Harsh Realm s01e05 Episode Script

My name is Tom Hobbes.
I'm an officer in the United States Army sent on a mission with a singular objective to find a man, an American war hero to hunt him down without mercy.
General Omar Santiago the most decorated U.
S.
Military combat veteran out of Southeast Asia.
Army, Special Forces.
A soldier so legendary of such mythic stature, some believed he couldn't be killed.
I began to believe it myself.
Santiago? - Is it him? This man who must be terminated if this cruel game is to be won who must be eliminated if I am to see my loved ones again who must be killed so I can go home.
A world exists exactly like ours.
You live in this world your family and friends and though you may not know it I was sent to save you.
It's just a game.
Got a vehicle for the motor pool.
General Santiago's westward expansion of territory had gone virtually unchecked.
With control of the Eastern seaboard in five states no organized resistance had risen up to stop him or even test him until Cincinnati.
Breach at the main gate! They're through the front gate! It's a coup stick.
An Indian war weapon used as a measure of bravery.
Not just to strike a foe, but to break his spirit.
A simple act of striking an enemy even with the bare hand was a display of exceptional bravery.
Added a feather to the staff.
Be afraid.
Be very afraid.
Why are you laughing, Major? Deride the courage of a proud man and his courage is doubled.
You think those soldiers who died last night were laughing? Sir, we can take these men out with one quick stroke.
- And we will.
- One quick stroke.
Break it.
Stand up, Major Waters.
General, with all respect, I laugh at their audacity to take a city in the name of this new so-called Indian nation.
Are you afraid, Major? Afraid that you can't break it? That you might hurt your leg or your hand? Because if you are, their warriors are gonna sense it.
And cowardice in the face of an enemy is a fate worse than death.
We have might.
We have strength.
Arrogance.
What these men have is fearlessness and pride.
And those are qualities you can't break, Major.
You must erase them.
Look this enemy in the eye with a pride and a fearlessness to match his own.
Look right into the eyes of their greatest warriors and show him you are greater.
You must strike and count your coup.
Only then will you defeat him.
Yes, sir.
These men are righteous men with a blood hatred for what's been stolen.
I admire these men.
I love them.
But they have stolen from us weapons and ammunition.
They wanna take back what they believe is theirs.
And they must be stopped.
Not their army, not their warriors but their will.
How? I just told you how, Major.
Out of the vehicle, now! Hobbes, it's me.
I'm alone.
Escalante.
You put out a signal for us.
I've got ammo in the back, plus explosives.
And you've got a small window of opportunity to act to take advantage of a situation which may never come again.
- Why? What's going down? - I've got classified orders for reprisal of an attack on a Republican Guard weapons depot.
Santiago's going to assassinate an Indian nation tribal leader.
- How? - I don't have details yet.
- Just who the assassin's going to be.
- Santiago.
- Himself? - With a small unit of men.
It doesn't make sense.
There's no odds in it, in taking that kind of risk for one man.
No, it's perfect Santiago.
He's a warrior first.
In his heart, he's a soldier who's never left the battlefield.
It's not enough to defeat his enemy.
He must steal his spirit, annihilate his soul.
Then we must do the same to Santiago.
You're taking a heck of a risk yourself.
I want Santiago as bad as you do.
You've come to warn me.
You need no warning.
You know there'll be a price to pay.
I can feel Santiago out there.
- We're well-armed now, at least.
- He'll try to kill me.
And he may succeed.
It will be done modestly and honorably.
The only question is, when? We won't let it happen.
We're gonna move you from here to a safe house outside the city.
What you must not let it do is slow our progress put out the fire in the hearts of our men.
There are others who wanna put out our fires as they light their own in resistance.
Those are houses burning.
Homes we took from white men that are now banding together against us.
We know their resentments.
They were ours when our land was taken.
This destruction will continue until they fear us like they fear Santiago.
We should continue to strike at Santiago, raid his armories.
No.
I must destroy him.
Santiago's Republican Guard might well bring the Indian movement to heel in a blow but this was not a battle of armies.
It was a battle of two warriors.
By all reports, Santiago cut himself off from his ministers and most-trusted officers speaking his plans to no one.
Making a mental transformation from leader back into soldier - into the supreme fighter he was as a younger man - General.
- Was there something wrong with your food? - No.
Into the assassin the military trained him to be.
- May I bring you some fresh water? - No.
That'll be all, Corporal.
That he'd become master of this virtual kingdom was only his first move in an even greater ambition to defeat the men and country who'd created him.
To destroy the real world, so Harsh Realm would be all that's left.
Word came from our friend Escalante only an hour before plans were set.
Santiago had advance intelligence the Indian group was moving its leader out of the city to a safe house.
Possibly to draw Santiago out.
Santiago planned to engage his enemy on a mountain pass on a road offering little protection from ambush.
Any sign of him? Maybe we got bogus intelligence.
Santiago's not just gonna stick his head up for you to shoot it.
Guy did seven tours in 'Nam, Special Forces.
We got company.
Republican Guard.
Special Forces team.
Full combat gear.
- About ten men.
- Santiago? Uh-uh.
Ten four! - Escalante.
- Over here.
Now, who's this? You two, move out! Waters.
Santiago.
- What's wrong? - I don't know.
I just got this strange feeling he was looking at me.
You haven't chosen who will drive the intercept vehicle.
Who among these men is the soldier you trust the most? I'd say Pickering, sir.
Then choose anyone but him.
Escalante! You're driving the intercept vehicle.
Santiago would use surprise but also terrain to his natural advantage.
Victory through control of the environment.
But by anticipating Santiago, we were able to control the environment ourselves laying charges in the stand of woods that was the natural place from which Santiago would attack.
Get those vehicles ready! Sir, what is it? I don't know.
We would wait until Santiago made his move on the motorcade committing himself into the open.
Then hope our charges had been placed well.
We began to wonder if we had all miscalculated.
Headlights.
Stand by.
- Send the car, Major.
- Escalante.
- Go.
- Go! Go, go, go! Get down! Come on! Move it! "B" Squad, up front! Ready, sir.
Engage.
Engage.
Now.
Come on! Move it! Bravo, move up! Get him out of here! Engage! Engage! It's clear! Move out! Santiago! Where's Santiago? Santiago, you see him? I didn't either.
I think we did it.
- You get down there? - Pretty damn close.
- Santiago, was he there? - Didn't see him.
Saw Waters.
They took heavy casualties.
You see him, Florence? - I think we did it, man.
- We may have.
We brought down Santiago.
We freakin' digitized him, man.
We won.
Put your weapons down.
We're not against you.
- Down.
Put them down.
- We're on your side.
Talk to me, soldier.
General? Are you all right? I'm hurt, son.
I can work on you.
Oh, no.
Take it easy.
You're bad off.
Losin' a lot of blood.
You got a bad gut wound.
Lie still.
I'll take care of you.
In my kit, I got a Digi-wand.
Hold your breath.
- How we doing? - Good.
I think I'm gonna make it, sir.
- I owe you my life.
- Yes, you do.
I looked for him everywhere.
Santiago wasn't there! - Are you sure? - I looked! We all looked.
Then Santiago must be dead.
Oh, God.
In which case, somebody's got to take charge.
The man was a Major Waters.
A great warrior.
He was unstoppable.
- Invincible.
- You said you looked for him.
- What are you afraid of? - I'm not afraid.
- Then seize your chance.
- Somebody betrayed him.
If I take control If it looks like I took command too quickly, he'll think it's me.
He can't think it if he's dead.
Like all great warriors General Santiago's superior advantage was an absolute fear of him a phantom fear.
A kind of lurking terror that transcended even life itself.
The fear the greatest warriors inspire the fear of the unknown.
I can't I can't find a place to sleep with those red men in charge.
Well, sir I'm gonna change your life.
You are assassins Santiago's men, sent here to kill our leader! I told you.
We set the explosives.
We set Santiago up.
We're the reason you're even alive.
- Why? - We were sent here on a mission.
- What mission? - To stop Santiago.
Hobbes, forget about it.
Hobbes? They're gonna hang us! Sent by who? The U.
S.
Military.
The U.
S.
Military doesn't exist.
The United States doesn't exist! There's only land now.
It does exist.
Just not here.
Are you gonna argue with the man? You think us fools? You say you are against Santiago.
You don't wear the uniform, but that proves nothing.
We have another man who claims this.
Who claims he knows you.
Who claims he killed Santiago.
But it's a trick to make us believe what isn't true.
To weaken our defenses! I ask you, again.
Where is Santiago? Santiago is dead.
- She don't speak.
- Then she tells no lies.
If Santiago is found alive I'll hang you as conspirators.
Nice goin', Hobbes.
Why not remind him of smallpox, Manhattan and the great buffalo? It shouldn't have happened.
We successfully completed our mission.
We took out Santiago.
What'd you think? The lights are gonna come up? Curtain's gonna open? We finished the game.
We should be going home.
Maybe Santiago isn't dead.
The failure of imagination opens the door to defeat.
Hope against hope.
We'd failed to imagine that we ourselves could have failed that Santiago had survived.
Failed to imagine a great warrior becoming even greater by making himself invisible.
Hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey, there's a guy with a gun back here.
One of the Republican Guards.
He's back here.
He's got a gun.
Inside.
Sir.
This is the man.
Do you have any idea what you've done who this man you found was? Are you living on the streets? I had my home taken from me.
I can give you shelter.
I can work.
Like this man.
We shall hold these high in front of our enemy.
Victory.
So great is Santiago, even his own army fears him.
If they believe he is alive they will be weak and begin to act rashly under new leadership.
But they do believe he's dead.
This man will tell the world.
Give him a job.
Keep him close.
We must act in every way as if Santiago is our prisoner.
You, come with me.
Santiago's alive? They wouldn't be putting the party hats on us if he wasn't.
No, wait.
You're making a mistake.
You gotta let us go.
They'll slaughter every last one of you if you don't kill him.
- He'll never stop! - Forget it, Hobbes.
You can't kill what won't die.
Do you steal from me? Is there something you desire? Just to turn your desk light off.
You may be tempted to steal as you were stolen from.
But we just take back what's ours.
I don't judge you.
I admire you.
Your war is a righteous war.
Violence is the ultimate and unavoidable outcome of any unresolvable conflict.
Look at yourselves.
You were silenced and oppressed.
Your rights stolen.
Now you're free to sacrifice for your cause.
Warriors again full of courage and bravery.
Not victims, but heroes ready to fight for what you believe.
Ready to die like Santiago.
Sir? Sorry, sir.
We heard voices.
I hope we can talk later.
Who speaks for your leader? I do.
We have Santiago.
We wish to make a trade.
The state of New York in exchange for his return.
Santiago is dead.
And if he's not? Your offer's denied.
Santiago can't be alive.
He would die before being captured.
He'd die before he accepted defeat.
The commander receives orders from the lord and summons the armies.
The armies muster the legions.
The legions worship the lord.
Whether they had him prisoner or not we knew only one thing for certain Santiago would never stop until this mission was complete.
But neither would we now.
His singular objective was to kill the Indian leader.
So we'd beat Santiago to that objective or be there waiting for him.
Where's Santiago? Answer the question.
Do you have him? Is he here? Answer the question, dead man.
You're the dead man.
We betray only ourselves.
Santiago.
Go! Go! Go! Come on! Florence, come on! Down the hall.
Where is he? Where's our leader? I tried to stop 'em.
- You've been shot.
- No, it's okay.
Please, I'm okay.
It's all right.
You have a chip.
You're one of Santiago's men! I am Santiago.
They're gonna come to you to make a trade your leader for me.
I won't make that trade.
Yes, you will.
Hold it! I'm unarmed.
I want the man who speaks for your leader.
I speak for him.
I speak for our leader.
- I want Santiago.
- You want him? In trade for your leader.
I could just as easily hand you a weapon to destroy us.
I have no desire to turn Santiago loose - or let him live.
- What is your desire that you'd come here unarmed and dictate terms to us? I want my freedom just like you.
Do you have Santiago? Bring out Santiago! How do I know this is him? How do I know you have my man? You must trust me as I trust you.
If I turned my back on them, they would have put a bullet in it.
I had no choice but to accept their terms.
I asked for a car, for one man to ride with me.
I drove for three hours to make sure we weren't followed.
It's okay.
Send him out.
Santiago? Is it him? What's wrong? You didn't think you could be caught? You think you're untouchable, Santiago? I'm not Santiago.
What was that? I'm not Santiago! There's no chip.
It's not him.
It's not him.
He's got no I.
D.
Chip.
- What do you mean? - They gave us somebody else with Santiago's face.
Where's Santiago? Where's Santiago? You just let him go.
They fell for the trick.
They believed our lie about Santiago.
- What lie is that? - They believe he's still alive.
- He is.
- The man in the hood? No.
I count my coup.
You honor me with your bravery.
Tag 'em and move 'em out.
Let's go.
Keep it movin'.
Stay in line! Keep your hands up.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Get 'em in a group.
General Santiago.
We've put down the insurrection.
We've secured the city perimeter.
The enemy has stood down, sir.
The enemy, Major Waters is here.
You want to be a warrior? Bring me Hobbes and Pinocchio.
Then you can count your coup.
Only then will your enemy be defeated.
Yes, sir.
Did you doubt me? Have I ever? I made this!