Hi everyone! Here's the third chapter! I'm not as happy with how this one turned out, but I couldn't place what was exactly wrong. Hopefully you enjoy it, and as usual I don't own any Star Trek :)
The senior staff sat in the meeting room, waiting for their briefing to start. The captain had requested a meeting with his staff earlier this afternoon while writing reports in his office. With an event to this magnitude, Starfleet had messaged him this morning, asking for an extensive report so they would have background knowledge before conducting an investigation. An admiral had informed Captain Picard that this report would be needed within the next 72 hours, therefore the investigation could be conducted quickly after. The hope in this was that the attack would still be fresh in the Romulans minds when the Federation confronted them.
As the Enterprise's senior staff trickled in, they were greeted with a solemn nod from their captain before taking a seat. The crew sat in silence, waiting for Dr. Crusher to arrive. Looking over his senior officers, Picard couldn't help but feel pity for what the crew was going through.
Riker was looking down at his hands, interwinding his fingers. Geordi had taken his visor off and was rubbing his temples. Troi simply sat there with her eyes closed; Picard figured she was trying to find solid ground in the emotions she must be feeling at the moment. Data stared at him, watching him sit with his hand on his chin. Dr. Crusher… Dr. Crusher had still not arrived yet. Picard sighed looking at the clock, noticing five Earth minutes had gone by. If this was what his senior staff was going though, he had no doubt others under his command would need some counseling.
Sighing out loud, he sat up in his chair and put his hands on the table. "Well, I'm sure that whatever is keeping Dr. Crusher must be very important. Let's proceed with the meeting. First off, I'd like to say that I feel that those of you that were on the away team this morning handled the attack very well. While I'm sure Starfleet will disagree, I couldn't be more proud to be able to say you are on my ship. That being said, Starfleet Headquarters is requesting a group report within the next seventy-two hours. That means I will need each of you to make your own reports based off your departments and combine them into a large report. Feel free to include any of the officers under your sub-command in your department. The more information we have the better." He finished as the crew nodded in response.
"Counselor Deanna, I have informed Starfleet that we might need additional counselors for the next few weeks. Would you agree with this assessment?" Picard asked as Deanna sighed.
"Normally Captain, I would like to handle the ships counseling myself, but seeing the level of both the crews and survivors drop in both physical and mental health… I believe help is needed." Deanna concluded looking back down at her hands "I think even the senior staff could benefit talking to someone…. Myself included."
Riker looked over to her in concern as Picard nodded at the assessment, "Thank you for the honesty, Counselor Troi. Speaking of the physical health of the citizens under the Federation's care… does anyone have any idea of the physical wellbeing? I understand Dr. Crusher usually answers these questions, but seeing as she isn't present I wondered if any of you had any idea. I saw that she had also sent me a message, asking for me to ask the crew to donate blood in addition to her own message. Does anyone have an idea why this is necessary?" He asked. "This isn't a rhetorical question. I'm actually quite confused."
"Captain," Data interjected "While I cannot give you stats on anyone, I do believe the request for blood donations was due to the fact that the Enterprise is most likely low on the nutrients in the system needed to generate blood. As you may know Captain, more people were found this afternoon around ten miles from the colony. It seems when the attack began these people fled on foot. Therefore, the blood may be needed for them as well as to replenish Sickbay's supplies." He finished staring at his captain.
"Thank you Mr. Data. Regarding the colony…"
The meeting continued on as each senior staff member went through their personal report as well as answering questions. As the meeting wrapped up, Picard sent each senior staff member with the assignment to get as much information about the attack and aftermath as possible. While the rest of the senior staff walked out though, Deanna Troi walked up to the captain, stopping him from walking out to the bridge.
"Counselor?" Captain Picard asked as she sighed.
"I could feel your frustration when mentioning Dr. Crusher's name-"
"I'm frustrated she's not in a requested meeting. Especially when the situation revolves so tightly around her department." He interrupted shaking his head.
"I understand, Captain. Please understand though, that today has been a very difficult day for Dr. Crusher." Deanna explained seeing Picard change his stance.
"Is, is she alright? She wasn't injured this morning was she?" He asked as the ship's counselor shook her head.
"Physically, Beverly is just fine. Mentally, she's dealing with something from her past. I can't go into details, both as the ship's counselor and her friend. I will say she is tied to Selia, in some shape and form. Please, go easy on her." Deanna nodded as Picard gulped.
"I… I got into an argument with her this morning. It might be best to go apologize now." Picard half suggested as Deanna nodded in approval before walking out of the briefing room.
Picard tapped his combadge "Computer, locate Dr. Crusher"
"Dr. Crusher is not on the Enterprise." The computer chimed back as Picard ran his hands over his head again.
"What was Dr. Crusher's last known location." He asked, becoming more worried.
"Transporter Room A" The computer answered as Picard gritted his teeth.
'Merde' he mumbled to himself before walking out onto the bridge. "Commander Riker, you have control of the Enterprise. I have an assignment I need to complete on Selia." He said walking to the turbolift.
"Captain I don't believe it's wise to-"
"Alone." He said to Riker, who had interrupted him, as the doors to the turbolift closed.
—
Head Nurse Alyssa Ogawa continued to help with the blood drive that was now happening in Sickbay. Even without the captain sending out a message, it seemed her commanding officer's had done the trick. With sickbay relinquished to her, Alyssa was making sure that the blood was being stored correctly. Not only was it good to have real blood on the ship, especially regarding the many species aboard, but also it gave the younger ensigns some hands on training. Not that they hadn't gotten enough of that this morning with the attack.
With the ensigns handling the donors, Alyssa scanned the victims that had been found after running from the attack. The last patients had been beamed in about a half hour ago. Now, all that was left was to run a diagnostic so she could pair their blood types.
Looking at the last five people that had been brought in, she saw two young children and another that was probably around seven. Since all five citizens were awake, the nurse figured she would greet the family.
"Hello, I'm Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, this is your family I assume? I will need to run a basic diagnostic on each of you so I can see how dehydrated you are as well as match up your blood type." She explained as the family nodded.
"Thank you. My name is Thomas Hopkins…. this is my wife, Jolie, and my sons, Harry and Emilio." He said before continuing, "the little girl, Jennifer, is not ours I'm afraid, she's a family friend. We knew, er… we know her family quite well. They lived in the center of town." Thomas carefully explained as Nurse Ogawa nodded in understanding. From initial reports, it seemed the center of town had been the first to be hit in the attack.
Bending down to the girl's level, she waved at her and smiled. The toddler waved back softly as Alyssa pulled out the tricorder.
"I'm going to scan you know for any injuries and to find out your blood type. Is that alright?" She asked as Jennifer nodded in approval.
Looking at the results, Alyssa quickly ran over the results. 'It's good she isn't too dehydrated' she thought before pulling up Jennifer's brief medical file. The head nurse quickly read over the results before stopping mid-sentence. She re-read it over and over, expecting her eyes to be wrong.
Mother: Beverly Cheryl Howard Crusher
"Is something wrong, Nurse Owaga?" Thomas asked as she looked up, faking a smile.
"No, of course not! Just the tricorder taking a while to load. Jennifer's blood type is A positive. Luckily she's not too dehydrated!" Alyssa finished before starting scans on one of the boys.
'Surely, it's a mistake. The computer must have seen them both have Howard in their last name and got confused. Beverly doesn't have a daughter.' She thought as she continued to give scans.
—
Picard felt himself materializing on a dusty road as Selia's sunset greeted him with a glare in his eyes. Putting his hand up to block the sun's greeting he started glancing around for signs of his chief medical officer. He reminded himself how the ensign in the transporter room had told him where he had beamed her to. He also told the captain that Beverly had given the excuse that she had forgotten some of her medical supplies.
'Bloody likely' the Enterprise's captain had thought to himself, realizing she had been gone for over an hour now.
Starting his search, he began looking for one of his colleague's and closest friend's. It didn't take him long though to spot the blue medical uniform down the street. Beginning his ascent towards her, he noticed she was sitting with her eyes glued to the ruble in front of her. Not once did she look up to see who was coming, nor say a word as he stood next to her hoping for an explanation.
'Something is very wrong' Picard thought before finally deciding to take the plunge and start the conversation.
"Beverly-"
"Leave me alone Jean-Luc." She mumbled out, cutting off his statement.
"Beverly, before I say anything I want to apologize for my words and actions earlier today… they were completely out of line." Picard explained as Beverly continued to stare straight ahead.
"Jean-Luc, your words are the least of my concern right now." She said. Picard took that as a sign they were in for a long talk. He sat beside her, looking directly at her side in a hope she'd make eye contact.
"Then what is your concern?"
She shook her head slowly before letting out a sniffle. "Do you know what it's like to lose a child?'
He sighed, putting a hand on her back. "If this is about one of your patients from the planet, I'm sure you did everything you could."
"I could've done better." Beverly mumbled softly as he saw her lip start to tremble again.
"Beverly, you did everything you could. You're a good doctor-"
"Dammit Jean-Luc!" The doctor snapped, finally looking up at him "I'm talking about my child." Picard looked at her, startled for a moment. He could see by the puffiness and redness in her eyes she'd been crying for quite sometime. Her makeup had been smeared as well. He looked into her eyes, seeing the tears well back up.
"Beverly, Wesley is at the academy to my knowledge…. Unless he-"
"No Jean-Luc. I have… I had a daughter." Beverly chocked out before sobbing again.
Picard looked at the woman he'd come to regard as one of his best friends be racked with painful sobs. To say he was confused was an understatement. 'Daughter?' He'd thought to himself as he pulled his chief medical officer into a hug. Despite his confusion he couldn't let her suffer alone.
As her sobs lightened up, he put a hand to her forehead. Beverly pushed it away. "I'm not sick, Jean-Luc!" Beverly had sneered, finally looking at Picard. He had pulled his hand back like a hurt animal, and the chief medical officer could see the confusion in her captain. "I'm sorry." She sighed, running her hands though her hair. 'You've got to tell him now, Beverly'. Talking a gulp, she thought of where to start. Tears filled her eyes again as she took what felt like the hundredth intentional breath that day.
Gaining her composure, Beverly looked over to Picard. "Jean-Luc, I can't go into details here. I think we'd be on this planet for a while….but, I can tell you some of what's been burdening me…
I had a daughter, Jean-Luc. I'm telling you the truth… I swear I'm not sick. She's real. I have the pictures to prove it."
Picard looked at Beverly, even more confused now. "Was this… was this before you met Jack? Or…"
"No, this was almost four years ago." Beverly answered, knowing the questions her friend must be harboring. "I'll explain later… but basically, she was in the foster system. This…" she motioned to the ruble as her bottom lip started to twitch again "this is where she lived."
"Are you saying…?"
She found herself crying softly at the question as she nodded slowly. Picard took her hand in his as she fell against his shoulder. He let his friend grieve for another thirty minutes, before noticing the setting sun in the distance.
"Beverly, we have to get back to the Enterprise. It's getting dark, and I don't know this planet very well." He explained standing up and grabbing her hand. At first she rejected it, starting to stare back at the ruble. "Beverly, please." Picard asked her as she finally grabbed his hand and stood up.
"Picard to Enterprise. Two to beam up to Dr. Crusher's quarters." He demanded as the two disappeared from the barren planet.
Thank you so much for reading! I plan on having some big reveals in the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means the world to me. Also, if you have any idea on where to take the story or any plot ideas, please let me know! Feedback is always appreciated. Again, thank you for reading and have a happy new years!
