Demons

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek and neither does Disney...yet.

Chapter 1

It had rained the entire day. It was the kind of rain from which there was no escape. It came down in sheets and left a person so soaked that he appeared pathetic to anyone watching from inside a warm dry enclosure. It was also the kind of rain that one remembered quite fondly, after being in space for too long. Thinking back, it was one of the most notable features of that day, but certainly not what he most remembered.

What he remembered was the wrenching honesty of the day. It was the day of the funeral; the day he and everyone who had ever known the vibrant and funny Jack Crusher, had to admit that he was gone. For Jean-Luc Picard, who had witnessed Jack's death personally, and had continually relived Jack's horrifying last moments, he had finally found himself in a situation he was unable to face. A part of him, from that day on, wanted only to escape from the emotions, the pain, even the joy and laughter he had experienced as a result of being Jack's friend. Looking back, he had been largely successful in that regard. He had escaped back to his career, back to a long-known solitary life. But the one thing that had stayed with him nagging him through all these years was the guilt; the guilt of surviving, and for not having done enough to save jack from dying.

Most of all, he remembered her. There was no need to say her name in his head, because she was always there whether he wanted it or not. After the funeral, he had tried to leave without her knowing, but she caught him outside on the street. She had demanded answers. If he had expected her to be a demure and grieving widow, he should have known better. She was angry, and it seemed, she was angry at him.

Because he was so angry at himself, he did not feel her words. In fact, in those moments his own difficulty feeling anything seemed to be a shield against any hurtful words she could throw at him. And in a strange and perverse way he noticed that she was the most beautiful she had ever been, and that he was even more drawn to her in that moment, as she shouted at him with tears and rain streaming down her face.

"Tell me what happened, Jean-Luc. I deserve to know the truth!"

Of course, she was right. But a dying Jack had forbidden it…." It was an accident, Beverly."

"You already told me that when we were on Star base 23."

He smoothed the short hair on top of his head and tried to rub the rain from his eyes with wet hands. "It all happened so fast. It was all so quick—he didn't suffer," he told her dully.

Her eyes were a fierce cobalt blue as she peered, seemingly, into his soul. She shook her head obstinately. "I don't believe you." The other guests were leaving Beverly and Jack's apartment. They hesitated, and it seemed to Picard out of the corner of his eye that they wanted to stay to pay their respects to Beverly, but they must not have wanted to intrude, and after a few moments, continued their departure.

He shook his head again. "I'm so sorry, Beverly," he said, indeed feeling at that moment like the sorriest man who had ever existed. He tried to take her hands in his in order to console her, when selfishly he knew he just wanted to feel her skin. "Jack was like family to me. After my parents died, Jack-" he flinched as she interrupted him.

Beverly Crusher jerked her hands away from him. "How dare you! Family? What do you know about family, Jean-Luc Picard? You left your family behind for a career in Starfleet and all you have left is a brother who can't stand the sight of you." Her fury was a sight to behold. "My parents died too, Jean-Luc, years ago. But I didn't abandon them."

"Is that what you think happened? That I abandoned my family? That I abandoned Jack?"

She exhaled, shivering with cold. "You tell me, Jean-Luc. I told you that I want to know the truth. You told me that he didn't suffer, but he did, didn't he?"

"No," he said flatly.

"Liar," she whispered. That word, and the way she said it, would always stay with him. She studied him for one more moment, but right then there was nothing left worth saying. What had just happened between them might never be reversed or repaired. With one last look at him, she turned and started back to her apartment.

He watched her go and waited to leave until she had disappeared inside. It was only then that he noticed that the young boy, hardly four years old, was staring out the window at him.

2364, Risa

William T. Riker smiled to himself, feeling the sun gently warm his eyes through closed lids. The sun here was never too overbearing, for a sun of course. The air was warm, but not stifling. Overall, it was perhaps the most comfortable place in the galaxy. His smile widened as he silently reviewed the events of the past week.

Was she the most attractive woman on Risa? Well no, and she wasn't exactly the most available woman on the planet either. Actually, the women on Risa, and for that matter, the men too, were as a rule available to any visitor interested in a good time. But Riker had always enjoyed a challenge. He hadn't anticipated that the woman's significant other would have caught them in the act, or that he was an intergalactic crime boss, but that hadn't stopped Riker. And, let's face it, it had all been worth it.

It was the afternoon of his last day on shore leave. In less than a week he would embark on his new assignment. He was excited—to say the least. He would be serving aboard the USS Enterprise D, which he'd heard was still partly under construction. It was one of only a handful of Galaxy Class starships, mammoth ships built for exploration. Riker, currently serving aboard the USS Hood as First Officer, had just turned down a Captaincy with the USS Drake. While some wondered out loud why he hadn't snatched up the Drake, Riker was smart enough to know that he was about to make history being second command on the ship that many believed would lead he rest of the fleet. Certainly, the name Enterprise carried a special history no one could deny.

There was another reason he wanted to serve aboard the Enterprise. As soon as he had heard that Jean-Luc Picard returned from commanding a run-down scout ship on the far rim in order to command the Enterprise, Riker had wanted this assignment. Jean-Luc Picard, now 47 years old, had not only made Captain before he was 30, but had quite a storied past. It was known that he had survived at least two court martials and been involved in some serious combat. Most recently, nine years ago, he'd lost his ship, the Stargazer, during which he used a most ingenious tactic to save his ship and crew, which was later deemed unsalvageable. It had been all that was talked about in 2355, Riker's third year at the academy. As a kid, he couldn't help but be impressed. That tactic, known as the "Picard Maneuver", was now regularly being studied at the Academy by wide-eyed cadets.

Riker was excited for the opportunity to serve under Picard, even though he was known to be an exacting commanding officer and a difficult person to get to know. Riker's love for a challenge perhaps extended to his desire to crack the nut that was Jean-Luc Picard, and hopefully learn something in the process.

Riker's mind drifted back to his love of...well love, and he entered a very pleasant half dream state thinking about the last few days. He yawned. There was really no rush to return to the Hood just yet. He was so drowsy that he felt the tug on his shirt before he heard the thundering footsteps. His eyes snapped open to see Boldo, the unhappy boyfriend of Mena, Riker's latest fling. "Ahh!" Riker yelled, mostly out of alarm.

"Raahr!" Boldo shouted back. He was a humongous purple creature. The female of his species certainly had been blessed with the good looks. It was clear also that although speaking two different languages, Boldo and Riker understood each other perfectly: that is, Boldo wanted to kill Riker, and Riker did not want to die. Grabbing his badge beside him on the lounge chair, he was just able to squeak, "This is Riker, one to beam up," before Boldo's huge hands tightened around his throat. In that instant, he shimmered away, with a very happy grin on his face.

Beverly Crusher was deeply engrossed in a saga of cleaning, throwing away miscellaneous items, and packing. Very soon, she and her teenage son Wesley would depart Earth for life aboard a starship. At first, she had been hesitant to throw herself into the task. First, she hated packing. Secondly, a part of her wondered if this would even work out. She told herself to give it a few months, and if it was completely intolerable, she and Wesley would simply leave, and transfer back to Earth. She had already been told by higher ups at Starfleet Medical that a position would be waiting for her, if she changed her mind.

If Wesley hadn't been so excited, she might have reconsidered. But Wesley was special, and a unique intellect required a unique kind of education. Having spent six months on a starship early in her career, she knew the benefits and wonders of exploration. She also knew the dangers, but she felt confident that Wesley would be as safe as possible on this particular ship. There were also other things she wanted for Wesley; things she was not yet willing to acknowledge were also things that she wanted for herself.

She felt extremely mixed emotions leaving this apartment behind. It was the home she had shared with Jack, and for the past ten years she had raised her son in it as a single mother. Now she would use it only on shore leave or when the Enterprise visited Earth. The anticipation of seeing the ship for the first time made her smile.

The door chimed. "Dammit," she hissed. If there was one thing she hated more than packing for a trip it was being interrupted while doing so. One had to be focused for such a mundane and infuriating task. Her door was equipped with an older model identification panel. The visitor touched a groove in the door or knocked on the door if they wanted to be archaic about it and if the person was recognized as a known or frequent visitor a chime sounded and a holograph of the visitor appeared just inside the door. The door chimed again. She glanced at the holograph. It was certainly a familiar face. "Yes, come in," she said still somewhat testily.

In strolled Walker Keel looking better than ever and it was clear he had something up his proverbial sleeve. He also had his arm draped over the shoulders of Wesley Crusher. "Well look who I found outside. Your little genius," announced Walker.

Wesley scowled up at him with carefully manufactured angst. Walker responded by ruffling the boy's hair which further irritated the teen. Wes gave a half pleading look to his mother. Beverly rolled her eyes as if to say: "I'm not getting involved".

Walker, who had been on extended leave from his ship the Horatio for the past two months, had been a true friend of Beverly's since she was just a kid. She knew Walker long before she had met Jack and Jean-Luc; in fact, without Walker, she might never have met either of them. Over the years he'd been the only person that she could really rely on, and for that she would always be grateful.

Despite her deep affection for Walker, he could be a bit much sometimes. First of all, he was a natural politician, and could talk you in to, or out of anything. While she trusted him, she knew he'd had some adventures through the years which involved keeping the secrets of Starfleet Intelligence, and that even he had a dark side, though he hid it well. Beverly looked up and then went back to what she'd been doing. Walker was notoriously slow to get to the point, in part because he loved to talk, and she knew if she waited long enough, he would explain why he'd come.

Walker stopped teasing her son long enough to indicate "It's ship's business"

Crusher straightened her stiff back and put her hands on her hips. "Wes have you finished packing? We've only got a few days left." Wesley shrugged.

"Come on, snap to it," she said in a mock dangerous voice.

Walker watched as Wesley scuffed out of the room. "What's with him? I thought he was excited about the new assignment."

Beverly shrugged off some of her growing doubts. "He's fourteen years old and is hot and cold. She put her hands on her hips again. Tired of guessing, she focused on her friend like a laser. "What's going on walker?"

"Command is just ecstatic about your appointment Beverly."

"Ha. You could have fooled me. I had to go through three different interview panels just to get the position. For a bunch of ecstatic people, they certainly made me work for it "
"And your hard work paid off as usual." He paused.
She raised an eyebrow. "Have you just decided to patronize me all day or are you going to get to the point?
Walker grinned. "Have I mentioned how gorgeous you look today?"

Beverly flushed. "Come on, Keel… as you can see I've got a mountain of material things to sort through here and I'd like to finish before dinner."

Walker frowned but said "fair enough" as he began to pace around the living room.

"He doesn't know yet," he said, finally stopping and facing her.

She folded her arms over her chest. "Who doesn't know what?" She said knowing full well who and what.

"Jean-Luc. He doesn't know you are coming aboard as Chief Medical Officer."

"And why not? He's Captain. I'm sure he made it his business to know exactly who's been posted."

"To put it bluntly no one at Command wants to deal with this issue. They've sent me to do the job."

"This issue?" She felt her face flush hot again, and this time, it wasn't due to flattery. "Walker, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Well the consensus is that he is not going to take it well that you have been assigned to the Enterprise."

He watched as ten different emotions at once seemed to flutter over Beverly's face.

Then, to his surprise she began to laugh. "Not going to take it well. Is he a child or a starship captain? Look, Walker, you and I both know Jean-Luc Picard, and if there is one thing he pays attention to, it is his duty. Once he has his orders, he'll be fine." She picked up the book again.

"He has the right to veto, you know."

"And what makes you think that he would? In any case, I would certainly have a right to challenge his veto, wouldn't I?"

Walker sighed. "Yes."

Crusher shrugged. "This is not my problem, Walker. And you're not going to make me believe that it is." She tossed the book to him, which he caught with some effort.

"Okay, just do me a favor," he called after her as she exited the room. "Don't say anything to him before I tell him."

Slowly she walked back into the room and fixed him with a baffled expression. "Walker, I haven't seen him in eight years, and we didn't exactly leave on the best of terms."

"Yes, I recall," he said drily. The scene of their most recent meeting had been at Walker's birthday party eight years previously, and her description of that meeting was kind of an understatement, he noted to himself.

"So… under what set of circumstances would I would run into him and casually mention that I will be joining his ship?"

Walker scratched his head. "I see your point."

Three Weeks later…

Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat with perfect posture at a small table in his hotel. The early afternoon sun was beginning to heat up and as it streamed through the window, it warmed the side of his face. An empty bowl of soup sat next to his elbow. In one hand he loosely held a cup of hot tea, while his other hand tapped at the small computer screen in front of him as the latest Starfleet Command communique streamed in. All the time he had spent out on the outer rim guarding the borders of the federation in the Sentry had involved few communiques from Starfleet.

The Sentry had been a swift but run-down little scout ship. It was certainly about twenty steps down from the Stargazer or any other starship for that matter; hardly a prime command. In fact, no one had believed he was in his right mind when he had sought out the assignment. Perhaps they were right. But it was what he needed to set his life in order, such as it was. And the anonymity didn't hurt either. In fact, it had been all he had wanted after facing court martial first for losing his best friend and second officer, then the Stargazer the following year.

He sighed and harrumphed a bit to himself as the long message from Command continued to drone on. He hadn't missed the bureaucracy -not one damn bit. He frowned and then re-read the end of the message, almost disbelievingly. Was he finally going to receive his bridge and command officer roster? In less than a week he would be shipping out on the Enterprise for the first time, and for over one month he had been kept in the dark as to both the crew complement and the officers who would be serving with him. At first, he had been annoyed, but one month later he was simply bored with waiting.

The only thing that had saved him was his daily routine. In the mornings he went for a run. Then he made his way to Command to review any news regarding the continuing construction of his new ship and to catch up on the daily news briefs from around the Federation. Then he would return to his apartment for a bit of reading and more exercise. Just minutes ago he had finished his last set of pushups for the day. Later in the afternoon he would work out with the Academy wrestling team and then perhaps go for a quick swim.

Now it appeared that Command would interrupt his routine tomorrow morning. His superiors now requested that he present at headquarters the next day after undergoing his final physical before shipping out. He was more than eager to learn of his crew assignments and hoped he would not be put at a disadvantage for having not been notified sooner.

When he walked into the briefing room, he was not surprised in the slightest to see Walker Keel. He and Walker had spent some time together over the last month. That walker was his good friend would never change. However, Picard had on several occasions during the last month struggled to keep his annoyance in check. He highly suspected that Walker knew a good deal more about his new assignment on the Enterprise than he did. This whole posting had been shrouded in secrecy from the moment it was announced a new Enterprise ship would be back in service.

He was slightly early, he noted, glancing at a nearby clock. He sat down next to Walker, and placed his data pad on the table. "Where is everyone?" he asked Walker, who was busy studying something on his own computer screen.

"Oh, it's just me," said Walker casually. "I'm briefing you." He looked up to see Picard's eyebrows furrowed together, which was never a good sign.

"You're briefing me…Walker, this is highly irregular. We're the same rank, for goodness sake."

Walker shrugged innocently. "Nevertheless…alright, so first, the mission." Picard continued to glare at him, but Picard did slowly pick up his data pad, and held it at the ready, as Walker began speaking. "We have a potentially incendiary situation brewing between two of the founding cultures of the Federation. There is no way to illustrate how disastrous it would be if these two planets came to blows. About two months ago-and the details are still sketchy on this—a small group of radical Vulcans calling themselves the Redeemers left the planet Vulcan on a cargo ship. The data indicates that they were on some kind of religious pilgrimage that involved the Romulans."

"Radical Vulcans? How odd. Were they traveling to Romulus?" asked Picard.

Walker shook his head. "We don't know. But we do know that they never made it there. Instead, it appears that an Andorian sentry ship engaged the Redeemer ship in battle near the Andorian home world, of Andor."

"Who was the aggressor?"

"We don't know that either, Jean-Luc. What we do know is that the Vulcan ship was crippled, and was forced to crash land on a moon inhabited by Andorian colonists. After that, everything is in dispute."

"What do you mean?"

"According to the Andorians the entire colony was wiped out."

Picard was horrified. "Vulcans are a disciplined and largely peaceful people. I can't believe that—"

"Some or all of the Vulcan adults were killed as well, and the belief is that the children of the Vulcans somehow commandeered a ship and escaped the moon."

"And the Enterprise has been dispatched to locate these…missing children?"

"Yes, preferably before the Andorians do. And because of the urgency, you are to leave tomorrow, which I recognize is a change of plans. Enterprise is now in orbit, and ready for its first mission."

"I am forwarding you all of the files available," added Walker, tapping at his pad. "All of this talk of children has reminded me of the next topic I was asked to cover, Captain," Walker said with a small smile. "The crew complement of this ship is just over 1000 people, as you are aware." Picard nodded. "And, Starfleet has asked me to inform you that there will be families aboard."

Picard stood up slowly, palms on the table. "By families, I am sure you mean couples…of course we can't prevent our officers from having relationships-"

"No, Jean-Luc, I mean families with children."

"This is absurd," said Picard, showing his first signs of anger. "We might be going into battle...well you know yourself, Walker. The dangers are too many to name. I don't agree with this," he muttered, cursing under his breath. He sat back down and looked at Walker with an air of defeat and resigned acceptance. He should have asked harder questions of his superior officers sooner. He was already committed to commanding this experimental ship and crew. "So, I am presuming this is why they sent you to brief me?"

"Well, there is also the list of bridge and command officers. I suggest you get ready to take some notes."