The Shuttle Craft (TNG episode)

The Shuttle Craft is the 10th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation The Next Generation.
==Synopsis==
While investigating an asteroid field, James and Mason are convinced that Enterprise has been destroyed and try to face their own oncoming deaths. 
==Script Chapters==
===Teaser===
FADE IN
A Danube-class Runabout is at impulse speed.
INT-RUNABOUT GARNDER CANOPY
Lieutenant Mason is at the helm while his wife is working on an open panel.
LT, MASON: The Captain said they'd be mapping this asteroid field, but I can't see head nor tails of them. 
LTCMDR. JAMES: Maybe it's another asteroid field. 
LT. MASON: No, this is the one. Two primaries, seventeen planetesimals.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Well, they weren't expecting us back for three days. Maybe they finished and went off to do something else. 
LT. MASON: Well maybe but with our sensor array down, we won't know when they get back until we see them. Any luck with the com?
LTCMDR. JAMES: Dead as a doornail. I don't understand it. 
LT. MASON: Well, no doubt you'll have your boys take this pod apart piece by piece once it's back in the shuttle bay.
LTCMDR. JAMES: I'd feel a lot more comfortable having everything in working order by the time Enterprise gets back. 
LT. MASON [smiles]: Well, tinker all you like. I've got a copy of Ulysses here. I doubt I'll even be halfway through it by the time the ship gets back.
LTCMDR. JAMES: I'd rather realign every micro-circuit on this shuttle than try to wade through that baby. 
LT. MASON: Or we could go in the back and have some fun?
LTCMDR. JAMES: We did that for the first two days on this runabout.
Jack snickers.
LTCMDR. JAMES: And besides those bunks aren't good for love making anyway.
LT. MASON: Commander?
LTCMDR. JAMES: I'm serious Jack.
LT. MASON: So am I you better take a look at this.
EXT-ASTEROID FIELD
They are passing an asteroid with a big crash site on it.
INT-RUNABOUT GARNDER CANOPY
LTCMDR. JAMES: Bring a bit closer.
LT. MASON: What is it a ship?
LTCMDR. JAMES: If the damn sensors were only working, we could. Bring us around again. There. Slow down. 
[The sight of a piece of metal with 01-E on it brings a lump to their throats.]
[END OF TEASER, FADE OUT]
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Theme music:
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Introduction:
CAPT. BRANSON'S [voice over]: Space The Final Frontier These are the Voyages of the Starship Enterprise its Continuing Mission: To Explore Strange New Worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations to boldly go where no one has gone before!
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A shot of Starbase 1 and the USS Enterprise as she slowly departs from the base, as her warp engines powered up and leaps into warp.
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STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
A STAR TREK FAN FILM PRODUCTION
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'BASED UPON STAR TREK CREATED BY:
GENE RODDENBERRY
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A shot of the secondary hull of the Enterprise
JARVIS DAVIDSON 
 AS
CAPT. JOHN MARTIN
The Enterprise flies by an asteroid
FELECIA LINKOUS
 AS
LTCMDR. JANE KAL
The Enterprise flies by Mars 
KEVIN REGAN
 AS
LT. JACK MASON
FERNE MYERS
 AS
LTCMDR. COURTNEY JAMES
USS Enterprise is flying next to a comet
DELENA "DEE" LUSK
 AS
LT. JAMIE KAYE
JACOB ELLIOT
 AS
DR. PETER LANGFORD
The Enterprise flies under a Pioneer-Class vessel
SADIE BRICKHOUSE
 AS
LT. SITO JAXA
The Enterprise flies by a planet as the sunsets 
BECKY ELLIOT
 AS
LTCMDR. T'MIR
The Enterprise flies by Earth and her warp nacelles power up and she leaps into warp.
CREATED BY:
JARVIS DAVIDSON & JEREMY REGAN
===Act 1===
FADE IN
EXT-WARP TUNNEL
Enterprise is at warp.
INT-U.S.S. ENTERPRISE CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM/SITUATION ROOM
Captain Martin is reviewing the damage to the shuttle bay as the doors chimed.
CAPT. MARTIN: Come.
Doors opened and Commander Kal enters.
CAPT. MARTIN: How are the Tesnians doing? 
LTCMDR. KAL: Dr. Langford can only keep twelve of them in the Decon chamber at a time. 
CAPT. MARTIN: What about the other, what is it, twenty two?
LTCMDR. KAL: He's rotating them. They seem to be doing fine on our atmosphere but they need at least six hours of boron gas a day. He says we've got enough to get them home.
Captain Martin leans forward.
CAPT. MARTIN: How are they?
LTCMDR. KAL: They're pretty rattled. Most of them have been on that ship for years. It's a lot to digest they lost everything. 
CAPT. MARTIN [sighs]: Does the Captain know what happened?
LTCMDR. KAL: No, and he feels terrible about the damage to Enterprise. He has no idea what went wrong.
CAPT. MARTIN: Thank God their escape pods were working.
LTCMDR. KAL: I saw the wreckage on the asteroid. There wasn't much left. 
John tapped his combadge.
CAPT. MARTIN [to com]: Martin to bridge what's our ETA?
LTCMDR. T'MIR [com voice]: We should reach Tesnia in about twenty hours, sir
CAPT. MARTIN: Good work, . That should get us back to our rendezvous co-ordinates well before Courtney and Jack get there. Let's drop out of warp for a few minutes. I want to inspect the damage to the bay doors. 
LTCMDR. T'MIR [com voice]: Aye, sir
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
Enterprise is at full stop as the doors to Shuttle Bay 2 open and a Class-9 shuttle flies out and approaches the main shuttle bay.
INT-SHUTTLE CRAFT APOLLO CANOPY
CAPT. MARTIN: Who's in charge of Engineering while Trip's away? 
LTCMDR. KAL: Lieutenant Hess.
CAPT. MARTIN: Tell her to get a team working on a new door for the main shuttle bay.
EXT-SPACE
The shuttle glides in front of the gaping hole where the main bay doors use to be.
INT-SHUTTLE CRAFT APOLLO CANOPY
LTCMDR. KAL: Astrometrics detected what could be micro-singularities in the vicinity of the asteroid field. 
CAPT. MARTIN: Any damage to Enterprise?
LTCMDR. KAL: No, but our deflectors were raised at the time but they did register some unusual charged particles at the same time the Tesnian ship began to malfunction. 
CAPT. MARTIN: Let's just hope Jack and Courtney were able to avoid them.
CUT TO:
EXT-ASTEROID FIELD
The Gardner is facing the asteroid.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
LTCMDR. JAMES: How about the lifeboats? They could have launched the lifeboats before the crash. 
LT. MASON: They'd be here. They only go three hundred kph. They'd be right here waiting for us to return. 
Courtney leans on the aft console.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Are we sure there are no survivors?
Jack looks over at his wife.
LT. MASON: Courtney, we have to figure out what we're going to do. 
LTCMDR. JAMES: We can't just leave. That's Enterprise. At least we should find the black boxes. 
LT. MASON: With what? We have no radio. Nothing to pick up the beacons.
LTCMDR. JAMES: How far to the nearest Starbase?
Lieutenant Mason looks at her.
LT. MASON: Starbase 218 is an hour away at maximum warp but at impulse 23 years.
LTCMDR. JAMES: That's good enough for me. Take one more low pass over the wreckage and then set a course. 
EXT-ASTEROID FIELD
The runabout makes another pass over the wreckage.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
LTCMDR. JAMES [sighs]: See you around Captain.
[END OF ACT ONE, FADE OUT]
===Act 2===
FADE IN
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
Runabout Gardner is at impulse.
LT. MASON [voice over]: Chief Security Officer's Log Stardate 53785.1, By the time anyone hears this, by anyone, I suppose I mean anyone human, Commander James and I will be long dead. It's my intention to recount the events that led to the destruction of the Starship Enterprise and to express my deepest feelings regarding my short but memorable service with Starfleet
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
LTCMDR. JAMES: Tell them I'd love to add my two cents, but I'm trying to get a little work done.
[Mason rewinds a little.]
LT. MASON [com voice]: Short but memorable service with Starfleet
[Mason resumes his log.]
LT. MASON [to com]: In order to test the targeting scanners on runabout Gardner, Commander James and I had to get at least twenty thousand kilometers from Enterprise. During our third trial, we experienced a brief but sizable jolt, and shortly thereafter realized that our sensor array had gone offline.
LTCMDR. JAMES: This sensor array is more than offline. It's totally fried.
LT. MASON [rewinds]: that our sensor array had gone offline. [resumes] We had no choice but to head back to the asteroid field where Enterprise was involved in a mapping project. We found the ship destroyed, its debris strewn across a square kilometer of one of the larger asteroids. Had our sensors been working we certainly would have done everything possible to determine the cause of the disaster, but as it was, with only a short-range distress beacon, we had no alternative but to set a course for Starbase 218 where someday this vessel and eventually this log, will be found. May God have mercy on our souls. 
Courtney looks over at him.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Why don't you cut the crap and get back here and help me?
LT. MASON: What would you like me to do? 
LTCMDR. JAMES: I don't know. You could hold this flashlight, or turn down the heat. Whatever you want. I'm just getting a little tired of listening to all your pessimism.
LT. MASON: If there's something you need me to do I would be more than happy to comply, but I'm afraid pessimism is simply not an accurate description of my log entry. I'm just being realistic, Commander. 
LTCMDR. JAMES: We've got nine days. We're bound to find someone out here.
LT. MASON: Without warp we can't get anywhere fast!
LTCMDR. JAMES: Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, Xyrillians, Cardassians. God knows who's going to be lurking around the next planet we run into.
LT. MASON: But that's just it, sir. At impulse, we're not likely to be running into any planets. Not for at least six or seven years!
Commander James gets up and heads to the back.
[END OF ACT TWO, FADE OUT]
===Act 3===
FADE IN
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
Runabout Gardner is at impulse.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
LT. MASON [to com]: Captain Martin claims you told him you weren't even aware that I was serving on Enterprise. I find that difficult to believe, considering I wrote you twice in the weeks prior to our departure. Now, it is possible that you never received those letters. You were, I believe, in the process of moving back to Malaysia at the time. But you must have spoken to Aunt Sherry during that period, and I know she received my letters. I would hate to go to my death thinking that either of you felt I was trying to avoid...
LTCMDR. JAMES: JACK! You've been at it for hours now. Don't you think it's time to give it a rest? 
LT. MASON: As I'm sure you must have heard that was my esteemed colleague and wife, Lieutenant Commander Courtney James. Courtney doesn't share my belief that it is essential to say what must be said, to leave a record, tie up loose ends. Courtney is laboring under the false hope that we are going to be miraculously rescued before we both suffocate. 
She walks over to the console.
COURTNEY: Mr. and Mrs. Mason, I realize that you've just begun a period of mourning and that I'll never get an answer to this question, but I got to ask it anyway. Was Jack always this cynical? 
She walks to the back to continues to repair the damage to the sensors and hopefully the warp drive.
LT. MASON: In a few days, when the reality of this situation actually begins to sink in, you might very well decide you want to record some logs of your own. You have my word, I will not interrupt you. 
LTCMDR. JAMES: I just need to get some sleep, Jack! Is that so hard to understand?
LT. MASON: We have less than nine days of oxygen left. It seems a waste to use it up sleeping.
LTCMDR. JAMES: If I don't waste some oxygen sleeping, I'm going to start getting real cranky, and you don't want to spend your last nine days cooped up with me when I'm cranky. So turn that thing off and get some rest. 
She turns off the com and goes to the back.
EXT-WARP TUNNEL
Enterprise is at warp.
INT-U.S.S. ENTERPRISE CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM/SITUATION ROOM
Doors chimed.
CAPT. MARTIN: Come.
Doors opened as Commander Kal enters.
LTCMDR. KAL: I've analyzed the scans we took of the Tesnian ship right before it crashed. I believe they were hit by a micro-singularity. 
CAPT. MARTIN: You're telling me these are tiny black holes?
LTCMDR. KAL: They were. The dispersal pattern suggests they dissipated on impact. This could be a significant discovery, Captain. If we could get quantum sensor readings of the three impact points, we could authenticate our findings. 
CAPT. MARTIN: I'd be a little less concerned with winning the Nobel Prize right now and a little more concerned with Courtney and Jack. Their runabout doesn't have the deflectors we do. They could be in for a rough ride when they get back to the asteroid field. Better hail them. Agree to a new rendezvous point. 
LTCMDR. KAL: Aye, sir.
She leaves as Captain Martin is worried.
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
The Gardner is at impulse.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
[It's now minus 5C, baseball caps are firmly on and jackets zipped up to the chin.]
LT. MASON [to com]: My dearest Deborah. By this time I'm certain you've learned of the tragedy that befell the starship Enterprise. You've also undoubtedly learned that my colleague and current wife, Commander Courtney James, and I did manage to survive for a few days after the accident. It's during that brief time that I've chosen to correspond with you. Although our relationship was short-lived, and at times tumultuous, I can't help but picture your beautiful smile. It gives me great comfort. Think of me from time to time. Cordially, Jack.
[There's static over the com.]
LT. MASON: Is that a ship?
LTCMDR. JAMES: It's a little more modulated than the last one, but it could be just a random gamma-ray burst.
LT. MASON: A gamma-ray burst that's normal isn't it?
LTCMDR. JAMES: Won't know for sure till we get to Starbase 218.
LT. MASON: Courtney?
LTCMDR. JAMES: Jack, you need to find hope.
LT. MASON: Huh.
Then the Runabout jolts.
LT. MASON: What was that?
LTCMDR. JAMES: I don't know, but it felt a little like whatever knocked out the sensor array.
LT. MASON: We're losing atmosphere. Pressure's down eight percent!
LTCMDR. JAMES: Help me. We've got to find the hole!
LT. MASON: Going to be tough with sensors.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Use your ears Jack!
[They're searching for the breach but can't find it.]
LT. MASON: Pressure's down twenty two percent!
LTCMDR. JAMES: The damn hole's too small. 
LT. MASON: I don't see it either I hear it those.
[Commander James rips open a ceiling panel.]
LT. MASON: What are you doing?
LTCMDR. JAMES: It's nitrogen for the coolant tanks. Just give me a few seconds. 
[She fills the runabout with opaque gas.]
LTCMDR. JAMES: Now let's find that leak. 
[Mason spots where the gas is being sucked out.]
LT. MASON: Got one here.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Got one over here as well.
She quickly goes to one of the consoles.
LTCMDR. JAMES: I'm activating a micro force field hopefully it will keep the leaks contained till we reach the Starbase.
The force fields engage.
LT. MASON: We'll need to properly seal the breaches.
LTCMDR. JAMES: There's some value sealant in the aft compartment.
Jack heads to the back to get it.
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
Gardner is at impulse.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
[They properly seal the breaches.]
LT. MASON: Obviously, whatever hit us went clear through the pod.
[Commander James checks the read out.]
LTCMDR. JAMES: I'm afraid it did more than just puncture the cabin, Jack. On it's way out it was kind enough to rupture one of the O2 cylinders.
LT. MASON: We've got back ups?
LTCMDR. JAMES: They've engaged but we've lost pressure and the main life-support systems.
LT. MASON: That's not good.
LTCMDR. JAMES: No it's not how close to oblivion are we?
LT. MASON: We've got less than two days of air left. 
Courtney is worried.
[END OF ACT THREE, FADE OUT]
===Act 4===
FADE IN
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
Gardner is at impulse speed.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER AFT COMPARTMENT
Commander James has an opened panel working on the life-support systems.
LT. MASON: Any luck?
She comes out from under the panel.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Nope the main relay is completely shredded whatever did this was very good.
LT. MASON: So what can we do?
LTCMDR. JAMES: Well, the emergency life-support system is working but they've taken some damage as well.
LT. MASON: How long do we have?
LTCMDR. JAMES: With the emergency life-support systems it's unknown at the moment.
Jack sits on the floor.
JACK: So, we have no idea how long we've got till we die?
LTCMDR. JAMES: Yeah.
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
Runabout Gardner is at impulse.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
[The com crackles again.]
LT. MASON: It's probably nothing, right? 
[Courtney walks over to the console.]
LTCMDR. JAMES: It's definitely not nothing.
LT. MASON: Well then, that means it's something. What is it? Well, is it something or someone, because if it's someone.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Shush!
LT. MASON: Sorry.
LTCMDR. JAMES: It's a Starfleet carrier wave it's the Enterprise.
LT. MASON: How?
LTCMDR. JAMES: It matches the carrier wave of the Enterprise.
LT. SITO [com voice]: Runabout Gardner this is Enterprise, please respond
LTCMDR. JAMES: That's impossible.
LT. SITO [com voice]: Transmitting new co-ordinates
LT. MASON: Don't be so pessimistic. It's not impossible. It's Sito. They're okay. Enterprise is okay. It's Sito! 
LT. SITO [com voice]: Adjust your heading to the new coordinates. We will rendezvous in two days. Commander and Lieutenant, please respond
LT. MASON: Rendezvous. What a beautiful word. What's wrong? 
LTCMDR. JAMES: They're still two days away.
LT. MASON: And we only have a little more than one day's air left.
LTCMDR. JAMES: And no way to tell them to get here sooner.
===Act 5===
FADE IN
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
Runabout Gardner at impulse.
INT-RUNABOUT GARDNER CANOPY
Commander James still continues to work on restoring the communications array and life-support systems to keep them from losing air pressure faster.
LT. MASON: How is it coming along?
LTCMDR. JAMES: Same as you asked me the last time Jack.
LT. MASON: Just wondering have we restored warp power?
LTCMDR. JAMES: Whatever hit us earlier knocked out three warp transfer generators.
LT. MASON: So no warp?
Commander James looks at him and resumes working.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Are you sure you got the coordinates right?
LT. MASON: Yeah not that it matters.
LTCMDR. JAMES: Jack!
LT. MASON: They're probably travelling at what, warp seven, warp nine? Compared to them, we're like a garden snail. Where we go and how fast we get there is irrelevant. 
Commander James works and then power hums.
LTCMDR. JAMES: I got the com back on-line.
Lieutenant Mason works at the console.
LT. MASON [to com]: Runabout Gardner to Enterprise we've experienced a micro-singularity we've taken damage to our life-support systems are requiring some help.
CAPT. MARTIN [com voice]: We're on our way to you now Jack hang in there
LT. MASON [to com]: W-We'll try Captain.
COMPUTER VOICE: Warning. Oxygen level at one hundred four millibars
Commander James is passed out on the deck as Jack is at the helm station laying on the console.
COMPUTER VOICE: Warning. Oxygen level at seventy one millibars
[The sleek shape of an approaching Federation starship is reflected in the runabout's window.]
CAPT. MARTIN [com voice]: Enterprise to Mason. Jack , do you read me? Respond
Jack slowly activates the com.
LT. MASON [to com]: W-we're here.
CAPT. MARTIN [com voice]: Prepare to beam aboard
EXT-FEDERATION SPACE
The runabout dematerialized.
[END OF ACT FIVE, FADE OUT, ENDING CREDITS]
==Cast==
===Starring===
*Jarvis Davidson as Captain John Martin
*Felecia Linkous as Lieutenant Commander Jane Kal
===Also Starring===
*Kevin Regan as Lieutenant Jack Mason
*Ferne Myers as Lieutenant Commander Courtney James
*Jacob Elliot as Doctor Peter Langford
*Delena "Dee" Lusk as Lieutenant Jamie Kaye
*Sadie Brickhouse as Lieutenant Sito Jaxa
*Becky Elliot as Lieutenant Commander T'Mir
===Guest Stars===
*TBA as Lieutenant Junior Grade Harris Payne
*TBA as Transporter Chief Kayla Mackenzie
*TBA as Nurse Laurel Takahashi
==Trivia Notes==
===Background Information===