and we’re still almost 12 hours from Cresswin. I trust you to do the math. If you wanna be alone, that’s fine. But the rest of us are gonna be at the cockpit if you need someone to—if you don’t want that. Arkady Patel out.

3.04.06 INT. FRUITBAT COCKPIT

COCKPIT DOORS OPEN. 

KREJJH

Captain Patel, Doctor Liu. Wish we had better news.

VIOLET

Any updates?

KREJJH

More of the same.

BRIAN

What kind of defense systems do we have if it hits us?

ARKADY

For hard impact? Nothing. One good shot will sink us.

KREJJH

Standard-issue heat shields and that’s all they wrote. 

VIOLET

And there’s no way we could stay on path but get out of range?

KREJJH

I’m tellin’ you, Doctor Liu, we gotta zig and zag if we wanna steer clear of some hot hot stars.

(EXCITED) Wait! Wait wait wait!

BRIAN

Krejjh?

KREJJH

We’ve been asking the ding-dang wrong questions! Krejjh to all crew, hang tight and no matter what, stay cool, my hepcats. Krejjh out.

Crewman Jeeter?

BRIAN

Yeah, bud. A kiss for good luck.

KREJJH

Thank you, my kind and wonderful spouse!

ARKAD

YKrejjh, what’s the right quest— (THE SHIP SWERVES SHARPLY) whoa, shit.

KREJJH

The right question is: WHAT KIND OF HEAT SHIELDS DO YOU FIND ON A GOVERNMENT DRONE?

BRIAN

(QUICKLY) And what’s the answer?

KREJJH

We are gonna find out! Hang on.

ARKADYKrejjh, is this smart?

KREJJH

You said to solve it my way, Captain Patel!

ELLA

Danger: drone approaching. 

KREJJH

Oops, haha, that swerve brought us a lot closer.

ELLA

Missile targeting systems locking on the ship in—

KREJJH

A hearty hail and welcome to our newest friend, a blue-hot ball of exploding gas!

ELLA 

3—

VIOLET

Krejjh, can we go a little faster?

ELLA

2—

BRIAN

Into the sun, though?

FX: SUDDEN ACCELERATION

ELLA

Drone range clear.

KREJJH

The trick, the trick is to zoom from the kaboom while letting ‘em catch up so they can follow us where we want ‘em. Doom.

FX: COCKPIT DOORS OPEN

MCCABE

What’s going on?

FX: COCKPIT DOORS CLOSE

KREJJH

You ever heard the old human story of Icarus?

VIOLET

No.

MCCABE

No.

ARKADY AND BRIAN

Yep.

ELLA

Heat shields activated. Heat shields at 90 percent.

KREJJH

We’re leaving Daedalus in the dust!

ELLA

Heat shields at 80 percent.

ARKADY

Krejjh, tell me you remember how that story ends!

ELLA

Heat shields at 70 percent. 

KREJJH

We make our home on the edge of the knife blade!

ELLA Heat shields at 60 percent. Change of course recommended.

FX: COCKPIT DOORS OPEN.

PARK

What’s the plan?

ELLA

Heat shields at 50 percent. Change of course recommended.

PARK

That star looks close. And warm.

KREJJH

It’s about to look warmer! We make our friends on the edge of the knife blade!

ELLA

Heat shields at 40 percent. Amend flightpath immediately.

MCCABE

We’re trying to outburn the drone?

KREJJH

Got it in one, my friend! We rejoice on the edge of the knife blade! We—

ELLA

Heat shields at 30 percent. Amend flightpath immediatel—

FX: BEEP BEEP BEEP

ELLA

Danger: drone approach—

Incoming call from—Other Violet.

KREJJH

You are KIDDING me! We breathe in, on the edge of the knife blade, suspended between victory and defeat—

ELLA

Missile targeting systems locking on the—

Incoming call from—Other Violet.

KREJJH

ELLA, CANCEL CALL. 

ELLA

Three

KREJJH

For we are the ones who will prevail!

ELLA

Two

KREJJH

We are the ones who will slice the battle-sharpened edge!

ELLA

One—

KREJJH

I love you all! Time to SWERVE!

FX: KREJJH SWERVES HARD, PUNCHING ON THE ACCELERATOR.

ARKADY

Holy shit!

FX: EVERYTHING IN THE COCKPIT RATTLES.

ELLA Heat shields at twenty-five percent.

Drone range clear.

ARKADY

Krejjh, how’s our tail?

KREJJH

Scanning the scanners and…holiest of molys, we cooked that sucker like an eel dinner, we are home free, folks! 

EVERYONE

LAUGHTER, SIGHS OF RELIEF.

PARK

Wow.

ARKADY

Seriously thought that might be the end.

BRIAN

And like, in that moment, were you copacetic with your last words being “holy shit”?

ARKADY

Y’know what, I stand by it.

VIOLET

(LAUGHING) Right to the point.

ARKADY

Violet, can we—? In the hallway for a sec?

VIOLET

Of course.

KREJJH

Ooooh!

ARKADY

Can it, Krejjh. (A BEAT) But, uh, you did good.

KREJJH

No. I did great.

FX: COCKPIT DOORS OPEN, VIOLET AND ARKADY STEP OUT, COCKPIT DOORS SHUT.

3.04.07 INT. FRUITBAT HALLWAY. 

ARKADY

I’m sorry.

VIOLET

For—?

ARKADY

For giving the Hell up? For folding like a sheet? If you hadn’t stepped in—

VIOLET

Well, I did.

ARKADY

But if you hadn’t—I don’t know if I can do this. Any of it. Be captain.

If I make another mistake like that…

VIOLET

Then someone else will step in, give the situation a nudge. We’re a crew, we trust each other, we work together.

ARKADY

I’m supposed to be in charge.

VIOLET

Look, my whole adult life, I’ve had bosses, people promoted by the Regime, who treated us—I mean, you can imagine. I guarantee you, none of them would’ve listened to me. None of them would’ve let me try talking to Krejjh.

ARKADY

When that’s your bar…

VIOLET

I’m not done. You’re not perfect at this. You’ve also been in charge for how many days? You don’t have to know everything. You just have to listen to the people who do have an idea of what comes next.

Today was a win. And in twelve hours, we’ll be reunited with Tripathi. We’ll sneak her off Cresswin and into the ship somehow. She’ll shut down the drones, get a sing along going, and it’ll be the whole crew again, like the old days.

ARKADY

That does sound good, doesn’t it?

VIOLET

It sounds incredible.

ARKADY

Thank you. For what you did. Saving our asses with the pep talk.

VIOLET

Thanks. Unfortunately, I don’t know how often “fly straight into the nearest sun” can be the answer.

ARKADY

Christ. 

VIOLET

What?

ARKADY

I’m gonna miss you when this is over and you’re back in San Ramos. I know they need you, I know long-term it would be so stupid and selfish to do anything else, but.

VIOLET

I, actually—

ARKADY

What? Spit it out, Liu.

VIOLET

I’ll miss you too. 

I guess we need to just enjoy the time we have together?

ARKADY

You mean, as we race across a hostile war zone to save our friend’s life?

VIOLET

You’re making me nostalgic. 

ARKADY

Hah.

VIOLET

Ready to go back in?

ARKADY

Yeah.

VIOLET

Arkady?

ARKADY

Uh-huh?

VIOLET

Are you thinking about that moment with Krejjh again?

ARKADY

Maybe?

VIOLETSeriously, don’t torture yourself. Before this is done, you’ll get plenty of more chances to handle high-stress situations. 

ARKADY

Truer words. I should probably apologize to them, huh? For losing my shit.

VIOLET

It couldn’t hurt. (A BEAT) Arkady?

ARKADY

Mm?

VIOLET

Nothing. I love you.

ARKADY

Love you, too.

3.04.08 INT. FRUITBAT COCKPIT. 

FX: COCKPIT DOORS OPEN, VIOLET AND ARKADY STEP THROUGH.

BRIAN

Krejjh, that was—you’re a legend, I’m married to a legend.

KREJJH

Was there ever a question!

ELLA

Incoming call from—Other Violet.

KREJJH

Computer, accept call.

ARKADY

Other Violet, can we—?

OTHER VIOLET

(THE CONNECTION IS TERRIBLE)Look, I don’t have much time.

I’m on my way back from meeting with a kid who saw Tripathi after her disappearance. Winnie. She’s real, it all checks out. They were in a secret prison on Cresswin together. Slateston.

ARKADY

In a—oh my god, is Sana okay?

OTHER VIOLET

We don’t know. She escaped with a group, realized they’d put a tracker in her and broke off in a shuttle. 

FX: BEEP BEEP BEEP

VIOLET

A tracker in her?

ARKADY

Broke off where, where is she?

NON-ELLA PLEASANT VOICE

Danger: Drone approaching.

OTHER VIOLET

Uhh…

FX: FIDDLING WITH CONTROLS.

KREJJH

Stay calm, Commander Liu. Is there a star you can—

NON-ELLA PLEASANT VOICE

Missile targeting systems—

OTHER VIOLET

There’s nothing. There’s no— 

I’m in a jumpship. I’m almost out of fuel. Really thought this part of space was clear.

NON-ELLA PLEASANT VOICE

Locking on the ship in 3

PARK

Where is Sana.

OTHER VIOLET

Tell—tell Thasia I love them.

NON ELLA PLEASANT VOICE

2

ARKADY

Where is Sana! Please!

OTHER VIOLET

We don’t know, but—

NON ELLA PLEASANT VOICE

1

OTHER VIOLET—the likeliest place is—(GASP)

FX: OTHER VIOLET’S SIGNAL IS SUDDENLY, VIOLENTLY, CUT SHORT

CREDITS MUSIC

ISHANI

Ishani Kanetkar as Arkady Patel

CINDY

Cindy Chu as Violet Liu

JAMIE

Jamie Price as Brian Jeeter

BRI

Bri LeFever as Krejjh

JACKIE

Jackie Andrews as RJ McCabe

CHRIS

Chris Choi as Jin Seon Park

RAIN

Rain Corbyn as Swarnsh

ELLA

Ella Whomersley as ELLA

JO

Jo Chiang as Other Violet

ESS

Ess Jay as Non-ELLA Pleasant Voice

JESS

Written by Jessica Best

LAUREN

Directed by Lauren Grace Thompson

ELEANOR

Production coordination by Eleanor Hyde

JEFFREY

Sound design by Jeffrey Nils Gardner

JESS

Opening credits music is “Fear for the Storm” by Jessica Best and S.E. Winters, performed by Chiron Star with Erin Bauman on vocals and harmonies arranged by Jamie Price.

AMBER 

The closing credits music is “Rocket Science” by Amber Devereux of Tin Can Audio