Excerpt from HARD ARMOR, by Brian Mix FADE IN: EXT. DANTERIS IV - DUSK On the horizon of an endless desert landscape a LARGE DISH points straight up into the sky. Below this dish is a CONCRETE BUNKER. SUPER: "MAIN POWER RELAY STATION: DANTERIS IV" The station sits on top of a slight rise. Two filthy maintenance workers, MAC and JOE, work on a pipe valve. MAC This is no way to live a life. I'm tellin' ya, I'm off this rock. JOE Does her majesty have someplace better to be? MAC Damn straight! They got smart machines can do this crap now. JOE Those machines ain't out here 'cause they're smarter than you'll... Flashing streaks of a METEOR SHOWER ROAR across the sky. MAC Looks like we're going to have a lot of meteor activity tonight. They hear DEEP THUDS and the sound of SCRAPING METAL. JOE No, I don't think so. Joe runs for station but gets cut off by three SMALL ATTACK ROBOTS. Each robot stands 3 feet tall and sports a nasty looking laser. Joe cuts left, too late, he's PERFORATED by LASER BEAMS. Mac swings his SHOVEL and smashes the "heads" of all three robots. He smiles. A LARGE CYLINDER SHAPED ROBOT rises up from behind MAC and blows him to bits. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. SPACE - DAY SUPER:"TWO WEEKS LATER" Three LARGE SPACE SHIPS orbit Danteris IV. They bristle with antennae and are lined with long bomb bay doors. INT. USS GAGARIN CORRIDOR - DAY An AMMO CART, driven by a sheepish kid driver - TAYLOR, slows to a stop at the intersection of two large tunnel like corridors. Taylor looks out of place in his one size too big army coveralls. He scratches his head and looks at a hand drawn map. A MAINTENANCE ROBOT emerges from one of the corridors. TAYLOR Hey, which way is Drop Bay One? The robot points back in the direction it came from. Taylor waves "thanks" and the cart speeds down the corridor. INT. DROP BAY ONE - DAY In a huge launch bay three football fields long, the ammo cart winds its way through the maze of equipment, weapons, and a THOUSAND SOLDIERS readying for deployment. The electric cart stops in front of a large LANDING CRAFT and it's PERSONAL. The battle hardened soldiers in this division wear powered armor suits. Their "HARD ARMOR" has power articulated limbs that WHIRS as they move. Some of the soldiers are missing arms and legs for which their suits have been equipped with ROBOTIC LIMBS. Taylor is in awe of the men in their power suits. He sits in his cart and stares. Taylor doesn't see the grizzliest of the bunch, MASTER SERGEANT T. STARK. approach. STARK You going to let us have this ammo, or what? Taylor snaps out of his suit pilot fantasy, jumps out of his cart, and hands Stark a CLIP BOARD. Stark peers at Taylor's name badge, as he signs. STARK Taylor - Taylor, you related to Zac Taylor? TAYLOR He was my uncle. Good guy. STARK He was the best suit jock I ever knew. What happened to you? Stark points an armored finger at Taylor's ammo cart. TAYLOR Well, I tried for suits, but they washed me out. Stark grins his superior suit pilot grin. STARK Well, at least he died before he saw what a screw up you are. A couple of SUITED SOLDIERS chuckle along with Stark. Taylor slowly sinks back into the cart's drivers seat wounded by the remark. The chuckling pair unload the AMMO. STARK Oh, and Taylor take this back soft shit. He tosses Taylor a LIGHT INFANTRYMAN'S COMBAT SUIT. It looks like a jumpsuit with plastic armor plates attached to it. STARK It's only Hard Armor on this drop. Stark CLANGS his steel fist on his chest plate. Taylor handles the soft-suit with reverence. TAYLOR I sure wish I was going with ya. Stark rolls his eyes, as if to say, "yeah right, they'd send you with us." Taylor's shoulders slump. He gets back onto his cart and drives off. Stark walks past SQUAD SERGEANT GARROVICK, a less grizzly suit pilot. Garrovick, and his Suit, are plugged into an Automated Cybernetic Engineer (A.C.E.). Garrovick looks impatiently at the landing craft. ACE I could finish this diagnostic later, sir, if you need to be somewhere else. GARROVICK Do it by the book, ACE. I want it to be one hundred percent for drop. "ACE", a self-contained digital repair and maintenance robot, stands a little over four feet tall. He has two main arms, three smaller multi- purpose arms. Although not sentient, he's quite talkative and opinionated. ACE Yes, Sir, new suits can be difficult to break in. Sargent Peterman had this type F once that... GARROVICK ACE, shut up and finish. ACE Yes, Sir. INT. EQUIPMENT AREA - DAY Taylor's electric cart pulls up to the large SUIT ISSUE ROOM. Taylor places the light infantry jumpsuit on the counter and looks for the issue officer. In front of the suit issue room sit a series of huge chairs, designed to hold soldiers in powered armor. In these chairs a GROUP OF OFFICERS are briefed by a COLONEL, in a battered combat suit. COLONEL Do not forget first contact strike conditions. We've got to pin their ears back on this one, or they're going to think they can just roll over us. The Colonel looks at Taylor standing at the counter. A few of the officers turn and give Taylor dirty looks. Taylor realizes they're looking at him, and heads into the suit issue room, out of sight. INT. SUIT ISSUE ROOM - DAY This large room is stuffed with POWERED ARMOR COMBAT SUITS, some on stands and others on racks. Taylor stands and stares in wonderment. TAYLOR Whoa. From the far corner of the room Taylor can hear hushed VOICES arguing. FIRST VOICE (O.S.) I don't have the fucking time for this, I got to put six more tin cans out before drop. SECOND VOICE (O.S.) I don't give a damn about your problems - I'm staying here. Taylor moves slowly toward the voices weaving his way through the rows of equipment. FIRST VOICE (O.S.) You scared piece of shit, do you know what I could do to you for this? SECOND VOICE (O.S.) Go ahead, frag my ass if you want. I'm not going back into the field. FIRST VOICE (O.S.) What, you afraid of dying? SECOND VOICE (O.S.) What do you know about death, shit head? FIRST VOICE (O.S.) I'll show you death, fucker! Taylor turns down the last row just in time to see the ISSUE OFFICER jam an ELECTRIC PROBE into the chest control box of a POWERED SUIT. SPARKS FLY FROM THE OPENING. Taylor is paralyzed, then he sees that the helmet is missing. The suit has no occupant. SUIT OFFICER (same as first voice) What do you want? You don't belong in here, Motor-pool. TAYLOR I've got a light suit to turn in. SUIT OFFICER I can't deal with that now. Bring it back after the drop. I'll check it in then. The Suit Officer opens up the suit he was arguing with and begins working on it. He whistles a tune like nothing happened. Taylor leaves. INT. DROP BAY ONE - DAY Stark is pitching a fit. STARK Kohanski, why aren't you cased? He kick's KOHANSKI in the ass as he heads for his disassembled suit. On the other side of the landing craft a group of suited soldiers talk. Lead by SQUAD SERGEANT LANDON, a typical army asshole. He'd say "make that Sergeant Asshole." Landon is involved in one of his favorite pastimes -- scaring a rookie. LANDON ...See Kid, we'd put our hands into these thruster controls, point the whole thing toward the planet... Landon holds what looks like a CEMENT DOME. LANDON ...Hit the button, and scream the whole way down. The chutes open automatically. One hell of a ride. ROOKIE Only (gulp) for emergency evac, right? LANDON Yeah, too bad. You know, the enemy's first strike team used these for their assault... Landon holds up the shield dramatically LANDON All Space-com heard from the base was that they were having some kind of meteor shower, then zip. Landon slashes his thumb across his throat. The rookie looks mortified. Stark sticks his head out of a hatch. STARK All right, That's enough bullshiting - I want everyone locked, loaded and on board before the L. T. gets here! Now, Move it! Move it! Move it! All of the troopers jump but the still stunned rookie. Landon stands him up. LANDON Welcome to Suits, kid, just three- hundred and sixty-four battle days left to retirement. Landon and the rookie walk past another group. Two of these soldiers are having an argument. LAMORE has an I.D. bracelet in his hand. LAMORE ...I thought that we... CORPORAL KELLY, a woman, stabs her finger against Lamore's armored chest. KELLY Just because we had one go-round doesn't mean you have a claim on me. LAMORE I just wanted you to remember.. Kelly locks down her last piece of armor with an extra loud SNAP then turns her back and walks away. HICKMAN Brrrrrr! TIMMONS That Corporal Kelly, can't tell where the suit ends and she begins. Kelly walks over to CORPORAL FROST, who just shakes his head. FROST has also seen his share of combat. KELLY God, I hate men. FROST (laughing) Yeah, me too. Suddenly the ship JOLTS, rocked by a TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION. ALARM KLAXONS sounds, secondary EXPLOSIONS rip through the compartment as the ship comes apart. STARK Squads into the tubes. Now! The suited soldiers race toward the escape tubes. They seal their suits and dive into the tubes. Frost stops short. FROST Ladies first. KELLY Fuck You! Kelly shoves Frost into the tube ahead of her. Hickman goes down struck by a LARGE GIRDER. Timmons (not wearing his helmet) is beheaded by FLYING DEBRIS from a nearby EXPLOSION. Garrovick reaches the escape tubes, dragging ACE behind him. ACE Sir, um, Sergeant Garrovick, I have only completed your third level diagnostics, your suit is not ready yet, Sir. GARROVICK Then you're coming with me. Garrovick forces the robot into the escape tube and jettisons them both. ACE But Sir, I'm not a front line combat 'droiiiiid... CUT TO: EXT. SPACE As the Gagarin drops from orbit its ESCAPE SHIELDS JETTISON. The lead ship takes a direct hit and DISINTEGRATES. We follow the soldiers in their FIERY DESCENT. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. DESERT - DAY A dozen soldiers land by PARACHUTE in a wide dispersal pattern. Each soldier wears a suit of POWERED ARMOR. In addition to the array of suit mounted lasers and rockets, each carries a LARGE MAIN GUN (blaster rifle). Stark cuts his chute and readies his weapons. STARK Squad leaders check in. LANDON (V.O.) First squad on-line. 4TH SQUAD LEADER (V.O.) Fourth squad on-line. KELLY (V.O.) Second squad on-line, but I'm the only one here. STARK Garrovick, you lost? EXT. GARROVICK'S LOCATION - DAY Garrovick forms up his men.. GARROVICK I'm here. STARK (V.O.) Round up the rest of the stragglers and meet me at this pile of boulders two hundred yards north of my marker. POV GARROVICK Inside Garrovick's helmet, on his heads up display (H.U.D.), a small icon flashes "Sgt STRK" BACK TO SCENE GARROVICK All right, meet you in ten. Before they get more than a few meters, EXPLOSIVE SHELLS land. ENERGY AND PLASMA BEAMS BURN the air. HISSING GAS CYLINDERS land around the group. GARROVICK Let's move it. Lock, load and seal, that's bio-toxin gas. One suit takes a direct hit from a EXPLODING SHELL and disintegrates. Another man falls, hit by LASER BEAMS that punch small holes in the arms of his suit. SOLDIER #3 (Screaming) Stance is breached! FROST (V.O.) Stance, blow your arms, do it now, blow 'em! STANCE flips open a SMALL PANEL on his left shoulder and presses the button under it. His left arm separates from his body with a BANG. He begins the same procedure on the other arm but it's too late. Stance gasps, overcome by the micro- organisms in the gas, and DISSOLVES in his suit. EXT. NEAR SOME BIG BOULDERS - DAY Sgt. Garrovick's and Sgt. Stark's groups move clear of the fire zone, but are quickly descended upon by half a dozen of the SMALL ATTACK ROBOTS. STARK Let's go! Let's go! Stark physically shoves his men around STARK C'mon ladies, spread out. Make sure you have crossing fields of fire... POV STARK Many "blips" flash red on Stark's HUD flashing red. STARK'S SUIT (V.O.) Target... target... target... BACK TO SCENE Stark stomps on the back of one of his prone men. STARK ...Stay low. I've got unfriendlies all over my screen. EXT. BEHIND A ROCK - DAY Frost and PRIVATE EDGEMAN scramble behind some boulders just as three small attack robots come into view. The robot's lasers leave DEEP PITS in their armor. FROST Those small lasers shouldn't be problem. Just don't let them get a sustained hit. Two more small robots roll in from a different direction. The soldiers scramble around to try and stay under cover. The first three robots move in closer. Edgeman, very much the "hot suit jock," is not going to take this lying down. EDGEMAN It's clobberin' time! Edgeman lets loose a REBEL YELL and dives out into the open, rolling and FIRING. All five of the robots are destroyed. Edgeman grins as he stands and pretends to blow on the end of his gun like a bad western. EXT. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BIG BOULDERS - DAY An intense FIRE FIGHT. Two Suits are pinned, SMITH and Landon. They cannot move without being hit. SMITH Cover me, I'm going for those rocks. LANDON OK, and go! Landon lets off a hail of ROCKETS at the small robots. Smith darts to cover in the rocks. He looks up to find a LARGE CYLINDER SHAPED ROBOT looming over him. This Robot stands on three legs not tracks. It also has three arms, one of which holds a LARGE GUN that BLASTS A HOLE in Smith's chest. LANDON (into headset) Sergeant, I've got somthin' new here. Landon leans out to get a look at the LARGE ROBOT. Just then a METEORITE impacts the ground with a THUD. Then more, THUD THUD. The large robot spins off on its three legs. It rotates on a central axis, each leg touching the ground in turn, like rolling a 55 gallon drum on its rim. EXT. GARROVICK'S LOCATION - DAY Pieces of equipment hurtle out of the sky and impact the ground near Garrovick. GARROVICK (into headset) All right Men, get to cover, we're taking some debris from one of our blown ships. (to himself) Like we didn't have enough problems already. Garrovick moves for better cover, when out of nowhere he's struck to the ground by a falling object. He looks up to see that he was hit by a parachuting soldier hopelessly tangled in his lines. TAYLOR Sorry, I kind of lost control... Through the tangle of the lines Garrovick can see that Taylor wears LIGHT INFANTRY ARMOR. His armor is banged up from the fall. Garrovick cuts him loose. GARROVICK Is your air system OK? TAYLOR I think so? GARROVICK Get under cover. You don't stand a chance out here in that light armor. We'll figure out what to do with you later. Taylor snaps a salute and heads for a pile of rocks. Garrovick runs toward his men. EXT. RAVINE - DAY Kelly and JONES move down a tight ravine with high boulders to either side. Two SMALL ROBOTS at the lip of the ravine fire down onto Kelly and the other suit. Dark lines are burned into Kelly's armor from the lasers as she tucks and rolls to cover. Jones' leg is hit. Jones blows the limb, but as he crawls for safety the LARGE ROBOT enters the ravine from the far side. KELLY It's a trap! Suit, get me a vector on that.. A BLAST knocks Kelly down. The large robot spins toward them, its BLASTER fires each time it comes around. Jones is blown to pieces. Kelly peers around a boulder to see the large robot just ten yards away. KELLY Shit, this beast is smart. Suit, you got any ideas? POV KELLY Through her faceplate we see many screens and readouts. KELLY'S SUIT (V.O.) (Female Voice) How about an indirect approach? The crosshairs that were on the large robot move to just below the two small robots on the ridge. BACK TO SCENE KELLY'S SUIT (V.O.) OK, you bastards, just a bit more. There! A FLIGHT OF ROCKETS fly from Kelly's suit into the side of the ravine. The rocks give way. The small robots fall into the resulting AVALANCHE and are crushed. The avalanche covers the large robot with debris, pinning it. KELLY Yes! God I love you suit! KELLY'S SUIT (V.O.) I love you too Kelly, now how about we finish that beast off. Kelly moves from her position to have a closer look. The large robot tries to free itself. Kelly fires a long string of shots from her main gun, BLASTING the big machine. She turns and walks away. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. TOP OF THE HILL OF BOULDERS - DAY After all of the small robots have been mopped up, the rag-tag squad regroups. There are only six suits left. GARROVICK ...Sergeant Stark, do you read me?.. Come in, Stark. Damn it, where are you? FROST Did anyone see the Sarge go down? No one responds. Then. EDGEMAN (V.O.) We've found him, he's over here. EXT. BASE OF BOULDERS - DAY SERGEANT STARK'S SUIT lays face down in the sand. Landon stands nearby staring at him. Edgeman walks about ten feet away, moving to inspect a LARGE ROBOT which apparently Stark had just knocked out. EDGEMAN Hey, Landon, my suit says it's OK to breathe the air now. Edgeman unseals his suit and bends down to look closely at what is leaking from the Robot. He touches the liquid and stares at it intently. His nose crinkles from the stench. EDGEMAN Phuuue, this stuff smells like burnt hydraulic fluid. Do you smell that, Landon? Landon? Landon still stands in the same place, spooked by Stark's non-moving body. Garrovick, Kelly and Frost walk up. LANDON He's not moving, man. Edgeman rolls Stark's body over and they all see through the face plate that Stark's face has been eaten away by micro-organisms. KELLY His suit's breached. A hole has been punched in the suit's left arm. There's a glob of suit patch in Stark's right glove. KELLY He was trying to patch the arm instead of blowing it. FROST Sarge was always proud that after twenty years he still had all his original equipment. Edgeman walks over to the group around Stark's body. EDGEMAN He should have blown the arm. Just boom, punch the button, arm blows, auto-pain injectors dope you up, and it's all over. You hardly miss it. Edgeman feints the arm "blowing" sequence and flexes his robotic right arm. Garrovick looks around to see who's left. They now number 5: GARROVICK, KELLY, FROST, EDGEMAN AND LANDON. GARROVICK I guess we're all that's left of the Gagarin. Just then Taylor walks up to the group. TAYLOR Uhh, Sergeant I'm still here...Private Taylor. EDGEMAN Where did he come from? GARROVICK Oh yeah, this is our late-comer to the party. TAYLOR My L.C. took some major hits just before re-entry...it was all I could do to get out before it crashed. KELLY Anybody else get out? TAYLOR All I saw was the ground rushing up at me. A pile of machinery behind the group moves. The troopers draw their weapons, ready for a fight. VOICE Help....Help! Edgeman and Frost approach the pile carefully. Frost digs through the pile while Edgeman covers him. They find ACE at the bottom. Landon chuckles. LANDON Are you all right? ACE I believe all of my systems are functioning properly, sir. One of ACE's treads sticks as he rolls away from the pile. The whole group laughs at this. GARROVICK Now Taylor, what are we going to do with you? EXT. BASE OF A BOLDER MOUND - DAY Ace makes some final adjustments to Sergeant Stark's powered armor. Taylor has been fitted into the Sergeant's suit and tries to get used to the powered limbs. On the chest of the suit sits the rounded armored box that houses the suits computer. On it is Sgt. Stark's name plate. Kelly places a piece of TAPE over the plate with Taylor's name on it. ACE The suit is ninety-eight percent functional, but I do not recommend issuing a class G power suit to inexperienced personnel. GARROVICK What other choice do we have? (to Taylor) Now remember, don't try any sudden movements right away. Try to get the feel of the suit, and listen to your T.C.C. TAYLOR (as his visor slides closed) What's a T.C.C? TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) (Stark's Voice) Tactical combat computer, but most of my biologics just call me suit. TAYLOR What's that? GARROVICK That's your combat computer. It's a bio-net. It learns from it's experiences, that one's got twenty years of combat. Listen to it! TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) Lesson number one meat. Drill, drill, drill. If you can't do it in drill, then you can't do it on game day. You got that puke? Taylor winces at the abuse from this ghost of Stark. The veterans smirk as Frost reports to Garrovick. GARROVICK Anything. FROST Not a peep from upstairs or HQ. GARROVICK Saddle up, we're moving out! LANDON Where the hell are we going? Why don't we stay here and call for a dust off? GARROVICK Because, Landon, we can't call for pick up unless we can actually contact somebody. Our ground radio won't reach the hundred kilometers to the main power station, so we have to walk into radio range. FROST Probably just thirty or forty clicks. LANDON Great, only thirty or forty kilometers! Garrovick gets into Landon's face GARROVICK Landon, I'm sorry you're short, but Stark is dead, and I'm in charge now. So you're just going to have to follow orders for a little bit longer. Garrovick turns and walks away. The rest of the troopers file past Landon. LANDON Fuck'n Garrovick's only in charge because Stark had it in for me. As Taylor passes Landon, his suit speaks TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) That's because Stark knew you were a dick head, Landon. Landon hears Taylor's SNICKER LANDON You say something, puke? TAYLOR Who, me? No. LANDON You just keep your distance from me, meat! I can't believe we're humping thirty clicks. As Frost files past Landon he points in the direction of the shallow graves of their recently fallen comrades. FROST It could be worse. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. DESERT - DAY The soldiers march over seemingly endless desert. TAYLOR (to his suit) So why are we walking all this way? TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) Don't you have ears, boy? We landed in the wrong spot. We got to get close enough for a radio call or we'll end up stuck on this rock for good. TAYLOR Where on this rock are we supposed to be anyway? TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) Oh about ninety kilometers straight ahead. That's where the main power station is. That's our target. TAYLOR That sure is a long way even with power assist. Taylor touches a button on his helmet and water squirts into his mouth. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) All right, that's enough small talk. Let's get back to your weapons systems drill. TAYLOR Come on, give me a break with that stuff already. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) First bring up the H.U.D. TAYLOR I said that's enough already. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) Bring up the H.U.D.!! TAYLOR Who's in charge here? I don't want to drill anymore. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) Who's in charge! You fuck'n cherry. I was fighting on the line when you we're still sitin' in your own shit, suckin' on your momma's tit. Well your momma's not here now and that last thing I want is to spend the next year with your dead carcass rotting inside me. 'Cause if you're in charge that's what's going to fuck'n happen. Do you read me, meat? TAYLOR OK, bring up the H.U.D. Goddamn it. POV TAYLOR Instantly the helmet's face plate fills with information. It flips through targeting information, health status, weapons status, ammunition count. The words "THIS IS A DRILL" flash at the bottom. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) (still pissed) OK, This time we're going to try multiple systems, multiple targets. Three blips pop up on the radar. We hear TARGET TARGET TARGET. The blips move in as the radar screen spins to give more information. It is very disorienting. BACK TO SCENE TAYLOR Shoulder rockets armed. A rack of small missiles pivot out onto Taylor's shoulder TAYLOR Fire on targets ah...one and... TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) (angry) Come on cherry, visualize it! These are aerial targets, you've got to get a radar lock first. I'm the only suit in the squad left with anti-aircraft rockets! If you don't get this we're all baked. TAYLOR I can't do this, it's too hard. I hate this, and I hate you! TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) Well Taylor, I can't move without you so we're stuck with each other. I don't like it either! TAYLOR Yeah right, you don't like it, you're just a computer. One bastard of a computer. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) (trying to calm down) I'm not a computer, I'm a bio- net. I learn, have independent thought, and take on a personality. Sergeant Stark was a bastard, so am I. TAYLOR Well you could be less of a bastard. I think we both want to get out of this alive. Right? TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) This next simulation will be one aerial target with a ground force... Taylor is exasperated. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HILLTOP - DAY Garrovick and Frost lay at the top of the hill with the rest of the squad behind them. Over the hill stands a small building between two towers. FROST Looks like a Water Vaporator. GARROVICK How are we on water? EDGEMAN I'm kinda low. TAYLOR Me too. GARROVICK Guess we check it out. LANDON Maybe it'll have a long range radio. GARROVICK All right, Landon, you're so eager, you go clear the Vaporator. LANDON Shit. EXT. VAPORATOR - DAY Landon approaches the station cautiously, weapon drawn. He enters the station, and shortly pokes his head back out. LANDON It's clear, looks automated. INT. VAPORATOR - DAY The rest of the squad moves in and finds the WATER STORAGE TANKS. Garrovick and Kelly have just filled their reservoirs when ACE wheels in from another room. ACE Sergeant Garrovick, I have located the radio. Garrovick and Kelly follow ACE into the radio room. INT. VAPORATER RADIO ROOM - DAY Garrovick finds the main RADIO and turns it on. GARROVICK Gagarin company B, calling the Perry. Gagarin company B, calling the Capra. Come in, please. KELLY So much for the ships. Garrovick pushes a few buttons on the comm. panel. GARROVICK Gagarin company B, calling power station H.Q. RADIO OPERATOR (V.O.) (Loud static and explosions in background) This is Ops H.Q. Gagarin B where are you? GARROVICK We're approximately ninety-five klicks west of the power station. We need a dust off evac back to a ship or to main D.Z. RADIO OPERATOR (V.O.) There are no more ships, man, they've all been blown away! The whole assault fleet! KELLY (quietly) Gone? COLONEL HALDEMAN (V.O.) Sergeant, this is Colonel Haldeman. How many suits do have you have with you? GARROVICK Total six, sir, we're all that made it off the Gagarin. Can we get a dust off, Colonel? COLONEL HALDEMAN (V.O.) (Background is getting louder) Sergeant, I don't have enough ships to provide air cover for the disaster I'm running on this power station. There is no way I can spare a ship to go two hundred klicks out of the way. You'll have to come in on foot. Try and... The radio goes dead. Landon enters the room as Garrovick turns off the radio. GARROVICK Well that settles it, we're walking to the power station. LANDON Fuck that! March a hundred klicks across the desert, in hostile territory. I say we stay. ACE I agree, it would be much less of a strain on the suits, as well as my mechanisms, sir. Now Taylor and Edgeman also enter the room. EDGEMAN We're going to the power station? 'bout time we got into it. LANDON We'll never make it. Come on, Garrovick, you can't be serious. We got water and radio here, why leave? GARROVICK There is no other way, the Colonel can't get us out. Our mission is to take that power station. We just can't wait here. TAYLOR Why not? We can hold out here a long time. No prob! EDGEMAN Shut up, rookie, these suits need room to operate. Besides we got a mission. LANDON Oh, give me a break with that bullshit! What good will we be to the mission dead? GARROVICK This is a first contact engagement. We've got to blast those bastards off of this rock or they'll just keep on rolling through. LANDON What are we supposed to do about it? EDGEMAN We're the calvary, man, we got to bail those power station troops out. LANDON By the time we get there they'll all be wiped! KELLY Landon's got a point. Without space support they can't last long. EDGEMAN Then we'd better hurry or we'll miss the fight! LANDON Is that all you ever think about? GARROVICK All of you shut your holes, we're doing this by the book! Frost runs into the room. FROST There's an enemy flier coming in fast. Vector of two three oh. A wall EXPLODES from a ROCKET STRIKE. GARROVICK Get out of here. Spread out, take cover. Move it! EXT. VAPORATER - DAY Several blasts hit the station, raining debris onto the retreating soldiers. The ENEMY FIGHTER then concentrates its fire on the running troops, making several strafing runs. Kelly, Garrovick and Edgeman try returning fire as they scramble for cover in the rocks. Their shots go astray. EXT. ROCK OUTCROPPING - DAY TAYLOR dives under a rock outcropping, scraping for his life. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) What are you doing, we've got to be in the open to get a shot. TAYLOR (panicky) What...no...safer in here...got to stay here. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) Are you out of your mind? We're the only ones with anti-aircraft! Move out. Move out! TAYLOR I...I don't know what to do. TAYLOR'S SUIT (V.O.) (stressed) Just get us out from under here! Taylor slowly slides down, then stops, trying to get a hold of himself. He slides slowly, then stops petrified with fear. Frost runs, trying to keep the rocks between himself and the flier while taking shots with his blaster rifle. Kelly and Garrovick dodge incoming rockets. Landon stays under cover while poking his blaster out, taking pot shots. EXT. DESERT - ON EDGEMAN Edgeman pounds his fist on a boulder in frustration. EDGEMAN (to his suit) Why can't you hit this damn thing? EDGEMAN'S SUIT (V.O.) The flier is putting out some kind of jamming signal. EDGEMAN Work around it. We've got to get a "lock on". EDGEMAN'S SUIT (V.O.) There's no way to get a "lock" with all of these rocks blocking me. You've got to get us out into the open. EDGEMAN I get us into the open, and we're going to get blasted. EDGEMAN'S SUIT (V.O.) We stay here and we're going to get blasted. EDGEMAN OK... play the song. EDGEMAN'S SUIT (V.O.) What song? EDGEMAN "THE" Song. The Ride of the Valkyrie blasts in Edgeman's helmet as he hurdles over rocks screaming into the open. EDGEMAN It's clobbern' time!! EDGEMAN'S SUIT (V.O.) LOCKED! Edgeman freezes in the open, all of his weapons trained on the flier. They exchange direct fire as the flier closes in. Edgeman' suit takes major damage as does the flyer. POV EDGEMAN Inside his helmet many red warning lites glow on the H.U.D. and the word "ABORT" flashes dead center in the screen. EDGEMAN'S SUIT (V.O.) Cooling system failed...rocket targeting system at sixty percent...left arm servos... BACK TO SCENE EDGEMAN Die, you mother! All of the other soldiers hear a loud PIERCING WAIL in their headsets, just before the SMOKING FLIER crashes directly into Edgeman.