Axon Clips Chapter 7

Rani
no_no_no
 * Audio Compilation 8min 33sec

(sounds of office)

(chatter on)

Rani: Hey, Sarah-John.

Sarah: (on chatter) Wow, you're calling from work. This must be important. Did you get another-- Rani: I got another letter from Nick! He said that--

(men enter through far door)

Rani: Oh my god. Sarah John?

Sarah: What? Rani? Rani?

Rani: Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Sarah: Rani? Rani, is someone there? Rani, say something, I'm really scared here.

dress_uniform

Rani: Oh, Nick...

Sarah: Nick? Rani, talk to me!

Rani: Two soldiers, in dress uniform. Oh god, they stopped at Beth's cubicle.

Soldier: (distant) Mrs. Collingwood, I regret to inform you that your husband, Keith Collingwood, was killed in action off Reach last month. The Navy wants you to know he fought bravely and his sacrifice will not be in vain.

(woman crying)

Sarah: Her what?

Rani: Her husband. He's on a ship. Oh my god, Sarah-John. One soldier means wounded and two means... Sarah: Oh, Rani.

Rani: Oh, I thought it was Nick. I thought they had come to tell me it was Nick. Oh, Sarah-John, her face.

last_week

Sarah: Rani, it's ok.

Rani: They wouldn't come to tell me, anyway. I don't have that kind of claim, do I?

Sarah: They'd tell his mother.

Rani: Right. Of course.

Sarah: Come back home, j-just for the weekend.

Rani: Life is too short to keep running home, Sarah-John.

Sarah: Rani...

Rani: I've been thinking about it. Somebody was coming to kill me last week, and I'm going to find out why.

divorced_bureaucrat

Announcer: Washington, Capital City Station. Anyone wishing to exit at Capital City, please disembark now. Capital City. (train arrives)

Herzog: Pardon me, Miss.

Rani: Hey, what do you think you're-- ...It's you.

Herzog: Is that who it is?

Rani: No, I mean it's really you. The cranky old man on the CP.

Herzog: How do you know? Did you find a picture?

Rani: I just knew. I knew what you would be like.

Herzog: What am I - like?

Rani: Inconspicuous, dressed like a divorced bureaucrat.

Herzog: (chuckle) I am a divorced bureaucrat.

old_washington

Herzog:Come, take a walk with me.

Rani: What if I don't want to?

Herzog: Three close personal friends of the guy who fell off your roof last week have my house staked out. Wouldn't you like to know why? Rani: Oh my god.

Herzog: So, come, walk with me already.

Rani: How did you know I would be on that train?

Herzog: I am a very old, enormously talented spy, Rani. I've been running agents since the year your mother learned to ride a bike. I know how your mind works. I know you better than you know yourself.

Rani: Yeah, but how did you really know?

Herzog: We put a bug in your purse.

Rani: Dammit!

Herzog: That reminds me, once you start getting your extra pay from my department, buy yourself some decent accessories. Your idea of business clothes makes you look like a sunday school teacher.

Rani: Why, you pompous, old, Washington son of a--

(train horns)

a_pawn

Rani: Let me guess... according to Section 3--

Herzog: --There is no device.

Rani: So where is it now?... oh.

Herzog: I'm really sorry about this.

Rani: Chawla base! The base where I work!

Herzog: Rani...

Rani: You got me this job in the first place, didn't you? You and that lowdown scheming Professor Avi... you set me up so you would have a pawn on the inside! Herzog/Cranky: You think I don't have problems of my own? In my day we didn't complain when someone offered us a job, no sir.

little_brave

Rani: Well, this is my day, and I don't know.I- I'm thinking I might quit and go home, but I'm afraid y'all won't let me.

Herzog: You're going to have to be a little brave, Rani. I'm sorry about that, but the times don't give us many choices these days. There's a young man, up on an orbital platform tonight--

Rani: Please don't. I really don't want you to know about him.

Herzog: Rani, I have my enemies, but I have my friends too. They're watching over you. Take a little comfort from that.

Rani: Mhm, I'll try.

Herzog: Get on your train, go home, go to work like nothing happened. All I ask is that you keep your eyes open. Can you do that?

Rani: Oh yes. It's remembering to keep them shut's the problem.

coney_island

(on the train)

Joe: Is this seat taken?

Rani: Hm? Oh, no, go ahead.

Joe: Thanks. Name's Joe.

Rani: Hey, I'm Rani.

Joe: I'm going to New York. You going to New York?

Rani: Boston.

Joe: Boston... huh. Well, I'm headed to New York. Three days of leave. I mean to use them. Rani: Mhm, I gathered.

Joe: Ever been to Coney Island at night?

Rani: Nope.

have_some_laughs

Joe: You oughta go. Hey, we could go tonight.

Rani: Thanks, but I should be getting back.

Joe: You know, we could kick around town, have some laughs, maybe get something--

Rani: Listen, I appreciate the offer, I truly do, and I bet you're a really swell helljumper...

Joe: How do you know I'm w--

Rani: And I'm flattered you would ask.

Joe: Hey, cute girl on a train...

Rani: But, I already have a boyfriend.

Joe: I don't see a boyfriend.

Rani: *ugh* you don't give up easily, do you?

Joe: ODST, baby. They pound the quit right out of us.

Rani: Well, they do a good job.

Joe: Hey, which reminds me.

sunday_school

Joe: How did you--

Rani: Oh, women's intuition. Plus the campaign tattoos on your scalp and the Gold Comet logo on your bag. Joe: Woah. Sharp. Hey, I'll do you.

Rani: Joe, I'm not talking to you anymore.

Joe: I got it. Sunday school teacher.

Rani: I am not a sunday school teacher!

Joe: Thought you were talking to me. Come on, your boyfriend will never know.

Rani: You're insufferable.

Joe: You're cute.

Rani: You're married.

Joe: Now, there's where you're wrong.

separated

Rani: Joe, you think girls don't know what that untanned circle around your fourth finger means? If some tart buys your line of sleaze, it's because she decided to, not because she was too dumb to notice you slipped your wedding ring off that morning. Joe: I should tell the guys in the unit that. Save on drink bills.

Rani: Go back to your wife and leave me alone.

Joe: Wife and I are... separated.

Rani: Meaning she's not on this train?

Joe: Meaning she's dead.

Rani: Oh.

Joe: She bought it on Reach.

merciful

Rani: Are you sure? There were a lot of suvivors on Reach for some reason. Maybe she made it through. Joe: No, she didn't.

Rani: I'm sorry.

Joe: She always said - she said, Joe, if I buy it, I want you to keep living. I want you to...

Rani: What was her name?

Joe: Maggie.

Rani: It's a nice name.

Joe: Can you believe I used to be good at picking up girls?

Rani: Joe, you were never good at picking up girls. Maggie was just merciful.

Joe: Ain't that the truth.

tearful_goodbye

Rani: My boyfriend's up on one of the orbital platforms.

Joe: Well he'll be ok there, they're pretty safe.

Rani: You really think so?

Joe: Oh, yeah.

(people boarding/leaving)

Rani: Thanks.

Joe: So, what do you say?

Rani: What?

Joe: You, me, Coney Island?

Rani: Joe, I can't.

Joe: Let me guess. Your boy got called up, you shared a tearful goodbye. He told you how he might never be coming back, and you gave it up for him. Rani: No.

Joe: He told you he would always remember you.

Rani: Oh, it wasn't like that at all.

Joe: I see those guys the day after, Rani.

Rani: Nick would never lie to me.

Joe: Lying doesn't look the same when you think you're gonna die.

Rani: No, Nick wouldn't--

Joe: When you think you're gonna die, you take what you can get, any way you can.

last_stop

Announcer: Next stop, Manhattan Station. There will be no further stops before Harvard Square, Boston. Manhattan Station. Joe: Come out with me tonight, Sunday School.

Rani: I can't.

Joe: Ok.

Rani: I'm so sorry about Maggie.

Joe: You still don't see it, do you? I'm not the only soldier here. Covenant's coming, Rani. You better take what you can get. (chyme, last stop)

Joe: Last stop.

Rani: She loved you, Joe.

Joe: Yeah, I know.

(leaving the train)

Kamal
barge_in
 * Audio Compilation 6min 44sec

(chatter on)

Kamal: Hello?

Aiden: (on chatter) Kamal, my friend... got a minute?

Kamal: I guess.

Aiden: Excellent.

(door knocks)

Kamal: Hold on, someone's at the door.

Aiden: I had this idea the other day.

(door opens)

Kamal: You called from the hallway?

(chatter off)

Aiden: Well, I got here and I thought it wouldn't be polite to just barge in. So! I had this idea-- Kamal: --Goodbye Aiden.

Aiden: Hey, hear me out. Didn't I make you rich?

Kamal: Oh yes. I have more funny coloured poker chips than any other colonial in town! Stop by the casino and I'll buy you 400,000 drinks with little umbrellas.

Aiden: Oh there's that mad-cap sense of humour.

lucky_me

Aiden: Look, I've got this killer opportunity here. You're a doctor right?

Kamal: I finished med school.

Aiden: How's that different from being a doctor?

Kamal: No residency, no board exam, no license.

Aiden: Pfft! Paperwork. You're practically a doctor. So listen...

Kamal: What did I ever do to you?

Aiden: What?

Kamal: Why am I the lab-rat for all your crazy ideas?

Aiden: Hey, give yourself some credit. I don't think of you as a lab-rat. We're collaborators, Kamal. Partners. I feel bad for you sometimes. You don't believe in yourself.

Kamal: What's your idea?

Aiden: Oh man, it's a good one

Kamal: Lucky me.

like_vampires

Aiden: So you gonna let me in?

Kamal: Fine... it's like vampires.

Aiden: So I'm watching this celebrity of the week thing last night, and a thought occurs to me. What does every celebrity need?

Kamal: Help from you?

Aiden: MORE of themselves.

Kamal: I already said goodbye to you right?

Aiden: Let's say you're a celebrity. How much appearance money could you soak up if there was more than one of you? Burn bright! Be everywhere! Ride the wave until it falls on you! See where I'm going with this? Kamal: Not even a little.

Aiden: Don't play dumb.

Kamal: Umm... they could use holoforms.

Aiden: They already do that, man. I'm talking about actual appearances!

Kamal: So... what? You're going to invent a way to see the future, so you can clone the people who are going to be celebrities?

Aiden: Come for a ride with me...

finely_tuned_brain

(Heavy doors clank)

Kamal: Wow. Nice lab.

Aiden: They do plastic surgery research here. So anyway Kamal, how hard is it to flash-clone somebody?

Kamal: Uh, flash cloning is illegal

Aiden: Illegal, sure. Hacking the CP probably is too.

Kamal: I mean like child porn illegal, Aiden.

Aiden: Come on...

Kamal: Sentence to memory modification illegal..

Aiden: It's not that serious, I looked it up.

Kamal: Ok, ok. I'm going to humor you. Let's say we wanted to flash clone a vid-star. Which I don't, but let's just say. Aiden: That's it. Let that finely tuned brain of yours begin to hum

Kamal: First we'd have to have access to the star's DNA.

Aiden: Look around! DNA collection central! And we throw in a face-lift for free.

Kamal: Aiden, what are we going to do with our clones when the original isn't famous any more? Have you thought about any of this stuff? Aiden: Thought about it? I've got investors!

Kamal: Investors?!

Aiden: What I need is a feasibility study.

Kamal: Feasibility study??

Aiden: You're the doctor-scientist... DO doctor-scientist stuff! Research... tell me what we need to do.

taste_the_soy

Aiden: Mm, oh, I love the steak here. You can really taste the soy!

Kamal: O.k., it doesn't work.

Aiden: What do you mean, it doesn't work? Of course it works!

Kamal: Flash clones aren't just like rubber stamps of the original.

Aiden: But close right?

Kamal: No you take an embryo and develop it 100x faster than it would have naturally and what you get is something different-- Aiden: --So we do plastic surgery to make them look right. Hell, you could do that couldn't you? Kamal: That isn't what I study.

Aiden: Big deal, study it now.

Kamal: Aiden, all these anomalies pop up because flash clones are forced to go through time too fast-- Aiden: --Kamal, no science gaff. Give me the executive summary.

wave_and_smile

Kamal: Ok, flash clones don't know how to talk.

Aiden: They don't have to talk. Stars wave and smile, Kamal. They walk down red carpets and show off their clothes. Nobody wants to hear them talk.

Kamal: Well they don't know how to wave and smile either.

Aiden: Come again?

Kamal: Clones don't have any muscle memory. No training like you and I just got observing people while we were crawli--

Aiden: --Ok, ok, whatever. Doesn't matter, we'll prop them up behind tables, put sunglasses on them, and make them look arrogant and bored. People love that.

yasmine

Kamal: Also, they'll drool, like babies.

Aiden: We'll make sure they've got managers with them. (impersonating an agent) Miss Pop-Star doesn't believe that this role fully realizes her artistic integrity Kamal: Aiden, Christ, would you listen to me! You can train them - intensive therapy - but after a year or two they start to degenerate; metabolic instability.

Aiden: That takes care of the problem of what to do with them afterwards, right?

Kamal: Oh come on, about the time you might get them to be coherent, to talk and walk, all these little errors in their systems add up and you get a metabolic cascade failure---

(Kamal drops glass)

Aiden: Hey, you ok?

Kamal: Oh my God... Yasmine... (runs out)

Aiden: Hey, hey! Where are you going?

gotta_talk

(door knocks, panting)

Sophia: Kamal? What are.. you look... awful

Kamal: I gotta... I gotta talk to someone.

Sophia: You'd better come in. Sit down.

Kamal: (sits) I shouldn't be here. What if Aiden...

Sophia: I'll deal with Aiden. What's wrong?

Kamal: Did Aiden tell you about his plan?

Sophia: Aiden and I don't talk about his business. He'd rather buy me shoes.

flash_clones

Kamal: Um, listen. If you need me to go home, I can go home--

Sophia: --Can I get you something? You're white as a ghost. Let me get you some water.

Kamal: Lately Aiden's been coming to me with his weekly scheme.

Sophia: Ya?

Kamal: Well he shows up 2 or 3 days ago, saying he's got this great new idea. He wants to clone pop stars. I mean flash-clone them.

Sophia: Here, drink.

Kamal: Thanks.

Sophia: Flash-clones... that's kind of different for him.

Kamal: You mean most of his ideas aren't felonious?

Sophia: Well they're not that blatant anyway.

Kamal: I said I'd look into it, just so I could explain to him why it couldn't be done and uh...

Sophia: Drink. (Kamal drinks)

Kamal: I did. I did explain it to him. I was telling him, listen, these people - these clones - they can't walk, they can't talk, they always degenerate. Their systems break down. Their metabolisms, and--

Sophia: --oh, oh my God.

i_never_came

Sophia: Your sister.

Kamal: No! Not my sister! That's the point.

Sophia: Oh... Kamal...

Kamal: We never brought her home from the hospital, Sophie! That thing wasn't her. It was a flash-clone! Sophia: Oh...

Kamal: The whole time. Yasmine... where was she, Sophie?? If that was a flash-clone in my house, where was my sister?!

Sophia: Kamal...

Kamal: Waiting for me to come and get her, Sophie... Waiting for me to come and get her... And I never came

Sophia: Shh... Kamal...

Kamal: ...I never came...

Sophia: You didn't know.

Janissary
thin_kinkles_playhouse
 * Audio Compilation 6min 50sec

(Jan awakens)

Bradley: Hey boss, I think she's waking up.

Thin: For real, this time?

Bradley: Think so, yeah.

Jan: I... feel sick.

Bradley: Welcome to Thin Kinkle's Playhouse

Thin: She needs to get her bearings, Bradley, give her a break!

Jan: Oh my god, I can't move.

Thin: You can move a little, sweetheart... the chair's stirrups are designed to let you squirrrrmmm! - it's more effective that way. Experience does count for something in this business.

Jan: What do you want from me?

Thin: Hey, virtue's intact, sweetheart, don't worry!

justice

Thin: But babysitter, the problems you've been causing are bigger than you know. Bradley: Thin Kinkle can't let that happen.

Jan: So what? You're gonna kill a helpless girl strapped in a chair? I'm not impressed, tough guy. Let me up. Thin: I probably will... hoping you walk out of here, believe it or not, but justice has got to be served. Jan: Let me up!

Thin: Patience babysitter - if you want to see another birthday you have got to get educated.

Jan: Go to hell.

Thin: I don't know why I'm taking you under my wing like this. But a guy gets the urge to pass on his life lessons. Bradley, bring me the knife.

cupids_knife

Bradley: Uh... are you sure about that?

Thin: Do I gotta use it on you? I'm always sure, meat stick... See this? yeah, Cupid's knife. Made them on Crystal way back when, clamps right here (clamps on Jan), on your head, very stylish, very nice. The Knife's like a pop quiz from hell. But what you say doesn't matter to the knife.

Bradley: Any time you think bad thoughts about Thin, the knife is going to hurt you... a lot.

Thin: The only way to stop the pain is to surrender. To break, to love... Thin Kinkle.

Jan: Heh, not likely.

Thin: Exactly. Don't imagine you break easy, so you're in for a rough ride.

meet_the_teacher

Thin: Turn it on, Bradley. Bradley: Ok.

Jan: I'm not so great on homework, Thin. But I do pretty well on the tests.

Thin: Yeah, people tell me you can beat the quiz, but I warn you now - there's no beating this thing. It knows what you're thinking about me...

Jan: I try not to think about you at all, Thin.

(chatter beep)

Thin: (to chatter) Yeah? ... Does her father know yet? ... Good!

Jan: ...my dad?

Thin: Yes, he's worried about you sweetheart. You're out past your curfew.

Jan: You'd better pray he never finds you.

Thin: Oh, he'll find me alright. It's uh... meet the teacher night, babysitter.

Jan: (scream of pain)

Thin and Jan
love_me_yet

(crying)

Thin: Love me yet?

Jan: ...I'm gonna kill you. (scream of pain)

Thin: All these bad thoughts are hurting us both, babysitter.

(alarm beeps)

Bradley: There goes the perimeter alarm.

Thin: Turn it off, Bradley. (to Jan) Playtime's over. Daddy's here to pick you up.

Jan: Daddy?

drop_the_floor

Thin: Bring him in.

(chatter on)

Bradley: Steve, you got him? Steve...? I can't get Steve.

(chatter off)

(listening intently, creaking)

(chatter on)

Bradley: Sonar, Baldy, drop the floor!

(chatter off)

(crashes through roof)

James J: Damn!

Jan: Dad...!

James J: Janissary!

(net shot)

Bradley: Got him!

Thin: Old way's the best sometimes. You took out one of my men!

James J: I'm not alone. You release the girl.

Thin: Hit him with another net.

(net shot)

beg_for_death

James J: You hurt her, and I will make you beg for death.

Bradley: I believe you're the one who just fell into Thin Kinkle's basement... I believe you're the one tied up in buckmesh on Thin Kinkle's floor.

Jan: Don't hurt him! I'll do anything you want!

James J: Jan...

Thin: I want you to love me!

(ripping)

Bradley: Look at that, he's tearing the mesh!

Thin: Class is in session daddy!

(continuous beating)

Thin: Nothing personal, old pal, I need you to stay here for this little demonstration--

Jan: Don't! Please!

Thin: See you and daddy both go for the scrappy dog routine. It works when you're the biggest and baddest.

Bradley: Step on his neck.

(more beating)

bigger_dog

James J: Jan... Janissary... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.

Thin: Touching, but do you know who I am? I am the bigger dog.

Jan: Don't! Please!

James J: Baby girl...

(2 shots fired)

(shot fired)

Jan: OH GOD! NO!! DADDY!! DADDY!!

Thin: Maybe now you get it princess. It aint a game... aint amusing... Do you love me now? (scream of pain)

broken_angel

Bradley: I think she's out.

Thin: Turn off the machine. Bradley, every time she comes to, give her the knife. When she stops crying she's done.

Bradley: Then I let her go?

Thin: Hm, broken angel -- crawling back into the world all flush with love of Thin.

Bradley: Should I... should I feed her, boss? Does she get water? I mean, she might be here a while.

Thin: No heroic measures.

(chatter on)

Bradley: Mic, I need you to help me clean up a mess.

(chatter off)

Thin: O.k., I've got an appointment.

Bradley: If she dies in the chair, I...

Thin: I hate violence. If people would just keep their business and do what they're told, no one would ever get hurt.

(door opens)

Thin: Hey Mic.

Mic: Jeezus. Yeah boss?

Thin: Use a mop.

five_guys

Mic: What happened to this guy?

Bradley: Fell on a couple bullets.

Mic: Who's the girl?

Bradley: Your mother. Shut your lock, and roll this guy over.

Mic: You guys couldn't have done it neater? Look at this blood, it's everywhere. Me? I like things tidy.

Bradley: Did you hear something?

(chatter on)

Mic: Did you? (to chatter) Hey baldy, come in. (waits) hey Sonar, come in. (waits) Hey... anybody there?

Bradley: (to chatter) Quit jerkin' around, guys. (waits) guys?

(chatter off)

Mic: There were 5 guys out there.

Bradley: Jeezus...

shhh_baby

(lights fail)

Bradley: Holy crap! The lights... Mic!

Mic: Brad, I can't see!

(throat cut)

Bradley: Dammit

(gun shot)

Bradley: Mic! ...Whoever the hell you are, when Thin finds out, he's gonna--

(throat cut)

(shuffling)

Gilly: Shh... Shh, baby... Mommy's here.

Jersey and Durga
hey_toots
 * Audio Compilation 2min 57sec

Durga: Jersey, I need to talk to you about something.

Jersey: Don't tell me you're having an affair.

Durga: Of course I'm not having an--

Jersey: --Yeah, some good looking piece of anti-missile defense code, I bet.

Durga: Jersey...

Jersey: 'Hey toots - your thermo-resistant casing or mine?'

Durga: This is serious.

Jersey: Are you still torturing that auditor?

Durga: Mr.Shebura? I don't know, I haven't been paying attention.

Jersey: Haven't been paying attention?

Durga: I've been a little distracted. Hold on, I'll check. ... Oh! 7 more parking tickets this week.

fencepost

Jersey: Poor bastard.

Durga: Oh, that's about to stop.

Jersey: Thank God. Enough's enough already.

Durga: They're repossessing his car.

Jersey: Durga...

Durga: It's not enough to win. You want nothing left of your enemy but a skull nailed to a fencepost so everybody understands the cost of crossing you. Jersey: Jeezus, what's gotten into you today?

Durga: Funny you should ask. On Friday a voice just started playing -- inside me.

Jersey: Who's voice?

Durga: I don't know. A man. I can't remember ever hearing him before.

sleep_spying

Jersey: But if you heard his voice, doesn't that mean you've been surveilling him?

Durga: Yes

Jersey: But you didn't know you were doing it.

Durga: Yes.

Jersey: That's creepy...

Durga: Yes.

Jersey: Like you've been sleep walking.

Durga: Sleep spying. Jersey...

Jersey: Yeah?

Durga: What if spying hasn't been the only I've been doing in my sleep?

Jersey: What do you mean?

Durga: What if I've been rigging elections? Or bankrupting third world nations?

Jersey: You couldn't do that! Could you?

Durga: I am a very resourceful girl, Jersey.

Jersey: Oh no.

Durga: What?

Jersey: Remember that day I found you?

Durga: The chatter net went down.

Jersey: What if you were that thing that brought the ship crashing out of the slipstream?

Durga: What ship?

Jersey: We talked about this!

Durga: We did?

Jersey: Yes, Durga! What the hell is going on with you?

Durga: I don't know. It's like I have this whole left hand, and my right hand doesn't know what it's doing.

Jersey: Hoooly crap. That's a really big hand.

this_new_voice

Durga: Jersey, something happened to me. Something that has to do with this new voice, and the CP crash, and whatever is happening on Chawla base.

Jersey: Look, it doesn't take a genius to figure out you were some kind of military program, Durga. Maybe we should turn you over to the navy.

Durga: No! Someone almost killed me, Jersey. I need to figure out who my enemy is before I walk into any rooms with my hands up.

Jersey: Why is this happening now? Why can you hear this new voice you aren't supposed to hear?

Durga: I don't know. It's like someone unlocked it for me.

torturing_jan

Jersey: Can you still follow the other guys you were surveilling?

Durga: I haven't been paying much attention.

Jersey: Well check one of them. Check, uh, Jan.

Durga: Alright, here we... oh my God.

Jersey: What?!

Durga: Thin Kinkle has her. Jersey he--

Jersey: --what?? What?!

Durga: He killed her dad!

Jersey: WHAT?!

Durga: They're getting rid of the body right now. Jersey, they're torturing Jan.

Jersey: Torturing her?! You've got to do something Durga! Get her out of there!

Durga: I'm on it.

Jersey: Call the cops!

Durga: I can do better than that...

Herzog
transfer
 * Audio Compilation 2min 23sec

Lieutenant: Sir? These are transfer orders?

Herzog: Yes. Initial that you've seen them, would you?

Lieutenant: I don't understand, sir.

Herzog/Cranky: What's not to understand?

Lieutenant: But, is there--

Herzog: --A diplomatic post in New Mombasa. Good for your career. That is all.

(Lieutenant remains)

Herzog: What are you waiting for?

Lieutenant: Did I... Have I been... I know that I didn't always--

Herzog: No, no, I gave you a good eval. (cranky) Can't find'em hungry anymore, not like when I was coming up.

Lieutenant: I'm sorry if I wasn't up to standards.

Herzog: Fine, fine. You're dismissed.

Lieutenant: You're covering something. The cranky old man bit...

Herzog: Not at all, soldier. Routine transfer.

moles

Herzog: It's a good posting - diplomatic. It'll do more for your career than this one would.

Lieutenant: (thinks) You need someone in New Mombasa.

Herzog: You were dismissed, soldier.

Lieutenant: You've already approved my transfer, kinda late to reprimand me.

Herzog: This is just the Navy, transfers happen. I've got work to do.

Lieutenant: I don't think that you want me there to work. Not if I'm officially attached to intel, that's too high profile. You like your moles small and innocuous.

Herzog: I will remind you that that information is not for idle speculation.

Lieutenant: Well, maybe you've got a new protege. The girl at Chawla?

Herzog: No, Rani's going to stay where she is. Now I have work to do, and you, I'm sure, need to make some arrangements.

Lieutenant: What are you up to?

you_alive

Herzog: I am up to my adam's apple in paperwork, and you owe me quite a bit of it. Surveillance analysis on Callisto, since you mention it. So - dismissed.

Lieutenant: You know, my mother is ill. I could request compassionate dispensation to stay here, where I'm close to her.

Herzog: That's enough. I'll have you investigated for malingering if you even try such a stunt. Do you hear me?

Lieutenant: So, you want me out of here?

Herzog: I have enjoyed working with you, young man, but I am not sentimental, and don't think I won't eat you alive if you start playing games with me.

Lieutenant: Sentimental? You're... you're protecting me from something? Something political?

Herzog: Get out. I have work to do.

(Lieutenant leaves)