NEW: The Ketlekal 2/2 [PG] TNG P&C
Singing Violin
Author: Singing Violin
Series: TNG
Part: 2/2
Rating: PG
Summary: A lost episode from Season 5. Doctor Crusher is tormented
by a polygamist telepath and a mysterious illness. Meanwhile, Captain
Picard attempts to negotiate a peace treaty. Is there a connection?
Keywords: P & C
Disclaimer: Characters not owned by me.
Archiving: Anywhere.
...CONTINUED FROM PART 1
***
The door to his ready-room chimed. "Come," invited the captain.
The doors swished open and Counselor Deanna Troi entered through them.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked.
"Yes, Counselor. Please have a seat." He motioned towards the chair
opposite his desk. After she sat, he did the same.
"Counselor, this peace process is not going well."
"Sir, there is no way you could have anticipated the attack on the
Prime Minister. You mustn't blame yourself."
He ignored the encouragement. "People are dying on both sides, and
when I talked to the Prime Minister briefly - he's still in recovery -
he was completely unhelpful. He told me to tell the senator to do
whatever she felt was best. I think these people are hiding something
from me."
"Often in the peace process, when a third party comes in, there are
secrets that both sides are loathe to share, Captain. I have often
detected that opposing delegates in disputes were hiding the truth."
"Deanna, how would you suggest I proceed? All I have to go on is one
word, which the Prime Minister uttered before he was attacked."
"Have you researched our database?"
"Indeed. I had Data search through all the documentation we have on
Knebu and Tussa and he found neither the word nor anything similar."
"Perhaps it is time to interview the Prime Minister. He might be
persuaded to talk when he is feeling better."
"Hmm. Did you detect deception when he came aboard, Counselor?"
"Honestly, Captain, my empathic abilities have been somewhat...off
lately. Ever since after I detected...thought I detected...life on
that derelict ship."
"Oh?" The captain raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what's causing the
problem?"
"I'm not sure, Captain. It could be stress or fatigue. It could be a
telepath interfering with my abilities. I have been relying mostly
on body language and intuition to perform my duties of late. And your
body language is telling me that there's something more you want to
discuss."
"You know me well, Counselor. All right," he conceded, "it's Beverly."
"I heard she was ill...but what else is bothering you?"
"Counselor, are you aware that she fainted during surgery?"
"I hadn't heard. Is she okay?"
"This is the problem. I don't know, and she won't tell me. And I think
she is keeping something from me. Have you...?
The counselor cut him off. "Captain, I haven't been feeling much of
anything...I haven't detected duplicity from Beverly, but that doesn't
mean anything given my condition. I suppose I'd know more if I talked
to her."
The captain nodded. "Please do so. I relieved her of duty, and I
suspect she will be in her quarters, hopefully recuperating."
***
Beverly was not well. She'd hyposprayed herself with drug cocktails
four times in as many hours, and she still felt incredibly nauseous.
Her head was pounding and every muscle in her body ached. If it had
been a flu, the antivirals would have helped. She'd be more worried,
but she was too exhausted.
She'd just hyposprayed herself when the door chimed.
"Go away," she called, thinking it was Captain Picard, and knowing
that she was not strong enough to prevent herself from falling apart
if she saw him.
"Beverly, it's Deanna. May I come in?"
The door opened. "What do you want?" asked Beverly, coldly.
"Beverly, I'm concerned about you."
--She can't sense your emotions, so don't assume she knows anything.--
"What do you want?" Beverly asked again.
Deanna sighed. "I've been talking with Captain Picard, and..."
The doctor interrupted. "And what did Jean-Luc tell you? Did he
tell you that he relieved me of duty?"
"He did. How does that make you feel, Beverly?"
"Why don't you tell me?" Beverly taunted.
The counselor raised her eyebrows. She suspected Beverly knew that she
wasn't sensing her, but how? Yes, the captain was correct to be
concerned.
"I can't, Beverly," she admitted. "My empathic sense has been off the
last couple of days, and I don't know why."
At that, Beverly felt relief. At least the counselor wasn't in pain,
or being driven insane by music inside her head. "I wish I could help,
Deanna, but I don't know what to do. Besides," the momentary sympathy
gave way to the frustration of her own situation, "I've been relieved
of duty. Perhaps you can speak with Doctor Selar..."
"Beverly, I didn't come here to ask you about my problems. I came to
ask about yours."
--Make her go away. If you don't, I shall kill a girl. Perhaps I'll
torture her first.--
"Well, Deanna, my problems are, frankly, none of your business. Please
leave me," and at that, the doctor opened the door and motioned for
the counselor to leave.
Counselor Troi walked out, dumbfounded by the unprecidented rudeness
from her friend.
***
Captain Picard was in Sickbay, attempting to get the Prime Minister to
tell him about Ketlekal. He paced and made no attempt to hide his
frustration.
"Prime Minister, it is simply imperative that I know what's going on.
I can assure you that your truce will deteriorate into war and your
Federation membership will be denied if I cannot resolve these issues.
And I cannot resolve them if I do not know what they are. You were
going to tell me something when the negotiations were...halted. Surely
you can tell me now."
The Prime Minister grabbed his wrist, and the captain sat down beside
the biobed. "You must assure me that you will not let what I tell you
cloud your judgement of us. We want nothing more than peace and an
alliance with the Federation, but like all civilizations, presumably,
we have our dark moments in history."
This worried Picard, but his purpose was clear. "You have my word."
"The Ketlekal were a tribe which belonged neither to Knebu nor Tussa.
They arose perhaps two hundred years ago and developed enormous powers
of the mind. It is said that some of them were telepaths."
The captain nodded. "Go on."
"It was the Knebu policy for many decades to execute the Ketlekal. It
was considered a grave threat to our security and privacy to have
people who could read our minds. It was believed that they had been
wiped out."
"A witch hunt," the captain muttered. Aloud, he prompted, "but?"
"It is now believed that the Tussan government has been harboring the
remnants of the tribe, and using them as spies against us. Of course,
they deny this. But they never supported their execution, and consider
us murderers. Captain, you must understand, we were only protecting
ourselves. The tribe was full of thieves, murderers, and worse."
"I understand," the captain replied. "But you must understand that the
Federation does not support genocide. Still, I will do my best to
aide your efforts."
Doctor Selar entered the room. "Captain, you must let the Prime
Minister rest now."
The captain stood. "Thank you, Prime Minister, for telling me the
truth. I think perhaps we can continue the peace process now."
***
Soon, the peace process was indeed continued. Captain Picard again
was seated at the apex of the triangular table.
"Gentlemen, do you have a few words before we begin?"
The President spoke up. "Prime Minister, we deeply regret the attack
upon you and we have made certain it will not happen again. The rogue
aide has been confined and is being evaluated. We are glad you are
recovered."
"Indeed, Mr. President," replied the Prime Minister, "I am much
reassured." The captain couldn't tell whether this was sarcasm
or ceremony, but he continued.
"I have been briefed on the Ketlekal by the Prime Minister. Knebu
accuses Tussa of harboring criminals, and am I to understand that
Tussa accuses Knebu of assassination of these same alleged criminals?"
Now Picard understood why they did not want to discuss this before.
The Tussan President was angry. "We don't harbor any of the Ketlekal.
The Knebut wiped them all out!"
Now the Prime Minister replied, with as much passion, "I believe you
lie, Mr. President. Do you deny that you have kept the Ketlekal safe
when they were manipulating our minds?"
"Prime Minister, do you admit that you have been kidnapping and
murdering our female children?"
Picard held up his hands. "Stop! Gentlemen. I am here for a reason.
Now, one at a time. President Nasser, explain to me your accusation."
"Our daughters have been disappearing, Captain. We accuse the Knebu
of taking them, in order to hinder our reproduction, so that they
will outnumber us, and then take us by force!"
Picard raised an eyebrow. "Are you quite sure that it was the Knebu
who took your daughters?"
The Prime Minister started, "It was not the Knebu..."
Picard stood. "Stop! President, do you have any evidence?" He
sat again.
"Only the eye-witness accounts of about a dozen families who were
home when their daughters were taken away by Knebut soldiers!"
"Merde," muttered the captain.
He turned to the Prime Minister, "what have you to say?"
The Prime Minister replied evenly, "only that it is a lie, Captain.
Our soldiers would never be commanded to do such a thing. Perhaps
the kidnappers were disguised as Knebut soldiers?"
"Indeed, Prime Minister. Is that your claim?"
"Captain, my claim is that I know nothing about it. For all I know,
the Ketlekal they hired took their daughters and tricked them into
thinking they were Knebut soldiers."
The President interrupted, "but why would they do that? Besides, we
haven't seen a Ketlekal for many moons. Since well before our
daughters began disappearing."
Captain Picard thought for a moment, "when was the last abduction,
Mr. President?"
"Two months ago, Captain."
"And when was the last time you knew of a Ketlekal living in your
country?"
"Well, Captain, frankly, never. There are rumors that some of our
civilians protected them, since we did not believe, like the
Knebut," he shot the Prime Minister an accusatory look, "in murdering
them because of who they were."
"Hmm," Captain Picard thought to himself. To the Heads of State, he
announced, "we will continue this tomorrow, gentlemen. I believe
we may actually be able to resolve this disagreement."
***
When the captain returned to the ship, his counselor was waiting for
him.
"Captain, how are the negotiations going?" she queried.
"We are making progress."
"Captain, I talked with Beverly."
"Oh?"
"She was...not very responsive. I think you may be the only one that
can help her. There's something very wrong."
"I know, Counselor, and I have an idea what it might be." The captain
turned to leave.
"There's more, Captain." He stopped.
"She's been taking drugs. I don't know for what, but I saw her hide a
hypospray in her hand when I came in. I don't think she wanted me to
see it."
***
Beverly Crusher was curled on her left side on top of her bed. A tear
rolled down from the corner of her right eye over the bridge of her
nose. She felt miserable, and her captor kept telling her about how
how he was torturing the girls. At last, he'd fallen silent, as he
did sometimes, and she could have a little peace and quiet inside
her mind.
That is, until the door chimed. She ignored it, hoping whomever it
was would go away. She didn't even have the energy to shout.
Unfortunately, whomever it was had the authority to override the
door. It must be the captain. Quickly, Beverly rolled out of bed,
wiped her eyes, and shakily stood.
The captain rushed over to her, "God, Beverly, you look awful."
He held her shoulders.
Through watery eyes, she looked up at him, "gee, thanks." She
turned her eyes back to the floor.
He put a hand to her cheek, and exclaimed, "and you're burning
up! Beverly, you're very ill!"
"And you disturbed me while I was trying to get better," she
said, dryly.
"It seems to me your condition is getting worse."
"It gets worse before it gets better," she said, seeming unconvinced.
"Beverly, I want to help you, but first you have to help me. Sit."
He practically pushed her into a chair and knelt in front of her,
keeping a hand on her arm.
"There is a race of telepaths on Knebutussa...or there was. And I
think one of them was on that ship. I think he's interfering with
Deanna, and I think you know about this and were hiding it from
me."
"Jean-Luc, I..."
"Beverly, I need you to tell me the truth. Were there also young
girls on that ship?"
At that the doctor, started, and a hand went to her mouth. She
rushed out of the chair, falling on all fours and retching.
Again, the captain rushed to her side. "God Beverly, is this the
effect of the drugs you are taking? What have you done to yourself?"
Beverly squeezed her eyes shut, feeling defeated. "I took drugs...
to help me feel better," she breathed. "I don't know what's wrong,
I couldn't find out...he threatened me, and them, and I..."
Jean-Luc took her in his arms. She felt so frail. He needed
to get her to Sickbay.
--You lose, Doctor Beverly...--
Suddenly, the doctor pushed away, then rushed to a table on which
lay her communicator and a hypospray. She grabbed them, tapped the
communicator and commanded, "Lock onto my communicator and beam me
one hundred meters off the starboard bow."
The captain quickly tapped his communicator. "Belay that order."
But she was already gone. Only...the captain hadn't heard the
transporter.
***
Beverly Crusher, prepared for a quick and painful death, suddenly
found herself back on the derelict ship, being stared down by what she
surmised was her captor, a medium-sized Knebutussian man who, any
other day, she'd have eaten alive in a fair fight.
However, Doctor Crusher wasn't exactly at her fighting best. And
she doubted she was to expect anything resembling a fair fight. She
wondered why she wasn't dead already.
"You wonder, huh?" her captor spoke aloud. "I decided it would be too
easy to kill you by detonating the bomb. I wanted to have some fun
first, so I brought you here." He reached towards her, presumably to
tear off her clothing, but she dodged him.
Something occurred to Beverly. "It didn't work, did it? You tried to
detonate the bomb and it was a dud!" She took a defensive stance.
Her captor growled, all but confirming her suspicions.
"I will have my way with you, and then I will kill you."
Beverly grasped her hypospray tightly. In it were some powerful
painkillers which, had she been beamed directly into space, she might
have had a chance to use on herself so as to make her death slightly
less torturous.
Instead, she had an idea to use the hypospray on her captor. If she
emptied the device into him...
"Ha ha, you seem to forget that I can still hear your thoughts,
Doctor." Her captor grabbed her hand and pried her fingers open. The
hypospray dropped to the floor. The only option left for Doctor
Crusher was to fight.
She threw a punch which hit his face, but on the rebound, he grabbed
her. Beverly slipped out from under his grasp and kicked him. She
wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer. Several more blows
were exchanged, and she was bleeding from above her left eye.
He reached for her and she jumped out of the way. Thrown off balance,
he fell...on top of the hypospray. He tried to get up but the drug
quickly took effect, and his eyes drifted closed.
Breathing heavily and leaning on the wall, the doctor finally had a
chance to look around her. One small child, who had been
surreptitiously watching the fight, crept towards Beverly. The doctor
pressed her back against the wall, wary of another surprise attack,
but the girl drew closer and tugged on her leg. Encouraged, Beverly
followed the child into what looked like a control room.
Beverly's intuition led her to one large lever attached to a
complicated array of dials. She pulled the lever...and her
communicator beeped.
"Doctor Crusher, this is the Enterprise," said the voice of Data. "I
hear you, Data," Beverly replied, tears of relief filling her eyes.
"You're going to want to send a boarding party as soon as possible.
You'll need security, and a medical team."
"Yes, Doctor. However, right now we are going to bring you home."
She closed her eyes and silently thanked whatever powers were
responsible for her survival, as the familiar whine of the transporter
engulfed her.
***
Captain Picard, having been paged by Geordi, raced into the
transporter room. Just as he entered, the doctor, looking alarmingly
pale, materialized on the transporter pad. He charged towards her.
She took one step and fell, but the captain was there to catch her.
His worried face was all she saw as she lost consciousness. "It's
over," whispered the captain to the limp form in his arms. Delicately,
he snaked one arm under her legs and cradled her, then walked as fast
as he could out of the transporter room and into the turbolift,
calling for Sickbay.
***
All around the ship, it was like the sun had come out. Boisterous
conversation filled Ten Forward, and the bridge crew was
light-hearted. There was even a rumor that someone had seen Worf
smile.
When Beverly awoke on the biobed, Jean-Luc was holding her hand. He
reached over to brush an errant strand of auburn hair from her
forehead. "Good morning, cherie," he greeted her, smiling. "How do you
feel?"
Beverly took a moment to think about it, and replied, "like I got
dropped from a shuttlecraft...but better. What happened?"
"We extracted a device from inside of you. I believe it was intended
to be an explosive, but it leaked, leaving no fuel for detonation.
However, it leaked into your bloodstream, poisoning you. They had to
filter all your blood when I brought you in. But...they said you'll
be fine now."
"And what of my captor?" Beverly wondered.
"Well, the man on the ship was indeed a Ketlekal - a telepath. It is
believed he was the last survivor of the tribe, and was a child when
his family was wiped out. He never received the proper training."
Beverly nodded. "I think...he wanted to rebuild the tribe. Those
girls..." A tear rolled down her cheek. "They were going to be the
mothers of the new race. He was waiting for the peace process to
disintegrate like it did before, and then he was going to come back
and take over."
"Indeed," replied the captain. "He even went so far as to make their
kidnapping look like an act of war from the other side, in hopes
that he could fuel the conflict. I don't think it would have worked,
though. The Knebutussians are a thoughtful people, and despite
all their differences, they really wanted to work out a peace."
"What's going to happen to them?" Beverly asked.
"Well, the Ketlekal is being sent to Vulcan for the training of
his mind. This was an agreement under the treaty. The girls that
survived are being returned to their families, and for the ones
who were the ultimate victims, there are memorial services being
attended by high-ranking officials of both countries. If the
Ketlekal's children are in possession of telepathic abilities,
the mothers will have the opportunity of sending their children
away, or trained at a special school to be established. We are
soliciting Vulcan and Betazoid volunteers, among others."
"And their Federation membership?"
"I think, perhaps in a year or two, they may be ready. In the
meantime, I believe they are on their way to a lasting peace."
"With your help, of course."
Picard smiled. "Yours too."
Finally, it dawned on the doctor how shamefully she had acted. Tears
filled her eyes, and her face fell. "Captain, I am so sorry..."
Jean-Luc put a finger to her lips. "Beverly, I can only imagine
what you went through, and I'm not sure I would have done anything
differently. You stuck it out because you wanted to save those
girls, which is the kind of compassion I have learned to expect
from my Chief Medical Officer. And one of the many things I
treasure about my best friend."
Now Beverly's tears were happy ones, and finally the two of them
could do what they'd been longing to do for what seemed like
forever...grab each other and hug each other and never let go.
At least, not for a very long while.
***
THE END
--
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