23 Hours Later
Riker stood in the center of his living room. It had been cleaned up some over the past twelve hours. Not a lot, but some. The fallen bulkheads had been replaced and the open conduit was sealed.
He sighed and looked into his daughter's bedroom. The young and beautiful quarter- Betazoid was sleeping peacefully. She had no idea what was going on. Not really. All she knew was some confused people thought Daddy had done something wrong. But Daddy was fixing it.
Riker stood there for a short time. He watched his daughter sleep, thinking back over Picard's words. Something in his eyes told Riker all he need to know. There was something the Captain couldn't say… something that meant to fight back at all cost.
"Worf, we don't want to cause a scene, do we? I will go voluntarily, they can't hold me against my will. And, Number One, you have the Enterprise. Don't let my predicament hinder what you know you must do."
He had picked apart each and every word again and again. He could read many things into them. But, in that moment, he wondered if he just wished there to be something there.
Picard told Worf not to make a scene. At the time, Riker had of course assumed that it was an order. But now, when he ran back through the words, it had been a question. Was it one for Riker to answer?
And then there was the part about being held against his will. Riker hadn't known what that meant at first. He thought now that, perhaps, he had been eluding to the ships' situation rather than his own.
And then there was the last part. The hardest and yet blatantly obvious part. He knew what he had to do and that was put Picard in harms way. He had to attack. He had to escape…
Enterprise Bridge, The Next Day
Riker sifted in his seat. He rested his chin in his hand for just a moment. Then he straightened. Then shifted again.
His body was tense, pumping with adrenaline as he waited. Riker was no good at waiting.
His mind ran through his earlier conversations. He and the other Captains had spoken in secret. The words were still playing loudly in his mind.
"No, the Enterprise is too valuable to risk damaging any farther. We'll do it," the Captain of the Roddenberry told Riker.
"But you would be risking your ship. I can't ask you to do that."
"You wouldn't be. And besides, what have I been doing since the minute this campaign began? Anyway, if we're taken back, who will stop them from putting us on trial too?"
Riker snapped back to reality. He looked up. It had been Data's console beeping that caught his attention.
Data turned and nodded.
The Omega
Captain Taylor sat lounging in his chair. A smirk tugged loosely at his lips. He was happy with his job on his first assignment.
He thought with amusement at how easy it had been to capture the notorious Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Far too easy.
And then it was even more fun to think that he was able to outsmart Commander Riker. The man would never fire on the Omega… they had Picard.
"Captain!" Taylor was forced from his thoughts by the Lieutenant's cry. "The Roddenberry's warp core is overloading! If they don't drop out of warp immediately, their core will breach!"
"Drop out of warp and tell the others to do the same. Then get me the Roddenberry's Captain on the screen."
"Aye, sir."
/-/-/-/-/-/
Once the fleet was safely out of warp, Captain Taylor was finally able to talk to Captain Jayton, the Roddenberry's Captain. "What happened, Captain!?"
He looked over Jayton's face. He noted that it was something of a cross between feigning innocence and true ignorance. But Taylor paid this no attention as he awaited his answer. "I'm not sure. It must have been damage to the core during one of the engagements."
"Can you fix it?"
"My engineers are working on it as we speak. But they say it will take almost ten hours to repair."
"I can send over some of my best engineers," Taylor offered. He wanted to get on his way. Some irrational thought in his mind decided that they were stalling purposely.
"Thank-you, but I'm afraid that won't be necessary. It's not a matter of people, according to my Chief Engineer. Something about how long it will take to power things up and down and all that."
Taylor sighed. "Very well, we will continue at maximum impulse until your ship can return to warp." The screen went blank and he slumped back against his chair.
"It's alright, sir. There's always one thing that has to go wrong during a mission. This is it."
Taylor looked over at his First Officer, Kibler. Kibler was only a year younger than Taylor and, like Taylor, had only gotten his promotion because the previous senior staff had been removed from the Omega.
"Yeah let's hope that that's all." As if by cue, an alarm went off. Taylor groaned. "Now what!?"
"Sir, the Enterprise's phasers are… going haywire!" His tactical officer answered.
"What do you mean 'haywire'?!"
"They're… being activated and deactivate in undetermined intervals. They're also locking and unlocking on to different and random targets!"
"Hail them."
Enterprise, Bridge
On board the Enterprise, Riker was sat patiently in his chair. A grin played on his lips. But he forced it away. It truly wasn't a laughing matter. Truly it wasn't. But it was damned funny all the same.
Finally Worf announced that Taylor was hailing them. He marched around to Worf's station, leaning over the console to add to the effect. He started to talk, making it appear as if they were in a deep discussion about the phasers.
Taylor's face appeared on the view screen, but Riker was looking at the panel instead. "Well shut it off! I don't care how!"
"Yes, sir," Worf answered, unfazed but the irritation in his orders.
Riker snapped his head up to look at Taylor. His voice was harsher than he realized when he spat out, "I'm kind of busy here as you can see. Is there something you need?"
"What's going on?" The Captain demanded. Riker looked at him, strolling down the somewhat clean bridge. He looked at the man, barely containing his laughter at the man's anxiety.
"I'm not sure. But we're working on it. Don't worry, I don't think it will actually fire on anyone."
"Fine, how long?"
"No idea. I'll get back to you on that. Riker out."
Enterprise, Ready Room
"How much longer until your warp core is repaired?"
Riker watched the miniature image of Captain Jayton shrug. He sighed and replied, "About nine more hours. Perhaps eight. But you know engineers, they're probably done already."
Jayton's voice was joking but Riker had to force himself to laugh. The channel wasn't secure and they knew that. Speaking in code was the only way to assure that if Taylor- or anyone reporting to him- was listening, he couldn't risk them figuring out what they meant.
Riker nodded from behind Picard's desk. He knew Taylor meant that they had already fixed what little sabotage they had done and were sending out false readings.
"So how's that phaser problem?"
"Well, Mr. Worf is still stumped. He'll be working on it for a while." Jayton nodded. Riker knew that he understood his meaning; Worf controlled the program completely.
"Well I should go. And you better get some sleep. Be with your wife and daughter."
"Yeah. Riker out."
The screen deactivated as Riker hit the middle button. He sighed, spinning around in the chair. He leaned forward. Both hands ran through his hair, then rubbed his face.
He knew he couldn't sleep. Their meeting was still running through his mind.
"Phase Three. Worf will have the 'malfunction' cause our phasers to begin firing. We won't hit them, at least not badly. We'll blame it on the malfunction. I want to get them upset enough to fire on us. All we want to do is break away from them, not destroy them."
"What about Picard? With the shields up, we can't get to him!"
Riker had turned to the DeForest's Captain- Harrington. He was shocked that it hadn't been considered in Riker's plan.
Riker had only been able to look down and say, "I know."
Daycare Center
Deanna glanced over at her husband. His face was stiff- controlled. He forced a smile for Liz. Even added a slight chuckle at something she said. But Deanna read through the façade he had erected for their daughter.
The fear was welling up inside his chest. She could feel it throughout the ship. It hung over her head and pulled at her stomach. She was afraid too. Everyone was.
She slipped her hand into his. Will glanced at her. Even smiled. It didn't fool her. He never could.
Liz giggled again at something. Deanna looked at her, she smiled. Only the children weren't afraid. Some were- some were old enough to understand. But most weren't. Liz wasn't.
She let go of Will's hand and he shifted Liz on his hip as they passed through the school's doors. He led them to the back were the younger children were.
Deanna watched as Liz slid easily from his hold and onto the floor. Will held her, steadying her feet before he crouched down in front of her. She remained at a slight distance, watching Will kiss her on the forehead. He smiled, whispered something in her ear. Liz just giggled, then nodded.
Will stood and stepped away. Deanna released a breath. She made herself smile, made it reach her eyes. Liz could tell if she didn't. Somehow she could. Deanna scolded herself- Liz was her daughter, and too much of an empath for her own good.
She squeezed the girl tightly, kissing her cheek. "Be good for Miss Warner, Liz."
"Bye, Liz," she heard Will say behind her.
Liz gave a small pout. Deanna stood, waved at the girl. She watched amount as Liz quickly forgot about them and discovered her friends around her.
Deanna sighed and watched her. Will's hand ran down her arm. She glanced back at him but he was already engaged with Ensign Warner.
"You have the program ready to deactivate the comm.'s and activate the force shields?"
"Yes, sir. I'm to start it the moment all the children are here."
"Just…" he sighed, "keep them occupied."
"I know. I've asked some others to help me today."
"Good… good. Carry on, Ensign."
Deanna sighed. She nodded her thanks to the officer and followed behind Will. The woman was scared. Deanna felt it; it was the only emotion that stood out in the room.
