301
lyr and erka in the mess hall at the roost, eating breakfast. No one’s talking, all nervous. See Hak and Weir (the buzzards) at a table, bragging about how many crows theyre going to shoot.
Hak: All I’m sayin’ is, if I don’t get at least 20 of ‘em, then I’ll be disappointed in meself.
Weir: 50 is what I’m aimin’ for - those Crow bastards ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em.
Hak: bonus if we see that scrawny blighter that had the balls to step in here.
Weir: I’ve still got the scar when that last toussle - reckon it’s time for a lil payback.
Erka to Lyr: It’s gross. So gross. Who just says crap like that?
Lyr: Most of us, I reckon.
erka: I definitely never did. And I could never now, anyway. Not since we know them, y’know? The ones on Purtch were nice, anyway.
L: Kooup Crows are different, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth saving at any rate.
erka: You think those puck things we were told to put on all the guns will hold up?
(flashback to them entering the armory with the all-access anklet and sticking pucks to guns)
L: We have to trust that they will, otherwise the Event tonight will be an even bigger massacre if us students get involved.
E: I just wish they’d lift the lockdown, we can’t even watch live tv to know what’s going on out there. I want to know if the Resistance has been getting any work done.
L: Keep your voice down. Don’t forget where we are.
E: What, among enemies?
L: they’re certainly not sounding particularly friendly, at the moment.
E: D’you think it’s true? That they’re gonna send us down to act as extra Guards in case something does pop off?
L: We know something’s gonna pop off, we were sent back here to try neutralise this threat. I imagine the Resistance has their hands full with the others.
E: d’you think that Crow boy managed to convince the Island Corvids?
L: That charisma-less bean pole? No chance
E: I don’t know, he got Cedoc and Vermilioss to follow him across an ocean twice (Ky my beloved).
L: What those two idiots choose to believe in shouldn’t be a model for the rest of us.
E: you’re just cranky that sparrow came back and now you’re doubly invisible to Vermilioss.
L: I think that ship has sailed for all parties involved at this point, thanks. At any rate, I’m trying to stop a massacre, not try to win back the girl I lied to and betrayed.
E: “win back” implies you ever had her, man.
L: You know what I -
[an announcement chimes over the overhead speaker: Attention: Classes are cancelled for today. Head to your muster stations at 16-hundred hours tonight. That is all]
(everyone around starts talking)
Erka: That’s it then. It’s happening.
L: Yeah. It’s go time.
[at the Port Academy. Kerwik and Kieera are in walking quickly down a hallway, also listening to an announcement: “at 16-hundred hours tonight. That is all]Kerwik: Someone said they’ve spotted the Admiral’s ship off the coast - I can’t sit around here any longer, we have to get to it.
Kieera: we’ve not just been sitting around, we deactivated all the service weapons with those weird things you found in your room, that’s something.
kerwik: I still don’t agree with doing that, we don’t know who they were from, for one -
Kieera: I think it’s safe to assume it was someone on our side, Kerwik.
Ker: It could’ve been a Dove. or a Corvid. Who else would want extra Government soldiers incapacitated? This was so stupid, I’m going back to -
Kie: They're not gonna let Doves or Corvids wander around the Academy all willy-nilly. C'mon, we don’t have time, we’ve gotta catch the Admiral’s ship now if we’re hoping to, before she’s lost out there again and we get locked in here. Your privileges will only get us so far, and we’ve already done what we can here so we’re not totally going against orders -
ker: Fine. Fine. let’s go before I change my mind.
[leave the academy, flying over the town. Kieera spots Garek stumbling out a bar and grimaces.]
kier: What’s that geezer doing back? He’s meant to be locked up in max -
G: [slurring to a stranger] - and they got these tunnels, see? Where they’re all holed up and scheming against the Government -
Kier: Shit.
[kier and ker dive. kier grabs garek and hauls him to an alley, snarling]
kier: why the fuck are you going around shouting resistance secrets, old man?!
G: They got ya too, did they girl? Stealing Ospreys left and right -
kier: can it, how did you hear those things?
G: hear ‘em? I LIVED ‘em. They got me out of one prison and put me right back into another one!
Ker: If that’s the case, I find it hard to imagine they just let you go.
G: Escaped. Tricked my son. Better off without me anyway.
ker: escaped? Good thing we’re heading there ourselves then. You’re coming with us.
G: Wha - wait - no! gerroff me! put me down! put me down!
[the girls take him by the arms and fly him off, towards the ocean].
[Eurippe is changing in her cabin. erias knocks on the door.]
Erias: New orders from up top. No dye jobs. They want everyone to know what team they’re on if it comes to a fight at the Event.
Eur: And where will that leave me, exactly?
erias: You’ll be dressed as Resistance. But I reckon the higher-ups will want to use you to psyche the other Doves out a bit. I doubt many of them have ever even considered defecting might be an option.
Eur: They haven’t. But I do wonder…if any others might be open to the idea.
Erias: well, Admiral wants us on deck, in any case. Get moving.
[she sticks her tongue out at his back as he leaves. then looks at her reflection in the wall mirror, troubled.]
[control rm of the ship. the Albatross, Erias and Eurippe stand around the control deck]
Alb: We have mapped the remaining temples you informed us of, and there are ground troops working on liberating the last ones. Any old Crows found are receiving medical care…but I am puzzled as to what they were doing there in the first place.
Eur: labor, if I had to guess. The coastal temples were well beyond what I was allowed to be informed of, but Doves do typically see manual labor beneath them, and will outsource it when they can.
Erias: Surely the elderly aren’t the best workers they could come up with.
Alb: perhaps they were the only ones no one would notice go missing. Not all the ones recovered were from the Duune attack. At least we are closer to understanding what it was they were needed for. Each temple had a hidden entrance, as you showed us, and each one had a sealed lab beneath. They were manufacturing something there, although what it was is gone, presumably moved elsewhere. We are investigating, but time is running out before tonight -
seaman: Admiral, we have visitors.
[all look to see three dots on the radar, moving closer. another seaman looks through a telescope]
Seaman2: Three approaching, two carrying the third? Owl, Osprey, the third inconclusive.
[amiral takes telescope and looks]
alb: allow them to come aboard.
[ker and kier touch down, plonking garek on the deck]
G: ow! What kinda landing ya call that?! No courtesy these days -
admiral: Why are you both here and not at the Academy as ordered? And why have you brought this Osprey by, what I assume is, force?
ker: Ma’am, I returned to my quarters to find a box with my initials on. Inside was technology that was supposedly capable of neutralising Academy weapons. The two of us used them on all weapons in the armoury, as we assumed was the plan.
alb: Who left the box?
Ker: We do not know, ma’am.
alb: Did you test the technology, to see if it worked as intended?
Ker: Yes ma’am. It worked as intended, and didn’t allow the gun to fire.
alb: and it did not occur to you the box could have been placed there by our enemies, and will leave your classmates sitting ducks on a battlefield?
Ker…it occurred to me, ma’am. But as our possible adversaries are underpowered, I thought the fewer weapons in the medley, the better.
alb: indeed. well, let us hope your decision was the correct one, as there is no time left to rectify it. (ker looks guilty) Now, why is this Osprey here?
Kier: He’s Ky’s dad. We found him wandering around town, drunk and shouting Resistance secrets. He mentioned he’d escaped from them, so we thought it better to bring him here, to you. Ma’am.
Alb: I see. [to seaman] put him in the -
[ the radar begins beeping, everyone turns to look. more and more dots begin to appear around the edge]
ker: this is -
kier: from the Avarie side -
Erias: they’ve got to be coming to help. They must have heard the King is back here, and have amassed an army to aid the King in returning peace to this land.
Alb: It’s just as likely they’ve come to steal him back and start another war in the process. We must intercept them, at any rate, regardless of who they are.
Garek: Oh, I know who it is. Brace yourselves, folks. Yer about to meet my ex-wife.