Captain’s Log : Scene 5
The call of adventure in the stars beckons us once more!
I’ve been working away at expanding my social media and querying Cordolium, so I haven’t had much time for new projects. I was trying to figure out what would be the best thing to post, and then I realized it has been over a year since I shared anything from Captain’s Log! So here’s Scene 5! Let’s check in on Sally as the away team returns to the ship!
SCENE 5
Lights up on the bridge of the ship. KADEN, DRAKE,
and BLANCHE are sitting together watching tv.
Suddenly, everyone rushes in. MARY-ANNE
sits LINUX down and tries to help him. SALLY
and PIPER stand center, worried. WYATT is
off to one side, happy to be alive.
BLANCHE
Pass the popcorn.
KADEN
Shh. This is good.
Everyone rushes in.
SALLY
(Seeing what they are doing.) What are you guys doing! Posts, now!
MARY-ANNE
Linux, sit, please.
LINUX
I am fine.
MARY-ANNE
No you’re not. Let me fix your arm.
She pulls out a tool and begins to work on his
shoulder.
LINUX
Thank you, Mary-Anne. I would fall apart without you.
MARY-ANNE
Don’t mention it. Remember, I got your bolts.
LINUX
And I your back. Thank you.
KADEN
What’s going on?
PIPER
We were attacked down there.
DRAKE
Did we lose anyone?
WYATT
Nope!
SALLY
Yes. Ambassador Malcolm is dead.
KADEN
What should we do, Captain? Captain?
DRAKE
Where’s the captain? And the ambassador?
SALLY
They ran away. We couldn’t find them.
KADEN
Oh man, what do we do?
PIPER
Sally, you need to take charge.
SALLY
Huh?
PIPER
You’re acting captain.
SALLY
I am? (Pause.) I am.
PIPER
Hey, listen. You got this. Prove to high command how ready you are for this.
SALLY
You’re right. (She moves with purpose to the chair. It is a dramatic moment as she takes the seat.) Drake, scan for any nearby ships. Find out where our attackers came from. Kaden, pull us out of orbit. Get us to a safe vantage point.
KADEN
(He tries to pilot again but the ship won’t move.) Sir! I mean ma’am! The ship won’t move.
SALLY
Brakes, Kaden.
KADEN
They’re off. I checked!
SALLY
Double check!
KADEN
It says right there! Brakes: off. It’s right below the blinking red light that says Engine Disengaged.
MARY-ANNE
What?
SALLY
Mary-Anne, get down there.
MARY-ANNE
I can’t leave Linux.
LINUX
I will be fine. You have already helped me enough. Go address the engines.
SALLY
Go.
MARY-ANNE
Fine. Gone. (She exits.)
PIPER
How did the engines get disengaged?
SALLY
I can’t believe it.
PIPER
What?
SALLY
He was right. This was a trap. Somehow they’ve stranded us here.
PIPER
What do we do now?
SALLY
Ok, deep breaths. Blanche, contact the Admiral.
BLANCHE
Hold on, I have to close some tabs. Solitaire, Amazon, pinterest… Ah, here we go. Comms. Contacting the Admiral.
As BLANCHE pulls up the comms, the ADMIRAL enters
downstage right and stands in an isolated pool of
light. He is removed from the bridge. We are
seeing him as he speaks the the crew.
BLANCHE(CONT.)
Admiral Smith.
ADMIRAL
Edward, my boy- Ride. What’s going on? Where’s Captain Edward?
SALLY
Sir, we’ve had a bit of trouble.
ADMIRAL
Talk. Now.
SALLY
We arrived at Arteen 7, but there were signs of life on the planet. Captain Edward wanted to investigate, but it was an ambush. Sir, Ambassador Malcolm is dead. And Edward and Quinarra are still on the planet. Our engines have also been disabled. We’re stranded.
ADMIRAL
What the heck happened down there?
SALLY
They knew we were coming, Admiral. Someone planned this.
ADMIRAL
Well, fix it. If the Lithorians discover we let one ambassador die and the other is missing, then it’s all over. You’ll have started galactic war.
SALLY
Understood.
ADMIRAL
Find my son. Fix this, Ride. You have command. Don’t let me down. Admiral Smith out.
The ADMIRAL exits and his light fades.
SALLY
Blanche, get Mary-Anne on the line.
BLANCHE
Got it.
The light stage right come up again and MARY-ANNE
steps into the light.
SALLY
Where are we on the engines?
MARY-ANNE
I don’t know what to tell you. It’s going to take a few hours to pull this back together down here. Someone ripped out some of the couplings.
SALLY
Any idea whom?
MARY-ANNE
No, but whoever it was left enough in to prevent the drive from exploding. They did just enough to keep us here for a while.
SALLY
What are you saying?
MARY-ANNE
The people who did this knew exactly what they were doing. Someone familiar with our ships.
SALLY
That’s what I was afraid of. Get it done as quickly as you can.
MARY-ANNE
My team has already started on it. I’ll report back soon.
SALLY
Good.
MARY-ANNE steps off stage SR, and the light fades.
PIPER
What now?
SALLY
We wait it out. Linux, try to scan the planet to find our missing people. Hopefully, this is as bad as it gets.
WYATT
Can I just say, this is a nice bridge. I’ve never been up here.
