| Stay with the Dead | |
|---|---|
| Season 1, Episode 10 | |
| |
| Air date | December 3, 1995 |
| Written by | Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer |
| Directed by | Thomas J. Wright |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Choice or Chance |
Next The River of Stars |
Stay with the Dead is the tenth episode of Season 1 of Space: Above and Beyond.
The episode aired December 3, 1995 on the Fox Network.
Suffering a brain concussion, West is rescued among the corpses of several US Marines. His incoherent ravings that the 58th are still alive are dismissed due to an earlier transmission in which West stated that all his comrades are dead.
Summary[]
The Wild Cards are sent to the planet Cer to rescue the 61st squadron, who had sent to rescue the 72nd squadron. When they arrive on the planet, they find out that almost all Marines have been killed and the remaining survivors have been boobytrapped with eplosives by the Chigs. One of the Marines is killed when he tries to help a wounded soldier and when they come across another one, he tells them to stay away. When the wounded Marine begs them to kill him, Cooper prepares himself to do so with full consent from Shane and the others but Nathan prevents it. The Marine activates the mine himself as the 58th watches in shock.
The aliens attack again and it seems that the 58th will meet the same fate as the other two squadrons. Vanessa finds out that the Chigs obviously monitor their radio transmissions and if they try to contact the SARATOGA, the Chigs will know their co-ordinates and ambush them. In order to deceive the Chigs the Marines use the dead bodies of other Marines and dress them in their own gear. Nathan is against this idea, telling them that the Marine Corps has always honored their dead but when the others tell him that this is their only chance to get out there alive, he agrees and volunteers to stay with the dead Marines to radio a faked message telling both the Chigs and the SARATOGA that they are all dead.
McQueen and the others think that the 58th squadron has been killed except for Nathan because they had received the faked distress signal. When the Chigs attack, Nathan is severely wounded.
While Nathan is in intensive care, McQueen and Ross attend the funeral ceremony of the Wild Cards. The doctors want to erase West's short-term memory as he is haunted by strange memories and he is convinced that his friends are still alive. No one believes him and he is sedated in the ship's sickbay.
Shortly before the operation, Nathan is able to convince McQueen to send a rescue team to the planet, giving him the real co-ordinates of the 58th squadron. McQueen doubts the legitimacy of his information but when Nathan tells him that if he were asked if he believed that his girlfriend Kylen Celina is still alive then he would say no, but he is convinced that the Wild Cards are still alive.
When the Marines are rescued and back onboard the SARATOGA they thank Nathan who is still shaken from the experience.
Cast & Characters[]
Main Cast[]
- Morgan Weisser as 1LT Nathan West
- Kristen Cloke as 1LT Shane Vansen
- Rodney Rowland as 1LT Cooper Hawkes
- Joel de la Fuente as 1LT Paul Wang
- Lanei Chapman as 1LT Vanessa Damphousse
- James Morrison as LTC Tyrus Cassius "T.C." McQueen
Recurring Cast[]
- Edmund L. Shaff as Chaplain
- John Wilkie as Chig (uncredited)
Additional Cast[]
- Steven Anderson as Dr. Kanellos
- James Parks as Shankowicz
- Scott MacDonald as Hatfield
- Marnie McPhail as Nurse
- Rich Willis as Mark Lindon
- Leo Garcia as LT Clayton
- Sebastian Cetina as Delgado
- Pancho Demmings as Paramedic
- Todd Theodossin as Arm Wound Marine
- William Bradberry Jr. as Color Guard
Crew[]
Director[]
Writers[]
Executive Producers[]
- Glen Morgan (executive producer)
- James Wong (executive producer)
- Stephen Zito (co-executive producer)
Producers[]
- Tim McHugh (producer)
- D. Howard Grigsby (producer)
- Herb Adelman (co-producer)
- Ken Dennis (associate producer)
Music[]
- Shirley Walker