A Star Trek Next Generation based fan fiction novel

Reginald Barclay discovers that space is not the final frontier

Where No Man Has Gone Before

Chapter 1: The Begining

There were klaxons going off and lights flashing, indicating a red alert. People were running for their duty stations
stressing over the unknown reason for the alert. That was quite normal on a ship this size. Only the senior officers knew
what was going on at the moment. And us lesser mortals, would have to get by until the captain saw fit to inform us.

I was headed for the Engineering deck when the voice came over the Comm, "Lieutenant Barclay, report to transporter room
3, on the double." That was the voice of the first officer, confident and sure, and sometimes a little smug. God,
sometimes I hated Riker, actually more than sometimes. I knew it was a case of envy, I was jealous of how easy everything
came to him, I always wanted to be like him.

I answer the Comm, tapping my badge, "On my way Sir, Barclay out." I reverse directions and start to run for the turbo
lift. I make it just as the doors close, forcing me to wait for the next one. Thankfully on alert, all lifts are in use
with none held in reserve. In a bare moment the doors open and I enter, "Transporter room 3." I state for the computer.

The lift is immediately in action, moving to the closest access to TR3. The doors open a few meters from the door to TR3.
Their are people everywhere running into and out of the room. Crew members are assisting injured humanoids to Med bay
which is just down the curved hallway. Stepping through the doorway, I'm nearly run down by two security officers carrying
an alien out.

I barely manage to clear them when Commander Riker hits me carrying another alien, knocking me to the ground. "It's about
time Mister Barclay, " As another crewman takes the female from his arms.

I stand quickly, "Sorry Sir, I was almost to Engineering when I got your call." I always seemed to wither beneath his
stern demeanor. "What do you need me for, Sir?"

"The alien vessel has an eminent core breach in progress, and you're the only one available, I need you to beam over to
their ship and stop that breach before we lose it."

I stutter, "Yeeesss Sssiiirrrr." And take a vacant pad on the platform, and wait for the beam out. I hate the whole
process of transporters, I was almost always catatonic with fear over using them. The fact that most people never thought
about using them any more than they would wear clothes, it just seemed natural to them. But not me, to have your body
reduced to the atomic level and sent across a distance to be reassembled, there were a million things that could go wrong.
But since the odds of anything happening were so remote in this day and age, that no one ever worried about it.

As I feel the transporter affect wash over me, I can literally feel my body dissolve into energy. Sometimes it's not good
to be an engineer and know how things work. What's the old saying from ancient Earth, 'Ignorance is bliss'.

************************************************

I materialized on the alien ship in the engineering section near the warp core. There is no one around, having already
been cleared. I check my tricorder and find the station I need to work from. All the instruments are starting into the red
zones, leaving little time left. The ship is old by our standards, analog gauges and dials. The core is an early
Federation design and should be simple to fix.

A quick sweep with the tricorder and I see the problem, I adjust a few dials and toss some switches. After a moment's
pause the gauges start to return to normal, in two minutes all of them were in the green zones and stable. As soon as I
was absolutely certain all was ok, I hailed the ship.

"Barclay to Enterprise, the core is stable now and shouldn't be a problem." I wait for an answer.

The captain responds, "Well done, Mr Barclay, excellent work. I'll expect a full report when you return to the ship."

Relieved to hear the captain and not Riker, "Thank you, sir, Barclay out." I'm about to call for beam out when I notice
some odd readings on the tricorder. As I turned to check out the readings, they are coming from a panel near the doorway.
I reach the panel and find I need an actual screwdriver, to remove it. Fortunately, as I am often called to do the most
obscure things on any assignments, I had what I needed in my kit.

I used the Phillips driver to remove the four screws, and there inside the small compartment was a tiny, pink crystalline
rose. Or at least it looked like a rose to me. Being of an crystalline nature, it could easily hold the energy readings I
was getting. It seemed harmless enough and I picked it up.

It was warm to the touch, and oddly gave me a feeling of comfort and well being. Not euphoric, just the sense of sitting
in your mother's lap as a baby. I tapped the Comm badge, "Barclay to Enterprise, ready for beam out."

"Enterprise here, transporter room 5 ready for transport." An anonymous crewman stated. "Standby sir, I have an anomalous
reading, energy spiking, aborting transport."

I feel the beginning of the transporter field, but something is wrong, it feels off. The crystalline rose in my right hand
begins to glow and pulses with a pink light matching my rising heart rate. I hear the transporter tech saying he is
aborting the transport. The field starts to fade when the glow from the rose intensifies and begins to feed energy to the
transporter field.

The transporter tech, losing his calm, "Transporter room 5 to the bridge, Sir, I have a problem with Mr Barclay's
transport." Without waiting for the question, "I had an energy reading during initialization and it's off the chart, I
tried to shut it down, but the energy source is feeding the transporter field and can't be stopped. The best I can do is
hold Mr Barkley in stasis until security gets here, Sir."

Captain Pecard answers, "Security to transporter room 5." The call goes through the ship.

Riker, who is in the Med bay with Dr Crusher, taps his Comm, "Riker here, on my way captain." He tells Beverly goodbye as
he runs through the door.

************************************************

I am nearly blinded by the pulsing pink light coming from between my fingers as the transporter effect completes
dematerialization. The next moment I am feeling the rematerialization begin, as I see commander Riker run into the room
followed by three security officers.

Instead of the fading of the field on completion, it suddenly pulses bright pink, and the heat from the tiny rose begin to
spread up my arm and through my body. I can see Riker stop and stare at me, the look of shock on his face was something I
thought I'd never see. For the first time since I met the stern first officer, he truly looked unsure of himself.

That was the last thing I saw before I passed out as the transporter field shut off, and I fell to the floor.

End of Chapter 1