Chapter 19
2355 Somewhere in the Batu System (Altered Timeline)
"Father, will you please stop hissing into my ear!" Brom shouted. "You are spitting into my lobes!"
Daimon Bok pushed himself away from his son reluctantly, but continued to lurk nearby with a nefarious expression.
Commander Brom sat in his command chair, wiping off his ears and trying to maintain the appearance that he was in control of his ship. Several months ago an older version of his father had appeared, asserting that he had just traveled through time. This future version of his father had a plan to kill off one of his rivals, a human. Brom himself had never even heard of such a creature, but was soon willing to play his part in the plan once he learned that he would not only survive in the future because he would avoid being killed by Picard, but he would grow to be a rich and powerful Ferengi. But now, future Bok was back, which meant something had gone wrong. And for the past fifteen minutes, he had been frantically explaining it to Brom. As yet, Brom was still unconvinced.
"I will continue to spit into both of your earlobes until you hear me, my son. This human must die, and he must be destroyed by your ship, Brom," Bok shouted.
Brom rolled his eyes at the ceiling of the bridge. "Father you told me to lure him into the singularity net—I did that and the Mal—whatever-you call them captured him. Now apparently he and his crew have escaped? That doesn't bode well for your plans to kill him…."
Bok shrugged and clasped his hands together. "A slight set back, I agree. But that is why I am here. If you destroy Picard and his ship right now, you will still live to become rich and powerful."
Brom slowly turned to regard his father. "And why would I not be alive in 2367? I have already changed the past as you asked, haven't I? Picard didn't kill me and instead was captured."
Bok hissed at him again, and Brom moved his head away distastefully, checking to see that his be-jeweled tunic had not been stained.
"He must not survive!"
"That is not an argument, father. Why put myself in harm's way yet again for nothing? Besides, what if this Picard person recognizes my ship and holds a grudge?"
"His ship was damaged before the Malkatan's net captured him," said Bok. "I know for a fact he was tortured and some of his crew were killed by the Malkatans…he is weak and you are still in the superior position."
Brom tapped the top of his ear with his manicured finger, and turned away.
Bok bristled at the insult but knew he would need to make a showing of good faith to convince his son. "I will make sure you are paid handsomely for this Brom."
Brom turned back to face his father. "Desperation suits you father. And that is not a compliment." He gestured for his assistant who rushed forward dutifully. "Bero, write up a standard contract for my father to sign. And make sure the latinum amount is unequivocal and that he initials that section. I don't trust him—he is my father after all." The assistant nodded quickly, turning to Bok to put the agreement in writing.
Brom addressed his helm officer. "Set a course for the Maxia Sector. Anti-matter burst factor three."
2355 On Board the Stargazer in the Maxia Sector (Altered Timeline)
Picard sat in his command chair leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, staring out at the star scape in front of him. He was deep in thought now that his mind had begun to clear somewhat. The truth was, he was thinking of what was to happen next. His ship was functional, but there were only three of them now to operate it. He wished that the rest of his crew were alive and that he could turn the Stargazer around, and set a course for Malkata to rescue them. But they were dead. All of them.
General Unh was still living and his crew was dead. His hands tightened into fists. Had Unh done it all himself, or had he assigned an executioner? A place deep in Jean-Luc's heart that he had never accessed before; a very dark place that perhaps had not existed before now, did not want him to tell Starfleet the truth about what happened. Not because he wanted to hide his own culpability in the matter, but because he truly wanted to return in order kill his former captor himself. And he didn't want anyone to know of this revenge.
He knew it wasn't like him, and no one he had known before his capture would expect him to react in this way. Was he a different human being now than he had been before? Somehow in the face of the brutality he had witnessed and the humiliation he had experienced, he had been transformed. It was as if something good and noble about him was left back on that planet, and perhaps it was that piece of him that stayed behind in the room with all of his dead comrades.
Had it not been for the neutralizer, Picard, Zev and Vigo would never have escaped the singularity net. And without Beverly Crusher he never would have obtained the neutralizer. But you see, now that his mind was clear and free from the influence of the Singularity net, his encounter with Beverly was that much more bizarre and dreamlike. Beverly. Clearly the neutralizer and its technology were real—but how could Beverly have been there on that base; and how did she then disappear into thin air?
Moreover, how could Beverly have even known where the Stargazer had been, when Starfleet Command hadn't been able to mount a successful rescue? And now his comrades, and not even he could reasonably believe that the beautiful wife of Jack Crusher; a woman whom he had believed hated him after Jack's death, had saved his life.
And yet…he remembered every word, every sensation that had passed between them, and even so, it could not have been real. Perhaps Vigo was right, and he had been hallucinating because of the net. Perhaps he had merely seen what his subconscious had wanted to see, and not a Malkatan, but Beverly. But he could still feel the pressure of her lips, and the taste of her tongue and skin. Perhaps, as Vigo suggested, he had only dreamed about making love to her, or envisioned it in a very real sense, just as he had so many other times when he was on the base.
But there had been a few moments that he could not reconcile with that theory. And this was because as he lay beneath her body, he watched her sleep, resting her cheek on his chest. With each breath she took, he felt her rib cage pressing into him and then receding with each exhale. He felt the wonderful and delicate warmth between her thighs still resting against his lower body and knew that she was as alive as he was. When she awoke and rested her chin on her hand and looked at him, he looked into her eyes and he asked her if she was real. And she had responded that she was. And the reason he had asked, was that she had whispered things to him and had loved him in a way that he could never imagined before even though he had thought of her so often while in captivity.
In that moment he finally could see a difference between the Beverly who had visited him in his mind, and the person who was with him for those few hours. And as she wiped away the tears that had rolled out of his eyes; tears he hadn't even realized had left them, she said "we will be together again like this in the future, Jean-Luc. I promise you."
So he couldn't believe that she had been a figment of his imagination, any more than Vigo and Zev could believe that she was real. So he would simply not speak of it to them. But he would always know the truth. Her whisper echoed through his brain again. In the future…I promise you….
Beverly blinked in the darkness, and felt around her. She heard a groan next to her and thrust her hand out blindly. Her finger poked something soft.
"Ow…jeez," she heard Will Riker complain. "That was my eye!"
"Sorry!" she said. Her ears were still ringing and her mind felt numb from the effect of the pedestal of time, which put simply was unpleasant. A thought of panic entered her mind. "Where's Kad?"
Riker sat up and pulled out a small flashlight and shone it him around on the floor (his instinct told him Kad would be down low) and the light caught on a small body balled up on the floor. He shuffled closer on his hands and knees and saw that Kad was indeed lying on the floor with his hands clasped over his sensitive ears.
The pedestal was hard enough on humans he had just learned, and apparently was even worse for Ferengi and their sensitive craniums. This just clarified for Riker how absolutely insane Bok must have been to continue using it. Somewhere his vendetta against Picard had become less about avenging his son's death and more about ruining Picard at any cost. So someone like Bok had to be feared at the very least for his unrelenting zeal.
"You okay?" he asked Beverly, as their eyes slowly adjusted to the low light. She looked dazed, but just below that was determination. It made him remember that perhaps Bok should be more worried about Beverly, and not the other way around.
She nodded. "Yes, I can feel it wearing off gradually." She rubbed her eyes. "Wake him up, I want to know where the hell we are," she said gesturing at Kad.
Riker shook Kad, taking out some restraints. He encircled one end around his own wrist and the other around Kad's uninterested in taking any chances on him escaping. "Kad, wake up and tell us where the hell we are."
Kad whimpered and then began to jerk his limbs back and forth when he realized Riker had handcuffed him. Riker tugged his arm. "You're not going anywhere without me, so it's best that you keep things honest, Kad," he warned.
Kad slowly got to his feet beside Riker. He glanced around him. "It is just as I assumed. We are on board Brom's ship! Bok has completely lost his mind. There is no profit left in this venture."
"My guess is that if there is any profit left, you'll be the first to find it Kad," Beverly said.
"Brom is Bok's son, right?" Riker asked.
"That's right," Beverly said, slowly getting to her feet. She was in good shape, so it shouldn't have been such an effort. She reached out to lean against a wall, and her other hand dropped to her stomach for the first time. She glanced down in alarm as her hand fell on her rounded belly. This is how I felt when I was four months pregnant with Wesley, she thought. She took a deep breath. The jacket Riker had given her had been loose, but now she could hardly close it over her stomach. She pulled it around her and told herself that if she had to she could still hide it from Jean-Luc. But now that she knew she was on board Brom's ship, hiding her pregnancy was secondary, as she just hoped that she would have a chance to see him again before Bok carried out his plans.
Riker was watching her, but it was obvious he was not planning on commenting on her fast moving pregnancy. What was there to say?
Kad on the other hand was staring at her stomach with bulging eyes. He pointed and looked as though he was about to say something completely inappropriate when Beverly pulled her phaser and aimed it at his chest.
"Keep your comments to yourself," she warned him. "And help us find Bok, before I have to set this thing to kill."
Riker shined the flashlight on his own face for dramatic effect and looked down at Kad. "You heard the doctor. Let's get moving."
