Chapter 2

Beverly

Beverly's eyes were already filling with tears as Jean Luc left the room. She turned her back to the door so that he wouldn't see her cry. She thought that she had been ready to tell him. She really had. But when he had come into her office demanding an explanation, all her defenses had come crashing down.

Beverly put her head in her hands and breathed in deeply. She couldn't tell him. For the sake of a species, and Jean Luc's sanity, she could keep it a secret.

Exhaling all the air in her lungs, Beverly sat up in her chair. She could do this. Beverly turned back to what she had been working on before Jean Luc had come in. Yes, she had to remain strong. The past was in the past. All that was left for her to do was protect the future. Piece of cake, Beverly thought to herself, nothing harder than what you have already done before.

Despite her optimistic thoughts, Beverly still groaned inwardly as she looked at what seemed like a hopeless cause in front of her. She couldn't help but to think about how much easier it was when she had friends to help solve her problems with her.

Jean Luc

He felt like a drunkard, stumbling through the halls. Thoughts screamed in his mind, all demanding attention. Who was on the planet? Why were we able to beam back up? And the most frequent, How did Beverly get hurt?

Jean Luc found himself automatically going to his quarters. Although he knew he should check in at the bridge, he just wanted to rest first. He entered his quarters and fell into the inviting couch.

He had only been lying there for a few minutes when a chime sounded from the entrance. Jean Luc sighed and sat up, turning toward the door. "Come in!" He said, and the doors slid open.

Will Riker stepped in the door, looking uncomfortable.

Jean Luc gestured to the seat across from him. "Why don't you sit?"

"Thank you Sir," Will said as he sat down on the offered seat. He was trying to act casual, but Jean Luc could tell that something was bothering him.

"So, what brings you here Number one?"

"I just came to see how you were doing sir. You don't remember anything of the past two weeks?"

"Nothing." As Jean Luc studied Will, he could tell that he had been changed in the two weeks that he had been in command of the Enterprise. "Will, why are you really here?"

Will was silent and didn't answer his question. Jean Luc decided to venture an answer himself.

"You know that you can't blame yourself for the hard decisions that you had to make as captain."

Will shifted uncomfortably and Jean Luc knew that he had deduced correctly about what was bothering him. He continued. "When you are captain, you are forced to make hard decisions. You have to accept that you made the best decision that you could at the time with the knowledge that you had."

Will nodded, but didn't seem completely convinced. There was a pause before Will spoke.

"I understand what you are saying, but what if the decisions that I made caused harm? What if I could have rescued you if I had sent another rescue team? Would…" his voice cracked. "Would Beverly have been spared the torture?"

Will couldn't have shocked him more if he had punched him in the gut. Jean Luc hated to admit it, but he had had the same thoughts. Why hadn't they sent a rescue team? It hadn't made sense to him. Then Will's words clicked in his mind.

"Number one," He waited until Will was looking back at him. "Did you say another search team?"

"Yes sir." Will seemed puzzled by his words. "Did you think that we wouldn't send a search team?"

"Sorry, it's just that…" Jean Luc hardly knew how to finish his sentence. He knew Beverly hadn't told him about a rescue team. "I guess Beverly had other things on her mind when she explained about the planet. What happened?"

"When we first weren't able to locate you, we assumed you were dead or held prisoner." Will winced as he mentioned being a prisoner. Jean Luc knew he was thinking about Beverly's torture. "Naturally, I send down a rescue team. They returned hours later with the shuttle on autopilot and its occupants unconscious."

He took a shuddering breath before continuing. "They woke later with no memories about what they encountered on the planet. Starfleet advised us not to send down any more search teams and I listened for a while. We all thought that you were dead. We stayed by the planet for a week, trying to find your life signs; finally finding you a week after the shuttle went down, injured and unconscious."

Will fell silent. Jean Luc let him think before speaking again. "You made the best decisions you could."

He nodded. "Thank you sir."

Will still wasn't making any move towards the door. Jean Luc suddenly thought about something.

"When did you leave the planet?"

He looked as though he had been expecting the question. "Soon after we beamed you aboard. We received new orders from Starfleet to a nearby planet. So far I have handled all of the communications, but of course you are welcome to take over the mission whenever you feel up to it."

Jean Luc only had to think about it for a second before coming to a decision. "Will, I would like you to finish this assignment from Starfleet. I will be honoured to offer advice, but this will be your assignment."

Will looked surprised for only a second before a huge grin appeared on his face. "Thank you Sir!"

Jean Luc nodded. He knew how much it meant for Will to complete this mission. It wasn't anything that he had done wrong in his most recent commanding of the Enterprise, rather Will feeling he had to prove himself.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Will got up to leave. Jean Luc was so tired that he hadn't even noticed when Will had first stood up to leave.

"Thank you, Captain," Will was almost out the door when he turned around, remembering something. "One more thing. Deanna asked me to tell you that when you are feeling better, you should stop by her office to talk."

"Thank you, Number One."

Will must have heard the exhaustion in his voice, because he left his quarters without another word.

When the doors shut after Will, Jean Luc immediately slouched in his chair. He felt as though he hadn't slept for weeks.

Sighing, Jean Luc picked himself up and went into his bedroom. He lay down on his bed, too tired to even pull the covers up around himself, and stared up at the ceiling.

Jean Luc wondered how Beverly had been so collected. According to what she had told him, she couldn't have woken up too much before him. She must have... Jean Luc's eyes were already drooping. He was so tired...

The first thing that Jean Luc saw was grey. Grey walls, grey floor, and grey ceiling. The room he was in had the appearance of a quickly thrown together prison cell for two humans.

Two humans, He thought. Yes, that was right, Beverly was the other prisoner. Beverly! Where was she?

Just as these thoughts crossed his mind, Jean Luc heard footsteps. He looked around himself for something to grasp. Finding nothing of use, he turned back to the door just as it swung open. Before he could do anything, Beverly was pushed through, and the door was quickly shut behind her.

Jean Luc went towards her, about to grab her arm before he noticed thtreed seeping through her uniform. Why did her uniform have red arms and legs? His thoughts were slow and it took him a minute to realize that Beverly was still wearing her blue uniform. The arms and legs of Beverly's uniform were soaked red with blood.

Jean Luc reached out his hand to touch her arm, but when his hand should have met skin, it kept going. Beverly's panicked eyes met his. He opened his mouth to say something to comfort her, but no sound came out.

Suddenly, arms reached though the grey walls and grabbed Beverly, pulling her backwards! Jean Luc tried running towards her, but his feet were rooted to the spot. When he tried yelling her name, still no sound came out.

Jean Luc could see Beverly was screaming, but no sound reached his ears. As she was dragged right through the wall, he could do nothing but stare.

Just as the wall completely closed behind her, the paralysis broke, and he was able to move again. Beverly's screams rung in the room, as loud as if she were standing right next to him.

Jean Luc ran to the place he last saw her, pounding futilely on the grey wall that had just taken Beverly away from him again.

The walls twisted and the floor moved under him, knocking him off his feet. He felt completely out of control as he tumbled around and around and around. Beverly... He thought helplessly.

Jean Luc woke from the dream shaking.