Chapter 11

Riker kept his phaser trained on the man in front of him. "You were trying to kill him."

Worf stood next to him, but Logan and his security team easily outnumbered them. He knew that Beverly and some medics were loading Professor Duchamps on to an anti-grav stretcher, but he didn't dare look backward. Now more than ever he had no reason to trust Logan.

"Every action I just took was justified, Riker. And I will gladly defend myself in a hearing."

"Hand over your phaser, and we can prove right now whether you set it to kill."

"So what if I did? You saw with your own eyes he didn't disintegrate like he should have with a kill shot."

"But for some reason you decided to test out a theory? You knew it wouldn't kill him. Look Logan, it's obvious that you know a lot more about this artifact than you pretend to."

Beverly jogged up to them, medkit in hand.

"What is Duchamps' status, doctor?" Logan asked without a hint of actual concern.

"He's unconscious but stable... I've had him beamed to main sickbay." She took a breath and looked at Will, who had slowly lowered the phaser, his gaze still locked on Logan's. "Where is Captain Picard?" She looked around at the security team, expecting to see him in custody.

Logan glared at her with open suspicion. "We don't know where he is, doctor. Do you?"

"What? No! Why the hell are you asking me? You're the one who's been chasing him down."

"And you're truly upset about that, aren't you, doctor?"

"My feelings are completely irrelevant to this-"

"Oh, I think to the contrary they are very relevant. Because you were instructed to administer him a sedative, and you couldn't bring yourself to do it, could you?"

"He's injured and has an infection. Once I had a chance to see his condition, I knew it wasn't an appropriate medical protocol to give him that sedative."

"Then you should have reported to me that you were unable to assist. Instead, you have worsened the situation."

"You're not hearing me. He could have injured himself further."

"And instead he nearly killed professor Duchamps. We have you on holovid giving him some kind of medicine. What was it, doctor?"

"I gave him an antibiotic, that's all. For the infection."

"Wonderful, so now he'll be just healthy enough to escape. I'll expect a full report from you, doctor Crusher."

Beverly deliberately turned away from Logan, and towards Will. "I heard phaser fire, what happened?"

"We couldn't bring him down," said Logan.

"Not even using a kill setting," accused Riker.

Beverly was aghast. "What? You tried to kill him?"

"It didn't work, doctor. And my goal was merely to slow him down enough to catch him. Little did we know he was going to leap over that railing and disappear."

Now frantic, Beverly ran to the edge of the footbridge and looked down into the cascading water fountain into the pool below. Down below there was a crowd of people looking on. Some security personnel were examining the scene and interviewing witnesses. It wasn't until a loudspeaker blared, warning civilians to step back, that she saw what they were gaping at. A bloody outline on the floor. An outline of a man.

"Still no trace of the fugitive sir."

Beverly hugged herself and looked down at the walkway beneath her feet. Fugitive. I can't believe this is happening.

"According to an eyewitness," continued the guard. "He jumped over the railing above and landed just outside of the reflective pool. According to her, she thought he was dead, or severely injured. He should have been from that height, but then she said he got up to start running away and then just disappeared."

Logan turned to glance at another of his subordinates.

"Search the docking bay, he's going to try and escape, and probably not in the runabout this time."

"We've secured the docking Bay, sir. And still no sign of him."

"Well, keep looking!" Logan suddenly shouted.

Fugitive...Beverly backed away from the scene of Jean-Luc's disappearance. She'd confirmed that the blood was his, that much she was sure of.

When he awoke he had the distinct impression that every bone in his body had been broken. And yet he lived. He could remember jumping off of some kind of balcony, tremendous pain, and then nothing else. He heard footsteps and had the presence of mind to crawl behind a cargo bin and take cover. Blinking through a lifting fog over his eyes, he was able to gather his bearings enough to know that he was in the docking bay. How he had arrived here was a mystery, just as everything else seemed to be. And yet, perhaps it was meant to be. They would be looking for him now.

Had he killed his old friend, Emil? Something inside of him feared the worst, but it was not enough to deter his ultimate aim. He must reach Vulcan. Anything less would be failure. From his hiding spot he scanned the bay. Several ships had arrived and were finishing docking procedures, while a few other ships were getting ready to leave. He moved discreetly closer to the nearest ship, where the crew was loading unmarked cargo bins. He crept closer, and when the technicians turned away he climbed into a nearly empty him and closed the lid over his head. A few minutes later the crate was jostled and then he was being rolled up the loading ramp toward his only means of escape.

Forgotten Tomb, aka Forgotten Story...

Honestly have less time to write now than ever before, but I do what I can! Thanks for reading. -PP