Reunion - Michael Jan Friedman [1]
Breezing into the examination area, Crusher saw that Burke was already waiting for her. She nodded by way of a greeting. “How’s it going?” he asked her.
“Not bad,” she told him. “Care to lie down for a minute?” Sitting down on the biobed, the security officer swung his legs up and leaned back until he was directly under the overhead sensor bank. As Crusher consulted the readings that were displayed at eye level, she found herself remembering again … “Doctor Crusher?”
Snapping out of her reverie, she looked at Burke. “Mm?”
“I don’t want to rush you, but I’m due to start a shift in ten minutes.”
How long had she been staring at the bio-readings? She didn’t dare ask.
The security officer smiled. “Listen, it’s all right. I don’t blame you for being a little distracted, Hell, even I’m excited about all those Stargazer people coming on board-and I don’t even know any of them.”
Crusher took a breath. “Actually, I don’t know them either. Except one, of course. You can get up now—you’re as fit as they come.” As Burke swiveled into a sitting position, he looked at her. “You don’t know them? But I thought-“
He stopped himself short, realizing that he might be
intruding, but the doctor supplied the rest: I thought your husband served with them.
“I heard about them,” Crusher explained coolly. “But I never met them face to face.”
Burke nodded “Right. Well, thanks. See you in a few months.” “In a few months,” she echoed, as he walked off toward the receiving area.
Leaning against the overhead sensor bank, she buried her face in the crook of her arm. Damn, she thought. Why did they have to pick this ship?
Will Riker, sat down at his personal terminal, took a deep breath, and called up the ship’s “visitor” file.
He had been looking forward to this for days. And not because one of his duties as first officer was to keep track of all personnel boarding and disembarking from the ship. The Enterprise was about to play host to Starfleet legends-living legends-and Riker wanted to know everything there was to know about them. The thousand and one other matters that had been upping up and demanding his attention lately would just have to wait awhile. Now, let’s see, he told himself, scanning the list of names on the brief menu. The one he wanted to see first was at the bottom-of course. He called up the relevant subfile. Name Morgen. Affiliation: Starfleet: Rank Captain. Homeworld Daa’V. The fall details of Morgen’s career in Starfleet since his graduation from the Academy twenty-one years before came up on-screen.
The record bore out what Riker had heard over the years about Captain Morgen of the Excalibur. That he
was an even-handed leader. That he brought out the best in his people. That he was militarily brilliant, diplomatically adept, and personally charming.
Not unlike his mentor, Jean-Luc Picard.
Now Morgen was leaving the service that had benefited so much from his presence to discharge another set of responsibilities-as hereditary leader of the Daa’Vit. He was returning to the planet of his birth to assume the throne in the wake of his father’s death. And bringing with him an honor guard-seven Starfleet officers with whom he’d served on the deep-space exploration vessel Stargazer. It was a Daa’Vit custom for a returning prince to be surrounded by his closest companions. And despite the friendships Morgen had made on the Excalibur, he had selected his fellow officers on the Stargazer to stand by him at the coronation ceremony. It was quite a tribute to those individuals. And to the esprit de corps that had characterized Picard’s old ship. Chief among the honor guardsmen was Picard himself, Morgen’s first captain. The others comprised the remainder of the visitors’ roster. He returned to the menu. Some of the names were as familiar to Riker as Morgen’s-Ben Zoma, for instance, the captain of the Lexington, and First Officer Asmund of the Charleston. The others were somewhat less well known to him, but their names still seemed almost magical. Professor Phigus Simenon. Dr. Carter Greyhorse. Peter “Pug