Star Trek: Defiant

Pilot Episode Nine

Written by Brian Bedard

--"Contamination Alert! Contamination Alert! Evacuate Warp Propulsion Lab 7 immediately. Contamination Aler--" The computers voice was cut off by Lieutenant Commander Alison Blaire. She slammed the cutoff button on the comm panel causing the annoying klaxon and alert signal to shut off. Smoke filled the small room as she desperatley tried to open the doors.

A lone ensign walked away from the hall door to Lab 7 and smiled, he thought, "That's what cowards deserve." He passed a Bolian running the opposite way in quite a hurry.

He was sure he locked down the injector before he left, but a nagging doubt pounded in his brain. He barreled down the hall after hearing the Alert signal, Tech and Med teams were on the way. He nearly ran down an ensign, his mind only on her, and what he forgot to do. Finally, he reached the door to Lab 7 and he tried to pry it open. Inside, Alison heard someone out there. "Help, someone's in here" she yelled. Her heart jumped when the Bolian answered.

"Alison, it's Brian, I'm here." Bedard put all his energy into the task at hand. Seconds went by, the lab was full of smoke, Alison started coughing, the nauseous gases making her succumb to the inevitable. Bedard heard the teams coming before he saw them. He pulled the door open no more than an inch, smoke began to billow out. He heard the high whine of a plasma cascade, the door blew out throwing him across the hall. The Med team arrived first, the youngish doctor saw to Alison first, she had landed next to Bedard. He looked into her eyes as the light in her eyes flickered out. The doctor shook his head and turned to Bedard. In a haze, and waves of emotion, he got the sensation that something was wrong. This was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

A week had passed, Admiral Dwyer had completed her investigation into the accident. Bedard had been in shock and just came out of it a day ago. Now he stood before the admiral to hear her results.

"Investigations conducted in to accident resulting in the death of Lieutenant Commander Alison Blaire, have revealed the following information. A valve in the plasma injector assembley had been left open. Anti-matter leaked out and came into contact with the deuterium plasma, initiating a plasma cascade. Commander Blaire died of smoke inhalation and injuries suffered when the cascade went critical and detonated inside Warp Propulsion Lab 7." Bedard was still in somewhat of daze, not clearly knowing what was going on around him. The nagging tought that something was not quite right resurfaced. The Admiral continued, "From the lab's log computers, Lieutenant Bedard was the last person to use the lab's facilities. Furthermore, records show Lieutenant Bedard working on the plasma injector prior to going off shift. It is the judgement of this officer that Lieutenant Bedard was negligent, causing the death of Commander Blaire." No this can't be right, the thought screamed in Bedard's head. "The lieutenant will held in custody pending a court martial." THIS IS NOT RIGHT. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. He was losing his grip on reality, he was sure of it. One memory was incontravertible. He had been on board the protoype Intrepid conducting tests on the engines warp systems when Blaire died. HE WASN'T THERE. The haze deepened, he couldn't see or hear anything, a white light, whiter than he had ever seen flashed before him. He found himself strapped to a table in the middle of a large room. He struggled with his bindings, trying to sit up. He saw to alien creatures, spindley, nearly three meters tall standing ten meters away, conferring with each other. One nodded as the other talked. One walked, more glided towards him. The alien stopped at the table and said two words in Bolian, "You Failed." A door opened and he saw Captain Bridges step in. the bindings fell away and he stood up.

"Welcome to the party, Commander. This way, the crew's waiting" Bedard followed his commanding officer out of the room. Back inside the two aliens conferred again.

"He is not fit for the task ahead." One said.

"He may be the only one who is." The Other said.

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