Chapter 2

Minutes later – after a surreptitious transport to her ship, a warp-capable shuttle, parked in orbit and cloaked against the scanners of Risa's traffic control system - he was still mentally shaking his head at the revelation.

"Beverly? No. It's not possible," he insisted. "She's the head of Starfleet Medical. She left the Enterprise almost a year ago to take the position."

"I know that's what you were told," Beardy countered, "but that's not what happened."

"But..."

"It was a ruse, Jean-Luc, carefully designed to protect both of our governments," she explained. "Everyone knows where all the researchers are – except they aren't." She shook her head. "Didn't you ever wonder why Dr. Crusher left your ship so abruptly?"

Jean-Luc hesitated at the question.

Of course he had wondered. Admittedly, his relationship with Beverly had been... strained... when she first appeared on the Enterprise, with his bluntly questioning whether she could work with the man who was responsible for her husband's death, and treating Wesley as though he were an annoyance rather than the brilliant young man he was...

But they had begun to find a way to work together – even to build a new friendship.

And then she had been called to San Francisco for an emergency meeting, returning to the ship only long enough to tell him she had accepted the position as head of Starfleet Medical, pack her belongings, and arrange for Wesley to join her later.

He had been hurt, he admitted, but he had quickly told himself it was best for her.

And for him.

But this?

"No," he insisted. "Wesley – her son - spoke with her just a few weeks ago..."

"She did," Beardy agreed. "Every member of the team maintains regular contact with family and friends. It helps them maintain their emotional health – but also because it helps maintain their cover stories. What she said, however, was carefully phrased. Nothing specific, nothing that hinted at what she was really doing..."

"No," Picard insisted. "Beverly would never have agreed to deceive her own son!"

Beardy gave him a caustic glare. "Of course she would, Jean-Luc - if it was to protect him, to protect the Federation," she replied "They all would. They all did.

"And given what's at stake, I think you would have, too," she added.

"But I could be wrong," Beardy continued. "If I am, tell me – and I'll transport you back to Risa."

"And you?"

She laughed. "Me? I don't have a choice! I'm a freelancer, Jean-Luc; I get paid only when I work. But the importance of this mission transcends money. I'm a Romulan first, a freelancer second – and those bugs came closer to conquering us than I want to admit: I'm not going to give them another chance. Are you?"

She turned, taking her place in the pilot's chair, her fingers running over the console.

He frowned, rapidly thinking over what she had said – and what she hadn't.

Starfleet and the Romulans had both defeated the parasites, he thought – and yet they both still thought them to be a great enough threat to send Beverly and a team of researchers out to study them, find a cure...

...or eradicate them.

No, he decided; not that. Beverly would never have agreed to be a participant in genocide.

But neither would she have agreed to a suicide mission, he reminded himself. Wherever she had gone, Beverly Crusher had done so with the intent of saving millions of lives – and then returning to her son.

Wesley, he reminded himself. Wesley had already lost his father – a noble man, lost on a noble cause; he was not about to let him lose his mother as well.

Not if he could prevent it.

He moved to the front of the shuttle, taking the co-pilot's chair. "Coordinates?"

"Course is already laid in," she said.

He frowned disapprovingly. "You're damned sure of yourself, aren't you?"

"Not always," she admitted. "But I was damned sure about you."