[Damocles]

Act 3; Scene 4


Setting; The Bridge of the Phoenix


[Note to set dresser]


The set should have a series of banked screens and desks set in two parallel rows, one stage left, and one stage right set obliquely so that the audience(camera) appears to look from the back of the compartment looking forward. At stage rear is a large plexiglass plotting screen that a writer can stand behind and be seen writing backwards as data is relayed to him/her from the various technicians at their consoles.


Stage center is a table where the navigation and battle conferencing is conducted by the bridge battlestaff.


[Note to the director]


Block this scene, so that the actors do not obstruct the plexiglass plotting board. The Colonial technician who plots the battle should use the same marking conventions that were used in Act 1 Scene 5. Use Colonial extras to dress out the scene.at the work stations Those without lines should work silently pushing buttons and levers.


(Captain Neretu Osbor, commander of the Phoenix paces the bridge, looking constantly at the plexiglass plot. There is a Mercator polar projection map showing the Colonial viewpoint of the Cylon bases on the planet. The captain studies it, and is worried.)


Captain Neretu Osbor; What the frak happened?(He looks at Selene Spright)


Selene Spright(working with frustrated energy); I don't know, Sir. There was the one burst from Moffitt Two, then nothing. All I'm getting is radio from the Cylon command bunker and that is low-powered. I think they are using their own site generators to power their transmitter.


(The Colonial technician plots three big question marks where the aero-shell landing sites are marked as squares labelled Moffitt 1, Moffitt 2 , and Moffitt 3.


Marine/technician 2; More strike analysis, Sir. We wiped out their airbase completely. Nothing, Cylon, flies out of that place, anymore. The dam, that was their powerplant, is gone. So is the missile field that protected it. Moffitt 2 may have landed near there, off course.


Captain Neretu Osbor(eagerly); How do we know that? About Moffitt 2?


Selene Spright([surprised] works her own station even harder.); I'm sorry, Sir. This information just came through ship's opticals...(She gives Marine/technician 2 an angry look, since the technician should have sent the information to her station; as she reported the current updates to the Captain)......Moffitt 2 flared. The pilot may have overloaded the aero-shell decelerator. Still no confirmation of a safe landing. But its landed to the North of where it should be.


Captain Neretu Osbor; If Crabbe wrecked, Moffitt 2 by braking late, I'll skin him alive.(He continues pacing)


Selene Spright(eagerly); Sir, I have Moffitt 3! Its a compressed transmission. I'm unpacking it now.


Captain Neretu Osbor; Eight hours old, this far out.....How soon before you have it in plain text?


Selene Spright(confused); Its Colonial encrypted, and its on a Cylon carrier tight beam? Thirty minutes, Sir?


Captain Neretu Osbor; You have ten, Mistress Spright.


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Act 3; Scene 5


Setting; Cain's quarters aboard the Pegasus


[Note to set dresser]


Dress the set as a sitting room(center), office(right), sleeping quarters(left). Provide a table(desk) with at least three chairs.


[Note to director]


Provide hand props to the actors, to substitute for the big plotter table that we see used on the bridge set. These can be anything from clipboards to notebook computers. If you have the resources give Cain's quarter's a small plexiglass plot screen that duplicates the Phoenix's bridge plexiglass screen plot, throughout the play.


Cain; Well. We know that Ensign Crabbe, and Lieutenant Hevo made it.


Tyro Glen; Still no word about Sheba?


Cain; Nothing.


Archet; If those two knuckleheads made it, then Captain Cain landed safely. I am confident in the aero-shells we built, and she was perfect in the simulations.


Tyro Glen; I should have used fewer slugs and more decoys.


Cain(Shakes head); Your load-outs for the Phoenix were perfect. You hit your targets and two of the aero-shells made it through. You saw the damage reports. Nobody, Cylon, or Human; had ever tried it, before.


Archet(under his breath);With good reason.


Cain; What was that, Doctor?


Archet(clears throat); Well, now that its done.....I simulated the possible strike outcomes, after Mister Glen presented his raid team insertion plan.


Cain; You mean the simulations, where the aero-shells had a less than fifteen percent chance of successfully landing?


Archet(coughing); I thought.


Cain; Where my daughter is concerned, Doctor, nothing escapes me.


Tyro Glen(laughing); You were saying about my Pilots/


Archet; I stand corrected. Obviously those men are not knuckleheads..


Tyro Glen(serious); Still, they are off of their target landing zones.(He picks up and looks at a handheld.) Moffitt 2 to the North, and Moffitt 1 to the west of their planned landing zones. Did Phoenix retransmit anything further; other than that they have a radio contact from Moffitt 2.


Cain; They made contact and joined up with Moffitt 3.


Tyro Glen; How, Sir, did you come by that news?


Cain; As I said before. When it comes to my daughter, nothing escapes me.


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