Chapter 5 - From Bad to Worse

Uncle Charlie!" Wesley yelled as he caught up with Philips, and stood in front of him, blocking his path. "Are you ok?"

Philips sighed as he stopped, relaxing his shoulders. "Wesley-."

"Wesley" Philips was interrupted, and when he turned, he saw Beverley standing behind him; "Go back to our quarters, I'll be along shortly."

"But mom!" Wesley moaned. He was confused as to what was going on with everyone, why they were suddenly acting strange

Wesley" She said sternly and he finally walked away deflated

"Beverley?" Philips questioned, eyeing her suspiciously. He was afraid she was going to yell at him for talking about Jack.

"Charles, I just want to apologise." Philips blinked at her, utterly shocked. He was completely caught off guard, he wasn't expecting an apology.

"For what?" He asked hesitantly

"Everything" Beverley replied with a sigh; "For the way I treated you after the explosion at Science base 7, when Wesley was hurt. I blamed you for it, when really it wasn't, and I lost sight of what you lost that day. I'm truly sorry about what happened to Sarah."

Philips winced slightly at the sound of his daughter's name, and became angry. He thought that she had no right to say Sarah's name, she lost every right to be his friend when she turned her back on him. But he knew he couldn't say that to her, not now. As he gazed at Beverley who was waiting patiently for his response, he knew the answer she was expecting. So he gave to her, with a tight smile on his face.

Thank you Beverley. I appreciate your apology." He said as calmly as he could. Beverley hesitated slightly before speaking, waiting to see if he would say more.

"Charles I truly am sorry." Philips nodded;

"Can we just focus on our current mission, and maybe we can talk more when it's over?" Philips said, trying to get away from her

Beverley was slightly hurt, but understood his response; "Oh, right of course Charles."

"Good night Beverley" Philips interceded before Beverley could say anything more, then he turned and walked down the corridor.

Once he was in his quarters, he let out a frustrated breath and groaned. Then he ran his hands through his hair, and walked further into the quarters. When he locked his gaze on a glass sitting on the dining table, he immediately grabbed it and threw it against one of the walls in frustration. Then he slumped down into the closest char, and sat there for a few moments, breathing heavily. His thoughts drifted to his daughter, and he felt pain in his chest, and sadness. Sarah was his whole world, and when he lost her he lost everything, including his respect and desire to serve Starfleet. Being there on the Enterprise, just reminded him how much he was determined to make Starfleet pay for his daughter's death, and that he wouldn't let anyone get in his way. He was doing this for Sarah.

The next morning Philips was beginning to regret agreeing to dinner last night, he was just so caught up in his memories. He was just thankful he didn't say anything about Sarah. As he walked down the corridors towards Sick bay he tried to clear his feelings from last night, he had enjoyed talking to the Enterprise crew they seem like good people. But if Philips was going to go through with his mission, he had to keep everyone at a distance, especially Wesley.

The doors of Sickbay swished open and he strolled in, putting on a serious expression. "Beverley" He said loudly to get her attention as he approached her desk. She immediately swung her chair around from the computer and gave him a small smile;

"Ambassador." Beverley said nodding at him; "I've prepared the vaccines according to your specifications. They are ready for replication."

Philips saw how she was trying to act professionally, and he was relieved. He nodded; "Let's get to work" And he walked over to join her at the computer

"Captain we are receiving a communication from Penarus V." Worf announced and then looked up from his tactical post. "It looks like a distress signal." Picard turned half way to look at him as he spoke, then he turned to Riker.

"Things must be worse than we thought" Riker said gravely and Picard nodded, then he stood up and pulled down his tunic; "On screen." He said loudly as he walked to the centre of the bridge. An image appeared on the view screen of a great hall, only not so great; it was half destroyed. Windows were smashed and the walls were missing chunks, debris littered the floor, from what looked like the result of a bomb. In the centre of all that was a man, dirt and blood on his face and clothes. He looked terrified.

Riker stood up to join the Captain, as Troi gasped in utter shock. A feeling among all of the bridge crew; Wesley included, who was sitting at conn.

"Enterprise…need…..assistance…people…rioting….can't cope." The man practically yelled, but parts of his message was cut off, and the image seemed to be crackling and fuzzing.

Data" Picard said without taking his eyes off the screen, hoping Data could explain the bad communication.

It was silent for a moment as Data tapped at his console, then he spoke; "The weak signal does not seem to be a fault in the Enterprise communications. Rather it is likely due to the conditions on the planet."

Riker immediately replied; "Can you try to clear it up?" It was worded like a question, but was really an order. A few moments later, after Data hit a few more buttons on the console the image became clearer and the man's voice came through clearer

"Enterprise? Do you come in? I repeat Captain Picard we need immediately assistance." The man said yelling, whilst in the background there was sound of yelling and phaser fire

"The communication will not hold for long" Data said peering up at Captain Picard

"This is Captain Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise. We are receiving you now."

"Captain!" The man exclaimed; "It is a relief to hear from you, we have tried to contact you the last 24 hours but were not able to reach you."

"Can you identify yourself?" Picard said, with the situation of rioting on the planet surface he had to make sure he was speaking to a member of the council.

"I am Regent Andrews of the Penarons Council. The last and only member left." He said gravely

Riker exchanged shocked glances with Picard

"What is the situation on the surface? The last report from Starfleet stated the council had the riots and the virus under control."

"We did. But then the riots escalated, and we had already lost over half our military personnel to the virus, so when the Resisters broke into the Great Hall, we were outnumbered."

"Who are the Resisters?" Riker asked

"The people leading the riots that's what they are calling themselves." Then Andrews glanced off screen as there was loud explosion, he turned back to the screen as the shouts got louder; "Please Captain, we need immediate assistance!" Andrews pleaded

"The Enterprise is still two days out Regent Andrews" The Captain said, feeling helpless but trying to think of how to help. Just then a beam from a phaser caught Andrews in the chest knocking him off screen, and there were more shouts and phaser fire.

Regent Andrews!" Picard yelled. Men in armour and large phaser guns ran across the screen, followed by large phaser fire. Then suddenly the screen image went fuzzy and disappeared, returning to the image of the space outside the ship.

Picard immediately turned to Data; "Hail the planet. Get them back" He barked, but Data merely turned to face the Captain; "There is no response from the planet sir."

Everyone on the bridge froze and went silent as they all stared at the Captain. He remained staring at the view screen for a moment, trying to think of what to do. But he only had one option;

"Number One call a meeting with the senior staff in an hour." Picard said as he turned to face Riker,

The bridge crew and other senior officers now sat the large table in the Observation lounge, having just been briefed on the current situation on Penarus V, all sat with grim faces. "So there have been no response to hails." Dr Crusher said glancing at Riker opposite her and then at the Captain, to her right at the head of the table. It was more to clarify it to herself, but Picard nodded; "What does that mean?" She asked further.

"It means we don't know situation we will be heading into when the Enterprise arrives at Penarus V." Picard said looking at Beverley

"This can't be right." Philips said shaking his head; from his position further down the table; "I spoke to Andrews before I left Starbase 10 and he assured me the council had everything under control until we got there." He said finally looking up at Picard, and the Captain saw the man was as angry as he was

"Just who are these Resisters?" Riker asked

Philips sighed before replying; "The Resistors are the faction leading the riots, the council described them as a small group, and so they weren't worried about them."

"Well it seems they aren't small anymore" Picard replied bitterly

"How long until we arrive at the planet?" Counsellor Troi asked

"Just less than 48 hours." Geordi replied

"46 hours, 35 minutes, 45.4566…."

"Data" Picard said sharply cutting the android off, who understood and stopped talking. Riker sent Troi an amused looked

"It's not enough time" Philips muttered quietly to himself. This federation mission was only meant to be a way for him to gain access to Wesley on the Enterprise, but with the declining situation on the planet, it was going to be difficult to get Wesley to help him when he was supposed to be working on the vaccines.

"We still have two days" Beverley objected, but Philip's didn't take any notice as he was too engrossed in his thoughts. Beverley glanced at the Captain, as if pleading him to assure her they could do still get there in time.

Picard seemed to ponder it for a moment before turning to Philips; "Ambassador would you be able to complete the vaccines in time?" Philips barely heard the Captain, and when he finally did a few moments had passed.

"I believe it is possible" Philips said quickly recovering, hoping no one noticed his hesitation. He avoided eye contact with Counsellor Troi, who he could feel watching him.

"Le Forge can you boost the engines to get us to Penarus V any faster?" Picard asked turning to Geordi

Geordi hesitated before answering; "I can divert more power to the engines to give the engines a slight increase, but it won't be much." Geordi said shaking his head

"Perhaps the Ambassador can assist us." Data added facing the Captain. Philips was shocked slightly until he remembered he had said to them earlier that he could improve the engine efficiency

"I can certainly try" Philips said vaguely; "but with my focus on the vaccines."

"I'm sure I can manage." Beverley said smiling at Philips, who gritted his teeth.

"Great, then I'd be happy to take a look at the engines." Philips paused trying to think of what to do. Unless..; "And perhaps Ensign Crusher can help. I have heard he is quite well versed in Engineering."

Picard glanced at Geordi and Data who nodded smiling, before turning back to Philips; "Make it so."