Chapter 40

"You both fought honorably," Worf said to Saris and K'Ehleyr. Looking them over cursorily he could see they had minor cuts and bruises, but had emerged from a fight with Doulos' warriors largely unharmed.

"We defeated the enemy, but the doctor was captured anyway," replied Saris.

"So it is hardly any victory at all," said K'Ehleyr. She looked at Worf. "What now?"

"We must wait for the Captain's next order," said Worf. "He is conferring with Commander Riker.

"Will he retaliate?" asked Saris. "It would be the natural reaction were he a Romulan."

The Ambassador shook her head. "Or if he was a Klingon. But Picard is a Human and he is one who follows reason even more than most. He rarely acts on impulse."

Worf stared off into the distance. "Normally I would agree, K'Ehleyr. But these are not normal circumstances."

Will Riker ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "He wouldn't listen to me Deanna; he just pushed me aside and stormed out of the room. I followed him here and he's refusing to let anyone in." They stood outside the Captain's temporary quarters.

"I will try and reason with him, Will."

"Deanna, I'm used to him being the reasonable one. The one we all rely on."

Troi nodded. "I believe that Captain Picard's core self remains intact, despite all he has been through."

"Deanna this is different. Beverly is gone and in the hands of that monster. I can't even imagine what Captain Picard is thinking right now."

"Unfortunately, I do not need to imagine what he is thinking. It is all very clear to me," she said, and then hit the door chime. "Captain Picard, it is me, Deanna. I would like to speak to you sir."

"There is no time," he called out. "I must act quickly."

"Captain, I know that your feelings are in turmoil right now, but please, I need to speak with you."

There was a pause. "Five minutes," came Picard's voice, and the door swished open. Riker folded his arms over his chest and resisted following her inside.

"Well?" Picard demanded, when Troi stood before him.

"Sir, your thoughts are in turmoil. Please try and quiet your emotions before making any decisions that could put yourself or Beverly at further risk."

"You don't understand," he said, pacing back and forth. "Each moment I waste she is already at risk. I have to go and find her."

"Do you know how to find her, Captain?"

"Yes, I've got to reach the bridge…or what used to be my bridge. Doulos has brought her there, I am sure of it."

"And once you are there, then what? You were just healed—you are still healing, I should say from being gravely wounded by Doulos."

"That doesn't change anything!" he shouted. "That doesn't change that I owe her, Troi. That I must find her."

"Or what? What do you fear is going to happen to her?"

He stepped very close to her then. His voice was raw and full of barely repressed emotion. "Do not try and make me say it, Troi. I am trying my best not to think of it."

Troi took a deep breath and took Picard's hand. "I don't fault you for that, Captain. But I also do not believe you are thinking clearly about the potential consequences of going after Beverly. Instead you are imagining all of the horrible things that might happen if you do not."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…for one you don't know the effect your actions will have on the Other. Perhaps this is exactly what he wants…you enslaved to your emotions—"

"Enslaved?" Picard glared at her.

Troi ignored his outraged reaction and continued. "And perhaps you are also underestimating Beverly. She is quite capable and resourceful—"

Picard wrenched his hand from her grip and walked away from her before turning back. "How dare you say such a thing to me?" he bellowed at her. "Do you know how long I have known Beverly Crusher? Do you comprehend how much she means to me?"

"Despite the fact that you have never expressed your feelings publicly, Captain…yes, I believe I comprehend better than most how much you care for Beverly Crusher."

"I don't merely care for her. I love her."

Deanna smiled. "Yes, of course."

"And I certainly have respect for her immense strength, Counselor, but Doulos killed me." Deanna's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Yes, he killed me," continued Picard. "And so I am well aware of his capabilities and propensity for destroying those who get in his way."

"But his fixation on her…have you considered that it might keep her safe?"

"Safe?" Picard looked as though he was going to explode at that. He covered his face with his hands briefly, and she realized then that her efforts had been wasted. As soon as she mentioned Doulos' fixation on Beverly, Picard's mind had filled with fury and closed itself to her.

He dropped his hands and moved away from her and towards the door. "I don't know, Counselor. But I will tell you this: God help anyone who tries to stand in my way, because I am not going to stop until I find her."

"Breathe slowly, it will lessen the discomfort," the voice said. It was familiar but not in a way that set her mind at ease. She coughed and leaned forward with her arms outstretched, ready to fall forward. It was then that she realized that she could not fall because she was suspended in mid-air. She could see very little and a grey curtain of haze hung over her eyes. A strong arm gripped around her waist. She coughed again, feeling nauseous, and took in a deep breath. It felt as though her lungs were heavy with fluid and she fought the urge to panic. Where was she? The air was cold, but when she blinked her eyes she could now see the dim flicker of a yellow flame.

"Soon the discomfort will pass," said the voice. Slowly she was lowered downward until her boots touched something solid-a stone floor.

Suddenly panic set in as though a switch had been flipped inside her mind. Doulos' servants had tricked her, and then he had captured her in the stairwell. And now here she was...But it didn't matter. She told herself she would get free. "Let me go," she demanded, and twisted in his grip.

"Be still," said the voice, and she realized now that the voice of Doulos sounded exactly like Jean-Luc's, but with an even lower register. There was nothing sinister about the voice, and in fact that was what caused her to momentarily freeze with uncertainty. It was the voice she loved. But it's not him, she told herself.

"No," she objected fiercely. She struggled from the steely grip and kicked backwards with her right leg. She connected with what sounded like a knee cap, but instead of a satisfying cry of pain she heard a short gruff laugh, but she broke his grip anyway, and staggered forward, now only partially blind.

Beverly turned to face the looming figure of her captor. Reaching out to the side, she felt a stone wall and placed her palm on it. Remembering her self-defense training, she pushed aside the urge to back into the corner, and instead remained facing Doulos. She glanced around her quickly. There was only one exit she could see with her slowly improving vision. Glancing above her she saw one of several torches jutting out of the wall support.

He was very tall, much taller than Worf or Riker, with a thick neck and a brutish appearance. But even more shocking was that underneath it all she recognized Jean-Luc's facial features. He was the tattooed man from the dream she had had so long ago it seemed now.

He stared down at her with a mixture of expressions she was unable to read. "You have nothing to fear from me," he said. "I will not harm you," he said in that voice. She almost clapped her hands over her ears to keep from hearing it again. She had no way of knowing whether he was being sincere or not. But given what she knew of this...creature and his murderous tendencies she should not trust him.

"What do you want with me?" She asked haltingly.

Doulos walked slowly forward with his hand outstretched tentatively as though she were a shy animal, but one he was certain was capable of biting him. "I desire your company," he said still moving forward. Something in his dark eyes glittered; something she could not read.

She let out a harsh laugh, which she hoped helped to mask her fear. "You have my company...but you had to rely on deception and force to get it."

Doulos frowned and paused in his advance. A look of confusion crossed his heavy brow. Good, maybe he is stupid, she thought hopefully. "You would not have come to me willingly," he said.

"Well I guess you're not as dumb as you look then," she snapped. He blinked at the insult, and instead of looking angry, appeared slightly hurt. "So you take what you want," she pressed on. Getting an idea, she took a few steps backward and towards the wall. As she expected, he pursued her.

"Yes," he said naturally. "I am the Overlord of this realm now. All of my subjects must do my bidding."

"Yes, but I'm not one of your subjects..." As he closed to within a meter, she reached up and swiftly pulled the torch down from the wall, waving it in front of her with both hands. Doulos stepped back in surprise as she shoved the torch upward into his face. He grunted, and then waved the torch aside as though it were an annoyance.

Then to her dismay he laughed. "You are very spirited, Beverly Crusher. One day soon you will fight at my side, and together we will crush the enemies of my master."

Rage and fear now mixing together she leapt at him with the torch, striking him in the side of the head and then thrusting it into the bare skin of his chest. Shaken by her own violence, she fell backwards to the hard floor.

Doulos grunted again in pain, and wavered slightly but did not retreat. He just stood with the flaming torch sticking out of his chest. More surprised than anything, he took hold of the torch and pulled it out of his flesh with a pained growl. He tossed the smoldering object to the side, and looked down at the wound which began to quickly close up and then disappear before her eyes. He looked down at her. "Why did you strike me?" His tone was purely curious. If he was angry, it didn't show.

Beverly quietly weighed her options. Violence was not going to work-that much was clear. He was for all appearances invincible. At least for right now. But he had to have a weakness. If she got to know him a little bit, she could find his weak point and exploit it. "I hit you for the same reason that you kidnapped me, Doulos; because I wanted to. Do you think I am just going to sit here and smile at you in while in captivity?"

He broke into a smile, apparently pleased at something she had said, which certainly had not been her goal. "You know my name," he said sounding surprised. "You speak it beautifully."

"Oh you like the way I say your name? In that case you won't hear me say it again," she said, backing away from him.

Doulos gestured toward the table in the center of the room. "Please sit down and rest your body. Why do you resist my companionship?"

"Companionship? Kidnapping me is a hell of a way to say you want to be friends." She crouched down with her back to the wall, keeping her eyes on him.

Doulos sat down cross-legged in the middle of the floor and watched her. "What must I do to win your friendship?" he asked.

Beverly ignored any sincerity that came through in his voice. She shivered from the chill of the stone on her back, and from the sinking feeling of loneliness settling in her insides. She hugged herself, wishing that Jean-Luc was with her instead of this dangerous hulk. "You can't," she whispered. "Because you took Jean-Luc from me. And I almost lost him forever." She looked up at him defiantly. "And I will never forget that."

"What are you doing?" Guinan asked calmly as Picard began rifling through items in back of the bar. A few crew members looked on with curiosity.
He didn't even look up at her, but spoke quickly. "You have weapons, don't you? You think I am going to just sit here and wait for her to be harmed?"

"Yes…I do have some weapons back there…as you well know. But you could always just ask me. You don't have to go and stomp around back there."

He finally stopped and looked at her. "I am going to kill him, Guinan. Once and for all." He crouched down and resumed his search.

Guinan leaned on the bar. "Who? Doulos?"

"Yes," he snapped.

"Well…don't just stop there…what about the Other? Don't you want to kill him too?"

Picard straightened and looked her in the eye. "I will do whatever is necessary to find Beverly and bring her back safely," he assured her.

"Ah…revenge," she said quietly. She rubbed a smudge off the surface of the bar with her sleeve.

His face was almost calm. She could tell he was intensely focused. "Call it what you like," he said. "This isn't a game, Guinan," he said tightly.

"Oh yes it is," she corrected him. "But it's not your game. You see…you're just a hapless chess piece getting ready to be used…again. He's already manipulated you once, Captain. Are you going to let him do it again?"

He stood very still with both hands on the bar and glared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how the Other controlled you once…and he'll do it again if you let him."

Picard pulled out a rusty looking disruptor and placed it on the bar in front of him. "Nonsense. I simply won't let him."

"Hmm. Well maybe I should just say goodbye to you now, Captain. And for that matter, the rest of the universe too. Because if you go and kill Doulos, I wouldn't be surprised if the next thing that happens is that you are taking his place—just like he took yours. You see, the Other is just waiting for you to give in to your desire to see Doulos in pain for what you are imagining he is doing to Beverly. When are you going to see that the only thing he cares about is seeing people in pain? By feeding your destructive desires you are only feeding him."

Picard's face grew darker with anger, but he said nothing. Guinan smiled faintly and then waved over an old man he'd never seen before. And yet there was something familiar about the stooping figure as he walked slowly over.

"Yes, Teacher?" the old man said, stopping next to Guinan.

Guinan put a hand on the old man's shoulder and looked at Picard.

"Captain Picard, I would like you to meet Demetrius. Demetrius knows a little about revenge and what the Other does with such things. So I suggest you listen to what he has to say."

"But I mean you no harm," said Doulos again. He got up and went over to the fountain. He dipped a clay cup into the water and turned back to look at her. She closed her eyes and wished she could press herself back and through the stone wall, and right out of the room; this prison. She heard his boots slap against the hard floor as he approached. He knelt and held the cup out to her.

She looked up at him coldly. "If that's true you'll let me go," she said. He tried to hand her the cup of water, but she shook her head and looked away as though uninterested. But the truth was she was growing very thirsty. She had no way of knowing if that water was tainted and would somehow turn her to the Other. For now, she would refuse it, but knew that soon she would need something to drink.

Doulos seemed dismayed that she would not drink, but he got up and walked away. At that moment there was a knock at the large wooden door. "Come," Doulos called out. Beverly put her hand over her mouth, thoroughly disturbed to hear him use the word Picard often used to summon his senior officers.

The door creaked open and a familiar young man in a gold and black uniform entered, immediately falling to one knee. Gone was Ensign Barnes' sandy hair. He had shaved his head, apparently in reverence to Doulos. She brightened at the prospect of having someone else that she knew, or at least that she had known, in this room with her. Perhaps not all was lost.

"Report…you pathetic excuse for a soldier," shouted Doulos.

Barnes bowed his head. "The master sends word, Sire. He has commanded me to tell you that this vessel will reach the place where his creator resides in two days."

"Orla…." said Doulos. Beverly's ears perked up, as did her spirits. They were traveling to see Orla.

"He has commanded us to subjugate the remaining insurgents before our arrival, Sire."

Doulos growled something unintelligible. Beverly took that as her cue and pushed herself up and away from the wall. She walked toward them boldly. "Ensign Barnes. It's so good to see you," she said, keeping her tone light. She knew that Barnes was one of the first crewmen to be swayed by the Other, but that didn't mean he couldn't be changed back again.

"Do not speak to him, Beverly Crusher," ordered Doulos. "He is not worthy of your attention."

"Of course he is," said Beverly, crouching down to try and make eye contact with Barnes. Barnes kept his eyes averted and focused on the ground. He seemed quite frightened. Certainly not of me, she thought.

"Barnes, um, how have you been?" she said cautiously. Barnes kept his eyes on the ground. "I'd like to know how you've been, Barnes. Won't you look at me?"

Barnes' lips moved silently. She reached out to touch the top of his head, but Barnes moved away from her, still kneeling. "Please...Doctor," he said quietly, keeping his eyes on the floor.

Doulos had been watching with his piercing gaze and he now moved in like lightning, grabbing Barnes by the neck with one hand. "No!" Beverly screamed. But Doulos lifted Barnes into the air, squeezing his throat mercilessly.

"I told you what would happen if you uttered her name or even thought of her," he snarled into Barnes's quivering face. Barnes was beginning to lose consciousness. Beverly began punching Doulos in the side as hard as she could, but only succeeded in bruising her fists. He moved away from her pressing Barnes up against the wall. He was going to kill him, that much was clear.

She looked around and saw the burnt remains of the torch still lying on the floor. She picked it up and rushing up behind Doulos brought it up as hard as she could between his legs. There was a crunching sound and Doulos fell to his knees, dropping Barnes to the floor in favor of protecting his privates. He groaned and fell forward as Barnes slowly dragged himself from the room. Beverly glanced quickly out the door to get a look at the former bridge before the big door shut again."

Guinan, you know I value your wisdom," began Picard.

"Then stay and listen to what Demetrius has to say," she urged him.

"Don't you see, that I cannot?"

"No I see that you will not. It's not the same thing…"

Picard picked up the old disruptor and then put it back down. She could see his mind running over the details of a rudimentary plan. A plan that she knew would not work. But Picard had to be convinced of the same.

She sighed and put her hand on the disruptor, slowly taking it away from him. She stowed it in an unseen pocket underneath her robes. "If you don't want to listen to Demetrius, then at least let me help you. You're in no shape to confront Doulos. And more importantly, if you attack him, or he attacks you, there is a very real chance that whatever little haven we have created here on Deck 10 will disappear, and any of the good will left on this ship will end and the Other will win. Do you want that to happen?"

"Of course not," said Picard, rubbing his brow.

"Then will you let me help you find another way?"

He sighed and clearly wanted to say no, but instead he said "yes."

Please note that there is missing content between chapter 39 and 40. I simply lost the chapters (shrug?). I recall enjoying writing this story back in 2013, however it's not a favorite of mine for various reasons. That said, I think others might enjoy, so here it is. Thanks for reading. -PP