Sky Trek: Children of the Night

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Picard, Deanna, and Leia walked towards the Enterprise’s command spire. Having cleared the Normander’s landing pad, they were now moving across the Enterprise’s small craft landing strip. It was somewhat sparsely populated, a mechanic here or there working on a few of the bi-planes that weren’t stored below. One could easily mistake them for older aircraft, but with their top and bottom wings bent slightly upward and downward respectively, Picard knew better.

He squinted slightly and was able to make out the markings on their wings: a hollow black circle with what looked to be a top down view of some sort of large bird in the middle. Picard immediately recognized what it meant.

‘Rogue Squadron.’

“Marvelous designs, aren’t they?” Princess Leia said.

Picard nodded warily. “From the New Republic, if I’m not mistaken.”

“T-65 ‘X-Wings’,” she said, a flicker of fire in her eyes. “The Empire actually originally designed these, but we made better use of them than they ever would have.”

“Your brother is quite the ace with one, isn’t he?” Deanna asked.

Leia smiled. “He doesn’t fly as much anymore since starting his Jedi academy, but he was probably the best next to Wedge back during the war.” She then winked. “Don’t tell him I said that, though.”

Deanna chuckled. “Secret’s safe with me.”

Leia took a step closer to examine one. Though they were barely visible after apparently having been scrubbed, there seemed to be a faint, small set of dashed lines near its cockpit - a tally of sort.

“Huh - looks like this one saw some action,” Leia said. “Might have even taken part in Endor.”

“Against the second COD?” Deanna asked.

“Mhm,” Leia nodded.

“‘Citadel of Death’,” Deanna said, shaking her head. “The Empire certainly has a flair for the dramatic.”

“You won’t hear an argument from me,” Leia said, narrowing her eyes. “Though both of them lived up to their names. The main weapon of each of them could wipe out entire cities in the blink of an eye.”

Picard grew solemn. He knew that Leia had seen such a thing first-hand. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Leia said, taking a deep breath. “We barely saw it coming - only by a week or two. Honestly, the only thing more surprising than that itself was that nobody stepped into help afterwards.”

“Including the Federation,” Picard said.

She gazed ahead blankly. “...”

“Jean-Luc,” Deanna warned. “I wouldn’t-”

“I’m not going to get into it,” Leia sighed. “I’m not here to rip open old wounds.”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. I thank you for that,” Picard nodded appreciatively. “To the bridge, then?”

“To the bridge.”

They continued onward, a deafening silence ringing in Picard’s ears. He was grateful to find two new figures blocking the entrance to the spire, talking to each other. One was a young woman who he didn’t recognize. But the other, an outright half-human, half-golem, he knew right away: his radar/sonar operator, Victor Stone. While an intimidating sight to be sure, with half his body essentially being solid rock, his casual, laid back voice immediately disarmed that quality.

“So you can just straight up move things with your mind?” he asked the young woman.

She nodded, smiling slightly.

“Don’t need any hand movements? No ‘Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos?’”

“Huh?”

He chuckled. “Oh, you haven’t met Raven yet? I’m sure you’ll run into her eventually - old friend serving aboard the ship. She can do something like that, but she kind of has to do a sort of chant.”

“Was she one of the Titans, too?”

Victor nodded. “Mhm.”

“Titans?” Leia asked, interrupting their conversation. “Sorry, I overheard you two talking.”

The two seemed somewhat surprised at her and her group’s new presence, but shrugged it off soon enough.

“It’s no problem,” Stone said, giving her a friendly smile. “Wait, aren’t you… shoot- sorry, I’m bad with names sometimes, but you’re from the New Republic, right? Not surprised you haven’t heard of us.”

“Leia Organa,” she said, returning the friendly smile.

“Oh, and Captain Picard. Good to see you, too,” Victor nodded. “And …”

“Deanna!” the young woman suddenly said, beaming brightly at her and immediately rushing for a hug.

“Jane Hopper,” Deanna said, quickly returning it. “Look at you! I walk away for one minute, the next thing I know you’re all grown up and piloting a skyship.”

The two gazed at each other warmly, an awkward moment of silence passing.

“Uh …” Victor said.

“Oh, sorry!” Jane said. “Sometimes it just happens and I don’t even- heh.”

“Huh?”

“They’re both telepaths,” Picard explained.

Victor blinked.

“We can talk to each other… with our minds!” Deanna said dramatically, getting a laugh out of Jane. “My apologies though, it is kind of rude.”

“No worries,” Leia said. “Believe it or not…” She paused, as if weighing something. “Eh, nevermind. Maybe later.”

“Damn, and I thought I was gonna be the center of attention,” Victor said, gesturing to his half-stone side. “Not that I mind.”

“You were going to talk about the Titans, though,” Leia smirked.

“Oh, yeah, uh…”

He seemed to notice Picard glancing past him.

“Oh, shoot. Guess you wanna get to the bridge, right?”

“It’s quite alright,” Picard said politely. “I was just heading up there to meet with my bridge crew, but I’ve met half of them already.”

“Heh, I’m sure you want to see the bells and whistles too, though. Why don’t we talk on the way up?” Victor offered. “Jane and I’ve been there already - just stepped out for some fresh air. We’ll give you the tour.”

“Certainly,” Picard said. “Lead the way.”

With a nod, Victor led them into the command spire. There was nothing on the ground floor to note save for a small elevator shaft with an elevator car waiting for them. They quickly made their way inside, Victor manipulating the controls with his human hand. A moment later, the elevator moved skyward at a brisk pace. Instead of the usual monotonous music, there seemed to be a radio show of some sort playing softly in the background.

“-- consequences of flooding the airways with these types of EM signals, Dr. Tekla?”

“A good question, and one we hope to answer for ourselves. However, so far there hasn’t been much of any evidence to say--”

“So, yeah, the Titans,” Victor coughed, interrupting it. “We were sort of a… well, vigilante team, to be honest.”

Leia raised her eyebrows.

“‘Vigilante team’ is being a bit hard on yourselves,” Picard noted. “From what I understand, you were one of the few sources of stability in Jump City at the time.”

“Heh, true enough, I s’pose,” Victor said. “See, Jump City got hit pretty hard by The Great War. It was pretty much abandoned by the NCR. Could call it post-apocalyptic, honest. Complete anarchy, and not the good kind. We tried to keep the criminal elements from pretty much ruling the place. It was just five of us - all with, er, unusual abilities. Two of us grew up there, the other three moved in to help out. Can’t say how well we did, but the city was still standing when the Federation peacekeepers moved in, so… there’s that at least.”

“Pffft, you were heroes and you know it!” Jane smirked.

“No, not heroes,” Victor said, shaking his head. “Just wanted to keep the place from falling apart, is all. Too many people were already seeing Thestrals, if you catch my drift.”

“You’re not giving yourself enough credit,” Leia said. “You could have gone anywhere, but you saw a chance to do some good and took it.” She then gave Picard a pensive glance. “No matter the personal cost.”

“Indeed,” Picard said, narrowing his eyes at her.

‘So much for not ripping open old wounds.’

Before anyone could speak further, they reached the top of the spire, and Picard’s bad mood immediately lightened slightly.

Now this was a bridge. Like much of the ship, he had examined the blueprints to it many times. However seeing it on paper was nothing compared to seeing it in person. It was oval in shape, with no walls, but windows, offering a 360 degree view. In the center of it was the captain’s chair, with various work stations surrounding it and facing out the windows, everything state of the art as expected. What he didn’t expect was the comfort features, with both the captain’s chair and every station chair being padded with leather. The room was also cooler than outside, meaning only one thing.

“Air conditioning?” Deanna said, clearly delighted.

“They thought it’d be best if the bridge crew was comfortable as possible,” Picard said.

“The Federation certainly spared no expense,” Leia said. “They really are going all out with Enterprise. ”

“That would be an understatement,” Picard said. “I don’t think the powers that be have ever given so much attention to a single project before.”

Only two other individuals were on the bridge at the moment, one who he recognized immediately. She was a rare antlered elf, averial hybrid, her large wings folded at her back. Combined with majestic blue hair that actually seemed to sparkle, Picard immediately knew who she was.

‘Luna.’

Busy looking out of the ship’s long-range telescope, she didn’t seem to notice the newcomers. However, the other individual on the bridge did: a young woman of a species Picard didn’t recognize, her yellowish eyes beaming with excitement.

“Hey El, you found Captain Picard!” she said to Jane, immediately rising from her seat.

‘El’s’ eyes widened in horror - she rapidly shook her head.

Picard chuckled to himself slightly. ‘Relax, Miss Hopper, I’m not going to be thathard on her.’ He then cleared his throat. “Ensign,” he said, still taking on a slightly stern tone.

She coughed. “Oh crap… sorry, just kind of uh… jumpy.”

“Charlotte Magne, Communications Officer, yes?” Picard asked.

“Er, yeah,” she coughed. “Wait, you know my name? Duh, of course you know my name. You’ve probably memorized everyone on the ship by now.”

‘If only’, Picard thought. “It’s alright, ensign,” he continued in his most calming voice possible. “At ease.”

“Right, right, sorry,” she said. “It’s just we learned all about you at the academy. What you did on the Seagazer was… well, legendary, to say the least.”

“I simply made the best out of a bad situation,” he said. Out of his peripheral, he could have sworn he saw Princess Leia roll her eyes.

“The Picard Maneuver, right?” Victor said. “Oh yeah, that one was for the books.”

“He didn’t name it, by the way,” Deanna smiled.

This seemed to catch the ear of Princess Luna, who gazed up from her telescope for the first time and gave Captain Picard a coy look. “There’s no reason to be humble on his behalf.” She then began to walk over to Picard, the two, jagged antlers on each side of her head now clearly visible. “With a mere frigate, you managed to destroy an Imperial battleship, is that correct?”

Picard nodded solemnly.

Luna gazed at him curiously. “Mine are a peace loving people, but even we were impressed by such a feat - the ones who know about it, anyway.”

“It isn’t something I’m proud of,” Picard said. “It was… necessary.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh? I haven’t met many humans who fail to pride themselves on their combat prowess.”

“Then you need to meet more humans, Princess Luna,” Picard stated.

“I have studied your people extensively,” she said. “The bookmarks of your history are the start and ends of wars - near continuously, in fact. It only ended when one so bloody, so costly came along that your only hope of self-preservation was to stop. Only then could something like the Federation be born.”

“Hey, you’re being too harsh!” Charlotte argued. “Sure, some humans are bad, but not all of them! And inside even the worst is a rainbow!”

“Rainbow?” Victor said, gazing at her in bemusement.

“It’s a metaphor!” she beamed, before grinning wildly. “A colorful one!”

Cyborg shook his head in bemusement. “Starfire 2.0.”

“Huh?

“Later.”

Picard glanced at her. ‘That confirms she isn’t human.’ He quickly shrugged off those thoughts before turning back to Luna. “It wasn’t just out of self-preservation,” he continued, trying to relax himself. He didn’t know much about night princess other than she had just returned from a very long exile a decade back, but she clearly needed a bit more real world experience. “It also came from self-reflection. The Great War forced us to look deeply at ourselves, and we were not happy with what we saw.”

“It certainly took quite a bit to motivate you,” Luna noted.

“We get it. You don’t like humans very much, do you?” Princess Leia interjected, her voice laced with annoyance. “Kind of strange since the Earthen have been with you for centuries.”

“Earthen aren’t exactly human,” Princess Luna stated. “And I never said I disliked humans - I just find them… interesting..”

Picard raised his eyebrows. “You may study humans at your convenience - just don’t let it interfere with your duties.”

“I promise you, you will find no better navigator,” she said. There wasn’t just confidence in her tone, there was absolute certainty. “I know the stars like the back of my hand.”

“Good,” Picard said. “Your first orders are to plot the quickest route to Farpoint. We’ll be leaving at 0800 hours tomorrow. Please take into account any weather phenomenon relative to that time frame - I would rather avoid storms if possible.”

“Of course, captain,” she said.

“Well then,” Picard said, instinctively tugging on his uniform as he glanced about the room. He then gave Deanna a glance that practically screamed ‘ I need to get some things off my mind.’ “It’s time I took a look at the ready room. Deanna, care to join me?”

“I’ve got time. But what about the ...”

“Ceremony?” Picard said. “Not until we get to Farpoint. I’d like everyone aboard first. Until then, carry on with your duties. I’m sure there’s just as much you need to get used to as myself.”

Most of the bridge crew with various affirmations, though Luna merely silently returned to her telescope. With that out of the way, Deanna and Picard walked towards the bridge lift. His ready room was right beneath the bridge, and Picard knew what was waiting for him there.

“Tea time?” Deanna said, as if reading his mind. Possibly actually doing so.

“Tea time."

--

“Annnnnd there’s no tea,” Picard sighed, his eyes narrowing. “This does not bode well.”

In his ready room, there were several crates stacked neatly against the far wall - his personal items - and a large, wooden desk with a simple but comfortable chair waiting for him at it. Most of what he expected to be in the crates was there, except for his most sought after item. Instead, there was simply a note.

'Sorry, captain, but there wasn’t a speck of Earl Grey Tea anywhere in the capital city, and both Jim and I, mostly I, spent a day looking for it.'

- Volunteer Chief Logistics Officer, Dwight Schrute

“Got the kettle but didn’t get the tea, huh?” Deanna said.

“And it’s such a lovely kettle,” Picard sighed.

He gestured to what was attached to his desk: a large, self-heating kettle. A gift from President Missy herself. It was a rarity to find one, as they weren’t exactly mass produced, each requiring an easy but tedious enchantment from a magic user. Judging by the insignia on the side of it, he could tell one of the students at Hogwarts likely had a hand in it.

“I’m sorry, captain, I know how much you were looking forward to it,” Deanna said.

He nodded. “I appreciate the thought, though it isn’t really that big of a deal. Just…”

“A bad end to a bad day?” Deanna asked.

“Not bad,” Picard said. “I wouldn’t say that. No force on Hyporia could make the day I toured the Enterprise bad. It’s just some of my crew… I’m somewhat uncertain of.”

“Your thoughts?” Deanna asked.

“...”

“Come on, captain, it’s healthy to discuss these sorts of things.”

Picard sighed, nodding reluctantly. “Alright, but before I begin, I want to emphasize that by no means do I intend to replace any of them. That would be the cowardly way out. Instead I simply wish to try to improve them. To form them into the crew I believe the Enterprise will require. It will just take some effort.”

“In what ways?”

Picard gestured to one of the guest seats, which Deanna quickly took. He then moved to sit at his desk, placing his hands on it in a thoughtful pose.

“The only members of the bridge crew I have absolutely no issues with, aside from you, of course, are Mr. Stone and Ms. Hopper. Though their proficiency at their stations has yet to be proven, they seem to be taking their roles seriously, which is a good sign.”

“Jane’s telekinetic and extra-sensory abilities were strong even when she was a child,” Deanna said. “She could probably do the work of two helmsmen by herself.”

“If it were anyone but you saying that, I wouldn’t believe it,” Picard said.

“But what about Commander Shepard?” Deanna asked. “She seems to be the model of professionalism.”

“Our General Onboard does, naturally, excel at military matters,” Picard said. “Though that may come at a cost. She seems a bit… hawkish. That’s certainly fine at the right time, but when we head into the unknown, our goal is to establish relationships with new civilizations, not shoot at them.”

“Fair enough,” Deanna said. “Though she probably just needs time to get her bearings.”

“That is what I’m hoping,” Picard nodded, before sighing heavily. “Then... there’s our chief diplomat.”

“Princess Leia does still seem to hold a grudge,” Deanna said.

“Mmm, yes,” Picard said. “A grudge for something I wasn’t even really in control of to begin with.”

“You did recommend not going to war with the Empire,” Deanna said. “And you do have a bit of influence, remember.”

“I’d make the same decision twice,” Picard said. “It shouldn’t be Federation policy to interfere with matters that are not our own, especially if we’d be putting millions of lives on the line doing so.”

“While she thinks injustice should be countered anywhere at any time no matter the cost,” Deanna said.

“Exactly.”

“I do think she wants to let go of the grudge, though,” Deanna said. “It’s sort of part of her job to. I’ve seen her in action before at Khitomer - she is a very good diplomat.”

“True enough,” Picard said, happy to move the subject along. “Next, I have a fairly… minor quibble with our communications officer, Ms. Magne.”

Deanna smirked. “Seriously? I like her. She’s… bouncy. If anything, it’s good for morale.”

Picard raised his eyebrows. “It’s a 50-50%. I’ve served with officers like her before. They tend to have their heads in the clouds. Sometimes they can overcome it, other times they can’t.”

“Aren’t you being a bit premature?” Deanna asked.

“Hm?”

Deanna gave him a look. “First impressions are usually wrong, yes?”

Picard glanced away from her, thinking for a moment. Finally he nodded in agreement. “Perhaps. But don’t worry: even if she does have issues, I am not going to give up on her.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Deanna beamed. “But… and I don’t want to sound rude or anything, do you know what species she is?”

“I was puzzling over that myself,” Picard said. “I’ve studied the member species of the Federation extensively, but I’ve never seen someone like her. I believe she might be part pixie, but that’s only speculation at this point. I’ll have to look over her personnel record.”

“At least she’s friendly,” Deanna said. “Unlike…”

Picard held back a chuckle. “Our navigator princess seems to have a rather dismal view of humanity, to say the least. We certainly have had our faults - still do, but it will almost certainly lead to friction if she can’t overcome it.”

“Most of her knowledge of humanity seems to come from third hand sources,” Deanna said.

“Indeed, and that is what I’m hoping she’ll come to realize,” Picard noted. "To her credit, however, with everything that's happened in her home nation lately, and her checkered past before then, I can't be too harsh. I'd be a bit jaded as well."

Deanna furrowed her brow. "I still have to wonder what a near-immortal former princess would want with being here, though. You'd think she'd have seen it all by now."

“I'm not sure," Picard said. "She might just be looking for something new to do. Perhaps reading more into her history will help." He took a deep breath. "Time will tell, time will tell - for all of them. I just wish we were doing something a little more interesting than flying to Farpoint as their first test..”

“Ohhhh I wouldn’t say that.”

There had been a flash of light, and Picard was forced to double-take in disbelief. For now, sitting in place of the person he had been talking to was someone he hadn’t seen before. One that reeked of arrogance, of condescension, but also of… wisdom? Nonetheless, anger quickly took the place of shock, and with a brisk pace, he stood up and dashed towards the intercom system.

“Really now?” the man said. “Is this how you treat all your guests? Calling security on them without even hearing a word they have to say?”

Picard paid him no mind and flipped on the intercom switch. “Security to the Captain’s Ready Room. Security to the Captain’s Ready Room.”

No response came.

“Oh, what a bore,” the man sighed. “They can’t hear you, you know. I took the liberty of making sure our meeting wouldn’t be interrupted.”

Picard twirled about, glaring daggers at the… entity. “Look, I don’t know who the hell you are nor do I care, but the abduction of my crew is intolerable. What did you-”

“Is that what all of these theatrics are about?” he laughed. “Ms. State The Obvious is fine. She’ll probably be back in 15 minutes or so.”

“Probably?!” Picard snapped.

He shrugged. “I assume that’s how long it takes to move across the ship.”

“What the hell does that mean?!”

The entity rolled his eyes. “Do I have to spell it out for you? I moved her to the other side of the ship. She’s probably running back here as we speak. You should have seen the surprise on her face when she suddenly found herself in the cafeteria! Quite amusing you mortals are.”

Picard nearly laughed. “Mortals? I’ve met many mages before, but none with that sort of ego.”

“Pffffft, ‘mage’,” he giggled, before giving a playful grin. “If that’s what makes you feel better-” He snapped his fingers, suddenly appearing in a stereotypical, sparkling wizard’s robe, complete with pointy hat. “Then sure. Headmaster Q of Hogwarts at your service.”

Picard actually did laugh this time. “There is no headmaster there by the name of Q, if that truly is your real name.”

‘Q’ smirked. “You’re right.” He then snapped his fingers, appearing back in a regular Skyfleet uniform. “I’m faaaar too much fun for that stuffy place. Did you know that they don’t even let the students practice magic outside of school? Quite limiting, I dare say. Are humans so afraid of even themselves?”

“Ah, another critic of the human race, I see,” Picard sighed. “You know, I’d be the first to admit we have our flaws, but we are trying to better ourselves.”

Q laughed. “You think this is something you can beat through a change in philosophy? Through sheer force of will?”

Picard folded his arms. “You think it’s in our nature?”

“Isn’t it? As dear Luna said, your history books are divided by the start of wars, not the ends of them.”

“Oh, here we go,” Picard sighed. “These things are recent history, not ancient. Evidence shows that warfare among human tribes was rare before scarcity became a problem. You realize what this means, right?”

Q let out a dramatic yawn. “Uh huh. Just because humans don’t usually kill each other for the fun of it does not make them any less barbaric.”

“But if you get rid of the--” Picard paused, shaking his head. “Let me ask you something: what are the causes of most wars and violence in general?”

“You tell me.”

Picard narrowed his eyes. “Many things: Like I said, scarcity of resources - sometimes artificially created - being the big one. Then, you have ignorance, vengeance, and finally, those who would manipulate us into harming ourselves.”

“You sound like you’ve rehearsed that speech,” Q smirked. “Do you truly think those no longer affect you?”

“To a great extent,” Picard said. “The Federation has eliminated poverty, and our education system is second to none. We’ve overcome our need for vengeance, and the manipulators …”

“Taken care of?” Q grinned. “You really think so?”

“I do,” Picard nodded.

Q gave a wicked cackle. “Ooooooh you are going to be too much fun, Picard.”

Picard gave him an incredulous look. “Is this what you’re here for? To fulfill some… twisted sense of pleasure?”

“Hah!” Q laughed. “I admit that’s part of it, but no, I’m attending far more important work than that.”

“Then quit being so vague and tell me what it is you’re here for!” Picard growled.

“You’ll learn in time,” Q smiled. “Let’s just say, as you gaze into the darkness that surrounds your waters, peering, many eyes stare back at you, wandering, fearing.”

Picard furrowed his brow. “You- they believe we may be a threat?”

Q smirked once again, opening his mouth as if he was about to say something. However, at the last moment, he seemed to have changed his mind, stating instead: “We’ll see if it’s warranted in a moment’s time. Consider yourself a representative of your savage child race, and one who is, as of this moment, on trial. No need to adjust course - you’re already heading towards the courtroom: Farpoint. The pristine little island the Hiberians, some of you owe so morally righteous humans, tainted with sin those many years ago..

When you get there, handle things as you please, but know that I’ll be watching, waiting for you to slip up, and when you do…” He smirked. "Things are going to get batty. "

He put on a magnificent grin once again, and without saying another word, snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light.

Picard couldn’t help but sit back in his chair, dumbfounded, but intrigued.

‘Batty?’