The door chimed to Beverly's quarters, breaking through the stupor of despair she had worked herself into. "Come," she said, the cheer she forced into her voice belaying the misery she felt inside.

"Bev, is everything okay. You didn't show up for breakfast…" Jack's voice trailed off. Beverly wore a smile on her face, but still something was not quite right. Crusher blinked, and whatever he had seen was gone. There was his Beverly, as beautiful and kind as she had ever been. He wanted to sigh with relief but stopped himself. That would only beg questions he didn't want to wrestle with.

"I'm fine, Jack. I was just feeling a bit under the weather. besides, I know everything that's on that tape. I didn't really care to relive it." She smiled faintly and shrugged. "I guess that's everything we need then."

"Yeah," he agreed. "With voiceprint analysis, they'll know for certain that it was her speaking."

"Well, let's talk about something a little more pleasant then, shall we? You never told me what she was like."

"Who?"

"The Stargazer, or course. Remember, the ship you toured where you befriended your hero?"

Instantly, Jack's eyes filled with stars, the same way that they did when he spoke of Beverly. "She was magnificent. We saw everything, from the engine rooms, to the cafeteria, to the crew quarters." He dropped his voice to a conspiritual whisper. "he even let us tour the bridge."

Beverly raised her eyebrows and nodded. "That's great."

"I want to go, Bev. It's like, I've never wanted anything so much in my whole life. I've had dreams before, and aspirations, but none of them compare to this one. It was like, when I stepped out of that turbolift and onto the bridge I knew that that was where I belonged."

Beverly smiled at him warmly, her earlier turmoil forgotten in the innocence he portrayed. "You will go, Jack. I know you will. I have all the faith in the world in you and I love you." She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I love you too, Beverly Howard. I love you too." He kissed her, more insistently this time, and they held each other close, their hearts pounding against one another, unmindful as time passed by and the afternoon shadows crept across the room.

* * *

Jean Luc Picard sat in his ready room, staring over the countless personnel files that had been sent from Starfleet Academy. This sort of drafting procedure always left his head spinning by the end of the day. There were always some who could be eliminated right away, but there were others, so many others who were so much alike. It was very rare that any one Cadet would stand at the forefront of his mind for long.

Picard himself had been at the top of his class while in attendance at the Academy, but he still was able to realize that being the best student did not always make one the best officer material. there were so many other things, those unknown elements like courage, tenacity and heart. These were things that could never be measured, but only tested in the field of reality. Picard knew with disheartening solemnity that five years from now many of the young faces before him would no longer be. Space was a cold, unforgiving thing.

He would have several openings in his staff come commencement time at the Academy, and he was trying to shuffle things around as best he could. All of the remaining faces before him had requested his ship as their first choice on which to serve their first tour of active duty. Still, he was over what he need by eight. There were six spots available, and he would choose two alternates. That meant eight of these "extras" had to go.

He looked at the smiling earnestness portrayed by each. Though he ran a tight ship and was not overly fond of those ensigns who were so new from the Academy they practically had a sheen to them, he often found himself taking them aboard anyway. They could be taught. he could reach them and make them believe in the true love of duty and the commitment to honor he so believed in before they were tainted by others who had become embittered or who had forgotten, somewhere along the way what it was that had drawn them to the fleet in the first place. This was his hope, at any rate.

Ballard, Canon, Crusher, Dalfen, De Lorme, Gallagher, Gates, Keel, Klasse, Pakard, Perryman, Reed, Sharp, Silvenman, Stewart, and Strohmeyer. They looked up at him, each begging him in their own way to decide upon them as the best candidate. Any of them had the potential to make a fine officer. It was up to him to decide which half had the most potential, and then to further break them down into order from most to least.

He was not a man to make decisions in haste. he knew that what he chose here and now would have an affect on each you man or woman for the rest of their lives, and upon his crew as well. Any one of these cadets had the potential to save or destroy his ship.

He had just averted his mind back to the screen when a communiqué from the academy burst onto the screen. It was Beverly Howard. "Merde," he said to his constant companion Earl Grey. The tea said nothing, just sat serenely in the cup which had now gone cold. He had spent all night lying awake in his bed trying to rid her from his mind, and there she was in all her beautiful; glory.

"Captain," she said, smiling. His message had been voice only, but she had chosen to incorporate the live-feed picture. he wondered why she must torture him so. "I wanted to thank you again for sending a message to Admiral Parsons. I hope I haven't caught you at a poor time, but I wanted you to know that everything worked out well."

"Oh no, it's not a bad time Beverly," her name slipped through his lips unbidden. there it was, the familiarity he had sworn himself against. Mentally, he chided himself. "Thank you for replying. Would you like to meet me for lunch tomorrow." He could barley contain his horror. What had gotten into him. He should know how to exercise more self control than this by know. For God's sake, he was a Starfleet Captain, and here he was melting and befuddled over a woman.

"Yes, I'd love that. Is 1300 hours okay?"

"Yes, yes fine." he had to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible before he lost it completely and was asking her to date him. "Bring Mr. Crusher if you like. Picard out." He breathed a sigh of relief as her image snapped off the screen and he was confronted with his list of officer candidates once again. Suddenly the task at hand seemed far less arduous than the one awaiting him planetside tomorrow afternoon.