One week later found Geordie, Data, and Worf standing outside the entrance to the Great Hall at Starfleet HQ. In full dress uniform, all three officers were decidedly uncomfortable, at least, Data was emulating the discomfort he could visually see in his companions.
"I see the crew from the Saratoga over there." Said Geordie.
"And the Endeavour…" added Data.
"It looks like it will be a good turnout. I wasn't sure there'd be…" Geordie faltered, unable to continue.
For once, Data read the room correctly and simply nodded his head in silent agreement, and Geordie was thankful for small mercies. The fleet had been decimated. There were always a few crews back at HQ awaiting assignment, but the Battle at Wolf 359 had ripped through the home-fleet. The whole reason they were standing in San Francisco in the first place.
"Do you think he'll come?" he asked sotto voce.
Worf folded his arms across his chest, "The Captain is an honourable man. He will attend."
"Yeah but Worf, look around. Put yourself in his position. I just don't know how he's going to be able to handle this."
"I know the Captain will be here." He said firmly.
"Geordie, do you not think that the Doctor and Counsellor would have taken the heightened emotional levels into account before agreeing to the Captain's attendance?"
"Yeah sure I do Data, I still… don't envy him." Geordie paused seemingly the only one with any doubt, "Come on, let's take our seats."
Inside the Great Hall, the mood was sombre. Geordie had attended big events here before and they had always been enjoyable – reunions with crewmen he hadn't seen for years, old friends from the Academy. Today couldn't have been more different. The hushed whispers of a dazed fleet could be heard like a low-level buzz around the hall. He took a look around as they headed to their seats and caught the eye of a few old friends who had been rostered onto the Chekov. It hit him suddenly that he hadn't expected to ever see them again.
Almost everyone in this room would be mourning the loss of friends, relatives, colleagues… the depth of the losses was unfathomably awful. And Geordie had seen first-hand how it had happened so easily. The Borg had just annihilated the fleet without pause, without a second thought, and all because they had taken the Captain and used everything he knew.
The friends found their seats on the front row of the section reserved for the Enterprise right up front behind the block of admiral seats. He couldn't help but feel like all eyes in the room were on them. Was it right for them to be taking their usual prime position as the flagship crew? He felt awkward, exposed but then his thoughts turned to the Captain and he realised nobody would be looking at him.
Crusher and Troi arrived just a few seconds before the ceremony was to begin taking their seats in a flurry of calm. Geordie decided their presence had to be a good thing, he hadn't seen the Captain since his return from the cube but he figured if they were here, then he must be up to it.
Up ahead on the stage, one away from the end sat Riker with an empty space next to him presumably for the Captain. Geordie tried not to think about any potentially strategy in the seating plan. He didn't think he'd ever seen the First Officer look so serious, nor so tense. The big guy looked supremely uncomfortable and out of place.
Suddenly, as so often with large crowds, a natural silence fell across the hall. Geordie held his breath, this was the moment he'd been waiting for as apparently had everyone else, the tension was palpable…
Almost immediately, a procession of the fleet admiral, commodores, and Federation Council members trickled out onto the stage. In their midst came the Captain taking his place at the end of the row almost unnoticed, and Geordie let out the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. Finally, the President of the Federation herself walked alone onto the stage and went straight to the podium.
At her appearance, the crowd gathered in the hall to say goodbye to loved ones, rose as one. The President gestured for everyone to take a seat with a wave of her hand. With a grim expression on her face, she started to speak.
"We are gathered here today to remember our fallen heroes…"
As she delivered the opening words of what was sure to be a long ceremony, Geordie's attention turned to his Captain. The man looked terrible, there was no doubt about that. His face and the side of his head was covered in dermaplastic patches and he looked like he was wearing the uniform of a much larger man. He could just make out a further plast covering his hand that he had a sneaking suspicion would lead all the way up his arm, the one where the prosthetic had been. His face was gaunt, tense, and pale, his eyes etched with dark shadows. His shoulders were rounded and he looked like he was desperately trying not to be seen. His gaze remained fixed at some nondescript point on the floor. Sitting next to Riker, he looked fragile, vulnerable, like a broken man. Geordie turned instinctively to Crusher beside him, unthinking, his face a visual marker of his shock. She stared resolutely ahead, wiped at the corner of her eye, then reached for Geordie's hand squeezing it.
The President continued her speech, talking about the bravery and commitment of the dead who had perished in the line of duty in the biggest fight they had ever faced. She talked of the fight to uphold the values and honour of the United Federation of Planets and all that it stood for.
Geordie swallowed against the large lump in his throat and still couldn't take his eyes off the Captain. As the President continued, he appeared to shrink in on himself, his eyes tightly closed now. This was fast turning into one of the worst things Geordie could imagine having to go through.
And then, the moment they were all here for. The names of each and every lost comrade was being read out.
Around him, he could hear the tell-tale sniffles and coughs of crying as the assembled crowd recognised people they had once known.
Geordie could almost see the tension rippling from the Captain now. His fists were tightly balled, settled unnaturally on his lap. The litany of names was incredible, thousands upon thousands. Every single one someone's friend, loved one, someone who would be greatly missed and mourned for a long time to come.
As the reading of names continued on, Geordie could almost feel each name's impact on the Captain. He could see the man flinch every time it was someone he had known, or at least, that's what Geordie surmised.
As soon as the last name was read, there began a fleet-wide two-minute silence. The screens around the hall conveyed the observance of crews on ships way out in space. The whole fleet was gathered. Geordie dropped his head, he couldn't take his mind off the names… people he hadn't even known were involved were now long gone.
From nowhere, came the shouts of a scuffle breaking out. Geordie turned to see who had the audacity to break the spell of the moment and could just make out a group of about ten officers trying to contain the flailing movements of someone from Sciences.
"Monster! Murderer!" the man shouted, his voice amplifying around the silent room.
Worf growled his dissatisfaction. The assembled audience huffed, tutted, whispered their dismay – fortunately nobody else had the guts to join with the lone voice of dissent. Geordie knew in his bones that none of this had been the Captain's fault… but that didn't stop him from understanding the point of view of those who held him to blame.
Within seconds, the man had been hustled from the room. Dragged by a bunch of yellow-clad security officers. "Dishonourable cur," Worf spat under his breath, desperate to have been closer to the wretched man so he could have intervened and protected the Captain's honour.
Geordie turned back helplessly to see Picard stand and slowly exit the stage trying his best to remain unseen. Riker followed a second later after catching the eye of Counsellor Troi in the crowd.
"Oh man…" he whispered.