A New Beginning ".although there are no reports of lives lost coming from Earth itself, Starfleet's losses are substantial. Confirmed losses include USS Sinclair, USS Michigan, USS Kaga, USS Zhukov, USS Miami, USS Wainwright, USS Shanghai, USS." "Computer, halt playback." Captain Jean Luc Picard looked up from Starfleet's report on the recent `incident' with the Borg and gave an exasperated sigh. Star Fleet's losses from the battle with the Borg Cube had been horrendous, almost outnumbering the losses from Wolf 359. Thankfully, Picard thought, I've come to terms with that particular demon. Still, Picard had a meeting with Starfleet Command to look forward to due to his disobeying their orders to stay out of the conflict. And the chat with the people of the Department of Temporal Investigations wasn't something that he was looking forward to either. At least the Defiant was repairable. The door chime beeped. "Come," Picard ordered. Commander William Riker strode through the now open door. "Number One, how are the repairs going?" "They're proceeding slowly sir. Geordi and the rest of Engineering are have a devil of a time with the devices that the Borgs placed in the ship. They expect that it'll take several weeks to fully repair the ship," Will replied quickly. He glanced quickly around the room, and then stepped closer to Captain Picard. "Sir, there's a matter of a personal nature that I need to speak to you about." Picard was taken aback. "Proceed, Will." Riker spoke hesitantly. "As you know, I don't talk much about my family." Picard nodded. Commander Troi had mentioned the problems between Will and his father during one of the personnel reviews, and Picard had taken her advice and steered clear of the subject with Riker. Riker continued. "My cousin and her husband were on board the Zhukov. Their daughter was in Sydney when the Borg came. She doesn't have any living relatives besides myself, sir. I'd like permission to bring her aboard the Enterprise. Under my care of course." Picard pondered the request. He was the last member of his own line, and he strongly felt the loss of his brother Robert and his nephew. He thought for a moment, then responded. "Permission granted." Riker exhaled a breath that he hadn't known that he was holding. "Thank you sir. I'd like to beam her over right away, if you don't mind." "Of course. I'd love to meet this niece of yours." Riker smiled. "Actually sir, all three of them were stationed aboard the Enterprise for a brief period of time. I didn't bring it up." Picard raised an eyebrow. "It seemed improper, sir." Riker shrugged. "I wanted to avoid any accusation of favoritism. Besides, you've already met her." Riker's grin grew broader. "You were trapped in an elevator with her, sir." Picard's brow furrowed in thought. "The Flores girl?" he ventured. "Yep." Riker said. "Her name was Marrissa, wasn't it?" "Yes, but she's been spelling her name with an `h' lately. " Riker rolled his eyes. "It's a teenaged thing, I think." "Hmm, well. Shall we meet her?" The pair arrived in the transporter room minutes later. Riker nodded to the transporter technician. "Energize," he said. The transporter pad hummed to life, and a shimmering figure appeared. Moments later, a thirteen year old stepped off of the pad. "Uncle Will!" she shouted, launching herself at her uncle and encirling him in a hug. "I'm so glad to see you. After Mom and Dad died, I was so scared and then you came, and, oh, hi Captain Picard," she said , quickly running over to him and shaking his hand. "how are you today? I really enjoyed that time that I spent trapped on the elevator with you. You know, I'm gonna be a starship captain just like you. It'll be really cool, and I'm going to be a pilot and subdue the Romulan empire, and a whole bunch of stuff." Doesn't this girl breathe, thought the transporter technician. She continued her rapid questions. "I'm really glad that you invited me aboard, Uncle Will. Sydney was really yucky, and there were all of these koalas running around, and they didn't have good food. Oh, and I found out that I'm half elven and I'm royalty too. And they had these pictures of dead American presidents down in Sydney, I'm not quite sure why though, and I swear that one of them was talking to me, but I assumed that it was just a hologram, but still it was really weird. Can I see my room?" Riker blinked at the sudden pause in the conversation and replied, "Oh, of course. Just follow me." He nodded towards the captain. "Excuse me, sir." Picard responded ,"Dismissed, Number One." The teen ager beamed, "Hey, that's what you called me in the elevator. That was cool, Captain Picard." She noticed the transporter technician. "Oh, hi, "she said extending her arm to shake the technician's hand. "I'm Mharrissa Amber Flores." She turned back towards Riker. "Let's go, Uncle Will." They left the room, but Picard could still hear her voice as she walked down the hallway. "Wow, this is almost as neat as that elf who talked to me. Did you know that I have magic powers? Can I have some strawberries? Did you know that I took the Kobiashi Maru test?" Her voice faded as the transporter room door shut. Picard shook his head. Riker would have a handful with that girl. Hmm, he thought, I've never noticed how attractive Riker's eyes were. He shook himself at the thought, and wondered where on earth that though came from. Picard shrugged off the idea, and left the transporter room. The adventure begins.. Apologies to Lady Amethyst for borrowing ideas from her stories.