Enclosed in {} are parts where it is hard to hear the dialogue and I've given it my best guess. (These parts have been checked using the closed captioning but that did not help. If you have suggestions let me know at swanage@rocketmail.com)

There are a couple of characters in this episode it was difficult to identify using the on-screen/soundtrack information and the cast list. If you have this information please let me know so I can update this transcript.

When I needed to do some checking on various details related to this transcript I used the Space:Above and Beyond Ready Room at http://www.space-readyroom.de/

A wonderful resource!

On board the Saratoga, Vansen stares out a window, watching a moon. In the background we hear Patsy Cline singing Never No More.

Never no more, will I be all alone.

Never no more, will I be a stay-at-home.

'Cause I've got me somebody

who makes me happy when I'm blue.

Cut to somewhere else in space.

BRANDT'S VOICE: Home base this is Soarin' Hornets. No enemy activity to report. Currently seven point five M.S.K.s out.

Hammerheads fly by.

FIRST MALE VOICE: Hey, Brandt, count you in for poker later?

BRANDT: Boys, some things in life are inevitable. The sun'll rise, the niners won't make the playoffs and I'll lose my shirt at poker. ... That's negative.

HALL: Come on Brandt, come clean, the 35th is flying tonight. You know you want some time with Captain Oakes.

BRANDT: I'll neither confirm nor deny.

FIRST MALE VOICE: The Faithfuls flying in too?

CURRAN: Seems like every squadron in the fifth wing is being called to the Saratoga.

HALL: Rumour has it the brass has something big planned.

BRANDT'S VOICE: Okay, lose the scuttlebutt over the radio. You know better.

HALL: This is Yellow Jacket. I've got an angel on the lidar. Confirm?

BRANDT: Negative.

CURRAN: Roger that, negative. Just the 'toga, five point eight M.S.K.s.

One of the Hammerheads is hit by enemy fire and explodes.

MALE VOICE: Juke right, juke right.

Another Hammerhead is hit.

HALL: What happened?

FEMALE PILOT: I've got no Brandt, visual or hud. What the hell is going on?

MALE VOICE: It's locked on me.

Another Hammerhead is hit. Brandt can see what is happening.

BRANDT: (gasps) Goodbye, John.

Brandt's Hammerhead explodes. An alien fighter cruises into view. "Abandon all hope" is painted on its side.

Opening credits.

We thought we were alone. We believed the universe was ours, until one night in 2063 on an Earth colony six light years away they struck... and now we are at war. My name is Lieutenant Colonel T.C. McQueen. I'm an Invitro, a race of artificially gestated humans. I command a marine corps squadron, the 58th. They call us the 'Wild Cards'. We fight when called - in space, on land... and at sea. To lose this war means more than defeat. To surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call above and beyond.

Lt. Col. T.C. McQueen

In the Tun Tavern on the Saratoga. Patsy Cline's Never No More is playing in the background. Vansen, Damphousse and Winslow are sitting at a table. Vansen and Damphousse are drinking Martinis and Winslow is drinking a clear spirit.

WINSLOW: (to Damphousse) You're working that olive like it had bought you jewellery.

DAMPHOUSSE: (laughs) Well I'm over this month's limit but ... I know there's another drink's worth in this pimento.

WINSLOW: Shame the nun there still has this and last month's limit.

Damphousse takes Vansen's card.

DAMPHOUSSE: Oh, but it's going fast. ... Hey Shane, what's with you? You've been ... I don't know, kinda weird, ever since they said the 35ths flying in ...

VANSEN: I don't know. I ... I can't help this feeling ... something's going to happen, you know. ... Something's coming.

DAMPHOUSSE: Is this 'cause of all the talk about the old man planning a big offensive?

WINSLOW: No, I think I know what her problem is. Seven months in space can make a girl ... fidgety. And this ship is looking awfully gray and cold. And I for one am getting sick and tired at looking at nothing but rivets.

Cut to a card game in the Tun Tavern.

McQUEEN: (as he deals) Ace to king. Trey to the fin. Queen to the joker. And a bullet to GI geequed.

Cooper is grinning at the hand he's been dealt.

McQUEEN: And I don't even need to see another card. I'm out.

Everyone else folds too.

HAWKES: What? What are you guys seeing my cards in a mirror or something, right?

Hawkes looks behind him trying to spot how they know what he has in his hand.

HAWKES: Right. Alright.

Hawkes takes the money in the pot.

FENRIS: I thought invitros were supposed to be bad gamblers.

HAWKES: Well don't look at me. Talk to McQueen.

McQueen gives Hawkes a look.

HAWKES: Talk to Colonel McQueen.

Cut back to the ladies. A group of marines enter the tavern. Vansen notices one in particular.

Cut back to the card game.

FENRIS: I'm gone.

Fenris leaves the table as someone else approaches.

SULLIVAN: Can I buy in?

HAWKES: Pull up a chair, marine.

Sullivan sits at the table.

SULLIVAN: You guys seen any action?

WANG: We're the 58th.

SULLIVAN: Not bad. ... I'm with the three-five. What do you hear about why all these squadrons are being called in?

McQUEEN: Ante up.

They do.

Cut to the bar.

OAKES: I ordered a double shot of J.D.

BARMAN: Sorry, Zoomie, no billet no fill it.

OAKES: I'm here to drink to the memory of a pilot who this very day was killed in action. You think you're going to stop me 'cause I don't have a drink ticket? Listen up you maggot. You've got a heartbeat to set me up with a double shot of J.D. so that I can honour that memory. You read me loud and clear?

Vansen approaches.

VANSEN: Set us up.

Vansen proffers her ticket. She reads the telegram in front of Oakes on the bar.

VANSEN: Friend of yours?

OAKES: More than a friend.

The barman sets up their drinks. Vansen raises her glass.

VANSEN: Then here's to Lieutenant Brandt.

Vansen takes a drink. Oakes takes a drink.

VANSEN: You look older. ... You don't look like a boy anymore.

OAKES: I'm not.

Oakes glances down at the telegram.

OAKES: He disappeared about a hundred of these ago.

VANSEN: And you're more than just a friend?

OAKES: She's the only one I've ever felt this way about ... since you.

Cut to card game.

SULLIVAN: Some soldiers we talked to at Fort Bradley said they heard we're going to land an invasion force at Hermes then planet hop to a full scale invasion of the Chig's home planet.

WANG: They don't know the Chig's home planet.

HAWKES: That's not what I heard.

WEST: I think we're going around Ceres. They're calling all the squadrons in for an air strike at Cora.

SULLIVAN: There's not going to be any air strikes if they don't figure out what's going on out there. The entire 42nd squadron got it today. Killed Captain Oakes' girlfriend, Lieutenant Brandt. No one knows what hit them.

WEST There was no Chig squadron on the lidar or nothing?

SULLIVAN: It's no squadron. One plane.

HAWKES: Chigs always fly in groups.

SULLIVAN: Not this one. Air force guys in the {????? region} are calling him Chiggy von Richthofen.

HAWKES: Chiggy what?

McQUEEN: Manfred von Richthofen. A German, Ace of Aces, in World War One. They called him the Red Baron.

WEST: They seen it?

SULLIVAN: They say don't even look, 'cause if you see it, ... you're dead.

McQUEEN: You might as well be talking about ghosts and werewolves because there is no such thing. There is no Chiggy von Richthofen. You sound like a bunch of old women at a quilting bee. If the admiral has plans, we'll know about it soon enough. ... Till then I raise two.

McQueen throws money in the pot.

Cut back to the bar.

OAKES: The worst thing is ... why isn't she here tonight? No one will tell me. It wasn't a classified mission. There was no reports of alien activity. No asteroids in the area. Yet no one will say why.

VANSEN: Even if you had a detailed report you'd still be wondering why. It's the ... most asked question. Why did things turn out this way?

OAKES: Thanks for the drinks.

Oakes gets up and leaves.

Cut to another part of the Saratoga. Two men walk through a corridor and enter the flightdeck.

ROSS: Gentlemen, the mission you are about to undertake is classified, 'compartmentalised'. The objective is to deploy a miniature intelligence and reconnaissance gathering satellite into a polar orbit over the planet Helios in the Ceres region. As you know this is deep in enemy occupied territory.

FIRST MARINE: Sir, ... we've heard talk about an alien craft. Is there anything ...

ROSS: There is no such craft.

BOTH MARINES: Aye, aye, sir,

The two marines salute and depart.

Cut to the loading of a cockpit into a Hammerhead.

MALE VOICE: Stand by for Hammerhead launch sequence in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, launch.

Two Hammerheads depart the Saratoga and fly of into space. Later we see one of the Hammerhead's lidar reading 'warp'.

SECOND MARINE: Oh, what the hell is that?

The Hammerheads fly on. The alien fighter comes into view and takes out both the Hammerheads.

Cut to footage of the first Hammerhead being shot being shown on a screen.

ROSS' VOICE: The second plane was shot down moments afterwards ...

Ross is in a briefing with senior military brass and at least one civilian.

ROSS: Rumours of its existence are rampant. At what point do we inform our people?

ADMIRAL BRODEN: Inform them of what? Our pilots never had time to describe it. It's cloaked or scrambled the D.M.S. so no one can see it on play back.

??GENERAL??: We don't know what it is. All we know is what it can do . And we appear to be helpless to stop it.

Ross walks away from the group of men to a chart of the mission. He removes a Hammerhead symbol from the chart and then removes a second.

Briefing room. Flight crews are chatting. Ross enters.

McQUEEN?: Atten hut.

ROSS: Be seated.

They all sit.

ROSS: I'm hear to ask an entire squadron to volunteer for a classified mission in the Ceres region.

Vansen and Oakes both stand and in unison volunteer their squadrons.

VANSEN: Sir, I volunteer the 58th squadron.

OAKES: Sir, I volunteer the 35th squadron.

Ross and McQueen look at each other.

VANSEN: Sir, you specified an entire squadron. Regretfully, the 35th is down a man due to a recent casualty.

OAKES: Sir, the 35th squadron has gone on extensive missions within the Ceres region. Respectfully, we have more experience, sir.

ROSS: Experience is what we need. You get the call three-five.

OAKES: Thank you, sir.

Oakes sits.

VANSEN: Sir, ... in that case I volunteer to fill in the 35th's vacant slot.

ROSS: Colonel?

McQUEEN: This is an important mission, Vansen is an excellent pilot.

ROSS: Very well. Three-five, Colonel McQueen and Lieutenant Vansen remain in the 'O' room for briefing.

Vansen sits.

ROSS: All others, dismissed.

The other squadrons, including the Wild Cards, depart.

Cut to a flashback. Music is playing. We're on a beach, at the El Cajon Valley graduation party.

OAKES: I've been looking everywhere.

VANSEN: Time to go?

OAKES: In a few minutes. Let's go back inside.

VANSEN: When this is out here?

They walk closer to the sea. A full moon is hanging very low in the night sky.

OAKES: Right there, right in the top centre area? The Sea of Serenity. That's where I did my Marine Corps high intensity survival training.

VANSEN: Must have been more beautiful to stand up there and look back.

OAKES: Only 'cause I know you were back here.

MALE VOICE: This song was brought here on an optical disk so I could play it tonight. This is for Marine Lieutenant John Oakes and Shane Vansen.

I Fall to Pieces begins to play.

VANSEN: What is this?

OAKES: It's 95 years old. ... Sung by a woman named Patsy Cline. It was playing the night that ... my dad proposed to my mum ... and now it's playing the night I propose to you. ... Shane will you marry me? ... I mean may be not now if you don't want. It looks like I'll be stationed on the U.S.S. Lincoln for a while.

VANSEN: Baby ...

OAKES: Shane, I know what it's like to be away from you, for months, let alone ... I can't take it. I can't envision a life without ... your eyes looking into mine. ... I have no doubt ... no fear. I can happily belong to you ... forever.

VANSEN: Look at the moon. ... Tomorrow night it'll set in a different spot. A week from now only half of it will shine. In two weeks you won't even know that it's there. All that I believe is that ... no one can know how things will be different, how things will change. The only certainty is now ... and I sure don't believe in forever.

OAKES: So ... that's a no?

She strokes his face.

VANSEN: No. That's a 'let's see where the moon is in five years'.

They hug.

Cut back to the present, in the briefing room.

FEMALE VOICE: 35th, you are about to participate in Operation Shadow Watch. The objective is to deploy a miniature intelligence and reconnaissance gathering satellite into a polar orbit over the planet Helios.

Cut to briefing room with top military brass.

McQUEEN: Gentlemen, respectfully, I was briefed on Operation Shadow Watch. I am not questioning the validity of the mission, nor its objectives, however, the use of an entire squadron to deploy one MIRG and the nature of the directives indicates to a veteran pilot that the rumours of an alien ace out there are true. It does exist and gentlemen, respectfully, ... my senior officers appear scared.

CIVILIAN: We believe it is a new form of fighter and there is, most likely, just one being tested.

McQUEEN: Then that's what our pilots need to be told.

CIVILIAN: It's imperative to keep this under wraps.

??GENERAL??: We're not keeping anything under wraps.

General stands and walks around the table towards McQueen.

??GENERAL??: We simply can not have any cause for hesitation during engagement, Colonel.

McQUEEN: Hesitation? These are our people. You give us everything you've got and we'll go out and hunt it down.

??GENERAL??: And what are you going to look for, Colonel? No one has ever lived to see it.

McQUEEN: Our pilots will never know unless they are told of this situation. ... Sir, respectfully, you're sending them into the dark without a light.

The ??General?? returns to his seat.

ADMIRAL BRODEN: Colonel ... what I'm about to divulge is our greatest military secret. I expect you to act responsibly with the information. Deployment of the MIRG satellite is the first small step in ending this war. Sometime in the coming weeks the forces of Earth will engage in a major offensive, landing a massive expeditionary force in the Ceres Star System. The fifth planet from Helios, we have learned, is the enemy's home. We will attack aggressively and drive the Chigs to defeat and surrender.

McQUEEN: Yes, sir, aggressively, sir.

ADMIRAL BRODEN: This plan can not be diverted by an obstacle that no one can substantiate. Gentlemen, until it is clear whatwe are up against we are not to reveal the existence of this alien craft.

Cut to the flightdeck. Vansen is by her cockpit. As Oakes talks he walks through the hanger from his cockpit to Vansen's.

OAKES: The 35th prefer to patrol using a defensive combat spread. Since the Chigs fly in swarms, we attack using a strike-rejoin-strike loose-deuce engagement.

VANSEN: Why not a bracket attack? It keeps the squadron fighting as a team.

OAKES: In all honesty? Sullivan is a great wing man. Chambers is okay. Some of the others are weak. Sullivan and me can do more damage using the others as support.

VANSEN: I don't have that problem with the 58th. I'd fight with any of them.

OAKES: Yeah, well we fly in hotter zones. The competition is tougher. That's why I want you to hang back on our six. I'm told you fly a tight tack turn. If me and Sullivan get in a furball you'll be there for me, ... won't you?

VANSEN: You know I will.

OAKES: So why did you volunteer?

VANSEN: It's my duty to volunteer for any assignment.

OAKES: One minute you're competing with me using the 58th. The next minute you turn your back on them.

Vansen stands.

VANSEN: I would never turn my back on them.

OAKES: I just hope you're not risking your life in order to make it up to me. 'Cause if you are ... don't go.

Oakes leaves.

Cut to the 58th's quarters. Vansen closes her locker. She's wearing a 35th badge on her sleeve. The other Wild Cards are watching her. As she heads for the exit Hawkes grabs her arm.

HAWKES: Now you're one of them?

Vansen shakes him off and leaves.

Cut to the flightdeck. Hawkes and West observe the 35th's preparation for departure.

OAKES: Lieutenant?

MARINE ONE: Sir?

OAKES: Good luck.

They shake hands.

MARINE ONE: Thank you, sir.

OAKES: Lieutenant?

MARINE TWO: Sir?

OAKES: Good luck.

They shake hands.

MARINE TWO: Thank you, sir.

OAKES: Lieutenant?

He walks over to Vansen. She turns to face him.

VANSEN: Captain.

OAKES: Remember I want you to remain on my maximum six. In formation.

VANSEN: Yes, sir.

She turns her back to him.

OAKES: I know pilots never want to talk about this but, for me, prior to each mission I like to shake everyone's hand. In case it's for the last time.

She turns to face him.

OAKES: Never told any of the others that.

VANSEN: Then why are you telling me, sir?

He offers his hand and she takes it. Oakes leaves and Vansen gets into her cockpit. McQueen arrives and crouches by Vansen.

McQUEEN: Is that mic hot?

VANSEN: No.

McQUEEN: For telling you this I could be court-marshalled.

McQueen looks around.

McQUEEN: There is something out there, an alien ace or a new weapon. Suspect everything. Assume nothing. If engaged, get the hell out. Consider anything you see compartmentalised and then report back only to me.

He gets up to leave.

VANSEN: Colonel, ... am I doing the right thing?

McQUEEN: This is an important mission. You're an outstanding pilot.

VANSEN: Am I doing the right thing?

McQueen steps back.

McQUEEN: You mean if you're doing it just for him? ... There has to be something beyond this war.

McQueen leaves. Vansen puts on her helmet and is connected up by the ground crew. Oakes gives her a thumbs up, which Vansen reciprocates, as their cockpits go down.

Hammerheads fly by.

MALE VOICE: 15,000 M.S.K.s from Helios, commencing radio silence.

They head closer to the planet. Vansen's screen warps. Oakes launches the satellite. It's fired on and destroyed from below.

VANSEN: The MIRG got waxed. I'm going hot.

OAKES: Vansen, maintain radio silence.

MALE VOICE: Lidar's reading a malfunction in the payload assist module.

An alien fighter moves into Vansen's line of sight.

VANSEN: Bogey nine o'clock low moving back on our six.

OAKES: I've got nothing on behind. Confirm.

VANSEN: Confirm, confirm. It's locked on, chaff and jink.

Vansen deploys chaff. The alien fighter takes out at least three Hammerheads.

VANSEN: Fox One.

Vansen fires and hits the alien craft. It heads towards the planet.

OAKES: Bogey dope engage A.C.M.

VANSEN: Negative, negative, enemy is superior. Get the hell out of Dodge.

OAKES: Roger that, return to home flight.

Cut to the Saratoga.

MALE VOICE: 35th requesting clearance. {Indistinct chit-chat.}

The Hammerheads dock. Oakes gets out of his cockpit and strides over to Vansen.

OAKES: You broke radio silence. You revealed our position.

VANSEN: I had visual contact of an enemy craft.

Sullivan joins them.

OAKES: Our orders were not to divulge our presence. I saw no such craft

VANSEN: What the hell else killed those men? If you hadn't ...

OAKES: Sullivan saw no such craft, on hud or visual.

VANSEN: If you had listened to me instead of the damn hud there would be three marines here and ...

OAKES: We don't know that. Now I was the commanding officer, Vansen. For once I was supposed to call the shots between us.

McQueen pushes Sullivan out of the way and approaches Oakes.

McQUEEN: At ease, both of you.

Hawkes and West approach.

McQUEEN: Speak, Captain.

OAKES: Lieutenant Vansen claims to have visually contacted an alien aircraft. Neither myself, Lieutenant Sullivan nor lidar saw any such craft. Lieutenant Vansen broke radio silence, abandoned formation and then the Lieutenant told us to turn tail and run. Now I don't know if that's how the 58th flies but in the 35th ...

Hawkes goes for Oakes.

HAWKES: The 58th flies ...

McQueen pulls Hawkes off.

McQUEEN: I said get back.

West leads Hawkes away.

VANSEN: I was there for you as ordered.

McQUEEN: Lieutenant ... you were ordered not to reveal your position. Now what evidence did you have of enemy activity?

VANSEN: I am not at liberty to discuss such evidence at the present time.

OAKES: And what the hell is that supposed to mean?

Vansen mouths 'I saw' at McQueen.

OAKES: Now she's just trying to cover her ass.

McQUEEN: Make a report, Captain.

McQueen takes Vansen's arm and leads her away.

Cut to a briefing room lit with red light. The senior military brass sit around a table.

VANSEN: It was approximately seventeen metres equal distance tri-wing, span ten to fifteen metres. Angle of attack was much more pronounced than standard enemy attack space craft. I did not detect any indication of the craft's position on my S.A.43 lidar. And I believe that it is capable of broadcasting false information. The craft had a fuselage. And it was bullet shaped and I didn't get a very good look. However, the nose had been marked. Writing. English. And a crude human skull.

ADMIRAL BRODEN: Could you discern its message?

VANSEN: It read ... abandon all hope.

Cut to the Tun Tavern and a card game.

VANSEN: Aces over eights.

Winslow groans.

HAWKES: I ain't doing as good as I was the other night.

WANG: That's 'cause Vansen's back.

Vansen takes her winnings.

DAMPHOUSSE: And for as much as she hates A.I.s she sure gambles like one.

Oakes enters and draws Vansen's attention. He sits at the bar and proffers a card to the bartender. The card game continues as Hawkes deals.

HAWKES: Who's light?

WANG: Vansen ... you in?

Vansen leaves the table.

WANG: Vansen?

WEST: Let her go.

Vansen goes to the juke box and selects Never No More which begins to play. Vansen moves to the window and stares out at the alien moon. Oakes joins her.

VANSEN: That juke box has every Patsy Cline song but ours.

OAKES: Just as well ... look I checked out the cockpits, D.C.L. replays, and read Sullivan's report ... and just cleared my head. And I know ... You were there for me ... this time.

VANSEN: I've always been there.

Oakes takes Vansen's hand from her trouser pocket and the two begin to dance.

OAKES: I hate the words you said to me that night ... because I've come to believe them and it started that night. ... You drifted away after I could never imagine you being out of my life. ... The war began ... after everyone thought there'd never be another. ... Promotions, reassignments. ... Shane, I've seen so many people die.

VANSEN: John, I'm so sorry that she's not here. ... But I'm not sorry that I am.

OAKES: Do you still not believe in forever?

VANSEN: Yeah. Only unlike that night, I'll no longer surrender to it. And the more something in life seems inevitable, the harder I fight it. And I now know that giving your life to someone doesn't have to mean dying. ... And I always wish that that night I'd given you mine.

Cut to the card game. Sullivan approaches.

SULLIVAN: Hey guys, it's true, there is a Chiggy von Richthofen. Ross announced we're all to report to a briefing at 07:00. They believe one alien fighter is responsible for wiping out the 19th, 31st and the 42nd squadrons. They confirmed that's what killed Lieutenant Brandt.

Briefing room.

ROSS: Somewhere out there, in the darkness, hiding, is an enemy craft that has killed your comrades. If not destroyed it will kill you. Not this day. This morning you will participate in Operation Red Baron. Now hear this C.F.B. Your objective is to search for and remove this enemy space craft from my sky. ... Colonel.

McQUEEN: Naval engineers have theorised that the Chigs are experimenting with an advanced lidar signal processing technology which allows this fighter to cloak itself to our electronics.

Sullivan stands.

SULLIVAN: Sir ... how do we detect it?

McQUEEN: When a plane in your formation goes down, you'll know you're in the school yard.

ROSS: All our plans are on hold till this Chig is destroyed. We do not intend to wait around while the enemy advances watching people die, until a bunch of pencil pushing rear echelon engineers can develop a new technology to combat this enemy. Today, you will go out there, find this bastard and you pile on.

Cut to flightdeck.

WEST: Captain, for this mission we thought you might want this.

West hands Oakes a 58th badge.

WEST: Welcome aboard.

OAKES: Thank you.

West, Hawkes, Wang and Damphousse all take it in turns to shake Oakes' hand as Vansen watches from a little way off. They then get in their cockpits.

MALE VOICE: Clear the flightdeck. Prepare for Hammerhead engagement sequence.

The Hammerheads are launched and they set of in formation to patrol.

Cut to command centre. A crew man hands McQueen a document.

MALE CREW MEMBER: Flying Finns, this is the Saratoga. What is your position?

MALE PILOT: Saratoga, this is Finns, we are 15 M.S.K.s from Helios, heading zero-niner.

Suddenly the Flying Finns are attacked.

MALE PILOT'S VOICE: I am taking fire. Two planes are down. I can't see any ... (static)

McQUEEN: Well ... we've found him.

ROSS: What's the nearest squadron to that region?

MALE CREW MEMBER: It's the 58th Squadron, sir, the Wild Cards.

ROSS: Abandon all hope, my ass.

Cut to the 58th approaching Helios.

VANSEN: Saratoga, this is Wild Cards. Current position is five M.S.K.s above Helios. Currently ...

Vansen's screen warps strangely.

VANSEN: It's him. Bandit, five o'clock low.

Vansen turns her Hammerhead around, fires and hits the enemy craft a glancing blow.

VANSEN: Juke.

The Wild Cards do. The enemy fighter comes at them and fires, hitting Oakes.

OAKES: This is Oak Tree. I'm hit.

VANSEN: Hold on John, I'm coming for you.

OAKES: Negative, negative, my weapons are disabled. I'm losing power.

VANSEN: I've got a visual.

WANG: He's on our six.

The alien fires at them but no one is hit.

WEST: Regroup! Regroup!

HAWKES: We're on his six. Breaking smoke!

Fire is exchanged.

DAMPHOUSSE: I've lost contact.

WANG: He's locked on Vansen.

The Wild Cards fire on the alien fighter repeatedly with little effect.

HAWKES: The cannons ain't doing jack!

VANSEN: I can't shake him.

There's smoke in Vansen's cockpit. Oakes flies his Hammerhead straight into the alien craft and the two plummet toward the planet.

VANSEN: John ...

Cut to flight deck.

McQUEEN: (to Vansen) We have twenty S.A.R. teams already on planet.

Vansen climbs out of her cockpit and begins to head for the exit.

HAWKES: Shane, I saw a flash beneath the clouds. I bet he ejected his ...

Vansen keeps walking.

DAMPHOUSSE: They'll find him.

WEST: His Hammerhead didn't explode on contact with the Chig. I'm sure he made it.

Cut to the command centre.

MALE CREW MEMBER: Colonel McQueen, S.A.R. Ten reporting in, sir.

McQUEEN: Queen Six to S.A.R. Ten, what've you got.

MALE VOICE: Found him, sir.

Cut to the Tun Tavern. The 58th are sitting around a table with drinks. McQueen enters.

McQUEEN: S.A.R. teams have found no remains of Chiggy von Richthofen. He eluded the kill. ... He's still out there.

VANSEN: John?

McQueen puts an envelop on the table for Vansen. She stares at it. McQueen leaves the tavern.

WANG: Where are you going?

VANSEN: To fight the inevitable.

She stands and leaves.

A little while later Never No More is playing again and Vansen is staring out at the moon.

Comments? Did you find this transcript useful? Please email me at swanage@rocketmail.com Any and all feedback is appreciated. Sue.