~ six

Captain - In the office with Gijo the Gunner and the Engineer, "So.  What do we know."

Engineer - "What we know ... well I know that we can extend the graviton field to surround the ship and protect us here on.  What I think, is that they need to be in proximity, to pass physically, such as they do ... but they can transmit psychically ... without boundary."

Gijo - "I thought that too, and then I realized they may be using the Archive's targeted slipstream as connected to the beacon back home."

Captain - Smiles honestly.  "Home."

Engineer - "That would mean it was probably where he was taken, if they can leap short distances ... they are directly at the other end of the beacon's connection."

Captain - "It would mean the station has it worse than we do."

Gijo - "Unless they found the way to repel them."

Gunner - "Dear God all those people ... it'll be the apocalyptic orgy to end all time."

Gijo - "And I wasn't even there ... "

Captain - Smiles, "Well.  We can clean that up when we get ... "  Smiles at Gijo, "Home.  To stations.  We're almost there.  We can assume they know everything, so  I guess just don't act natural."

Gunner - Looks Gijo over. ... "Wanna trade stations ?"

Gijo - A look like she's insane, "I've seen your test scores.  You're a terrible pilot."

Gunner - "That's right."  Grins ...

Gijo smiles ...

The Archive bursts out of speed near the black hole at galaxy's core, amid the spiral of information getting deconstructed.

The ship immediately transitions form to that of a wing to ride the particle wave, a tail set above and below to stabilize, then a sail popped it the edge to treat it like tacking a ship against the whirl.

The Operator zooms to the nearest planets orbiting the core, their ships preparing but without notice of his presence yet.  He quickly turns away to work on the probe, swapping in new drives as they complete.  The data loads ...

An alien crewman notes the dim blip on the dusty monitor, controls worked with a wave of the hand over, a subtle poltergeist.  Zooms in to a blurred view, in which the Archive appears as the ghost, its pilot read through the hull as a wisp.

The Operator turns to the flash on the console, looks up to the view, the alien ships approaches carefully, to avoid any lingering thrusts taking it accidentally into the void. 

He pounds a button and the probe launches behind, held to ship by long cable.  A look to the uploading data, unaffected.  He pulls up a gunnery and slips in a small drive from his belt, uploading weapon specification and particulate shielding.

A spray outside the ship makes a cloud much like a chaff grenade, reflecting and dispersing all light as the lasers strikes, but becoming more rigid on the physical impact of missiles.  The ship is shaken from a strike.  Upload complete, he fires back, Archive beginning to show signs of using up its structural particles.

 

A heavy cannon unleashes through an alien hull and into the next, the realization these broken ships are no longer even pressurized.  As a heap of steel is torn off without notice to its approach or fire.

He skims through weapon designs and fires EMP to sort one's engines, it turns in its continued approach, but its approach, still continues.  The ship now begins to appear a bit as skin stretched over a frame.

 

He slams a fist on the console.

Aboard the stalled ship adrift, the captain turns to the viewport to see the kitchen sink crack the glass on the next song's first horn blast.  Alien ghosty snarls ...

A light flashes on the Archive console as the Centaur fires projectile flares inside the slipstream, burning through the field edges and creating anomalies detected by all at the other end.

Alien ships detect as well, turning to for preparation for this new threat, hesitating on the Archive.  Aboard Centaur stations are prepared.  Gijo calibrates the grid, the gunwale cannoneers prepare their space ready suits.

~ Centaur glides the last of its stream.

(0:53)

Jumps in  slightly askew firing on everything near, apparently drifting into a slow spin from the exiting momentum. 

Gijo - To the Gunner now piloting, "Adjust stabilizers."

Gunner - Having fun at the wheel, "No thank you."

The Centaur attacks from high and low unpredictably across the view, sometimes spinning out of control, completely unpredictable to the confused overthinking of the aliens.  The three lead ships maintain their approach on Archive, everything else turns for Centaur.

It fires through them still heading for the lead, fighters taking cannons where they can.  These torn hulls look to be floating death, nothing cares.  Centaur makes the lead three and descends over the lowest of them, between the two high.

(2:32)

Gijo - "Cannoneers !"

They march the port gunwale with the first horn blast, the second with the second.  The aliens march theirs with the third and the fourth. 

They all pass firing, sneering through the ports, while the low cannons pummel the ship beneath.  So old they are and so many battles, they had that much less left in them.

These ghosts are cast to space, some making the pursuing ships after them.

While Archive has shrunken to a skin wrap around a cockpit stuck to an engine hanging off a string and a sail, and still firing.

(4:00)

Firing behind, the Centaur approaches Archive and begins a turn.  Eradicating hulls nearby, it slowly lowers.

(4:17)

The Operator looks to the view as Centaur blots it to shield him, blocking his next intended shot, his hands up in annoyance.  A moment then a nod and to the probe control.

Centaur handles what can, at least one fighter loses his job taking the engines out on one in mid turn, casting it spinning to the black hole behind.  The Archive pulls in its shield as the cable connecting the probe begins to light, suspended bobbing in the black hole's center.

(5:42)

On Centaur's screen, the Operator's mask, which he then takes off.  Nobody we  know, a stranger (but he's definitely black or the soundtrack makes no sense).

Operator - As the machine glows dangerously behind him, "Centaur, it has been an honor and a privilege.  Now it's time for you to go."

Captain - "But y ... "

Operator - "That's an order."  Screen out.

(5:52)

On the station they all watch the approaching wave, the planets formed in their spin. 

Gijo - To the gunner "My turn !"

(6:06)

With the sound of pool balls clicking the planets all burst to speed, Centaur from the center of the nova wave.  It immediately banks high, and rams the stations antenna array through its fighter bay.

Gijo overrides the stations stabilizers and links with the grids predictive compensators, synchronizing control.  It sweeps hard right to avoid Pluto oncoming, a dust of asteroids and then down the planets through.

(7:06)

The last Asteroid belt and the systems pile of moons with the drums, a child on the station watches in awe as one of the solar beasts appearing like a flares swims alongside.

The last of the stones, then Mars and our moon and all stops.  They stare looking haggard at the Earth and the station ahead untouched, the Centaur departing to investigate.

(direct to standard credits on black)

(mid credits)

The producer sits in the theater staring at the blank screen, getting lazily showered with money by the writer and director from their flower baskets.

 

...

 

Producer - Still staring at the dark screen ... "What the hell was that !?  What even just happened !?" A shaken head sigh, he starts scooping up the money.

(secondary roll on black)





(no after credits)