When Sorrow Catches Up (short, crossover)

[Narsil]

The old captain sat quietly at the bar, gazing down into his pale blue drink and letting out a long sigh of tiredness and weariness. He felt the same type of drained feeling that someone gets when the weight of the world is rested upon their shoulders and then leaden with a ton of guilt and sorrow.

He’d lost one friend to battle. Other friends had moved on. His first officer, and also his ship’s counsellor were off to their own ship. They were happily married, at that. The ship’s doctor had returned to become the head of Starfleet Medical. Only his chief engineer and his tactical officer remained. In the course of one month, everything had suddenly changed.

Fifteen years, two ships of a great lineage. It had taken that long for the finest crew aboard the finest ship to be finally split up. It was finally beginning to sink in, and that was exactly why Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise was in a seedy bar on some backwater planet, spending his shore leave getting drunk on illegal Romulan ale. Not picturesque, not clever, and it didn’t smell particularly well. But it fit.

‘Penny for your thoughts?’ muttered one of the many patrons of the bar.

Jean-Luc turned his head to see a taller man sat aside him. A very odd looking man, at that; his form was human, but he dressed in an archaic outfit with a long, multicoloured scarf, gentlemanly waistcoat and a long brown jacket. Almost fittingly, he had an eccentric grin and a massive shock of curly hair atop his head. Picard began to wonder if he was hallucinating.

‘Penny for your thoughts?’ the scarf-wearer repeated, clearing his throat. He obviously wanted to talk

‘What does a penny have to do with anything?’ Picard said; it seemed to be the first thing that came to mind. ‘Money has no meaning in the twenty-fourth century! No meaning at all to the Federation!’ The captain looked back at his drink and took another sip. He wasn’t sure why he’d felt the need to say it, but it just felt like a relevant thing

‘It’s just a figure of speech,’ the odd newcomer said indignantly, taking a moment to adjust his scarf. ‘Besides; we’re not all Federation citizens here.’

‘What are you babbling on about?’

‘You just seem like a man who’s capable of sharing a story, and I came to ask what it was; I’m a curious man by nature... What’s your name?’

‘I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise,’ he replied, almost as an instinctive reaction. How many times had he introduced himself like that? Far too many for him to count mentally; at least while the Romulan ale was working its own peculiar brand of magic. ‘But I’m on shore leave.’

‘So what’s your story, then?’ the scarf-wearer asked. ‘Any self-respecting captain in the Federation Starfleet would spend his shore leave with family, friends, or at least in the company of a crowd with less ill repute. So what’s wrong?’

‘I lost an old friend,’ the captain replied, glancing at him again. ‘Why is that any of your business, though?’

‘Curiosity killed the cat,’ the scarf-wearer grinned. ‘But I have a few gadgets that curiosity doesn’t; like a teaspoon, an open mind, a scarf and a pocket watch.’ He held out a small paper bag suddenly. ‘Would you like a jelly baby?’

‘You’re mentally disturbed,’ the captain deduced instantly, taking one of the sweets and staring into the blue liquid of his own drink again. ‘Or you’re even more drunk than I am.’

‘I don’t know about that; perhaps I’m just a few steps ahead of you on the universal scale of things, Captain,’ he said cheerfully, with an edge of smugness. ‘So, who was your friend?’

‘An android,’ replied the captain. ‘Lieutenant Commander Data. He was the science officer aboard the Enterprise. Always trying to be more human. He spent his whole life striving to achieve some amount of humanity, and then he sacrificed his life to save the Enterprise and its crew.’

‘Sounds like he managed it,’ replied the scarf-wearer. ‘While it may be irrational of me, humans are quite my favourite species for that exact reason. When the cards are down, they’ll save the life of a friend… even at the cost of their own.’

‘I have told you my story, and what about you?’

‘Me? Well… I’m just the Doctor,’ he replied. ‘I walk in eternity. I’m not sure where my story should begin, or where it should end.’

‘Not very cryptic, are you?’ Picard asked sarcastically. ‘That’s not much of a story at all.’

‘Ah! But it is something of a story,’ the self-professed Doctor replied. ‘I suppose that I’m only a mere traveller, exploring the universe as I see fit.’ His lip curled into a conspiratorial grin and he added, ‘Although you could say that I’ve been on the run as of late.’

‘From whom?’ Picard asked. ‘I don’t want to be making a call to the Enterprise to have you arrested…’

‘Nothing that involves your Federation, anyway,’ the Doctor said. ‘I’m just flitting randomly from place to place, not staying in the same spot for very long; that’s really how I avoid being caught.’ He stood suddenly, and turned. ‘Speaking of which…’

‘Goodbye, Doctor.’

‘Oh, and before I leave, Jean-Luc; could you just do me a favour?’

Picard simply gazed up at him. ‘And what would that be?’

‘Stop wallowing in self-pity, and do something that your friend would be proud of,’ said the scarf-wearing Doctor. ‘That’s the best way to honour their memory; don’t let their sacrifice be in vain.’

With that, the strange man walked away and vanished into the crowd effortlessly. It was odd that a man that tall and noticeable could do that, but he’d just managed it. And as Picard caught the faint, distant sounds of a wheezing and whining engine which drowned out the crowd for just a moment before fading into silence, he thought upon the Doctor’s advice.

The stranger was right. Data wouldn’t want him wallowing here; Data would rather that they continue on exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilisations.

‘Alright then, Doctor…’ Jean-Luc smiled and tapped the badge beneath his jacket. ‘Picard to transporter room two; one to beam up…’

It was time to go to work.