Captain's Glory

28

STARFLEET COMMAND PROVISIONAL HEADQUARTERS

MERCURY, STARDATE 58569.9

Riker stared at Janeway in disbelief. “Are you certain Picard wasn’t taken by the Totality?” he asked.

Janeway sat on the edge of her desk, gingerly. It was old, battered, something from a miner’s office. Despite the fact that warp travel was possible again, Command had no plans to move off Mercury until the threat of the Totality had been eliminated. For the duration of that campaign, the abandoned mining complex attached to the oldest section of the Vostok Academy would continue to be Starfleet’s provisional headquarters.

“With the gravity safeguards we have in place at every point of entry and exit, it’s not possible,” Janeway said. “I sent Jean-Luc to the Belle Reve to return with Kirk– “

“Arrest him?” Riker interrupted.

Janeway’s eyes narrowed at his choice of words. “Technically, no. We’re concerned about Kirk, not convinced. We just wanted to keep him out of harm’s way.”

“And out of contact with the Totality.”

“A precaution,” Janeway confirmed. She looked at Riker more closely. “You seem troubled, Captain.”

“James T. Kirk, a traitor? The idea that someone in Command could think that’s possible… I do find it troubling.”

“Not a traitor,” Janeway said. “A loose cannon.”

“As far as I know, that’s exactly why you signed him on to command a Q-ship. You didn’t have any trouble trusting him enough to be a covert agent for Starfleet Intelligence.”

Janeway’s voice did not lose its conversational tone, but her next words were cutting. “I imagine you had a special command relationship with Jean-Luc. As his first officer, it would be your duty to question his orders and discuss alternatives. But right now, you’re a captain addressing an admiral. You and I do not have a special command relationship.”

Riker clenched his jaw. “Yes, Admiral.”

“To get back on topic. Two hours ago, the Belle Reve broke orbit. Jean-Luc is not here. Neither is Jim Kirk.”

Riker kept all inflection from his voice. “Maybe Kirk convinced Picard to join him.”

“To do what?” Janeway said sharply. As uneasy as Riker was with the current situation, the admiral was clearly even more provoked. Riker was well aware that Kirk had that effect on some people. He revised that thought: most people.

“I don’t know Kirk as well as Jean-Luc does,” Riker said. “Or as well as you probably do after this past year. But it seems obvious that the only reason Kirk returned to this system and tried to run the embargo was to get help for rescuing his son. I do know Jean-Luc, and that would be a compelling mission.”

Janeway shook her head and spoke firmly. “Captain Picard’s a Starfleet officer and this is a time of crisis-billions of lives are threatened. It’s inconceivable that he’d abandon his ship and his duty to save one child.”

Not for the first time, Riker felt a huge divide between Janeway and himself. Perhaps it was because she had risen through the science ranks, while he had come up on the command track. Perhaps she still carried scars from her perilous voyage through the Delta Quadrant and the losses she’d endured. But whatever had forged such an unyielding attitude in her, she definitely saw the universe in terms more extreme, more black and white, than he did.

He wondered how many crew a captain had to lose to gain those scars, to embrace that all-or-nothing approach to command.

Riker hoped he was fortunate enough never to find out.

“Since you ask, Admiral,” he said, “I have no difficulty accepting that Captain Picard would attach great importance to the life of a single child, no matter whose child he was. And since it appears that Kirk’s son is being held by the Totality, I’m not sure that I see how a decision by Jean-Luc to face the Totality can be considered abandoning his duty.”

Janeway’s eyes flashed, as if he had overstepped himself again, but this time she stayed silent, listening. So Riker seized the opportunity, kept talking.

“As for abandoning his ship, if Jean-Luc considers Kirk’s mission to be dangerous, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s shouldered extra risk to protect his crew. I frankly don’t see the need for concern. At least, not with what we know at present.” Riker forced himself to smile at the stern admiral, so she wouldn’t overreact to his next suggestion. “Have you attempted to establish contact with Kirk’s ship?”

Janeway’s retort was swift. “All warp vessels are under subspace radio blackout and you know it.”

“With apologies, Admiral, a simple inquiry to determine if Jean-Luc’s aboard Kirk’s ship would reveal nothing of our plans to take on the Totality.”

“No subspace,” Janeway snapped. Then she shook her head, moved off the desk, and stood for a moment as if collecting her thoughts. Riker watched, waiting, as she directed her gaze upward to the low, sagging, stained ceiling. Dark wires trailed down from a broken tile in the far corner, tangling and twisting until they disappeared into a chipped-open hole in the floor. It was all too easy for Riker to believe he was back in the primitive, imperfect days of the twenty-second century when this facility had been constructed. It might have been an exciting era for exploration, but living conditions on worlds that weren’t M-Class left much to be desired. Mercury was no exception.

“You know, Captain,” Janeway said, her eyes meeting his directly, “I’m not so sure you’re right for this assignment.”

Riker started, confused. He thought he’d been summoned to discuss overall strategy and fleet disposition prior to the main advance on Vulcan. “I beg your pardon, Admiral. What assignment?”

“Recovering Jean-Luc and stopping Kirk.”

Riker tried to keep the indignation from his response. “I’m perfectly suited to that task.”

Janeway showed no sign of agreeing with him. “Because…?”

“I agree that Kirk’s no friend of Starfleet Command these days, but… he trusts me.”

The admiral appeared to consider that as she began to pace. “The impasse between Kirk and Jean-Luc… you broke that.”

“I offered them a way out of a no-win situation,” Riker said, encouraged.

Janeway halted, turned. “What if Jean-Luc isn’t Kirk’s prisoner as I believe? If Kirk’s managed to convince Jean-Luc to help him storm Vulcan to try to rescue his son– “

“Which I believe is more likely,” Riker interjected.

“– how can I be sure Kirk won’t convince you to switch sides, too?”

“We’re all on the same side, Admiral. Kirk just has a different approach. More direct.”

“It sounds as if you approve of what he’s doing.”

“I understand what he’s doing. There’s a difference.”

“You think you can talk Kirk out of moving on Vulcan on his own?”

“Is it really important that he doesn’t do that?”

Janeway seemed taken aback by his question. “Yes, Captain, it is. Kirk knows how we’ve managed to drive the Totality off our ships. He knows about the gravity-projector weapons. That information could be plucked from his mind by telepathy, or he might freely exchange it for his son.”

Riker wanted to object, but truthfully, when it came to the safety of Joseph, Riker couldn’t be certain how far Kirk might go. It was within the realm of reason that he might reveal Starfleet secrets, especially if he could convince himself that the revelation would cause no real harm.

Janeway studied him, seeming to intuit his thoughts. “So you do understand the importance of the mission.”

Riker nodded, gave his reluctant confirmation. “Stop Kirk from making contact with the Totality and recover Jean-Luc.”

“Then you have your orders.” Janeway walked around the old desk, and took her seat. She activated a padd, then paused, without looking up at him, her fingers still on the padd controls.

“And you’ll take the Enterprise.”

Riker didn’t conceal his surprise. “What about the Titan?”

“It’s not ready for warp, the Enterprise is. And I presume you know that ship as well as, if not better than, your own.” Janeway’s tone was brisk, impersonal.

It was clear to Riker that he was being dismissed.

“Aye, Admiral.”

“Good hunting, Captain.”

“What are you really planning to do?” Picard asked.

Kirk ignored the question, put Picard’s dinner tray on the small silver desk beside the bunk.

“I know how much your son means to you,” Picard tried again, “but I still can’t believe you’d jeopardize the existence of… well, of all life in this galaxy for his sake-not when there’re other options.”

Kirk sat down on the edge of the bunk, facing Picard across the small guest cabin. “Starfleet options?” Kirk asked.

“Jim, you have to know you’d have a better chance of saving Joseph if it was part of a concerted attack on the Totality.”

“I don’t know that at all, Jean-Luc. Neither do you.”

Picard weighed his next words carefully. He estimated they were still twelve hours out from Vulcan. If the Belle Reve arrived at that world and it did turn out to be under Totality control, then Starfleet’s plan of attack would be in danger of being exposed. Somehow, he had to convince Kirk to change his mind and stay out of the Totality’s reach.

“Jim, honestly, what can one man do against them?”

Kirk shrugged. “One man? I’m not sure. But you said it yourself: For some reason, the Totality leaves me alone.”

Picard felt an icy chill move through him. “Jim, are you working with them?”

Kirk looked at him, eyes intent. “You know me better than that.”

Picard shook off his misgivings. “You’re right. I do. But then… have you any theories to explain why they treat you differently from anyone else?”

Kirk nodded.

“Well?” Picard asked.

“They’re telepathic. Better you don’t know. Just in case.”

“In case they capture us?”

“In case they capture you.”

“You truly don’t think you’re in danger from them?”

Kirk shook his head. “A year ago, I would have said yes. I was no different from anyone else. On Remus, Norinda tried to… to absorb me into the Totality, the same way she did Spock. But… she wasn’t able to.”

Picard tried to remember back to what he had heard then, on the communicator channel while in orbit of Remus. He thought back over the reports he had read after his debriefing at Starfleet Command. He didn’t recall any mention of an attack on Kirk.

“You didn’t include that in any of your after-action reports.”

“It wasn’t important.”

“Jim, how could it not be important? If Norinda attacked you and that attack failed, then clearly you came up with some defense against her-a defense that could help us defeat the Totality.”

“I know.”

“So what was it? What did you do?”

“Me? Nothing.”

Picard didn’t understand. “But, you were alone with her. I mean, Spock was there… that’s when we lost him and– “

Picard stopped in a moment of shocked realization. Kirk hadn’t beamed down to face Norinda alone. Norinda had demanded that someone else accompany him.

“Jim… was it Joseph?”

The words came from Kirk as if being torn from his heart. “Joseph stopped her. When I couldn’t and Spock couldn’t, he could.”

Picard was astonished. He knew that Norinda had wanted Joseph under her control, but he’d assumed that was because she and her followers were trying to foment unrest between Romulus and Remus and Joseph, hailed by some as the new Shinzon, fit into their plans. When Norinda had vanished and her divisive Jolan Movement had collapsed, Picard had expected that everything would return to normal.

“I think it’s time you tell me what’s so special about your son,” Picard said.

Kirk’s slight hesitation told Picard that if he didn’t have an answer, at least he had suspicions.

“Jim,” he urged, “Joseph could be of the utmost importance to the future of the Federation.”

“He’s a child.”

“We’re at war.”

Picard’s challenge went unanswered. He tried again, still urgent, but reassuring. “If you tell me what you know, all of Starfleet will work to keep your son safe.”

Kirk’s face was like stone.

“You’re asking me to send my only child to war.”

Picard couldn’t speak as a father, only as a starship captain, and in that role it sometimes seemed he had been a soldier as often as an explorer. So as a soldier, he said simply, “If that’s what it takes to win, yes, I am.”

Kirk turned, went to the door, and it slipped open before him.

He paused there, looked back at Picard, face drawn by some terrible inner conflict that Picard would not dare presume to understand.

“He’s my child, Jean-Luc. How can I place him in danger? How can I risk losing him?” Picard could see there was something more Kirk wanted to say, but this wasn’t the time. “I love him,” he said quietly. “I’ll find another way to fight.”

Kirk stepped into the corridor. The door slid shut and locked behind him.

Picard wondered if Kirk, in his parental anguish, had found the answer to Janeway’s question: “How do you propose we fight love?”

Faced with the extinction of all life in the galaxy… perhaps all life in the universe… Kirk could not, would not, risk the one chance life might have to survive.

Was that the secret of the Totality’s power? The secret that revealed why it couldn’t be defeated?

Perhaps there was no way to fight love.

If so, the poets had known it all along.

Love did conquer all.