VIII
Five Days Later
The last time Picard had been on Vashti, he had been accosted by members of the community, but had been saved by Elnor, something he would never forget. He hadn't seen Zani in years up to that point in time, and had profusely apologized to her for his failings.
Now, he was back, and he needed to talk with the leader of the Qowat Milat.
After a formal greeting, Zani escorted them to a secure location.
"This is an unexpected visit, Jean-Luc", Zani said, quite happy to see Picard and Elnor again, but not sure why the visit was taking place.
"Zani" Picard began, "I wish I had more time to spend time with you, and you to spend some with Elnor, but there is a serious situation building in The Federation. I would not have come here if I didn't think it was important."
With that, Picard pulled out a PADD, and in moments, the image of the man next to Necheyav appeared. "We've been trying to identify a person seen recently near the Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet. It may hold a large key to what's going on. Elnor told us you might recognize this person."
He slid the pad over to Zani. She studied it for a few moments, as carefully as she could. "I'm afraid that you've come a long way for nothing, I don't..."
She stopped cold, her face turning to stone.
"What is it, Zani?"
She studied the picture some more. "Jean-Luc, can you display this, perhaps onto the wall, to enlarge it?"
"I can", the man said. In moments, he had accomplished that task.
Zani studied it some more.
"The face looks slightly different, but...what did Elnor tell you?"
"He mentioned something about a human male that had been raised on Romulus. I know there's no record of any human being on Earth that fits that description."
Zani took a deep breath. "Years ago, Jean-Luc, it was rumored that the Tal Shiar had been training a human male on Romulus, to be an infiltrator into The Federation. The Qowat Milat investigated this, and we found out it was true."
She stood, moving toward the larger image on the wall. "We discovered that a human male had grown up on Romulus. His parents were from a Federation Starship that had been captured in a battle near Narendra III, in Klingon territory. The information was the parents of this child, who was born on Romulus, were members of the same crew as the woman who gave birth to Commander Sela, who I know you have encountered."
Those words sliced through Picard like a bolt of lightning. He thought back years to a conversation he had with Guinan, after first encountering Commander Sela.
Picard heard the doors close behind Beverly and Deanna. This story about this woman, this Sela, bothered him, but it wouldn't alter his course to keep the blockade running. The doors swished again, causing Picard to look up.
Guinan entered. "I hope I'm not intruding?"
"No, not at all", Picard eyed her. "Is something wrong?"
Guinan moved into his Ready Room. "News travels fast. I heard that Tasha Yar's daughter is aboard the Romulan ship?"
Picard gave her a humorless smile. "I think the Romulans are just hoping to create a distraction", he said confidently. "They want to keep us off balance."
"Hmm." Guinan looked up at the Captain. "How much do you know what happened to the last ship called Enterprise?"
"The Enterprise-C?" The conversation had taken an unexpected turn. "It was lost in the battle at Narendra III, defending a Klingon outpost from the Romulans."
"And the survivors?"
"There were stories about prisoners being taken back to Romulus, but they were only stories."
Guinan looked at Picard with an unusual certainty. "No", she said resolutely, "there were survivors. And Tasha Yar was one of them."
Picard blanched. "Guinan", he responded, becoming agitated, "that was twenty-three years ago. Tasha Yar was only a child."
Guinan nodded in understanding. "I know that. But I also know she was aboard that ship, and she was not a child. And I think", she continued, less sure of her footing, "that you sent her there."
Jean-Luc looked at her unconvinced. "How can that be?"
Guinan shook her head. "I don't know. I just know that you did."
Coming back to the present, Picard remembered not believing what Guinan had said all those years ago, but here was someone else, confirming, in essence what Guinan had said. He hadn't seen his old friend in years, but knowing Guinan, she could sense what was happening, and she'd be in touch with him soon.
"Do you have a name that goes with this person?"
"I do", Zani confirmed. "His name was Lucas Sheldon. I thought he had died with all the others on Romulus, but this...this could be him. I wish I could look him in the eyes. I'd know for sure."
Jean-Luc stopped the conversation for a moment, calling the La Sirena. "Picard to Raffi."
"Go ahead, JL?"
"Raffi, I need you to access the Federation data base. I need you to find the crew manifest for the U.S.S Enterprise, NCC-1701-C, that was destroyed near Narendra III some thirty or so years ago. I need to find out if anyone aboard that ship had the last name of Sheldon."
"I'm on it, JL. You better fill me in when you come back. This sounds interesting."
Zani gave him a small smile as he rolled his eyes. "I will if you get the information for me. Picard out."
"He was trained by the Tal Shiar? But the Tal Shiar doesn't organizationally exist any longer? When did he get to Earth? The man couldn't just become an adviser to Necheyav out of thin air."
He had almost been talking to himself, but hadn't realized Zani heard him. "That I cannot answer. I just know that he could be this man that was born on Romulus."
"So, in some ways, we're no closer to finding out about this man." Jean-Luc rubbed his chin in thought.
"I am sorry that I cannot be more sure about this, my friend", Zani said with a frown. "This seems quite important to you."
"It could be important for the future of the entire Quadrant, Zani. I still have a lot of questions, but I do believe you've helped me greatly."
Elnor was able to spend an hour with Zani before they departed, the older women happy that her former pupil had returned, even if for a short time.
Jean-Luc made her a promise when they were ready to beam out. "Zani, once all of this is behind us, I give you my word that Elnor and I will come for a longer visit."
"I understand you can't tell me much, Jean-Luc, but I also can sense this is deadly serious business. Please, you and Elnor, take care of each other?"
"We will, Zani."
When he and Elnor returned to their ship, Raffi met them, with a grim face.
"JL, I finished the search. Onboard the Enterprise-C were two Ensigns, both in engineering. Their names were Robert and Marissa Sheldon."
Agnes Jurati had programmed the synthetic Picard to be very human. She had done a good job. He paled when hearing that news.
Seven had some down-time late one evening, and was too keyed up to sleep. She made her way from Tuvok's home, where they were all staying, to the Phantom. The tall blonde had nothing specific in mind when making her way to the ship, she just needed some space.
She did a brief check of all ship's systems, even replacing one gel pack that seemed to be acting up, which only took her a scant few minutes. Seven had the replicator make her an Earl Gray tea, sitting down to sip it, simply thinking randomly.
The former heir to the Borg Throne had been wondering about this mystery surrounding the man Sloan. They might have caught a break and seen him in a news transmission, chatting with Admiral Necheyav, but they weren't one-hundred percent sure.
The story that Jean-Luc had transmitted after visiting Vashti had astounded all of them. It sounded like something out of an old Earth spy novel. Picard had not shared the information about how the boy came to be born on Romulus, or how he got there. But the rest, he shared in full.
Yet even if this was Sloan, how did a man, born on Romulus, trained by the Tal Shiar, end up on Earth to advise the Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet? It didn't make a whole lot of sense, and if Seven wanted anything in life, it was for things to make sense.
So where did this guy come from. She thought she'd have some fun with this, since she was an insomniac this night. She brought went to the holodeck on the ship, programming the PADD before beginning.
"Computer, based on this photograph, and that the human female pictured is 176 centimeters in height, extrapolate the approximate height, weight, and age of the human male in the photograph." Necheyav's bio said she was 176 centimeters.
"Affirmative."
A few moments later, the computer responded. "Based on the information given, the human male in the photograph is approximately 186 centimeters in height; 85.73 kilograms in weight, and approximately fifty years in age, as measured on Earth."
Seven studied that information while sipping on her tea. Jean-Luc mentioned that this person was trained by the Tal Shiar, so it's a given that Sloan is probably an alias. I wonder...
"Computer, based on those approximations, begin a search of Starfleet and Federation data bases, to find another human male that looks similar to this subject, that worked in either organization. Check records for the last twenty years."
"Affirmative."
She closed her eyes and sipped on the tea a little more, knowing it would take the computer a few moments to compare that much data.
Seven thought for a few moments about Icheb. Bjayzl had taken Seven for a sucker, and Seven had played the roll well. Try as she might, she couldn't blame Kathryn Janeway for her decisions after they fell away from each other, any more than Kathryn could blame Seven for her drinking and sex binge in Cuba. They were adults. They had made those decisions on their own.
Yet the grief and guilt that she still felt to this day over losing Icheb, whom she considered her son, would never go away-even if she and Kathryn became friends again. Even if, somehow, she and Kathryn became more than friends.
She knew with certainty that if she had ended up with Kathryn immediately after Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant, life couldn't have been any worse than what it was. Seven was also convinced that Icheb would still be alive, enjoying a burgeoning Starfleet career, and loved by two strong mothers, not by one very broken, jaded mother.
Years are supposed to make one wiser, but for Seven of Nine, former Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix One, and former heir to become Queen of the Borg, it had made her reckless in a way that would have embarrassed and shamed Icheb. For years, she had blamed Janeway for her lot, and for turning her back on her. But since Kathryn had found her again, it had become clear that she, and she alone was responsible. She alone had killed all those people, when the truth was that, after Bjayzl, who had deserved it, the others should be alive.
Her guilt and shame over what she had done, taking so many lives in a fit of rage, had dishonored not only herself. It had dishonored Icheb, whom she considered her son, and it dishonored everything that one strong, stubborn, good woman had taught her about what was good about humanity.
She didn't know what the future would hold for her, or if there were a future for she and Kathryn. But she would seek to live up to what she knew was right.
The computer beeped at her, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"File search complete. There are fourteen human males that fit an approximate match of the subject."
"Computer, display results on my terminal in my quarters, authorization Seven Tango-Three-Bravo.
"Affirmative."
In two minutes she had the information coming up on her screen. The results were a mixed bag, as she browsed the information.
Michael Strand, Captain, retired. Trained pilots for Starfleet on simulators. Robert James McCallen, deceased. Served as a civilian consultant for The Federation on land and building acquisitions. Bernhard Weber, head of maintenance at the Federation's Berlin office, retired...doubt that's him. Robert Aurelius, deceased, Federation Senator for ten years..."
That stopped Seven. "Computer, bring up full biography on Robert Aurelius, former Federation Senator, and display on this terminal."
In under a minute, Seven had read the entire thirty-thousand word file on Senator Aurelius.
Became a Senator at age thirty-five, served in the Senate for ten years. Senator Aurelius was a staunch supporter of Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Alynna Necheyav, and argued for a more aggressive policy by The Federation toward other species in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. He was killed in a shuttle accident. He left no survivors.
Again she queried the computer. "Computer, display personal biography of Senator Aurelius."
"Information retrieved. There is no biographical information of Senator Aurelius prior to the age of twenty-five Earth years."
"What the fuck..." Seven didn't curse much, but this information made no sense.
"Computer, based on the photo of the unidentified man in the first photo, and the biographical photographs of Senator Aurelius, estimate the likelihood that they are the same people."
"Working...there is a 91.2 percent match between the two subjects.
"Holy shit", Seven breathed. No, she didn't have concrete information, but something smelled fishy.
"Computer, pull up information pertaining to the shuttle accident that killed Senator Aurelius."
"Working...that information is Classified."
"Classified", Seven said out loud, disbelieving the answer. "How the hell is the death of a mere Senator classified?"
"That information is not available."
"I wasn't talking to you, goddammit."
Seven took a breath and thought it through. The man in the image with Necheyav was not known. However, Picard's friend on Vashti, Zani, had told him that the man in the photograph resembled a picture she had seen years ago of a human male raised on Romulus. Elnor had seen the resemblance and advised Picard to visit Zani. That could be a coincidence.
But now, just on a whim because she couldn't sleep, Seven had discovered that the man in the photograph looked a helluva lot like Senator Robert Aurelius, who had just happened to have been a major supporter of Necheyav. And Aurelius' death was classified.
She made a decision on the spot. The others wouldn't like it, as it was the middle of the night, but the needed to see this information, and see it now.
Seven was right: the others' didn't like it, but upon seeing the information she had acquired, they knew that something might be to this. They left it to the ever-logical Vulcan to state things first.
"As Seven said, this is circumstantial, at best, but the mere fact that the computer stated a high probability of a match is worth investigating."
"Yeah", Tom said with some exasperation, "but how do we investigate it?"
"We gather as much information as we can find on the late Senator: images, speeches, his positions on different issues."
"We can do all that, Seven", B'Elanna noted, "but it still doesn't mean that the guy Picard's friend saw in this image is this."
"That is correct, B'Elanna", Tuvok agreed, however, there are DNA samples of anyone who worked for The Federation or Starfleet, going all the way back to Zefram Cochrane. We can access the DNA of Senator Aurelius. That would be half of what is required."
"I would say getting the other half would be next to impossible", Seven reminded them. "We've seen this man in one image, and his doppelganger in a few photos of the late Senator. We don't know anything about Sloan to get us close to him."
"Agreed. However we do have someone in place within Starfleet Medical, who might be able to discreetly see if there's any medical information on Sloan."
They all looked at Tuvok as if his ears had suddenly gone round.
"Dr. Crusher is no longer at Starfleet Medical", Seven objected. "She's back onboard the Enterprise."
"I was not referring to Dr. Crusher", Tuvok countered, turning toward the holographic doctor.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Speaking of doppelgangers, Seven", he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Despite the tension, Seven couldn't help but laugh. "Every doppelganger has it's day, I guess, Doc."
Tom and B'Elanna snickered at Seven's comment.
The former EMH turned to Tuvok. "So how do you propose to get my twin to find out about Sloan? He can't just snap his fingers and be there."
"No, he cannot. I must admit, this thought just entered my mind when Seven said the word doppelganger. But we might want to consider even a remote possibility involving the EMH in San Francisco."
"Thing might move too fast for anything to come of this, Tuvok", B'Elanna reminded all of them. "But it can't hurt to investigate. After all, we do have resources on Earth that have access to Starfleet Medical...right, Tom?"
Now the light bulb went on inside Tom's mind. "My dad." He looked around at the others. "Dad would be willing to do this, but we'd have to find a pretext to get him there, to be able to initiate the EMH, and somehow program him to help us. None of that will be easy."
"I suggest we contact your father, Mr. Paris, and at least advise him of our ideas on this. Again, as B'Elanna stated, we may not have the time to attempt such a deception, and try to obtain Sloan's DNA-if it is even stored on a normal data base-but he may have some other ideas on the subject."
Within minutes, Tom had sent a Borg encrypted subspace message to Admiral Paris, letting him know about their little idea.