Riker grinned, that old spark of mischief returning to his eyes. “I thought you’d never ask, Admiral. But you should know—the Titan isn't what she used to be. And neither are we.”
“En marche,” Picard murmured, his voice steady. “The past is never truly gone, Will. It’s just waiting for us to catch up.”
“Will,” Picard said as the screen flickered to life, revealing the rugged, bearded face of William Riker. “I need a ship. And I need a friend who doesn’t mind breaking a few regulations.” Star Trek: Picard S03E01 FRENCH HDTV
Before he could protest, she was gone, disappearing into the mist of the Rue de Rivoli.
The air in the Paris bistro was thick with the scent of aged Bordeaux and the hum of a dozen private conversations. At a corner table, bathed in the amber glow of a streetlamp, sat Jean-Luc Picard. He wasn't looking at the menu; he was staring at a vintage compass on the tablecloth, its needle spinning aimlessly. “It’s broken,” a voice said. Riker grinned, that old spark of mischief returning
“The signal is coming from the Ryton system,” she whispered, her French accented with the crispness of a woman who had spent too long in the vacuum of deep space. “They’re hunting me, Jean-Luc. And they’ll hunt you too if they know we’ve spoken.”
Picard looked up. Beverly Crusher stood there, cloaked in a heavy traveling coat, her eyes reflecting a weary urgency he hadn't seen in decades. She didn’t sit. She simply slid a small, encrypted data rod across the wood. And neither are we
Picard returned to Château Picard that night, the weight of the data rod heavy in his pocket. He didn’t call Starfleet. He didn't call the Federation. Instead, he opened a secure channel to a darkened room on a distant moon.