We'll Have Paris Forever

Chapters Five and Six

As always, any French in a chapter will have the translations at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was early in the morning when Jean-Luc received a communique from Starfleet Headquarters, which had been transferred to their room. Since, Jean-Luc was not awake yet, Beverly took the call to see if she could take a message for him.

"This is Beverly Crusher-Picard. Admiral Picard can't come to the com right now. May I take a message?"

"Oh, Dr. Crusher!" Said the Commador. "Didn't they tell you? This is an urgent communique. I have to speak with him now. "

She looked a little distraught. "I'm sorry. My French isn't good. All I understood were the words communique and Admiral Picard. I'll go get him."

She started to put the comm on stand by when he address her again, "Doctor."

"Yes?"

"I didn't mean to snap at you so early in the morning. I didn't consider the fact that people in France may not all speak Federation Standard. Nor should I have thought you would understand."

"It's OK." She replied. "I'll go wake him."

Beverly went to wake Jean-Luc. She kissed him gently and said, "Jean-Luc, the head of Starfleet is on the com. Says it's urgent he talk to you."

Jean-Luc was awake in a heartbeat. He grabbed his robe and quickly tied it around himself and went to the com. "Good morning, Commador." Picard greeted.

"Admiral, I hope you excuse me if I skip the pleasantries of the morning and get to the point." He said. "I know it's your honeymoon and all, but we need you to come to Starfleet Headquarters immediately for a briefing and assignment."

"OK, Beverly and I will pack and head that way." Picard said.

"No, no." Said the Commador. "We only need you for now. Let her stay and enjoy Paris for the day. We'll have you back to her by tonight and you will have one last day there, before leaving for this mission."

"Well, I'm not sure I understand why just me for now, but I'm sure once I'm at headquarters you'll explain this to me."

"Frankly, Admiral, the doctor is safer there for now." The Commador said. "I can't tell you more than that until you get here."

"Aye, sir." Picard said. "I'm on my way."

Picard gather enough for twenty-four hours. "Beverly, as soon as I know what is so important to drag me away from you on my honeymoon, I'll let you know."

He kissed her and then departed. As he departed, Beverly said, "Becareful and get back here safely, because I don't want to have to play doctor on my honeymoon."

He turned back around with a playful grin. "Oh, but doctor, isn't that what a honeymoon is for?" Then he departed for the shuttle craft.

Beverly sat down in the room trying to think what to do with herself. "Well, I certainly don't want to sit around here all day." She thought to herself.

"If I'm going to get around without Jean-Luc I need a padd with French and English on it."

She got up and left the motel for the streets to find a shop that carried such things, for there was no replicator around in the room. "Why did Jean-Luc have to go for a motel that was so quaint?" She thought to herself in frustration.

She tried to stop a passer by to ask for directions. "Excuse me."

"Je suis de'sole. Je ne vous comprends pas." The woman said.

"I need..."

The woman shook her head and went on and a man walked by. "Excuse me?"

"Pardone?" The man said with a French accent.

"I need directions to a...."

"Je m'excuse, Madam." Then he went on.

"Madam?" Another man approached her with a French accent, but spoke Federation standard. "Can I help you?"

"You speak English!" She said with joy.

"We, Madam." He said. "I do speak Federation standard."

"I need to find a shop that carries French-English translations."

"Ah, I can help you with that." The man said.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"So, madam."

"Call me Beverly."

"You may call me Shaun." He said with his accent.

"What were you going to ask me, Shaun?"

"Ah, yes. What brings you here and not knowing the language."

"Well, my new husband is from here." She replied.

"Oh, you are on your honeymoon, no?" He asked.

"Yes, I am." She said with a smile.

"So, why is a lovely woman, like you, running around all alone in this city without her husband?"

"He was called away for a bit and I want information on the language so I can surprise him." She informed the gentleman. "That and I want to at least get by while he is away for the day."

"How could he be called away from his bride?"

"Well." She started to tell him, but decided against it and just said, "His job."

"Ah, I see. You married a man of high importance, no?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Well, here we are, Madam." He gestured to the store that looked rather antique in it's style. "This place should have what you are looking for."

"Thank you, Shaun." Beverly replied.

"Can I be of further assistance?"

"No, I think I can handle it from here." She told him and silently added, "I hope."

"Well, good luck and congratulations."

"Thank you." Then she walked into the store.

She looked at the various books. The titles made no sense to her nor did the various signs. They were all in French. She sighed.

"Est-ce que je peux vous aider?" A worker said to her.

Beverly gave no response. She just stared at the various items in the store.

"Madam?"

She turned to face him. "I'm looking for a French-English translator."

"Je m'excuse?" He said.

Beverly shook her head and in frustration said, "Doesn't anyone speak Federation Standard around here, besides me?"

The man looked at her with sympathy and gestured for her to follow him. He hoped he had an idea of what she wanted. If not, at least it maybe of help to her.

He said something in French to her and she was even more confused. Then the man reached for a particular padd with information on it and handed it to her.

She had no idea what he had said, but took the padd from him and looked at it. It had French and Federation Standard. She was very excited. "Thank you, Sir!" She said with joy.

He spoke in French again and added "merci."

"What?" She said shaking her head.

"Merci." He took the padd from her and showed her what he thought she meant and the translation. Then he repeated, "Merci, Thank you."

"Oh, yes!" She said. "Merci."

He nodded his head and said, "Je vous en prie."

There were different ones. So, she picked out a few and then she exchanged the credits for them and thought, "Well, at least credits are universal."

She then left to go back to the motel. When she got there she realized she was hungry so she put the padds down on the table in the room and started to leave for some food. Then turned back around and grabbed one of the padds.

"I may need one of them while I'm out." She thought to herself.

Finding a place to eat was easy. Trying to figure out what she wanted was the hard part. She studied the French menu and tried to decipher what she could, then sighed.

"Madam." Said the waiter. Then he too spoke in French.

She noticed the pad in his hand and guessed he was ready to take her order. "Salad. I think." She said. Then pointed to the word salade. "And a Latte, um..." Then pointed again.

"Ah," Then continued in French.

She had hope she had guessed right and said, "We."

The waiter departed and she sat, waiting for her lunch and wishing for Jean-Luc. It was then she noticed two unusual humanoids among the crowd of people. They appeared to be Cardassians and were headed for the cafe.

Then she noticed they were not just heading for the cafe. They were heading towards her. She had felt followed all day, but had past it off for the gentleman who assisted her in finding the store she needed. After that she ignored the feeling, but now she was getting the feeling she should not have and wished Deanna was there to confirm the eerie feeling she had.

"Doctor Beverly Crusher?" One of them asked.

"Yes." She admitted. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"You are the Beverly Crusher who served aboard the Enterprise?"

"Yes." She squirmed a bit as the eerie feeling increased.

"Picard's new wife?"

"You are getting a little personal aren't you?" She asked defensively. Her fear was increasing, but she tried hard not to let it show. She noticed one was a Gul. The other, she was not sure what he was.

"Come with us."

"Why should I?" She asked still on the defense.

"We can take you peacefully without a distrubance or we can take you forcefully." Said the Gul. "Which will it be?"

"I am not going anywhere with you!" She said somewhat loudly.

"Have it your way." The Gul said. Then he pulled out a Cardassian phaser and pointed it at her. "Now, I say again. Which will it be?"

She stood slowly. "May I at least know what this is all about?"

"Your people took control of Betazed back from us and the Dominion! You also have Moset." The other growled. "Under Picard's command! We intend to take revenge!"

"Enough!" Said the Gul to his partner and then turned back to Beverly. "Now let's go!"

"I don't understand how taking me is going to help in your revenge." She protested.

Gul roughly grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from her table outside of the cafe. The phaser was still pointed at her waist and people stared as the Cardassians dragged her away.

"You won't get away with this!" She continued to protest.

"Fine. You'll be dead before they capture us, if we don't get the rest of the crew in our custody!" Said the other Cardassian.


Picard arrived in San Francisco two hours later and landed on Starfleet Headquarters shuttle bay area. Then he went in to be briefed on what was so important that he had to be dragged away from his honeymoon.

He walked into the briefing room and saw Captain William Riker. "Captain." He addressed his former first officer.

"Admiral."

"Have a seat, Admiral." Said the Commador. "I'll make this quick, so you can return to Beverly and join the Enterprise tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm anxious to hear what is going on, that I had to be called away." Picard said.

"It's the Dominion and the Cardassians." Said the Commador. "They don't seem to want to give up."

"And you need my assistance?"

"Yes." The Commador said. "They have arrived here on Earth, but we have seen no Jem'Hadar as of yet."

"What are they wanting?"

"Moset, for starters." Riker informed.

"Which they are not going to get." Picard stated.

"No." The Commedor affirmed. "We have explained to them he is imprisoned for war crimes of the highest callibar."

"They won't take no for answer, either, I take it?" Picard asked.

"No, they won't." The Commodore answered.

Riker's comm beeped and he looked to the Commador for permission. The Commador nodded.

"Riker here."

"We just received a message from Betazed for you, sir." Came a male voice. "According to the Betazoid Counsole, the ambassador and Counselor Troi have been abducted."

Riker had a look of alarm on his face, as the Commodor said, "Did you take the message, Lieutenant Young?"

"Aye, sir."

"Please join us in the briefing room." The commador ordered.

"Aye, sir."

Riker was very upset on the inside, but did his best to control his emotions. "I wonder why they were abducted? And by who?"

The lieutenant enter the briefing room. "We're about to find out." Said Picard.

"What further information can you give us, Lieutenant?" The commador asked.

"They were taken while they were out for a stroll in the gardens on Betazed." He stated. "There were others around, however, they were taken with phasers pointed at them, by Cardassians. The Counsoler tried to defend her and her mother, but was supposedly shot in the arm. No one knows the extent of damage that was done to her, because they were then beamed off the planet."

There were sighs of frustrations that went around the room. "I guess we try to find them and find out what they want." The commador stated. "Apparently they want our attention and they have it. Kira Naris, Doctor Bashir and O'Brien have also disappeared. There maybe others we don't know about, yet."

"Well, I guess that is our first priority to seek them out and not only try and get our people back." Picard looked at Riker and could tell he was definitely out for blood. "But also what they are wanting to demand our attention like this."

"Yes." The commador confirmed. "You will take command of the Enterprise, Sisko has the Defiant and Riker has the Valiant. There will be other ships to assist you if need be, but we have to get to the leaders of the Dominion and Cardassia to find out what is going on. Hopefully, we can negotiate something with them that is acceptable."

Riker was wanting to say something, but decided it best he keep his thought to himself for now. The commador dismissed them after further briefing.

As they walked out, Picard stopped Riker. "Will."

Riker turned to face his former captain. "Yes."

With sympathy Picard said to him, "I can empathized with you. If it were Beverly abducted I would feel the same way probably."

With anger, Riker replied, "Oh, yeah? How is it you think I feel?"

"Well, I would be very angry and out to hurt someone, for starters."

"You don't know the half of it!" Will replied with anger. "It's not half your family taken from you, now is it?"

"Well, no." Picard replied.

"I just hope Mr. Homn or Chandra has our babies." Then Riker walked off.

Picard thought to himself sadly, "Will is under a lot of stress not knowing anything about his family. I hope he finds out something soon."


Picard was finally on his way back to Beverly or so he thought. He was very anxious to get back to her and inform her of their assignment. He was very excited to have command of the Enterprise again and knew she would be happy to work with some old friends also. However, he still had no idea that she was gone.


Translations:

"Sorry, I don't understand." = "Je suis de'sole. Je ne vous comprends pas."

I'm sorry, ma'am." = "Je m'excuse, Madam."

"May I help you?" = "Est-ce que je peux vous aider?"

"Je vous en prie." = "You're welcome."

Chapter Six

Jean-Luc arrived back to their motel room in Paris shortly after 2100 hours. He walked in and saw no one in the room.

"Maybe she's in the bathroom." He knocked on the door of the bathroom and said, "Beverly?"

No answer. He saw the four padds on the table and walked over to examine them.

"Well, that doesn't tell me anything." He said to himself and dropped the padd in his hand onto the table. Then he remember Deanna and Lwaxana and the thought occurred to him that Beverly could have been on the list.

Picard hurriedly exited the room and went downstairs to the front desk. In French he asked the man at the desk if he had seen his wife leave.

"We, Monsieur." The man at the front desk said. Then he went on to explain that it had been just before he started his shift and she had left around noon.

"Merci." Jean-Luc replied. He was about to ask the gentleman if he could use the comm, but then decided that there was no telling how much Federation Standard he could really understand. So, to not alarm anyone, he went back to his room to call Starfleet Headquarters.

"Admiral Picard." Said the Commador. "I hadn't expected to hear from
you until tomorrow."

"Yes, well." Jean-Luc did not know how to explain his suspicions, so he just said, "I believe Beverly has also been abducted by the Cardassians."

"What gives you that idea?"

"Well, I have no idea, really, except she left no note or anything and no one in the hotel has seen her since noon today."

"I can understand you suspicions." The Commador agreed. "I don't doubt them, for Sisko's wife, Kasidy, was beamed right off the promanad on DS9. It appears it has something to do with the captains invovled in taking Betazed back. However, I do not understand Kira Naris, Dr. Bashir, or Miles O'Brien."

"I'm coming back yet tonight." Picard informed him. "If I may, I would like to get our ship out and started on the mission yet tonight."

The commador changed his attitude a bit to one of concerned friendship. "Jean-Luc, if you don't get some rest you will not be of much use to us."

"I understand your concern, Ron." Jean-Luc replied. "But I can't stay here. I have to at least return to Headquarters and speak with Captain Riker."

"OK." The commador said. "But no one is leaving space dock until tomorrow. You will find Captain Riker there."

"Thank you, Commador." Picard said. "Picard out."

After the link was disconnected Jean-Luc's feelings were starting to surface. He was feeling extreme worry about what the Cardassians might do to her.

"Jean-Luc." He scolded himself. "You can't think about that now. You must keep it together in order to help everyone involved in this."

He proceeded to gather their things together to load onto the shuttle. Then he walked out the door of the hotel room, returned the passcard, and returned to the shuttle.



"Let go of me!" Beverly shouted and yanked her arm away. Then she received a rough shove into another room.

She looked up and saw the Voltra. "Why have you brought me here?" Beverly demanded hostily.

"Starfleet is very inquisitive aren't they?" The Voltra respond. "We want the leaders of the squad that took Betazed back from us."

"What does that have to do with me?" Beverly demanded again.

"Well, if we have the wives." If the Voltra could actually smile, it would have been a very evil grin. "It will get their attention and then we'll have them where we want them."

"They won't cooperate!"

"Also." The Voltra continued. "With a genetically engineered genius doctor and a highly esteemed doctor." She paused. "Well, get what we want one way or the other. No Moset, then the Starfleet doctors we have will finish what he started."

Beverly was not certain who the other doctor was, but she had her ideas and as far as she knew she was the only female captured. She was trying hard to peice all of this together.

"We won't cooperate!" Beverly shouted with anger.

"You will or you will die!" The Voltra growled. "Now, tell me where we can find your precious Picard?"

"I'm not telling you anything!" Beverly said hostily. She realized the two Cardassians standing behind her were still pointing phasers at her. There was no way she could make a move.

"Fine." Said the Voltra. "I'm sure they'll come to us. All three of them. Throw her in with the others."

"Others?" Beverly asked, while the Cardassians grabbed her roughly by the arm again. "Get your hands off of me!" She demanded and tried to break her arms free of their grip.

They were not going to let her out of their grasp this time. She struggled against them all the way to the cell. The two Cardassians threw her into the cell and she fell hard to the floor.

"Beverly!" The familiar voice exclaimed.

"Deanna?" With Deanna's assistance, Beverly picked herself up off the floor.

"You alright?" Deanna asked of her friend.

Beverly dusted herself off. "Aside from feeling uprooted, I'm fine."

"Ah, those awful men!" Lwaxana exclaimed.

"Mrs. Troi?" Beverly asked. "Why are you here? Whatever, do they want with you?"

"I'm not sure, but several ideas have gone through my mind." Replied Lwaxana.

"Yes." Deanna said. "We've thought of everything from her being the leader of the Betazoid Resistance to just the fact she's an ambassador. However, I'm not sure how they knew the first."

"No. I'm afraid I may know, but I really don't want to say." Beverly said, "Because I can't say for sure."

Bashir, Kira and O'Brien had stayed back and let the three of them speak, until Beverly said the last. A voice with an accent that sounded as though he were from the area of Great Britian spoke.

"I'm afraid I know too, but it's not going to happen." Bashir said. "Not if I have anything to do with it."

Kira hit the wall hard with her fist in anger. "I refuse to be imprisoned by Cardassians again! I say we try to figure out how to get out of here."

"Kira, I understand your anger." Bashir began.

"You have no idea!" Kira interrupted with wrath. "They have done horrendous things and I am not staying here to see it happen all over again!"

"Miss Naris"

"Mrs. Troi, I'm Bajorn. First name is last." Kira said with some hostilty left in her voice.

"Yes, Miss Kira." Kira let the miss go, but seethed inside. "I for one do know, because I've been there myself. Now, if you could just calm down."

"Calm down!" Kira repeated with a bit of a chuckle. "I don't see how that is going to get us past Cardassians and possibly some Jem H'adar!"

"What my mother is saying is, if we try to think rationally for a few minutes." Deanna stated calmly. "We might be better able to devise some sort of plan together, but your anger is not going to help the situation."

Deanna did not admit that the anger Kira was expressing was actually disguised horror of the Cardassians. She was concern that stating that would provoke more aggessive behaviour from Kira.

Kira stared at the counselor, then her body dropped it's defensive posture as she said, "Alright. I'll try it your way, but the moment it doesn't work, I'll have my hands around one of their throats!"

"Kira." A Scottish accent said. "The counselor is right. We have to keep our heads together here."

"Miles." Kira started to say something in anger.

"Yeah?"

She shook her head and said, "Never mind." Then she sat down on the floor of the cell.

"Well, that's certainly much better!" Lwaxana exclaimed. "At least you're not acting like a caged animal now."

"I was not acting like a caged animal!" Kira retorted.

"Kira." Deanna's voice said firmly, but softly. "Calm down."

Kira sat quietly. Then Beverly spoke again. "From what they told me, they want the leaders of the squad who took Betazed back from them."

"Yes, that's what they told me." Deanna agreed. "But that doesn't explain Lieutenant O'Brien."

"Yes and no." Beverly said. "Remember, he took down the system on Sentok Nor."

"Yes." Said O'Brien. "Without me, Captain Riker and Admiral Picard haven't a chance."

"Maybe." Beverly said. "Maybe not."

They heard a scream of shock and then another woman was roughly shoved into the cell. "Kasidy!" O'Brien, Dr. Bashir and Kira exclaimed in unison. They rushed over to help her up off the floor.

"Now, Sisko was not involve directly." Miles said confused. "Worf had command."

Kasidy rose and said, "I wish I knew what was going on."

They explianed what they knew, waited and tried to think of a means of escape. Beverly was not too concern about Mrs. Troi when they came up with a plan, but Kasidy, as far as she knew was no more than a civilian. Not that Mrs. Troi was not, but she had been through similar situations. She was not sure of Kasidy's abilities, but those who knew her did not seem worry.

Then her thoughts turned to Jean-Luc. "He must be worried out of his mind."



Almost three hours later, Jean-Luc caught up with Will. "Captain."

Will turned to see his former captain. "Admiral. It sure seems strange calling you Admiral."

"Well, I'm use to calling you Number One."

"Yes, It must seem even more out of the ordinary to you." Will noticed his former captain seemed stressed and inquired, "Sir, are you alright?"

Jean-Luc was quiet for a minute, trying to control his emotions, then he replied, "It appears Beverly has been abducted, also."

Will had no idea what to say to relieve the Admiral. He did know they were in the same boat and to not say anything would be amiss.

Finally, he said, "I can empathize with what you're feeling, Sir."

Picard looked directly at Will, "Yes, I know you can."

"We will all do what we can to get everyone back safely."

"I know we will." Picard said determined while he began walking in the direction of his assigned quarters.

"I don't know if you know, yet." Will began as he walked with him. "But for reasons we can't seem to connect directly to our attack on Betazed, Sisko's wife was apparently abducted after Beverly was."

Picard stared at Will for a moment. Finally, he replied, "Well, it seems it has become personal for all the major leaders invovled directly or indirectly with our taking Betazed back."

"Yes, it has." Will concurred. "However, probably because the man is not easy to find, Vaughan is not affected directly or indirectly."

"Well, let's hope we don't have to call him into this." Picard said, then stopped and turned towards Will. "Because this is personal." Then began walking again. Anger was written all over his face.

"Sir?" Will said, rushing to catch up with him. "You're not thinking of going on this mission with your own adgenda?"

"Will." Picard stopped and turned towards him again. "The moment they took Beverly, was the moment it became personal for me, also. To me, I don't see how Starfleet can tell us what to do in this situation."

Picard entered his quarters, looked at Will and invited him into his quarters. "Sir, I understand your desire to go out there on your own orders, but may I remind you, we're up against the Dominion here too. Not just Cardassians."

Jean-Luc sat down in a chair. "Look, Deanna is out there, also. You can't sit there and tell me you want to go by the book."

"No, Sir. I can't." Will replied. "But lives are at stake here."

"Well, let us make sure it's not ours, our wives or the others."

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