ACT FIVE
FADE IN:
58 EXT. SPACE - ELETRIX
The shape of the great Mogai-class Romulan warbird, outline drawn in sparkling blue by Candlewood’s tachyon beams...
...then suddenly the blue beams are replaced by WHITE rays of light - TRACTOR BEAMS, holding the ship fast.
59 INT. ELETRIX - BRIDGE
Not quite panic, but definitely dismay. RIXORA speaks up...
RIXORA
Commander - we are discovered! The
detection grid seems to have been
enhanced with multiphase tachyons.
(ship shudders)
Now it is holding us in multiphase
tractor beams.
T’Jul looks to the main viewscreen, with its image of Deep Space Nine, various Bajoran ships, the Xhosa docked...
...and Defiant swoops into view, firing PULSE PHASERS right at the Romulan ship. The warbird SHAKES from the impact...
RIXORA
And now we’re under attack!
T’JUL
(dry)
Thank you, Sublieutenant.
T’Jul seethes at the situation she has found herself in...
60 EXT. SPACE
The true face of the Eletrix shimmers into view as T’Jul drops the cloak. At the same moment, multiple PHASER BOLTS fire - two hit out sideways at the tachyon buoys, two more blast right at the attacking Defiant...
61 INT. DEFIANT - BRIDGE (INTERCUT)
The ship SHAKES HARD at the weapons hit. Candlewood watches the Romulan ship destroy TWO of his tachyon buoys...
CANDLEWOOD
(incensed)
Hey!
TENMEI
Evasive!
Tenmei grips her armrests as MINNAR, the Betazoid male at helm (13x16 “The Little People”), SWERVES the ship...
62 EXT. SPACE (INTERCUT)
Defiant loops away from Eletrix, but with two tachyon buoys destroyed, the tractor beams can’t hold the Romulan ship any longer, and it surges on after the Starfleet ship...
63 INT. DS9 - OPS (INTERCUT)
For Ro, Cenn and Rwogo, this has all transpired in seconds on the main viewscreen, and they are appalled...
RWOGO
Captain, the shields -
RO
They came on automatically when
the tachyon buoys detected -
RWOGO
No, I mean - if the bombs go off
while the shields are up...
CENN
(realising)
- the explosion won’t dissipate.
The effects could be devastating.
RO
But if those Romulans fire on the
station without our shields up -
RWOGO
It could set the bombs off anyway.
They’re stuck, no way out. Ro makes a snap decision...
RO
Major, get the last civilian ships
away and clear of the battle zone.
They’re our priority now.
Cenn turns to the central Ops table and enters commands...
64 EXT. SPACE
The last few Bajoran ships quickly undock from the station and get the hell out of there, avoiding the ongoing chase and firefight between Defiant and Eletrix...
65 INT. DEFIANT - BRIDGE
Another hit from the Romulan weapons - the ship SHAKES and a conduit EXPLODES. Engineer PERMENTER speaks up...
PERMENTER
Shields down to eighty-five percent
but ablative armour is holding.
TENMEI
Fire quantum torpedoes!
Tactical officer ALECO presses the firing control...
66 EXT. SPACE
Tiny white stars FIRE out from the Defiant...
...and hit the Eletrix on its port wing. The damage is obvious, but it doesn’t stop the Romulan ship...
67 INT. DS9 - CARGO BAY
KASIDY stands by the airlock, guiding desperate CIVILIANS through the open door and onto her ship.
KIRA stands by the cargo bay door in her vedek’s robes, beckoning the last few civilians into the cargo bay...
... as soon as the last is through, she SLAPS the control and the door rumbles closed. She turns to follow them...
...but stops with surprise as the view becomes OVEREXPOSED, the white of the cargo bay lights overtaking everything...
WHITE OUT
FADE IN
68 EXT. NEW YORK STREET - DAY
KAY EATON (Kira) is being dragged down the street by CASSIE (Kasidy), who is determined to get to the police station to help Benny. The noise of the city continues around them.
KAY EATON
Miss Johnson, please slow down
for a moment...
CASSIE
I’m sorry, Miss Eaton, but Benny
needs me. He needs us.
In her eagerness, Cassie breaks away from Kay just as they reach the busy avenue. Cassie dashes out into the traffic, swerving between the HONKing yellow 50s taxicabs with their cursing drivers. Kay is left on this side of the street...
Cassie reaches the other side, turns and beckons Kay...
69 ECU on KAY EATON
...who blinks in surprise and confusion, because...
70 ANGLE
...Kasidy Yates, the freighter captain, is standing on the 50s Manhattan sidewalk, beckoning her to cross traffic...
KAY EATON
No... that’s not the way.
MATCH CUT TO:
71 INT. DS9 - CARGO BAY
KASIDY beckoning Kira in exactly the same way from across the cargo bay. But Kira is standing there, confused...
Frustrated, Kasidy pushes her way against the thinning tide of evacuating civilians to reach Kira...
KASIDY
Nerys, what are you waiting for?
The ship’s full, we have to go.
KIRA
No... we can’t leave yet. There’s
still people who need help here.
KASIDY
Almost all the civilians are gone,
Rebecca’s safe at home and I will
not leave her without a mother. I
couldn’t do that to Ben, not after
- Nerys, come on. We’re leaving.
Kasidy grabs Kira’s arm to drag her to go - but Kira takes the other arm and holds fast, pulls Kasidy close.
KIRA
Kas, we have to stay. You trusted
me before, please trust me now.
Despite all sense, there is something compelling about Kira now, something almost hypnotic. Kasidy gazes at her...
KASIDY
...Okay.
Kira smiles with relief...
72 EXT. SPACE - DEEP SPACE NINE
Xhosa detaches from the docking ring and slowly turns... but the firefight is still continuing nearby.
PHASERS and TORPEDOES fly out from Deep Space Nine, right towards the battling Romulan ship...
...but they hit something else first, something invisible. Another cloaking device shimmers away, revealing...
...a TZENKETHI HARRIER. The gigantic, smooth-skinned silver teardrop-shaped starship (13x11 “New Life”) SHUDDERS under DS9’s inadvertent attack... but it is not destroyed.
73 INT. DS9 - OPS (INTERCUT)
Ro reacts with horror...
RO
Tzenkethi... what the...
CENN
Incoming!
On the VIEWSCREEN, we see the Tzenkethi ship turn and white PLASMA BOLTS stream out at us. The whole station LURCHES...
74 INT. DS9 - BASHIR’S QUARTERS (INTERCUT)
As the station rocks, BASHIR’s enhanced reflexes allow him to catch one item before it falls to the deck...
...his beloved teddy bear KUKALAKA. Cradling the ratty old doll to his body, Bashir RUNS for the door...
75 INT. DS9 - HABITAT RING CORRIDOR (CONTINUOUS)
...where the last few CIVILIANS who haven’t been able to escape mill about in terror, adults and children of several species, all whimpering and crying. Bashir runs to them...
BASHIR
It’s okay... we’ll be okay...
MATTHIAS (o.s.)
Doctor!
Bashir turns - Matthias staggers up to him, a little bloody and bruised but generally okay.
BASHIR
Counsellor! Your family -
MATTHIAS
Safe. I stayed behind to help...
BASHIR
Have you seen Sarina?
MATTHIAS
...I’m sorry, no.
Bashir is suddenly terrified for her. The station SHAKES...
76 INT. DS9 - OPS (INTERCUT)
Ro holds onto the tactical console as it ROCKS...
Meanwhile Rwogo is thinking and pacing, almost not paying attention to the pitched battle going on outside...
RWOGO
It doesn’t make sense. The Treishya
would have no reason to destroy
DS-Nine, even if they are allied with
the Typhon Pact. And those bombs...
they’re too weak and in the wrong
place to cause any serious damage.
RO
(still firing
weapons)
Rwogo, what the hell are you
doing? We need your help here!
RWOGO
But it doesn’t make sense, Captain!
Believe me, I have no interest in
being an apologist for terrorists,
but I don’t think those bombs are
intended to destroy us. None of
this is supposed to be happening.
RO
Well, it is happening!
To punctuate, the station ROCKS again under more fire.
CENN
Another ship decloaking!
Off Ro’s ever increasing horror...
77 EXT. SPACE (INTERCUT)
Out in space, with the Defiant dogfighting the Eletrix, and the Tzenkethi ship firing on the station...
...a BREEN WARSHIP decloaks right on the field of battle. But before it can fire, it comes under fire itself...
...from two RUNABOUTS teaming up on it from either side.
78 INT. RUNABOUT - COCKPIT (INTERCUT)
SLAINE piloting, with TH’SHANT firing the weapons. Both are terrified and too young, this has gone so much further than they ever imagined... but they will do their jobs, damn it.
SLAINE
Keep firing!
79 EXT. SPACE (INTERCUT)
...but the tiny ships are insects to the large asymmetrical warship. It ignores the runabouts, FIRES on the station...
...while the Tzenkethi ship WHIPS around, using its coveted structural integrity tech to SPIN at impossible speeds...
...until the tail of the teardrop TEARS RIGHT THROUGH one of the runabouts, SMASHING its body into burning pieces.
During all this, the Xhosa is still in the area...
80 INT. DS9 - POWER CORE (INTERCUT)
CHAO and her team of young engineers still work desperately to defuse the bombs. She has her hands inside the panel...
CHAO
I can do this. I can do this.
The station SHAKES again under more weapons fire, and power in the entire section browns out, lights fading...
...except for the bomb itself which suddenly starts BEEPING and FLASHING. Chao lurches backwards in horror...
CHAO
Get out! Everyone get out!
As the juniors scramble to the exit, Chao dives back in the panel, determined to save the station... but it’s too late.
The BEEPING reaches fever pitch... and the bomb EXPLODES.
81 INT. DS9 - OPS (INTERCUT)
The mightiest RUMBLE yet hits, a roaring earthquake that makes panels EXPLODE and knocks them all off their feet.
Ro’s head HITS the deck with a hard BONK. Half-conscious, bleeding from a cut, slurring her words...
RO
Wha... what hit us? Who hit us?
She drags herself just barely vertical, looks over tactical and down to Cenn, who is likewise bloodied and working the spluttering central table... He looks up in muted horror...
CENN
Nobody. One of the bombs went off.
Reactor two containment has failed.
It’ll go critical in seven minutes.
Desperately searching for the answer, Ro brainstorms...
RO
Can we use thrusters to reorient
the station itself? Eject the
reactor right at the Breen or the
Tzenkethi? Use it as a weapon?
CENN
Interesting idea. But not in this
condition. Shields are gone, and -
Suddenly the TURBOLIFT rises back into Ops again, jerky and lurching. It carries QUARK, still with his latinum case...
RWOGO
Ambassador! You shouldn’t be here.
QUARK
I couldn’t leave, not without -
Another ROAR, greater even than the first. Panels EXPLODE, lights BURST, gravity revolts and throws everyone into the air, only to land on burning, blackened deck plating.
Momentary silence, as everyone gets their bearings...
RO
Cenn? Quark? Somebody speak...
CENN
I’m here...
Dragging herself up again, she sees Rwogo helping Quark up off the floor. They’re all still alive - for now.
RO
That was another bomb, wasn’t it?
CENN
Yes. Reactor three containment has
failed.
RO
Eject both reactors. Do it now.
Cenn works his panels... we FEEL the ejection of the core shaking the station more gently... then a distant BOOM...
CENN
I ejected reactor three, but the
blast that took out containment
for reactor three also damaged the
ejection system for reactor two.
RO
So... we can’t eject reactor two?
By now, Rwogo and Quark have joined Ro outside her office. Cenn gravely climbs the steps towards them all as well...
CENN
Captain, it’s time to go.
RO
But -
CENN
(quiet but firm)
Captain... it’s time to go.
Ro knows there’s no other choice here. She nods sadly.
BEEP BEEP BEEP. Somehow one last console is working. Ro runs to the science station... and blooms with hope.
RO
The wormhole’s opening. Another
ship’s emerging... the Robinson!
(turns to screen)
The Emissary has come to save us...
Cenn and Quark look at Ro, amazed she would say that...
82 EXT. SPACE
The wormhole open, the Robinson emerging into the shattered ring of the tachyon buoys...
83 INT. ROBINSON - BRIDGE
SISKO jumps up from his seat, hurries to the viewscreen, which shows...
The battle scene - the gutted station, Defiant vs Eletrix, Breen, Tzenkethi, runabouts, Bajoran ships... debris and fires, phasers and torpedoes firing every which way...
...and in the middle of it all, helpless - the Xhosa.
SISKO stunned, horrified... RED ALERT in the background...
SISKO
Sivadeki, set course for -
UTELN
Captain - the Xhosa!
84 EXT. SPACE
The Tzenkethi harrier does its whirling trick again. It spins on its axis, using its teardrop tail as a bludgeon...
...and slices right through the Xhosa. Kasidy’s freighter is ON FIRE, sparks and flames and escaping gasses, horrific gouge in its side from the attack... and then it EXPLODES.
85 SISKO
...as his mind simply snaps from what he’s seeing...
86 EXT. DEEP SPACE NINE
Beginning from the lower power core, FIRE BLOOMS.
Consumes the lowest parts of the station...
Reaches up towards the central core...
Rings, bridges, pylons - all shatter and go spinning...
The explosions reach the Promenade and the Ops Dome...
The station, our home for almost 15 years... is destroyed.
87 INT. ROBINSON - BRIDGE
With his entire senior staff watching on, the strength goes from Sisko’s legs and he falls to his knees, the sounds of his bridge fading to silence...
SISKO
Kasidy... Rebecca... No...
BLACK OUT
END OF SHOW