Chapter 4 - Are you who you say you are?

Philips was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed the chiming of his quarters door. He immediately yelled; "Come in." As he snatched the encryption device from the computer screen and shoved it on the shelf behind him, between some books. There was not enough time to put it back in his cloak or hide it better.

"Charlie?" Philips spun around with a forced smile on his face, and came face to face with Wesley. He groaned inwardly, the boy had amazing timing.

"Wes what are you doing here?" He said trying not to sound annoyed or suspicious

Wesley hesitated as he thought about his Uncle's reaction to him as he entered. When he had walked in, he noticed Philips quickly shoving something on the shelf behind him, Wesley didn't quite see what it was, some kind of small device. He didn't think much of it, but the fact Philips hid it from him and was acting strange, made Wesley curious. But he decided to shrug it off for now.

"Erm….the Captain sent me. To remind you of the dinner in Ten Forward."

Philip relaxed his shoulders and let out a small sigh of relief. Then he smiled genuinely; "Oh yes of course. I completely forgot. Just give me a moment to change into something more appropriate."

Captain Picard had been reading updated reports from Penarus V and Starfleet command all day, his head was beginning to spin. He knew the situation was bad on the planet, but from what he read he was truly concerned that by the time the Enterprise reached Penarus V they would be too late to help.

Whilst Picard got ready for the dinner that evening in Ten Forward, he felt a pang of guilt knowing he would be enjoying fine dining when the people of Penarus V were suffering. But then he had to remind himself that he couldn't do any more to help them. The Enterprise was still three more days away.

Once Picard had on his Starfleet dress uniform, designed for special occasions he stepped out his quarters and headed towards the Turbolift. When the doors opened he saw Data and Geordi were already inside, equally dressed in their dress uniforms. Truthfully the dress uniform was uneccessary for this type of dinner, but regulations stated in the presence of an Ambassador, dress uniform was required. And Picard wasn't about to stat breaking regulations now.

"Captain" Data said naturally, but in Picard's imagination he sounded slightly surpised

"Good evening Le Forge, Data" Picard said as he stepped on the lift and the doors closed. Resuming the descent to Ten Forward

"Captain" Geordi said getting Picard's attention; "Thank you allowing us to join you and the Ambassador for dinner." Picard smiled slightly in response, he wasn't going to deny Geordi and Data the chance to question Philips on Engineering, he knew they were dying to.

"Of course" Picard said modestly nodding his head

"I am interested to further discuss the Ambassador's approach to improving engine efficiency." Data said with a head tilt, Picard had learnt that it meant Data was thinking deeply about something.

"The Ambassador has a solution to improve the efficiency of the Warp Core?" Picard questioned, furrowing his brow slightly as this was the first he'd heard of this

"Yes Captain" Data said as if the Captain should already know this

"The Ambassador said he would speak to you about arranging some time to work on the engines." Geordi said confused

"Hmm" Picard said nodding; "Of course he did, yes forgive me, I have a lot on my mind." Picard lied about the fact Philips had spoken to him, he didn't want the crew to think there was a problem that the Ambassador hadn't spoken to him. He wanted the crew to focus on preparing for their mission, but he was curious as to why the Ambassador hadn't said anything earlier about his talk with Le Forge and Data, when he was in the Captain's ready room. The more time the Ambassador spent on the Enterprise the more the Captain began to think, there was more to the man than everyone thought.

"Jack and I barely escaped. The shuttle had quite a few dents in it, but remained in one piece." Philips said as he finished off another story of his adventures with Jack at the academy. He was smiling and let out a chuckle as he finished. Everyone else joined in and were enjoying the evening.

"I'm sure the academy weren't too happy." Riker said grinning,

"You could say that." Philips replied tilting his head before sipping his drink

"No matter how many times you tell that story Uncle Charlie, it never gets old." Wesley said smiling, he loved to hear about his dad. He hadn't gotten the chance to properly get to know him himself, before he died.

"Inquiry" Data stated as he lifted his head up and glanced at Wesley; "You called the Ambassador 'Uncle Charlie'. Are you related?" Data then glanced at Philip; "I saw nothing in your Starfleet record."

Everyone at the table went silent and exchanged glances, before subtly eyeing Wesley and Beverley; "Er Data" Geordi started but Wesley cut him off; "No we're not actually related Data." He said before glancing at Philips, as if asking for help

Philip smiled slightly as he glanced at Beverley, she was too engrossed in her food but he could see she was uncomfortable. He sighed as he leant back in his seat, twirling his glass in his hands; "Yes Mr Data, we may not be related, but I was friends with Wesley's father Jack, since way before Wesley was born. I've watched Wesley grow up;" Philips said wearing a proud smile; "and we've been like family ever since."

Picard was listening with both curiosity and suspicion. He still didn't understand why Jack hadn't mentioned anything about Philips, they were best friends for years. Picard was troubled by the fact that Jack had kept something from him, but even more so that Beverley hadn't said anything. After all these years. Maybe he had to face the fact that he didn't know everything about the Crusher family. Just as Picard was sipping his drink, Riker spoke;

"Ambassador, I'm curious how did you and Jack meet?" Picard almost choked in surprise, but covered it up quickly by coughing. He noticed Philips had looked at him knowingly, like he suspected Picard was behind the question.

"Now that's a long story." Philips said nostalgically as he started seeing memories of Jack. He paused as he felt sadness for his old friend. "We were just kids when we met, a little younger than Wesley is now." Philips sent a glance at Wesley, who was listening intently, he'd never actually heard how they met, being too afraid to ask. "I lost my parents just after I was born, and when I was adopted, well I didn't feel like I belonged. They weren't my real parents. I was all alone." Philips was so lost in his memories he didn't realise what he was saying. "So when there was a field trip to Starfleet Academy, I knew that was my chance to run. I'd always been adept in Engineering, even as a kid. So I thought if I could just get my hands on a shuttle."

"Where were you planning to go?" Troi asked, sensing all kinds of emotions from Philips, she too was getting caught up in the story

"I don't know, I just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere." Philips said honestly grinning at her, as he realised how ridiculous it sounded.

"But you didn't?" Geordi asked

"Were you caught?" Data added.

"Yes, and no" Philips said replying to both of them; "I didn't go, but I wasn't caught. Or I should say we weren't."

"Dad was with you?" Wesley asked enthralled by knowing more of his dad;

"That's how we met" Philips said nodding; "I broke away from the class, and broke into a shuttle when no one was looking. Just as I was starting up the engines, your dad found me. He had followed me, immediately demanded I tell him what I was doing, said I shouldn't be in there." Philips let out a chuckle; "Your dad was always one for sticking by the rules."

"So what happened?" Riker prompted

"I told Jack I was running away, and when he asked me why, and I told him. He didn't try to talk me out of it, tell me I was crazy."

"He didn't?" Wesley asked frowning

"No, in fact he sat down next to me and said he was coming with me. I was shocked, thought he was just playing a joke on me. But he was serious. He said that he had always wanted to go into space, but did I? It was the strangest thing, we didn't even know each other, yet he somehow knew I couldn't go through with it. And I didn't. We went back to join class like nothing had happened, but ever since that moment we had been best friends. Looked out for each other. Even joined the Academy at the same time. We became like brothers." Philips sighed and sipped his glass before frowning

"But then things changed. Things happened, and we drew further apart. Jack wanted to become a Starfleet officer, I went into Biological and Mechanical Engineering. We went our separate ways" Philips said sadly; "Jack got sent on missions, and I stayed at Starfleet doing research. We did speak now and then, and I made a promise to Jack. Whenever he went on a mission, I said I'd look out of Wesley, and for Beverley." Philips locked eyes with Beverley, who seemed surprised, and he realised that Jack probably didn't tell her everything him.

Philips cleared his throat; "And when Jack…." Philips trailed off; "I kept my promise. Jack was my family, and so that made Wesley and Beverley my family too." Once Philips finished talking the room fell silent, and it was only then he realised he had just told them too much. He swore to himself he wasn't going to reveal anything about his friendship with Jack; that he wouldn't get wrapped up in his memories of Jack. He had a mission to complete, and remembering his promise to Jack, interfered with everything.

Philips felt uncomfortable at everyone's gaze on him; he cleared his throat and set down his glass. "Um, if you'll excuse me. It's late and I must get back to work on the vaccines." Philips stood up and glanced a Picard; "Thank you for this evening." He nodded his head and turned towards the door, and walked out.

"Uncle Charlie! Wait" Wesley yelled and went after the Ambassador.

Beverley was still staring into space, but once her son left she too got up; "Excuse me." She muttered and left. The doors swishing shut behind her

Once Geordi, Data and Worf had left as well, all who remained were Picard, Riker, Troi and Guinan.

"Well that was certainly an interesting evening" Guinan said as she sat down on the left side of the table, beside Picard.

"Hmm" Picard murmured; "Counsellor what did you think of the Ambassador's story tonight."

Riker turned his head to Picard and furrowed his brow; "Captain? You don't believe Philips?"

"I am cautious" Picard countered then looked at Troi

She sighed; "I sensed a lot of emotions from the Ambassador, which is understandable given the fact he was relieving painful memories. But I didn't sense he was hiding anything." Picard looked at Riker as the Counsellor paused; "However…" Troi continued, which caught both Picard's and Riker's attention; "because I felt so many emotions from Philips, it is possible that he was hiding something and I couldn't differentiate it from his other emotions, but that is highly unlikely. I have found that when humans are hiding something, it is quite easy to sense it. I sensed no such thing from the Ambassador." Troi finished

Picard sighed and nodded; "Thank you Counsellor." In response Troi merely nodded and said good night. Once the Counsellor and Commander Riker had left, Picard was left alone with Guinan, who was staring at Picard closely. Picard turned to face her with a curious expression.

"Why does this man bother you so much?" Guinan asked utterly direct, Picard had come to like and appreciate Guinan's honesty.

Picard stared at one of the Ten Forward windows, looking at the stars and the Enterprise whizzed past them. He didn't know quite how to answer her, there was just something about the Ambassador that made Picard suspicious of him. But he was certain it had something to do with…

"Jack Crusher" Guinan's voice erupted his thoughts, and he turned his gaze back to her

"This is about your old friend isn't it?"

"There is something strange about this whole thing." Picard confessed; "I had known Jack for years, and he did not mention Philips once. From what Philips said, they were close; like brothers. So why did he keep that a secret? And Beverley, I've known her even longer, and she hasn't said anything. Then there's the obvious tension between the two that still concerns me. There has to be something that I'm missing."

"Maybe that's what this is all about" Guinan said leaning forward and looking at his knowingly

Picard frowned; "Explain"

Guinan sighed; "You said yourself that you've known Jack and Beverley a long time, and you became close friends. So could it be that what's really bothering you is that your closest friends kept something from you, rather than that the Ambassador may be hiding something? Could you be looking for faults in the man to explain Jack's reasoning for not telling you?"

"You sound like Counsellor Troi" Picard muttered

"We are in the same line of work. Both listeners and observers."

Picard didn't outright confirm Guinan's questions, but the more he thought about it, the more he thought she could be right. There was no obvious signs that the Ambassador was hiding something, and his Starfleet Record speaks for itself. It was entirely possible he was looking for a skeleton in the man's closet when there was none. Perhaps he should just focus on the mission at hand. Yet, he felt like the question would also remain in his head; "Is the Ambassador who he says he is?"