Chapter 7

Captain's Cabin, U.S.S. Titan, 1430 hours, Ship's Time

The next morning, Will and Deanna had breakfast in their quarters and caught each other up on their respective lives since they saw each other last. Riker went on duty at 0900 and would be on the Bridge until 1700, leaving an hour and a half to finish the dinner preparations. Deciding to make use of the time, Deanna went on walkabout, of sorts, and spent two hours catching up with old acquaintances in the various departments aboard ship. From there she returned to quarters and changed into a workout suit, and went to the holodeck and worked her lightsaber routines, first through third and form five, Shii-cho, Makashi, Soresu and Shien respectively. After an hour and a half of lightsaber drills, she returned to quarters yet again, took a shower, and then decided to use her new meditation chamber for the first time.

Bringing up the Betazoid constellation known only as the 'Searcher', Deanna relaxed into the Force, let it flow through and around her and meditated. For a moment, she marveled at how easy it had gotten for her to merge with the Force. Her first six months at the Temple had come to frustrate her. She could almost feel the Force, like it was on the other side of a wall, but each time she thought she was about to break through, the wall sprung up again. It was only after using a piece of advice related to her from the deceased Jedi Master Yoda by way of a Holocron that she had finally grasped the intuitive nature of the Force. The image had said to her in Yoda's quaint dialect, "Through the Force, things you will see; other places, other thoughts, the future, the past, old friends long gone. When condition yourself you have Padawan, to let go of expectations, to let go of ambition, far you will progress. Adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things. Patience comes in the fullness of time. Hurry you should not; for at that time, your ally, the Force will be."

The vision swept Deanna into it without her being aware of it. She saw herself in the backseat of a transport vehicle. Looking around she could tell that the vehicle was descending too rapidly to be normal. The operator was slumped over on their side in the front seat while Admiral Picard was trying to regain control. As his arm reached over to pull back on the speed levers and slow the vehicle down, his left forearm suddenly had a hole burned through it. She could almost smell the burnt flesh on his arm as he gasped in pain and reached over for the levers again, this time with his right arm. He had just grasped the levers when his right bicep was similarly shot. Deanna recognized the grim determination on the Admiral's face as he forced himself through the pain and pulled back on the levers. The craft started to slow down as three more invisible shots hit him, once in the right shoulder blade and twice more in the back on either side of his spine.

Deanna snapped out of her meditation and stood up from her bench so fast that she tripped over her own feet. As she got to her knees, she called out, "Padawan Troi to the Bridge!" When the intercom didn't activate, Deanna mentally chastised herself for not remembering to use her rank first, she called out again, "Commander Troi to the Bridge!"

This time the intercom activated, "Bridge here, Captain Riker speaking; something the matter Deanna?"

"Find the Admiral as fast as you can Will! He's in danger, great danger. The Force just gave me a vision. Please hurry!"

On the Bridge at that moment, Riker recognized the tone in his wife's voice and decided not to question it. "Yellow Alert! Ops lock onto the Admiral's combadge as quickly as you can and get a Transporter lock. I don't care if you have to shut down everything but life support and gravity plating to get the power necessary to punch through the interference on Coruscant! Just get it done!"

Coruscant, Federation Consulate

Picard was in a terrific mood. It had been a light day in terms of workload. So light in fact, that he had been able to wrap up his work earlier than usual and leave his office earlier as a result. With a PADD under his arm to review a few notes on next week's Senate meeting that he planned to attend, Picard went down to the vehicle bay. Once there, his driver a Bothan by name of Elib Meyon, was just pulling up in the enclosed airspeeder that Picard used to go between his Residence and the Consulate. Getting in, he said, "Good afternoon Elib. How are you today?"

Elib said, "Very well sir. Thank you for asking. If you don't mind my saying so, you seem to be in a great mood today."

Picard answered, "Oh I am in a good mood Elib. A great one in fact; I get to catch up with a pair of old friends who are both former subordinates of mine. How are the traffic patterns today?"

Elib said, "For this time of day, their actually rather light. Our arrival to the Diplomatic Wing of the old Imperial Palace should be between 8-12 minutes sooner than usual."

As Picard settled into his seat and Elib in his and started to merge with the traffic, Picard chuckled, "It never ceases to amaze me your ability to gather information Elib. How do you do it?"

Elib answered, "Bothans naturally excel at gathering information of all kinds. Big stuff, small stuff, esoteric stuff; during the Rebellion, the Bothan spy network had a saying, 'There is no knowledge that is not power.' Plus, I've been flying the Coruscant air lanes for many years now."

Picard smiled again, "Back in the Federation, we have a saying exactly like it. Most sentient species do. How's your family doing these days?"

Elib entered an express lane, scanned his surroundings both visually and with the limited sensor suite that came standard on diplomatic vehicles and said, "They're all doing really good. Thank you for asking. In fact, both of my sons and both of my daughters wanted me to ask you if they can join Starfleet when they're old enough. Seems they want to Captain a starship someday if they're able."

Picard leaned back in his seat and said, "They can if they're willing to work for it because commanding a starship is the hardest job Starfleet has but anyone can do it if they dedicate themselves to the goal. In fact, Starfleet Academy has already begun screening applications for entry. The Consulate just opened an Academy Screening Office. As soon as they have enough qualified applicants, the first group from this side of the Rift will be sent to Earth to begin attending classes. If you like, when your children attain their legal majority, I'll be happy to endorse their applications personally, but only if they're qualified to do so. That means they'll have to do their absolute best in their academic courses, and I'll have to interview them myself when the time comes. I'll be as hard on them as it was for me when I first applied to the Academy."

Elib was silent a moment but when he spoke, the surprise was evident in his voice, "You'd do that for me?"

Picard said, "Why not? Everyone should be allowed to live up to their potential. You didn't actually think Starfleet Academy was like the Imperial Academies did you? There are no bribes for slots in the Academy and regardless of the political clout that a family may or may not have; there are no shortcuts to a commission in Starfleet. I was born the second of two sons to a vineyard owner. While there was a time long ago, when that would have been a disabling factor, it's not any more. Though I was born a vintager's son, I was able, by virtue of hard work, and more than a little luck, to become a starship Captain before my fourth decade. Now I'm a Rear Admiral in Starfleet Command and the Ambassador-at-Large to the New Republic. Tell your children for me Elib, that if they want it badly enough to work for it, I'll be happy to endorse their applications when the time comes."

The surprise in Elib's voice had changed to genuine respect as he said, "Thank you Admiral. I'll be sure to pass on your words after I get home tonight."

Picard went back to the PADD he carried and silence reigned in the cabin of the speeder for a time when Elib said, "That's odd, my sensor panel just quit on me."

Tapping on the display did nothing even though Elib knew it wouldn't when suddenly there was the sharp report of the canopy being pierced. Elib straightened in his seat and fell sideways across the passenger seat with a low groan.

Picard tossed the PADD aside without a thought and leaned over the seatback that separated the front and back. Shaking Elib by the shoulder provoked no change. Checking for a pulse on his neck, Picard thought he may have felt something but was uncertain if Bothan's had carotid arteries like humans. Already noticing that the speeder was descending quickly, Picard reached up with his left hand to ease back the throttle when another piercing sound was heard and his arm felt like it was covered in liquid fire as he saw a hole open up in his uniform sleeve on the left forearm. As his left arm went limp, he grasped the levers with his right hand as his right bicep was similarly shot. Determined to reach the throttle, he forced himself through the pain and pulled back on the levers. The craft started to slow down as three more invisible shots hit him, once in the right shoulder blade and twice more in the back on either side of his spine. As the darkness began to close over him, Picard was only vaguely aware of the decrease in speed, the chirp from his combadge, or the transporter effect.