A Captain And A Madman

Chapter One: A New Shore

((As a brief little word before going into the story, this particular fanfiction was written in 2013, and is found elsewhere on the Internet; I'm the author, etc, etc, and have modified the first chapter's foreword at the original source as proof. I'm uploading it here mostly to stick it in front of new eyeballs, and maybe work up the nerve to write something brand new. :3 So on the off-chance this story seems familiar to anyone... that's probably why. Updates should be pretty quick, I'm reviewing and editing each chapter from my original story before placing it here- ironing out the bugs and what have you.

Second, this was written prior to the 50th Anniversary special 'Day of the Doctor,' and as such there are elements in the story that were based off canon that- at the time- was mostly supplied through extended media like books, audio novels, etc. Some of the retconning undertaken by Day of the Doctor means not everything in the story will line up with current Doctor Who canon, and ultimately I decided the changes needed to 'fix' the issue would take something away from the overall narrative.

Third, to put things in perspective, this story takes place during the final seasons of The Next Generation, shortly after the episode Violations. The Doctor Who timeline places us right between the episodes Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song, when the Doctor is still delaying his fateful encounter on the beach.

Finally, as a more recent note,  so very incredibly sorry to anyone who slogged through my story the last couple of years without any sorta section formatting.  For some reason the line dividers didn't seem to survive my transcribing it here, and for some other reason I didn't notice that when I originally posted the story. Sooooo I log back in after a coupla years, only to just now notice it! #professional #oops #hashtag.  I have made the necessary additions,  so hopefully nobody else's eyes will bleed!!))

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"Captain's Log, Stardate 45442.7,

We have brought the Ullians to Kaldra IV as scheduled, where the local authorities will detain Jev until such a time as he can be extradited to his world. Though the past several days have been trying, it is a considerable relief that our actions will have prevented such incidents from occurring again.

Counselor Troi appears to have recovered from her ordeal, and has returned to active duty. Starfleet has ordered us to Alcheron V, to assist in the establishment of shielding and medical supplies to protect the inhabitants from escalating activity within their sun's corona. Unfortunately, the shielding will not be able to protect a majority of the planet's biome, but it will secure the colonists until such time that Starfleet can assemble an evacuation fleet. Still, given the planet's numerous unique species of flora and fauna, the loss is all but incal-"

"Captain Picard, please report to the bridge."

"Computer, pause recording." Climbing to his feet, Captain Jean Luc Picard tugged at his uniform jacket before stepping out from his Ready Room; the bridge crew were in a flurry of activity, but they didn't seem to be acting too urgently, nor did they seem concerned. The only exception, ironically, seemed to be Data; though the second officer always had excellent posture, his back seemed if anything stiffer than ever. "Report, Mister Data."

"Sensors are detecting an extremely high burst of chroniton particles, half a lightyear from our present position."

"Chroniton? A temporal disturbance?"

"That is a possibility, sir." Data replied. "Romulan cloaking devices have also been known to produce chroniton particles, though not typically in this concentration."

They were quite some distance from Romulan territory, but the possibility was nonetheless a sobering one; few Federation ships patrolled these outer reaches, and if there was a ship out there, or even a fleet, they could get far without notice. On the other hand, if it was a temporal disturbance of some kind... well, the Enterprise had encountered more than a few, and they had yet to be positive experiences.