A flight of F-4 PHANTOMS drops INTO FRAME, lights flashing.
THE PRESIDENT (V.O.)
-- I have directed the Armed Forces to
prepare for any eventualities.
INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT
A beat. And the President looks up from his notes.
THE PRESIDENT
And third: it shall be the policy of
this nation to regard any nuclear
missile launched from Cuba against any
nation in the Western Hemisphere as an
attack by the Soviet Union on the United
States, requiring a full retaliatory
response upon the Soviet Union...
The chilling words hang there in the air. BLEEDING IN: the
rising and falling WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP which becomes --
EXT. CARRIBEAN SEA - NIGHT
-- the voice of the Essex battlegroup: sparkling, alive, a
constellation of lights scattered across the sea. One by one
the escort ships answer the carrier's SIREN with their own
wailing cries, an alien chorus among the ships, disappearing
and reappearing in the swells. The communication crescendos
to its fever pitch --
-- and then the battlegroup goes to blackout. Like a dying
universe, the answering sirens cut off, the life-lights wink
out, and an appalling darkness falls across the sea...
FADE OUT
BLACKNESS, LIKE BEFORE A CURTAIN RISES. And then a
flickering: a FLUORESCENT LIGHT COMES ON.
INT. BATHROOM - WEST WING - DAY
SUPER: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23RD. DAY 8
Kenny, stripped to the waist, Sorensen and Bundy shave in
nearby sinks. Bobby barges in.
BOBBY
We're getting the Soviet response.
INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER
Specks of shaving cream still on his face, Kenny paces, reads
the inky carbon as Bobby, Bundy and Sorensen read copies.
KENNY
This is all rhetoric.
(realizing)
They don't know how to respond yet.
Kenny looks up. The President enters from the Oval Office.
THE PRESIDENT
So now you're Khurschev. What do you
do?
INT. CABINET ROOM - DAY
Kenny, arms folded, stands behind the President, the rest of
EXCOM is looking at him.
KENNY
-- run the blockade. They'll run the
blockade.
ADMIRAL GEORGE ANDERSON, 50s, dapper, the Chief of Naval
Operations, nods from the far end of the table.
ADMIRAL ANDERSON
Which is exactly what they appear to be
preparing to do, Mr. President. We're
tracking 26 ships inbound to Cuba.
There's no sign they're changing course.
The closest ships, the Gagarin and the
Kimovsk, will make the quarantine line
by this time tomorrow.
MCNAMARA
We're concerned about the possibility of
an incident with an innocent cargo
carrier. If it turns ugly, the Russians
could use an ugly incident and bad world
opinion as leverage to force us to
remove the quarantine.
MCCONE
Or they could use it as an excuse to
escalate.
BOBBY
Admiral Anderson, if the ships do not
stop, what exactly are our rules of
engagement?
Anderson signals A BRIEFING OFFICER who hits the lights and
an overhead projector which SMASH CUTS TO:
INT. BRIDGE - U.S.S. JOHN R. PIERCE - DAY
The bridge of the U.S.S. John Pierce, a Gearing class
destroyer. A RADIO OPERATOR addresses a mike in Russian.
ADMIRAL ANDERSON (V.O.)
Russian-speakers have been transferred
to all of our ships. Once the
quarantine takes effect in the morning,
our ships will attempt to make radio
contact with the approaching vessels.
They will be ordered to reduce speed and
prepare for inspection.
INT. WEAPONS' LOCKER - U.S.S. PIERCE - DAY
MARINES in flak jackets grab M-16s off a rack, race by.
EXT. U.S.S. PIERCE - AFT DECK - DAY
A ship's boat full of Marines lowers away, hits the water,
engine spraying as it launches forward - in dress rehearsal.
ADMIRAL ANDERSON (V.O.)
An inspection party will then board and
search the ship. If weapons are found,
the ship will be ordered to leave the
quarantine area or be towed into port
upon refusal.