Picard Replaced (Part Five)

Editor's Note:

As Luthor Sloan, the Head of Section 31, the sunversive unit that operates within Starfleet has managed to get one of their Agents promoted to Admiral, who fired Captain Picard and Beverly Crusher and placed another Agent, the former Chief Medical Officer Kate Pulaski as Captain. She has now fired Britney, T'Pol, Jennifer Baxter, Seven and Ro Laren. Those have just caught up with Picard and Bev, who are working in a fast food restarant.

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Guest Poster: Deanna Troi

"We really have to be careful with these meetings." Will whispers quietly, as we all gather, "We can't afford to get caught in case the Wicked Witch of the West finds us."

"You are referring to Captain Pulaski?" Data enquires.

"Yes, Data I am!" Will sighs irritatingly, "I'm surprised she doesn't fly around the Enterprise on a broomstick."

"Such a measure would be contrary to Starfleet Health and Safety Protocols." Data reminds him.

"Data!" I almost shout, "Switch your emotion chip on. This is an important meeting. With so many of the senior staff fired by Pulaski, we've got to be careful."

With Data, Will and myself are Geordi, Worf, and Jadzia Dax. We are having this quiet meeting in the dead of night while Pulaski is sleeping away. We've got the Doctor and Vic Fontaine on the bridge.



"So, has anybody spotted anything about Pulaski." Jadzia asks, "She seems the very secretive sort."

"I agree." Worf replies, "She seems to spend a lot of time on her monitor, using the Secure Channel."

"Is there some way we can UN-secure it?" Will asks.

"Affirmative." Data reveals, in a very matter-of-fact way, "I have actually managed to decode them using my positronic brain, which I linked to the computer's central core. I then..."

"Never mind that, Data!" Geordi says, "What were the messages about?"

"Most of them were to Admiral Nagamura." he informs us.

The Admiral who gave the Cappy and Bev the push.

"What did they contain!" Will says with growing frustration. So much so that he can hardly eat the last of the donuts he's bought along.



"One notable message said "Our plan is almost complete, Admiral. I will arrest and remove the rest of the senior staff as soon as you send the Agents from Section 31 from Earth to replace them.""

"So that's it!" Riker says to himself, "Nagamura and Pulaski are Section 31 Agents."

"Why didn't you tell us this before, Data." I ask.

"I could not, Counselor." he replies, "I had only just found out the information before this meeting."

"Well now we have it, we can take it to Starfleet." Worf snorts.



"They'll never believe you." laughs a familiar voice, as the door opens. "They'll think it's just the word of a few officers loyal to Picard."

Pulaski.

Her Security minions drag us away to the brig, as she reminds us that we'll all be removed from the ship for Conspiracy against the Captain.

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We sit in the brig, looking fed up, as if we have been selected for an Away Mission and are all wearing red shirts.

"Well that's done it." Riker says, "The entire Enterprise senior staff will be Section 31 Agents. Who knows what damage that will bring?"

"There may be hope, Commander." Data tells us, as we eat our bread and water, "Before I came to the meeting, I took the libety of passing on the information to Ensign Crusher and his wife Karena on the USS Rhode Island."

We all laugh.

"Well done, Data." I say, "There may be hope for us yet."

To be continued...