ACT TWO

FADE IN:

21 EXT. BAJOR - SISKO’S HOUSE - DAY

Sisko’s house sits in the Kendra valley, as seen in many previous episodes...

22 VIDEO CLIP

FLAMES burst out of the ragged hole in the space station, carrying burned and twisted fragments of hull into space, until our POV is overwhelmed by it and cuts to STATIC. It is the same video Bacco and Akaar watched, but judiciously edited to hide any hint of a firefight inside the station.

CUT TO:

23 INT. SISKO’S HOUSE - OFFICE

KASIDY flinches, even knowing that this is just a local news report on the SCREEN that sits on her desk. She sits in her office chair, watching as the report, starring our regular Bajoran newsreader TIANA FEEN, continues...

TIANA (screen)
That footage was recorded by the
USS Sparrow during what Starfleet
are calling a “tragic accident” at
the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards
in the Terran system.

Kasidy tenses at the mention of Utopia Planitia. The screen changes to show an image of Ensign FYYL, looking incredibly young and hopeful in his official Starfleet headshot.

TIANA (o.s.)
A full casualty count has yet to
be released, but it is known that
Ensign Jawit Fyyl, a young officer
on his first posting, was killed
in the blast. His Academy tutor,
Professor Miles O’Brien, called
him “a promising engineer
whose loss will be deeply felt.”

Kasidy taps the screen to PAUSE the report and stands from the chair, trying to control her emotions - sadness, anger, frustration. She looks out the window to the back garden, where daughter REBECCA is running around without a care.

As the girl kicks her way through the fallen autumn leaves, her live-in childminder JASMINE picks her up and swings her around, leaves flying and the girl SHRIEKING with delight. Kasidy flinches again at what sounds like a scream.

Off-screen we hear the SLAM of the back door as Rebecca barrels through it and into the house, waving to Kasidy without pausing as she runs past the open office door...

REBECCA
Hi, mommy!

...on her way to her own bedroom. A moment later Jasmine appears, taking a moment to catch her breath.

JASMINE
That girl is gonna wear me out.

She looks up expecting at least a chuckle, but sees that Kasidy is not laughing. Curious, Jasmine looks past her, and sees the paused image of Ensign Fyyl. Thinking she knows the problem, Jasmine steps closer, comforting.

JASMINE
Poor kid. My old friends from the
Militia told me about it. Didn’t
Ben used to work there as well?

Kasidy flinches all over again at her husband’s name. Jasmine can see that something is on her friend’s mind.

KASIDY
He did. He doesn’t anymore.

JASMINE
Kas... please, what’s going on?
You haven’t been yourself for...
going on two months now. You
know I’m your friend, right?
You can talk to me.

Kasidy looks at Jasmine a moment, trying to decide, then closes the door to the office so Rebecca can’t hear. She heads back to the screen, works the controls, brings up a new recording - the one SISKO left in 13x22 “Disconnect.”

SISKO (comm)
That’s why, before recording this,
I sent a petition to the Mylea
courthouse... filing for divorce.
I think it’s the best thing.

Kasidy pauses it again, blank faced. Jasmine’s jaw drops...

KASIDY
I should have been expecting it.
We’ve been drifting apart for
years. But I honestly thought...

JASMINE
I take it Rebecca doesn’t know.

KASIDY
(shakes head)
I just keep telling her Starfleet
needs him to captain a starship...

JASMINE
Did he at least say why?

KASIDY
He believes the Prophets warned
him that if he stayed with me, his
life would be filled with sorrow.
And he thinks that means Rebecca
and me getting hurt if he’s here.
He said... that he loves us, and
that’s why he has to leave us.

JASMINE
Sounds like an excuse to me.

KASIDY
I know he believes it. Never made
any sense to me, but he really
believes in what they told him.

Jasmine is furious at Sisko on her friend’s behalf.

JASMINE
Then maybe you should give him
what he wants. If he cares more
about the Prophets than his own
family, he doesn’t deserve one.

But she sees that Kasidy is hurting over this, and tamps down her own anger so as to not make it any worse on her.

JASMINE
I’m sorry. What do you want to do?

KASIDY
I don’t know. I’ve played that
damn message over and over. I’ve
cried, I’ve screamed, I’ve cursed
the day I ever met him...

JASMINE
But you still love him, don’t you?
It’s okay if you do.

KASIDY
I’ve never met anyone like him.
He’s the father of my child. And
Rebecca adores him. Her favourite
toy is a model of a Starfleet ship
he gave her the last time he...

She drifts off, stares out of the window again, at the fallen leaves on the grass, where her daughter was happy.

KASIDY
So I will give him what he wants.
(back to Jasmine)
But at a price.

Off Kasidy’s newfound determination...

24 EXT. SPACE - ROBINSON

The Galaxy-class USS Robinson flies at impulse...

25 INT. ROBINSON - SISKO’S QUARTERS

The expansive captain’s quarters of a Galaxy-class vessel, as seen through TNG. SISKO sits on the couch, gazing at...

ON PERSONAL SCREEN

The portable computer on the coffee table shows a brief repeating clip of Kasidy and Rebecca laughing together.

BACK TO SCENE

Sisko watches the wife whose heart he broke, as she enjoys better times. Then the CHIME of the comm...

PLANTE (comm)
Bridge to Captain Sisko.

SISKO
Go ahead.

PLANTE (comm)
Sorry to disturb, sir, but there’s a
comm signal, for your eyes only.

SISKO
Send it down here, Commander.

Despite his head knowing better, Sisko’s heart can’t help but hope. But as Kasidy’s image is wiped from the screen, it’s replaced not by the real thing but by Admiral WHATLEY, grey and unrested. Sisko tries to hide his disappointment.

WHATLEY (screen)
Captain...

SISKO
Admiral. Good to see you.

WHATLEY (screen)
You too, Ben. And I wish it were
under better circumstances. But
I’m afraid I have new orders for
the Robinson and her crew.

Off Sisko’s concern at that...

26 INT. ROBINSON - CONFERENCE ROOM

The same VIDEO CLIP again, this time in HOLOGRAM form, cast up over the table, Sisko’s face seen through it as he sits.

As the clip repeats, we PAN around the other senior staff watching - ROGEIRO at Sisko’s right hand, then SIVADEKI, UTELN and PLANTE, plus a previously unseen Cygnian female, new science officer CORALA. Finally the engineer, Otevrel male RELKDAHZ, sit-leaning in a specially designed chair.

SIVADEKI
Utopia Planitia. The Federation
News Service said the explosion
was an accident.

SISKO
It wasn’t.

PLANTE
Then who did it? And why?

SISKO
An as-yet-unknown saboteur and
spy. Whoever they were, they stole
the plans for quantum slipstream.

ROGEIRO
Just what we need, after the Borg
Invasion, then the Typhon Pact...

UTELN
Captain, the slipstream drive is
the only thing that’s allowed us
to maintain the balance of power.
Without it we’re vulnerable.

SISKO
Vulnerable is an understatement,
Mister Uteln. Starfleet believes
the Romulans rescued the spy, and
they’re trying to flee Federation
space aboard a cloaked vessel
right now.

ROGEIRO
(catching on)
And as the primary patrol vessel
along the Romulan border, our
mission is to catch them before
they get the chance to escape.

Sisko nods. All present realise what a tall order that is.

CORALA
Captain, you’re saying Starfleet
expects us to figure out how to
track a cloaked ship?

SISKO
Not just cloaked, Lieutenant. To
get as far into Federation space
as it did, Starfleet believes the
ship must have been using a new
cloaking system - a phase cloak.

Relkdahz speaks up - a tinny scratch processed into a male-inflected voice by his combadge.

RELKDAHZ
We’ve known they were working on
that tech for more than a decade.
We assumed they’d given up.

SISKO
Apparently not. You’ll have all
the sensor readings Starfleet can
give you, Mister Relkdahz. I want
you to work with Lieutenants Uteln
and Corala to come up with some
way, any way to see through that
cloak. That is your top priority.

CORALA
We’ll do our best, sir.

SISKO
Commanders Plante and Sivadeki,
your job is to come up with a
search pattern.

PLANTE
Are we authorised to enter the
Neutral Zone, Captain?

ROGEIRO
I don’t advise it, sir, not with
tensions as high as they are.

SISKO
Starfleet agrees. But as long as
we stay in Federation space, they
approve the use of whatever means
are necessary to stop that ship.

UTELN
Whatever means are necessary?
That doesn’t sound good.

SISKO
It isn’t.

SIVADEKI
Captain, I don’t mean to sound
negative, but space is big, and
we’re supposed to find a single
solitary vessel that’s hiding
behind a cloak we don’t even know
how to detect? I really don’t know
how we’re going to do this.

SISKO
I don’t know either, Commander.
But I do know we’re sure as hell
going to try.

Off Sisko’s stern expression...

FADE OUT

END OF ACT TWO