Author's Note: The dialogue herein was written by Joe Menosky and Naren Shankar. I'm just filling in the things they didn't say.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat on the bridge of the Enterprise, trying not to brood. Like Commander Riker, Counselor Troi and everyone else on the senior staff, he was worried about his CMO. Beverly's crusade to solve the mystery of the Ferengi scientist Dr. Reyga's death had led her to step well beyond the bounds of Starfleet regulations. Ever since they had found the astrophysicist's body it was as if she had been on a one-woman crusade to discover what had happened.

No matter the cost.

He was far less concerned about her failure to obey his direct orders yesterday than about the effect the formal complaint lodged against her actions by the Ferengi government was going to have on her career. Starfleet Medical was not going to look kindly on her activities, and even marshaling all the influence he possessed with the Admiralty might not be enough to salvage her position. It's going to take a –

"Captain," Data spoke from the ops console, interrupting his thoughts, "an unscheduled launch is taking place in shuttle bay two."

Picard looked inquiringly at his first officer.

"No idea," Riker said. "No one's filed a flight plan."

"On screen." He looked up to see a shuttle speeding away from the Enterprise and towards the star located off the starboard side of the ship.

"That's the Justman,"Riker noted. "The shuttle Reyga modified."

"Open a hailing frequency," Picard ordered.

Worf complied. Picard drew in a breath of surprise when the determined features of Beverly Crusher appeared on the screen.

"Doctor Crusher, what do you think you're doing?" he inquired with what he thought was admirable calmness and restraint, given the situation.

"Testing a theory, Captain," she replied tersely, her eyes fixed on the controls before her.

"A theory?"

"I think Doctor Reyga's shield does work."

She's not thinking of – Picard rose to his feet. "Return to the ship immediately," he commanded.

He watched as Beverly dropped her eyes from the screen, then sighed. "I'm sorry." She made no move to comply with his directive.

Tense moments passed as his bridge team tried unsuccessfully to bring their errant colleague back, unable either to override the shuttle's computer or to recapture the craft by tractor beam. Finally Data's emotionless voice reported, "She is headed into the sun's corona."

Picard felt as though he had just been kicked in the chest. He wanted to shout at her, berate her. What did she think she was doing, going out there alone like this?

Why didn't she come to me first?

Deep in his heart he knew why. Beverly was already suspended from active duty, and her current actions were in direct violation of Starfleet directives. Anyone attempting to assist her in those activities would also be in violation and subject to the same disciplinary measures. His throat tightened with the understanding that she would not risk compromising him in any way.

And now she might pay for that decision with her life.

Her efforts at interstellar scientific diplomacy had already come at a very high cost. The first test of the metaphasic shield had ended the life of the Takaran scientist Jo'Bril, and then Doctor Reyga himself had perished before making any further modifications to the prototype. What evidence did she have that the shield had only failed because of an act of sabotage? "You're betting your life on a hypothesis!" he exclaimed, trying with growing desperation to dissuade her from her course.

Her answer was firm, resolute. "I'm not wrong."

Picard hoped more fervently than he had hoped for anything in his life that she wasn't – that whatever she'd discovered about the shield's operation in her investigations was solid enough to minimize the terrible risk she was taking. But as the shuttle continued its plunge into the sun's fiery corona, his concern intensified. "Beverly, what's happening?"

"I'm all right."

The calmness in her voice reassured him and he breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief. His emotions settled as the Enterprise's monitors indicated the temperature outside the shuttle increasing to lethal levels – and yet the shield held. This time, the experiment had worked.

"Congratulations, Doctor Reyga, you did it," the Beverly on the screen exclaimed rhetorically. Picard could still hear her clearly, but the interference on the video link was growing worse. "Captain, I want you to post security guards around the three visiting scientists. One of them has to be responsible for sabotaging the first test. I think if we –"

There was a blip, and suddenly the screen went blank. An alarm sounded.

"Sir." He turned anxiously to Worf. "We have lost contact."

Beverly! What's happening? Picard felt an electric jolt of shock and dismay at the unexpected turn of events. The metaphasic shield had held, yet clearly something had gone very wrong.

"Captain," Data said, "There is no indication of debris. However, the subspace signal indicates a warp engine breech."

No! An explosion of searing pain burned through his chest. After years of experience in deep space his heart grasped the implications instantly. A warp engine breech meant the shuttle had exploded. And if the shuttle had exploded…there was no chance Beverly could have survived.

Picard found himself pacing back and forth across the bridge before he'd even realized he'd moved. No, she can't be…she can't be. I have to know what happened. "Alright. Begin a phase one search," he ordered. "Start with the shuttlecraft's last known coordinates. Plot a proximity course towards the star."

There was no debris. He held on to that observation like a lifeline. Until he saw the evidence of her death first hand he would not have to bring himself to face the fact that he'd lost another Crusher under his command.

Another friend he loved.

Beverly.

Nearly losing Nella a few short weeks ago had been heartbreaking, but that anguish was nothing compared to the thought that Beverly might be dead. The pain of that loss would be unbearable.

Seconds seemed to lengthen into hours as he waited for the Enterprise to enter the star's gaseous environs. He was striding back to his chair in frustration when Worf said, "Sir! We are picking up an object emerging from the corona."

A second later the video connection sprang back into life. "Crusher to Enterprise," his disheveled but triumphant-looking CMO called. "I'm all right. Returning to the ship. And I finally have the answers I've been looking for."

She's survived! Picard felt his body flood with relief as his heart began to beat again. He drifted towards the viewscreen as though the motion could bring her that much closer to safety, to home. Despite standing in full view of his bridge officers, Picard allowed himself a smile and exhaled a deep sigh of relief.

She's done it. Everything is going to be all right.

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