AN: This is just a fun little piece that I wanted to write to explore the Triad in different situations, while also having the chance to bring in some other favorites of mine for a visit! I'm trying to keep up with the personal goal of writing at least a few lines every day, and this is one of the things that I wanted to work on this week! Hopefully, the next part is coming soon!
I own nothing from Star Trek.
I hope you enjoy! If you do, please do let me know!
111
"Beverly."
"Jean-Luc."
The casual greetings were only being employed because the official briefing had been finished already, and all other senior officers had been dismissed to take their stations and prepare for the upcoming events.
Beverly had been busy in sickbay when the meeting had been initially called. She hadn't felt comfortable handing over the surgery she was involved with—minor as it was—in the middle of the procedure, so she'd requested permission to report when her work was done, provided that wouldn't be "too late" for anything she may be required to do.
It wasn't a problem. Jean-Luc didn't mind briefing her individually on what was taking place, and he'd assured her that they had time before she was going to be expected to act.
Having been married now for the past two years, and having arguably been together—or, at the very least, in love with one another—for most of their lives, they maintained formality in the professional setting only as an act of decorum. Their relationship—along with that which they shared with their wife, Laris—was no secret to anyone, and certainly not to anyone aboard the ship.
The U.S.S. Picard was a family ship dedicated to peaceful exploration and diplomacy. It was also something of a living testament to their love.
Their son, Jack, had called it nepotism when he'd been fast-tracked both to the Academy and through the program to a prestigious position. He'd suggested it was, if not entirely, mostly nepotism that had removed hoops and hurdles from his way that many had been forced to jump through in their time.
Beverly and Jean-Luc had both told him that it wasn't so, and that his accomplishments and Starfleet's decisions were all based on his merits and skills, but the truth of the matter was that some nepotism likely played a part. There was, after all, no shortage of favoritism in Starfleet, especially if someone established themselves in a very real way.
The U.S.S. Picard was a perfect example of that favoritism, but neither Beverly nor Jean-Luc were sorry to benefit from that. The ship was supposed to be trotted out for a Federation event. Beverly had been informed about it, so that she and Laris could do something special for Jean-Luc. What they'd done, though, was talked to the higher-ups about allowing him to have a ship again—this time, the one that bore his own name—and theirs by marriage.
Jean-Luc could pretend that he was happy to be retired and to spend his life watching over the vineyard that ran just fine without him—especially with Laris's long-distance direction, which didn't differ too greatly from the direction she gave everyone when she was present—but Beverly knew that he was practically thirsting to death for the life they'd left behind.
Being grounded would be the death of Jean-Luc Picard, and Beverly wasn't ready to see that day. She would never be ready for it, truthfully, but she certainly wasn't ready for it yet. They still had a lot of life ahead of them.
So, they'd gotten the OK from Starfleet. She and Jean-Luc had both resigned their positions as Admirals, and they'd taken back their old roles as Captain and Chief Medical Officer, this time aboard a family ship that was designated for low-risk diplomacy missions.
Of course, they weren't ready to leave their family behind, so the Picard family had been the first to board the U.S.S. Picard, followed very soon by the families of the rest of the crew.
"Ensign Zeigler?" Jean-Luc asked. Beverly smiled.
"The surgery was successful," she said. "I was able to repair the shoulder. I think he'll have full range of motion back. I'm recommending rest for a few days, and continued treatment for post-operative healing, but I don't think there will be any lasting effects."
Jean-Luc smiled and hummed his approval, nodding gently. Beverly sat. He leaned against the desk in his ready room.
"Engineering was able to repair the issue," Jean-Luc said. "Holodecks are running without problem now, and safety parameters are functioning as they should be."
"Any program could be dangerous with those kinds of malfunctions. I'm just glad it wasn't one of the children," Beverly said.
"Elbie," Jean-Luc said with a half-smile of sympathetic understanding.
"You read my mind," Beverly said. "Though, I wouldn't want to seem so self-absorbed."
"It's only natural," Jean-Luc said. "You're a mother. Some things are expected of mothers."
"And fathers?" She challenged playfully. He laughed quietly.
"That goes without saying," he said.
He moved to Beverly and, leaning over her, gave her a kiss that he wouldn't have given her if this were some sort of official briefing with everyone in attendance. She happily returned the kiss, releasing his lips only when he pulled away. He sat for the rest of their conversation, in the empty chair next to hers.
"What is this about, Jean-Luc?" Beverly asked.
"A rescue mission," Jean-Luc said. "But—potentially a diplomatic mission as well. Really, we're not entirely sure what we're facing, but it looks…interesting. We picked up signals from a distress beacon."
"A distress call?" Beverly asked.
Jean-Luc half-smiled and raised his eyebrows at her, amused. She assumed that she was mistaken, and she wasn't the first to make that mistake.
"A distress beacon," Jean-Luc said. "A very old model, actually. These particular beacons were only produced for a set number of years, and they were only placed on a very small number of shuttles that were built during those years. Information about each beacon, encoded in its signal, was recorded and stored."
"I don't understand, Jean-Luc. Are you saying the distress call—or beacon—is from a shuttle that's been in operation since…since when are we talking?"
"By our calculations, approximately seventy years," Jean-Luc said.
"And we're going to answer this call," Beverly said. Jean-Luc nodded. Beverly smiled at his expression. "Why do I get the feeling that's not all you're going to tell me?"
Jean-Luc smiled. He looked excited. Beverly's pulse kicked up. She was reminded of why she'd been so insistent that they should take their family and return to the stars. She'd promised Jean-Luc that he could have his cake and eat it, too—they all could—and, at this moment, he looked like that was exactly what he was doing.
His pure happiness, no matter what in their lives caused it, always made Beverly so happy that she could barely breathe.
"Starfleet has been able to scan the signal, as well, with their long-range sensors," Jean-Luc said. "The information we have is inconclusive, and we won't know more until we reach the vessel and can explore it in person, but there was something odd about the beacon and the information they were able to extract about it from the signal."
"Odd how?" Beverly asked.
"It was registered to a shuttle that was never operational—at least, not in this timeline. Upon checking our long-range sensor readings, there was the record of an appearance of a temporal anomaly just before the beacon began transmitting its signal."
Beverly laughed. Rather, the laugh escaped her, surprising her.
"We don't know where or when they're from," Beverly said.
"No," Jean-Luc said. "But—these particular beacons were only ever placed on Federation shuttles, so we do know that they are affiliated, in some way, with Starfleet and the Federation. At least, they were somewhere and sometime."
Beverly laughed to herself, but she hummed and nodded.
"We did want adventures," she said.
"We did," Jean-Luc said.
"What are my orders, Captain?" She asked, becoming teasingly formal with him.
"Nothing at the moment," he said. "Our estimated time of arrival is in two hours. We're the closest ship, so we'll prepare for conflict, but we'll hope that this will be a purely diplomatic encounter. The shuttle-type holds a complement of no more than four, though we can't be sure how many are currently aboard. There's a chance that we find the shuttle abandoned. At any rate, I think it would be best if sickbay were prepared for the possibility of incoming injuries or illness."
"We'll be ready," Beverly assured him. "What about procedures and protocols?" She asked. "Given that Starfleet already has some information on the shuttle, thanks to long-range scans, have they said anything about following temporal prime directives?"
"We will re-evaluate, of course, when we're a little more certain of what we're dealing with. You know, though, that they've become a great deal laxer with things like that than they once were…"
"They're suggesting something lighter than the strictest adherence to absolute silence?" Beverly asked, smiling at her husband.
"Depending on what we find, and what we're able to discover about the anomaly, there's a chance that we won't be adhering to procedures and protocols at all. At least, not regarding the sharing of basic information. There's a chance, however, that we'll be entirely hush-hush about everything."
"You will keep me informed, of course," Beverly said. "Since my doctors and nurses will need to know how to proceed."
"Of course," Jean-Luc said, standing. Beverly followed suit, but she didn't move to leave the ready room immediately.
"And tactical?"
"They'll be ready for anything that might happen," Jean-Luc said. "We'll hope for the best, but we won't be caught off-guard, either. Our wife hasn't been informed yet. She's on her way, though."
"Does Starfleet think we may need a specialist on Romulan tactics?" Beverly teased.
Laris was a Romulan. She was former Tal Shiar, and she'd defected during the relocation that took place around the time of the Romulan Supernova because of a disagreement she had with the Tal Shiar over the way that certain things ought to be handled. With the Romulan Star Empire really little more than a memory, and the new and old Romulan colonies both struggling under the efforts to rebuild and, essentially, rebrand themselves, they'd forgiven her the choices that she'd made. She'd been welcomed back, in some ways, as something of a diplomatic liaison between the Romulan colonies and the Federation that acted as an ally to what was left of the Romulan Empire.
As a former Romulan spy, and someone who currently worked with diplomatic security as that Federation liaison, Laris had a lot of insight into all things tactical—especially when it came to dealing with the more devious species of the galaxy.
"I expect that nothing will happen, but I like to be prepared. Besides—you know Laris well enough to know that she would want to be just as informed as anyone else."
"She'd be furious, if you didn't tell her what was happening," Beverly said. "And our youngest son?"
Jean-Luc smiled and his cheeks reddened slightly.
"Our youngest daughter, you mean," he said.
"We'll see about that," Beverly said.
"Still no movement," Jean-Luc said.
"I'm going to be first," Beverly assured him.
He laughed at her teasing.
"Not if I get there first," he said with a wink. He touched his combadge. "Captain Picard to Laris."
"What do you want, Jean-Luc?" Laris responded, sounding playfully irritated.
Beverly and Jean-Luc both laughed.
"When is your ETA to my ready room? I called you half an hour ago," Jean-Luc said, putting on his best fake voice of annoyance and intolerance.
"And I told you that I had to take Elbie to the nursery," Laris said. "And she wasn't exactly thrilled with having to leave our quarters this close to her naptime, Jean-Luc, and then I forgot the…the damn targ…"
"Elbie would not approve of your maligning Toby in such a way," Jean-Luc teased. Laris laughed and responded to him with an order to do something to himself that he would have never tolerated from a member of his crew. Meant in a teasing way, though, and coming from his wife and the mother of his children, he was willing to accept the suggestion of possible pastimes in which he might find himself engaged.
"I will allow you the honor of doing just that, for me, later," he said back to her, hoping that their communications weren't being monitored. If they were, someone was at least having a good laugh.
Before Laris could respond, though, the ready room door chimed.
"Come in," Jean-Luc said. The door slid open to reveal Laris. She stepped in and the door slid closed behind her. Jean-Luc smiled at her. "Just the person we wanted to see. I'm so glad that you could make it—quite a bit later than I originally expected."
"Jean-Luc," Bevelry said, scolding him with her tone. She walked toward Laris and greeted her with a kiss, her hands immediately going to either side of the small cantaloupe swell of Laris's belly. "Are we moving a lot today?"
"Constantly," Laris said. "And we're getting stronger." As if to illustrate her words, she moved Beverly's hand.
"That's an unfair advantage," Jean-Luc teased. "You always tell me that I'll have to find it myself."
Laris smiled at him and narrowed her eyes.
"Beverly doesn't expect me to run the length of three decks just to keep her from waiting ten minutes to tell me something," Laris said.
"Still nothing," Beverly said, ignoring their banter. They all enjoyed going back and forth with each other. It was nothing more than good-natured teasing. Their union was built around absolute truth with each other, so if anyone had a genuine complaint of any sort—because such things did arise from time to time—they made it clear that there was a serious issue that needed to be dealt with, and they dealt with it in a healthy manner.
Theirs was the healthiest relationship that Beverly could imagine, really, and she valued it. She loved both of her partners immensely, and she felt loved beyond measure by both of them.
"Soon," Laris said, pressing her hands over Beverly's.
"Soon," Beverly echoed. She leaned down, putting her face close to Laris's belly. "Remember, Little One, how much Mommy loves you, OK? She loves you very, very much. So—when you're ready to show off those big, strong muscles…remember that Mommy is just waiting to feel you. And she'll…get you whatever you want, OK? So…you just let Mama know what you want, and Mommy will make sure you get it."
"Papa can work the replicator, too, for what it's worth," Jean-Luc teased.
"I'm going to be first," Beverly said with a laugh. "But—for now, I have to go and get sickbay ready."
Laris looked concerned. Her teasing was gone, now. It faded from her features.
"Is there something wrong? Some emergency?"
"Not exactly," Jean-Luc said.
Beverly caught Laris's face and rubbed her thumbs over her cheeks gently.
"Nothing for you to worry about," Beverly said. "Worry is bad for the baby. Jean-Luc is going to brief you on everything that's going. And—if I don't see you before then, I'll see you for dinner."
Beverly leaned and kissed Laris. Laris kissed her back, though Beverly could tell that she was holding back a bit, probably preoccupied with the worry that Beverly would tell her not to have. By the time they broke their kiss, Jean-Luc had closed the little distance between them, and he took one of Beverly's kisses for himself.
"I will keep you abreast of any changes," he said.
Beverly smiled at him.
"I know you will," she said. "And we'll be ready for anything!"