Chapter 8

Bridge, U.S.S. Titan

Riker called out, "Transporter Room, did you get the Admiral?"

A moment later the answer came back, "Bridge, Transporter Room 2; I started to get a lock on the Admiral's combadge but due to the ambient interference on Coruscant, I couldn't lock onto him precisely so I opted to grab his entire vehicle. In the middle of the transport cycle, I redirected the speeder to the main cargo bay where they grabbed it with the cargo tractor beam as soon as it materialized."

"Good job, Bridge to Main Cargo Bay, do you have the Admiral's speeder?" Riker called out.

"Bridge, Main Cargo Bay, yes I have the Admiral's speeder but it's a mess. I've already called Sickbay and Doctor Cruz will be here any moment now. There was a small fire in the cabin of the speeder which was put out as soon as the canopy was opened . . . Doctor Cruz just arrived sir."

Riker said, "Very well, I'm on my way now." Harry was on shore leave on Coruscant at the moment, so turning to his Operations officer, Riker said, "You have the Bridge Lieutenant. I'll be in Sickbay. Please inform Commander Troi to meet me there."

Dutifully, the Ops officer said, "Aye sir, I have the Bridge."

Riker was already in the turbolift as the Ops officer took the center seat.

Main Cargo Bay

Doctor Jamison Cruz, a ten year veteran of the Starfleet Medical Corps.; had seen some horrific injuries in his time, but going over the Admiral with a Medical Tricorder gave him a new definition of the term "serious injury". Finishing his initial exam, he knew that there was little he could do here in the Cargo Bay. Tapping his combadge he said, "Transporter Room 2, this is Doctor Cruz and I am declaring a Medical Emergency. I need a site-to-site transport for two from the Main Cargo Bay to Sickbay and I need it 15 seconds ago."

"Transporter Room 2 copies, standby for site-to-site . . . mark!"

Sickbay

As soon as the transporter cycle finished, Doctor Cruz had two nurses move the Admiral to the nearest bio-bed and began a more detailed examination and came to the conclusion that the moment he was able, the Admiral would be placed into one of the new, to Cruz, bacta tanks. Calling out he said, "2-1B, activate."

The medical droid's optic sensors lit up and it walked over to Cruz and said, "Please state the nature of the Medical Emergency."

Cruz said, "Warm up a bacta tank, we've got our first customer."

As the droid moved off to implement its orders, Cruz and one of his nurses started cutting off the Admiral's uniform. A few minutes later, Picard was in his shorts on the bio-bed. From there, it was a small matter to fit Picard with a breath mask and submerge him into the bacta. Of the many small refinements that were made as the technology from the New Republic and the Federation were merged, was the addition of a set of monitors exactly like a bio-bed's, only attached to the bacta tank. Picard's readings started a slow improvement within five minutes of being placed in the tank.

Riker and Deanna both arrived at Sickbay within seconds of each other. As Riker went to speak with Doctor Cruz, Deanna stood before the bacta tank and looking within to its occupant, made a Force scan and found that he would live. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized this and walked back over to where her husband was talking with the Doctor.

"What's your diagnosis Doctor?" Riker asked.

Cross-referencing his tricorder scans with those of the bio-bed, Cruz said, "As well as being burned across approximately 36% of his body, both of the Admiral's kidneys were pierced by the blaster bolts that hit him. With the help of the bacta, he should be making a full recovery within a day or so. It will heal his internal wounds and be eliminated like any other liquid waste through his kidneys. This marks the first time I've used the bacta tanks. I understand the material well enough but understanding of a subject through research is quite different from seeing that research in action. The Admiral was shot five times but luck was with us in that none of the wounds are fatal in and of themselves. His attackers either didn't understand a human's vulnerable points or they were just plain incompetent."

Riker said, "Attackers? You're sure there was more than one?"

Cruz answered, "Judging from the data I collected before putting him in the tank that was the only way he could have been shot five times across so much overall body mass. Like I said, luck was with him that his attackers didn't accomplish their goal and with us that we were able to get to him so quickly."

Deanna had overheard this last statement and said, "In my growing experience with the Force, Doctor, I've come to understand that there's no such thing as luck. The Force was with all of us today. What about the Admiral's pilot?"

Cruz shook his head sadly, "He was already dead by the time I got there. I'll do an autopsy if you like Captain. The wound on the pilot is similar to the Admiral's except that it came from the left and hit his heart square on."

Riker said, "Yes, please perform the autopsy as soon as you can. There's no way in hell that this was anything but an assassination attempt on the Admiral. Any evidence we can get could be helpful with the investigation that I'm going to initiate along with the local law enforcement. Has Beverly been notified yet?"

Deanna said, "That's what took me so long to get here. I called her as soon as the channel closed with you on the Bridge, Will. She should be here anytime now."

Just then, the intercom sounded, "Bridge to Captain Riker."

Tapping his combadge he said, "Riker here, go ahead."

"Sir, we're being hailed from the surface, a Senior Detective So Leet of the New Republic Peace Officer Corps."

Riker said, "Keep him on the line and tell him I'll be with him as soon as I get back to the Bridge. For right now, until this incident is resolved, shore leave is cancelled. I want an immediate recall of all our personnel from Coruscant. Also, have the Consulate go to Yellow Alert and step up all of their security protocols. Riker out."

As the channel closed, Riker said, "Please keep me posted Doctor. I'll be on the Bridge if anything develops."

Moments after Riker left, Beverly Crusher-Picard arrived in Sickbay.

Deanna met her halfway and said, "Beverly, even though the circumstances could be better, it's still good to see you my friend."

Beverly gave her friend a quick hug and said, "Thank you. It's good to see you as well. I understand it's entirely thanks to you that I still have a husband."

Deanna said, "Don't thank me, thank the Force. I was meditating and it gave a particularly clear vision of the immediate future to me that I was able to act on. Now that you're here, let me introduce you to the Chief Medical Officer here on the Titan, Doctor Jamison Cruz. Doctor Cruz, this is Beverly Crusher-Picard, the Admiral's wife and personal physician."

Shaking hands with him, Beverly immediately shifted from concerned spouse to professionally detached doctor and started firing off questions that only another doctor could understand.

Leaving the two doctors to their business, Deanna left Sickbay only to receive a summons to the Bridge. Upon arrival, she went to the Captain's Ready Room and went to stand beside her husband. As she came into the visual pick-up range, she saw the detective, a Cerean, shift his eyes immediately to her lightsaber on her belt and then back to her face as he blurted out, "More Jedi interference?"