Mercs: One

Mercenaries

Episode One: The Crew

Scene 1: EXT. opening music/graphic, a spaceship, well-armored and well-gunned, but not flashy; Venture painted on the hull in black and silver. Camera enters through the cockpit, passes HAWKINS the pilot, heads to the galley where SERIN and MADINE are playing poker, game-faces; continue to the back of the ship. We come to the engine room and find LOD, senior crewman, and JEK, the mechanic. Lod nods, gives Jek a pat on the shoulder and turns around; follow Lod to a computer desk. He sits, going over a data pad, then the computer comes alive. A picture, number, last known position, warning appear.

(music fades)

Lod (hits the intercom): Captain! New bounty on the system.

FERAH (over intercom): Acknowledged.

(Camera switches to Hawkins; head tilted up, listening, hoping for instructions)

Ferah (intercom): Hawkins, lay in a course for Astra III, Centaur System.

Hawkins: Yes, sir! Uh, ma'am.

Ferah (intercom): Pick one and stick with it.

Hawkins: Yes, sir. (winces, realizing he's locked in now, then lays in the course) Course set for Astra III; estimated arrival in … 46 hours, 22 minutes.

(Ship changes direction, montage of activities while they fly: Madine, Serin, and Lod clean weapons and prep personalized body armor; Hawkins lounges in the pilot's seat, tries to catch gummies in his mouth; Jek naps in the engine room. The countdown clock in the galley runs down to 4:48:21.)

Hawkins (intercom): Captain, we're being hailed. It's the Crusher.

(INT. Captain Ferah's room. She's dressed in body armor, has two holsters on her hips and one on her left side.)

Ferah: (moves to intercom on the wall, presses the button) On my way.

(INT. cockpit, Madine and Lod are milling in the hallway on the other side of the open door. Ferah is standing over Hawkins' shoulder. She nods and Hawkins establishes the connection. The man on the other side is burly, has multiple scars/tattoos.)

JOYCE: (barks a laugh) So you're Captain Ferah.... I thought you'd be taller.

Ferah: Joyce. I thought you'd have a boy's name.

Joyce: (scowls) We're taking this bounty. I've been tracking him for two systems, and he's finally gone to ground. He's mine.

(beat)

Joyce: Well, I'm glad you agree. (turns and makes a “kill” motion and the screen goes blank)

(Ferah looks at the screen a beat, out at space, then turns to Hawkins.)

Ferah: Change heading to Astra I; we'll refuel before we head back out.

Hawkins: (opens mouth, pauses) Aye, sir.

(Ferah exits, passes Lod, then Madine in the corridor.)

Madine: Captain, you can't be serious. The Crusher? We're just going to show them our bellies? It's four million!

Ferah: (turns, waits for him to finish, her left pinky finger twitches) There are other bounties, Madine.

(Madine is furious. Ferah is stoic; she turns and heads back through the ship.)

(Off-screen) Hawkins on intercom: Course set for Astra I; ETA, six hours.

(Everyone standing down, sour looks, Madine in his room, boxing with a punching bag.)

Scene 2: INT. ship's galley, Madine, Serin, Lod, and Hawkins sit around the table.

Madine: Has the captain always been such a coward?

Serin: Everyone knows she doesn’t take risks.

Madine: Yeah, well risks pay, Serin, and I’m here to get rich. And so far I’ve barely had a single bounty!

Hawkins: Maybe you shouldn’t have signed—

Madine: Oh, shut up, Hawkins! You’re the pilot; you don’t even know how to handle a gun.

Lod: (quiet chuckle to himself) Compared to the captain, none of us know how to handle a gun.

Serin: She's that good, Lod?

Madine: What, are you looking to try her?

Serin: Are you?

(Madine scowls.)

Lod: First job we had when I joined Venture, three guys got the drop on her. Never seen a person move that fast. Only one of them got a shot off, and he was dead before he hit the ground.

Serin: She get hit?

Lod: Clipped her shoulder.

Hawkins: How long have you been here?

Lod: Coming up on the end of my contract. Only two months left.

Madine: She make you rich?

Lod: Find me when your contract is up, and we'll compare notes.

Hawkins: You ever think about renewing, Lod?

Madine: Ferah never renews, you idiot. It's three years and you're out, good or bad, rich or poor.

Serin: Unless you're dead.

(Madine grunts.)

Serin: I heard a story that she did renew once. You hear about that, Lod? They said he tried to cut her throat.

Lod: I heard. I think he did more than try.

Madine: Well if she's so great, maybe someone can explain why we're running away from our bounty?! That's four million marks we just lost, and for what? Because someone else got there first?

Ferah (from the doorway): Because someone else is now dead.

(Ferah tosses a circular object onto the table and a news wave holograph pops up floating above it. “FIVE MERCENARIES KILLED; THEIR QUARRY STILL AT LARGE.”)

Lod: Any escape?

Ferah: Two. (Her head bobbles.) Maybe.

Madine: What do you mean, maybe?

Ferah: The bounty. He's been known to don a skin suit.

(Faces show disgust.)

Madine: We could have done better.

Ferah: You could have done better?

Madine: (angry) Yes.

Ferah: Good. Because I already changed course; we're heading to intercept The Crusher. You have twenty minutes.

Hawkins: In-in-intercept? We're going after the skin suit guy?

Ferah: His head in going in the hold, Hawkins, not the cockpit.

Jek (intercom): Uh, did we change course? Something happened to the clock back here. Am I still getting fuel?

(Lod goes to the intercom)

Lod: No fuel yet, Jek. But maybe some money for the fuel.

Jek (intercom): I can handle that.

Ferah: Hawkins, let me know as we're in range to talk to The Crusher.

Hawkins: Aye, sir. (rises and leaves)

Madine: Like they're just going to let us on board?

Ferah: Two crewmen against a full complement on the Venture? Not even Joyce is stupid enough for that. You two best head to the lasers though until we dock.

(Madine and Serin nod and head out.)

Ferah: Lod, I want you on the cannon. If things start to go poorly, you just do what you did before.

Lod: Aye, captain. (beat) This one got you nervous, sir?

Ferah: (Looks up at him, looks down at the holo.) New crew.

(Lod's looks away somberly a minute, then nods.)

Lod: I'll be in the cannon.

(Ferah stands alone in the galley.)

Scene 3: INT. cockpit; Hawkins and Ferah

Hawkins: Hailing them now.

(The screen blinks on. Joyce and a female crew member are on the ship. They are both worse for wear with bandages, cuts, and bruises.)

Joyce: What do you want, Ferah? To gloat? Go get the bounty if you think you can handle him.

(beat)

Ferah: Roman?

(Joyce scoffs.)

Joyce: Oh, come on.

Ferah: Well, she's too small. So either he's you, or he's hiding on your ship. You can run, but then I'll know for sure. Let me on board and who knows, maybe it ends up saving your life. You will die otherwise.

(Joyce doesn't answer.)

Ferah: Open the door, Joyce, or I will.

Joyce: You're a real piece of work, Ferah.

Ferah: (shrugs) Mercenaries, am I right?

Joyce: Come aboard. (he kills the connection)

Ferah: What a gracious invitation.

Hawkins: Did you see that girl? She looked...

Ferah: Like someone who just watched people stronger and faster than she is die very brutal deaths.

(Ferah pats his shoulder and leaves.)

Hawkins (to himself): I was just going to say still terrified. Very descriptive though, Captain. I feel much better now having nailed it down so precisely. (beat) No, no, I do not. Why? Why did she have to nail it down so precisely?

(Ferah, Serin, and Madine are at the bottom hatch; the Venture docks on top of the Crusher. Momentarily, they go zero-gravity, moving from one hatch to the other. Airlocks hiss, oxygen blasts, and the three of them reorient themselves into the proper direction of the other ship, guns drawn, but at rest. Joyce is on the other side of the door.)

Ferah: Where's your crewman?

Joyce: Cockpit; she's in shock. Can't talk, can barely move. My leg's already giving me enough trouble without her pulling on me. (His pant-leg has been cut open to above the knee where a bandage is wrapped around his thigh; blood is still seeping through.)

Serin: You need medical attention. Your crewman needs to not be alone.

Joyce: And this ship needs to be moving.

Ferah: Then let's get moving. Madine, Serin, go to the cockpit and secure it and the crewman. I'll go with Joyce to the infirmary.

(They look at each other, then head out.)

Ferah: After you.

Joyce: (grunts, starts walking) Do you have to walk behind me?

Ferah: I certainly can't walk in front of you, but be of good cheer, Joyce, I've never yet shot a man in the back.

Joyce: Some mercenary you are.

Ferah: Ah, slip of the tongue. I meant to say I've never shot an innocent man in the back.

(She sees the infirmary, and moves past him in the corridor. They enter the infirmary. It's trashed. Cupboards open, supplies strewn everywhere, a pile of extra blankets tossed about.)

Ferah: Trouble on the way out?

Joyce: We hit some bumps. That's why I couldn't do better than this bandage.

Serin (on the ship's intercom): Captain, we're in the cockpit; the other crewman... It looks like Roman got here first, sir. It's... it's bad.

(Ferah levels her gun at Joyce, moves to the intercom.)

Ferah: (to Serin) Get off the ship. Carefully.

Joyce: What?

Ferah: What's her name?

Joyce: (loudly) Whose name?

(Ferah tilts her head.)

Ferah: What's her name, Joyce?

Joyce: Her name was Zia.

(Ferah scoffs disbelievingly.)

Ferah: You killed her. What, you decided that you'd rather have the Venture? Lure us aboard and then sneak back. You running out of fuel maybe?

Joyce: I didn't kill my people!

(Joyce lunges forward, knocking the gun out of Ferah's hand, into the corner of the infirmary. He punches her hard, and she reels back into a gurney crashing over it.)

Ferah: LOD!

(Joyce throws the gurney aside, grabs her by the front of her shirt, and lifts her up, furiously slamming her into the wall. EXT. Lod fires the cannon directly into the cockpit of the Crusher. The front of the ship is blown to pieces, venting air and debris. INT: in the infirmary, everything rocks, the lights go out, Joyce loses hold of Ferah, and she droops against the wall, dazed. Emergency lights are glowing red in the darkness; one is blinking. ROMAN rises from the corner of the infirmary out of the blankets and cupboards. He has a gleaming scalpel. Joyce shakes his head to clear his eyes, sees Roman, and yells. Roman leaps forward, Ferah draws, and fires in the blink of an eye, not even straightening from the wall. Roman drops dead at Joyce's feet.)

Joyce: What...?

Ferah: Huh. Didn't even need the gun for bait.

(She skirts around the body, and picks up her other gun.)

Joyce: Bait.... You knew he was in here?

Ferah: Drugs and easy access to makeshift weapons? Seemed logical.

Joyce: But how did he get to the cockpit and back so quickly?

Ferah: He must have been waiting for you to leave, watching from an access panel or something. She was probably dead before we even boarded. Then he had plenty of time to work his way back here, since you were wounded.

(Joyce shakes his head in disbelief.)

(Ferah adjusts her jaw, picks up a syringe of painkillers)

Ferah: I'm taking this. But I'll give you a cut of the bounty for the loss of your ship.

Joyce: Loss of my... what did you do?!

Ferah: I saved you from everything he'd have done to you on the way.

(beat)

Joyce: Now what?

Ferah: I'll drop you on Astra; you can get some real medical care, and I'll wire you your cut when the bounty comes in.

Joyce: You think I'm a fool?

Ferah: Yes. (puts gun in his face, and he swallows) But I like to keep a positive outlook. (holsters the gun) Get on the Venture before you fall over.

(Ferah pulls a laser out of a pocket, off-screen cuts off Roman's head.)

Scene 4: EXT, Joyce is being carted off by medical personnel while Lod stands watch, Madine stacks some cargo.

Madine: I wonder what Ferah would do if we ran off with the ship while she was getting the bounty.

Lod: Do you?

Madine: What, you never thought about it? Kind of trusting for a merc to leave a ship full of other mercs.

Lod: I thought about it once. Let's just say, I had faith that the good captain had some sort of fail-safe set up for just such an occasion.

(Madine scoffs. Serin returns.)

Lod: Zia get safely away?

(Serin nods)

Serin: She decided to head home for a while. I told her a slice of the bounty would be waiting for her when she got there.

Madine: What did she do to earn a slice?

Serin: She was an integral part of the plan to flush out Roman.

(Madine grunts.)

Madine: Still not sure what that was all about. Why all the sneaking and lying?

(Serin and Lod look at each other. They don't seem too sure themselves.)

Madine: If Joyce had been Roman, wouldn't he have known he didn't kill her anyway?

Ferah (walks up): That was kind of the point, Madine. His reaction told me everything I needed to know to be prepared for Roman's attack.

Lod: Too bad you weren't entirely prepared for Joyce's attack.

(Ferah gives a short laugh.)

Ferah: Too bad.

(Lod closes up the ship, and he and Madine leave the cargo hold. Serin hangs around until Ferah faces her.)

Serin: Why was Zia integral?

(Ferah smiles a little.)

Ferah: Saving her was integral. Not just from Roman, but from the nightmare.

Serin: Because she's a girl? Some sort of female sisterhood?

(Ferah chuckles.)

Ferah: Because she was helpless.

(Ferah walks past, pats Serin on the shoulder.)

Ferah: Not a bad job for a new crew.

(INT. Serin is in her quarters, at a computer. She is researching the team, flipping through files: Jek, Madine, Ferah. She pauses to read. Camera zooms in on birth information: place, age, everything before the age of eighteen is unknown. Changes to Exploits: Confirmed, Attributed. She selects Confirmed. A video of low-quality, security footage begins to autoplay: There's a crowded room, similar to a bar or restaurant; Ferah is facing half-away from the camera. A fight breaks out, people start running, one man gets knocked to the ground, his assailant pulls a weapon. The man on the ground is about to be murdered; Ferah twitches, and the gun goes flying; the man is holding his arm. He's been shot.)

(The footage plays again, this time removing all the excess on the edges, at half speed. Then a still of one clear frame of Ferah's right hand crossing her middle toward the left side of her ribs.)

Serin: (quietly) What was your nightmare, captain?

Fade Out. END