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“Well, I can’t argue with that.” Riker stood up. “Thank you, Captain. I’ll leave you to your reading.”

“Very well, Number One.” He smiled. “Sorry—Captain.”

As he moved toward the door, Riker said, “Like I said two weeks ago, Captain, I’m still your first officer.” The doors parted at his approach; he stopped and turned. “Oh, that reminds me, the first debate between Pagro and Bacco is tonight—Data’s having it piped into Ten-Forward, if you’re interested.”

This time Picard had no problem with the bitterness in his voice. “I’ve had my fill of politics and politicians, Number One. I’ll watch the recordings of the speeches and interviews next week when we’re closer to the election.”

“Fair enough. Good night, sir.”

“Good night.”

As the door closed on Riker, Picard picked up the padd he’d set aside and reactivated the display. Now, he thought, do I read about B’Hala, Myrmidon, or the Tkon Empire? So many choices

Before he could make that decision, the intercom beeped, followed by the airy voice of Captain Wai-Lin Go. “Go to Picard.”

Picard leaned his head back and gazed to the ceiling in supplication. Sadly, the ceiling was not forthcoming with any aid or comfort. Finally he said, “Picard here.”

“I have some questions for you regarding your personnel.”

Several possible replies were considered and rejected by Picard over the course of half a second. Go was probably fully aware of the fact that he had just gone off duty. Picard, on the other hand, was aware of how important this inspection tour was—not so much for him, but for the rest of the crew. In all honesty, Picard couldn’t give a damn what Starfleet Command thought of him, nor did he much care about what he personally had to suffer in order for the Federation to keep face with the Ontailians after Rashanar. He did the right thing, and was willing to face whatever consequences that action precipitated.

But he cared very much about his crew, and they had been unfairly tarnished by his own pseudo-disgrace at Rashanar. The only way it would end was if they passed this inspection with flying colors. That was why he had told Captain Go that he would available at any time to speak to her.

It would seem she took me at my word.

“Shall we meet in my ready room in ten minutes, Captain?”

“That would be acceptable, yes. Go out.”

Picard rose from the couch, grateful she’d acquiesced to the ten minutes. That gave him time to change into uniform. Somehow, he didn’t imagine that Go would be receptive to having so official a conversation with a person in civilian clothes.

As he removed his shirt, he wondered if the other shoe would drop regarding Go’s friendship with Jill Leeden. The destruction of Leeden’s ship, the U.S.S. Juno, was the primary reason for Picard’s censure, and while Picard would not expect a Starfleet captain of Go’s experience to let personal concerns get in the way of a professional evaluation, he also knew that Go had to be at least initially biased against Picard because of his connection to her friend’s death.

The question is whether or not she has overcome that bias to give the Enterprise a fair hearing, he thought as he fastened his uniform’s jacket and then pulled it down to straighten it. To date, Go had provided no indication one way or the other in her demeanor. Picard hoped that was a good sign.

Exiting his quarters, he proceeded briskly to a turbolift. The doors parted to reveal two officers, both wearing the gold of operations. They were, Picard noted, holding hands, but unclasped them as soon as they saw the captain. After a moment, Picard placed them—the large, dark-skinned, broad-shouldered man was Lieutenant Aaron Studdard from security, and the short, lithe woman was Ensign Anh Hoang from engineering.

“Captain!” Studdard said, straightening.

“As you were.” Picard entered the lift and said, “Bridge” as the doors closed behind him.

The lift proceeded up a few decks before stopping at deck four. As the two officers moved past Picard to exit, the captain said, “I understand the view of the gas giant from the forward section of deck four