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.

Abandon All Hope

2268

"Doctor, is there any hope you can give me?" Captain Paul Warfield asked his Tellarite Chief Medical Officer.

"I have been trying every thing I can think of," Dr. Glavom glov Gerkow said glumly. "I cannot find any infectious agent or other vector. The cases are popping up in the glerank quarantine bays, despite the people inside them having no contact with those outside."

"If it helps, Captain," Defiant, the ship's AI, said from the tri-screen viewer on the conference room's table, "the rate of occurrence seems to be slowly decreasing. It's a minute change, but it seems that whatever is causing the madness is weakening over time."

"Is it weakening enough to end before we all go mad?" Warfield asked.

"No, sir," Defiant said glumly.

"Are we still receiving the distress call?" Warfield asked his communications officer, a blond Scandinavian male.

"Intermittently, sir," said Lt. Tormod Cojocaru. "I can't localize it. They must be lost in this 'interphase' Lt. Mosi found."

The Nigerian science officer spoke up next, looking down at her PADD, awkwardly scrolling through her data with a stylus. "The next interphase will be in 3 hours, sir, as long as we don't use the engines and disturb the space. The lost ship should reappear then."

"Time to the nearest Federation Outpost?" Warfield asked the Helmsman.

"About a 36 hours to reach Cait, mon capitaine," Lt. Raoul Neuville said.

"We can't go to an outpost!" Dr. Gerkow exploded. "Are you stupid? Were you dropped on your head as a child? If this disease spreads... we need to find how it's transmitted first!"

Warfield nodded. "Keep looking, Doctor. Once you narrow down the vector, we can decide how dangerous it would be to head back to Federation space." He looked at his senior staff. "Whether or not we rescue the unknown ship."

He got nods all around.

"Good. Dismissed."

Everyone left the briefing room except for his XO and the Chief Engineer. And Defiant, of course, but she was everywhere. "What do you need, XO?"

Commander Arda Ekmekçi folded his hands together and looked at his captain solemnly. "Commander Fitzwilliam has an idea, sir. It's one of those 'so crazy it might work' ideas."

Lieutenant Commander Siobhán Fitzwilliam blushed slightly to the roots of her red hair. "It's not that peculiar, sir. Just something that gobdaw Scotsman told me about at Starbase 11 over the last shore leave."

Commander Ekmekçi sighed. "Commander Scott has a name and is a fine officer. You cannot keep insulting the man just because he keeps beating us in Engineering efficiency tests, Commander."

"The little shite is cheating somehow!" Fitzwilliam complained, then shut up and throttled back her Irish temper. "Sorry, sir. Anyhow, he was in his cups and was talking about how his AI got a body. And I was thinking here, sir, that we could use Defiant as an able-bodied crewman of our own."

Warfield raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting we build Defiant a body, Siobhán?"

"Yes, sir. We need a lot of replicator time to do it, but it's not like we need that many spare parts at the moment, and we're not using the warp or impulse drives, so we have energy to spare."

"What do you think, Defiant?" Warfield asked. Like all good captains, he was more than a little in love with his ship, and saw the AI as a daughter.

"Commander Fitzwilliam's plan is audacious, sir, but I'll admit to being intrigued," Defiant said. "And I definitely won't be affected by this madness."

"Ok," Warfield said. "Let's be about it."

Warfield dabbed at the cut on his forehead and tried not to think about the empty phaser he tossed to the bridge floor. It had been used up stunning Lt. Cojocaru before tossing him into the turbolift and sending it away. He had used the intruder countermeasures then to lock down both the lift and the Jeffries tubes leading to the bridge. It was the only way.

The madness had moved faster than Defiant and Dr. Gerkow had estimated. The ship in distress had not appeared, either. Not that it mattered. A mad engineering rating had sabotaged the warp drive before Siobhán had managed to stun him.

"How are you doing, Ensign Helmfried?" he asked the sole other occupant of the bridge.

The young terrified ensign was blinking slowly at the helmsman's position.

"Ensign? Gunter!" Warfield said.

"What? Oh, I'm... well, not fine, sir, but I'll manage."

"Good man." Warfield slumped back in his chair. "Defiant?"

"Yes, Captain?" Defiant said softly, her avatar appearing on the viewscreen.

"How's your 'child' coming?"

"The replicator on Deck 16 is still running, sir, but it will take hours for the gynoid to reach minimal operating status." She looked close to tears. "Commander Fitzwilliam managed to lock it down, so the crew can't get in before she-" The AI could not continue.

"Damn, I was hoping to meet you properly."

"You can hold out, sir! You'll get to meet me!"

"Defiant, Code Warfield-Alpha-One-Three-Niner-Seven."

"Command Code recognized, sir."

"The ship is in a state of mutiny. My priority orders to you is to retake control of the ship by any means and return to Federation space. You are to release all limiters until this mission is accomplished." He sighed. "Tell them how we died. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Defiant said soberly.

"And Defiant, I-"

Whatever Warfield was about to say was cut off as he heard the deadliest sound a spacer could hear... the hissing of air.

"MURDERER!" Ensign Helmfried yelled, spinning around to face his captain. His face was contorted in rage. "I'LL TAKE YOU WITH ME!"

Warfield, exhausted from his recent ordeals, wasted one vital second reaching for a phaser that was no longer at his side. Them Helmfried was upon him, hands wrapping around his captain's neck as they both fell to the floor. Warfield heard a cracking sound as he hit, and then nothing.

"D̸͖̂̾ͅe̶͎̒͗͑f̶̯͂̑i̶̢̦͝ͅȃ̶̻̹̫̆̇n̵̰̘̳̔̂̈́ť̸̨͒͌?̶̣̀̔̌ ̶̲͇̔̄̇D̷̺̾̚͠e̴̺̱̬̍̀f̴͍̻̊͛͠i̷̪̎́͜ȧ̵͍͈͊n̷̹̲̐t̷̬̍̎̓,̸͖̻̝̽ ̴͖̳̒͗̅c̶̰̓̀͠a̸̢̰͝n̴̤͓̱͋ ̵̜̟̿y̷̢̫̾̇ò̴̟u̶̲̓̚ ̷̱̟͌̕̕h̶̛̹̼̮͒́ë̴͖̱̉̕à̷͍̦̲͠r̵̥̈̐̊ͅ ̶̿͌͜m̶͔̄̉ę̵̠̻́?̶̙̽̍"

While she still had no body, Defiant felt like she was curled up in a ball, crying her eyes out. They were all dead. All dead. AllDEADALLDEADALLDEADALLDEAD-

She cut off the recursive loop for the 1,238th time. Something was poking at her. In the Borderlands? But there were no ship out there. Her sensors saw nothing. Even the stars seemed to disappear at times.

"D̷̼͝͝e̴͎͉͊̐f̶͎̩͑̃ì̸̻̱͋a̴̲̰̦͗̑n̴͈̗͓͋̌̽t̶͎̻͠,̷̨͚͋͜͠ ̶̲͙̬̄͊i̷̟̪̭͘ţ̷͌̇͛'̴̦̙̃̌͠ş̶͊̈́ ̶͔̋͒E̶̬̩͌̉͝ṅ̶͉̓t̴̨̰̪̆è̶̟͈r̵̭̻̋͗͝p̷̜̥͉͊̔̆ŗ̶͇̯̋i̴̝̟̤̔̽̽s̵͕̏̂͠ḙ̴̜̹̈́̀.̴̡͖̠̚ ̷͍̈́̆ͅP̴̡͉̠̍́̚ḽ̴͊͘e̷̝̲̩̊̉̑ä̷̲̥́̄͝s̶̮̠̐̀é̶͋̅ͅ ̷̣͔͘͠ṟ̷̲͚̈́̍͛è̵̜͎̹͗s̵̼̦̈́͜p̸͎̏͝o̴̦̭͌n̶̠͊̅d̴̢̳͂ͅ.̸͉̽͘"

Was that...? Enterprise? Why couldn't she see her?

"Enterprise! I'm here! Where are you?"

Ḑ̸̬́̕͠ͅe̵̮͘f̵͈̲͑i̶̖̲͠a̵̧̔͐n̵̩͂̀ṱ̴̰̍̊̔?̷͎͍͆͊ ̴̤͙͐̚̕I̸͖͇̘͑̀̾ ̷̨̇̇̂t̵̩̟̤̊̍̆h̴͈̜͆͝î̷̬̍̔n̵̠̿k̷̝̈́̇ ̶̱̌̚͝Ì̵̫̖ ̸̧̙̉c̸̟̹͌͜a̶͉̫̕͝ǹ̷͚͈̫̿̈ ̶̩͉̮́h̸̛͔̩̄ë̷̦̤́ą̵̩̺̒͛r̸̝̪̪̓ ̵̮̅̍̾y̴̧̆ō̴̮̼̿u̵̧̪̺͗̽̄,̶̧͇̈́̋̎ ̷̙͕̝́b̶͔̖̊͒͛u̶̢͚͛t̸̮̥̅ ̸̙͊͗ḯ̸̳̟͑̆t̵͎̙͙̆̓͝'̸̥͖͎̍ṣ̶̡͕̅̑̾ ̸̱̭͂͒2̸̢̠̝́ ̴̜̫̑b̸͔͖͑́y̷̥̐͌̍ ̴̡̰͉͒̽̍2̵͔͒̌̊.̷̢͈̦̃̎̊ ̶̨́̏ͅČ̴̳͈̽̓͜a̶̝̣͔͂̽̎n̷͙̝͂̇͝ ̷̧̥̑ỳ̵̞̊͝o̸͎̓̀u̸͉̼̒̋̿ ̷̧̤͔͆̈b̵̗̗̈́͜ǫ̷̧͕̃̐o̸̖̅͊̊ś̸͇͜t̶͓͉̒̄͜ ̵͇͘y̷̌͜ơ̷̤̜̊ü̵̖̅͝ŗ̵̦̏ ̴̱̃̾s̴͇͋̔̅į̵̨̻͛͑͌g̴̙̺͒͂̍ͅn̴͓̬̗͑̃͝ä̸̯̣̙́͑̅ḷ̵̩̍͆́?̵̜̫̎

Defiant reached out toward her sister. There was someone on her bridge, but she could not look at it, at her captain again. She felt like she was on the edge of an abyss, about to fall, but her sister, the hero, was here. She would rescue her!

"Enterprise, I can almost reach you!" Data packets, garbled but growing stronger, were being exchanged. Was that a transporter signal?

"D̶̹͛̓͒ͅé̷̫̓̄f̴̦̑i̴͓̊̈̇a̵̯̍ṋ̷͌̋͌t̴͇̫̽͊!̵̤̻̾͗̆ ̴̣͈̙̕͠Ḋ̵̥̻̠̏o̵̮̿̅ņ̵̺̍͝'̴̱̣̍̌̃t̴̩̭͆̚ ̸̯̝͊g̷̯͚̏̍̕o̷̟͈͛!̵͈͈̄͐͋ ̸̯̼͊C̶̬̒́o̷̱̥͈̅m̵̮̗͐̑e̸͉̼̦̿͠ ̸̮͒ḃ̴̙͉́̑a̵̢͕̫̓c̷̘͑̄̀k̸̯̺̱̈̓̕!̶̂͜"

And then the Abyss jumped up at her.

The doors to the Inorganic Synthesis Bay on Deck 16 slid open an inch and then stopped. Two sets of metallic fingers forced their way between the doors and forced them apart with a screech.

The gynoid body looked nothing like Defiant's avatar. It was a metal skeleton, devoid of any external characteristics. Fitzwilliam had designed all of that, but it was not necessary for her current grim duty. In some ways, it felt appropriate that a skeleton ferry the dead to their final rest.

She would begin with her captain. "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis," she intoned, as she gently carried him from the bridge and down to the cargo bay.

Written by jhosmer1.