The Dark Frontier (6)
OFFICER Shit! It's Webber! He reaches for his GUN, but Leslie is ready. P-P-POW! P-P-POW! She puts two three shot bursts into his chest, before his pistol clears his holster. POW! POW! POW! POW! Bill jumps through the door with both guns blazing. Leslie falls back to avoid the shots. The already surprised men at the table have no time to react. All four sit dead in their chairs. LESLIE Damn it Bill, you should have left at least one of them alive.Go check upstairs, make sure there's no body else in here. Bill and Melissa run up the steps. Zee, Bainbridge and Doc arrive. Doc surveys the carnage. DOC Looks like you had a little trouble. LESLIE Yes, strange, I was mistaken for Kora Horst, my DNA donor. The way they acted, though Kora must have had some important connections. DOC I thought she was dead. LESLIE Me too, but apparently they hadn't got the word. That officer knew that I wasn't her though. Must have been my hairstyle or something. Bill and Melissa return down the steps. Bill shakes his head. LESLIE Damn! We need a living body who can give us some idea of the general layout of the area. MELISSA We can abduct a guard near the Inner fence that surrounds the colony proper. EXT. NEAR FENCE -- NIGHT Commander Connor brings the ATV to a stop. Leslie climbs out of the vehicle. The light from a CAMPFIRE glows just beyond a sand dune a few tens of meters away. A MAN sleeps near by. LESLIE Follow me Doc. She draws her GUN and approaches the fire. Doc follows on her heels. She presses the barrel of the "hundred over ten" on the man's Temple. Startled, the dark skinned man, with the long, stringy black hair, jerks back his head. He then sees Leslie's gun. Angry, The man GRABS for her weapon. He catches Leslie's right wrist. Doc quickly GRASPS the man's own wrist, and squeezes it with his bionic grip until the man lets go. Without releasing his hold, Doc pulls the man to a standing position and then pulls both of the man's hands behind his back. Leslie looks surprised and worried for a moment. She rubs her wrist and looks at the man, but quickly regains her composure. MAN What the fuck is this? LESLIE You look like a man who knows his way around. We need a little information from you. MAN I'm not telling you nothing, bitch! LESLIE You don't have to. My BT's going to read you. MAN A BT? LESLIE Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit. INT. ATV CAB -- NIGHT Doc ties the man's hands behind his back and around one of the internal framing columns. Leslie brings Zee over. An immediate shock of recognition registers in the faces of both the man and Zee. ZEE It's Shanka! Rage contorts Zee's face. SHANKA My God, Hopa Hi! In an instant fit of rage Zee clasps both hands tightly together into a big fist and swings with all her might at the left side of the man's face. WHACK! The blow nearly takes his head off. Doc and Bainbridge Manage to GRAB Zee and pull her away. The man, remarkably still conscious, bleeds from his mouth. He appears terrified. LESLIE What the hell was that about Zee! ZEE It's Personal! LESLIE Save your personal bullshit for later. You have a job to do, now read the guy! SHANKA Keep her away from me! Zee appears to calm down. She places her left hand on the man's forehead and closes her eyes. Suddenly, Zee's hand SLIPS UP and grabs a handful of his hair. Her right hand quickly reaches under the hood and behind her neck. She pulls out a "PIG STICKER" that makes Leslie's old combat knife pale in comparison. LESLIE Shit! Leslie lunges forward. Doc grabs Zee's right arm and pulls her back. He squeezes until she drops the knife. LESLIE (livid) What's the fuck"s wrong with you Zee! If you cant follow orders I'll send you back to the ship. Zee breaks down into tears. ZEE He was responsible for this! (points to her head) Do you know what my Lakota name is? Hopa Hi, Leslie, Hopa Hi! It means beautiful hair. (a beat) He has made me a joke among my own people. His name Shanka!, 'Dog!' fits him like the dog he is. (a beat) I caught him stealing tribal funds for the Syndicate. Two of his men came by my quarters one night and forcefully injected me with a chemical.All of my hair fell out! It never grew back. I had to leave my home in disgrace. I had to change my name. Zee retreats to the rear of the cab and buries her face in her hands. MELISSA She is too upset to work. Leslie flashes a look of sympathetic concern in her direction, regains her composure and puts her face close to Shanka's. LESLIE You are going to tell us where the weapons and ammunition are kept. And if you lie to us,--- well, I'm sure that I can arrange for you and Zee to have some 'quality time' together. SHANKA You will kill me anyway. LESLIE We will release you if you tell us the truth. Yes, We will have to drug you and tie you up to keep you quiet, but we will release you. Trust me. Zee stands upright her tears have turned to anger. ZEE You will deny me my vengeance Leslie, even though I have been helping you get yours? LESLIE Our fight is with the Syndicate, Zee. Shanka is only their tool. It was the Syndicate that took away that which was valuable to us. It is only fitting that we take from The Syndicate that which is valuable to it---This mining colony. (a beat) I cannot allow you to jeopardize this mission over a personal matter. Shanka and everyone else on this moon will get what they deserve. I swear it! ZEE I suppose that your body is not a personal matter, is it? She walks to the back of the cabin. Leslie ignores the comment. LESLIE Well dog man, are you ready to talk or should we let Hopa Hi give you a new hairstyle? SHANKA Okay, Okay! I'll talk! EXT. NEAR MINE -- NIGHT The ATV pulls up and parks near the crater. INT. ATV CAB -- NIGHT Leslie nods to the Doctor. Doc places an INJECTOR on the man's arm and pushes it in. Shanka immediately lapses into unconsciousness. Leslie looks over at Zee, sitting on the bench seat looking sad and frustrated. LESLIE Am I going to have to worry about you, Zee? ZEE No, I would want him to be fully conscious. I could have no satisfaction with him like this. Leslie reaches over and removes Shanka's BEAR CLAW NECKLACE. She hands it to Zee. LESLIE Here, I know you need some sort of token of victory over Shanka. This is quite rare and I know he prized it. All I got from the guy that raped me was this lousy hat. Zee puts on the necklace and nods her thanks. EXT. EDGE OF MINE PIT -- NIGHT The mine is a large "open pit" affair, an artificial crater, some 30 to 40 meters deep and about half a click in diameter. With a set of BINOCULARS, Leslie peers through the window and checks conditions at the bottom of the pit. To her dismay, she sees that most of the workers wear DIRTY RAGS and are excavating the ore with HAND TOOLS. LESLIE Hand tools? You would think that they would have some kind of machinery. MELISSA The ore is over thirty percent pure gold. It's so rich that hand mining is a practical proposition and slave prisoners are cheaper than machines. LESLIE I see twenty-five groups of about twenty workers. An armed guard and a whip man for each group. (a beat) That accounts for fifty guards. With another thirty armed guards along the rim and about Twenty roaming around on other tasks that gives us about one hundred-the numbers seem right. MELISSA There will be a similar number of guards at the day camp and about 50 staff at each camp. Three hundred total. Shanka didn't lie to us. LESLIE Let's go for a little ride. Take us past the day camp INT. ATV -- NIGHT Bainbridge sits behind the wheel of the ATV as they drive by the CAMPS. There are GUARDS manning the TOWERS. MELISSA The rest of the day shift guards are likely sleeping along with the day shift prisoners. Only the 50 night guards are awake over there. The fifty guards at the empty night shift camp should be asleep too. DOC Well Captain, have you got any ideas? LESLIE One prisoner group either in the mine or in the camp could be liberated and that force could be used to help liberate the others. MELISSA But we are going to need weapons to arm them with. LESLIE Shanka said that the extra weapons were kept in building three, next to the Commander’s office. EXT. A STREET NEAR THE CAMP -- NIGHT Leslie looks down the deserted, quiet street. LESLIE The security around here is pitiful. She peeps into the COMMANDER's office window. He sits at his desk, catching up on some paper work. Leslie walks over to the parked ATV. LESLIE He appears to be alone. This has to be done quickly and quietly I'm going in myself. She removes her LEG HOLSTER and gun and hands them to Melissa for safekeeping. LESLIE (CONT) (to Melissa) Now I'm going to see how well your method of fighting really works. Leslie gently knocks on the door. To her surprise, and horror ANOTHER MAN opens it. Leslie recovers. LESLIE I need to see your C. O. ---Alone please. The man smiles and steps outside. He closes the door behind her. INT. COMMANDER"S OFFICE -- NIGHT Leslie puts on her best "airhead" smile, just in time for the commander to look up to see her. COMMANDER Kora? No, you aren't Kora. LESLIE I'm her cousin! Some of her friends sent me over here. They thought that maybe you could use a bit of 'companionship' tonight, seeing as how hard you work and all. Leslie works her way ever closer to the man. COMMANDER Now, Miss, I really do have work to do. She sees an opening and jumps into the man's lap. LESLIE Go right ahead, I'm quite comfortable here. The Commander definitely IS distracted and begins to smile. As they look into each other's eyes, Leslie stealthily pulls the SHIV slips out of the seam of the leg of her pressure suit and RUNS it upwards, into the man's chest. Leslie quickly stands up as the Commander falls to the floor. She checks his pulse. LESLIE Son of a gun! That was too easy! She sees Melissa outside of the window. Melissa displays her own SHIV and points towards the door. The other man will not be a problem either. Leslie helps Melissa drag the other man's BODY inside and drop it next to the dead commander. Leslie and Melissa both pull on a PRY BAR to force open a locked door next to the office. CRACK! It pops open. Several SHELVES full of RIFLES and HANDGUNS, and a few boxes of GRENADES are visible through the open door. EXT. FRONT OF COMMANDER'S OFFICE -- NIGHT Bill drives the ATV up to the front door. Leslie and Melissa PASS Doc, Bill and Bainbridge the weapons. They load them into the vehicle. INT.COMMANDER'S OFFICE -- NIGHT Leslie hands Zee an AWKWARD LOOKING WEAPON that holds a clip of five 60mm incenderary grenades. LESLIE Here, this is really easy to use, just look look through the sight, focus the image and pull the trigger. When we attack the camp, knock out the guard's quarters across the road. Zee looks a little unsure of herself as she examines the weapon. LESLIE (continuing) While you wait, look around. See if you can find anything, gifts or whatever to the commander, that might have been in contact with Konstantin. EXT. NEAR MINE PIT -- NIGHT The ATV pulls up to the crater rim. Leslie scans the area once again with her BINOCULARS. DOC How are you going to get the weapons to the prisoners in the mine? LESLIE They already have weapons. All they need is a bit of organization. DOC Surely you don't mean their tools, the guards would shoot them down if they made any threatening moves towards them. LESLIE No, something better She bends down, picks up a potato sized ROCK and throws it. DOC Stones? LESLIE Simple, and deadly at close range. Just ask a policeman who had to work riot duty. The way I figure it, if everybody and I mean everybody, throws a rock at the gunmen on their group, and all at the same time, it will all be over in a matter of seconds. (a beat) Doc, you look more like a syndicate type than the rest of us. Make up some pretext to get by the guards. You need to go down into the pit and pass the word. Talk to a man from each group. Tell him to have his partners grab a rock and throw it at the gunmen on our signal. DOC Which will be? LESLIE When we kill the lights.-There will still be enough light reflected by the planet to see by. DOC What about the guards on the crater rim? LESLIE Don't worry, we have a plan to deal with them. Bill grasps a LOOP OF A THICK CABLE, that is plugged into a portable light stand on the crater rim and drags it about ten meters of so the rear of the ATV. He loops it around a RAIL, on the vehicle's rear panel, about a meter and a half off of the ground. He secures the cable to the vehicle with several turns of STEEL WIRE. LESLIE Okay, Bainbridge, you and Bill go out to the generator house and get ready to kill ALL of the lights when I tell you to. Doc, get down there and let the prisoners know what's going on. We have everything ready up here. Melissa at the ATV controls, waits for Leslie's signal. EXT. MINE PIT -- NIGHT Doc rides an escalator BUCKET CAR down into the mine pit. Immediately, GUARD #1 confronts him. DOC I'm Dr. Locke, yes, on special orders from Konstantin himself. I am to select a prisoner from each group for uh . . . Special Treatment. GUARD#1 Yes, I understand. Perhaps if we make examples of a few of them they will work a little harder. Doc removes his SIDEARM and hands it to the guard. DOC Here son, hold this for me. Can't risk one of them grabbing it and shooting me with my own gun, now can I? The guard nods knowingly. In the first group, Doc sees a MAN wearing the remains of a Space command Pressure suit. He walks over to him. DOC YOU! GET UP! Doc indicates the man to open his mouth. He shines a FLASHLIGHT down his throat and pretends to give the worker a simple examination. DOC Now listen carefully and spread this message to others in your group. Captain Webber has come to rescue you. MAN Captain Webber! He's still alive? I knew he wouldn't desert us! DOC SHHH! No time for that. Tell your friends to find a suitable rock. And throw it immediately at the gunman the instant the lights go out. Don't hesitate. Do it! Captain Webber is counting on you. Doc talks to another man and then another. Soon he is finished. Doc walks over to the escalator again and retrieves his GUN from the guard. He pretends to make up a LIST of names while he waits for the 'fun' to begin. EXT. NEAR POWERHOUSE -- NIGHT Bainbridge finds the SWITCHES he needs to pull. He signals Bill to wait a moment. Bainbridge then pulls a CARD from his head and replaces it with ANOTHER CARD from his pocket. Bainbridge quickly draws the GUN from his holster and TWIRLS it confidently. Bill gazes in astonishment. Bainbridge seems to be able to handle the gun like a pro. Leslie speaks into the COM UNIT LESLIE (OVER COM) Now! Bainbridge throws the switches. EXT. NEAR MINE PIT -- NIGHT Melissa floors the throttle of the ATV. The lights in and around the pit go out. EXT. IN THE PIT -- NIGHT One of the guards looks up for a second at the dead light fixture near him. THWACK! His head is busted by a rock thrown from not ten paces away. It is followed by at least fifteen more, several hit their marks before he hits the ground. Most of the other armed guards, in the pit, meet a similar fate simultaneously. Only one or two get off A FEW SHOTS before they too are felled by the onslaught." The guard standing next to Doc, runs for the "panic button" box on a nearby pole. BANG! Doc shoots him before he can set off the emergency siren. With a ROAR, the prisoners charge the remaining guards and whip men. Using shovels and pickaxes to finish them off. EXT. NEAR MINE PIT -- NIGHT The GUARDS NEAR THE RIM, alerted by the noise stand up. They take position on the rim of the pit, and begin to take aim. The CABLE tied to the ATV lays on the ground and runs around the rim of the crater to the power house on the other side. It now begins to draw taught WHACK! Suddenly it SNAPS STRAIGHT, sweeping the entire row of guards over the edge of the crater to fall to their demise at the bottom of the pit. Bill and Bainbridge run along the mine's edge in the opposite direction, with their pistols, POW! POW! POW! They pick off the few REMAINING GUARDS who had stationed themselves away from the main group. EXT. IN THE PIT -- NIGHT Soon it is all over. Leslie and Melissa ride down the ELEVATOR
Copyright © 2001 Thomas M Ray |