Steel Roses s1e1 Act II: The Tze-Shao'An

Huosing shares her philosphy on killing with a green, young soldier.

NT. DREADNOUGHT TZE-SHAO'AN/INFINITY ROOM/NOIR - DAY note: The 'Infinity Room' is actually a device used by the Kren to create artificial dimensions. One computer controls it all: weather, land formations, wind speed, etc. Huosing's preferences for this scene is a black and white 'noir' forest world. There is light. A large, shattered moon takes up a good portion of the sky. The sky and ground are light gray or white. A mountain towers in the distance, modeled like Fujiyama. WARMAIDEN HUOSING CHOSYN LAAN sits - cross-legged - in the Infinity Room. A MALE YOUNG SOLDIER sits in front of her, leaning forward to show respect. OVERLAY: Col. Huosing Chosyn Laan - "The Warmaiden". Commander of Descent Operations and Contact Bns 334-337 [Krenese Imperial Army] Huosing is an enigma - beautiful, yet nearly completely apathetic. Her complexion is bone white, her eyes like dying amber suns. There are prominent fangs and knife-like ears. END OVERLAY: Male Young Soldier listens intently, captivated, while Huosing speaks: HUOSING It becomes routine. You no longer stop to ask your conscience for moral advice. Instead, you ask yourself how. How much do I want this person to suffer? With time, your muscles relax... She lifts a hand, then presses it down. In response, tree branches sway gently, then gradually cease. HUOSING (continuing) ...become less tense each time you do it. Your eyes and visage become steady. Your blood flows normally... She moves her hand in front of her quickly, draws it back, then moves it much slower. Again Noir bends to her command: A gray river flows rapidly, then abruptly slows to a casual speed. HUOSING (continuing) ...heartbeat slows with the time so that you can savor the moment. The snowfall slows, nearly suspended. MALE YOUNG SOLDIER Is that how you learned how to kill, Laan-sei? HUOSING No. Those were just observations I've made. I never had to learn how to kill; I had to learn how to live. MALE YOUNG SOLDIER I'm not sure I understand, Laa- HUOSING No, you don't. It's because we're programmed differently, you and I. He gives her a strange look: 'The hell's she talking about?' MALE YOUNG SOLDIER Programmed? HUOSING (slightly annoyed) Ask a Gaian once we reach Tehrin. Right before you kill it. The snowfall resumes its regular pace. The river flows faster, and the tree branches sway again. MALE YOUNG SOLDIER How does it feel to take another's life? FLASHCUT TO: EXT. ALPINE BATTLEFIELD - DAY (FLASHBACK) Blank-faced, Huosing calmly chokes a Gaian Soldier who looks no older than eighteen. He cannot speak, so he lets his tears do the talking. END FLASHCUT: INT. INFINITY ROOM/NOIR Huosing makes a barely audible, short laugh. HUOSING How does it feel to breathe? To walk, to blink, to live? (beat) Natural. Male Young Soldier lets her words sink in. HUOSING Are you afraid? Her question takes him off-guard. MALE YOUNG SOLDIER (quickly) No. HUOSING (mocking) No. Right. Will you spit the same lie to the enemy? They'd laugh while disemboweling you. Huosing throws a straight punch for his face, stops inches from his nose. Naturally, Male Young Soldier flinches, pulling back his head. The space around her hand WARBLES, and Male Young Soldier's hair starts to blow, as if caught in wind. HUOSING Look at yourself. If you fear me, the Gaians will be the bane of your existence. Don't feed me your pathetic lies. Huosing stops her little trick and quickly pulls her fist back. Male Young Soldier is embarrassed and angry. He fights to suppress emotion. MALE YOUNG SOLDIER Very well, Laan-sei, how did you get rid of fear? HUOSING I can't cure myself of a sickness I don't have. I am immune, you see. You, however, are ill. Do you want to know the remedy? MALE YOUNG SOLDIER Yes! HUOSING Just keep living. You'll soon discover there are other things worthy to be feared than death. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Male Young Soldier nods. HUOSING Good. I believe I've answered your questions to your satisfaction. She gets up and starts to walk away. HUOSING  I'll see you planetside. Huosing walks down the clearing. NARRATOR (VO) Casual talk. As if she didn't know he wouldn't last long. By the end of the day, she'd be reading - and overlooking - his name off the casualties list. Just another anonymous death, tallied up as a statistic. She'd done this too many times to care. She wasn't trained to care. A 'door' - a literal box-shaped cut-away in the fabric of Noir - opens, and she steps through. LOUNGE CREWMEMBERS walk purposefully about, talking MOS. Huosing enters O.S. One-by-one, people recognize her. Then, entire groups acknowledge her presence. FOLLOWING Huosing as she beelines straight through the crowd. The Crewmembers perform a deeply-reverencing Ketzu-Krenese bow by quickly dropping to a prostate bow. Huosing barely registers their existence. Crewmembers are too star-struck to even take offense. NARRATOR (VO) One person can change the world. One person can become a mortal god. That was Warmaiden Huosing Laan, the physical incarnation of Ysing himself - the Krenese god of war and creation. CORRIDOR TO BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS Huosing enters. Gets the same treatment from servile Crewmembers. NARRATOR (VO) Ask most Kren, patriotic or no, and that's what they'd tell you about her. Ask the woman herself, and she'd laugh at your stupidity.

Author's Note

I cannot link all my scripts together; this is the second act of episode one. The plot concerns two super-soldiers bred for war, in a time where their respective alien nations are locked in a bitter, genocidal vendetta.