Chapter Three

Jacqueline Marie Picard was peering around the corner. Her mother was talking to her Aunt Marie and Cousin Isabelle. She'd gotten bored at playing with her cousin Rene. He just wanted to play with his little toy starships. Jackie, as everyone called her, had lived on a starship. Playing with starships held no interest for her.

The almost three year-old girl and her mother had left the Enterprise because of the war. They wouldn't return until after it was over. Jackie couldn't understand why her father couldn't come with them to France. Her mother had said that it was because he was the ship's Captain. Jackie couldn't understand why that made a difference. After all, mommy was ship's Doctor, and she had gone with Jackie and her baby brother Nicholas to France.

She'd hoped to seen her sister Marrissa here, but she was off in some ship called the Stargazer, being second-in-command, what ever that was. Jackie liked her big sister, she was fun.

The word babysitter drifted down to Jackie's ears. That brought her hopes up. Marrissa had baby-sat her when Nicholas was born. Thoughts of what had happened then surfaced, but she shook away the unpleasant memory.

Beverly Picard surveyed the young man that Isabelle had hired to watch Jackie, Theresa Isabelle's son Rene. He seemed to be a pleasant fellow, with a broad smile and friendly manner. Isabelle had used him several times, and said he was very responsible.

"You must be Doctor Picard, I'm Tom Cox," the young man said. "I understand I'm to watch you daughter along with Rene and Theresa tonight. I have a few questions to ask. When does she have to go to bed? Does she have any medical conditions I should know about?

"Jackie goes to bed at 7:30," Beverly said. "She can have a snack before hand, but not anything with vanilla in it. She's allergic to it."

Jackie was playing with blocks. She wanted to play with the dolls, but Theresa was, and wouldn't let her join in. Rene would. She liked her cousin Rene. Together they were building a castle. Rene was much better at building things than Jackie. Jackie's tower fell. She stamped her foot once in frustration.

"It okay, Jackie," Rene said. "Mine always fall."

"They not yet," Jackie said.

"They will," Rene said.

Jackie looked up from their creation. There was man watching them that Jackie had never seen. "Who that?"

"That Tom, babysitter," Rene said. "He nice."

Jackie walked over to the man. "You not 'Rissa" she said.

"No I'm not," the man replied. "I'm Tom. Who is 'Rissa?"

"She big sister," Jackie said. "She my babysitter."

"Not tonight, Jackie," Tom said. "I'm watching Theresa, Rene, and you, while your mothers are out."

"I want 'Rissa," Jackie said.

"I can't help you there. I don't know where she is," Tom said. "Perhaps you can tell me about her."

"'Rissa real smart," Jackie began. "She number one on Stargazer. Has neat room. No one order her. She play with me. Not hog dolls like 'Resa. Dad worry about her. Says she not know fear. I want to see 'Rissa."

"As I said earlier, I don't know where she is," Tom said in a mellow voice. "Do you want me to see if we can get Theresa to share the dolls with you?"

Jackie shook her head yes.


Marrissa was not feeling in her element. She sat at the head of the table in the fighter debriefing room. It was the position of the person in command. The other starship Captains were still moving around the room. The commander of the Nimitz had yet to arrive, and they weren't beginning until he did.

This just left her sitting nervously in the chair at the head of the table. She was only fifteen. She was only a first officer, her Captain was in a coma in Sickbay. With the exception of Lieutenant Williams, the Chief Engineer of the Virginia who had taken command after

the Virginia's bridge had been sheared off, she was the lowest ranked person in the room. She really didn't feel like sitting in her seat. It felt wrong. She was use to giving orders, on the bridge. She'd even lead mission briefings before. Somehow this was different though.

Finally, Captain Greer of the Nimitz arrived. He immediately took the seat to the right of Marrissa. Greer was the senior officer.

"Good Evening Commander, you look like you're enjoying command," he said. "I told my first officer that you'd be commanding a fleet some day, after you poked holes in Admiral Scholl's plan."

"This is not how I planned on doing it," Marrissa said, as the other commanding officers began to take a seat. "Are you sure you don't want the job?"

"Commander, you found a way out of a whole sale slaughter," Greer said. "There is a no officer here who had the ability or courage to do so. Captain Sinclair yielded command to you. We have no need or want to gainsay his opinion. You got us out of trouble and on our way back to our lines. The least we can do is to continue to follow you."

The other Captains, now seated at the table, responded with a chorus of "Here, Here."

"In that case, I'd like a status report on each ship," Marrissa said. "Captain Greer."

"I'm afraid the Nimitz is going to have to be abandoned," Greer began. "We've got massive coolant contamination problem. We've stabilized all systems, but the ship itself is fast becoming uninhabitable. If this weren't a war situation, we could be towed to a Starbase and be decontaminated in a week. Since we are at war, we are going to have to abandon her."

"Lieutenant Williams, what's the status of the Virginia?"

Marrissa said.

"We've lost our bridge, along with most of our command crew," Williams said. "Other than that, we are in good repair. I'm a little short in the security department, and I'm all out of photon torpedoes."

"Would you object to Captain Greer taking command of your vessel?" Marrissa asked.

"No sir, I would not," Williams said. "I can command in a pinch, but I prefer not to."

"Captain Greer, after we're done, any person needing additional crew will stay here," Marrissa said. "I'll assign a couple wings of fighters to escort your departing crew. Take the torpedoes as well. I'm sure your new command can use them. Leave your ship on minimum

power. Hopefully, after the war, we'll be able to come back and get her. Anyone else have problems?"

After a moment's silence, she continued, "Then I can expect all of your ships to be up to specs."

"Commander, if the Virginia isn't above specs by the time you order us out, you can have my commission," Lieutenant Williams said.

"Okay, then at 0900 hours tomorrow morning, we'll depart," Marrissa said. "Taking a course towards Risa at warp 8 should bring us into contact with our lines around 1300. Until then, keep the chatter to a minimum. We probably can't evacuate the Nimitz without some noise, but the less we make the better. My Fighter Commander has already informed me that Red Wing has killed one Jem'Hadar scout."