The BLTS Archive - Renard (The Fox) Ninth in the Blackbird series by Cavalaxis (cavalaxis@hotmail.com) --- (c)12/07/1999 Reading Suggestions: Phillip Glass Disclaimer: Paramount owns Star Trek. All of it. I claim no profit. I do claim the story. Archive: Yes Feedback: s'il vous plait --- The grim look on my First Officer's face clearly showed his consternation. "Captain, forgive me, but I don't understand. If you went of your own accord, why is there an Admiral in my office claiming I have an extremely dangerous terrorist in custody? That you and she both need to accompany him to Intelligence Headquarters, you for debriefing and she for prosecution?" "Number One, I assure you, I have no idea what this man is about. Have we confirmed his identity with Starfleet Command?" My mind races ahead, trying to fill in the missing pieces, trying to determine how I am going to beat the hounds to the fox. "Yes, sir. He is one of the Council Advisors on Internal Security." The thought of being 'debriefed' by this man and his ilk does not appeal to me. "His private shuttle docked only hours after you left for Earth. When we failed to be able to contact you, he informed us that you had been abducted. When he brought us your communicator from your chateau, well..." I could understand his reaction. I would probably have done the same thing. I sink back into my chair. This is what I get for not following standard procedure. I've got it. The trick is not to beat the hounds to the fox. They've already beaten me to the fox. The trick is to out-fox the hounds. I feel quite sure that Leila is crafty enough to manage it, even in her current condition. "Commander, I need you to convene the senior staff and a security contingent some place away from the bridge. Sick bay." I'm on my feet and pacing. "I will need to convince the Admiral that his quarry has left the Enterprise." "Sir?" There is more than a little anger in his inquiry. I turn to face him. "Will. I know this is a stretch for you but I believe that the only risk here is to myself and to... our passenger. I can't imagine what this looks like to you from the outside, but you're going to have to trust me." "Permission to speak freely, sir." His brow is set, hard and stern. "Granted." I sit on the edge of my desk, yielding the authority. "Jean-Luc." How rarely do any of them call me by my name. It sounds odd. "I recognize her from the club in Harlem. Is it really worth risking your career over a woman you barely know? This really sounds like something you'd be talking me out of!" "Will. This is no ordinary woman. I owe her my life." My tone softens as I think back to the sight of her smile across the smoky room. That was a lifetime ago. "I am aware of that." His eyes meet mine. This is something a man can understand. The passions of the heart, unexplainable and irresistible. "Will, if I don't get her off this ship, or make the Admiral believe that she has escaped, the cost will be her life. And perhaps mine as well." I hold up a hand to quench any further questioning. "No, I'm afraid I can offer no further explanation. I would putting you at risk as well. I'm afraid you may never understand what is happening here, but I need you to accept this without understanding." His hesitation is merely a formality. He shakes his head and a smile graces his face. "You never make it easy, do you?" "Why should I?" I respond, finding myself smiling as well. You have no idea. "If I wanted an easy life, I would have stayed planetside." I returned to my seat behind my desk. "Now, on your way, and please inform the Admiral that I will see him in fifteen minutes." "Aye, sir." He rose to leave. "Oh, and sir?" "Yes?" "Was it worth it?" What a wicked mind you have, Will Riker. Of course it was worth it. My mouth hardens in mock disgust. "Dismissed, Commander." A gentleman never kisses and tells. --- She was reluctant at first but I persuaded her that it was best plan we had. She would go along with the plan, but only at my request. "Jean-Luc, I'm afraid I still don't understand just what is happening here. You barely know this person." "Beverly, I'm not asking you to understand. All I'm asking is that you help her." The desperation in my voice must be obvious by now. "Help *me* help her." She sits silently for a moment and then nods. She glances across the room at the figure clad in black from head to foot. "You're sure you can trust her?" I turn her to face me. "Her loyalty is as unquestionable in my mind as yours is." Her eyes meet mine. "Okay then. What needs to be done?" The others were made aware how much was at stake. Defying Starfleet Intelligence would put all of their careers on the line and I wanted anyone not willing to be involved to make an informed decision. There were no dissenters. Now, if only the universe would play along. --- "I assure you, Admiral, that at no time did I feel threatened or endangered by Khephera, as I know her. Our meeting was strictly by chance and, for the most part, entirely social in nature." I sat across my desk from a formidable man. Admiral Paul Jacobson was my equal in years, but my better in stature. He'd begun his illustrious career in the Fleet Marines and thus his ground-forces mentality played a substantial role in his diplomatic relations. If wouldn't tell him what he wanted to hear, I was beginning to believe that he would break every bone in my body to get it. I kept reminding myself that this was a charade, carefully designed to allow his enemies underestimate his keen intellect. I vowed not to do this. "Picard, who do you think you're protecting? This woman would have killed you had my men not beamed you to your ship." Already he was molding the past to fit his agenda. "I understand that you were not coherent enough to realize what was taking place around you. You had succumbed to the effects of the Borg nanotech in your system and if we had not pulled you out, she would have finished the job she set out to do." And making weaknesses where there were none. He seemed to be so ham-fisted about the whole thing. I almost could believe that I could underestimate him. "Admiral, that is not how my first officer relayed the course of actions to me." "Riker to Picard." Finally. I thought he'd never interrupt this stonewalling. And the urgency in his voice is more than believable. "Riker, I'm with Admiral Jacobson," I reply, hoping my terseness is not too put on. "I apologize, sir, but we have a situation. The prisoner has escaped from Sick Bay and she has taken a hostage...Doctor Crusher." "Where is she now?" I'm on my feet in an instant. The concern is not acted this time. I hope she knows what she's doing. "They've transported onto your shuttle, sir. Cargo Bay Four. I have a security detail en route." Admiral Jacobson interrupts in a booming voice. "Let them go and prepare to beam your doctor out." Could he really be serious? "That's an order, Commander." "Captain?" "Do it, Will. Lock onto the Doctor's signal. Let the Calypso disembark. The Admiral's shuttlecraft can handle the situation from there. Admiral, if you don't mind, I'd like to make sure my officer is alright." The doors to my ready room open and I catch a glimpse of the viewscreen on my way to the turbolift. The two vessels from Intelligence are more fighter craft than shuttle and they are hovering in wait for their prey. The Admiral's eyes are wide. "She's mad. She must know that she can't get away!" As the lift doors close, I watch the Calypso drift between them, to her doom. It was all the Admiral could do to restrain his satisfaction. "Picard to Riker." "The doctor is safe, Captain. She's in Transporter Room Four." Suddenly, the ship rocks with the force of the explosion. "Picard to Data, report!" "Captain, the Admiral's entourage has destroyed the Calypso, sir. We were able to raise our shields before the explosion. No damage reported, sir." "Good. Thank you, Commander. Admiral, my personnel had better be unharmed. Now that you have what you came for, you may now leave my ship. Unless, of course, you have a document stating the legality of your further involvement." My voice is hard and the darkness upon my brow fills the turbolift, spills on the floor of Deck 14 and follows me down the corridor to the transporter room. I sigh in audible relief as I see her, and then I realize she is cradling a broken wrist. "Beverly!" She smiles wanly at me and nods to the Admiral. "Sickbay has been notified, sir. I'm sorry, Captain. I thought she was compliant enough to move. She palmed a phaser from the guard and waited until we were in SickBay to use it. I really didn't expect that..." Her voice trails off in pain as she looks down at her twisted arm. A medic arrives two steps behind me and is quick to administer a shot of anesthetic. I wrap my arm protectively about her shoulders and glower at the Admiral. "If your business here is done, sir, I suggest you leave." "Captain, the debriefing..." His dismay at this turn of events was evident. The upper hand had been gained and lost in a few brief moments. "I have been debriefed, sir. I have nothing new to tell you." Again, though terrified, I stand my ground. This man can have me taken off my ship to be debriefed for hours, deep beneath the surface of Mars. I can only count on his shrewdness to spare me that fate. I must confess, the Admiral does know how to choose his opponents and on which battlefields to engage them. To withdraw is to fight again. The hate in his eyes is palpable. "Very well then, Captain. Perhaps you should be more careful who you socialize with on your next holiday." His eyes blacken to two coals and we watch as he steps onto the transporter pad. "Jacobson to Tep, one to beam up." --- "Are you going to be okay?" It is a silly question, meant to express my concern. "Yes. Did she have to break my god-damned wrist?" I wonder at that. The medic had deposited us in SickBay. Beverly sat down on in her office and allowed her wrist to be tended to. I stand and watch from the doorway. The figure I am expecting shimmers and emerges in the middle of the room. It takes all I have to contain myself. I want to go to her, pull her to me, kiss her face, crush her body to mine. To feel her against me, alive, safe. She holds a hand out in front of her and her words are cold. "They didn't believe I was dangerous, what with you guiding me backwards down the corridor. I had to make them believe. I apologize." Her forward motion stops when she reaches a biobed. Her uniform somehow seems alien on her form. The small E'n'E is clipped to her belt. "Yes, well. I still maintain it wasn't necessary." Beverly stands and works the stiffness out of the newly healed joints. "I could have dislocated your shoulder instead. Would you have preferred that? I chose the least painful of my options, Doctor." There is a bitterness in her voice that I know to be defensive. Her gaze is unfocused and my heart falls with the memory of her injury. "The situation is passed." I move to her side. Her hands reach for me as I touch her face. "Tell me, what caused this?" She laughs acrimoniously. "Well, azizam. You don't really want to know that answer." Doctor Crusher joins us, and a strange sympathy is apparent in her placid face. "The nanotech that Khephera neutralized in your system apparently had a taste for her mnemonic implant. The section of her visual cortex that was altered to enhance her photographic memory has been destroyed at the molecular level." My eyes search Leila's face and the word escapes my lips, "How?" Beverly moves away from us and her voice recedes with her, "The same way you catch any disease of that nature, Jean-Luc. Exchange of bodily fluids." I feel her tears on my hand and I draw her into my embrace. I have been the undoing of the one person... She lays her head on my chest and I feel her collapse against me. What begins as a bitter laughter turns quickly into silent sobs wracking her frame. --- ~File Terminate~