Part 34 (2/2)
”Watch your tone with me, Captain,” said the elder Riker with a half-serious smirk. ”I have seniority, and I outrank you.”
Picard was not someone who was easily fl.u.s.tered, but now he turned to his second-in-command with utter perplexity. ”Number One-?” And there was a distinct tone of warning to his voice.
”Simply put, Captain,” said Will, stepping forward and gesturing to the grayhaired man, ”this is myself, from the future.”
”I surmised that, Number One,” said Picard tightly. ”Now what the blazes is he doing here?”
”All right, Captain,” the admiral told him. ”To put this as succinctly, and as noncommittally, as possible-Deanna's life was in danger. I came back through time to see her through that danger. And there are some people who would prefer that I didn't.”
”Will...” began Picard.
Two Rikers said, ”Yes?”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Deanna had to make an effort not to laugh.
”Admiral,” Picard started again, ”Counselor Troi has been in danger before. We all have. Why was this threat so significant that it warranted your taking the extremely dangerous step of coming back through time?”
”She died,” said the admiral, trying not to look at her. ”But now she hasn't... except that I haven't returned to my own time. Which means...” And his voice darkened. ”It means the danger to her isn't over yet.”
Picard leaned against a bureau. ”How... how did you come here?”
The admiral gave Riker a long, hard look. There seemed to be a great deal going through his mind, as if he were coming to a variety of decisions. ”I can't tell you,” he said finally.
Picard blinked. ”Well, then... tell us why Counselor Troi was”-he found he couldn't say the word and settled for-”attacked. What happened as a consequence of it?”
”I can't tell you that, either.”
”Oh, for G.o.d's sake!” said Picard in exasperation. ”It seems just yesterday we went through this with Rasmussen-and he turned out to be from the past, for that matter!”
”I know,” the admiral reminded him. ”I was there.”
”Well, then?”
The admiral placed the palms of his hands together. ”Jean-Luc,” he began, and noted the surprised expression of the Enterprise captain upon hearing his first name spoken by the man he still thought of as a subordinate. ”Jean-Luc... you understand the tremendous risk I've taken by coming back here. You know, as well as I, the Starfleet regulations against any sort of interference with the time stream.”
”Of course. But since you are here, and since you've already interfered...”
”In for a penny, in for a pound? Is that it?” The admiral smiled humorlessly. ”I wish it were that simple. I came here for one reason and one reason only: to save Deanna. Violating those regulations-taking the responsibility for a universe on my shoulders-was the second most difficult thing I've ever done... the first being when I had to leave you behind to be killed by the Romulans.”
The last time Will had seen Picard as white as he was now was back when he'd been transformed into a Borg. ”I'm...” His voice was barely above a whisper. ”I'm killed by the Romulans?”
”No, Jean-Luc. I made that up.”
”You...” Picard looked at Will and Deanna, and then back to Riker. ”You made that up? Why? Why would you joke about such a thing?”
”It wasn't a joke. It was to make a point. If I start talking about events-any events-beyond my immediate goal of saving Deanna, then I run the risk of saying the wrong thing. The slightest slip could end up changing the time stream beyond what I've already committed to. Making the initial decision was already enough of playing G.o.d for me. I'm not prepared, under any circ.u.mstance, to expand on it. What if I accidentally talk about someone on this s.h.i.+p-you, Worf, Beverly-in the past tense? Let slip that people I know now aren't around forty years from now. Then they get to spend the next forty years, every time they run into any sort of difficult situation, wondering, 'Is this it? Is this what results in my death?' Or the other way around. What if I tell you, Jean-Luc, that in my time, you're running Starfleet? That could result in your becoming overly confident. You could go into dangerous scenarios thinking that you'll definitely get out of them because, h.e.l.l, you know you'll be around four decades hence. And as a result, you can get yourself, and everyone else, killed. Time is very malleable, Jean-Luc. And I'm just not going to mold the clay any further. I'm really very sorry.”
The three younger officers looked at each other, and then Picard-drumming his fingers on the table-said, ”If you don't tell us the bare facts we need to know in order to handle the situation... then Deanna could still die.”
Riker looked up at her grimly. ”I know that, Jean-Luc, but the first time, there was no warning. Now... forewarned is forearmed. That will have to do for you. And I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I just can't show them to you, that's all.”
Riker sat down and folded his arms in a manner that made it quite clear he was not going to say anything further.
Picard sighed. ”Very well. I can't say that I'm overly pleased with the situation. On the other hand... thanks to you... Counselor Troi is still alive. It would seem that I am going to have to hope that the instincts of the man whom I presently trust to be my second-in-command... are still present in the man who is also-at this moment in time-my superior officer.”
Picard rose, and Riker stood with him. ”I'll need some sort of modern-day Starfleet uniform... and preferably some sort of disguise, so I can move about.”
”What you will need, Admiral, is some reading material to keep you busy. I have no interest in marching you around the s.h.i.+p-I think the fewer people who see you, the better. These quarters are going to serve as your personal brig. The doors will be scaled with an override that only I can command, and guards will be posted outside. You are going nowhere, Admiral.”
”You can't do that!” said the admiral angrily. ”There are things I can do that you can't! Things I know to watch out for.”
”Maybe,” said Picard. ”Then again, maybe not. As you have made clear, time has already slipped into another stream. From here on in we are all of us improvising, Admiral, and to he blunt, I can tap-dance as well as you. You will stay safe and secure here so that I don't have to worry about a random time factor running about my s.h.i.+p. You, Counselor,” he said to Deanna, ”will go nowhere without Lieutenant Worf as a security escort.”
”Won't he question why you've given him that full-time a.s.signment if, as far as he knows, the danger is past?” said the admiral.
Picard, Will, and Troi looked at him in surprise.
He grimaced in chagrin. ”What was I thinking? Of course he won't question: he's a Klingon. Forgive me. It's been a while since I dealt with...” He stopped. ”Well... it's been a while. Captain... believe me, you're not pursuing the right course here. You've got to give me freedom to move.”
”Number One,” said Picard calmly, ”kindly check him for weapons.”
The first officer went to Riker, who stood absolutely still, glowering at Picard. Will took off him the phaser he'd taken from the guard, as well as another, much more diminutive phaser that he found hidden in his jacket. Will held it up and whistled. ”Small. What'll they think of next?”
”You'll find out,” the admiral informed him dryly. ”Jean-Luc...”
”Save it, Admiral.” Picard tapped his communicator and summoned two security guards to be stationed outside Riker's cabin. As they waited for the guards to arrive, no words were exchanged between the four of them... until finally Picard broke the silence and said, ”Can you at least tell me... is there still a vessel named Enterprise?”
At that, Riker smiled slightly. ”Is it important for you to know that?”
”I would like to.”
”All right. The answer is yes,” said Riker quietly. ”And she carries the name as n.o.bly as her forebearers did. You...” He paused and then said, ”You see? I was either going to say that you will be proud of her, or that you would have been proud of her. Very easy to make mistakes. Like the one you're making by cooping me up in here.”
”As with all mistakes, Admiral, we learn to live with them.”
Riker looked at Deanna, his dry skin crinkling around the eyes. ”Some of us never learn,” he said in a bittersweet voice. ”And some of us will move heaven and earth to change things for the better.”
She looked down, her cheeks reddening slightly. The admiral picked up on it immediately. ”I'm sorry. I'm embarra.s.sing you... because I'm being so overt about how I feel for you, and you've gotten used to the nice, easy, comfortable relations.h.i.+p we developed while on the s.h.i.+p.”
She bobbed her head. ”Yes,” she admitted.
The admiral turned and slapped Will on the chest. ”You idiot,” he admonished the surprised younger man. ”You're choosing the tidy, easy path instead of the more difficult but ultimately more rewarding path. You aren't even smart enough to know when you have a good thing.” The admiral made a noise of utter disgust and dropped down into a chair.
Picard, Will, and Troi slowly backed out of the quarters, leaving the sullen admiral to himself. Once in the corridor, they received the security guards, whom Picard instructed to stand outside and listen for signs of problems. If there were problems, they were to summon Captain Picard at once. They were not to enter under any circ.u.mstance. The guards nodded in obedience, if not in understanding, and then Picard issued an order to the computer to keep the doors sealed unless he himself should order them unsealed.
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