Commander Hall looked around as the young Tactical Officer arrived back on the Bridge.

"Lieutenant Troi, Ensign Ianek has been injured, could you escort him to Sick Bay, and get yourself checked as well please."

"Sir?" she asked, confused as to why she'd been summoned to the Bridge to escort her ensign to the Sick Bay.

"You're off duty Lieutenant. And I saw you fall into that Console hard, you may have cracked a rib. Go get it looked at." He looked at her, "That's an order, Lieutenant."

"Sir, permission to speak freely." He nodded irritably. "If you're worried for the state of my health, why summon me to the bridge?"

"To tell you that I'm dismissing you until 1300 hours tomorrow." She glanced at her console, it was only just 2230. "You have some family friends aboard, do you not? And you have just pulled a triple shift, have you not? Go, before I change my mind. Ensign Ianek, you're dismissed until further notice, depending on the Doctor's report." Hall turned back to the screen in front of him and touched his Comm. "Commander Sulu, have you beamed all the Valiant's debris aboard?"

"Yes sir, we're beginning our analyses now. It should take four hours, there's not much here, but it's pretty burned."

"Very well, keep me updated. Ensign T'Beg, lay in a course for Starbase 284, impulse power only, we don't want to loose the Reliant." He glanced behind him as the Turbolift doors fssshed closed behind Jeanne Troi. He felt uncomfortable around the girl, she had Betazoid blood from her mother, but the Counsellor was only half Betazoid herself, which meant Jeanne was only a quarter; he was still unsure how far her telepathic or empathic, which ever it was, powers stretched. Besides that the precocious girl had been chosen by the former Captain, now Admiral Picard to learn under his tutelage at Starfleet Academy, this was her first posting as a Lieutenant, on the Enterprise, which usually required an outstanding service record, and on top of that she was the Captain's daughter. In light of all this, why was he so attracted to her that he would call her to the bridge only to dismiss her from duty? He could have just as easily done that over the Comm.


In the Turbolift Jeanne smiled.

"What's to smile about?" The injured Ianek gasped as he grasped hold of the rail in the Turbolift. She glanced at him taking in his face, slick with feverish sweat, and then knelt in front of him. "Hey, hey, we're in a Turbolift, Lieutenant, now is hardly the time." She laughed.

"Ianek, I hardly think I'm likely to do anything of that sort, in a Turbolift on board ship with my parents." She tutted as she lifted his tunic slightly. "When did you do this?"

"When I was sprawled at your feet." She nodded and tapped her Comm.

"Troi to the Bridge."

"Hall here."

"Commander, Ianek's got a deep wound on his side, nothing serious, but he says he did it when he fell over at my console. Could you have someone check the area for sharp dangerous objects?"

"I'll do it myself Lieutenant. Hall out." Ianek laughed at Jeanne's puzzled face.

"You're wondering why he said he'd do it himself? He's sweet on you, Lieutenant. That's why he called you to the Bridge instead of telling you over your Comm. that you're off-duty until 1300 tomorrow."

"He likes me? But he goes out of his way to be rude, to cause trouble for me." She ran back through her memory of the last three weeks on board ship.

"You're the Captain's daughter." Ianek shrugged, "its unknown territory, Lieutenant. I should know." Now it was Jeanne's turn to laugh. She stood up and kissed him on the cheek before the doors opened.

"That's enough of that, Ensign." She chided him, ducking under his arm and taking his weight on her shoulder. They made their way slowly to the Sick Bay, Jeanne starting to realise that Hall was right, she had damaged her ribs. They reached Sick Bay and once inside Jeanne let herself drop, supporting Ianek to the floor and then leaning on a bunk shaking before a nurse came over. "Sorry, um, Ensign Ianek has a laceration on his side, I think I've cracked a rib, we've both done three straight shifts and could really do with some Synthehol." The nurse smiled.

"Jeanne, you're not getting any alcohol, synthesised or not, until I've checked you over." She called over her shoulder, "Doctor, there's an ensign here needing attention." The girl smiled at Jeanne again, "come on lets get you up."

"Lucy, did you know that Wesley came aboard about 15 minutes ago?"

"I had heard, but I haven't managed to see him yet." His half sister replied, her red tresses covering her face from Jeanne's view as she helped her to a bed. "Lie down."

"Nurse Howard?" Doctor Barnes called over. "Do you require assistance?"

"No doctor, she's a difficult patient, but I think I can manage to subdue her." Jeanne laughed at the thought of Lucy pinning her to the table. "Computer, rest…"

"No, no Lucy, I don't need restraining, I'll behave." She begged, sitting up suddenly as Ianek was taken into the other room. "Where are they taking him?"

"That's the operating room, Jeanne, they'll need to sew him up, and better to do that where you lot can't see it."

"Lucy, I keep meaning to ask. Why the name Howard? I mean your mother is Beverley Crusher, that name…"

"Would give me a leg up, yes, I know, but I don't want people giving me advantages because of my name. There are other people who are better than me, who if I started flashing my name around might be overlooked. So I took my grandmother's name." She shrugged, "Mother didn't understand, but she accepted it." She completed the scan of Jeanne, "you're fine. Nothing wrong with you that a bit of rest wouldn't fix."

"No time to rest." Jeanne said, jumping down off the table with a quick smile. "I've got to go work out what's wrong with the scanners, and then Worf and Wesley are here." She paused, "I'm meeting Nat in Ten Forward at 0100, do you think you will be off duty by then?"

"I hope so." The young trainee sighed, glancing around at the beds of groaning patients. She watched as Jeanne hurried to where they'd taken the Ensign.

"Jeanne, you are so very pretty." A disembodied voice came from the other room.

"Hush ensign, don't embarrass yourself." Doctor Barnes' voice overrode it. "Yes, Lieutenant, how can I help?"

"Will he be alright?" the doctor nodded. "Good, would it be possible for you to make sure that Nurse Howard is given some free time – her brother has arrived on board and it's past time that they spoke. Perhaps make sure that she goes to Ten Forward for 0100 hours?"

"I will do what I can." Julius accented quietly, glancing towards the studious redhead bent over a new patient. He turned his attention back to Jeanne Troi, but the Sick Bay doors were already closing behind her.


Will sent a communiqué to his chief officers to meet in the Council room at 2315. He looked at the button saying send next to his daughter's name and chuckled. His wife came and sat in his lap and he looked at her.

"Jeanne did very well today." She said, quietly as she stroked his hair, which was finally going a steely grey.

"So did you." He said kissing her gently. "It reminded me of the Enterprise D when we faced down B'Etor and Lussa. When you took the helm of the Saucer section and crashed us as safely as possible."

"Yes, you've been thinking of the old days a lot recently, haven't you?"

"It's only natural, I suppose, considering where we are going." He winced as she tugged on his beard.

"Do you remember, before the Ba'Ku incident when you shaved your beard for me?"

"Yes, I remember. That's what won you back."

"It made me feel like we were young again." She glanced around their quarters, "being back here made me feel young again, but, now that Jeanne's here, I feel so old, and so worried. She's running around, taking risks, I can't help but worry."

"I know, but at least she's here with us, if she were anywhere else you'd still be worried." He soothed her, always knowing how to calm his usually level headed wife. It was only when it came to their precocious daughter that she lost that level-headedness. The computer beeped, reminding him of the time. "It's time for the meeting." She nodded and stood up, as he joined her at the door she tugged his tunic straight. "Maybe I should shave my beard again." He quipped as they left the room, she smiled a little and tugged his beard again.

"Maybe." She replied as he winced.