Unbroken Duties and Dreams

"Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Thomas Riker, Lt. Commander Data, Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge, Commander Deanna Troi, Commander Beverly Crusher, and Lt. Commander Worf, you are hereby relieved of your duties as of this date and are under orders not to discuss what occurred aboard the Enterprise." Admiral Paris said to the Senior Officers of the former Federation flagship of another universe. "What happened to the Enterprise is a tragedy and a great loss to Starfleet." He continued dryly. 'All Admiral Layton did was send you on a research mission and look what happened.' Paris thought to himself. "You must move on with your lives and try to forget this incident until further notice. Dismissed."

At the admirals command the senior officers of the former Starship Enterprise exited the office. Outside the office doors Picard turned to LaForge and Data. "I want you to check on Starfleet's current starship design and construction abilities. How advanced are they compared to what we are accustomed to? Report back as soon as possible."

Data and Geordi looked to each other, nodded in agreement, and headed towards a turbolift.

Riker looked to Picard "What do we do now sir?" He paused waiting for a reply. It had been a while since Riker had nothing to do and this time around he wasn't confined to a holding cell. He was free.

"We don't make it back to Earth much. I'm sure you can find something to pass the time." Picard said. He was stressed like the rest of his officers, but stress never got him anywhere so he would take a different approach. "Personally I'm going to take a walk."

Worf was surprised. "A walk? I'll have a security detail go with you." He was always looking for opportunites to keep working. Worf never wanted to take any kind of rest. He could never slow down. It was a part of is Klingon heritage, which he was very proud of.

Picard shook his head "No that won't be necessary commander. We are not in danger here we're back at Earth. Go enjoy yourself."

Worf nodded. "Yes, but this is not our Earth." He made a very valid point as usual. This was not their Earth; they didn't really belong in this universe. But here they were trying to make the best of each situation that came their way.

'Don't remind me.' Picard thought. "That's true." He said closing the conversation. "If you need anything, you know how to contact me." Picard headed towards the turbolift. Inside the lift he stood and thought for a moment, his vessel had been destroyed. A command Picard actually cared about, one that meant something to him. Starfleet would never forgive him, at least this Starfleet wouldn't. Picard's thoughts were interrupted as the computer made a beeping noise.

"Destination Please."

"Transporter Room Four." Picard commanded.

The lift made its way down the turbo shaft and stopped at the transporter room. The doors parted allowing Picard to exit. As he walked towards the transporter chief another door opened allowing Carol, Picard's daughter, to enter.

"Hello captain." Carol said. "The computer told me I could find you on the way here." She finished not knowing whether to look her 'father' in the eyes, or to simply stare at the deck.

"Yes." Picard replied, "I was about to go for a walk."

Carol hesitated. She wanted to know Picard better but didn't know how to proceed. His shields were always up. "Oh... Well I'd better go sir." She said trying to avoid confrontation.

'Ask her to go with you.' Picard thought to himself. 'You need to discus a few things.' He tried not to listen to that particular voice in the back of his mind. Picard had several unanswered questions adrift in his head, but one always seemed to find its way to shore. Did he want to get to know the one that called him father?

"Carol," Picard said "I'll contact you later." He allowed a smile to appear for a second. 'There, are you satisfied?' Picard asked himself. 'That's a start.' His thoughts replied back.

Carol nodded and exited the room. "This is going to take some time." She said under her breath.

Picard nodded. "Indeed." He looked to the transporter chief on duty. The man snapped to attention, apparently he had been watching the captian and his conversation with Carol. "What are you looking at?" Picard demanded.

The chief stumbled over his words. "Um. Nothing sir." He looked over the controls trying to look somewhat busy. "What can I do for you sir?" He asked with a shaky voice.

Picard walked over to the transporter console and entered a few commands into the interface. "Transport me to these coordinates."

A display screen flashed a warning in red letters. The operator hesitated. "Sir, that area is restricted to level Fourteen Delta security clearance. You don't have the authorization required." He was preparing to duck incase Picard decided to take it out on him. The chief had heard stories of Picard and his crew; he wasn't about to take any chances.

"I live there..." Picard's voice trailed off as he recognized the truth of the matter. 'You lived there, in a different universe.' He looked back to the console. "Very well. Beam me to Starfleet Academy." Picard ordered and stood on the transporter pad.

The chief keyed in a new set of coordinates, activated the transporter sequence and Picard was transported away to San Francisco. After confirming the transport to be successful the he opened a communications channel. "Transporter Room Four to Commander Eddington, we have a possible security problem."

Captain's Log, personal entry, Stardate 53001.4:
With the Enterprise lost under my command Starfleet has decided to wait a while before they decide on granting me another ship. The Enterprise was a good vessel, one that stood for everything I believed in. She stood for the memories of my previous universe and life in that universe. But that great lady is now dead. I don't know what Starfleet will do but I hope they will allow me to continue with my first dream and destiny, that of exploration. End Log.

Picard was sitting on a bench in front of an elm tree on Academy Grounds. When he was a cadet, Picard had always enjoyed sitting at that spot in his universe to think. As Picard sat he looked at the tree. There were initials of two people carved into it. One set he recognized as his own, the other set Picard didn't recognize at all. "Whose A.F.?" He asked himself. Picard continued to survey the tree and found a young cadet asleep among the flowers beneath the tree. Picard allowed a smile, in his universe a gardener by the name of Boothby was always getting after cadets for ruining his grounds. Something inside Picard told him to deal with the cadet.

Picard stood from the bench and faced the tree. "Wake up cadet." He said in a calm tone. The cadet lay there motionless apparently he was deep asleep. Picard raised his voice. "Wake up cadet."

The cadet turned over until his back was facing Picard. He clearly didn't want to be bothered. Picard smiled and put his hand on a phaser clipped to his uniform. "Cadet!" He said in a stronger louder more forceful tone.

"Leave me alone old man." The cadet said in a sleepy voice. "You want me to move, get security." He paused for a moment trying to say a few more words before drifting back to sleep. "Otherwise, beat it!"

Picard dropped the smile and drew the phaser. The cadet was mistaking him for someone else, a fact he would soon forget. "I'm giving you to the count of three." Picard threatened. "One. Two."

"What are you going to do?" The cadet asked in a sarcastic tone, "Shoot me?" His back was still facing Picard, an easy target. The cadet didn't know what danger he was in.

"Something like that." Picard pressed a few buttons on the phaser setting it to kill. It beeped in response.

The cadet heard the beeping noise, turned his head and stood up quickly. "Uh, sir." He stammered, trying to get an apology out. "I didn't realize."

Picard nodded. "Is that so?" He said, "If I fire you'll die cadet. Are you ready for death?"

The cadet stared down the barrel of the phaser. "No sir, forgive me sir." He paused. "I thought you were the groundskeeper." He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry sir, I didn't know."

Picard nodded and holstered the weapon. All he wanted to do was scare the kid, which he did with flying colors. "You're off the hook this time. If I catch you here in the future, you won't be so lucky."

The cadet gave a sigh of relief. "Yes sir." He said before heading to class.

"Violence captain?" An old voice said from behind Picard. "What is this universe coming to?"

'That voice' Picard thought 'that voice sounds familiar.' He turned around to see Boothby walking up to his position. "It is you!" Picard said with happiness but stopped smiling and tried to be as professional as possible.

"Who taught you that?" Boothby asked, referring to Picard almost killing a cadet.

"You did."

"What's gotten into you Jean-Luc?" The old man questioned.

Picard shook his head. "I'm not the Picard you know. Or knew." He didn't want to go through the story of how he got to this universe. He was getting tired of telling it to those who wanted to know.

Boothby smiled. "Yes, I heard what happened. Most people don't have respect for you and your crew. They are unsure." Word had been around Starfleet Academy as well. Boothby didn't think there was anyplace in the Federation that didn't know about Picard and his famous crew.

Picard nodded and still didn't care what others thought of him. His life was his own and shouldn't be of concern to others. Boothby had been a mentor of Picard for a longtime in his universe. It was Boothby who gave Picard his first lesson in target practice, as well as his first phaser. Picard felt like this Boothby was no different from the man he knew and admired. Picard had a good feeling about the man that stood before him. "And what do you think of me?" He asked.

Boothby shook his head. "As you know. What I think doesn't matter. What you think is what matters most." The old man's words, though simple, had great meaning to them. A meaning that sunk deep within Picard's mind and soul; Boothby walked away leaving Picard to give some thought to his advice.

Elsewhere at Starfleet Headquarters Technical Division, LaForge and Data stood in front of a computer console. They had spent the past half-hour downloading and reviewing Starfleets Technological Database, per their captains orders. It hadn't taken them long to hack into the mainframe. As was proven in the past, their technology was far more advanced than anything this Starfleet had to offer. A tweak here another manipulation there and they were in.

Data was currently viewing the information on the predecessors of the Enterprise as well as Starfleet's most current advances in Starship design. As he committed it all to memory, Data shook his head in disgust. "The captain is not going to like this." He said as twetny pages flew by the screen in the blink of an eye.

Geordi looked to the android. "What is it?"

"The most recent development is the Galaxy-Class starship." Data replied. "We will not be getting another Sovereign-Class anytime soon."

Geordi sighed with discouragement. There had to be a way around it all. He just needed to find that route and take it. Geordi's tricorder started to beep. He opened it and checked the small display screen. A warning flashed in red letters. "We've got company." He said. "Get that download finished, and let's get out of here."

Data nodded. "Understood." He pressed a few buttons on the console making the requested files to display at a quicker speed. After a few moments he terminated the connection. "Finished."

Geordi nodded. "Let's go." He activated a small transportation device to transport them out, but nothing happened. He checked the device and ran a diagnostic, all systems were normal it just wasn't doing its job. "What's going on?" He asked out loud.

Data made a few scans with a tricorder and reported his findings; a dampening field was in place and was preventing their transportation device. He paused while checking a few more scans. "Someone is just outside that door. I suggest we hide ourselves quickly."

Geordi agreed. they walked into an adjacent room to find a hiding place. They had to act quickly to avoid getting caught.

On the other side of the room, two doors opened allowing a man wearing a gold uniform to enter. He carried a flashlight as well as a phaser rifle. He searched the room visually for any sign of damage. Only a few minutes ago, his security panel alerted him about someone downloading information without proper authorization.

Across the room Geordi and Data were crouched behind a console hoping they wouldn't be found. Both of them were thinking the same thing. Whoever was in the room with them was being very thorough and serious in his investigation. Tampering with Starfleet files was a serious offense and would not be tolerated.

"Computer" The man spoke "Who has been at this console today since oh six hundred hours?" He waited patiently for the computer to access the necessary records and display a report. Several names appeared on the screen, next to them were access times. The man reviewed the list and found nothing out of the ordinary. He de-activated the terminal and exited the room.

Geordi gave a sigh of relief. "That was close. I thought he'd never leave."

Data nodded "Indeed."

They stood up from the console. Data removed his commbadge and changed the frequency, hoping it wouldn't be blocked as their transporter device was. "Data to Picard." No one answered his hail. Data checked the communicator for the frequency he had set it correctly. It just wasn't transmitting. "It appears the dampening field is drowning out my communicator as well." He snapped his fingers in disappointment.

Geordi looked to Data and smiled. Even though he had an emotion chip, there were still some things he quite didn't get. Geordi pulled out a tricorder "Whatever this dampening field is, it's pretty strong. I can't cut through the interference." He felt trapped as he continued to read the tricorders findings. "I think we underestimated our security friend." The tricorder began beeping as a warning message flashed on the screen.

"How so?" Data asked as he was cut off by the sound of a transporter beam.

A second later, six security officers surrounded the two officers. Each held a phaser pointed directly at Geordi and Data. There was no exit for them to use, they were trapped like two mice in a cage.

"Who are you?" The head security officer asked.

Geordi sighed again, now they were in hot water. He looked at the man and then to his phaser. "I think we made a wrong turn." Geordi began to explain. He was hoping there would be a way out of the situation.

Data nodded. "Indeed."

The security team didn't want to waste time with games. "I don't want excuses!" The leader spat. "I demand to know your identity!"

Geordi looked again at the phaser, he noticed it was top of the line. At the moment it was set on stun. He was disappointed at the tolerance levels of the security force. They appeared to be pretty weak. He remembered times where security was more powerful and evil. Shoot first ask questions later, that was the way to run a security division. Geordi remained silent; he didn't feel like answering questions at the moment.

"Not willing to talk eh?" The man asked. "Very well." He tapped his commbadge. "Eaves to Transporter Room, beam the two intruders to holding cell six."

"Aye sir." Said a voice on the other end. After a few minutes passed and nothing happened, he reported his findings. "I can't get a lock sir. Something's wrong."

Data raised his index finger. "You will find it impossible to transport us. I have my own dampening field in place." The android said "If you want us, you will have to take us to the holding cell yourselves."

The officer shook his head. "Very well, come with us." The security force escorted Geordi and Data out of the building to a detention area.

"Crusher to Picard" The doctor's voice came through the captain's comm badge.

Picard stood from the park bench. "Go ahead doctor."

"Commander Worf is in a detention center." She continued "He's been placed under arrest."

Picard shook his head "What happened?"

"Deanna's looking into it." Crusher said "I thought you might want to be informed."

"I'll be right there." Picard said concluding the conversation. He left the bench area to find a transporter pad.

* * *

Starfleet security had been pretty busy that day. They managed to pick up three Enterprise officers within an hour of each other. Commander Eddington was feeling pretty proud of his job at that moment. No only was he doing his job, but he could finally prove that the Enterprise crew should never have another command ever.

Inside a cell, Data looked towards Worf who had only been in the cell for a few minutes. "What are you in for?"

Geordi chuckled, he was sure Data was just waiting to ask that question.

Worf glared at the android. "I started a fight." He said not caring. "Someone disturbed me during dinner."

"Ah" Data said.

Worf stood from a bench and walked over to the force field. As he touched it he shook his head. "They don't even have sufficient force fields in this universe." He paused, "That should have thrown me across this cell to the other side."

Geordi sighed, "Yeah I know. They're not into the punishment thing. The guards don't even put their phasers on kill."

"What kind of place is this?" Worf asked, "When we get out of here, I'm going to have a talk with their chief of security. They need to implement some new procedures." He hit the force field with his hand. It forced him to take a few steps back, but nothing he couldn't handle. Worf growled as if he were ready for battle.

"I would advise against that Commander." A voice said from around the corner.

Worf stood at attention, Data and Geordi stood from the bench. "Captain" they said in unison.

Picard stood in front of the force field with Troi by his side. "At ease." He snapped. Surveying the force field he shook his head, "What kind of barbaric people are in this universe?" He took his phaser and modified the beam. "Stand back."

His officers walked as far back as they could and watched as Picard fired his modified phaser. It took the force field down in a few seconds. "Let's go."

"Captain?" Geordi asked.

"Haven't you seen a jail break before?" Troi asked. "I've taken care of the guards as well as the surveillance equipment. Now let's go before anyone figures out what's going on."

The three prisoners looked to each other, shrugged, and left the holding cell.

* * *

Commander Eddington switched on his monitor. "Report."

"They've escaped sir." A lieutenant said on the other line, "I can have a team apprehend them in five..."

"Negative" Eddington said "They would just break out again. I'll deal with them." He paused, "Good work lieutenant. Eddington out."

The screen went blank. Eddington tapped his fingers on the table. The Enterprise crew was up to no good, and he was going to have to teach them a lesson. He stood from his chair and exited the office.

* * *

Picard and his officers ran down an empty corridor. So far no one was able to catch up with them, Troi had done a good job of disabling all security measures enabling them a quick escape.

After a few more minutes of running they came to a dead end.

"What now?" Geordi asked.

Troi touched the wall before them; "This wasn't in the schematics." She searched the wall looking for an access panel but found nothing.

"Hold it!" A voice said from behind. "Turn around slowly."

The five officers did as ordered. "Captain." A male voice said, "I didn't realize"

Picard approached the officer. "Lieutenant?"

"Sir, what are you doing helping them escape?" The officer stood at attention.

Clearly he was mistaking Picard for someone else and hadn't been informed of the entire situation. Picard was ready to use that to his advantage.

"Never mind that lieutenant, it's a Priority One matter." Picard ordered. "Report back to your post."

"Eddington to Crusher." The Security Chief's voice came through a commbadge.

Crusher didn't answer.

"Wesley. Come in." Eddington said.

Crusher nodded his head, "Yes sir."

"Report."

"I have Commander Worf, Data, and LaForge in custody sir." Crusher said, "As well as Captain Picard and Commander Troi."

"What about the others?" Eddington asked.

"Commander Riker and Dr. Crusher are not here." Crusher allowed his phaser to lower a tad.

"Very well, bring them to me." Eddington said, "If they resist, shoot them."

"Aye sir." Wesley said, and then to Picard: "Sir, if you'll come with me." He stepped forward to take Picard's phaser.

Several ways of getting out of the situation ran through Picard's mind. He decided not to use any of them. He would meet with Eddington, after a few words he and his crew would be allowed to go free. It would only be a matter of diplomacy, and persuasion. Picard handed the lieutenant his pahser and ordered his crew to do likewise.

Crusher tapped his commbadge. "Crusher to Transporter Station Delta, transport six directly to Commander Eddington's office."

The officers disappeared as a transporter beam overcame them.

* * *

Commander Riker was sitting at a table at a cafe in downtown San Francisco. He was enjoying the view of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as the fresh air.

"Tom" came Doctor Crusher's voice.

Riker looked up to a Red headed female approaching the table. "Doctor, please have a seat."

"No time." Crusher said, "They've been arrested."

Riker chuckled "Who?"

"Who do you think?" Crusher replied.

Riker's smile dropped "All of them?"

Crusher nodded. She folded her arms waiting for Riker to stand, which he did.

"Where are they now?" He asked as they started walking away from the Cafe.

"Starfleet Security." Crusher said, "We need to get them out of there, but we would have no where to run."

Riker nodded "Agreed."

* * *

"Thank you lieutenant." Eddington said to Crusher, "Please stay here, I may need your services."

Crusher nodded "Yes sir."

"Captain, captain, captain." Eddington said. "You did a really nice job to our Security facility." He sat down at a desk in his office and looked at the five officers standing before him.

Picard remained silent.

Eddington was reviewing the actions of the Enterprise crew for the day on a PADD. "You threatened a Cadet on Academy grounds, disabled a Security field, destroyed central Security Systems here at headquarters and harmed sixteen officers in the process. Did I forget anything?"

Picard shook his head, "No I think that about covers it."

Data held up a finger as if to speak, but Picard waved it down. It was not time for one of the android's ill-timed jokes.

Eddington shook his head and gave a deep sigh. "Why?"

Picard stood firm, "Well Commander, I needed some information."

Eddington shot Picard a look of confusion. "Information? Elaborate."

Picard sighed, "I needed information about Starfleet's latest Starship design."

"That's all?"

Picard nodded, "That's all."

Eddington thumbed through the PADD before him. "You didn't have plans to infiltrate the base in France and gather top secret information for the Maquis?"

Picard shook his head "That's absurd!"

"Is it?" Eddington asked. "You didn't request to be transported to these coordinates earlier this morning?" He handed the PADD to Picard.

Picard accepted the PADD and looked through it. He recognized the coordinates. "Yes I did, but that is where my house was in our universe."

Eddington took the PADD back and thumbed through it some more. "Why don't I believe you?"

BEEP BEEP. The door chime sounded.

"What now?" Eddington said, "Lieutenant, get the door."

Wesley walked over to the door and opened it allowing Riker and Dr. Crusher to enter. "Mom!" He said excitedly.

Beverly looked to him puzzled. "Excuse me?" She didn't recognize him at all.

Eddington looked to his security officer, "Lieutenant. Remember what we discussed?"

Wesley nodded as he remembered the commander's words to him about how his mother disappeared along with the rest of the Enterprise crew. And how these people took their place.

"Yes sir, sorry sir." Wesley said as he closed the door.

Riker looked to his fellow officers and walked up to Eddington's desk. "I demand you release these officers at once."

Eddington shook his head, "You are in no position to demand anything from me Commander."

Riker reached for his weapon ready to kill Eddington.

Picard held out a hand to Riker's arm, "Tom." He said softly.

Riker stopped. Picard was right this was not a time for violence. He needed to have patience and put trust in Picard to get them out of this.

Commander Eddington shook his head. "You'd better be happy your captain stopped you commander, you might have ended up in prison... again." He stood from his desk and walked towards Picard. "Captain, I could have your head for these actions." He paused, "But I won't."

"In exchange for what?" Picard asked, knowing there was some catch.

Eddington ignored the question for a moment. "Admiral Paris contacted me directly ordering me to let you go." He paused, "Why? I don't know. He wants to see you right away."

Picard was frustrated. Maybe he should of let Riker kill the man, he wouldn't have to look at his face again. "All right." He said turning to walk out of the office. His senior officers followed after him.

"Captain." Eddington called after him.

Picard turned to see Eddington with a smile on his face. "Yes?"

"We will meet again."

Picard nodded, "Indeed."

The senior officers of the Enterprise exited the office leaving Wesley and Eddington alone.

"You can never trust anyone." Eddington told the lieutenant, "Remember that."

Crusher nodded his head. "Yes Sir."

* * *

Outside Admiral Paris's office the Senior Officers of the Enterprise stood again. As they entered, Paris looked up from a computer screen at his desk. "Ah, come in. Come in." He said.

Picard looked to the admiral trying to guess at why he wanted to talk with them again.

"I've looked over the trouble you've gotten into the past ten hours." Paris said, "Is this a normal routine for your officers?"

Picard didn't answer the question; he simply stared at the admiral.

Paris waved his hand allowing the matter to go. "Captain, I know how hard it is to lose a vessel." He said, "Why all of this secrecy? All you had to do was ask."

Picard didn't believe the admiral for a second. "And you wouldn't have gave us that information."

Paris smiled, "You'll never know what would have happened." He looked at the seven officers before them. "I'm dropping all charges against you. We'll let you slide this time, taking into account that you managed to get through all of our security systems so easily."

Picard smiled. He was pleased to see they had caught Starfleet off guard.

Paris noted the smile on Picard's face, and with his own smile dropping said, "Don't do it again."

"When do we get a new ship?" Riker asked.

Paris called up a file on his terminal and scanned through it. "In a few weeks we'll have a Galaxy-Class vessel ready for your crew." He said. "For the time being, try to stay out of trouble. Dismissed."

The Enterprise senior officers exited the office. They had gotten off without any troubles, at least for the time being. As Picard walked with his officers towards the end of the hall, he couldn't help but feel revenge creeping into his mind. Revenge for two people, Commander Eddington and the Maquis leader who destroyed the Enterprise. They would pay for their deeds against his crew.

The End