[Captain's Log:] Now receiving a hail from Starfleet Command...

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Captain Picard enters his ready room, after being alerted that a member of Starfleet brass is waiting to talk with him. Sitting at his desk, he activates the communique and Admiral Namimby's face fills the small viewscreen.

"Captain Picard."

"Admiral," Picard greets, noting the serious expression Namimby is wearing. "What can I do for you?"

"Captain, I will be frank." That is never a good sign. "Command has voiced some concerns following your latest report on the situation you're engaged in with the Q."

"Oh? What kind of concerns?"

"To be blunt, concerns with your ability to handle the situation," the admiral says.

Picard is visibly surprised, but he allows the admiral to continue.

"During the time the Enterprise has been engaged with the Q, the situation appears to be going from bad to worse. Members of your complement, of your crew, engaging in uncharacteristic violence and acts of vandalism — not to mention the threat raised by 'universe hopping' people alone..."

"With all due respect, admiral," Picard interrupts, palms flat against his desk. "The Enterprise is uniquely equipped to handle Q, seeing as how my crew are the only ones who have had direct dealings with him."

"And we were happy to allow your crew to handle Q," Namimby says. "Nine months ago, when Command was first alerted to your situation. The problem is, Captain, that you are not handling him."

"Q is an unpredictable and unstable enemy to this ship, Admiral," he insists. "One who has proven in the past that he can upend the lives of everyone aboard with the flick of his hand. Not to mention the cost of life, the threats against humanity as a whole, the—"

"I am not interested in a recounting of your mission reports, Picard," the admiral interrupts. "The fact of the matter is you are outmatched by a hostile alien entity who has taken over complete control of your ship."

"I disagree, Admiral," Picard fires back, never losing his sense of decorum even as he quite obviously loses his temper.

It clearly toes the line a little too closely for Namimby's comfort. He levels Picard with a stern look. "Be that as it may, you will prepare to rendezvous with the USS Hermes at Starbase 4077 in one solar week's time."

"To what purpose?"

"Command will be sending representatives to your ship to assess the situation and, if need be, assume control of the Enterprise until such a time as the situation has been resolved."

Picard is stunned, which might account for why he does not make a suitable reply before Admiral Namimby continues. "Make no mistake, Picard. As far as Starfleet is concerned, the Enterprise is at war with the Q. You will await further instructions. Namimby out."

Comments

[ships_counselor]

Deanna had concerns about the situation and the captains full grasp of her suggestion before the Chiefs of Staff had been dismissed, given much that she’d been thinking about the growing need for further integration of the new arrivals -- who at nearly a year now were hardly, fairly, deserving to be called new. Except for the newest among them.

But now far more tension, along with a static slam of shock, had run through the captain even as she was approaching the door to his Ready Room. She waited as the door sounded her presence outside of it, a crease of concern folding softly between her brows and in the fold of her hands.

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"Come," he calls.

When the doors open, he is still leaning forward, chin cradled in his hand. He looks as stricken as he feels.

Focusing on Deanna, he straightens his shoulders and leans back in his chair, hands folded in his lap. "What is it, Counselor?"

[ships_counselor]

Deanna places her thoughts, and purpose, momentarily to the back, as seeing him did nothing to alleviate the great weight that had suddenly ricocheted through him and spread already to fill the room.

One that continues to only draw in, tighter on him as he sits up straight, pulling himself together, as though he had not been stuck in thought, leaning on his table. A man of great concern with how he was perceived, it was part of her job both to acknowledge the feeling, itself, and his actions as they happened.

There is a compassionate concern, even to her bluntness. “Are you alright, sir?”

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He values her bluntness. Even in times when the question, and the succeeding answer, are difficult to acknowledge; perhaps even especially then, as his instinct is to divert and she keeps him from doing so — though he will not always concede that point. "To be quite honest, I'm not sure."

He nods to an empty seat, and interlocks his fingers in thought. It is another moment before he continues.

"Starfleet Command has seen fit to send representatives to the Enterprise. I have been asked to send the ship to rendezvous with them at Starbase 4077."

[ships_counselor]

“You’re worried about what may come of it,” Deanna surmises, stepping further into the room while listening to him speak. The emotion was there, fraught with others, but tangled. A thicker root that several focuses branched from.

Though whether it was for himself, or for the ship, or for people and their situation, was not entirely clear. But it was not the way he felt about general Starfleet guests making their stay, or being transported, aboard the Enterprise.

The why was not hard to guess at, the how could not be claimed to be the same.

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He nods almost imperceptibly, flexing his jaw.

"The lack of progress we have made in returning our guests home has become a point of consternation for Starfleet," he explains, pausing before he delivers his next remark. "They seem to believe that we are at war with the Q."

A summation he can understand, but one he does not agree with. Not in this particular instance, at any rate. "They would like to assess the situation firsthand, and take over command if they deem it necessary."

There is some hurt pride in his voice as he says this, though the heart of the matter is in what lies underneath.

"Up until now, keeping the Enterprise contained—or as contained as possible—has been the only way to ensure the safety of not only our guests, but of the peoples we come into contact with as the ship moves from place to place. I admit, I am concerned as to what an outside force will do to this delicate ecology."

[ships_counselor]

“And to them,” Deanna finishes for him, no malice or correction intended. Her race always saw things much clearer than the emotions, reactions, and topical faces humans designed to put on top of their reasonings and how they showed them forward. Never a straight line, but it did not mean they didn’t mean well. Especially Captain Picard.

If she had not respected entirely how and what he did, she never would have stayed so long. His great concern for the rules, and for all life, was one of the things she respected most, no matter how he buried it under gruff seriousness or professional circumstance.

“You are concerned with what might happen to them if The Enterprise were placed under the control of those who neither understand Q’s questionable, childlike, willful fondness of challenging this crew or with how these emissary’s might view our guests they have not spent a year getting to know.”

“Do you think we need be worried about the representatives they will sending now?”

It was boon enough Temporal Investigations had not given over a martial law of the Temporal Prime Directive and sent people earlier. To investigate those they had to send reports on with strange and wonderful powers, both willing to be displayed and discussed, and those who refused, but used them in dire situations none the less.

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Picard's eyebrows crawl further up his brow, and despite the circumstances Deanna's remark about Q does win a small smile from him, wry though it may be. It is a very apt description.

"Yes. Shouldn't I be?" he answers, with an open-palmed gesture. He said it earlier — Q has shown himself to be unpredictable in the past when they have made efforts to upset his schemes, threatening more life, upping the stakes. To the officers, that kind of danger comes part and parcel with taking their vows; however, their guests made no such vows, neither have they come from backgrounds suited to such life or death decisions. Gambling with their lives would be unconscionable. "This crew has been exposed to things beyond our time, our universe; we have come to understand that certain things we once thought impossible are not universally so, and during that period of understanding each other we have made mistakes and missteps."

He pauses, considering her final question seriously before answering. That is what is weighing heaviest on his mind. "Ever since the arrival of Khan Noonien Singh, I have been considering the records of our Eugenics Wars more carefully. What we did then, what the Federation has continued to do on into this century ... some of our guests display unimaginable powers. Strength, gifts, willfulness. Here, they have been ... contained. We are able to co-mingle and work together on this ship, as you yourself brought out earlier. But were someone to take a special interest in them, to question or detain them ... "

[ships_counselor]

“To use them for the wrong aims and reasons,” Deanna nods, halfway through the thought herself before she’d ever asked him. But her job wasn’t always about pointing out the obvious. It was about presenting the obvious that others might be able to find their own thoughts through it as well.

“Fear of and a longing to have an equal footing, as well as understanding of, such new things one does not has often led to its own missteps.” Because while there was much in these people they did recognize, there as still more there they couldn’t fully explain. Or that was further technologically advanced than them.

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"Yes," he agrees. "And I am equally afraid that our hospitality may have ill-prepared our guests for such eventualities."

He believes, at its heart, that the directive he upholds is in place for the greater good. That the Federation itself is open to the inclusion of new peoples, and with that their unique skills. But history often depicts an unsavory image. One he would rather not see painted anew. "Were they to encounter more opposition, more fear, how would they react?"

[ships_counselor]

“Like ourselves, it could be a very mixed reaction.” Deanna opens with, lifting one hand. “They are beings from several different races, ages, backgrounds, abilities, societies, time periods, worlds, and universes.

“There are those who could be considered like diplomats among them. Of those, they would sue in favor of peace and beneficial compromise, time to state their cases, and even, perhaps, rightly, a demand to their own rights which they haven’t yet.

“But there are others who have been persecuted before for what they are on their own worlds already, and others, still,” Deanna lifts her other hand. “-once soldiers and defenders, who might take it as the first sign to fight, with all the muster and abilities at their disposal, for their own freedom if they felt they were being wrongfully abused and were in such a personal danger.

“Several of them, disparate though their lives might have been before Q brought them here, have forged deep bonds with each other through this shared experience and, pushed to choose, I believe they would choose to stand with each other rather than against.”

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He listens to her counsel without interruption, at least until she brings up those who might take arms to defend themselves.

"Let us hope it does not come to that," he says. It is impossible at this point, however, to pretend the thought hadn't already occurred to him. Sighing, he shakes his head. "And I hope, too, that I am only overreacting. Were I in Admiral Namimby's place, I likely would have come to a similar decision much earlier. Q has been a thorn in our side for far too long, the people he's brought here may matter little to Command outside of the issue of returning them to their proper places."

He rubs his chin, some agitation now sneaking into the gesture. Yes, he hopes he is only thinking in worst case scenarios, but there is this feeling he cannot shake off. "Regardless, I believe we need to do a better job of protecting everyone on this ship. Incidents like this past one cannot be repeated."

[ships_counselor]

“You will find no argument in either group on that.” Which was the main point at current, too. It was not that she feared, or felt fear, for a division between either at the present. Only needed to present the destructive divide that might happen in unforeseen circumstance, so the captain could take different potentials into his final decisions.

“As I spoke of in the meeting, there are circumstances which have taken place recently which might help meet these means by using the advantages which are available to both at once.” Deanna steadies her shoulders. “I believe you should consider utilizing Tasha for this. She would have their trust in being one of them, and we would have the reliance of both prior knowledge and past duty.”

She pauses only a second, before adding. “And, as a personal note, I think it would help in her in adjusting to being here, again, while she’s struggling with acceptance of the situation, the distance from the crew, and her current inability to continue to serve in the way she was only a month ago to her.”

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"Tasha?" he repeats, surprised.

His eyes grow distant, and he again rubs his chin in thought. Tasha Yarr has not been far from his mind since the moment she reappeared on his ship. Despite all the tests Beverly has run since that time, she appears to be precisely who she says she is from the moment she says she's from. Caution has kept him from reaching out before now, though were he to be open with his feelings he would have to admit that alone has been hard on his heart.

He knows Tasha must be unhappy with her current situation; however, the thought had not occurred to him that she might be able to assume some of her old duties once more.

"You're not suggesting that we remove Worf from his duties?" he counters.

[ships_counselor]

“No, sir.” Denna shakes her head, quick to agree and clarify. “The opposite, in fact.”

“Worf is the Chief Security Officer over the whole of The Enterprise, of which our guests only make up a very minute percentage of. I am suggesting, instead, that we consider likening an smaller scale position for Tasha over our guests, seeing directly and specifically to their safety, as his stands over the ship. From which she could liaise with, and report to, both Lieutenant Worf and yourself.

“She knows all of Starfleet’s rules and regulations already, and not once yet has knowledge of her death, or her separation from her service, or her friends, caused her to act out in a way you would need to feel concerned over.” Which did not mean there were none.

But that Tasha had every right to the reactions she had already.

For her losses. Separation. Confusion. Her death.

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"Oh yes, I see," he hums, leaning back in his chair.

He steeples his fingers as he considers the potential. "A special division dedicated to the decks our guests are located. That would certainly take some of the strain off of Lieutenant Worf."

And it has even greater potential when considering the possibility of their guests assuming jobs and studies aboard the ship. To have someone not only knowledgeable of the ship's specific operations and the universe they all now inhabit, but who understands what it is like being among them.

"I admit, even considering the strange circumstances surrounding her reappearance with us, not once has Tasha ever given me cause to doubt her judgement. She was a consummate officer when she was with us," he says, reserving all following remarks on how she was also very dear to him as a friend. That, still, is too private. "And I imagine she would be glad for the responsibility. And it would keep us more in tune with what is happening without overloading our acting security team."

[ships_counselor]

It’s true, once again. What she told Tasha. It is not always that her teammates do not want to see her, but that they, too, need time to come to grips with her sudden return to life. That the progenitors of StarFleet might return without this havoc, because she is something that strikes each of their hearts personally and far more deeply.

The same ways she feels the conflict running itself, tightly reined back, in the captain. The deep and unchecked well of respect. The ache of both the lost and the found. Old guilt and grief. Strange relief twined with reticence. The agreement with her idea, even side-by-side with the careful wariness she know now is his considering every angle of the possibility before jumping to an answer for the wrong reasons.

“Exactly.” Deanna smiles brightly, proud for the point, and for the decision of handling it more in private. This part of it was not one to announce in the middle of the meeting. “It could be mutually beneficial to all involved.”

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He meets Deanna's eyes for a moment, clearly split between several thoughts at once, and nods.  As is often the case, her brightness manages to rub off on him in small measure, and he smiles in return.

"I'd say it's worth investigating," he says.  "At the very least, it is worth bringing it to Tasha for her decision."

At the end of the day, that must be so.  Her decision.  Her choice.

"I feel we are due for many changes such as these in the near future," he murmurs.  Those with his crew he trusts will be for the better, and he must have the same faith in whatever changes Command might call for.