Title: The First Command Couple
Rating: T
Summary: Commander Riker dies during the events of Skin of Evil. Starfleet gives the position to Commander Howard, who Picard knows nothing about. They will go through all the ups and downs of command as Starfleet's first Command Couple. Beverly/Picard pairing, but in the future.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything here, and I'm making nothing from this.
Chapter 1: The New Number One
Commander Beverly Howard was having a really bad nightmare. She had been on an away mission three months ago and there had been a nasty cave-in. It had taken the Union three days to find her and she was the only survivor. It hurt to lose five others, but Councilor Trails had told her that it wasn't her fault. She was seeing him three days a week for counseling. A loud, beeping, sound broke through her nightmare self-screaming and she had to work for a moment to figure out where she was.
She was in her quarters, on the Crazyhorse, and the beeping came from her workstation. Wondering who the hell would be calling her this early in the morning she walked over and sat down. She pressed the button and Admiral Swan's face appeared.
"Sorry about calling you this early," she told her. "But you're to meet up with the Enterprise to take over as First Officer."
"What happened to the last one?" Beverly asked.
"Got killed by a being that sucked the life out of him," Swan answered. "Trust me, it wasn't a pleasant way to go."
Beverly winced and asked, "Did the Captain request for me?"
"No, I did," she said. "Commander, this could be your gateway to becoming Captain. The Enterprise is the flagship of the fleet and a pearl that anyone, worth their salt, would jump at taking. So, I'm handing it to you, over everyone else. You have a flawless record, you're an excellent diplomat, and I know that you can handle Picard's mood swings. And trust me, Picard is a hard man to deal with."
Beverly wondered how much 'personal' experience that she had with Picard's mood swings.
"I also consider this to be revenge," she added. "The man is a jackass and a stubborn fool. And I know that you have enough brain cells to resist his charms."
"I don't think that will be a problem," Beverly told her.
"I'm sending the files of all of the senior command members," she told Beverly.
"Look forward to it," she said and the transmission ended.
Beverly wondered how must more Swan was leaving out of Commander Riker's death.
Over the next several hours she went over the files. Each one of them brought something different to the role of commanding a ship that was the jewel of the Federation. She also read up on Captain Picard's file. She had to admit that he was good-looking and his file was long and extensive. She turned her terminal off and looked out at the stars. She really hoped that he didn't see a pretty face and not the role that she could play on a ship like the Enterprise. Deep down that fear was greater than being trapped in a cave.
To never be respected.
And there had been plenty of times that had happened. And it had left her cold and uncertain of her own future. From the moment she arrived at the academy everyone saw her gorgeous face, almost perfect body, and her black eyes and believed that she nothing but a sex kitten. She was from Betazed and it was believed that all women there was warm and sensual. Not worthy of any kind of respect and dignity.
That had kept her single most of her life and she was still single. The only thing that she could do, if she wanted to have children, was to marry someone back home. She sighed, thinking about how bad it had been with Captain Walton, who wanted to bed her and never took any of her advice into account. She really hoped that Picard was different and she finally did become the Captain that Swan knew she could be.
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"Why would Starfleet command take the choice away from the Captain," Worf asked Deanna.
"So that he couldn't say no," she answered.
It had been a hard month, ever since Will had died. Tasha wished over and over again that it had been her and not him. It had hurt everyone, but Deanna was hit the hardest. Still, this Commander Howard sounded very interesting. She was a full Betazoid, which Deanna knew that Captain Picard would have a hard time dealing with, and she had an impressive record. She had been given her own orders: Three days a week counseling due to a cave-in while Howard had been stuck down on Didmo Three.
"It has taken her a lot longer to go up the rank," Deanna told Picard. "For obvious reasons."
"Clarify," he demanded.
"Well full Betazoid's have stereotypes attached to them, which is why they have to work twice as hard to prove that they deserve what they have. Howard, from her records, shows that it took her twice as long to become Commander than it did Will. Someone at Starfleet Command pushed her through the rank system so that she could take her Bridge Officers test."
"Which doesn't make me feel like she's a fit."
"I doubt those in command will allow you to turn her away," Deanna told him, which made him snort. "Like it, or not, a woman is going to be setting next to you."
She had a feeling that Picard was going to make Howard's life hard. She just hoped that Howard could handle it and him.
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A/N: In this story Beverly and Jean-Luc aren't friends and never met. I also changed her appearance and planet of origin, but at the core she's the same Beverly. A woman that will make a lifetime of friends and find that not all men are like the ones that she met before. Captain Picard is going to show her that friends never ask for things that you never want to give.
