TEASER: FADE IN INT. READY ROOM - PRE-DAWN 6:45 A.M. writes on. We see a dingy, beat-up room full of folding chairs. A podium is at the front of the room. Seated in the chairs, and standing around them, are 50 men and women in vaguely military uniforms. WE CUT AMONG THEM quickly, with the feel of hand-held cameras, as they drink coffee and eat muffins and doughnuts. A woman of 50 enters -- CAPTAIN DE MORIAN. She's stern, tough -- and underneath her glacial control, pumped about what's about to happen. CAPTAIN DE MORIAN Good morning. I wanted to make a few comments before the day begins -- it's going to be a long one. (She touches a podium control. A holomap appears: the Long Island Fringe.) 5-1/2 years ago, after the battle with the telepaths ... we lost the Fringe. (The map zooms in on the area around the Barrier.) For two years now we've been fighting with the Unification to get permission to go back in. Last night Unification Circuit Judge Rudolph Sonneschein signed the order. An electric buzz runs around the room. De Morian lifts her hand for silence -- straightens her shoulders and barks: CAPTAIN DE MORIAN (CONT.) This morning we are going through the Barrier! We're caravaning to the old Flatbush station and there we will settle in. We have armor, we have weapons, we will have a station -- (they are CLAPPING OVER) -- and we will bring civilization back to our brothers and sisters who have been trapped in the Fringe: and _we will start today._ She waits out the enthusiastic applause, whistles, calls of "About time" -- CAPTAIN DE MORIAN (CONT.) (more quietly) My first posting was to Flatbush, almost 30 years ago. It was a bad neighborhood then and it's far worse now. Gangs run it -- they're not criminals; as much as anyone, they're the law in the Fringe. We're going into Temple Dragon territory; we've got intel on the Temple Dragons and some of their leaders. You'll be briefed before you hit the streets. (pause; even more quietly) These people are armed, some of them as well as we are. In five years they've had no experience with legitimate authority, only with force. So I want you all to be extra, extra, _extra_ careful out there. (beat) Let's roll. EXT. A GRIMY FRINGE ALLEYWAY -- DAWN TRENT and JIMMY RAMIREZ are walking together. Jimmy's got a rifle slung over his shoulder; Trent's unarmed. Trent is dressed simply, Jimmy extravagantly; but they both wear items of purple and gold clothing, Temple Dragons colors. TRENT The way I see it, you have to appreciate the small things, the everyday experiences. "Life in San Francisco is still just life." JIMMY I like to live large. _I_ like everything big, loud, _intense._ TRENT Like a damn fine cup of coffee. If you can appreciate -- JIMMY When I get mine to go, I get it in the big cups. A triple latte, in the big cups. TRENT You get the one liter cup? JIMMY What? TRENT You get those big one liter cups? JIMMY I don't know what the size is. TRENT It says the number underneath the cups, on the rack. When you pick your cup off the rack in the morning, there's a number underneath it. JIMMY I've never looked at it. (pause; gestures with his hands) I get the big cups. Latte with three shots of espresso. TRENT -- like the way things smell in the morning. You can smell things better, with the dampness in the air -- JIMMY (looks at grimy alleyway) Why would I want to do that? TRENT -- or the sounds -- you can hear things in the morning you can't hear other times of the day, when people are up and moving. You can -- JIMMY Gunfire from a klick away. (cocks his head to the side) Do you hear that? Trent has stopped motionless. He's standing very still. We can BARELY HEAR what he does -- but it's GETTING LOUDER: TRENT The rumbling is trucks. Big ones. And somebody's shooting at them, lasers and slugthrowers ... what the hell is that buzzing noise? JIMMY What buzzing noise? TRENT Don't you hear that? Now WE HEAR IT too -- a sound like a hive of bees on speed. Trent turns and runs - WE FOLLOW. He and Jimmy cut across the alleyway, through an abandoned lot, into another long alleway and out onto a long, broad street -- WE QUICKLY PAN RIGHT: EXT. GOLD STREET -- DAY The caravan is a hundred vehicles strong, mostly tanks. Some personnel carriers. They roll down the street, and laser and gunfire rain down on them from the surrounding buildings. The caravan responds with BUZZING sonic stunners, with needlers, with sprays of fadeaway -- REVERSE ANGLE ON TRENT TRENT They finally came. JIMMY Who? EXT. GOLD STREET -- DAY -- ON CARAVAN WE DOLLY IN ON THE CARAVAN - and there, upon the side of one of the personnel carriers, is the logo of the New York City Police Department. ANGLE ON TRENT TRENT Cops. END TEASER