TRIUMVIRATE SE Chapter Twenty-Three
By The Host
INT./EXT. DAVIES’S GUNSHIP - MOVING
Jack’s gunship weaves between the buildings of Magnapolis,
evading notice as the battle continues. Johnson looks at a
monitor in his gunpit as Davies navigates between the towers
of concrete and steel.
JOHNSON
Steve and Willem are out.
Jack nods and pulls the gunship quickly around the corner of
a massive building – to see before them a veritable fleet of
Corporate vessels directly ahead. Davies’s breath catches in
his throat; he’s terrified.
JOHNSON
Keep going.
DAVIES
Keep going?
JOHNSON
We’re all United ships. They don’t
know whose side we’re on. Just
pass through.
Davies nods, runs his fingers across his nostrils, and tips
the ship up to go over the assemblage of vessels, which seem
to be hovering in ambush near the Corporate Tower. Suddenly
the nearest fighters turn and make for Davies and Johnson.
JOHNSON
Keep going. . .
The ships open fire, one blast hitting the gunship full-on,
shaking it violently.
DAVIES
Shit!
JOHNSON
Turn! Turn! Turn!
Davies pulls hard on the controls and the gunship pulls up
and loops around and goes back the way it came, now pursued
by three Corporate fighters. The gunship darts back around
the corner whence it came.
DAVIES
I thought you said they wouldn’t
know us!
JOHNSON
I was wrong!
The three Corporate fighters are around the tower now and
following Davies’s gunship. Jack points the gunship down
toward the floor of the city and streaks past the buildings
with the Corporate vessels in hot pursuit.
JOHNSON
What’re you doing?!
DAVIES
I’m taking it down to the ground.
They’d be insane to follow us.
JOHNSON
They’re following us.
DAVIES
Wait!
Lower and lower they go, Jack trying to weave, to provide a
difficult target, but there’s not enough room in the steel
canyon. Suddenly he comes to a wide cross-lane; the gunship
turns ninety degrees, almost scathing the buildings on the
far side of the open space, but then it’s made it and it’s
in a wider boulevard, with room to dodge enemy fire between
the buildings, and still the Corporate vessels pursue, and
still they all four of them go ever down.
INT./EXT. MACY’S FIGHTER - MOVING – MOMENTS LATER
Macy’s fighter flies over the wreckage of the Presidential
Tower and comes to the greensward. Directly ahead is the
Corporate Tower and the landing zone. He prepares for the
auto-destruct and ejection sequence when a display suddenly
catches his eye – he can see the representation of a gunship
tagged ‘DAV/JON’ moving between buildings away from the
designated Landing Zone pursued by three other vessels. Macy
quickly comes to a decision and raises his elevation and
speed, flying toward and past the Corporate Tower to save
his wingmates.
He flies past Steve and Willem as they float slowly down to
the ground. A building nearby, between them and the
Corporate Tower, explodes at its base; as it begins to fall,
another explosion literally knocks the top levels off the
behemoth tower. This top portion slowly tumbles away from
the rest, a hulking manmade tree toppling in this living
forest. Fire reflects in Willem’s wide eyes.
INT./EXT. DAVIES’S GUNSHIP - MOVING - CONTINUOUS
Davies pilots the gunship through scattered traffic at this
lower level of the city, away from the battle in the skies
above. Then behind them one of the three pursuers slams into
a civilian vessel and is fatally damaged, hurtling into a
building and exploding in a ball of flame and billowing
smoke. Meanwhile, Davies, approaching the very ground,
strains to pull up. And then he levels, and he’s barely
twenty feet above the ground, following a wide expressway
populated by speeding vehicles which at certain point lift
off into the sky or touch down. Davies’s gunship approaches
a glassed corridor spanning the freeway a couple of stories
above, connecting two buildings. It barely passes under, and
immediately gains altitude on the other side. The Corporate
vessels navigate with ease, one above and one below.
INSIDE, Johnson is near frantic.
JOHNSON
They’re still following!
DAVIES
(Incredulous)
I was wrong!
Suddenly a large vessel pulls out from behind a building
ahead, directly in their trajectory. Davies frantically
pulls up and suddenly finds himself in another stream of
traffic; vehicles spin away as he passes through.
JOHNSON
Jesus, get us out of here!
DAVIES
I’m trying!
The gunship corkscrews into a narrower space between two
massive buildings; Davies levels it and pulls up as a bomb
explodes a building ahead. The building burns and the
conflagration spreads. Davies passes the gunship into a
cloud of smoke and all is dark; they barely miss running
into a building that juts out below them; and then they’re
free and in clear night air again, finally pulling above
some of the lower buildings and drawing nearer the battle in
the skies. After a second behind them one vessel emerges
from the smoke, and another, and then a third, this one with
markings of the USS. Johnson looks back.
JOHNSON
Another one!
But suddenly this third fighter opens fire on the other two.
One of them blows up as Davies looks back, elated.
DAVIES
It’s Macy!
At that, there is a ripping explosion and Davies’s gunship
spins wildly out of control. Smoke quickly fills the cockpit
and is just as quickly sucked out of it. Davies looks back
to see Robert; there’s a gash in Johnson’s forehead, but he
seems otherwise okay.
DAVIES
You okay?
JOHNSON
We’ve got a minute and a half to
get out of this thing!
DAVIES
Eject?
JOHNSON
(Reading monitor)
No. System’s dead.
Davies nods and starts to open his cockpit window as Johson
opens that to his gunpit, ignoring the shrieking alarms.
They quickly unstrap themselves from their seats and pull
themselves onto the left wing of the gunship, gripping
handholds as the wind screams by and the gunship is flies
headlong towards a distant skyscraper.
INSIDE MACY’S COCKPIT Hawk sees Jack and Johnson emerge from
the cockpit; he gets the message and his hands fly across
his equipment as he zooms past the remaining Corporate
fighter and he lets loose two harpoons which glom onto each
wing of Davies’s fighter, which is writhing as it flies and
bleeding flame and smoke.
ON THE WING OF THE GUNSHIP, Johnson screams to Davies over
the wind.
JOHNSON
JACK, I’LL GO FIRST! WATCH ME!
Jack just nods his head. Johnson takes a deep breath and
then very quickly lets go of his handhold and lunges for the
tow rope connecting harpoon to Macy’s fighter behind. He
grabs fast to it with his left hand and swiftly with his
right hooks it to his belt; then, with a wave to Jack, he
lets go and is pulled back by the force of the wind to
Macy’s fighter behind. He lands with his back to the side of
Macy’s wing; throwing his legs up he climbs onto the wing
and away from the tow rope, still attached to him by an
elastic on his belt. He grabs a nearby handhold and grabs
another of three hooks on his belt. He secures himself to
this handhold and releases the hook holding him to the tow
rope.
AT THAT MOMENT the Corporate fighter shoots one of the
gunship’s engines; with a tiny explosion the gunship flips
180 degrees, so that up is down and the harpoon connecting
the Macy’s fighter to the gunship’s left win loses its hold
and falls down and trails behind Macy’s fighter; it is
quickly released from Macy’s ship and falls toward the
ground. So, too, is Davies about to fall; he now hangs from
his handhold, feet dangling above the tips of towers and the
ground thousands of feet below. Ahead, the tower standing in
the gunship’s way draws ever nearer. Davies closes his eyes,
gulps.
DAVIES
Not again.
Macy maneuvers his fighter so that it flies in tandem with
Davies’s gunship, below and slightly behind. The Corporate
fighter still follows, shooting at Macy’s fighter now. Macy
glances up at Jack from his cockpit; Jack looks down.
ON THE LEFT WING OF MACY’S FIGHTER, Johnson lets go of the
handhold with his right hand and taps his ear.
JOHNSON
Jack.
HANGING FROM HIS HANDHOLD, Jack hears Johnson’s voice inside
his head.
JOHNSON (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Jack, you’ve gotta jump. Let go.
DAVIES
I can’t!
INT GEMINI – STRATEGIC PLANNING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Admiral Dawson is ignoring his planning for the moment; he
can see Davies’s view of the action on a holographic
display. Visibly on edge, Dawson watches and listens to the
interplay in his ear.
JOHNSON (V.O.)
Jack, it’s all right. We’ve got
you.
DAWSON
Jack—
EXT. MAGNAPOLIS
Jack perks up when he hears Dawson.
DAWSON (V.O.)
You have to do it, Jack. Let go.
DAVIES
Okay.
ON THE GUNSHIP, Johnson takes another deep breath and looks
up at his friend dangling above the fighter.
IN THE FIGHTER Macy watches with concern, trying desperately
to keep the gunship level even as he is shot from behind by
the Corporate fighter.
FINALLY JACK DAVIES LETS GO; he falls and lands on the right
wing of Macy’s fighter and tumbles over toward the rear edge
and flails desperately for a handhold and seems about to
fall off when suddenly he finds something and holds on,
holds on to the very edge of Macy’s wing, his legs trailing
behind him, and he dares not to remove a hand to try to
secure himself.
IN THE COCKPIT, Macy releases the second tow rope and steers
away from the gunship just as it finally explodes; Macy
angles his gunship down.
THE CORPORATE VESSEL IS TOO CLOSE when Macy turns and the
gunship explodes; the pilot frantically pulls up, away from
the explosion, and then turns and begins to plunge down to
follow Macy, but turns too slowly, and when he comes through
the flame from Davies’s gunship his fighter slams into the
tower which stands only a few meters beyond.
IN HIS FIGHTER Macy sighs, collects himself, and slows his
vessel while still flying inexorably downward.
AUTOR'S COMMENTARY:
Not much to say. Definitely my favorite scene to write. This
is one that sort of got away from me: my idea was to have
Davies and Johnson chased by enemy fighters, eject, and then
have Macy land nearby. But I really got into the thing when
I was writing and it just kept growing longer and more
elaborate. I’m happy with the end result. I think it could
make for a decent action sequence.
NEXT CHAPTER
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
SCENE ACCESS
MAIN MENU
4/11/2003 10:29:17 PM
(Updated: 4/12/2003 5:55:39 PM)
Comment on this fan fiction!
|
