Chapter 4 AM

by Starsinger

This is set many years in the future. If Archer can live to over 100, so can Pike. Call it an interlude. I'll get a much longer chapter up later today, promise. Don't own them.

The cadet was tall, gangly, had brilliant blue eyes, was good looking if you were female, or gay, and quite intelligent. His name was also William Thomas Riker. His father was also a famous negotiator for the Federation. Admiral Pike looked over the desk and squinted at the young man. He wasn't as young as he used to be. "Cadet Riker, have you ever met Zephram Cochrane?"

"The creator of the first warp engine used on Earth? No, sir," he was a little puzzled. Not the usual opening questions for a new cadet at the Academy.

"Do you know someone named Deanna Troi?" Pike again asked.

Riker looked baffled, "Should I?"

"No, not necessary, Cadet, thank you. I'll be your mentor for your years here. We'll meet once a week. Good luck." Chris sighed as Will left, he reminded Pike A LOT of Kirk at that age.

A few years later

A petite young woman whose deep brown eyes bespoke her Betazoid heritage sat across from Admiral McCoy. She had been a huge score for Starfleet in that she already had a degree in Psychiatry from the University on Betazed. She could skip a whole bunch of basic courses, just like McCoy had himself. He was quite pleased with himself as his PADD pinged at him some additional questions. "Have you met Zephram Cochrane?" he asked.

"Earth's creator of warp drive?" she asked nervously. "Can't say that I have."

McCoy sighed, Betazoid honesty was even more renowned than that of Vulcans, "Do you know someone named William Riker?"

Troi was taken aback, "Yes, we met on Betazed when he was assigned there a few years ago." McCoy barely heard, "He's Imzadi." Imzadi, the Betazoid word for beloved, odd that it would be used for a human. He made a note that the two had met and sent it to Jim and Chris. "Thank you, Cadet. I'll be your mentor for your time here in the Academy. Let me know if you need anything when we meet weekly." Troi nodded her head before heading out.

McCoy headed out to meet with Pike and Kirk, "Trouble is, we don't know who else we need to put on that ship," Kirk muttered. He was referring to the new USS Enterprise currently going up in the Utopia Planitia shipyards on Mars.

"We'll just have to trust that we'll know when the time comes," Pike said. All three men nodded. The fate of Alpha Quadrant rested on the people they surrounded those two with, whether they knew it or not..

Back in the past, before Archer dies

John looked at his PADD, and scrubbed a hand over his face, he was old, and tired, ready to pass on, but a new message crossed the interface, "Meet us at the Deli, Troi and Riker."

Intrigued, Archer rose and left his office. Leaving word with his secretary that he would return later. He entered his favorite deli and turned to find a group of people in civilian clothes waving at him. Two stood to greet him, "I take it you're William Riker and Deanna Troi?" he asked. They both laughed and waved him to a seat. Introductions went around, Jean-Luc Picard, Captain, Data, Worf, a Klingon hiding under a knit cap, Dr. Beverly Crusher, and Geordi LaForge. Archer looked around and realized that this tired looking team was the one that Cochrane credited with saving Earth.

"Just getting back from a long trip?" he asked.

"Yes," Picard replied, "you might say that. We were quite successful."

"If you hadn't been we'd all look very differently?" Archer again asked.

"Yes," Troi replied, her accent very foreign. "Ambassador Spock, just before we left, asked us to stop by and tell you all went well."

"You're not going to let me see that ship, are you?" Archer asked wistfully.

"Let's just say, give Scotty's sketches the go ahead," LaForge answered. "It'll lead into another ship as well." Riker handed Archer his PADD. It was the Enterprise E, and it was beautiful, more than even he could ever have imagined.

They parted ways, "His last wish come true," Crusher murmured. "He'll never wake up tomorrow." The rest nodded as Riker discreetly hit a combadge for a beam-up. It was time to return home.