Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/startrek/old-incomplete/reunion.p0-4

Text File | 1995-08-20 | 21KB | 344 lines

I wrote this story fragment some time ago and would like to post it for
all of you to read.

Two warnings:
    1)  It is not a story in that it has no plot and doesn't have a
            real conslusion.  It just ends.  I have no intention of
            finishing it, either.  It is what my predictions are for the
            Enterprise crew in forty years.  It was written before the
            book _Imzadi_ and the show _Parallel_.  (IE: the future isn't
            consistent from one of these to another, nor to this story)
    2)  For all of you Wesley haters out there: Mr Crusher is in this
            and he has a respectable position.  This comment was aimed
            mostly at Allen.

All comments welcome.

With that said, enjoy the story!

--
--  Long Live the Memory of Gene Roddenberry
---------------------------------------------------------
--  Chris Morton   [e-mail]
                                   Chapter 1

Captain's Log, Stardate 84538.4:  Since receiving our distinguished guests
from the USS Magellan, we have resumed patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone.
Though I find this activity somewhat tiresome, I realize the importance of my
mission to the security of the Federation.  Meanwhile, I have planned a
reception for the admiral that I feel all of us will find very enjoyable.

                         *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

     Will Riker walked down the corridors of the Enterprise.
     Though he recognized none of the faces that he passed, he could feel that
this was a ship and a crew worthy of the Enterprise name.
     It had been nearly twenty years since he had been aboard any ship called
the Enterprise, and he would rather forget his last moments aboard that one.
     It had been in the final minutes of the Battle of Outpost 35, and the
Enterprise's Battle Drive had been nearly demolished.  Riker had spent the
previous hour and a half frantically trying to defend the outpost and call for
reinforcements before the Romulans destroyed him and the outpost, opening the
way for a full scale invasion.  The reinforcements had arrived, but not before
the Romulans had used a new weapon that they had recently developed.  It was
basically a feedback-overload weapon that channeled energy into the shields,
overloading them.  The feeback blew dozens of consoles all over the ship,
including tactical.  The resulting explosion had killed Worf instantly and
demolished the tactical console.  Only Data's quick work at Ops had enabled
him to control the tactical station as well as control the energy usage of the
ship and saved countless Federation lives.
     Riker shook his head and kept walking.  He had been trying to get rid of
those particular nightmares for years.  Meanwhile, he had a reunion to go to.
No matter that Data wanted to call this a "reception", Riker saw this as a
reunion of many friends.
     Riker made his way to the Ten-Fore Lounge.  When he entered the large
room at the front edge of the ship, it amused him that it was exactly the same
place that he remembered from his ship.  As Riker slowly surveyed the dimly
lit room, looking for familiar faces, he noticed the bartender and his face
stretched into a large smile as he made his way over.
     "Hello, Guinan."
     "Admiral," greeted Guinan.  "I see that you're here as well for our
little get together."
     "Wouldn't miss it.  Guinan, you haven't changed."
     "Well, thank you, sir.  I do try to stay looking young.  It helps
business.  Besides, if I looked older, I wouldn't be able to stay on the
Enterprise."
     Riker laughed and was about to say something more when he felt someone
next to him.  He turned and looked over at one of the most beautiful women he
had ever seen in his life.  She was just a little shorter than he was, with
black hair and a pair of bright blue eyes.  She immediately threw her arms
around him and gave him a hug that made his day.
     "Dad!"
     "Hi, Min," he replied as soon as he could breath again.  "I was going to
stop on the bridge to say hello to everyone, but I figured that I would see
you all here, so why bother?  So, how has my favorite daughter been?"
     She gave a little laugh, "Just fine, thanks.  Where's Mom?  I thought
that she was supposed to be here too."
     "She'll be coming in a minute.  So how do you like starship work?"  He
let Guinan guide them toward a table that she had reserved for them.
     "Just fine, I guess.  It's hard work.  You know, I really didn't believe
you or Mom, but you were right, it's tough to make it out here."
     Will Riker turned at the sound of the doors to Ten-Fore opening and
watched with appreciation as another one of the ship's guests walked in.  She
hasn't changed either, he mused.  She's as beautiful as ever.
     "Mom!"  Min Riker jumped up and lightly ran over to her mother as Will
more slowly joined them.
     "Hello, Min.  It's been a long time, hasn't it?" asked Deanna as soon as
the hug ended.
     "Too long.  Boy, I'm glad to see the two of you.  I've so much to tell
you."



--
--  Long Live the Memory of Gene Roddenberry
---------------------------------------------------------
--  Chris Morton   [e-mail]
                                   Chapter 2

     Min led her parents back to the table she and her father had just vacated
and began telling them about her job.  "It really isn't much different than
what you did, Mom," she admitted at one point.  "Though you had an unfair
advantage with your empathy rating.  I have to do it the old fashioned
ways.  Hard work and observation.
     "Well, you are one quarter Betazoid," returned her mother.  "You should
be able to get some kind of impression off of most people."
     "I've tried.  I just can't quite seem to read people the way you can."
     "What about him?" asked Deanna pointing out a bridge officer just as he
walked into the room.  Bearing the two and a half pips of a Lieutenant
Commander, he was slightly on the tall side with brown hair.  He was good
looking without being overly so.  His most outstanding feature, however, was
that he looked wire thin.
     Min turned to look at who her mother pointed out and turned scarlet.
"Okay," she admitted, "I have been practicing."  She got up and went over to
him.
     When Min was gone, Will asked Deanna, "Who is it that you got such a
response out of Min about?"
     "Don't you recognize Dean?" she scolded her husband.
     Will felt his mouth fall open and he turned to look at the young officer
that Min was leading to him, with her arm hooked around his.  He quickly shook
his head and gathered his wits.  Standing up, he offered his hand to the young
officer.  "Dean, good to see you again."
     "Yes, Admiral.  It's nice to see you again, too," he said as he shook
Will's hand firmly.
     "My name is Will.  None of this admiral stuff unless you want me to call
you Lieutenant Commander all of the time," said Riker as he sat down.  "God,
it's got to have been a couple of years since I've seen you last.  How have
you been?"
     "Pretty good, thanks.  At least it's been better since Min came aboard,"
he added with a smile for her.
     Will smiled too.  "How's your father?"
     "Well, he says he's been busy.  You know that he works for the Head of
Engineering at Starfleet now?"
     Will nodded.  He had been instrumental, along with Ambassador Picard, in
getting that position for Dean's father.  Dean probably didn't know that.
     "Well, Dad says that he really likes working for Admiral LaForge.
Something about old times coming to life again.  Anyway, you can ask him about
it when he gets here."
     "He'll be here?" asked all of the Rikers with some surprise.
     Dean smiled.  "Yep.  He made me promise not to tell you too soon.  He
should have been with you on the Magellan, but couldn't connect.  He should be
rendezvousing with us in about an hour."
     "That's great to hear.  I haven't seen Wes for so long, I may not
recognize him when I see him," said Deanna.
     Dean smiled.  "He'll recognize you.  He told me not to tell you, but I
was named after you.  He wanted a daughter named Deanna, but I guess he got
close enough with Dean," he shrugged at his father's choice of names.
     Deanna turned a light shade of pink but said nothing.
     Will laughed, "I do believe that Mr. Crusher has a crush on you, Deanna."
     "He was young then, Will," replied Deanna defensively.
     Will laughed.  Dean smiled; so did Min.  Deanna gave them all an
exasperated look.
     "Well," said Dean, "I believe that Captain Data has a reception planned
for you.  I'm pretty sure that the senior officers are invited too, so why
don't we go to Holodeck 1 and join him?"
     The suggestion was met with general approval, so everyone headed out the
door to the nearest turbolift.
     As Min and Deanna walked ahead, Dean pulled Will back behind.  "Sir, I
would like to ask you a question."
     "Sure, Dean, but only if you stop calling me sir."
     Dean smiled and forged ahead.  "I would like to marry Min, with your
permission of course."
     Will smiled.  He had seen this coming, even before Deanna, for once.  "I
don't see how you need my permission.  She's a grown woman and I believe that
she's in love with you.  At least that is what she's told us in her
communications home."
     Dean breathed a sigh of relief.  "Thank you.  The only problem now is how
to ask her.  How did you propose to Mrs. Riker?"
     Will laughed.  "Ask me again sometime.  The truth is hard to believe and
very complicated to explain.  If truth be known, I was asleep at the time," he
confided as they boarded a lift.  The girls had taken the previous lift and
would be there before Will and Dean arrived.
     "Asleep?" asked Dean with a puzzled frown on his face as they boarded a
turbolift.  "If you were asleep, how did you ask her?"
     "Telepathically.  Ask me again after the party.  I'll explain then,"
answered Will as their turbolift slowed to a halt near Holodeck 1.

[author's note: read the short story _Atax_ for explanation of Riker's
proposal]

--
--  Long Live the Memory of Gene Roddenberry
---------------------------------------------------------
--  Chris Morton   [e-mail]
                                   Chapter 3

     The holodeck doors opened for Will and Dean and they stepped into a cheery
woodland scene complete with singing birds and a stream off to one side.  The
only thing that marred the pastoral scene were a crowd of people around a table
full of food and drinks.
     Will Riker looked around with a smile on his face.  He knew almost
everybody here.  Dean was joining Commander Jack Picard, Min, and Deanna.
Will, though he wanted to talk to Ambassador Picard's son, decided to join
Captain Data and his Klingon science officer.
     "Captain, I still don't like the way our readings fluctuated like that,"
said the science officer just as Riker joined them.
     "Greetings, Admiral," pronounced Data politely as he spotted Riker joining
them.
     "Data, we've known each other too long to go by titles.  Start calling me
Will, or I'll just have to tell all of your officers about your involvement
with the Doctor Moriarty program," threatened a grinning Riker.
     Data's mouth twitched upward in a small smile.  "I guess that I'll just
have to start calling you Will then.  I can't have that particular story
floating about the ship, now can I?" asked Data with an embarrassed smile.
Data remembered the episode that Riker was referring to with a combination of
pride and embarrassment.  In an attempt to prove to the then Chief Medical
Officer of the USS Enterprise, Doctor Kate Pulaski, that Data could solve
unique problems, Geordi LaForge had programed the holodeck computer, using a
Sherlock Holmes format, to produce an adversary that could defeat Data.  The
resulting holodeck program had literally created a sentient person, bent on the
takeover of the Enterprise.  Only Captain Picard's intervention and persuasive
abilities had saved the ship from the newly created Doctor Moriarty.
     Will stared at Data's expression and then burst out laughing.  "I can't
get over how much different you are each time I see you, Data.  Not only do you
show emotions, but you're using conjunctions now.  I'm impressed."
     "Thanks.  I've been trying for years to be more human.  I hope that I've
finally gotten the hang of it by now."  He motioned to the Klingon officer
beside him, "Admiral, I believe you already know Lieutenant Alexander, son of
Worf."
     "Yes, nice to see you again, Lieutenant," said Riker nodding to the
Klingon.  In fact they last met on Earth some thirty years before when Riker
had gone to Alexander's graduation from Starfleet Academy.
     "Captain Data has told me that my father served both you and Ambassador
Picard with honor," asked Alexander in the form of a statement.
     "That is true.  Worf served us very well and died in the line of duty.
You should be proud to bear his name."
     The Klingon stood up a little straighter and puffed out his chest, "Yes,
sir."
     Riker smiled and turned back to Data, "I heard that we will be meeting
with a ship that is bringing Wesley Crusher.  When will we be rendezvousing?"
     "In twenty-six point three minutes," he paused.  "I'm beginning to sound
like the computer again, aren't I?"
     "Yes, you are, but don't worry about it."
     "In about a half an hour," continued Data.  "I believe that he'll be on an
inspection tour on behalf of the Head of Engineering.  I assume that he'll be
bringing his wife Kimberly with him, so you and Mrs. Riker can meet them."
     "Her name is Deanna," corrected Will.
     "Sorry.  Old habits die hard," said Data.  Riker smiled.
     "What is this about a sensor fluctuation?" Riker asked Alexander.
     "Several days ago we had a momentary power reading flux on one of the
stars that we were passing.  It is within Romulan territory, so we couldn't
very well stop and check it out.  It was so far away that I'm surprised that we
picked it up at all.  Not much registers at those kind of ranges."
     "Sounds like something to keep you entertained for awhile.  I'll bet that
you don't have much to do while the Enterprise is running patrols along such a
well known area."
     Alexander grunted.  "True enough.  The only item of interest besides that
star was an asteroid that I found ten days ago.  Not much excitement there."
     For three quarters Klingon, thought Riker, he acts more human than I do
sometimes.
     They were interrupted when Commander Jack Picard came up to Data.  "Sir, a
Federation long range shuttle is hailing us.  They request that we rendezvous
with them in order to pick up some passengers."
     Riker turned to Data, "Wesley?"
     "Probably," answered Data.  He turned back to Commander Picard, "Granted,
Number One.  Once the passengers arrive, please escort them here."
     "Yes, sir," answered Picard.  With a nod to Riker he turned on his heel
and headed toward a bush.  Riker watched, amused, as Picard called out, "Exit,"
to the bush and stepped through the doorway that appeared.  Jack Picard walked
away from the party and headed through the corridors of the newest starship to
bear the Enterprise name.

--
--  Long Live the Memory of Gene Roddenberry
---------------------------------------------------------
--  Chris Morton   [e-mail]
                                   Chapter 4

     Wesley Crusher was ecstatic.  Not only was he was finally going to get to
go aboard the newest Enterprise, but he was also going to get to see Will and
Deanna Riker as well as the current crew of the Enterprise, including his son.
With a pang of sadness, Wesley realized that he hadn't seen Dean in nearly a
year.  He heard a sigh to his right and realized that Kimberly was having
similar thoughts beside him.  Wesley looked over at his wife and realized, not
for the first time, how lucky he was.  She was just short of his height with
shoulder length brown hair and expressive brown eyes.  Though Wesley himself
was thin, she was even more so and carried herself with almost dancing like
movements.  Not the sort to hide her emotions, she had her arm curled around
his, and he noticed her eyes sparkle as she anticipated her reunion with her
son.
     "Rendezvous with the Enterprise in five minutes, sir," called the pilot
from in front of Wesley.  He had worked hard to be able to get onto the
Magellan with Will and Deanna Riker, but when that had fallen through, Wesley
had asked for, and received, a long range shuttlecraft to ferry him to the
Enterprise.  One of the perks of the rank, he mused.
     Wesley sighed and leaned back in his seat.  His present rank had been
gained at the expense of years of hard work that had just begun when he was
made an "Acting Ensign" by the then Captain Picard.  Wesley had left the
Enterprise soon afterwards.  Finally gaining his life-long ambition, he had
attended Starfleet Academy and graduated with honors.
     It was during one of his leaves on Earth when he met Kimberly.  He had
been visiting Colorado (he had always been fond of skiing), and his second
night of a seven day pass found him sitting in an infirmary with a broken
ankle.  While the nurse was working on fixing his ankle up, another skier
limped in.  Just to pass the time, Wes struck up a conversation.  A pleasant
conversation turned into an even better dinner.  Five days later they went
their separate ways, Wes back to Starfleet Academy, Kimberly to UCLA.  They
wrote each other and saw each other whenever possible.  After his graduation,
he managed to work up the nerve to ask him to marry her.  To his utter delight
she accepted.  The wedding aboard the Enterprise was all that his mother (or
Captain Picard) could have hoped for.
     Though Wesley was on board during the fateful Battle at Outpost 35 some
sixteen years later, he was in the Engineering section and wasn't caught in the
explosion on the bridge.  Over the next several days, Wesley was thankful that
his wife and young son were far away during the encounter with the Romulan
Warbirds.  He and the rest of the surviving Enterprise crew had spent a long
time repairing the Battle Drive and mourning their losses.  Over a period of
three days, Wesley doubted anyone got any sleep at all.  Captain Riker was
constantly prowling the corridors supervising repairs, comforting victims and
friends alike, and providing inspiration to all concerned.  Doctor Selar spent
all of her time in Sickbay.  The Chief Medical Officer had reportedly spent
five straight days operating on all the wounded crew members before retiring to
her cabin.  Wesley himself learned more in those five days than he had learned
in his four years in the Academy about how to repair a badly damaged engine.
     Wesley Crusher shook his head.  Like Will Riker, he had been trying to
purge some of those memories since they occurred.  Fortunately he would have
plenty of opportunity to forget bad memories in a short time.  He would be
reuniting with some of his family and many of his friends.
     "Enterprise to Shuttlecraft Roddenberry, rendezvous in 10 seconds.  We'll
beam Vice-Admiral Crusher aboard at your signal."
     "Acknowledged, Enterprise," replied the pilot of the shuttle.  She
smoothly brought the small shuttle out of warp and into parallel course with
the Enterprise.  "If you and your wife are ready, sir?" asked the pilot.
     Wesley nodded, "Of course."  He and Kimberly stepped back to the small two
person transporter pad aboard the modified shuttle while the pilot set up the
transfer.
     Wesley felt the old remembered feelings of dislocation when the
transporter got hold of him and reassembled him aboard the Enterprise.  His
first sight was of a face that he hadn't seen in too many years.  "Jack!  Good
to see you again," he called, extending his hand on his way down the pad toward
Picard.
     "Sir," he answered as they shook hands.
     Wesley grimaced.  "My name is Wesley.  Being half brothers has to be good
for something, doesn't it?  Besides, Mom would throw a fit if she heard you
addressing me like that," he added with a grin.
     Jack smiled, "She would at that, wouldn't she?  Well, I'd better get you
to the Holodeck.  Captain Data is there with Admiral Riker and all the bridge
crew.  I'll have your belongings transferred to one of the guest quarters."


--
--  Long Live the Memory of Gene Roddenberry
---------------------------------------------------------
--  Chris Morton   [e-mail]