Star Trek: Picard: Second Self

Chapter 1 1
Lieutenant Commander Raffaela Musiker was a whole new woman. Clean, poised, ready for action. Ready for something new-although the jury was out on what that something new might be. But history-whether public or private-sometimes has its own designs. Lays traps for the unwary. Guides you back to places you thought you'd long since left behind. Raffi Musiker didn't believe in fate, or destiny, but the upshot of this story is that they might well believe in you.

Raffi was in France. In Paris. She'd been here once before, a lifetime ago, when she had been a completely different woman. Young, and in love, and not yet a wife or a mother. She wasn't young now, nor was she a wife any longer, and she doubted the extent to which she had ever been a mother. But she was, at least, in love, and perhaps this was what allowed Paris to work its charms on her. Stepping out of the public transporter near the Gare du Nord, she clamped down her first impressions-of the pressing crowds, the noise, the crush-and allowed the city to spend the next couple of days ravishing her. Marveled at the light and the gardens. Felt the weight of history. Saw small trinkets she might get for a grandkid-if such a thing were ever to be allowed to enter this new life of hers-and instead picked up kitsch for Seven. A tiny Eiffel Tower. An "I ? Paris" T-shirt. Boxes of chocolate. She missed Seven, and wished she was here. At the Arc de Triomphe, she walked slowly around, counting off the twelve avenues that radiated outward, almost overcome by the choices that lay ahead. A whole new lease on life.

What do I do now? What do I do next? Where the hell do I go...?

She chose coffee and patisserie, and, for the moment at least, less drama. The whole point of coming on this trip was to make a decision, wasn't it? About what to do next. About the person she was going to be, now that the old one didn't exist any longer.

On the morning of her third day in the city of light, Raffi picked

Una McCormack is the author of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novels The Never-Ending Sacrifice, Hollow Men, and Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Vol. 1: Cardassia, as well as the Doctor Who novels The King's Dragons and The Way Through the Woods. She lives in the United Kingdom.