Episode Transcript
Rogue Tyger
“The Pilot,” Part 2
INTRODUCTION
HOST
Welcome to Jabberwocky Audio Theater.
RATING ANNOUNCER
The following audio theater is rated AD-G for general audiences.
ANNOUNCERLAND
(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)
ANNOUNCER
In a distant part of the galaxy, from a far-flung future yet unwritten, comes the adventures of a lone ship and her intrepid crew.
(BEAT)
Will the ship following them prove friend or foe?
(BEAT)
Jabberwocky Audio Theater presents Rogue Tyger. Tonight’s episode: “The Pilot,” part two.
TYGER SICK BAY
REG MACORUM
Grainne, how much time before they make their move?
GRAINNE
(INTERCOM)
Hard to say, captain. 5, maybe 10 minutes.
REG MACORUM
I’ll be right there.
SOUND: SWITCH CLICK
AIDAN
Why are we being followed?
REG MACORUM
I’ll know that when I get an idea who’s doing the following.
SOUND: BULKHEAD DOOR OPENING.
REG MACORUM
Tag along if you want, Vosky.
SOUND: BOOTS ON CATWALK FADING AWAY
AIDAN
Uh…
ENLING
Come on, good excuse to see the bridge.
SOUND: BULKHEAD DOOR CLOSING.
TYGER CORRIDOR
(CHANGE IN AMBIENT TONE, INTERSPERSED WITH FOOTFALLS ON CATWALK)
AIDAN
Doctor? Um, Enling? What kind of cargo do you haul?
ENLING
What’s your real question?
AIDAN
Well…
(BEAT, QUIETER)
Are you smugglers?
ENLING
It’s an entrepreneurial ship, Aidan. Who else do you think would hire someone with no Spacetime?
AIDAN
I see.
(BEAT)
I should have seen.
ENLING
Not with those “wish come true” blinders of yours. Enough time in space they’ll come off…or not. Some lessons you get to learn over and over.
(BEAT)
Oh, and Aidan? Don’t bring up smuggling with the captain unless he does first. It’s a long story.
AIDAN
I’m guessing there’s a lot of long stories I’ll need to hear on this ship.
ENLING
That’s what the kaoliang is for.
SOUND: AIRLOCK OPENS
TYGER BRIDGE
(DIFFERENT AMBIENT SOUND, SCANNERS AND ELECTRONIC MONITORING IN THE BACKGROUND)
REG MACORUM
Welcome to the bridge, Vosky. Don’t touch anything.
ENLING
(QUIETER)
Over here.
SOUND: AIRLOCK CLOSES
REG MACORUM
Okay, Grainne, you were saying about our friend…
GRAINNE
See those markings? They want you to believe they’re a courier out of Xinwei Prime, but that prefix hasn’t been used in over a generation. Nokari mercenaries aren’t very detail-oriented.
REG MACORUM
Are we sure they’re Nokari?
GRAINNE
They could be subcontractors renting the ship, Captain, but they’re not simple couriers, that’s the straight and narrow.
REG MACORUM
Right, so what do we have for plan B?
GRAINNE
Haapsalu 6 has some mighty attractive rings, plus matching sets of L-point asteroids.
REG MACORUM
Let’s go sightseeing then shall we?
GRAINNE
Already plotted.
REG MACORUM
Of course.
ENLING
She’s brilliant. You pay us too little captain.
REG MACORUM
I might not be able to pay you at all if our Nokari friend has his way.
AIDAN
Are they like a commerce raider? The ones that prey on ships at the system edges?
REG MACORUM
Not quite as common as the tri-vids would have you believe. Space is too damn big. Much easier to pick a mark leaving port.
GRAINNE
We’ll be hitting the rings in a little under a minute, Captain.
REG MACORUM
Good.
SOUND: HAIL SOUND
TORMAR
(INTERCOM)
Captain. I am ready for Mechanic Vosky, but I cannot locate him.
REG MACORUM
He’s here, Tormar, but hang on a while longer. I want Grainne to shake our tail. We’ll send him down after the first jump.
TORMAR
(INTERCOM)
In that case, good luck, Pilot Kochowa.
GRAINNE
Thank you, Tormar.
AIDAN
(SOTTO VOCE)
So I guess he does that to everyone.
ENLING
(SOTTO VOCE)
Oh yeah. Coutharians are mad about titles. When you do get down there, make sure you call him “Engineer Tormar” to start off.
GRAINNE
Everyone hang on, the gravity gyros might not keep up.
SOUND: ENGINE THRUST
AIDAN
Whoa!
SOUND: MORE ENGINE SOUNDS
REG MACORUM
Well isn’t our friend surprised.
GRAINNE
It looks like he’s going to try and close the gap, but we’ll see how good he is.
SOUND: MORE ENGINE SOUNDS
GRAINNE
So, Mechanic Vosky, we weren’t properly introduced. Welcome to my bridge.
REG MACORUM
You people are getting entirely too possessive.
ENLING
Better us than the Nokari.
AIDAN
Thank you, uh, Pilot Kochowa… or Pilot Grainne.
GRAINNE
Grainne Kochowa. That’s what it sounds like above water anyway. You don’t need to worry about titles. Call me Grainne.
AIDAN
Okay. Uh, Grainne? May I ask a question?
GRAINNE
Yes?
AIDAN
Why have you stopped the main thrust?
GRAINNE
Ah! The captain said you were a budding pilot. Good ear.
(BEAT)
Our pursuer now knows we’re onto him. He’s expecting we’ll get out of the gravity well and make a jump as quick as can be. But he knows he can’t quickly close that gap on thrusters alone, so if he’s at all good, he’s going to watch the thruster burn from the Tyger and plot an intercept course.
AIDAN
But don’t we want to get away from him? Out of the gravity well?
GRAINNE
Of course, but first we want him to commit to going deep into these planetary rings, where his scanners won’t work as well.
ENLING
Or ours.
REG MACORUM
Now, remember you said she’s brilliant.
GRAINNE
Thank you captain.
REG MACORUM
I think he’s taking the bait.
GRAINNE
So, here’s our plan, we lead them further in, through some sensor chaff, and then we dive in towards our obliging gas giant here and aerobrake around to jump safely.
AIDAN
And you already had this course plotted!?
GRAINNE
With variants, yes.
REG MACORUM
You see why I signed you on as a mechanic, Vosky.
AIDAN
Yessir.
GRAINNE
Don’t worry, when we’re not in a life-or-death struggle, I’ll be happy to give you some pointers.
REG MACORUM
He’s closing.
GRAINNE
I think it’s time.
SOUND: ENGINE THRUST
ENLING
I think you like this too much.
SOUND: MORE ENGINE SOUNDS
GRAINNE
Laying chaff.
SOUND: CHAFF LAYING SFX/TRACKING
REG MACORUM
Looking good.
SOUND: MORE ENGINE SOUNDS
GRAINNE
A little more for good measure…
SOUND: CHAFF LAYING SFX/TRACKING
GRAINNE
All right. Let’s go.
SOUND: ENGINE THRUST
SOUND: ALERT SOUND
GRAINNE
Tormar, we’ll be hitting the aerobrake orbit in just a few seconds.
TORMAR
(INTERCOM)
The shielding is ready.
GRAINNE
Thank you. In 4…3…2…1…
(A SERIES OF ENGINE NOISES COUPLED WITH THE SOUND OF FLAMES ROARING, SIMILAR TO THE LAUNCH, BUT DIFFERENT)
AIDAN
Unglaub…
ENLING
Look on the bright side Aidan, you should have no trouble with the jump at this point.
(THE AEROBRAKING ENDS)
GRAINNE
Okay, coming out above the rings now. Should be ready to jump in about half a minute captain.
REG MACORUM
Well done, Grainne.
ENLING
I’ll second that.
GRAINNE
Ready to say goodbye to your home system Aidan?
AIDAN
I guess.
SOUND: COMPUTER RESTART
GRAINNE
Scanners are coming back to full res, entering in jump coordinates. Get ready for —
SOUND: IMPACT ALERT
GRAINNE
MISSILE! Missile inbound!
REG MACORUM
(SIMULTANEOUS)
Brace for impact! Brace for impact now!
ENLING
(SIMULTANEOUS)
zao1-gao1-le5!
AIDAN
(SIMULTANEOUS)
Where did that come from?
SOUND: IMPACT AND EXPLOSION
(CLIFFHANGER MUSIC PLAYS)
ANNOUNCERLAND
(THEME MUSIC BEGINS)
ANNOUNCER
You’ve been listening to Rogue Tyger, episode two: “The Pilot,” part two of five.
(BEAT)
Rogue Tyger is a production of Jabberwocky Audio Theater in association with Arlington Independent Media and was transcribed in Deepest Springfield.
(BEAT)
Tonight’s episode featured the vocal talents of Brooks Tegler, Erin Goldstein, Nick DePinto, Yasmin Tuazon, and Phil Amico.
(BEAT)
Music was composed by John Maestri and arranged by Jason Chmiola, with final sound mixing by William R. Coughlan.
(BEAT)
And the episode was written and directed by Bjorn Munson.
(BEAT)
Visit our website, jabber audio dot com, for full show notes about all our fantastic cast and crew and other intriguing details… like the real science behind L-point asteroids.
(BEAT)
This is William R. Coughlan, reminding you to join us next time for more Rogue Tyger.
(THEME MUSIC ENDS)
CONCLUSION
HOST
Hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Text © Bjorn Munson, under license to Jabberwocky Audio Theater. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.