Chapter Fourteen
In their quarters that night, over dinner, Jean-Luc listened attentively while Beverly spoke of the things she was beginning to learn about the medical technologies aboard the Redemption. She spoke of the incredible dexterity that medical droids like the 2-1-B and its assistant FX-7 were capable of and the nearly miraculous properties of bacta. She mentioned seeing some medical holograms that showed the kinds of trauma that bacta was used to treat as well as the level of sophistication of the prosthetic limbs she'd seen. Other small talk followed until, over dessert, Beverly, who had noticed the faint trace of a far away look in her husband's eyes said, "What's bothering you Jean-Luc? And don't even bother trying to tell me nothing's wrong, I've known you too long." Jean-Luc lost the momentary far away look in his eyes as his gaze met his wife's. "You're right Beverly. At first, I thought this Alliance would be for the best. On the surface, everything we could learn from each other. Cultural, scientific, societal . . . there seemed to be no end to the benefits for all sides. Today though, today I saw something that was many things rolled into one event." Beverly took his hand across the table and said, "Was it the Borg? What did you see that's shaken you Jean-Luc?"
He smiled and said, "Yes it was partly the Borg . . . but it was more the Redemption's and Armis's reaction to it. If a cube like that arrived on scene anywhere in the Federation, it would be controlled panic as we fight and change and adapt to counter the Borg's ability to compensate but today, I saw a Borg cube decimated in less time than it took me to request a cup of hot Earl Grey tea from a synthesizer aboard the Enterprise. Armis was so calm, almost ice-like as he strode onto the Command Deck and ordered his weapons systems online. His crew jammed the entire spectrum of communications to prevent the Borg from requesting additional cubes . . . something that we can only barely do even after all this time that we've been encountering each other. Watching that cube get vaporized was, was . . . beautiful, horrific, frightening, encouraging and a hundred other emotions all at once. My attention was on the destruction of the cube so I didn't see Armis single-handedly destroy six borg drones on the Command Deck. Michelle and Deanna did though."
He continued, "On the one hand, being able to learn how the New Republic/Imperial Remnant Alliance can do that gives me genuine hope that we will be able to hold off the Borg indefinitely, maybe even someday eliminate them or at least their ability to threaten free-sentience for all time. On the other hand, seeing that kind of firepower at work makes me wonder if we would be better off severing all ties and going our separate ways." Beverly asked, "Why's that Jean-Luc? I mean to say that while that kind of firepower is practically awe inspiring but clearly, with someone like Armis Rau in command of that kind of power, I don't think we'll have anything to worry about." Picard gently shook his head and said, "With Emerald's help, she's the protocol droid that Armis assigned to me to aid in my duties as Ambassador-at-Large, I've been accessing some of the history of the galaxy we'll be calling home for the foreseeable future. In the time of Palpatine's Empire, you remember what Armis first told us about his galaxy and their civil war?" When she nodded, Jean-Luc continued, "In the days of Palpatine's Empire, he ordered built not one but two space stations. They were called Death Stars. They had enough power to destroy an entire planet! An entire planet Beverly! Not just a city here and there . . . an entire planet. In fact, one planet was destroyed. It was named Alderaan. By all accounts, it was like what Earth is now. Peaceful, artistic, stable; it was destroyed as a test-bed for the first Death Star. Fortunately, the first one was destroyed. Perhaps three or four years after that, Palpatine had another one built that was even more powerful than the first. It too was destroyed. Several years after that, while Luke Skywalker, whom we'll meet sooner or later after our arrival to Coruscant, was rebuilding the Jedi Order, another super weapon was built at an old Imperial think-tank called the Maw Installation. It was built in a gravitational null point inside a cluster of black holes. This one was called the Sun Crusher and it had a type of quantum torpedo that when launched into a star would cause a catastrophic chain reaction that would cause the star to go supernova in only a few hours; millions if not billions of years before it would have in the natural course of entropy."
Beverly could only gasp at the enormity of these weapons systems after she was able to comprehend them. Jean-Luc said, "To think that we have entered into an alliance with people capable of creating such abominable weapons makes we wonder if we've done the right thing. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it is beyond my ability to express in words the relief I felt when I also read that the original creator of these systems had her memory of them erased by a young man who was only just discovering his potential in the Force at the time. Now the only copies of the Death Star plans are locked so deeply in the archives of the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant that very few people will ever be able to find them and the plans for the Sun Crusher were lost when the memories of its creator was erased."
Beverly said, "All the more reason for this Alliance I think. I know it will take several years, decades, maybe even a century or two, but with regular interaction between us and the people of the New Republic and Imperial Remnant, they'll learn from us how to harness the energies that created these terrible things into truly positive directions, just as we can learn to harness their no-nonsense approach to the Borg. For now, let's just enjoy this great adventure that we're about to embark on and worry about tomorrow when tomorrow gets here. For now, I think I can help you forget your concerns for awhile." Beverly stood up, kissed her husband deeply and caressed his cheek as she walked towards their bedroom. Picard watched the figure of his wife as she walked away, mused softly to himself, "Make it so," and stood up from the table to follow her.