Original subtitles

Battle cruiser Tango Bravo 1 to Proxima Relay.

We're in autopilot orbit around planet N184.

Entire crew is in the cargo bay now.

As soon as we touch down, we'll begin deployment protocol.

You sure this needs all six of us?

Those are the orders from Proxima Relay. Every crew member report to the hold

for instrument deployment.

Display up, please.

Deployment of the device.

It's beautiful.

This was a long way to come just for target practice.

I don't know what makes you so sure this thing's a weapon.

Could just be an oversized music box.

Yeah, right.

How long do you figure to deploy the package?

Well, if everything goes without a hitch, we should have it on the surface

operational inside of five hours. With our window, that still leaves almost

a day for survey and exploration.

Won't somebody tell the Boy Scout we didn't sign out for a picnic?

So what did we sign on for?

You don't know any more about this cargo than I do.

Difference is, I know enough not to give a damn.

Talk to me.

Laser part in the surface.

Damage is just at the main thruster. No breach. All critical systems intact.

The picture?

Ebonite weaponry. No question about it. This was supposed to be a dead planet.

Well, that can be arranged.

No time to get to the bridge.

Activate weapons remote. Standby to launch.

You got it. Computer, this is weapons officer Dumar. On laser.

Targeting. Right.

Forty. Up. Twenty.

Right. Two.

Locked. We're locked on their tracking system, Captain. Just say the word.

Let them know what we're made of.

T -55. Four on laser. Banks.

Fire!

No additional energy readings. Looks like we knocked him out.

I'll play.

I love it when you play dirty. Well, we do what we can, buddy.

What is this place?

Damn, I thought I asked for private rooms.

What the hell hit us?

Any impulse is my guess.

Just enough to knock us out.

Looks like we've been accessorized.

Seems like a metallic implant.

That's stripped of our weapons.

It's gotta be a hundred degrees in here.

Whoever put us in here made one big mistake.

What's that, Captain?

They left us alive.

You got that right.

Bridger.

It's 0800.

In two hours, I want options for an escape plan.

I'm on it, sir.

Take it as your war.

Identify yourselves.

Who's asking?

Identify yourselves.

It's all right.

Name and rank is all they get.

Kimbrough. Robert R.

Captain of the Starship Archipelago.

Noguchi. Major. Ronald.

Lieutenant Christopher Valentine.

Dr. Elena Chomsky.

O 'Keefe. Kristen Ann. Civilian.

Sergeant. Whalen.

Deadeye. Dumar.

Exterminator. You have brought a device to this planet in the storage area of

your ship.

We demand a full accounting of its function and purpose.

Yeah, well, we demand to see your ugly mug.

Silence! Oh, bite me!

Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow!

Ow!

to designate one who will speak for you. Our bodies are dehydrated. This man

needs water. Our demands are met. Yours will be considered.

If you fail to cooperate, you will meet the same fate as the last unfortunate

creatures to trespass in this sector.

Where is he, Captain?

I don't know, but they ripped his guts out.

There is nothing wrong with your television.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission.

We control the horizontal and vertical.

We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to

clarity and beyond.

We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive.

For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to experience the thought and mystery that reaches from the

deepest inner mind into the outer limit.

While some prisoners of war show bravery beyond the call of duty, others succumb

to an enemy often more formidable than the one which captured them.

Front and center.

Would you care to join us, Lieutenant?

Assessment, Doctor.

It's Ebonite, all right.

Down the line, Class 5 POW compound.

The aliens, build them to last.

Structural assay, Major.

Non -ferrous alloy.

Cordite amalgam, most likely.

It's not going anywhere unless you're packing a synthetorch. What's the plan,

Captain? Same as when we were outnumbered by the Ebonites on Batavius.

down, clam up, and wait for our moment. It doesn't make any sense.

All our data shows we're a good parsec away from any known Ebonite outpost.

planet was supposed to be uninhabited.

Wouldn't be the first time HQ underestimated the enemy's reach.

It's beautiful.

Fleet command sends us to plant a bomb right in the middle of a hornet's nest.

Bomb?

I was told the device in the cargo bay was strictly telemetry and recon. Who

knows?

Best damn crew of the fleet.

They don't even trust us with a skin.

Even if I did have the facts,

they're going to have this place wired nine ways from Sunday.

So the less we say about the device, the better. You ever hear of the Ebonites

being fluent in English?

No, but it doesn't surprise me. But we know we're not the first humans they've

captured. Maybe they picked up the lingo from other prisoners.

Could be. This is one cell of a penal colony.

But so there could be other prisoners here like us.

Hello? Is anybody out there?

You know, the Ebonites will rip a man's heart out and feed it to him just to get

what they want.

Well, then I guess you're safe, Sarge.

Well,

let's just hope that they don't see our civilian here as an Achilles heel.

I'm sworn to the same secrecy you are.

I've been briefed on deployment procedure.

No more, no less.

Not that I haven't heard rumors.

What have you heard?

That it's some kind of, I don't know, deep space biosensor.

It's supposed to look for alien life forms.

Well, what do you know?

The damn thing works.

The last ISF conference, there was talk about a doomsday device.

If it's the weapon system being whispered about, we just better hope to

haven't put it in enemy hands.

I'm telling you, screwed, blued, and tattooed. Listen up.

Whatever differences we have on how Fleet Command handled this, we put them

aside right now.

We want to survive?

We act as one.

An assault on one of us is an assault on all of us. We stick together, right?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Sergeant?

We live together, we die together.

We're prisoners of war. They can't just kill us in cold blood.

Oh, no?

You haven't gone against these bastards hand -to -hand.

You have no clue what kind of savages we're dealing with.

There's something out there.

Somebody please help us.

Hey, boy scout, take it easy.

No one can hear you that doesn't want you dead.

Easy.

Easy.

Help out.

Easy. Come on.

Instantaneous fusion in the epidermal layer.

One of the Ebonite's favorite toys.

Command has known about it since they captured that T -class scout ship in the

pro scene skirmishes.

It's the first time I've seen it used, though.

Captain.

I'm pretty sure I've located the Vader and audio sensors.

If you want, I can try and disable them.

Do it.

The time is up.

Have you chosen the spokesman?

We have.

Wait, not yet.

Why don't you let me go?

I mean, just in case I decide to get ugly right off the bat, you know, set an

example.

I can't afford to lose our commander.

Thanks, Sarge.

But I want them to know they picked the wrong squadron to mess with.

Besides, if anyone's going to take a high, hard one for the team, it ought to

me.

No.

into the light.

What do you hope?

I wasn't aware this was your planet.

Are we still on N -184, or did you move us?

We will ask the questions. Why did you bring the device?

It's a tool for scientific research.

What kind of research?

We weren't given the particulars.

What about food and water for my crew?

You will get nothing if you don't cooperate.

Look, you want to score points with your command, you can bring them my head.

Just let the rest of my crew go. I swear they don't know anything.

Love for your orders.

To deploy the device and return home.

Then you must be able to access its controls.

It's self -activating.

So, it's a bomb.

It's not a bomb.

I told you, it's a research instrument.

Torturing prisoners violates the Geneva and Alpha Aquila conventions.

and it won't get you squat.

Whatever you think you're protecting, Captain, know this.

Either we're satisfied we've heard the truth by the time our second sun rises,

or you'll watch your crew die.

It won't be the first time you've seen that, will it, Texas?

I don't know how this works, don't you?

They start questioning us, widen by one, until somebody bucks. Even if the

captain does know more than he let on, he's not going to say word one. I

wouldn't bet the farm on that, doctor. And why's that?

Look, I like the captain just as much as the rest of you. It's just...

You can't count out a man's history.

Oh, wait a minute. You're not going to bring up that BS about the first

invasion, are you? I thought the captain was decorated for that campaign. He

was. Maybe so, but he abandoned ship before the rest of his crew was

for. His escape capsule jettisoned safely, but the second pod

Four crew members on the outbound died, including your captain's best friend

from the academy.

Look it up if you don't believe me. So what are you saying?

That Kimbrough would sell the rest of us out to save his own skin? I'm just

saying I don't think we should make any blanket assumptions.

Then don't. Come on, people.

This is the last thing we need right now.

You heard what the captain said.

We either hang together or we hang separately.

Captain.

So? All right.

Full metal interrogation, huh?

Same voice.

Over and over.

It says codes to the device.

What did you tell them? I told them the truth.

But I don't even know what the damn thing is. You sure took your time saying

nothing. You want to see my souvenirs?

It's water.

He's dying of thirst.

What are we going to do about Valentine?

I'll just have to hydrate him as much as possible through his skin.

Lieutenant Valentine.

Understand. We expect something in return.

Is that better, Lieutenant?

Yes.

Device in the cargo bay, Lieutenant Valentine.

We want to know what it is. I don't know.

I swear I don't.

I don't think anyone else does either.

Be ashamed if Greek command had to notify your mother that her other son

combat, too. What did you tell my brother?

Your captain.

Valentine's your basic eager beaver.

He grew up in the shadows of his older brother, Billy.

Big war hero.

It's not that I don't like the kid, but let's just say he's not the kind of

soldier you'd trust with your life. Never gonna hold a candle to his

He just doesn't have what it takes.

He's right.

I'll never be the man my brother was.

Billy sacrificed his life to save his platoon.

That's a crock.

Oh, God almighty.

Billy. I stumbled on that pulse button.

I wasn't trying to save anybody.

I don't understand.

You're alive?

More alive than you'll be if you don't play ball.

No.

This can't be happening.

I'm dreaming this.

Does that feel like a dream, Chris?

Look, you said you always wanted to be like me.

Well, you can be the real hero, little brother.

Not a fraud like me.

And you can make a liar out of that, Captain.

Save your own life and the lives of everyone in your crew.

Oh, thank God.

What do you know? Kid got his mouth back.

Sort of.

Of course, they had to reverse the damage if they wanted him to talk.

Well, did you?

Of course not.

My brother.

My brother Billy was there.

Your brother's dead, Lieutenant.

They pulled the image from your mind.

I heard what you said about me, Captain.

They played it back.

What are you talking about?

About how you couldn't trust me with your life.

That I wasn't half the soldier my brother was.

I never said any of those things.

Their lives must have simulated my voice.

Yeah, right. They could have downloaded the personnel files from the ship. Then

they'd know everything there was to know about us. Maybe more than we know about

each other.

Let's just hope that they didn't give him his voice back so he could squeal

a stuck pig. I told you I didn't tell them anything.

Come on. Did your brother, the image of your brother, did he encourage you to

talk? It's not Billy's fault. They made him say those things. There was no

Billy. And I never said those things about you.

Don't you see what they're doing?

Don't you see?

They're messing with our minds.

This should knock out their surveillance.

What did they do to me?

What did they do?

My eyes.

You know,

they said they wouldn't even consider giving us food or water until their

demands were met first.

What's that supposed to mean?

Oh, I don't know.

I just can't help thinking maybe, maybe they've already heard something they

like. Makes sense to me.

Can't you see what's going on here?

It's intermittent reinforcement.

Alternating punishment with reward.

The first rule of behavior modification.

And what was your reward, Captain? What haven't you told us? I saw your reaction

when Valentine told us about his brother.

What did they show you? Who did you see?

Bobby, wake up.

It's me.

Dennis?

It's impossible.

Now, is that any way to greet your best friend?

You died.

You died up there.

You didn't stick around to find out what happened to any of us.

Not that I blame you.

The outbound disintegrated.

How did you survive?

Yep, Knights.

Deployed a mop -up team.

Just before they... Just before they blew up the ship.

I've been a prisoner here ever since.

What about the others?

They stonewalled.

All dead?

Mercifully, yes.

Dennis.

You gotta believe me.

My instrument showed your pod free and clear of the ship.

I would never have left you behind.

Hey, you did what you had to do.

You don't believe me.

Fear's a powerful thing, Bobby.

No matter what we want to believe about ourselves.

But I think we both know what's motivating you now.

Fear of losing more people on your watch.

I could have traded places with you.

Maybe you'll be given the chance, Bobby.

You never know.

I'm not going to talk.

I don't care what they do to me.

I felt the same way for the longest time.

But they're going to get the information.

One way.

it any harder than it has to be

and

you're positive it was

all in your mind it had to have been he was trying to get me to talk in a

million years dennis would never have done that it was the best damn soldier

i've ever known well why didn't you tell us captain

Living at once was hard enough.

A commander's supposed to look out for the soldiers under him.

One of them dies.

So does a part of you.

Let's just ask the Major.

Captain, do you think Ronnie's been through enough? Look at him.

You lost guys in combat too, Major?

If it was combat, maybe it would have been easier.

What happened?

Hey!

Back off!

Give me a break. I didn't bring it up.

Captain.

It's all right, Major. It's okay. I'm pretty sure I can finish what Noguchi

started.

Ronnie, Ronnie.

It's like this.

In the dark.

What's worse?

I can't stop seeing the faces.

He's talking about the air show accident.

It was no accident.

It was cockiness.

Stupidity.

My stupidity!

You were circling to return to the base.

So I said, how about a curtain call?

I climbed to 2 ,000 feet and began my loop.

Then took my lead.

I thought we had enough room to make it.

I skimmed the top of the trees.

It's only lazier.

But the rest of them couldn't pull up.

I led them straight to hell.

How many died?

Two of the best pilot in the command.

Four people were injured by the burning debris.

Including a six -year -old girl.

She was... She was blinded.

Last one.

Must have tripped some kind of failsafe.

Now you've done it. I thought you were the tough guy, Sergeant. Say, hey, I'm

sick of your bull, you know that? All this bluster. It's just a cover for a

scared little boy.

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up, you. I won't take any more. No more.

Sergeant, stand down.

Are you crazy?

You've been lying to us.

This mission started. Both of you have.

Now we're going to die 20 trillion miles from home.

The least we deserve to know is why.

Why?

You want to bet?

You've always been ready to lay your life down for a team. Yeah, well, that

then!

All right, go ahead, O 'Keefe.

I'm officially declassifying the information.

There's nothing they can use, even if they can hear us.

Just give me the damn knife.

First of all, you were kept out of the loop to protect you.

The less you knew, the safer you'd be.

And if you had half a brain, you'd want to keep it that way. Yeah, well, I'll

take my chances.

The instrument is a weapon of war.

The most awesome mankind has ever developed.

Once deployed, it can be programmed to train its firepower on any coordinates

the known universe.

You knew about this all along?

It was designed to be the ultimate deterrent.

We were going to target an uninhabited world and have the enemy monitor the

test. It's insanity.

Great, great.

So what, can they get it up and running without us? It'll blow a hole in this

planet five miles across if they try and dismantle it. So we get vaporized, is

that it?

Have you given any thought to what happens when they torture you within an

of your life?

I'm carrying an L capsule.

If I have to, I'll swallow it before I ever give up any secrets on how to

dismantle or lose the bomb.

Dr. Chomsky, prepare to enter the interrogation room.

So, whose bright idea was it to send our superweapon to a planet full of

ebonites? There wasn't supposed to be any ebonites. No?

What happened? Somebody tipped them off we were coming? Are you accusing one of

us of being a traitor?

I'm just saying it's been a long mission.

There's been plenty of time to contact the enemy. Come on, Sarge.

This is how it starts.

Paranoia. Suspicion.

They're viruses.

They breed.

And once they get hold, you can't kill them.

Lieutenant Valentine told us you used to experiment on children.

It wasn't easy hiding in contempt for that butcher.

They were terminally ill.

Is that what you want, Doctor? More suffering, more dying?

Haven't you seen enough death?

This war was not of my making.

We're longing it. That's in all our hands, isn't it?

No.

You hurt us.

We didn't want to die.

Let's make it start again.

Stop it!

Stop it!

We regret to

inform you that science officer Helena Chomsky will not return.

I want to see her.

Take me to her now.

Her body expired.

We made every effort to resuscitate her, but we were unsuccessful. No!

You tortured her to death!

It's up to the rest of you now.

Major Noguchi, please come forward. Please.

I'm not taking any more of my people. Do you hear me?

Not one!

Now, Major, only your captain dies.

Lead me to the door.

Are you sure?

No, Major.

Stop! Perhaps you'd like to hear what Valentine

said about you.

At the air show, Major Noguchi was playing the hero. He led those men to

death, and then he tried to blame them for the accident.

I didn't know this thing!

You want to remain like this for the rest of your life?

Then again, what should you see when that little girl never will?

Also, you can see.

Perhaps you'd like to see Dr.

Chomsky.

Looks like somebody did some trading.

What was it, an eye for an eye, Ronnie?

I never told them anything, I swear!

Back off, Major.

It wasn't a boy scouting, you know it. Sergeant!

If you want to jump on somebody, you come get a piece of me. That's

you would defend him. What, are you in it together?

What happened in there?

They made me look at the doc.

Dead.

They ripped it wide open.

her heart.

Why'd they treat you so well?

What's this about?

I'm the one who was betrayed!

Presidents of war, your ordeal is almost over.

We're currently reviewing the information you provided.

If it bears out, you'll be permitted to return to your ship and begin your

journey home.

We're going home.

We're going home.

We're going home.

You made a deal.

You made a deal, didn't you? I didn't know anything.

I didn't tell him anything.

Sorry, Major, but that dog don't hunt here.

I hate to say it, but the sergeant might be right.

What else would make him turn around like that? For all we know, it could

been Chomsky. Yeah, funny how easy it is to accuse the corpse instead of a

living traitor.

You haven't been interrogated yet.

Could be you won't be as brave as you think.

After the air show accident, you should have been stripped of your bars.

Instead, you were promoted six months later. Listen, Captain.

He had one last meeting just before we left.

That briefing was strictly navigations and interstellar protocols.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I thought we were friends.

So did I.

You can't just rush to judgment like this.

Not when we know they're doing everything they can to turn us against

another. Captain, treason is a capital offense.

And I, for one, intend that this sentence be carried out.

You want to take your anger out on this man?

You're going to have to come through me.

Look, I think he's guilty too.

But that is still for a military court to determine.

This far from home, we either carry our justice with us or it doesn't exist.

All these years.

I don't know how many missions.

We've always stopped by each other.

We were a unit.

A team.

How many times has one of us saved the life of the soldier in the trench beside

him? Not because it was in the book.

But because it was in his heart.

Now look at us.

Sergeant Dumas.

Come forward.

I'm not finished with you.

You spineless sack of garbage.

Not by a long shot.

Coward sergeant.

Who's the real coward?

All this time?

One of you knows the code.

And we've interrogated all the military personnel that you... Our

second son rises and lasts the one of your hours.

As painful as Dr.

Chalke's death was, yours will be more so.

Stop me.

Then who, Sergeant?

Who has the answers?

Somebody help me.

I'm not going to ask you again.

So there you go, Keith.

Where is Dumar?

What have you done to him?

O 'Keefe! O 'Keefe, no!

What's happening?

It's supposed to be instantaneous.

No, O 'Keefe.

There's no point in resisting, O 'Keefe. The sergeant's last words told us it

was you who holds the answers we demand.

Where is Dumar?

You killed him. Sergeant Dumar has been detained.

Time is short.

We want you to disable the armament's protective electronics.

Do as we say or pay the price.

You're going to have to free my hands if you expect me to defeat the booby

traps.

We thought you were a goner.

He's not human.

I saw him in there.

He's an overnight captain.

The man's gone off the edge.

I'm no more needed than you are.

They've got O 'Keefe in there.

You told them, didn't you?

I can read it all over your face.

Noguchi told them. I just confirmed it, Captain.

They were going to kill me. Kill us all.

He's an alien, don't you get it?

They played you for all you were worth.

You don't have to sentence all the terrorists you were born with.

You're a pathetic excuse for a soldier. Son of a bitch! I'll kill you!

I'll kill you!

What have you done?

What the hell?

Wait a minute.

Oh, sweet mother of God.

This was not supposed to happen!

Code blue. Emergency 17.

Simulation chamber.

Code blue. Is everyone seeing what I'm seeing?

It's no hallucination, Lieutenant.

Then we'll see well.

What's going on here?

Where the hell are we?

At the Starfleet Research Lab at Fort Dix.

What?

We're on Earth?

And have been.

Ever since we brought the archipelago back from deep space.

And all of you out of sedation.

You don't believe me?

Well, then maybe you should ask Dr. Chomsky.

Noguchi swore you were dead.

A live cast with a few gruesome touches.

You're part of it? No, I only found out after the interrogation.

I begged them to stop it. They wouldn't listen.

We're losing him.

And Major Noguchi?

We used his holographic image in Dumars' interrogation as the last phase of the

experiment.

I only wish his assault was part of the simulation.

What the hell is going on here?

We are at war, soldier, with an alien race of such advanced capability that we

don't stand a chance of prevailing unless we know the physical and

limits of our men and women in the field.

We fabricated your capture by the Ebonites.

You state -of -the -art imaging to gaslight them.

All to test your snap threshold.

The weapon we were carrying wasn't real.

No, it was very real.

And one day you'll deploy it just as you expect it to.

But we couldn't risk it getting into enemy hands.

Unfortunately, we found out just how human you already are.

No, this can't be happening.

We're not on Earth.

Tell me we're not on Earth.

We're home, O 'Keefe.

We have been all this time.

Don't you understand?

I didn't disengage the booby traps. I just pretended to.

I set the device to go off in exactly one minute.

Oh, that's impossible.

We safeguarded against any accidental triggering before you went into space

it. We even had an electronic firewall.

No!

It's impossible.

You couldn't have. I'm the only one who can. I helped design the damn thing.

Believe me, I know what I'm talking about.

It's going off in 40 seconds.

I don't believe.

Well, don't just stand there. Stop the countdown.

That thing does not have the hemisphere goes with it.

It's too late.

They can't.

No one can.

It's been given final command.

me territory we were gonna die anyway general

tell me this is part of the simulation okay do something

in

our efforts to plumb the

depths of our psychological endurance we may do more than drive ourselves to the

breaking point we may destroy the very world we're seeking to protect.