The Opposite Face of War A Guest Script by WatsonSword a.k.a. Dave Neveus ‘Veteran of the Psychic Wars’ © Blue Oyster Cult, 1980 & 1981 SCENE 1 – RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION, LOWER DECK The engineering section of the Righteous Indignation is empty. The photon accelerator lights up and the door to Willy’s bedroom appears. WILLY DUWITT walks into the Righteous Indignation and the door vanishes as he shuts it. Willy is dressed in his pressed and starched UAC uniform. He is neatly groomed, with a new pair of featureless black-rimmed glasses. Willy stands straight and stiff, his hands clenched and a look of intensity on his face. He holds his breath inside the ship. Willy seems a model of military dress and stance, except for an Ipod hanging out of his pocket with wires trailing up to small earphones inside his ears. Something resembling heavy metal can be heard through them. Willy looks to the wall to see a small green light blinking. It indicates a message is coming through the comm. system. Willy looks down at his Ipod, turns it off, and pulls the earphones out of his ears. Willy walks up to where the green light was blinking and presses a button on the comm. WILLY I’m sorry could you repeat that? A rather surprised CAPTAIN BUCKY O’HARE answers the comm. BUCKY (surprised) Willy? ... is that you? WILLY (monotone) Yes. What is it? BUCKY (slightly nervous) Uhh... please report to command. WILLY Aye. Willy walks over to the ladder at the other end of engineering and starts climbing. SCENE SHIFTS TO COMMAND DECK. Willy climbs up into the command deck and walks toward the cockpit. Captain Bucky O’Hare sits in his seat, next to FIRST MATE JENNY. GUNNER DEADEYE DUCK sits in the corner on the floor oiling and polishing the small parts of a disassembled maser pistol. No one else is there. Bucky looks out into the stars with unfocused eyes, as if looking at something far, far away that isn’t there. Jenny is completely absorbed in her console, monitoring and adjusting her sensors over and over again. Deadeye seems similarly absorbed in his task. Bucky’s ears perk up as Willy walks toward him. Willy stops just short of the cockpit, his standing figure towering over Bucky’s sitting one. Willy still stands straight with fists clenched. BUCKY (thinking, and remaining expressionless) Jenny momentarily stops working her console to look at Willy, but just as quickly goes back. BUCKY (nonchalant) I thought you were taking shoreleave. WILLY (without a trace of anger) I was. I went to a few restaurants, a spa, a mini-golf course, went to the movie theatre a few times, bought a few toys, and spend three days listening some new music my friend introduced me to... and then I kind of got bored. (beat) So what’s the assignment? BUCKY (nonchalant) Dogstar’s taking it easy on us. We’re escorting a cargo liner to the army installation on a planet called Volantis. They’ll be offloading critical supplies for eight hours. Dogstar’s ordered us to make full use of the recreational facilities while we’re there. WILLY (irritated) I’m sick of recreational facilities. (slightly surprised) Wait? I never heard anything about the army. BUCKY Different branch. S.P.A.C.E. is the Special Forces division of the UAC Navy. We’re not privy to the specific activities of the army, which isn’t saying much since all they ever do is guard planetary installations anyway. WILLY (monotone) What’s this one? BUCKY Largest spaceport in the constellation. The toads attack it at regular intervals since it’s a launching point to three sectors in UAC territory. But we won’t be seeing anything since there’s still a week left till their next strike. They send in storm toads two thousand at a time. WILLY (monotone) Why don’t they just do an orbital bombardment? BUCKY They want it intact. (beat) The army’ll be happy to see us deliver their supplies, but don’t get too close to them. They don’t care very much for navy officers, and they’ll get antagonistic if you try to approach them. Don’t ask why, it’ll take too long to explain. And don’t go anywhere except the docks and rec. facilities either. WILLY (monotone) Where’s Bruiser and Blinky? BUCKY Bruiser’s also on shoreleave, and Blinky’s getting a tune up. This isn’t a big mission so it doesn’t need a full crew. (beat) So why are you here? WILLY (monotone) Like I said, I was bored. I just needed something to occupy my time. BUCKY Than you can go do just that. Willy walks to and sits down in the one free chair, staring up into a screen displaying the ratios and alignments and error margins of all the ship’s systems. He props his feet up on the console. Jenny furrows her brow and purses her lips. She pushes her chair back, grabbing the attention of Deadeye, but not Bucky or Willy. JENNY (angry) This is rigoddamndiculous! Aren’t you even going to talk about what happened? BUCKY (nonchalant) We’ll talk about it- WILLY (monotone) When we’ve both had enough time to ourselves so that we can think straight- BUCKY (nonchalant) And not try to kill each other after five minutes. JENNY (shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders) I’m sorry I asked. Jenny returns to her console. Deadeye returns to his disassembled maser. Bucky and Willy did not flinch throughout this. A short time passes. WILLY (absentmindedly singing to himself) You see me now a veteran, of a thousand psychic wars. I’ve been living on the edge so long, where the winds of Limbo roar. And I’m young enough to look at, and far too old see. BUCKY (interrupting, irritated) What is that? WILLY (surprised) Huh!? (a bit more composed) Oh, that’s just one of the songs my friend introduced me to. BUCKY Well quit it... it’s morbid. Willy returns to looking at the ship readouts. He blinks several times and then looks out the window to his side to look at the cargo ship they’re escorting. The cargo ship is a nondescript half cylinder of metal, six times the height and ten times the length of the Righteous, with massive engine pods haphazardly strapped to the back. VIEW SHIFTS TO SPACE The Righteous Indignation and the cargo ship it escorts fly through space and disappear in the distance. SCENE 2 – IN ORBIT ABOVE VOLANTIS Volantis is an arid planet, with less than half of its surface covered by water, and greenery only growing around coasts of the pseudo-oceans. The Righteous Indignation comes out of warp in orbit of Volantis and immediately finds itself surrounded by toad double bubbles. The double bubbles, once surrounding a moderately sized toad transport ship, swarm the Righteous, firing at it. VIEW SHIFTS TO INSDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION Bucky, Jenny, Willy, and Deadeye are holding onto chairs, rails, levers, and whatever else they can use to steady themselves while the ship shakes from toad double bubble maser fire. They each have expressions of shock and disorientation. DEADEYE (shouting) I thought they wasn’t supposed to show up for anotha’ week! BUCKY (angry) They weren’t! Jenny! Deadeye JENNY & DEADEYE (panicked) I know! Jenny frantically works the controls at her console. Deadeye drops his disassembled maser and runs for the ladder at the back of the command deck, toward the maser cannons. WILLY (weakly) This is not what I came here for. BUCKY (frantic) You shouldn’t have come here at all! You were on shoreleave! WILLY (weakly) I know. JENNY They’re all coming right at us head on! BUCKY (shouting) Divert all power except weapons and engines to shields and blast forward full throttle! Plow right through ‘em! JENNY Aye-aye! VIEW SHIFTS TO OUTSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION Eight toad double bubbles fly toward the Righteous Indignation from various angles but generally from in front, firing at it. The righteous speeds up and as they close in and rams half of the double bubbles with its shields, damaging them and sending them tumbling through space. Several more are shot down as Deadeye fires the maser cannons from the aft. The Righteous flies by the toad transport ship. Several large double maser turrets begin tracking the Righteous as it flies past and fire at it. The Righteous barrel rolls and suddenly slows down, and then speeds up again, avoiding the vast majority of the blasts. VIEW SHIFTS TO INSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION Willy holds on to the back of his seat with an angry glare into space, growling under his breath. Bucky reaches up to a control console on the ceiling and rests his finger on the comm. button. BUCKY (to self) That ship’s probably got ground forces on it. (to Jenny) Jenny, fly us to the rear of the ship. (presses comm. button) Deadeye, as soon as you see them, shoot out the toad transport’s engine couplings. That should blow up the whole ship! DEADEYE (through comm.) I know how this thing works!!! VIEW SHIFTS TO OUTSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION The Righteous Indignation begins to make a wide turn around the toad transport ship. VIEW SHIFTS TO INSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION Willy looks out the window slightly confused. WILLY Why aren’t the rest of the double bubbles attacking us? Jenny looks down at her sensor readings! JENNY (panicked) Because they’re attacking the cargo ship! BUCKY (panicked) Frell!!! I forgot! Jenny, hit full throttle! Take us back to the cargo ship! VIEW SHIFTS TO OUTSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION The Righteous indignation speeds up and circles by the rear of the toad transport, speeding past it. VIEW SHIFTS TO INSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION DEADEYE (over comm.) Oy! Cap’n! We sped right past the transport! I couldn’t get one shot off! BUCKY (pressing comm. button again) They’re attacking our cargo ship Deadeye! DEADEYE (over comm.) Ah Frell!!! WILLY (slightly confused) Wait a second! Why didn’t the cargo ship send out an SOS! JENNY (looking at her sensor console) Because the toads took out its communications array! VIEW SHIFTS TO OUTSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION The Righteous Indignation Speeds forward toward the cargo ship. The remaining three double bubbles are swarming it, firing at it with each pass, and easily dodging its two, slowly adjusting, single maser turrets. The toad transport also fires on it with its heavier turrets. There is visible damage to the cargo ship that only seems to be increasing. Suddenly a very large maser blast hits the side of the Righteous from a bizarre angle. The Righteous is sent tumbling to the side. VIEW SHIFTS TO INSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION The ship is rocked hard by the blast. Bucky, Jenny, and Willy are almost thrown out of their seats. Several consoles burst into sparks and smoke. WILLY (Panicked) What the fuck was that!? BUCKY (confused) I don’t know. DEADEYE (through comm.) What the frell was that!? BUCKY (angry. pressing comm. button) I don’t know! JENNY (looking at sensor console) That shot came from the planet surface. BUCKY & WILLY What!? BUCKY Jenny, open a communiqué to the army barracks. Jenny presses several buttons on a console and a green light appears on Bucky’s console just beneath a small microphone. BUCKY (into microphone) Cease your assault! This is the UAC battle frigate Righteous Indignation, Captain Bucky O’Hare commanding. Repeat, this is the UAC battle frigate Righteous Indignation, Captain Bucky O’Hare commanding. Cease your assault at once! VOICE ON COMUNIQUE Volantis spaceport to unknown vessel, your ship’s correspondence code carries a toad ID signature. Withdraw from orbit immediately and we will cease hostilities. WILLY (to no one in particular) I thought they overhauled this ship when it got back to Genus! BUCKY They did! (into microphone) Please, Volantis space port! This is a captured toad vessel. It’s now under the command of the UAC S.P.A.C.E. fleet! VOICE ON COMUNIQUE I have no way of confirming that. Another blast rocks the ship, but not as hard as the blast from the planet’s surface. WILLY Are they shooting at us again? JENNY (looking at sensor console) No, that was the toad transport! BUCKY (shouting) We can’t dodge both of them at once! (into microphone) Volantis spaceport, your shipment of critical materials is in orbit being attacked by double bubbles, we need to defend it! VOICE OVER COMUNIQUE You have five seconds to begin your withdrawal or we’ll resume hostilities. BUCKY (shouting into microphone) I can patch you through to Genus! They’ll confirm our identities for you! VOICE OVER COMUNIQUE Time’s up, this transmission is terminated. BUCKY (banging his fist on the console) Damnit! Another blast rocks the ship, this one harder than any before it. More consoles burst into sparks and flames, and several pipes burst spraying gasses into the command deck. Jenny and Willy manage to hold on to their seats, but Bucky is thrown forward and hits his head against one of the consoles. Bucky forces himself back into his chair with some pain. He holds one paw over his forehead, which bleeds slightly. JENNY (shocked) Are you okay? BUCKY (grunting) I’ll be fine. DEADEYE (Over comm.) Cap’n! The relay to the guns just went out! I can’t shoot! BUCKY Jenny, get us out of here. JENNY (panicked) I can’t! The navigational relay was burned out too! We’re falling into the planet’s gravity well! WILLY (grumbling) Why did I come here? BUCKY (grumbling back) That’s a good question. WILLY Well what the fuck do we do now!? Bucky (pauses for a moment to think. Presses comm. button) Deadeye, get to your escape pod. DEADEYE (over comm.) Aye Cap’n. BUCKY Jenny, divert all ship wide power to the shields and jam open the reverse thrusters. Let’s hope it’ll survive the crash that way. (to Jenny and Willy) And get to your escape pods! Bucky gets up, still clutching his forehead and runs to the back of the command deck and climbs down the ladder. VIEW SHIFTS TO OUTSIDE THE RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION Smoke pours out the engines of the Righteous indignation. It turns toward the planet and slowly begins an uncontrollable descent. Four hexagonal escape pods jettison from the bottom of the Righteous Indignation and begin their much faster descent, all toward different parts of the planet. Fade to black. SCENE 3 – INFIRMARY, CODE YELLOW ROOM View is of black. Voices are slowed and dulled. VOICE 1 So how is he? VOICE 2 A few scrapes and bruises, mild concussion from the landing. He’ll be fine. He’s waking up right now. VOICE 1 Good, let’s move onto someone who actually *needs* our help. First person view. Eyes open to a plain gray plaster paneled ceiling with florescent tube lights and a ceiling fan. VIEW SHIFTS TO THIRD PERSON Willy DuWitt lies in his plain charcoal gray boxers on a neatly folded pile of olive green blankets just long enough to fit him. There are several white bandages on his body, and an IV drips fluid into his right arm. Willy sits up with a slight effort and pulls the IV out of his arm. He looks around. The room is rectangular, about fifteen meters long and five meters wide. Cots are lined up neatly along the walls, and most of them have a hare laying on them, each in their underwear, and each with IV drips. Willy (thinking) Willy moves his eyes around the room, looking at several hares. One steel gray hare is clearly sedated. He is motionless except for occasionally twitching whiskers, his eyelids half open and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. On his shoulder is a large black, furless smear, tell tale sign of a maser blast. Another orange and white blotched hare has his abdomen tightly bandaged in several layers. On his right side, a brick red stain showing through the bandages indicates that he’d been stabbed through his side. Another pure orange hare sits up looking sternly at his left arm, which he holds in front of him. It’s heavily bandaged at the wrist. He has no left hand. Yet another pure white hare struggles against two others in earth toned brushstroke camouflage suits and flack jackets, who try to hold him down. He has a black smear on his right hip, but its oily sheen indicates that he’d been fired upon far more recently. He growls and groans only half aware of what’s going on around him as he struggles against the other two hares. One of the hares in the suits pulls out a cylindrical metal syringe and injects the struggling hare in the neck. The struggling hare collapses unconscious. Willy stands up, wobbling for a second but quickly regaining his balance. He walks toward the hares in suits and looks down at them. On their shoulders he sees the insignias of UAC nurses, though in unfamiliar colors. HARE NURSE 1 and HARE NURSE 2 turn around to look at him. They do not seem at all intimidated or even taken aback by his stature. HARE NURSE 1 Oh good, you’re up. You can help us. HARE NURSE 2 Patients three, five, six, and eight need to be moved out of code yellow into the dorms, you look like you’re strong enough to do that. WILLY But I didn’t say anything. HARE NURSE 1 (as if giving orders) You’re a UAC officer right? Right. You have an obligation to render aid to other UAC personnel, no matter what branch they’re in. WILLY I don’t even know where I am, or what’s going on. And at least let me get some clothes on first. HARE NURSE 2 (Sighs) You’re in the code yellow room of the infirmary at Volantis space-port, now army barracks. We found you three clicks to the east in an escape pod launched from your frigate. We brought you back here and treated you for minor injuries, and now we need you to help us with other patients. (beat) As for clothes, we had to cut off your uniform so it’s pretty much useless. There’s nothing else here that fits you, but we’ll have an autotailor make you a pair of fatigues by the end of the day. HARE NURSE 1 Oh, and by the way, you could’ve had Genus channel us that you were going to have a toad frequency before you got here. It could’ve saved you *and* our supply ship from being blown out of the sky! WILLY (upset) We didn’t know we still had a Toad frequency! And... (angry) Wait! Why the hell should I be apologizing! HARE NURSE 1 Because you’re the one who F.U.B.A.R.~ed protocol. WILLY Fubared? HARE NURSE 1 (shaking head) Never mind, we still need help here. WILLY I’m an engineer, not a medic! I- HARE NURSE 2 (interrupting) An engineer? Why the frell didn’t you say so to begin with!? Get out of here! Go find Keagan, he’ll tell you what to do. WILLY Keagan? HARE NURSE 2 (shooing Willy away) Just get! Willy shakes his head and walks out of the Code Yellow Room. SCEME 4 - INFIRMARY, LOUNGE Willy walks through the makeshift swinging door of the code yellow room into the Infirmary Lounge. It is almost three times larger than the previous room, with several hallways leading to other areas. There are dirty couches, foldout chairs and tables and many hares, some recovering from recent injuries and in civilian apparel, and some nurses in their brushstroke camouflage uniforms. Some hares sit by small monitors watching transmissions, some occupy their time tending to weapons, medical or communication equipment. Several hares play battle chess. None seem to have anything important to do. Many hares glance at Willy only briefly as he walks into the room, quickly going back to whatever they were doing, but several talk about him, in particular a PURE BROWN HARE and a BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE, over a game of battle chess. A tactical knife is jammed into the table they play on. PURE BROWN HARE Looks like navy boy’s awake. BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE I bet you fifty simoleans he gets killed before the rescue comes. PURE BROWN HARE I’ll take you up on that. BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE How so? PURE BROWN HARE Well, he’s clearly some kind of baboon offshoot. Probably not as tough as a baboon, but I bet he’s a hell of a lot smarter than one. BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE And when he kills his first toad? You think he’ll make it through that? PURE BROWN HARE What makes you think he hasn’t already done that? BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE The innocent look on his face. PURE BROWN HARE True. A shadow falls over the two hares. The Black and White Blotched hare immediately grabs the knife as they both look up to see Willy standing above them. WILLY (irritated) I’m right here. Having appeared panicked with an unknown shadow over them, the two hares now seem completely dismissive of the towering Willy DuWitt. PURE BROWN HARE (picking at his back teeth with his claw) Yes you are aren’t you. BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE (balancing the knife on its tip on the back of his paw) Somethin’ you need from us Navy boy? WILLY (agitated) Yeah, you were being pretty damn rude. PURE BROWN HARE (tapping his claws on the table and looking at the battle chess board) Well excuse us is we’re not the perfect trim and proper models that you navy types are, (deliberately snide) what with your flashy, perfectly pressed uniforms and your ceremonies and your profuse medals and pins and ribbons and all that shit. WILLY (angry) You two don’t have a god damn clue what kinds of things I’ve been through! BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE (still balancing the knife on his hand) You ever kill someone with your bare hands? WILLY (slightly surprised) No. PURE BROWN HARE (to Black and White Blotched Hare) It seems that question’s out of the way. (to Willy) Try us after you have. The Pure Brown Hare dials the controls on the chess board, moving a holographic monster to another position, which kills another holographic monster. PURE BROWN HARE (to black and White Blotched hare) Your third sand worm’s dead, legion and terasque cornered, and your dark lord’s on the defensive. BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE (dropping knife) Son of a bitch! How’d I not see that! WILLY (interrupting) I need to see Keagan. The Pure Brown Hare sighs. He reaches down to his belt and pulls up a small communicator. He presses a button and speaks into it. PURE BROWN HARE (into communicator) Jeffery to Keagan, what’s your position? VOICE ON COMUNICATOR My office, I’ll be there the rest of the hour. JEFFERY (into communicator) Roger. Oh and Oh. Jeffery the pure brown hare puts his communicator back on his belt. JEFFERY (still looking at battle chess board) There’s your answer, now scat, your ruining my concentration. SCENE 5 – KEAGAN’S OFFICE SENIOR CORPORAL KEAGAN HOPPER, a pure brick red hare with several streaking scars on his face has a brown left eye and a green right eye. He sits at a tattered foldout table reading reports on several data pads. He wears an earth tone brushstroke camouflage uniform and a similarly patterned boonie hat. His office is small, and one wall is olive green drapings. Several cardboard boxes are stacked against the walls along with several flack jackets and maser carbines. Willy walks through the drapings into the office. Keagan briefly glances up at him. KEAGAN (irritated) Senior Corporal Keagan Hopper. What do you want? WILLY (slightly confused, slightly intimidated) I was told to come see you. KEAGAN (irritated) By who? WILLY The nurses, they told me since I’m an engineer. Keagan stops what he’s doing and looks up at Willy with interest. KEAGAN You’re a naval engineer? WILLY (slightly confused) Yeah. KEAGAN What chapter? WILLY S.P.A.C.E. KEAGAN (standing up) A S.P.A.C.E. fleet engineer!? You’re William DuWitt aren’t you!? WILLY Yeah. Keagan reaches into his belt and pulls out a communicator. KEAGAN HOPER (into communicator, excitedly) Hopper to maintenance! I think I just found a way to meet repair deadlines! Meet me in my office and bring an autotailor! (to Willy, friendlier) Please, sit down. Willy grabs and unfolds a folding chair and sits on it. He stares at Keagan in discontent. WILLY You in charge here? KEAGAN (sitting back down) Yeah. WILLY A corporal? KEAGAN (irritated, playing with a pencil from the desk) Our lieutenant and serge. are both dead. I’m the highest ranking S.O.B. on this rock. WILLY (surprised) How? KEAGAN (reluctantly) Let’s just say that our Sergeant was a boisterous, arrogant prick who didn’t know when to take cover, and our lieutenant never logged more than the bare minimum hours on the combat sim. That’s how. (beat) So I hear the Toads frelled you up *real* bad. Twice even! WILLY (irritated) The second time was a joyride compared to the first. What about it? KEAGAN I just want you to know, I know exactly what that’s like. WILLY (standing up, angry) Excuse us if I’m not the perfect trim and proper model that we navy types are supposed to be, but you don’t have the goddamn fucking right to say that to me!!! KEAGAN (chuckles) You’d be surprised Mr. DuWitt. WILLY (sits down, changes the subject) So why’s there nothing but hares in this place? KEAGAN (grumbling) Because there’s almost nothing but hares in the army. WILLY (confused) Nothing but hares? KEAGAN (rubs his eyes) This is going to take a while. Before the occupation of Warren, the UAC Army was nothing more than a means of putting walking decorations in public buildings. It had less than ten thousand members, and eight thousand of them were high ranking officers. (beat) Like I said, nothing but a means of producing walking decorations. But after we finally retook Warren, the economy collapsed into subsistence farming. WILLY I thought Warren was a tourist planet. KEAGAN (indignant, but not toward Willy) Not *a* tourist planet Mr. DuWitt, *the* tourist planet. We sucked up almost fifty percent of all tourist revenue in the Aniverse, and that gave the average hare a six figure income. Nearly two thirds of our structures were resorts of some kind. (beat) But the toads either smashed them all or turned them into military bases. And that hideous titanium architecture is still everywhere. With that and the leftover pollution from the climate conversion, the tourists never came again. So like I said, the remaining hares could only live off subsistence farming. WILLY That still doesn’t explain- KEAGAN (interrupting) I’m getting to that! Suddenly being thrown from wealth and resorts to farming life and ugly- ass architecture, allot of us decided that there was nothing left in our lives except revenge. So about fifty or sixty million of us packed our bags and left to join the UAC armed forces. (beat) We all had dreams of joining the navy, or the intelligence agencies, or the planetary guard... but that was all a pipe dream if there ever was one. If we all got our choice of branches, they’d all be overstaffed ten fold. So most of us were dumped here, in the army. And not a single one of us was ever considered as officer material. WILLY So why do they all hate the navy? KEAGAN They don’t! If anything they all wish the Navy was bigger! WILLY It’s budget was dectupled after they retook Genus! And seventy percent of those funds went straight into S.P.A.C.E.! KEAGAN (indignant, but not toward Willy) No amount of money can speed up time DuWitt! It doesn’t matter how much money they funnel into the navy or into S.P.A.C.E., it doesn’t make them build ships faster. In fact it makes it slower, since there’s more of them to build... and more crews to commission and train. In the meantime, damn near every ship not blown up by the navy is our problem once it lands. So as soon the new additions to the fleet are done, it’ll make our lives a hell of a lot easier. WILLY That still doesn’t tell me why they’re so resentful. KEAGAN (sighs, indignant, this time toward Willy) Because you all sit in your cushy chairs in your first class ships, getting all the supplies and toys you ask for at moment’s notice, attending conferences, and getting award after award pinned to you after every mission, getting regular shoreleave. Not to mention when you people kill toads, you don’t see them die right in front of you, and know that it’s your own two hands that killed them. All you do is press a button and watch a ship blow up! Willy stands up and throws his arms out. WILLY (angry, shouting) If you had the first clue what the toads did to me than you’d know I don’t have to take this shit from you! Keagan stands up and throws his arms out KEAGAN (angry, shouting) The kinds of things the Toads did to you? I see that shit every day here! And I don’t have the luxury of shrinks and vacations to help me deal with it! (calmer) There are two faces of war DuWitt, yours is glitz and glamour, welcome to the opposite face, where you’re always malequipped, malnourished, dirty, sleep deprived, and utterly forgotten by history. As soon as you’re dead, no one will ever speak your name again. WILLY (growling) You have no idea. KEAGAN HOPPER (growling) Neither do you. Willy and Keagan both sit down. They both say nothing for a short time. KEAGAN HOPPER (changing subject) Why didn’t you have Genus tell us ahead of time that you were carrying a toad signature? WILLY We didn’t know we still were. We thought they removed all toad identification. KEAGAN HOPPER (beat) They may not show it, but everyone here feels pretty frelling sick about shooting down a UAC ship. And now that our supply shipment is gone... we don’t know if we can survive the Toad assault. WILLY (whispering) I forgot about that. (more clearly) They weren’t supposed to show up for another week. KEAGAN HOPPER Toad intelligence got wind of the shipment schedule. They synchronized their attack. Their transport landed about forty clicks from here and now they’re preparing an assault force. We estimate they’ll be here in sixteen hours. Their last assault knocked out our particle sensor array, all we got left is passive E.M. We won’t survive another attack without our sensors. (whispering, grimly) They come every two weeks, two thousand at a time, without fail. We thought we had another week to repair the array. Two Hare Privates walk into the office, one dragging a large machine on wheels behind him. They both stop to briefly salute Keagan. HARE PRIVATE 1 & 2 Sir! KEAGAN HOPPER At ease. The two Hare Privates relax. KEAGAN HOPPER This here is ensign William DuWitt, engineer of S.P.A.C.E.’s Righteous Indignation. I’m putting him in charge of the repairs of the particle sensors. You’re to extend him all the assistance he requests. But first you’re going to make him a new pair of fatigues. HARE PRIVATE 1 & 2 Yes sir. HARE PRIVATE 1 walks up to Willy. HARE PRIVATE 1 (to Willy) Stand up straight, arms to the sides, feet shoulder width apart. Willy obeys. HARE PRIVATE 2 works the controls of the machine. A wide beam laser scans the front of Willy DuWitt from head to tow and back. The machine begins humming as a pair of plain, burlywood colored fatigues inches its way out of a slot as a paper would inch its way out of a printer. SCENE 6 – PARTICAL SENSOR ARRAY It is a cloudless night. Willy DuWitt, dressed in his new burlywood fatigues, stands outside on a roof with four Maintinence Hares. Beneath a massive matte black painted metal dome, five panels have been pulled off the platform the dome sits on. All four hares and Willy are sitting down working at the insides of the panels with various tools. Willy looks down at an outdated, rusted power tool in front of him. WILLY (to self) How can anyone work with these instruments? MAINTINENCE HARE 1 (snide) What’s the matter navy boy? Hydrospanner’s too greasy? Willy squeezes the hydrospanner tightly and clenches his teeth. MAINTINENCE HARE 2 (sarcastic) I think he’s just upset it’s not iridium plated. MAINTINENCE HARE 3 (chuckles) Or maybe it doesn’t come with a set of eighty different function heads with twenty settings each. WILLY (slightly angry) Don’t do this I’m warning you. MAINTINENCE HARE 4 Why the frell not? WILLY (a bit angrier) You were ordered to extend me- MAINTINENCE HARE 2 We were ordered to extend you assistance, not courtesy. MAINTINENCE HARE 1 (suppressing a laugh) Maybe it just doesn’t have a juice dispenser. Willy stands up, catching the attention of the four hares. He grabs MAINTINENCE HARE 1 by the collar and lifts him up off the ground. He hits Maintenance Hare 1 in muzzle with his free fist, sending him flying back onto the ground. Maintenance Hare 1 sits up to look at Willy leaning over him, his face and muscles pulled tight and his teeth and fists clenched. Maintenance Hare 1’s nose and mouth are bleeding. MAINTINENCE HARE 1 (smirking and wiping the blood from his face) Seems navy boy really does have some gonads to him after all. WILLY (angry) Can we get back to work now? Maintenance Hare 1 stands up and straightens his fatigues. MAINTINENCE HARE 1 (more respectfully) Yes of course. Your orders Ensign? SCENE 7 – KEAGAN’S OFFICE Keagan sits at his foldout table looking through datapads and making entries in several of them. The communicator on his desk beeps. Keagan picks it up and presses a button on it. KEAGAN (into communicator) Hopper. VOICE ON COMUNICATOR We’ve completed repairs on the particle sensor array seven hours ahead of schedule thanks to Ensign DuWitt. KEAGAN (to self) I knew having a S.P.A.C.E. engineer would be a good thing. (into the communicator) Tell him to sleep until the assault gets here. Put him to work in the infirmary once it does. Anything else to report? VOICE ON COMUNIATOR Well actually... uhh... no, nothing else to report. Maintenance out. Keagan puts the communicator back down on the desk. SCENE 8 - INFORMARY, LOUNGE Willy sleeps in his fatigues, curled up on a small unkempt pile of blankets and uniforms. Jeffery the Pure Brown Hare from scene 3 is at a table playing a card game with Maintenance Hare 1 from Scene 7. Several other hares are in the background. Maintenance Hare 1 now has a bandage across his lower lip and a small roll of gauze stuffed in his right nostril. BLACK AND WHITE BLOTCHED HARE (looking at his hand) See your five, and ten more. I say you’re bluffing. The Black and White Blotched Hare tosses ten and five piece simolean discs onto a small pile in the center of the table. JEFFERY Or maybe I just want you to think I do. (changing subject) So you’re saying the navy kid busted your face? MAINTINENCE HARE 1 Well I wanted him to do it. I was testing his brass you know. JEFFERY Looks like my bet with McBurrows is going in my favor. MAINTINENCE HARE 1 He’s got grit yes, but I still think McBurrows is right when he says he doesn’t have the skills to go knife to knife with a wave of storm toads. (looks at his hand) See your ten, no raise. Maintenance Hare 1 tosses a ten simolean disc into the pile. Both hares pull another card from the deck, now each having eight. JEFFERY Show ‘em Maintenance Hare 1 picks out and arranges five cards, discarding the other three. He places the remaining on the table. MAINTINENCE HARE 1 Silver Suit Jeffery picks out and arranges five cards, discarding the other three. He places the remaining on the table. JEFFERY Northern Cross. MAINTINECE HARE 1 (slamming fist on table) Frelling!!! You gave off all the signs! JEFFERY (smirking) I’ve mastered the signs. The Casino King has not been dethroned by you, and he does not intend to get dethroned by McBurrows. Jeffery gathers up the simoleans and stuffs them in his pockets. Both hares suddenly jump out of their seats at the sound of an explosion outside. MAINTINENCE HARE 1 Toads! Willy stirs and sits up. WILLY What? JEFFERY (panicked) The toads are here! We need you in code orange! Maintenance Hare 1, Jeffery, and Willy all run down separate hallways. SCENE 9 INFIRMARY, CODE ORANGE ROOM The Code Orange Room is similar in shape and setup as code yellow, but with slightly fewer cots, and trays of medical and surgical devices on fold up chars next to each cot. It is so far empty. Sounds of maser fire and explosions come from outside, occasionally coupled with the lights inside flickering. Willy runs into the room at the same time as two Hare Nurses. HARE NURSE 1 How long since this started? WILLY About five minutes. HARE NURSE 2 We should be getting patients right about now. As if on cue, two hare soldiers rush in carrying a stretcher with a WOUNDED HARE SOLDIER with an oily black smear in the center of his chest. Both hare nurses run to a cot as the hare soldiers place the Wounded Hare Soldier in it and sprint back out of the room with the stretcher in tow. HARE NURSE 2 (speaking fast) Level five maser blast right to the chest, we can’t risk anesthetizing him. HARE NURSE 1 (yelling) DuWitt! Get over here I need you to restrain him. Willy runs over to the struggling Wounded Hare Soldier and gets a face of shock and fear as he sees the greasy burn wound up close. He hesitates. HARE NURSE 1 (yelling) Hold him down now! Willy puts his hands on the struggling Wounded Hare Soldier’s shoulders and pushes down with all his weight, easily restraining the small hare. HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Kelotane. HARE NURSE 2 hands HARE NURSE 1 a syringe. Hare Nurse 1 injects the Wounded Hare Soldier in the chest. HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Lectrazine. HARE NURSE 2 hands HARE NURSE 1 a syringe. Hare Nurse 1 injects the Wounded Hare Soldier in the chest. HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Alkysine. HARE NURSE 2 hands HARE NURSE 1 a syringe. Hare Nurse 1 injects the Wounded Hare Soldier in the chest. HARE NURSE 1 (Speaking Fast) Nano Hospice. HARE NURSE 2 hands HARE NURSE 1 a syringe. Hare Nurse 1 injects the Wounded Hare Soldier in the chest. HARE NURSE 2 (speaking fast) He’s not responding! HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Damnit! Neural Stimulator! Hare Nurse 2 hands Hare Nurse 1 a small electronic device. Hare Nurse 1 activates it and presses it to the Wounded Hare Soldier’s chest. The Wounded Hare Soldier gasps involuntarily. HARE NURSE 2 (speaking fast) He’s still not responding! HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Frell!!! Fifty CCs Anetrizine! Put him out! Mare Nurse 2 picks up a syringe and injects the Wounded Hare Soldier in the neck. The Wounded Hare Soldier relaxes and breathes easier. WILLY (panicked) Put him out!? I thought you said you can’t anesthetize him! HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) There are other patients about to come in with a hell of a lot better chances than him. You gotta’ pick and choose who you try to save. Two Hare Soldiers burst through the door with a SECOND WOUNDED HARE SOLDIER on a stretcher, this time with no left arm past the elbow, and a greasy black smear at his elbow stump. HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Like that guy! Come on. Willy, disoriented and indecisive, stays put, looking back and fourth between the two Hare Nurses and the Wounded Hare Soldier. The Wounded Hare Soldier grabs Willy’s left arm with both of his. WOUNDED HARE SOLDIER (struggling to talk) And I gonna’ die? Willy’s eyes go wide and he shudders as he looks down at the Wounded Hare soldier. He pauses not knowing what to say. WILLY (frightened) Uhh... no! You’ll be fine, just give us time to work on you. WOUNDED HARE SOLDIER (struggling to talk) You lying S.O.B.! The Wounded Hare Soldier’s arms go limp and fall to his sides. His eyes roll back in his head. He is dead. Willy shudders again. HARE NURSE 1 (yelling) Now DuWitt! Willy stands up and runs to the other occupied cot. The Second Wounded Hare Soldier is already anesthetized. Hare Nurse 1 hands Willy what appears to be a fiber optic rob with an electronic handle. HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Shove that as far as you can into his arm. WILLY (panicked) What!? Why me!? HARE NURSE 2 (speaking fast) Because you’re the strongest one here. Hesitating, and sweating profusely, Willy slowly draws back the fiber optic rod and plunges it into the burned flesh of the Second Wounded Hare Soldier’s burned arm all the way to its handle. Willy immediately lets go and reels back in disgust. HARE NURSE 1 (speaking fast) Good work DuWitt. Willy and both Hare Nurses look up as a voice blares through the intercom. VOICE ON INTERCOM Storm toads have entered the infirmary! Storm toads have entered the infirm- The intercom message is cut off. Three Hare Soldiers barge into the room wielding makeshift spears made from metal pipe with sharpened ends. HARE NURSE 2 (yelling) How did that happen so fast!? HARE SOLDIER 1 (yelling back) No supplies remember? WILLY Wait? Why don’t they have masers? HARE NURSE 2 (yelling) Shut up DuWitt! Grab a weapon! WILLY What weapon? Hare Nurse 2 syringe while Hare Nurse 1 grabs a scalpel. HARE NURSE 2 Any weapon! Willy does not grab a weapon, instead he backs into the corner of the Code Orange room and presses himself against the wall. Storm toads charge through the Code Orange room doors brandishing their tactical knives HARE SOLDIER 1 charges a storm toad and impales him through the chest with his spear. He pulls it out, dripping with green blood, and swings it around to hit another storm toad in the back of the head, who falls over onto HARE SOLDIER 2’s spear. A storm toad takes a swing at Hare Soldier 1 with his knife, but Hare Soldier 1 jumps back to dodge it and then stabs the storm toad through the eye. This occurs just as another storm toad sneaks behind and stabs Hare soldier 1 in the back. Hare Soldier 2 throws his spear at a charging storm toad, impaling him through the gut. He runs up to grab the spear, but with his last breath the impaled storm toad reaches up and shoves his knife in Hare soldier 2’s chest. HARE SOLDIER 3 charges three storm toads with his spear held out flat. He pins all three briefly to the wall with the spear and jumps back to stab the middle storm toad through the chest. He pulls out his spear and swings it at the right storm toad, barely scraping a gash into the toad’s jaw, who runs out the code orange room clutching his wound. Hare Soldier 3 turns around and holds his spear flat in front of him defensively but it is too late. The Storm toad swipes at Hare Soldier 3’s throat, cutting it clean open. Hare Soldier 3 collapses with a slowly expanding pool of blood around his face. The last storm toad turns to the Hare Nurses. They both draw back their makeshift weapons. The storm toad picks up one of the bloody spears and holds it flat in front of him. He charges both hare nurses, shoving them up against the wall. They fall to the ground dazed. The storm toad hits Hare Nurse 2 upside the head with the broad end of the spear, knocking him out, and jams the spear through the gut of Hare Nurse 1 and into the wall. Hare Nurse 1 screams and clutches at the spear sticking out from his gut. The storm toad turns toward Willy and draws his tactical knife. Willy shivers in the corner with his arms crossed as he sees the storm toad approach. HARE NURSE 1 (screaming, in pain) Goddamnit DuWitt! Grab a weapon! Kill him! The storm toad, less than a meter from Willy, swings as Willy with his knife. Willy tries to move to the side but only partially dodges the toad’s knife. Willy receives a shallow gash across his upper left arm and clings to it with his right hand. Willy falls to the floor. The toad raises his knife into the air with both hands. HARE NURSE 1 (screaming, in pain) DuWitt! Out of the corner of his eye, Willy sees a medical tray on a chair next to a cot. In a blur of movement, Willy grabs a scalpel from the tray and thrusts his hand up toward the storm toad. The scalpel imbeds itself into the storm toad’s throat. The toad drops the knife and stumbles back hacking and clutching the scalpel. He falls backward dead as green blood trickles from his neck. Willy looks at the dead storm toad with an expression of shock and confusion. He then looks down at his own hands. Hare Nurse 1 chokes and gags, finally dying from the spear in his gut. The sounds of combat from outside begin to dim. SCENE 10 – INFIRMARY, LOUNGE Hares move about dragging a few corpses, but mostly damaged equipment. Willy DuWitt sits on the floor in the corner of the room wrapped in an olive green blanket. He stares into space with wide unfocused eyes, his general expression serious and stern, but otherwise relaxed and unemotional. He does not seem sad or traumatized, but is as if he’s in some kind of trance. VOICE You’ve got the look. Willy shook his head and blinks several times. He looks up to see a middle aged, steel gray hare with a stocky build. Willy recognizes him. Although he has lost a considerable amount of girth since the last time they saw each other. It is BOB from the season one episode Home, Swampy Home. WILLY Bob? BOB nods his head. WILLY What look? BOB The look of someone who’s seen a hell of a lot more than he should’ve. WILLY How did you get here? Last time I heard from you, you were a resistance leader on Kinnear. BOB (apprehensively) Well... I maintained an aeroponics garden before the takeover, I was never very good at making decisions. I hesitated a bit too long in a conflict... and some things happened to some people... it’s just that- WILLY (interrupting, shaking head) Never mind. BOB Thank you. Long story short, there wasn’t many places for me to go after that and, well, this was the only one that seemed familiar. Bob sits down next to Willy. Bob pulls Willy’s Ipod out his pocket and hands it to him. WILLY My Ipod. BOB Whatever it’s called, Hopper wanted you to have it back. He figured you use it for repairs aboard the Righteous. WILLY (looking down at his Ipod) It’s just a music player. BOD Well... Hopper’s never been known for his technological savvy. (beat) So what was it like? WILLY (putting his Ipod in his pocket) What was what like? BOB Your first personal kill. WILLY (curiously) Oh that... It’s strange is what it is. I don’t really feel any way about it, but it’s done something to me I know that, something really... but I don’t know what it is. (beat) I’m not making any sense am I? BOB No. But no one makes sense after they’ve done something like this for the first time. Bob pulls out an inhaler takes a spray of it. WILLY I didn’t now you had allergies. BOB I don’t. It’s Gleam. WILLY What’s Gleam? BOB (handing Willy the inhaler) Try it, but don’t tell anyone else. It’s illegal. Willy takes the inhaler and takes a spray. In seconds his eyes dilate and his posture slumps as he relaxes. WILLY (nonchalant) Woah... BOB Fast acting stuff isn’t it. WILLY (absentmindedly playing with the inhaler) I got stuff just like this on my homeworld. It’s called Pot. My parents have a greenhouse full of the shit. BOB And do you do Pot very often? WILLY (takes another spray of Gleam) I’ve only ever done it a few times. (hands the inhaler back to Bob) To be honest I only ever used it to help me go to sleep. (chuckles) BOB (takes a spray of Gleam) That just leaves my first question. What was it like killing someone for the very first time. WILLY (shrugs shoulders) Why do you want to know? BOB Because it’s a bit different for everyone who does it. WILLY I don’t feel any different... at least not that I can tell right now. But it’s like, everything I look at, all the things I used to think about them, now I think different things. It’s not any better or worse, it’s just different. BOB (takes another spray of Gleam) The very first time you kill someone, and know that you did it with your own hands, it changes you. It changes you in a truly fundamental way, not emotionally, but in the way you look at the world and everything that goes on around you. Everything you see will have a different meaning to you than it once did. WILLY (off the subject, chuckles) You were a big fatass last time I saw you. What the hell happened? Bob pats his stomach. BOB Chock it up to basic training. Willy grabs the inhaler from bob and takes another spray of Gleam WILLY (more somber) The moment just before I did it, I honestly thought killing that toad wouldn’t affect me. Bob grabs the inhaler from Willy and takes another spray. BOB How’d you figure? WILLY (somber) I was captured by toads once. They drugged me with some kind of energy and put me to work building them toys and drawing blueprints and all that crap. I was starved, sleep deprived, beaten, heat stricken, and I honestly believed I owed them my life because of what they did to my head. (eyes watering) The moment I started to gain a single independent thought, they called me a traitor, strapped me down to an electric torture table, and blasted me with it until I’d say anything and everything they asked me to. (angry) They took everything from me... my freedom, my body, my mind, my will, my soul... (begins sobbing) They took everything from me. Willy grabs the inhaler from Bob and takes two more sprays of Gleam before handing it back. He takes several deep breaths after that, and noticeably calms. BOB But you did get them all back. You know Willy, there are countless people who can tell the exact same stories about the toads, but most of them never live to. WILLY (beat) I honestly thought that after all that, killing a just one toad wouldn’t matter to me. But it actually had a bigger effect on me than what I went through on their homeworld. BOB At the very least it comes without all the trauma. WILLY True. (beat) You know. I was always afraid of death. After what the toads did to me that fear just got worse. But after what just happened... I don’t think I’m afraid of death anymore. It’s not a remorse thing, or a numbing thing, or even a maturity thing. It’s just a perspective thing. BOB Kind of like, everything’s always about the bigger picture, and nothing’s ever about the here and now anymore. WILLY Yeah! That’s it. Willy and bob both look up as a voice ring out over the intercom. VOICE OVER INTERCOM William DuWitt report to conference room two. William DuWitt report to conference room two. WILLY (not all there) Looks like I got to go. BOB Drink some hot vegetable juice, that’ll get you straight quicker. Willy nods. He tosses the blanket off him revealing the gash on his arm sealed with a gray resin. He stands up and ambles away. SCENE 11 – CONFERENCE ROOM TWO Conference Room Two is a rectangular room somewhat smaller than the infirmary rooms. Several folding tables are placed next to each other forming a larger compound table. Paperwork, datapads, maps, maser carbines, tactical knifes, tools, and rations are scattered messily about the large table. Larger maps of the area covered with scribbled writing and symbols by many different people hang from the walls. Eight hares sit at the compound table, some of them drinking steaming liquid from Styrofoam cups, including Keagan who sits at the end of the table. Willy walks through the door, sipping from a thermos filed with the same hot liquid, large even for him. He sits down. Keagan watches how Willy stares into space and absentmindedly chews on nothing. KEAGAN (accusatory) Are you polished DuWitt? WILLY (confused) Wha... what? KEAGAN Are you on Gleam? WILLY (hesitates) ...And if I said yes? KEAGAN (beat) Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now. (more serious) I have some bad news people. That last attack was only the first wave of two. HARE 1 (worried) What do you mean? KEAGAN (tired) After the last assault, we only counted just over nine hundred toad bodies. I’m guessing they only send a thousand. HARE 2 (confused) They’ve never done that before. They’ve always sent two thousand. KEAGAN (somber) They did send two thousand. There’s another battalion still at the sight of the toad ship, and they’re assembling their ground transports right now. We estimate it’ll take eleven hours for them to finish the transports and another hour for them to get here. They damaged the particle sensor array again, but with DuWitt’s help we now know it’s insides a lot better than we did, so I have confidence they can repair it in time without his help. (slightly more serious) DuWitt, you’re going to be let loose in the scrap heap of our salvage bay with all the weapons tech personnel we can spare. After that you’ll be manning the infirmary again. Hopefully DuWitt can built us better weapons than just spears, and hopefully, the weapons techs can build enough of them. WILLY I wanted to ask you about that. Why isn’t anyone here using masers. KEAGAN We have a dampening field inside the building that disables maser weapons. The toads aren’t exactly known for their physical prowess, so once inside the compounds it’s much easier to fight them hand to hand than it is gun to gun. WILLY One more thing, why don’t you send a platoon to sabotage the ground transports? KEAGAN (tired) Look at us DuWitt. We’re hungry, tired, filthy, and up to our ears in wounded. Do you really think a platoon of us would stand a chance trying to sabotage battalion of fresh out of bed storm toads with full stomachs and battle hardened commanders? Willy blinks and lowers his head. KEAGAN (tired) We’re running so short on supplies. I don’t know if we can make it. The scraps in salvage are our only hope for survival. If DuWitt can’t make anything out of it... than I don’t think any of us are going to live through this next attack. HARE 3 How did toad intelligence learn the supply shipment schedule for Volantis? KEAGAN We don’t know for sure that they did. It’s just the only logical answer to why they showed up at the same time as the supply ship. Anyone else have anything to say? No one else speaks up. KEAGAN Get to work everyone. Most of the hares gather up small amounts of junk from the compound table and shuffle out of the room. Willy and Keagan stay behind. Keagan stands up and walks over to Willy. He sits back down in a chair next to him. WILLY (almost whispering) Where will you be in all of this? KEAGAN Outside on the front lines, where the masers still work. It’s where the senior N.C.O. belongs. Why are you still here? WILLY (almost whispering) I saw a man die in my arms today. KEAGAN I take it that’s the first time that’s happened to you? Willy nods. WILLY (almost whispering) It actually wouldn’t have been that bad except, I told him he’d be fine, and then he called me a ‘lying S.O.B.’ KEAGAN First rule of people about to die is, never ever tell them they won’t. WILLY (almost whispering) Not a minute later I killed another man... shoved a scalpel right into his throat. KEAGAN I take that also the first time that’s happened to you. Willy nods. KEAGAN That explains why you’re polished. WILLY (almost whispering) I remember being a toad POW on more than one occasion. KEAGAN (interrupting) Don’t tell me the stories. I’ve heard enough of them to make a pretty good guess as to what you went through. WILLY (almost whispering) Well, whatever you imagine me going through, I kept part of myself through all of it. I could never bring myself to kill someone. Actually before today I’ve never killed anything. When I was a child I’d run up to my room and cry when my father would swat a fly. But now, none of it seems like such a big deal anymore. And I don’t know how to feel about that. KEAGAN Well, you can think about it later. Right now we need you at the salvage bay, and then at the infirmary. WILLY (almost whispering) I don’t want to go to the infirmary. I want to go into the field and fight toads. KEAGAN You’ve got to be crazy. WILLY (almost whispering) I probably am. And that’s why I want to fight. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just feel like somehow all the answers to my questions are right there, in the fighting. KEAGAN Yeah frelling right! You just want to get back at the toads for what they did to you. You want every last one of them to die. WILLY (surprised, angry) That’s not true! Most of the toads are monsters! But not all of them! I’ve seen toads who were decent people! Even when I was their slave I saw a few of them who were decent people! There weren’t many... but there were a few. KEAGAN I take it there were less than I could count on one hand? WILLY (almost whispering) Yeah. KEAGAN You’re bigger and stronger than any hare. Outside in the firefight that’ll just make you a bigger target. But inside in the brawl, you’ll be at the advantage. That’s where you’ll be. WILLY (surprised) What? KEAGAN I just wanted to know that you’re not doing this out of either some sense of revenge or obligation. You want to be out in the field, you are, and I just told you where. Now get your ass to the salvage bay. Willy stares at Keagan dumbfounded. SCENE 12 – SALVAGE BAY The salvage bay is a large warehouse with cheap scaffold shelves piled with all kinds of scrap metal, broken tools, ship parts, building parts, wires, relays, circuit boards, engine parts, weapon parts, and burned or torn uniforms. Willy walks down one aisle slowly, followed by two Weapons Tech Hares. They drag a large wagon behind them. Willy stops at a stack of metal pipes just above boxes of small motor pieces. WILLY What are those pipes made of? WEAPONS THECH HARE 1 Tungsten titanium. Why? WILLY That should be plenty strong enough. Grab the entire stack and a few of those boxes of motor parts. WEAPONS THECH HARE 2 We have to keep these things simple. Our crews need to build at least a hundred of each. WILLY I know that. What kind of chemical explosives you got? WEAPONS THECH HARE 1 Powdered octonitrocubane. WILLY Way too powerful. You’ll have to dilute it with chalk or something. What about wax, you got that? WEAPONS THECH HARE 2 Just paraffin. WILLY That’ll do perfect. We’ll also need as many small ball bearings as we can find. They need to be real heavy. WEAPONS THECH HARE 2 All we got are titanium beryllium, but we can make iron ones real easy. WILLY That’ll be fine. TIME LAPSE Willy sits on the ground in the front of the warehouse, having just sawed off a piece of a pipe about two feet long with a mounted rotary saw. Many Weapons Tech Hares sit around him. WILLY A shotgun is a very basic weapon, devastating under the right conditions, but you’ll have to fire at close range or else it won’t penetrate the toad armor. How’re those shells going? WEAPONS THECH HARE 3 pours iron ball bearings into a paraffin wax cup molded in another short piece of pipe. Seven ball bearing fit inside the wax shell. He pours molten paraffin wax over it, which quickly cools, sealing the ball bearings inside. WEAPONS THECH HARE 3 Fine, but why are we coating the pipe with grease? WILLY The wax will stick to it if we don’t Wily grabs a flat metal bar and holds it to the end of the two foot pipe while WEAPONS TECH HARE 1 welds it to the back of the pipe. WILLY (pointing to the flat bar) Wrap this bar in upholstery foam and tape it up so no part of it sees air. (Pointing to the pipe) Then you weld another bar six inches long to the middle of the pipe parallel to the first bar. Tape that up so no one cuts their hand on it. You can hold it like a normal rifle then. (points to the back of the pipe) Drill a hole right here, make sure it’s not more than two millimeters wide. Behind it weld a one of those spring loaded swivels Lopis found and attach a small transformer to it with a steel hook at the end wired to the relay. Make sure the hook goes through the hole and deep into the pipe when the swivel flips forward before you start welding. And whatever you do, don’t touch the hook with bare skin. Then just oil up the inside of the barrel and slide one of those shells in it. Then tie a string to the swivel and pull it down when you want to fire. (blinks and pauses) Come to think of it, why didn’t anyone here think of anything like this? WEAPONS THECH HARE 4 When we first got here we didn’t need anything like this. By the time we did we were all too exhausted to have any kind of imagination. Willy purses his lips and nods, as if agreeing. TIME LAPSE Willy sits on the ground in the front of the warehouse surrounded by the weapon’s tech hares. There’s a large pipe half the length of Willy’s upper arm cut in half lengthwise. Another pipe cut in half lengthwise but barely smaller in diameter is welded to its end, again, half the length of Willy’s upper arm. Two long turbine blades are welded to the second half of the pipe, extending far beyond it. The end of the turbine blades are sawed off to sharp points and their edges have been ground sharp. WILLY (pointing to different parts of the contraption) Then I just ground down the edge of the turbine blade until it was sharp enough and welded it to the half pipes at the intersection. You make this, and tape it tightly to your sleeves and you’ve got a claw that extends out half your arm length. But yours all need to be much smaller of course. TIME LAPSE WEAPONS TECH HARE 4 holds a long pipe in one hand. In the other hand he holds a clamp that holds another, much fatter and shorter turbine blade cut width wise. The round edge of the turbine blade is ground sharp. Willy welds the turbine blade to top end of the pipe by its flat cut edge. Willy finishes welding. Willy (dropping the welding tool) And then you just weld whatever kind of counterweight you want opposite the blade and you’ve got yourself a battle axe. TIME LAPSE Willy sits on the ground around all the Weapons Tech Hares. WILLY When the toads break through into the building they’ll fight three lines. The first line will carry the shotguns. Now it takes too long to reload these things in mid fight so you’ll all only get one shot off at the toads. After that, you’ll all run to the rear line and grab your axes. Now we’ll still need the spears because the second line will be crouched down on the floor some distance from the first. Your spears will be lying on the floor next to you. As soon as the toads get too close, you lift up your spears and hopefully they’ll charge right into them. I saw that trick in a movie and it seemed to work pretty well. Once the second line’s done its job, they’ll run back to the infirmary where they’ll have more axes waiting for them. The third line will be the hares with the claws and the ones from the first line now with axes. You’ll fight the toads however you like once they break through the first two lines. Now get to work building those weapons. I’m going to go do something on my own. TIME LAPSE Willy is alone at the other end of the warehouse in a small makeshift workshop. He has boards of polymer with many small shapes cut out of them, a tiny hand held scroll saw, and boxes of tape. Willy Tapes together the small plates of polymer in a kind of weave pattern. Sweating, Willy sits down and wipes his forehead. He then stands back up with a confused expression, reaches into his back pocket, pulls out his Ipod and smiles. SCENE 13 – MAIN LOBBY The Main Lobby is a very large rectangular hall with double doors leading to the outside. Stairs lead down a short distance in front of the double doors. The sound of the firefight rings out just beyond the doors. Over two hundred Hare Soldiers in their earth tone brushstroke camouflage uniforms wait anxiously inside the hall. The first line is just at the end of the stairs. The hares grip their makeshift shotguns tightly while hares behind them grip the strings hanging from them. HARE SHOTGUN SOLDIER (chewing on something) Any minute now. In the second line, the hares either kneel or sit on their knees. Many of them grip their spears nervously. Among them are Jeffery and McBurrows the Black and White Blotched Hare from Scene 4. JEFFERY Looks like the odds are in my favor now McBurrows. When this is over you’ll be owing me fifty simoleans. MCBURROWS Not as much as you might think. He’s being thrown right into the shit. Neither of us expected that. He’ll die. Believe me, he’ll die. When this is over you’ll be owing *me* fifty simoleans. From a hallway, Willy DuWitt walks inside wearing a short sleeved shirt with a stiff turtleneck of flexible scale armor built with two layers small polymer discs woven inside crisscrossing patterns of tape. He also wears claws almost three times larger than those worn by the hares. Willy stands straight up with a cold face, yet somehow seems relaxed. The hares murmur amongst each other as they see Willy enter the Main Lobby. Jeffery and McBurrows look back at Willy and then at each other. JEFFERY (smirking) It’s beginning to look like the casino king will not be dethroned today. Willy joins the third line of hares with claws strapped to their arms and axes hanging off their belts. Many stare at him with various expressions. Willy pays them no mind. A familiar hare within the third line approaches Willy. BOB (with a quizzical expression) What the frell happened to you? WILLY (softly, slightly confused) I don’t really know. I don’t like what I’m doing... but its necessary. I think I know how I finally feel about killing that toad. BOB Do you? WILLY (nods) I hate it. I hate it more than anything I’ve ever done before. But what I think doesn’t seem to matter anymore. This needs to be done, so I’m doing it. BOB Spoken like a true vet. The sound of firefights get louder. Suddenly bizarre music blares over the intercom. The hares all jump collectively and grip their weapons tighter. Willy seems to be the only one not surprised by it. BOB (frightened) What the frell is that!? WILLY Heavy metal. BOB (confused) What!? WILLY (speaking up so all can hear) It’s a type of music from my homeworld. This song’s from a band called Blue Oyster Cult. I just heard it recently and it kind of spoke to me. I figured it’d be fitting here so I jury-rigged my Ipod to the intercom so it would play when the toads got too close. The hares relax slightly and refocus their attention on the doors. BOB (grumbling) It does fit. The double doors burst open and dozens of storm toads rush inside, their inactive maser carbines slung over their backs and their tactical knifes in hand. The toads rush forward toward the stairs, holding their knives in front of them. They charge down the stairs. At that moment the first line fires their shotguns. You see me now, a veteran Of a thousand psychic wars Shrapnel flies forward and imbeds into the entire front line of toads. They fall forward down the stairs and onto the floor in front of the first line of hares. Many toads are dead, many croak loudly in pain but are otherwise incapacitated. All bleed profusely. The hares from the first line all drop their makeshift shotguns and turn to run. I've been living on the edge so long Where the winds of limbo roar Most of the hares from the first line manage to run back to the third safely. But more toads clamor over the dead and maimed ones. Many of the first line Hares are tackled and stabbed to death by toads. And I'm young enough to look at And far too old to see The toads charge forward further, their knives extended. They run right toward the second line. The second line sits in place, gripping their spears tighter and clenching their teeth. All the scars are on the inside I'm not sure that there's anything left of me When the toads are almost on top of the second line, one hare panics and lifts his spear up. All the other hares follow in tandem. The toads charge straight into the spears, the next line of toads impale themselves. Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it The impaled toads collapse over the spears, their weight forcing the hares to drop them. More toads charge forward. The second line of Hares tries to run. It's time we had some leave We've been living in the flames The charging toads have to jump or clamor over the impaled toads, giving most of the hares from the second line chance to turn and run. Most do. But again, the toads tackle many to the ground and stab them to death. We've been eating out our brains Oh, please don't let these shakes go on The toads continue to charge forward. The hares armed with claws now stand behind the hares armed with axes pulled from their belts. Willy stands in the middle of it all, towering over the rest. They all ready their weapons and dig their heels into the ground. You ask me why I'm weary Why I can't speak to you The toads charge headlong into the hares. The swinging claws and axes of the hares almost instantly cuts down the entire next line of toads. But the next line after that catches the hares off guard and the fights become one on one. You blame me for my silence Say it's time I changed and grew One clawed hare thrusts his claw forward at one charging toad, stabbing him through the chest. He thrusts his other claw at another charging toad, stabbing him through the chest. He pulls both green stained claws out of the toads just before being stabbed through the back by a toad knife. But the war's still going on, dear And there's no end that I know One axe wielding hare stands off against a toad. The toad tries to lunge forward only to meet an axe through the head. The hare struggles to dig the dripping greed axe out of the toad. He turns around just in time to see another toad leaping toward him. He swings the axe and imbeds it in the toad’s chest. He struggles to pry the axe out but is not fast enough. Another toad leaps at him head on and stabs him in the chest. And I can't say if we're ever I can't say if we're ever gonna’ be free Another clawed hare charges at two toads whose backs are turned toward him and impales them both through the back on his claws. Another toad suddenly grabs him from behind and reaches around with a knife to slit his throat. Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it Another axe wielding hare slowly backs away from the approach of two toads. He rears his axe back and swings it, imbedding it into the side of one of the toads. The other immediately leaps on him, knocking him to the ground and plunging his knife into the hare’s chest. It's time we had some leave We've been living in the flames Two toads leap up at Willy with knives drawn. Willy turns around just in time to lunge at them with both arms extended, impaling each on a claw. We've been eating out our brains Oh, please don't let these shakes go on Willy lifts both toads into the air on his claws. He throws one off to the side where it hits and knocks down a toad. He throws the other off to the other side where it hits and knocks down another toad. A third toad charges at Willy. He kicks it in the face so hard it’s sent into a back flip, landing unconscious on its face, both its nostrils bleeding. You see me now a veteran Of a thousand psychic wars Bob, wielding claws, slowly backs up from the brunt of the fighting. A few toads break through, and two immediately sight him and charge. My energy is spent at last And my armor is destroyed Bob jumps back to avoid the swipe of one toad’s knife. He swipes back with a claw, gouging out the toad’s throat. The other toad leaps up into the air at him holding his knife above him. I have used up all my weapons And I'm helpless and bereaved Bob turns his head down and shuts his eyes tight. He lifts a clawed arm up into the air. The toad lands right on the claw, impaling itself and knocking Bob over. Bob struggles to get up just as another toad shoulder rams him and knocks him down again. The toad swipes his knife at Bob and cuts his throat open. Wounds are all I'm made of Did I hear you say that this is victory Willy kicks a toad in the face, knocking him over. He looks to the side and sees Bob dead, with eyes wide and a pool of slowly expanding blood around his neck. WILLY (shocked, wide eyed, screaming) Bob!!! Don't let these shakes go on It's time we had a break from it Willy turns toward the front of the battlefield and charges screaming, headlong into the foray of toads. He leaps up the stairs, his hands extended, stabbing two toads at the top of the stairs with his claws. Send me to the rear Where the tides of madness swell Willy stands up and pulls his dripping green claws from the two toads. He screams and swings his claw at a toad to his side, cutting into its head and knocking it down the stairs. And been sliding into hell Oh, please don't let shakes go on Willy swings his other claw at another toad to his other side, cutting into its arm and knocking it down the stairs. Don't let these shakes go on Two toads stand in front of Willy clearly intimidated. Willy runs forward, stabbing one through the chest and kicking the other one over. Two more toads from the side leap at Willy and tackle him. Willy is knocked down the stairs, hitting his head on the floor and falling unconscious. Don't let these shakes go on Two axe wielding hares immediately rush toward Willy. They swing their axes down into the chests and shoulders of the two storm toads, killing them, and slowly drag the unconscious Willy away as the fighting starts to die down. Fade to black SCENE 14 – INFIRMARY, RECOVERY ROOM Willy wakes up slowly. He is once again in his boxers with an IV in his arm and has several bandages on his body. His forehead is wrapped in bandages. Captain Bucky O’Hare and CAPTAIN MIMI LEFLEUR stand above him with quizzical expressions. WILLY (weakly) Wha... what happened? BUCKY I was about to ask you the same question. The stories they tell about you are pretty unbelievable. WILLY (weakly) Did we win? BUCKY (nodding) Yes. Thanks to you, they held their own pretty well here. MIMI Leaping headlong into a suicide attack on a mass of charging toads? It looks like you’re going to need a new psych. evaluation once we get back. Why did you do that anyway? WILLY (weakly) They killed Bob. MIMI (shocked) Bob? You mean... Harry’s step cousin? Willy nods MIMI (somber) He’s not going to take that well. WILLY (weakly) How did you get here? BUCKY Mimi led the rescue mission, found us all stranded in the wilderness on different parts of the planet. Our last two days we’re pretty boring really. (more softly) You told me once you were afraid of swatting flies. So just what exactly possessed you to go commando all of the sudden? I mean aside from what’s in the reports. WILLY (weakly) I started asking questions. BUCKY And? WILLY (weakly) And I figured the answers would be in the battle. MIMI (shaking her head) Well... Whatever happened, the hares in this place seem to revere you now, like some sort of saint or something. (irritated) You also got them all listening to some obnoxious explosive music called ‘Veteran of the Sonic Wars’ or something. WILLY (chuckles) ‘Psychic’ wars. MIMI Whatever it’s called it makes my head spin. All I know is that you’re frelling lucky to be alive, and that all the hares here adore you. WILLY (weakly) Let them think what they want. When are we getting out of here? BUCKY The Screaming Mimi arrived with a new cargo liner. They’re offloading right now. As soon they’re done they’ll load the Righteous into it and we’ll all take off in the liner. WILLY (weakly, but urgently) You need to randomize the shipment schedule to Volantis! MIMI (grabbing Willy’s hand) We know. The council’s already processing the order. WILLY (weakly) How’s the Righteous? BUCKY The outer hull’s crumpled, half the relay’s have been fried, along with almost all the consoles and monitors, and the fusion chamber’s been flooded with coolant and needs to be completely renovated. But all the critical systems are just fine, and the repairs shouldn’t take longer than a week. We already got you a new uniform. WILLY (weakly) If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep the fatigues they made me here, just as a souvenir I won’t wear them. BUCKY Of course! WILLY (weakly) How’s Deadeye and Jenny BUCKY A few scrapes and bruises but nothing serious. A TAN HARE NURSE approaches Willy. Bucky and Mimi step aside to let him through. TAN HARE NURSE Mr. DuWitt? Willy looks at the Tan Hare Nurse TAN HARE NURSE If you don’t mind, I’d like to give you a ‘Pol Qua’. WILLY (weakly) A what? BUCKY An ancient Hare warrior’s tattoo, only the best were ever given one. I’ve got one myself. WILLY (shaking head) No, I shouldn’t- TAN HARE NURSE (interrupting) Mr. DuWitt, this is not an offering, it’s a request. Willy looks at Bucky. Bucky puts his hands up and shakes his head. BUCKY I have no jurisdiction here. WILLY (weakly, to Tan Hare Nurse) Sure, why not. TAN HARE NURSE Thank you Mr. DuWitt. SCENE 15 – LANDING PAD. The landing pad is a kilometer long square of concrete just outside of the spaceport. A new half cylinder cargo ship is parked there along with the Screaming Mimi. The Righteous Indignation is (presumably) inside the cargo ship. Bucky O’Hare and Mimi LeFleur walk toward the cargo ship with Willy DuWitt trailing behind on a single crutch. Willy is shirtless but wears the pants and boots of his new S.P.A.C.E. uniform, with the jacket draped over his shoulders. A thin line of gold colored runes now scrolls down Willy’s chest. First Mate Jenny and Gunner Deadeye Duck wave to them at the entrance to the cargo ship Willy sees two Navy Guard Bulldogs escorting Keagan to the cargo ship. WILLY (surprised) Keagan? Bucky and Mimi stop and look on as Willy ambles over to Keagan. Willy has a smirk on his face as he approaches Keagan, which quickly turns into a look of horror as he sees Keagan is also on a crutch, and is missing the lower half of his right leg, the stump now wrapped in bandages. WILLY (frightened) Keagan? The Navy Guard Bulldogs stop and let Keagan speak to Willy. KEAGAN HOPPER Hey there. I see they gave you a Pol Qua. WILLY (shaking his head) It wasn’t my idea. KEAGAN Well, I know for a fact that you deserve it more than me. WILLY (upset) But why- KEAGAN (interrupting) Did you find those answers? In the fight I mean? WILLY (smiling softly) Yeah. I think I did. (beat) So I guess this means you’re being discharged. KEAGAN (nodding) Well, limbs are too complicated to grow in a vat, and they won’t let you in the field with a bionic limb since it has no sense of touch. WILLY How did they get you? KEAGAN (hesitantly, somber) They didn’t. I did it myself. WILLY (shocked, upset) What!? KEAGAN (sharp) You heard me DuWitt! I took my maser rifle, and I blew my own goddamn frelling leg off! WILLY (upset, eyes watering) Why!? KEAGAN (beat) DuWitt, in the past thirty something hours you got only a taste the opposite face of war. You were just at her place to visit. But I live with her. I can tell you for certain that everyone who spends more than a few months in this seriously considers doing what I did just to get away from the fighting. (somber) I guess I just wasn’t as strong as the ones who didn’t. WILLY (weakly, eyes watering) What happens to you now? KEAGAN Now? Now I got to prison. WILLY (confused, eyes watering) Prison? ... How long? KEAGAN (shrugs shoulders) I’m not sure, maybe less than a year, maybe the rest of my life, or anywhere in between. It depends on a lot of things. Willy stands in shock and disbelief at Keagan. KEAGAN One more thing. Keagan yanks a single arm free from a NAVY GUARD BULLDOG. He salutes Willy. NAVY GUARD BULLDOG (grabbing Keagan’s arm again) Come on Mr. Hopper. You’ve had enough time. The two Navy Guard Bulldogs continue to lead Keagan to the cargo ship. Willy stands still watching him in silent tears. Bucky and Mimi walk up to either side of Willy and both wrap their arms around him. THE END ‘Veteran of the Psychic Wars’ © Blue Oyster Cult, 1980 & 1981