''Star Runners'' is a 2009 Sci Fi channel original film, directed by Mat King and written by Rafael Jordan, and starring

Connor Trinneer Connor Wyatt Trinneer (born March 19, 1969) is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Charles "Trip" Tucker III on ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', Michael on the series ''Stargate Atlantis'', and Professor ...

James Kyson Lee James Kyson (born December 13, 1975) is a South Korean-born American actor best known for his television work. Best known for his role as Ando Masahashi on the NBC television series ''Heroes'', his guest appearances on television series include ...

Toni Trucks Toni Trucks is an American actress. Best known as Lisa Davis on ‘’ SEAL Team’’(2017-) Career Trucks studied Musical Theatre at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Upon graduation, she moved to New York where she ...

, Aja Evans and

Michael Culkin Michael Culkin (born 2 July 1954) is an English theatre, film, and television actor probably best known for his role as Judge Buller in the BBC drama ''Garrow's Law''. He appeared as Rab Butler in the first two seasons of ''The Crown'', in '' T ...

Plot

Tycho "Ty" Johns (

) and Lei Chen (

) transport a

crate A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reusa ...

for the government, under the orders of Colonel Bishop (

), which contains a mysterious girl (

) in

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

stasis. They wake her up and discover that she has no identifying

microchip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny M ...

in her arm, unlike the rest of society. She also does not speak. During the

outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

flight, the ship is attacked by terrorists. After escaping, they crash land onto a planet in uncharted space. The survivors take shelter in an old

military facility A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

on the planet. Once inside the facility, the girl picks up a

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, pr ...

and has a

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

vision. In it she sees the death of the last person who held the gun, which causes her to start firing the gun in a wild manner. She comes out of the vision, as someone grabs hers. The group agrees that to cover more ground, they will split up. While Ty and Lei find a control room, the other groups explore the base and find giant bug-like creatures. Lei activates the old computers and discovers that there was a

solar storm A solar storm is a disturbance on the Sun, which can emanate outward across the heliosphere, affecting the entire Solar System, including Earth and its magnetosphere, and is the cause of space weather in the short-term with long-term patterns comp ...

, which caused the bugs to take cover under the protection of the "solar flare shields" that surround the compound. They can not leave the shields without burning to death. Here is where the girl first displays her unusual powers (to the group): when a member of their party tries to leave the shield to escape the bugs, the girl runs out of the shields and pulls him back in, receiving no injury, although he suffers deadly burns. Also using the

computer system A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These progr ...

, they are able to view old videos that reveal the original scientists who lived here were killed by the bugs. Meanwhile, the terrorist group that attacked their ship has caught up with them and entered the compound. They have also encountered the bugs and decide to form a temporary truce until they can escape this planet. They are after the girl. While looking for weapons to use against the bugs, a member of their group is attacked by a bug. The girl tries to save him and is injured, only to completely heal in a matter of seconds. The act of healing also seems to have helped her memory, as she now remembers her name—Asta. Ty wonders out loud about her, and the leader of the terrorists says, "It'll make sense soon," and nothing more. Using the computer system, the team discovers a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

to another compound that still has a ship they can use to escape, but when they try to use the tunnels, they are overwhelmed by the bugs. Lei, mortally wounded, sacrifices himself by overloading his pistol, causing a small explosion. The team discovers another of the girl's powers when she is able to create an energy shield to protect them from the blast. Using the computer, they decide to take their chances and run to the other compound in between solar flares. Along the way, the terrorists reveal why this girl is so important to them. According to the government, a human colony of over a million people on the planet Centauri III was completely wiped out by a massive solar flare. These terrorists claim that it was no solar flare. They say that the colony was a group of rebels who did not want to be under the control of the government, so they were wiped out, leaving Asta as the sole survivor. Asta remembers none of this. By the time the team arrives at the other compound, only four people remain: Ty, Asta, one of the terrorists and a woman from the original transport ship named Janessa (Aja Evans). Using the computers in the new compound, they discover what these installations were originally constructed to create a

thermonuclear weapon A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

to mimic the

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

signature of a solar flare to use against the citizens of Centauri III ("Project Icarus"). Watching the

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

, the team also discovers that the bugs they have been battling are the descendants of

stowaway A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus. Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other cas ...

Earth bugs that evolved under the solar activity of this planet. Upon this discovery, Asta's memory completely returns. She remembers the attack on her planet as a child and the military Colonel Bishop who found her and left her there to die in the radiation. With Asta's memory restored, her full powers are unleashed and she creates an energy beam to fight off the bugs. Only three make it off the planet: Asta, Janessa, and Ty, who has promised to take Asta to the terrorist group in the outskirts. Meanwhile, Colonel Bishop, who has been following Ty's progress ever since he found out the ship disappeared, has caught up to them. Janessa is revealed to be Bishop's secret operative, stunning Ty and attempting to kidnap Asta to bring her on board Bishop's ship. Asta overpowers her, but decides to go to Bishop anyway, seeking answers. Bishop reveals that the inhabitants of Centauri III were being "changed" by the solar flares of their sun. They were developing psychic and telekinetic powers; "the next step in human evolution." This is why they were killed, not because of their political beliefs. Asta leaves him alive, telling him of her plans to expose the truth with the videos they downloaded from the compound's computers. Asta wakes Ty and they escape, crippling Bishop's ship in the process. They are forced to crash land on the same planet the others have just escaped from, surrounded by the bugs. The movie ends as Asta and Ty plan to tell the world about Centauri III before heading to the outskirts, as they promised.

Cast

as Tycho "Ty" Johns *

James Kyson James Kyson (born December 13, 1975) is a South Korean-born American actor best known for his television work. Best known for his role as Ando Masahashi on the NBC television series '' Heroes'', his guest appearances on television series include ...

as Lei Chen (James Kyson Lee) *

as Asta **Irina Georgieva as Toung Asta * Aja Evans as Jenessa *

as Colonel Bishop * Atanas Srebrev as Santen * Hristo Mitzkov as Hicks * Shelly Varod as Lyekka * Todd Jensen as Hudson * Mike Johnson as Kai * Velizar Binev as Bilal * Velislav Pavlov as Nikopol * George Zlatarev as Yuri Koralev *

Yana Marinova Yana Marinova (Bulgarian: Яна Маринова) is a Bulgarian actress. Life and career Yana was born on 17 August 1978 and completed higher education in economics. She married at 22 years old and has a son. She participates in Bulgarian fe ...

as Stark * Nikolai Sotirov as Uncle (Nicky Sotirov) * Mike Straub as Father (Michael Straub) * Velizara Stoyanova as The Dancer * Nick Harvey as The Bartender

External links

* {{Phillip J. Roth, state=collapsed 2009 television films 2009 films Syfy original films Space adventure films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films