Chapter 9
USS Hood
Walker and Beverly stood still for a few moments in silence. Walker was the first to speak, through a very real sense of shock. "It would seem that he was telling the truth about having special abilities…"
"Or they took him again," said Crusher beginning to feel a sense of panic. "We need to look for him, Walker!"
He looked down at her surprised. "Bev, we don't know where he is!"
She tossed her tricorder onto the table in frustration. "I should have scanned him! What if he was giving off some kind of-of energy residue that we could track with the Enterprise, and I missed it—"
"I don't think it's that simple. And it's not your fault. This is beyond our technology," Walker explained.
"Well…maybe Yar knows where these Q people can be found. She seems to know things we don't, Walker."
Neither one of them heard the door hiss open behind them, so they were startled to hear Yar's voice.
"Where the hell is Picard?" She gave Walker a look which more than suggested that he was somehow responsible for losing the Captain.
Walker shook his head. "He's gone Yar."
"Obviously," she snapped. "Well, did he say anything before he left?"
"He just kept saying 'no'," said Beverly, dazed.
Yar fixed her with a piercing stare. "And what were you doing to make him say that? As a matter of fact, what the hell is she doing here, Keel?"
"She was trying to help him, Yar. Just slowly walking toward him."
Yar lounged back against the wall and crossed her arms. "Mr. Keel I was told by Intel that I would have free reign of this project—"
"Project?" Beverly glanced at Walker, outraged. "What is she talking about, Walker? Jean-Luc is not a project-"
"- instead you're bringing in old girlfriends without clearing it with me—"
"Excuse me?" Beverly's face flushed red.
Yar smiled thinly. "Oh yes…I've studied your file, doctor."
"File, what file?"
"I hate to break it to you but there's an intelligence file on everyone."
Beverly turned to Walker again who merely shrugged tiredly.
"Look, Yar" said Beverly hotly. "If you know where Jean-Luc is, then you have to help us find him. If you really read my file, then you might be able to guess how important he is to me."
Yar's expression was unreadable. "If you want my help, I need to know exactly what happened before he disappeared."
"I told you, he was refusing my offer of medical attention," said Crusher.
"And?"
"And…he just said 'no', and then disappeared in a flash of light."
Yar grew still. "Was it very bright?"
"Blinding," said Walker.
"Why didn't you say so before? Good," said Yar with a slight smile.
"Good?" Crusher's expression grew immediately dark. You self-satisfied bitch, she thought. "Is that all you have to offer, or are you going to help us find him?"
"I expect he'll surface again, Doctor. Just sit tight," said Yar. "Oh, and Keel…next time you want to introduce any new variables to the Picard equation, check with me first…." She turned on her heel and left the room.
The way Beverly was glaring at him, Walker distinctly felt as though all the air had exited along with Yar.
Yar reached a communications terminal quickly and began to type in code. Admiral Nechayev's perpetually severe expression appeared almost instantly. "Admiral," said Yar. "I am uploading the information Captain Picard gave us about the Borg. It's very little information, and most of it we already know. But I suspect that he knows much more, if he can be convinced to tell us."
"How do you know he knows more?" asked the Admiral.
Yar smiled. "He has the power of the Q." She had no intention of telling the Admiral that Picard had used the power and was nowhere to be found, because in her opinion, he would return. Must have been spooked by Beverly's interference. She recalled him saying that some of his powers had been taken from him, and if he'd been able to use his power to leave them permanently, wouldn't he already have done so?
"That is good news," said the Admiral. "You are authorized to use whatever humane means you can to extract the Borg information from him, and in addition to convince him to use his power to help us."
"And Keel? Picard didn't seem exactly delighted to see him," Yar commented.
"He's served his main purpose, which was to help re-introduce Picard to his old life. If Keel shows signs of becoming a hindrance, please let me know, and I will have his security clearance removed and he will be removed from this project."
"What about cutting ties with the Enterprise?" said Yar. "We have the Hood, so we don't need the Enterprise."
"That is my call to make Yar, not yours. For now the Enterprise goes wherever the Hood goes and vice versa. Riker and his crew have the most field experience with the Borg, and Jack Crusher has the best ship in the fleet. Besides, I want Picard to have the chance to acclimate back to his life, and I think he will best be able to do that aboard the Enterprise. In addition, something has come up and both ships are being ordered to the border of Federation space and the Klingon Empire," she said.
"Something?"
"The Borg, of course."
Klingon Kebet Colony
"How many were taken away from this colony?" he asked his subordinate Lieutenant Krala.
She scowled through the smoky air. "At least twenty adult males and females, Commander."
Commander Worf nodded solemnly. "If they still live, they would be right to kill themselves before they are…subjected to the procedure."
"Of course," she agreed. "Will we chase them? Even if we are unable to rescue them we can give them an honorable death."
"Their ship is already out of the system. But we will send the warbirds after them."
Krala hissed. "It should be our kill, Commander," she protested. "These Borg are ours to hunt."
"You will do as you are told," he growled. He looked back over his shoulder as the light began to dim. The suns were beginning to set on this small colony in every way imaginable, for there really was no colony left to speak of.
"Commander!" he glanced up as one of his lieutenants was beckoning him. He strode over to where a group of Klingons stood, staring down at something.
When he reached the group, they moved out of his way deferentially. Worf looked down at the twitching body. "It lives," he rumbled. He saw smoke beginning to pour from a small port on the thing's neck, and he knelt down beside it. Of course, like the others, it had a self-destruct mechanism. But Worf knew how to disable this, and as he knelt, pulled out his knife and cut a tiny wire underneath the being's elbow, preventing it from killing itself.
"Why did you spare its life?" shouted Krala, outraged. Krala was always outraged, even for a Klingon.
"We have new orders directly from the Chancellor," Worf said. "Beam it up to the ship and place it in stasis for the trip."
"Where are we going?" asked one of the soldiers.
"Federation space," said Worf.
The last few people had shuffled out of Ten Forward a few minutes ago, and it seemed like it was going to be a slow night. Guinan had only been on the Enterprise for about one month, and had rarely seen it so quiet at 11 pm. She was diligently wiping down a table, when she heard a commotion from behind the bar, interrupting her quiet night. Glasses and bottles crashed to the floor, and she heard something or someone land with a loud grunt of frustration, pain, or both.
At that point she also began to experience a familiar but uneasy feeling, which is probably why she took a glass from a nearby table and wrapped it in one end of the towel, before approaching the bar. Holding her ill-fashioned weapon at the ready, she cautiously moved around behind the bar. She admitted, she hadn't expected to see a young man lying on the floor covered in pieces of glass and a mixture of synthehol and other exotic drinks. His white t-shirt was soaked in blue, as he sat up. She was struck by a strange familiarity, when he made eye contact with her.
"Look kid, that's my oldest bottle of Romulan Ale you are swimming in. Do you know how long it will take me to replace that?"
"Kid?" the man asked incredulously. "Listen," he said struggling to his feet. "You've got to help me hide. They are going to be looking for me."
"Intruder alert, intruder alert," the ship's computer began to announce repeatedly. The man straightened tensely. Guinan raised a pair of invisible eyebrows and smiled at the man as he brushed pieces of glass from his short brown hair. When he shifted his stance there was a crunching sound of glass under his feet. Captain Crusher was very particular about the carpeting on his ship, and this just would not do.
"Now," she said, "if you're the intruder they're looking for, give me one good reason why I should help you hide, instead of clocking you on the head with this?" She held up the towel with a questioning look.
He sighed tiredly and leaned on the bar, as though he was almost resigned to being either caught by security staff, or hit on the head. She could tell that he was considering whether he should run, or simply give himself up. She noted there were tiny pieces of glass embedded in his face and forehead, creating a dotted pattern of blood on his face, but that seemed to be the extent of his injuries. Then she realized that she wanted to comfort him, not hit him.
"How did you get in here?"
He rolled his eyes. "My life…such as it is, has just become even more complicated," he said.
"You didn't answer my question," said Guinan.
He looked at her. "You didn't see me come in then?"
She shook her head no. "I certainly heard you…"
"I…couldn't prevent it. I tried, but I allowed my emotions to control me, and it just happened. I cannot allow that to happen again, or all chances will be lost."
"You're still not making any sense, but okay I'll play along: what chances?"
"I'm not supposed to be here. At least…I didn't think I was supposed to be here."
"But now you're not so sure? You're not sure if you want to leave here, are you? Why?"
"I don't know what I want. I suppose I need to figure that out."
"Does that mean you've decided not to run?"
"For now, I suppose it will do no good." The Q always have a purpose. As much as I would like to be as far away from these people, from my old life as I can, there is a reason why I am here.
Guinan moved aside and watched him as he walked by her. His eyes fell on a bucket of ice sitting on the bar. "Is that…?" he looked at her questioningly. She glanced down at his hand, which seemed kind of swollen.
"That is a bucket of ice," confirmed Guinan. "Be my guest," she said and watched as he plunged his right hand into the bucket without further invitation.
"Ahhh…" he said, and leaned against the bar again. For a moment, she thought he was going to slump over on the bar unconscious with the amount of relief he was apparently experiencing. But then he picked up the bucket of ice and brought it over to a table, sitting down with it. He plunged his entire forearm into the bucket and propped his chin on his left hand, closing his eyes as the blessed numbness began to set in, replacing the painful heat.
He opened his eyes to find Guinan standing in front of him with a carafe of something red hued. "You know," she said. "I've been on this ship for a whole month now, and I've served I don't know how many drinks. But I still haven't shared a drink with anyone," she said slowly, sitting down across from him.
He looked at her closely. "You're not human are you?"
"No," she said. "And neither are you…at least you think you aren't human, which is close enough, as far as I'm concerned." She put a glass down in front of him and poured some of the red liquid into it. He noted that as she poured it changed colors before his eyes. There was a sense of surprise he had at that, which he wondered if he would have experienced just days ago before he left the Q.
"Now, this is pretty strong stuff, so I hope you are able to hold it…"
"I haven't had a drink in eleven years," he said seriously.
"Okay, then," she said without missing a beat. "I will see you when you wake up."
Picard laughed and downed the glass quickly. "What ship did you say this was?" He'd known immediately he wasn't on the Hood anymore as he could see the ship drifting out in space through the view port.
She poured him another glass and they toasted, as she said "welcome to the USS Enterprise."
After the strange visitor seemed too inebriated to cause anyone much harm, Guinan sent a priority message to Captain Crusher, who was no doubt already ordering security to sweep the ship for an intruder. The Captain sent her back a typed message back indicating she should "keep him there". So apparently he was aware of who this intruder might be. She honestly hoped the captain would go easy on him.
A few minutes later the Captain arrived. After meeting her at the entrance of Ten Forward, Jack Crusher looked inside, and then turned to Guinan with a probing stare. "You got him drunk?"
She shrugged. "It wasn't my goal." She looked across the room at the man in the white and blue stained t-shirt, who was now lounging back in his chair, and indeed appeared quite drunk.
Jack inhaled sharply through his nose and then exhaled trying to relax himself as he slowly approached his old friend. This was not the way he expected to see Jean-Luc after all these years, but then he had not expected to see Jean-Luc at all, had he? Judging by how Walker had described his friend's reaction to seeing Walker, and then Beverly, he had no idea what to expect. And now that Picard was drunk, it added even more variables to the equation. He walked over and stood in front of the table.
Jack smoothed a hand over his hair. He was intensely aware of the security personnel standing behind him, and for some reason he realized he was worried that there would be a scene. How would Jean-Luc feel about seeing him again? What would he say or do? He found himself on guard, wondering if he would need to avoid a punch, as Walker told him Captain Riker had failed to do. "Jean-Luc…are you alright?"
Picard's eyes opened slowly. "Jack…your hair is still so damn perfect. I wondered when you would show up… seems to be a little reunion of sorts," he said slurring his words. "Beverly…no I didn't see that one coming. Not at all." He laughed, and then groaned, leaning in to the table. "That bartender poisoned me."
"Sorry about that," he heard Guinan say.
"Jean-Luc, we all missed you," said Jack. "Now, let's take you to sick bay and then we can talk later when you've sobered up."
Picard pushed himself to his feet unsteadily, and staggered forward, catching himself by grabbing the back of the chair. "Missed me…" he mumbled to himself with a laugh as though something was amusing him.
Jack, despite telling himself not to be upset, suddenly became so, but still he kept his voice as even as possible. "Yes, we missed you, Jean-Luc. Aren't you happy to be back with us?"
Picard shrugged, and picked up the bucket of ice, which was now mostly ice water, and put it under his arm as if he intended on bringing it to wherever he was headed next. "Happy? To see you?" he laughed again.
Jack grew red in the face. "You're not happy to see me? Jean-Luc, I'm your best friend."
Picard staggered forward again, and the security officers stepped forward at the same time to protect Jack. Jack waved them off, annoyed. Picard looked him in the eye and smiled. He reeked of alcohol, stale sweat, and he was covered in what looked to be drying Romulan ale.
"You want to know how it feels, seeing you again, Jack? It feels like this," he said, and lifted the bucket of ice water up and dumped it unceremoniously over his own head.
Jack stepped back in surprise. Picard, now dripping in water, stepped forward and said in low voice… "you think I enjoyed watching you living my life all of these years?" He slowly pushed the empty ice bucket into Jack's chest firmly until Jack grabbed the bucket from him. "Think again, best friend," Picard said and walked away.
