Episode 1 — The Watch
1.6 — The Chair
The official report listed the incident as:
localized maintenance relay failure.
Nothing more.
No sabotage.
No unauthorized transmissions.
No armed suspect moving through restricted sections of the ship.
Just another engineering malfunction aboard a Constitution-class starship operating far beyond Federation space.
Mercer was beginning to suspect Starfleet paperwork might actually be its own branch of intelligence work.
The Security briefing room was quieter than usual.
Not tense.
Tired.
Hale sat backward in a chair near the rear bulkhead cleaning carbon scoring from his phaser emitter while Rainer leaned against the wall drinking terrible coffee from a dented metal mug somebody in Security Division had probably been using since the Federation was founded.
Ox occupied enough chair for three normal crewmen while eating something from another ration pouch.
Mercer still had no idea where he kept finding food.
Kane stood near the front display reviewing reports while the rest of Security Division slowly filtered through shift rotations and post-incident assignments.
One young lieutenant entered carrying updated operations traffic.
Immediately:
“Sergeant Major.”
Kane looked up.
“Lieutenant.”
The officer handed over the PADD.
“Captain signed off on the incident report.”
“Engineering malfunction officially.”
“Command-level restricted access on the rest.”
Hale snorted quietly.
“Amazing.”
“We almost get vaporized by a spy and Engineering still gets blamed.”
Rainer raised her mug slightly.
“To be fair…”
“Engineering DOES explode a lot.”
The lieutenant actually smiled at that before catching himself.
Mercer noticed something interesting.
The officer lingered slightly afterward.
Waiting.
Kane reviewed the report another moment before speaking.
“You missed two security rotation gaps during the lockdown.”
The lieutenant blinked.
“Sir?”
Kane handed back the PADD calmly.
“Deck Eight secondary junction.”
“And upper relay access near Environmental Control.”
“You left both uncovered for nearly four minutes.”
The lieutenant’s face immediately tightened.
Not defensive.
Embarrassed.
“I didn’t realize—”
“No.”
“You didn’t.”
Kane’s tone remained calm.
Professional.
Not humiliating.
Teaching.
“You were watching the explosion.”
“You stopped watching movement.”
The lieutenant nodded slowly.
Absorbing it.
Kane:
“People panic toward noise.”
“Professionals look where the noise wants them to look.”
Long silence.
Then the lieutenant:
“Understood, Sergeant Major.”
“Good.”
“You’ll do better next time.”
The officer nodded once and exited.
The moment the door shut—
Rainer:
“Well.”
“Guess he gets to stay.”
Hale:
without looking up:
“Barely.”
Mercer finally understood the joke this time.
Ox pointed toward him proudly.
“Look.”
“He’s learning.”
Mercer:
“I hate all of you.”
“That’s healthy,” Rainer replied immediately.
Kane ignored the entire exchange.
“Mercer.”
Mercer immediately straightened.
“Sergeant Major.”
“Back to tribunal duty.”
Mercer blinked.
“Again?”
Hale actually laughed.
Rainer nearly choked on her coffee.
Kane:
“The hearing’s ending.”
“Command wants visible Security presence.”
Ox stood immediately.
“See?”
“Hallway furniture.”
“That’s our specialty.”
—
The tribunal corridor felt different now.
Quieter.
Exhausted.
Most of the command staff traffic had finally disappeared while the remaining personnel moved with the drained look of people who had spent too many hours inside serious rooms discussing serious things.
Mercer stood beside the tribunal doors once again.
Only now everything felt different.
The polished corridor.
The silent Security personnel.
The constant low hum of the Enterprise around them.
Earlier that day he had felt like a rookie pretending to be Security Division.
Now his phaser smelled faintly burned from corridor fighting.
Funny how quickly things changed aboard starships.
Ox leaned quietly beside the bulkhead.
Even he seemed subdued now.
Farther down the corridor Kane stood speaking quietly with two command officers while Hale and Rainer maintained outer hallway coverage.
Mercer noticed something else too.
The way officers reacted to Kane.
Not fear.
Trust.
That was different.
The tribunal doors finally opened.
Instantly every Security officer in the corridor straightened.
Conversations stopped.
The entire hallway became silent.
Several command officers exited first.
Then medical personnel.
Then—
The chair.
Mercer felt his stomach tighten immediately.
The man seated within it barely looked human anymore.
Severe burns and catastrophic injuries had twisted most of his body beneath the life-support framework surrounding the chair.
One side of his face remained visible beneath the damage.
Older.
Exhausted.
Still unmistakably commanding somehow despite everything that had happened to him.
The blinking light mounted beside the chair emitted a slow mechanical beep into the suddenly silent corridor.
Beep.
Pause.
Beep.
The chair moved slowly forward escorted by command personnel and medical staff.
Nobody in the hallway spoke.
Mercer stared.
Because everybody aboard the Enterprise knew exactly who this man was.
Captain Christopher Pike.
Former captain of the Enterprise.
War hero.
Legend.
One of the most respected officers in Starfleet history.
And now…
This.
The chair rolled slowly past Security Division.
Mercer instinctively came to full attention.
Not because somebody ordered him to.
Because it felt wrong not to.
Beside him:
Ox quietly did the same.
Even Rainer had stopped joking.
Kane stood motionless farther down the corridor watching the chair pass.
Not emotional.
Not dramatic.
Just silent recognition between old veterans.
The chair continued slowly down the corridor.
Beep.
Pause.
Beep.
Mercer watched until it disappeared around the far junction.
Only then realizing the entire hallway had remained completely silent until it was gone.
Finally:
Ox quietly exhaled.
“Damn.”
Nobody corrected him.
Kane turned slightly toward Mercer.
“Secure the corridor.”
Mercer:
“Yes, Sergeant Major.”
Kane looked once toward the now-empty hallway where Pike had disappeared.
Then toward the upper deck maintenance accessways beyond it.
Somewhere aboard the Enterprise, the shadow they had chased still existed.
Watching.
Waiting.
Listening.
And Security Division would be waiting too.