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PHOENIX
ASTUTE HIJACK - S.3
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PREDATOR SCENE 2
TERRAMENTALS HIJACK ASTUTE SUBMARINE IN IRISH SEA USING PREDATOR HK MINISUB
INT. SUNSEEKER 60 - IRISH SEA - DAY
The SUNSEEKER 60 blasts across the churning, dark blue Irish Sea. White spray lashes the deck. Its twin engines SNARL like caged wolves, pushing the boat to thirty knots. The sky is a bruised grey, distant lightning flashing against faint patches of sickly blue and yellow.
REDAN SIMDO (30s, unshaven, intense), at the helm, eyes locked on the SONAR DISPLAY. A lone, oblong blip. HMS NEPTUNE.
BO DALLAS
We’ve got her, Captain.
Redan doesn't answer. He exhales slowly, a grim satisfaction playing on his lips.
Below deck, the cabin is thick with adrenaline. MAX MOHUNE (20s), ZERA MASKEN (20s),
ZINZI DIANA (20s),
BARTRAM FOX (30s), and others—the TERRAMENTALS—wear dark navy sweaters, leather holsters, and ammunition belts. This is a military operation, planned down to the last detail.
BO DALLAS
Course South West, Captain.
Redan nods, his gaze still fixed on the sonar. The oblong blip is now clear, a luminous presence in the top right corner. A small, tight grin.
REDAN
Alert the crew. Neptune is go.
Bo Dallas disappears into the beautifully equipped galley.
EXT. SUNSEEKER 60 - AFT DECK - CONTINUOUS
A rush of cold air. Boots CLANK against polished teak.
Max pulls a tarp from a strange, sleek craft in the boat's large alloy davits. It's the PREDATOR HK mini-sub: stealth-black fuselage, twin contra-rotating
propellers, retractable wings. A predator in waiting.
Max deftly climbs into the Plexiglas cockpit, flicking switches. The instrument panel dances to life. He gives a smooth THUMBS-UP, then rotates his upright index finger – the signal.
The crew unlatch the davit arms. The Predator HK drops into the briny with a harsh SLAP, swallowed instantly by the waves.
INT. SUNSEEKER 60 - HELM - CONTINUOUS
Redan watches the sonar. Two blips now. The newly launched one changes direction, accelerating fast. It hunts the larger blip: HMS Neptune.
Redan’s eyes narrow, focused. He'd branched off from Greenpeace, frustrated. Now, thanks to
Scotland
Yard, he commands a crew of hardliners.
INT. PREDATOR HK - SUBMERGED - CONTINUOUS
Water clears from Max’s view. His controls materialize as a head-up display. He banks hard to starboard, acquires the oblong blip, and accelerates. A steep, ten-minute dive, directly at the nuclear submarine.
INT. HMS NEPTUNE - SONAR ROOM - 0900 HOURS
LIEUTENANT JAMES ENGELHEART (30s) sips lukewarm coffee, eyes on his sonar. Routine surface activity. A Sunseeker, nothing unusual.
Then—a faint SPLASH. A second, smaller contact appears. Fast. Erratic. Closing.
Engelheart tightens his grip on the intercom.
ENGELHEART
Captain Blakestone—new contact. Moving on us.
INT. HMS NEPTUNE - COMMAND CENTER - CONTINUOUS
COMMANDER BEN BLAKESTONE (40s) barely glances up.
BLAKESTONE
Fishing boat?
ENGELHEART (O.S.)
No, sir. This is something else.
Blakestone straightens, brows knitting.
BLAKESTONE
Depth? Approach speed?
ENGELHEART (O.S.)
Fast. Too damn fast.
A beat.
ENGELHEART (O.S.)
It’s on us, Captain!
BLAKESTONE
On us, how is that possible?!
The sonar operator stares, bewildered. The small blip is too fast, too close. No time for
torpedoes. Too small to be a threat… right?
INT. PREDATOR HK - SUBMERGED - CONTINUOUS
Max feels a shudder. The Predator HK latches onto Neptune’s hull. LIMPET LEGS ENGAGE.
His gloved fingers work furiously. A cutting torch flares to life, HISSING, carving through steel. Molten shards spray into the currents. He cuts through the double hull. The submarine slowly, inexorably, begins to DESCEND. A trail of spewing air rises.
INT. HMS NEPTUNE - VARIOUS DECKS - CONTINUOUS
ALARM BLUES BLare! Red lights FLASH. A siren WAILS: BATTLE STATIONS!
The crew hear the high-pitched SCREAM of the cutter. A rushing WHOOSH of air. Then the inner hull is breached.
A jet of water, sixty millimeters in diameter, erupts into the main command deck with the force of three atmospheres, quickly engulfing it.
Sailors scramble, shouting, cursing. Hands slam bulkhead doors too late.
Water pours in. The sub is going deeper.
ENGELHEART
Get out men! Use the exits closest!
The crew amidships disperse, scrambling forward and aft, into watertight compartments. Engineers rush to the
reactor core, initiating emergency procedures, fearing a meltdown.
The sub plunges. Remote attempts to blow ballast fail. It's too quick.
Two crew members scramble into the rear escape tube. They eject, shooting to the surface.
EXT. IRISH SEA - CONTINUOUS
The two ejected crew members burst onto the surface, disoriented, ears ringing. They are immediately spotted by Redan's crew in the Sunseeker. CAPTURED.
INT. HMS NEPTUNE - SUBMERGED - CONTINUOUS
Inside the stricken submarine, now fully submerged, the remaining crew are locked in watertight forward and aft compartments. Some minor injuries, but no drownings.
The first mate releases an EMERGENCY BEACON. The radio operator tries desperately to send a last signal to the British Admiralty.
The submarine settles gently onto the floor of the Irish Sea. Exactly as planned.
INT. ADMIRALTY - PANIC ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Part of the signal got through. The Admiralty is in immediate MELTDOWN.
SIR RODNEY DUNBAR (50s) grips the phone, knuckles white.
DUNBAR
Admiral Lawrence. Now!
OPERATOR (O.S.)
He’s off duty, sir—probably sleeping.
DUNBAR
(Screaming, then composing himself)
Wake him. Please. This is serious. We may have lost a nuclear submarine.
Minutes later. FIRST SEA LORD
ADMIRAL LAWRENCE (60s, disheveled), uniform half-buttoned, is on the line.
LAWRENCE
What the blazers is this all about?!
DUNBAR
(Exhales)
HMS Neptune. Lost contact. Irish Sea.
A silence thick as steel.
LAWRENCE
An Astute-class doesn’t just disappear.
DUNBAR
It just did. An Astute appears to have sunk in the Irish Sea.
LAWRENCE
Confound it! Find it, man!
He’s out of bed like a shot.
INT. HMS NEPTUNE - SUBMERGED - CONTINUOUS
The dozen trapped sailors strain to hear. Battle stations sirens WAIL. The bulkheads hold—for now.
Through the murky depths, Max watches. Neptune has surrendered to the abyss.
And no one in London has the slightest idea how to get it back.
EXT. IRISH SEA - DAY (1200 HOURS)
The Sunseeker 60 rocks gently, its engines a soft hum. It hovers over the sunken wreck of HMS Neptune, its outline faint on Redan’s sonar screen. A beast waiting to be awakened.
REDAN
Status?
ZERA
(Adjusting rebreather strap)
Gas primed. We deploy in sixty seconds.
MAX
(Checking dive valves)
Once they’re down, we flood her back to life.
INT. PREDATOR HK - SUBMERGED - CONTINUOUS
Max in the Predator. Sleek black cylinders detach, drifting into the current. They sink fast, microscale dispersal.
Zero heat signature. No warning.
INT. HMS NEPTUNE - SUBMERGED - CONTINUOUS
Sailors trapped in the forward and aft compartments stir restlessly. Shallow, damp air.
Then, a cough. A second. Muffled panic ripples. The GAS has taken effect.
EXT. IRISH SEA - SURFACE - CONTINUOUS
Zera watches a timer tick down on a waterproof device. Ten seconds.
Below, Neptune suddenly stills.
MAX (V.O.)
They’re under. We go now.
INT. SUNSEEKER 60 - HELM - CONTINUOUS
REDAN
Start pressurization!
The Sunseeker’s compressed air tanks HISS. Industrial-grade pipelines snake into Neptune’s hull. The sea churns around the hidden sub—bubbles, turbulence, shifting ballast.
Slowly, agonizingly, the ASTUTE-CLASS SUBMARINE RISES. A leviathan resurrected from the seabed.
ZERA
That’s it… steady.
As the hull breaches the surface, the Predator HK clamps onto Neptune’s dorsal ridge, securing its position. The operation is flawless. But time is against them.
EXT. HMS NEPTUNE - SURFACE - CONTINUOUS
The Terramentals move fast. They crack the outer hatch. Water GUSHES free, revealing semi-conscious crew members struggling in knee-deep floodwaters.
Zera steps over a groggy Lieutenant, checking his pulse.
ZERA
Pulse is stable.
REDAN
Dinghies. Now.
One by one, the surviving crew are hauled into inflatable rafts, pushed towards open
waters, drifting under the heavy haze of unconsciousness. No fatalities. No alarms. No chance of retaliation.
Max climbs into Neptune’s command deck, shaking water from his boots. The sub is a soaked
steel tomb, yet everything is intact.
MAX
The systems are still live.
Zera leans over the drenched console.
ZERA
Then let’s take her under. Pumps. Start the pumps!
INT. HMS NEPTUNE - COMMAND DECK - CONTINUOUS
Redan settles into the captain’s chair. For a moment, the immense weight of it. British steel. Untouchable power. Now, theirs.
Zera grabs the intercom.
ZERA
Brace for dive.
Max punches in the sequence. BALLAST FLOODED. HATCHES SEALED. ENGINES ENGAGED.
Neptune slips beneath the waves once more—this time, under new command.
INT. ADMIRALTY CRISIS ROOM - 1300 HOURS
SIR RODNEY DUNBAR slams his fist onto the conference table.
DUNBAR
They refloated it?!
An analyst, pale, nods.
ANALYST
Yes, sir. The sub—it’s gone again.
Admiral Lawrence’s jaw tightens.
LAWRENCE
Who the hell is sailing it now?
SCENE
4 - BRITISH PETROLEUM >>>>
PROPOSED
SCRIPT ORDER (90-110 pages) - V1.0 DRAFT
SCREENPLAY
ACT
1.
SCENE
1. PROTESTS - Peaceful
North Sea oil pollution protestors are framed and imprisoned,
by a corrupt judicial system.
SCENE
2. PREDATOR - On release the
Terramentals
& smuggler Jorges
Dicaprio, complete a
mini-sub capable of sinking submarines.
SCENE
3. PHOENIX - Terramentals
locate & hijack HMS Neptune in Irish
Sea, Cumbria, using the Predator mini-sub -
knocking out the crew.
SCENE
4. BRITISH PETROLEUM -
Terramentals warn North Sea rig operators to stop. Claymore
rig is torpedoed, Royal
Navy respond.
SCENE
5. BBC WORLD SERVICE - Jill Bird
reports Terramentals rig attacks, world shocked at pollution
cover up. Charley Temple investigates.
SCENE
6. UNEP SOS - The
UNEP ask John Storm to survey North Sea for oil pollution.
Elizabeth Swann detects HMS Neptune radiation leaks.
SCENE
7. RADIATION ALERT - John
& Dan twig radiation from
HMS Neptune possible serious reactor damage. Must warn Terramentals.
ACT 2.
SCENE
8. STEALTH MODE - Storm spots Astute sub, Swann
in stealth
mode, detected as John warns extremists of sub
radiation leakage.
SCENE
9. CHANGE OF COURSE -
Terramentals change course, heading for the
Straits of Gibraltar. Not believing radiation warning.
SCENE
10. U-BOAT 986 - Evading Swann, HMS Neptune navigates
off transport lanes. Swann picks up magnetic signature of U-Boat
986.
SCENE
11. SENATE, UK & EU DEBATE -
Sub
hijacking & rig destruction, alarm bells around world. Deepwater
Horizon shivers down
spines.
SCENE
12. REACTOR LEAK - Terramentals realise John
telling truth, as radiation rector damage detection system HMS Neptune triggers.
SCENE
13. RESCUE TOW - John rescues
Terramentals. MI6 order Neptune
sinking. MOD knew reactor dangerous, want evidence gone.
SCENE
14. LISBON PORT -
Terramentals & Storm, shut Neptune's reactor. Tow, stricken submarine
to Lisbon, prevent MI6 sinking evidence.
ACT
3.
SCENE
15. ROV ATLANTIS - Swann returns U-Boat stealth mode at night,
to avoid tracking. Surveys site,
discovers Atlantis & Nazi gold.
SCENE
16. TREASURE TROVE - John reveals gold find &
threatened. US Linc Truman support. PM, Ed
Thomas, &
Sealord, royal
support.
SCENE
17. BLUE SHIELD - Cleopatra
alerts Blue Shield, Newcastle
University, potential Atlantis find, suggests UNESCO
world heritage site.
SCENE
18. GOLDEN OFFER - Claimants
reward John U-Boat gold find. Agrees 1% cover costs 9% to Blue Shield surveys.
UNESCO grateful.
SCENE
19. GREEN MOBILITY - Galvanized
to action UK hit green H2 button, John gets grants low
income families, Jill
Bird, news item.
SCENE
20. IMO IS GO - The International Maritime
Org green
H2 & methanol,
certification. USA in. China India stay with coal,
gas
& oil.
SCENE
21. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL - John & George
amnesty, pirate
caselaw & video proof set up. Harry & Johnson
charged treason.
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