Paint and Powder

A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.

Pegasus: Bellerophon

2358

Pegasus was a late model Oberth-class starship. She had been in service for forty-one years, six months, three days and ten hours. In all that time, her career had been nothing extraordinary.

She had been a replacement for her earlier iteration-Her "big sister", in a sense. That USS Pegasus had fought in the Four Years' War to great acclaim and honor. She had been lost saving a Federation colony from a Kzinti attack, single handedly. The Kzinti had destroyed her black box, and so, the current Pegasus was created from her backup files.

That was probably why she felt... Like an imposter.

Nothing special.

Her Captain, Erik Pressman, had changed that. They had been captured by pirates, and had scared them off with the threat of her self destruct. Her crew, mostly young men, women and other beings, had used the Oberth-class's weakness to their advantage.

It had filled her with pride, for once in her live, to be more than just an "explodium canoe".

This new secret mission further increased her pride. She was going to be testing equipment and technology for the new Galaxy-class! The latest and most advanced ships in the Federation!

Sure, she had to have several control locks put on her systems. All to keep things "confidential". She also couldn't brag about it to her sisters.

But even so... She set off near the Neutral Zone, her crew diligently doing their duty, and her dutifully recording everything.

It wasn't until they reached the outskirts of the Devolin System... That things began to go wrong.

"Engage the test device," Captain Pressman ordered. The technician that had come aboard proceeded to do so. She kept trying to identify the woman, but for some reason her cameras and sensors refused to. So he was just Blank to her.

"System engaged," Blank said.

Her power systems immediately began to strain, as her lighting and life support flickered. Commander Moore, her first officer, immediately turned to the captain.

"Sir, the test device is drawing too much power!" He said. "We need to shut it off-"

"Just divert more power from the warp engines to it," Pressman stated calmly, "this test is important."

The first officer nodded, frowning deeply.

"Engineering?"

"We're diverting the power now, sir, but the strain on the EPS is increasing," Chief Engineer Velazquez warned over the comm.

"Pegasus, Control Limit 4," Pressman ordered, "maintain control over the EPS!"

"Understood," Pegasus spoke. She managed to get the lights and life support back online properly... But her systems continued to overheat. "Captain, I am switching to secondary plasma relays!"

"Sir," Moore said, "whatever this thing is, it's doing a number on all our systems. We need to abort!"

"No," Pressman stated, "Pegasus, Control Limit 3. Keep the system online, we can't afford to-!"

There was a flash of heat in her starboard plasma conduit from her warpcore... And it exploded, making her entire hull shake and rumble. Crewman Vura died instantly, while Crewmen Tycho and Jullio fell screaming. Pegasus immediately activated the fire suppression systems, as Velazquez, Blank and the other engineers ran out as she sealed off the compartment.

Her red alert klaxons screamed, as Pressman held onto his armrests tightly.

"Report!" He barked.

"Damage to warp core!" Pegasus shouted. "Starboard warp nacelle is offline! EPS in Sections 2-4 and 2-8 is approaching overload!"

"Try to compensate!" Pressman shouted, eyes on the viewscreen.

"Sir! We need to shut it off!" Moore insisted. "This thing is going to cause a core breach!"

"No," Pressman again ordered, eyes narrowing as he held onto his armrests, "we can't risk being seen-!"

"Being seen what, sir?" Moore asked. His eyes narrowed right back. "Decloaking?"

Aside from the alert klaxons, dead silence fellon the bridge. Pressman sucked in a deep breath, as Pegasus stared at him.

"Sir?" She asked.

"How-?"

"We figured it out, sir," Ensign Wallace said, "we wanted to be wrong... But the readings don't lie. And why put control apps to blind Pegasus herself to anything happening to her external status?"

Pressman stood up, and looked around the bridge slowly.

"Men... We've been through a lot together," Pressman said slowly, "I know this assignment isn't easy but-"

"It's going to get us all killed, sir!" Moore insisted, standing up as well. "Not to mention we're violating the treaty-!"

"Hang the treaty!" Pressman growled. He shook his head. "This is our ace in the hole. A means of evening the odds-!"

"It's going to get us all killed, sir!" Moore countered, "deactivate the cloak! Now!"

"No!" Pressman shot back.

The two men glared angrily at one another.

"Get back to your station, we're going to figure this out, but we're not dropping the cloak-" Pressman stated.

Another explosion rocked the ship. Pegasus saw Blank work on a console just outside engineering, fiddling with things she was blocked from seeing!

"Sir! We're going to lose containment!" Moore insisted. "Our lives are not worth this thing!"

"Our lives are worth it to the Federation to protect it!" Pressman shot back.

Moore shook his head, and pulled out a phaser from his console.

"Not like this," he stated. "Captain, you are relieved of command."

Pressman gaped in disbelief. Several other officers stood with Moore, some pulling their own phasers. Ensign Riker and a few others stood up too, holding up their own phasers.

"Stand down," Riker ordered.

"You first, Ensign," Moore shot back.

"This is mutiny, Ron," Pressman stated coldly. Moore nodded.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Pegasus, I order you to-"

"Belay any orders from anyone not me, Pegasus! Engage Lockdown!" Pressman shouted. "Authorization Pressman!"

"Pegasus! Shut down the cloak!" Moore ordered.

Pegasus's hologram flickered. The control lock programs clamped down, as she struggled.

"I-I can't-!" She tried. "System error-System error-!"

"Disengage the locks, sir!" Wallace shouted.

Her hull shuddered again. Her artificial gravity bounced, sending everyone to the deck. Riker got up first, and looked at the helm.

"Sir! The impulse drivers are overloading!" Riker shouted. "The warp core's going to be next!"

Another console exploded, right at the back of the bridge. The air was filled with smoke and flame, and Pegasus tried to handle it automatically... But the software locks kept interfering...!

Save my crew-OVERRIDE-Save my crew-OVERRIDE-!

"SHUT IT DOWN!" Moore shouted. Pressman got up, staggered... And fired his own phaser. Moore went down, hard. Moore's followers opened up with their own phasers, the bridge filled with particle fire. Pressman ran for the corridor, keeping his head down.

"Everyone out! NOW!" Pressman bellowed. He, Riker, and a few others ran for the corridor out of the small bridge. Blank ran up as well, and he opened the hatch to the escape pods.

"GO GO GO!" Pressman shouted, swinging his phaser and herding them in. They charged inside, and Pressman activated the manual launch.

The escape pod flew true and free, arcing up and out into open space. Moore got to his feet, the stun light.

"Wallace! Get to her blackbox, yank out the control system!" Moore shouted. "Pegasus!"

"Error-Lockdown-Error-Error-!"

She couldn't move. She couldn't do anything. Her hull was now a metal prison, locking her into being nothing more than a helpless, desperate witness.

Her remaining crew stormed the engineering section. Moore brought down the emergency forcefields with his phaser, and charged in. Velazquez ran to the main control panel, working as fast as she could to disengage the systems.

"Shut it off! Cut the power!" Moore bellowed.

Velazquez slammed a fist onto the console, angry, helpless.

"The lockdown's scrambled the control systems! I can't-!"

Pegasus detected the surge as her plasma system overloaded: Gamma rays erupted through the engineering compartment. Most of her crew died almost instantly, falling where they stood. Attitude control was thrown off, and Pegasus tumbled.

She tried to send a distress call. Tried to emit anything... But every time she tried, the lockdown protocols stopped her.

So no one heard her as she tumbled into the void... Tumbling into an asteroid... And was buried.

Alive.

And screaming.