Premonition
Disclaimer: I don’t own TNG nor do I claim to. So, you know, don’t sue, don’t get angry etc.
Note from the Author: Okay, I haven’t seen many of the episodes, I think my count is up to eleven, but I have seen all the movies and I am a big fan of TNG. I do know that I’m not very good at getting people’s characters quite right, but hey, this is for fun. Isn’t it?
Time: Set sometime after “Nemesis”, Will is captain of the Titan.
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Their mission was quite simple. The Titan was to meet the delegates of the neighboring systems of Selar and Tavak. There was a border dispute and the Tavaki government was very insistent about what their territory was. The Tavaki were extremely aggressive and overpowering. The Selarans were extremely peaceful and open to suggestion.
Currently Captain Will Riker, Counselor Deanna Troi-Riker, first officer Commander Steven Curtis, tactical officer Jeman Tek, and several other crewmen were mingling in the Square of Tranquility courtyard on Selar. They were at the party celebrating the new found peace between the two species.
“Then Tel’Fata said ‘Send the fleet if you want, but I think you’ll get lost!’”
Deanna, and the small group around her, burst into laughter. Ambassador Keelanmas was a wonderful comic. Deanna’s hand settled on her protruding stomach. When her laugher died, her smile remained as her mind lingered on her surroundings as she loosely paid attention to the current conversation.
Deanna turned to look around when she felt a friendly, familiar twinge in the back of her mind. She almost immediately saw the object of her mental tickle at the other corner of the courtyard with Senior Ambassador Temna, of Selar, and Head Representative Fival, of Tavak. The Tavaki delegate seemed slightly nervous and on edge. The Selaran delegate seemed cheerful and confident to the average outside observer. Will, the object of her attention, seemed optimistic, and confident.
Deanna could sense the slight apprehension of both men, but Representative Fival especially caught her attention, he seemed very worried and anxious. Ambassador Temna felt excited and slightly scared; no doubt because of previous Tavaki aggression.
Will was walking and talking with them. He seemed to be trying to get the two men to laugh or speak to one another a little more. She sensed that he sensed their apprehension.
Deanna turned back to her own conversation and attempted to catch up with what she had missed.
Moments later there was a woman’s scream, an awful feeling in Deanna’s gut and mind that wiped the gentle smile off her face, and the thud of something hitting the ground, hard.
Deanna turned around and gasped. “Will!” She ran through the crowd across the square to her fallen husband. She dropped to her knees and looked at the disrupter burn on his chest. “Will!” She moved her hand near the wound, as if to touch it, but she quickly brought her hand to her chest instead.
Seconds later she was joined by Commanders Curtis and Jeman. They were standing over her. Jeman looked around with phaser in hand.
“Curtis to Titan, medical emergency, four to beam directly to Sickbay!”
They materialized on the floor of Sickbay.
“Get him on a bed!” Doctor Jes’Al yelled as he pulled a cart of instruments over. “Excuse me Commanders,” he said harshly. They jumped out of the agitated Klingon’s way. “Counselor,” he growled.
“Deanna,” Commander Curtis said softly. He gently grabbed her arms and pulled her away. She turned and huddled in his arms. “He’ll be alright,” he whispered in her ear to calm her worried hysteria.
“This is bad,” the large Klingon doctor said in almost a whisper while examining the wound on his commanding officer’s chest. “Cardio-shock! NOW!” He yelled as the tri-corder in his hand made an alarming rhythm.
Medics moved in a put some small instruments on Will’s side and chest.
“Clear!”
Will’s body jumped.
“Again, clear!”
Will’s body jumped but nothing else happened.
The tri-corder Jes’Al was holding went into a single tone. “Time of death . . .”
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“Will!” Deanna bolted upright and gasped for air. One hand propped her up and the other was to her chest as she tried to breath.
“Deanna?” Will sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. “Deanna, what is it?” He put his hand on her shoulder.
Deanna swallowed and began to catch her breath. “The party, tomorrow, there was an assassin, you where shot,” she touched his chest where he was shot, “right here.”
He held her hand to his chest. “I’m fine. I’m fine. We’re fine.” He smiled at her and rested his hand on her stomach. “We’re fine. Go back to sleep.”
They both laid back down and he held her close to him for the rest of the night.
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“Will, I don’t want you to go to the ceremony today.” Deanna said when he walked out of the bathroom the next morning.
“What?” Will put down the towel he was holding and looked at her intently.
“I’ve been thinking and I don’t want you to go.” She put her hands in her lap, not knowing what to do with them.
He sat down next her on the bed. “Is this about your dream?” He put his arm around her. She put her head on his shoulder.
“Do you remember when my sister was pregnant?” Will nodded, but did not see the connection. “Will, when she was pregnant she had dreams all the time about things that happened later, whether it was weeks or just a few days, it happened.”
“Deanna, I don’t think-”
“Will, I don’t want you to go.” She looked up into his eyes and she sought his hand.
He looked into her eyes and tried to see her mind, but she was better at that than he was. He stared at her for a moment and saw in her eyes that she was very worried. “Deanna, I trust you, but I have to go. We’ll work it out. I won’t get hurt today. I won’t let them do that to you.” He grasped her hand with one of his and held his other hand to the side of her face. He smiled at her.
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“Set up three extra guards at each entrance to the square. Put a man on the roof tops here.” Will pointed to a layout of the Square of Tranquility.
“Sir, why are we adding all this extra security now?” Lieutenant Commander Jeman Tek asked his commanding officer.
“I have been informed of an additional threat to the treaty.”
Jeman looked at him questionably.
“Trust me.”
Jeman nodded and turned back to the blueprint.
Will looked at the screen behind him and noticed he had half an hour. “Excuse me, Commander.”
Jeman merely nodded as Will walked to the turbo lift and waited for it to arrive. He stepped inside and called his deck. Moments later he arrived and walked to his quarters and found Deanna sitting a chair staring out the veiwport to the planet below.
“Deanna?”
She continued to stare.
“Deanna, are you ready to go?” He walked around in front of her to see silent tears slowly rolling down her face. “Deanna.” He knelt beside her and wrapped his arms around her. “Deanna, what’s wrong.”
“You can’t go,” she sobbed.
“Deanna, it’s going to be okay.” He took her hand and put it to where she said he had been shot.
“What’s this?” she asked, feeling something under his uniform.
“It’s to protect me.”
She smiled at him.
“I won’t let anything happen. You’re wearing one too. No one is getting hurt today.”
She didn’t argue because she knew she couldn’t win this one. They quickly got into their dress uniforms.
They stopped before the door and they faced one another. “How do I look?” he asked.
Deanna didn’t give him an answer, she just obsessively fiddled with his hair and adjusted his uniform, pretending to straighten it.
“Deanna,” he said clasping her hands with his, “it’ll be okay. Come on.” He smiled his biggest smile and looked into her eyes with piercing blue and she smiled back, feeling reassured.
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“Then Tel’Fata said ‘Send the fleet if you want, but I think you’ll get lost!’”
Deanna, and the small group around her, burst into laughter. Deanna’s hand settled on her protruding stomach. When her laugher died, the smiled fell off her face. ‘My dream,’ she thought.
Deanna frantically looked around and saw Will in the corner of the Square with Senior Ambassador Temna and Head Representative Fival. She sensed the same nervousness from Fival and it came together for her. ‘It’s him,’ she concluded. ‘He did it.’ She briefly thought about tenses ‘Does it?’ ‘Will do it?’ She discarded the thought quickly realizing how foolish it was at the time.
“Counselor? Counselor, are you okay?” Ambassador Keelanmas asked.
She turned and realized how she must have acted. “Yes,” she forced a smile. “I’m fine. You were saying?” She pretended to be interested and hid her distress.
Keelanmas looked at her for a moment, briefly studying her face, then turned back to another of his anecdotes.
Deanna heard a scream and it was almost like slow motion when she turned around and saw Will falling. She saw him double over and his eyes got wide as he clutched his chest. He slowly fell to his side. He hit the ground and as she ran over time seemed to catch up to her. “Will!” She dropped to her knees next to him and put her hand on the wound tenderly. She couldn’t feel any damage.
Will shot up. He scanned the rooftops for the sniper. “There!” He pointed and in a second Commander Jeman had his phaser out and the dark figure of the roof dropped to the ground and he was surrounded by Starfleet security officers.
Representative Fival began to run out of the courtyard. He was surrounded by more security before he could get two meters.
Will and Deanna helped each other stand. She felt a sudden sense of relief. She had been worried all day. The feeling had melted away when Will sat up.
“Head Representative Fival, you are under arrest for the attempted assassination of a Starfleet captain.” Jeman told the nervous delegate. “Come with me,” he ordered, his phaser trained on the man.
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“Yes, thank you Commander.” Will nodded to Jeman, and the Security officer walked out of the Briefing Room. Deanna sat next to Will in an eerie silence.
The assassination had been planned to stop Starfleet’s interference in the domination of the Selaran race by the Tavaki. Fival had confessed that much. Another ship was on its way to take over the investigation with the Tavaki and Selaran people. A Full-Ambassador delegation was to continue the negotiations from here on out. Command thought this was not the job for a Captain, but an Ambassador, now.
Jeman walked out and Will turned his attention to Deanna; who sat staring out the viewport.
“Deanna?”
She sighed in recognition. “I-”
“You were right. You saved my life today.” He stood and couched in front of her, making her stare into his soothing eyes. He smiled at her comfortingly. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at first.”
“I’m just glad you believed me.”
“You’re my wife, I have to trust you,” he joked. His smile grew wider. This time she smiled back.
“You better trust me,” she playfully pushed him.
He stood up and held his arm out to her. “Come on.” She took his
hand and stood up with him. “Let’s go have a sundae.”