Ascendancy

By Petr Drimalka

Captain Paul Bailey and young Corporal Lockwood are sent by their commanding officer, Colonel Davenport, on the older man's last mission – to establish contact with an orbital laboratory located in Theta Cygni, a nearby binary star system. Upon entering the derelict station the two military men realize they will face an enemy far greater than they could be prepared for. With no way to turn back, they investigate - and become a part of - a sinister incident in the orbital complex controlled by their corporate rival.

This eBook combines the formats of screenplay and regular book to create a more powerful visual experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Petr Drimalka
• Release date: Oct 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463507438

Petr Drimalka

Petr Drimalka is a screenwriter currently living in Prague (where he moved from a Renaissance castle). He has a master's degree in Philosophy as well as in British and American literature, and a zeal for astronomy. The author prefers the screenplay format as visually more powerful and more immediate than a traditional novel, giving you, the reader, a more personal experience.

Book preview

What is an eScript?

eScripts are a hybrid of e-books and feature length movie screenplays.

Screenplays are the literary blueprints for movies, telling stories through a cinematic medium. Unlike e-books, hard copy novels, or paperbacks, screenplays focus on showing rather than telling. You will find no inner thoughts or extensive character background descriptions. Instead, you’ll see a story unfold in cinematic fashion.

You, the reader, can cast the movie with whichever actors you would like. The action and worlds described within the eScript are interpreted through your own imagination. In essence, you will take on the role of the filmmaker. The visionary.

E-books are multiple day/week/month commitments. eScripts, on the other hand, allow you to see a story unfold within just a couple of hours of reading. Thus, you experience the perfect hybrid of reading a novel and watching a movie. Welcome to the world of eScripts.

Glossary of eScript Terms and Formatting

Reading an eScript or screenplay is simple and fun. The below terms and formatting definitions will make the reading experience even better!

B.G. - Background.

CAPITALIZATION - Used when a character is introduced. Also used to describe sound effects.

EXT. - Exterior. The scene takes place outdoors.

INT. - Interior. The scene takes place indoors.

O.S. - Off screen. Used when a character is in the scene location but not onscreen while speaking.

P.O.V - Point of view. A camera angle in which the camera acts as the eyes of a character.

V.O. - Voice over. Voices heard over telephones, loudspeakers and radios etc.

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About the Author

Petr Drimalka is a screenwriter currently living in Prague (where he moved from a Renaissance castle). He has a master's degree in Philosophy as well as in British and American literature, and a zeal for astronomy.

This screenplay, quarter-finalist in American Zoetrope and Page contests, is the result of a love of science and science fiction (with a touch of psychology, self-development and military experience) aimed at creating realistic, meaningful and character-driven fiction.

The author prefers the screenplay format for this work of fiction as it can be more powerful and more visual than a traditional novel, giving you, the reader, a more personal experience.

This eScript is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright© 2013 by Petr Drimalka

Updated December 10, 2023

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this eScript or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Cover Designed by Peter Drimalka and Luca Oleastri

For any interest in attaining the production rights of this eScript, please contact Petr Drimalka.

For more information on the eScript format, please visit eScriptsHub.com

For all men and women who lived through darkness to emerge on the other side...

Part 1

FADE IN:

SOMEWHERE IN DEEP SPACE - FUTURE

Rolling slowly in space. Reflected light glares hazily, brings up lazy shapes on the canopy, which then become distinguishable as a POLICE INSIGNIA. Outside:

A field of bright stars...silent witnesses in an eternal wasteland of space. Vast, cold and immovable.

Low thrum of engines briefly gains intensity.

A small speck emerges. It travels slowly across the Stygian expanse like an aberration of nature.

Grows bigger, starts to fill the size of the reflected insignia, exceed it.

EXT. SPACE

A clipped WING appears on the side and SLICES through space.

A sleek, armed shuttle, A POLICE INTERCEPTOR, approaches A MEDIUM-SIZED TRANSPORT STARSHIP; an angular, unstylish visitor to the remote region of space.

The police vessel slows down, its forward maneuvering jets firing to decrease speed.

INT. INTERCEPTOR COCKPIT

THE POLICE PILOT, an attractive woman around forty, observes the transport ship looming up ahead outside the canopy. The light of her instruments gleams over the canopy, draws her attention.

She glances at readouts on her Head-Up Display. Frowns slightly. She returns her guarded gaze to the transport and contacts the pilot via radio. Her voice tone is calm and professional.

POLICE INTERCEPTOR PILOT

Transport ship designated STA Hyperion, this is Valkyrie four, Frontier Patrol. You are off your flight path in violation of the Frontier Commerce Treaty. What is your destination?

TRANSPORT SHIP PILOT (MALE) (V.O.)

This is STA Hyperion to Frontier Patrol. We got hit by a solar flare which messed up our nav system. We've corrected our route and are headed to our base. We're carrying medical supplies. I'm sending manifest now.

The officer pauses as she verifies the information. It seems to check out. Yet:

POLICE INTERCEPTOR PILOT

You guys know hauling cargo is not allowed in the Fringe. Power down your engines and stand by for scanning. Acknowledge, Hyperion.

TRANSPORT SHIP PILOT (V.O.)

(beat)

Understood, Valkyrie four. Standing by.

EXT. SPACE

The small police vessel moves nearer to the transport ship to scan its cargo hold.

Suddenly, in a shimmering BLUE ELECTROMAGNETIC BLAST, a MASSIVE HULL EMERGES into space in the vicinity of the two vessels, heading for the interceptor.

The police vessel slows to a halt.

POLICE INTERCEPTOR PILOT (V.O.)

Command...this is Valkyrie four. I have a situation here. Do you copy?

The line is dead, jammed to faint static by the other party's offensive electronic counter-measures.

A CANNON -- one of many on the huge craft's frame -- aimed at the tiny vessel.

A tense beat. A channel is re-opened over static.

TRANSPORT SHIP PILOT (V.O.)

(calm)

You're out of line, officer.

EXT. SPACE - ELSEWHERE

A part of A MILITARY INSTALLATION, gray and somberly monumental, witness of times past. Several shuttles fly by.

INT. MILITARY BASE - CPT. BAILEY'S ROOM

Modern, but simple and undecorated. Semi-dark. Several boxes of personal belongings on the floor next to a bed, packed up, perhaps waiting to be unpacked.

A middle-aged man is lying on the bed, awake, looking at nothing in particular.

CAPTAIN BAILEY is in early fifties, somewhat stern and hardened, though with an air of a college professor.

A tired look in his keen, perceptive eyes. The gray-steel iris slightly reminiscent of the police insignia.

A quiet BEEP. A MYRIAD OF COLORS SPLASH OVER HIS EYE.

FEMALE ANNOUNCER (V.O.)

Captain Bailey, please report to Colonel Davenport's office.

Near the opposite wall above the man's line of sight, A HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGE OF A WOMAN gleams from a holo device fitted to the wall. Through a small window we can see a brown dwarf planet; a gas giant which did not make it to a star, red-violet in the black of space. A cold sun.

Bailey makes no attempt to move or raise his eyes, still contemplating something in thin air.

The woman signs off and the mirage disappears. After a moment, Bailey slowly sits up. He glances at the boxes and his dress uniform sticking from a wardrobe for a quiet, uncomfortable beat.

INT. MILITARY BASE - CORRIDOR

Bailey, attired in his uniform, approaches a hatch door at the end of the corridor. The door opens and an officer walks out, in service uniform. The hatch closes again.

LIEUTENANT CONNOLLY is an athletic man in mid-thirties; grounded, friendly type. Connolly greets him respectfully, shakes his hand. He is surprised to see Bailey.

CONNOLLY

Hello, Captain. Glad to see you again. With the split-up and everything, things are gonna get worse if we don't stick together.

The stern captain nods to his friend, appreciating the gesture.

CONNOLLY (CONT'D)

(carefully)

How's your wife?

Bailey doesn't respond to that, Connolly understands. An awkward, but sympathetic beat.

CONNOLLY (CONT'D)

Well, I hope you'll stop by when your