Beverly Crusher awoke to the warmth of her husband beside her and the sight of stars flying past her. She knew it was early, earlier than she had to be awake yet, and despite the near-pitch blackness of their quarters, she could also tell that her husband was no longer sleeping.
Beverly rolled to her side, wrapping her arms around Jack's torso, and planting a kiss on his lips as she did so.
"Morning my love," he whispered.
She laid her head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart and his slow, deep breathing. There was comfort in those sounds.
"I didn't wake you, did I?" Jack asked his wife.
"No, I woke up on my own. You'd have thought I would have slept longer considering I worked late, but I guess I'm not that lucky this morning."
"What time did you get in last night? I didn't even hear you come in."
"Ehh probably around 0200 by the time all was said and done. You were pretty zonked out."
"Surprising, huh? You're usually the one with the ability to literally sleep on cue. I'm pretty envious of that gift."
"Doctor's talent."
"What time is it anyway?"
"0600 hours."
"Ugh. Well, I don't have to be at sickbay until 0900, but maybe I'll get up and go in early. I should probably check in on Ensign Edwards and the paperwork is always unending. Would you be able to get Wes ready and drop him off at daycare?"
"Of course, love, though I wish you didn't work yourself so hard all the time."
"Look who's talking, Mr. First Officer."
"I at least make time to sleep."
"I do sleep!"
"Beverly Crusher, when was the last time you got more than 4 hours of sleep in a given night?"
"Well…" she strained her brain to think of such a time
"Yeah, thanks for proving my point."
"Sleep is over rated anyway."
"Says the Doctor. I'll be sure to remember that the next time that you yell at Jean-Luc or myself for not getting enough rest."
Beverly punched her husband playfully and sighed.
"Unfortunately, having every life on the ship in your hands doesn't exactly condone lots of time for extra sleep."
"I know, love, I just hate to see you wear yourself out so badly."
"You're right. I'll try to make more time for myself, I guess."
"That's all I can ask."
Kissing him one last time, Beverly stretched and hopped out of bed, feeling ready to conquer the day.
It was 1300 hours, when out of nowhere, the blaring chant of the Red alert rang through every hall of the Stargazer, a warning to all.
Startled, Beverly couldn't help but wonder what was up. She had duties to preform, though, so any worry had to be pushed back into the far reaches of her mind.
These things happen all the time…
Picard had been diligently working on reports when the blaring of the Red alert startled him back to the realities of the Stargazer. He gathered himself and rushed out of his ready room.
His First Officer and Chief of Security were already there. Tension formed though every line of their faces. Picard knew that whatever was going on, this day was about to become rather stressful.
"Report!" Picard ordered as he walked onto the bridge.
"Sir, the warp power nacelle is malfunctioning. It's experiencing a rapid energy build-up."
"Can you stabilize it?"
"I'm trying, sir."
"Trying simply isn't good enough, Lieutenant Joseph."
Picard wanted results, not excuses.
"What is the worst case scenario if this energy build-up continues?" The Captain asked, though he truthfully already knew the answer
"Sir, if it can't be controlled, the ship will be destroyed."
Suspicions confirmed.
"What can we do?"
Jean-Luc wanted there to be an easy fix. Something like "well, if we press this button, all our problems will go away." No such solution existed, of course.
"Sir, we could manually detach the warp nacelle, but that would be an incredibly dangerous task. There are so many variables and any number of things could go wrong."
"What would be involved?"
"We would have to go outside the ship…we could probably use phasers to do it, but honestly, that could very well explode in our faces."
"And there are no other options?"
"As far as I can tell, there seem to be none, sir."
"Understood. I will go out and detach the nacelle myself then."
Jack Crusher didn't even miss a beat before objecting loudly.
"Captain, with all due respect, you will not be the one to go out there. The Captain's place is on the bridge. I will go do it myself."
"Commander, this is not the time to argue with me over policy. I won't, in good conscience, send you out there. Not with your wife and child mere decks below."
"Captain, if the nacelle is not detached, my wife and my child will not live to see tomorrow. I will be the one to go out there. Lieutenant Joseph will go with me. We'll get the deed done and we'll come back in no time."
Picard took a sharp in-take of breath, looking at his First Officer with a worried expression.
"Captain, Beverly knows that there are risks involved in having a husband as a Starfleet officer. These are risks that we had both discussed and accepted before we were ever even married. I have a duty to this ship, even before I have a duty to my family."
Silence. The bridge had never been so quiet.
"Please be careful, Mr. Crusher. I expect you back in one piece, both you and Mr. Joseph."
"Understood, sir."
Picard watched his men exit the bridge, wondering if he hadn't just ordered them to their deaths.
Too much time had passed.
Why weren't they back yet? Something isn't right.
Communications between Crusher and Joseph and the bridge had almost immediately been disrupted the moment the left the interior of the ship. The energy overload had fried the com systems in their environmental suits.
Eventually, Picard just could stand to sit around any longer. He had to do something, to find out what was going on.
"There must be something wrong. I'm going to go get them." Picard stated, determined.
This time, there was no one brave enough to stop him.
Picard was alone in the galaxy, as he walked his way, carefully, desperately in the direction of the warp nacelle.
He was terrified of what he would find when he go there. He hoped that any minute, he would see both men appear, walking towards him, but as the minutes wore on, that possibility seemed less and less likely in his mind.
One step after the other, he made his trek. It was the longest walk, both physically and mentally, of his life.
Finally, the image of Peter Joseph came into view.
Unconscious. He wasn't moving.
He walked towards the Security Chief, desperately searching for Jack.
He found him. 100 meters away, still working on the nacelle, which looked like it was going to blow any minute.
My god.
In the next couple of seconds Crusher managed to complete the task, to detach the nacelle, as Picard watched on.
Jack had saved them all. Such an incredibly brave officer he was, Picard felt lucky to know such a man.
Relief washed over the Captain as he hauled Joseph on to his back and motioned with his arm for Jack to follow him.
Crusher turned and took a step away from where the nacelle had been, in the direction of his commanding officer.
One step.
And then his world exploded.
