The gentle hum of the biobed was the only sound left in the room aside from Picard’s shallow breathing. The doctor had shooed everyone back to reception to let him rest. Everyone except for one last stubborn holdout.
“Number One,” Jean-Luc managed. Will Riker leaned in.
“Admiral,” his former first officer choked up, face wet with tears.
“None of that now, Will.” Picard struggled with the words, then continued with a look of determination. “I’ve seen… stars being born, watched them die. I’ve… traveled to the past, and the future. I’ve lived a long life and witnessed… things that beggar belief.”
Riker took his hand. Frail, old. After all these decades, finally old. “I said once I intended to live forever. I never thought I’d outlive you.”
An impish smile crossed Picard’s face. “There’s still time left, Number One, but… I fear your wife would chase me down.” Riker smiled through his tears.
Picard closed his eyes. “One… one last away mission. And this one, you won’t be able to keep me cooped up on my bridge.”
Riker joined the rest in reception. Deanna’s head rested on Beverly’s shoulder. Geordi’s shoulders hung. Worf and Guinan stood to the side, having a quiet conversation.
Katherine Pulaski walked in, her serious doctor face showing a hint of emotion. “We’ve done everything that can be done, and more. He’s a fighter, but we are all still mortal.” They all looked at one empty chair, as if expecting Data to beam in. The room remained quiet.
Picard’s eyes fluttered open. He could feel the end, surrendered to it. The Undiscovered Country, Shakespeare had called it. His time. One final voyage into the unknown. The far wall dimmed, engulfed in shadows. Jean-Luc Picard welcomed death like an old friend.
“My my, what have we here?” a voice questioned. From the darkness, a chair emerged, a red-cloaked figure perched upon it. Picard became aware that the biobed was in the same ancient courtroom he’d stood in decades ago, called upon to defend humanity.
“I suppose… it was too much… to hope… that I would never find myself here again. Even now, as my trial ends.”
Q leaned forward on his throne. “Mon capitaine! Did you not expect your oldest and dearest friend to give his regards?”
“What do you want, Q? One last torment?” Picard spat.
The throne was gone. Q sat on the edge of the biobed in a priest’s frock. “Perhaps I have come to give you last rites.” His smile curled mischievously. “To offer you absolution for your many, many, myriad sins.”
“I’ve no need of your absolution, Q,” Picard boomed, his voice suddenly that of a younger man. “Must I now, even at the moment of my death, shoo you away?”
Q pouted. “Jean-Luc, you wound me! Do you think I have come here to gloat? To stand above you as you shuffle off your mortal coil? Pshaw.” He rose, wearing a simple white suit, and paced about the room. “No no no, mon ami. Your life was but a moment in my existence, but what a moment it was. I owe you much, and I am not one to forget my debts. I come not to savor this moment, but to commemorate it.” His eyes twinkled. “And I come with an offer.”
“I have no desire for whatever you offer, especially now, Q!” Picard growled, rising out of the bed. He didn’t notice the uniform he wore, but he instinctively tugged on the overshirt. Q’s smile grew.
A familiar voice came approached through the darkness. “Captain, I share your hesitation, but you should listen.” Wesley Crusher emerged from the shadowed wall and gathered Picard in an embrace. “You have done so much for so many, and you deserve a well-earned rest. But I know you now, better than I did.”
“Listen to this prodigy, Picard,” Q said with a warning tone. Wesley snapped his fingers. They stood on barren moon, looking up into a silent sky where a black hole devoured its companion star.
“The Traveler showed me wonders, showed me power, but he was still mortal, and his time was short,” Wesley explained. “He showed me power, but you showed me what it was to wield it. You taught me to use the gifts I have been given to do the most good. Every decision, ever moral choice, I hear your voice speaking to me. Even on Dorvan V, where we disagreed, your words were there to guide me.”
Picard was stunned. “Wesley, have you… thrown in with this liar?”
Q’s lips were at Picard’s ear. “Never once have I lied to you, Jean-Luc. Stretched the truth, omitted some details, but never lied.”
“Millions died because you gave us to the Borg!” Picard raged.
“Billions lived because I prepared you for what was already coming!” Q shot back. “You still don’t get it, do you, Jean-Luc? Looking into that pool of goo to see your beginnings, deciphering your role in causing its end, rewriting history… have none of my lessons taken root? Perhaps I have been too hasty.”
“They are not like us, Captain,” Wesley continued. “And they are not all as fickle as he is. It was not his offer I accepted, but that of the entire continuum. They need new perspectives. They need a guide.”
Picard laid a gentle hand on Wesley’s shoulder and turned his hard gaze to Q. “What is it that you are offering, Q?”
“The same thing I offered your bearded wonder all those days ago. Nothing complicated, just all the power in the universe.”
“And why would I want that? I am a mortal man. My life has run its course. Let me die!”
Q smiled again. “What an unbelievable waste that would be.” The judge returned. “I told you that the trial never ends, Picard. I have seen what your species is capable of, confined to your weak bodies. Prove to me that you are more. Prove to me that you are better. You think me a gremlin, sent to torment you? Show me what you would do in my place.”
Wesley hugged Picard again. “This is your choice, and yours alone.” He walked back into the darkness.
Picard set his gaze on Q, his old nemesis. He found himself holding a glass of wine, which Q toasted him with, and drank. “Ugh, hideous. Where is this from?” He eyed the bottle. “La Barre. Of course. I should have known.”
Doctor Pulaski turned off the biobed and pulled the sheet over the peaceful face of Jean-Luc Picard. Worf placed a communicator on his still chest, threw his head back, and roared. “STO’VO’KOR! A WARRIOR APPROACHES!”