Picard's Mother
TNG Older Explained
Star Trek Picard
Picard and his mother.
Yeeeers -- That'll be
The Trauma : He's clearly not
remembering Her
very well.....
our son.
[Chez Picard]
(Picard is making inroads into a bottle of the family produce when Robert comes in with flowers for the house)
BOB :
Careful. You're not used to drinking the real thing. This synthehol never leaves you out of control, is that so?
Johnny : That's so.
BOB : This will. (pours himself the last dregs) Now there is something I'd like to see.
Johnny : What's that?
BOB :
The gallant Captain out of Control. Mind if I ask you
A Question? What the devil happened to you up there?
Johnny :
Is this brotherly concern?
BOB :
No. Curiosity. What did
They Do to you?
Johnny :
You know what happened.
BOB :
Not precisely. I gather you were hurt. Humiliated. I always thought you needed
a little humiliation.
Or was it humility?
Either would do.
(Jean-Luc storms out of the house)
[Garden]
BOB : Why do you walk away? That isn't your style.
Johnny : I'm tired of fighting with you, Robert.
BOB : Tired?
Johnny : That's right.
BOB : Yes. Tired of the Enterprise too? The great Captain Picard of Starfleet falls to Earth, ready to plunge into the water with Louis. That isn't the brother that I remember. Still, I suppose it must have seemed like the ideal situation, hmm? Local boy makes good. Returns home after twenty years to a hero's welcome.
Johnny : I'm not a hero.
BOB : Of course you are. Admit it. You'd never settle for less than that and you never will.
Johnny : That's not true.
BOB : Cancel the parade? In your favour?
Johnny : No! I never sought that rubbish.
BOB : Never sought? Never sought president of the school, valedictorian, athletic hero with your arms raised in victory?
Johnny : Valedictorian? Arms raised in victory? Were you so jealous?
BOB : Yes, damn it. I was always so jealous, I had a right to be.
Johnny : Right?
BOB : I was always your brother, watching you receive the cheers, watching you break every rule our father made and get away with it.
Johnny : Why didn't you break a few rules?
BOB : Because I was the elder brother, the responsible one. It was my job to look after you.
Johnny : Look after me? You? You were a bully.
BOB : Sometimes. Maybe. Sometimes I even enjoyed bullying you.
Johnny : All right. Try it now.
BOB : Did you come back, Jean-Luc? Did you come back because you wanted me to look after you again?
Johnny : Damn you!
(And he punches his brother, sending him flying over some barrels into the vineyard proper. There they fight in the muddy irrigation ditches, through the vines until they finally fall back laughing)
Johnny :
You were asking
for it, you know.
BOB :
Yes, but you needed it.
You have been terribly
hard on yourself.
Johnny : You don't know, Robert. You don't know. They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them. I should have been able to stop them! I tried. I tried so hard, but I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't good enough. I should have been able to stop them. I should! I should!
BOB :
So, my brother is a human being after all. This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time. You have to learn to live with it. You have a simple choice now. Live with it below the sea with Louis, or above the clouds with the Enterprise.
Johnny : You know, I think you were right after all. I think I did come back so that you could help me.
BOB : You know what? I still don't like you, Jean-Luc.
[Chez Picard]
(There's mud, and muddy boots, on the carpet, and drunken voices singing 'Aupres de ma blonde, qu'il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon' dum, dum, dum. Marie enters from outside)
Mrs. BOB : What in the world? What happened here?
BOB : Ah
Johnny : It's entirely my fault, Marie.
BOB : Yes, I fell down, then he fell and then
Johnny : We both fell down.
BOB : We both fell down.
Johnny : Together.
BOB : We both fell down together.
Mrs. BOB : Have you two been fighting?
BOB : Fighting? No, certainly not.
Mrs. BOB : Shame on you both. What would your father say if he saw you like this?
Johnny : He'd probably send us both to bed without our supper.
Mrs. BOB : Well, perhaps it's just as well you got it out of your systems.
Johnny : Perhaps it was, Marie. Perhaps it was. I'll contact Louis and cancel the meeting with the Board of Governors. It's time that I was going.
Mrs. BOB :
Already, Jean-Luc?
Johnny :
The ship will be ready to leave orbit soon, and I belong on board. If I should ever doubt that again, I know where to come.
Picard - Sheer Fucking Hubris
[Patio]
(Arranging flowers in a vase in the evening.)
MORITZ:
He said I'd find you out here.
Johnny : Moritz.
MORITZ: Hello, Jean-Luc.
Johnny : It's been a very long time.
MORITZ: Too long.
Johnny : I know there was a bit of trouble with the remote medscan, but I hardly expected a house call. Let me just er... (picks up tea tray) Your office told me they would be forwarding the certificate for interstellar service as soon as you had seen the results. (silence) Oh, I see.
MORITZ: You might want something stronger.
(A little later.)
MORITZ: Your medscan came in at or above Starfleet minimums in every category. Cardiovascular, metabolic, cognitive. For a relic, you're in excellent shape. Just that little abnormality in the parietal lobe.
Johnny : I was told a long time ago that it might cause a problem eventually.
(Irumodic Syndrome? See All Good Things.)
MORITZ: Loss of appetite, mood swings, unsettling dreams? Inappropriate displays of anger on interplanetary news holos?
Johnny : What do you think it is?
MORITZ: I'd need to run more tests. It could be one of a number of related syndromes.
Johnny : Prognosis? Come on. Let's have it, Doctor Benayoun.
MORITZ: A few are treatable, but they all end the same way. Some sooner than others.
Johnny : I see. I need you to certify me to Starfleet as fit for interstellar service. Now, will you do it?
MORITZ: I don't suppose you'd condescend to tell me why. Secret mission? We certainly had our share of those on the Stargazer, didn't we? Remember that time in the fireforest on Calyx, we
Johnny : Doctor Benayoun. Forgive me.
MORITZ: You really want to go back out into the cold, knowing
Johnny : More than ever, knowing.
MORITZ: I don't know what kind of trouble you're planning to get into. Maybe if you're lucky, it will kill you first.
[Starfleet HQ]
(Picard beams in through one of a line of arches in the plaza. Humans and aliens with a mixture of DS9 and Voyager style uniforms throng the area.)
COMPUTER: All visitors must report to the main security desk. All visitors must report to the main security desk.
(A large hologram of NCC1701 hangs over the foyer, then it changes to NCC1701D.)
MAN [OC]: Admiral Gurdy, please report to Conference Room B. Admiral Gurdy, please report to Conference Room B.
Johnny : Hello. I er, have a meeting with the CNC. I have an appointment.
ENSIGN: Of course, sir. May I have your name, please, sir?
Johnny : Oh. Er, Picard. P-I-C-A-R-D. Jean-Luc.
(The Ensign puts a visitor badge on the reception desk.)
ENSIGN: Ah. It's nice to see you up and around, Admiral. Welcome back.
[Admiral Clancy's office]
(Doorbell.)
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
Come. (door opens)
Ah. Jean-Luc.
Johnny :
Kirsten. Hello.
May I? (he sits)
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
Apparently, you have 'urgent
Federation Business'.
I understood you to have left
affairs of state behind.
Johnny :
I am staying as far
from it all as I can.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
So then what can I do for you?
Johnny :
Bruce Maddox.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
What about him?
Johnny :
I believe that he is using neurons
from the late Commander Data
to create a new race of
organic synthetics.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
Well, that's not far from all
of it, it is all of it.
Johnny :
The Romulans are involved.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
This gets better and better.
Johnny :
Commander Data was
not only my colleague, he was
my dear friend, and he gave
his life, body and soul,
to The Federation.
And if there is a chance that some part of him
still exists, then I think we have
an obligation to investigate.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
There is no 'We',
Jean-Luc --
Johnny :
Kirsten, I know we have not always seen eye to eye. Nevertheless, I have a request to make. Based on my years of service, I want you to reinstate me, temporarily, for one mission. I will need a small warp-capable reconnaissance ship with a minimal crew, and if you feel that my rank makes me too conspicuous, well then, I am content to be demoted to Captain.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
....sheer fucking hubris --
You think you could just waltz back in here
and be entrusted with taking men
and women into space?
Do you think I wasn't
watching the holo
the other day along
with everyone else
in The Galaxy?
Johnny : I should not have spoken in public.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy , C-inC, Starfleet : The Romulans were our enemies, and we tried to help them for as long as we could, but even before the synthetics attacked Mars, 14 species within the Federation said, cut the Romulans loose, or we'll pull out. It was a choice between allowing the Federation to implode or letting the Romulans go.
Johnny :
The Federation does not get to decide
if a species lives or dies...!
.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
Yes, We Do.
We absolutely Do.
Thousands of other species depend
upon Us for unity, for cohesion.
We didn't have enough ships left.
We had to make choices.
But The Great
Captain Picard didn't
like His Orders.
Johnny :
I was standing-up
for The Federation, for
what it represents, for what
it should still represent!!
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
How dare you
lecture me?
Johnny :
Ignore me again
at your cost.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
My cost?
Johnny :
You are in
peril, Admiral.
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy ,
C-in-C, Starfleet :
There's no peril here...!!
Only the pitiable delusions
Only the pitiable delusions
of a once-great man
desperate to matter.
This is no-longer Your
House, Jean-Luc.
So do What You're
Good at : Go Home.
Request Denied.
