Star Trek - The Next Generation / Star Trek: The Next Generation: Takedown

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Takedown One
The one good thing about having a job that took you to hell and back was that you slept soundly. All your nightmares had already happened during the day.

William Riker had always slept well. But this morning, rising was the hard part-and he wasn't surprised in the least to discover he was already dressed. He'd slept in full uniform many times as an overworked ensign, never as an admiral. But this behavior made perfect sense: He'd been through the wringer in recent days. He was just glad he'd made it to the bed. Falling asleep in a turbolift wouldn't have done, at any rank.

He knew he'd earned being this tired. There had been another voyage to perdition-or worse-just behind him, but it made his head hurt to think much about it. It didn't matter. The best way to escape a bad day was to start the next.

Or to try to start it, at least. Riker's muscles objected as he attempted to sit up in bed, and he nearly fell back down. Standing was the next frontier, and that took longer to accomplish as well. Finally, he succeeded. Looking groggily around the VIP quarters aboard Starship Titan, he wondered for a moment where his wife was-before remembering the vessel's destination was Betazed, her homeworld. That was one of the last things he'd heard before going to sleep. Deanna had hoped to take their daughter to Betazed's capital city on a visit, if they had the time.

The time. He checked it as he shambled to the mirror. Sixteen hours, he'd slept. Riker shook his head. It was a good thing he wasn't on duty of any kind. But then, oversleeping was the bad dream of an ensign. Admirals' problems were a lot worse; he'd held the rank just long enough to learn that. And his body showed it. The face in the mirror was a fright. His dark, gently graying hair had gone this way and that during his repose, and a whole lot of new whiskers had appeared.

"Must have been some party," he mumbled. His condition owed to something

John Jackson Miller is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements, Star Trek: Discovery: Die Standing, Star Trek: Discovery: The Enterprise War, the acclaimed Star Trek: Prey trilogy (Hell's Heart, The Jackal's Trick, The Hall of Heroes), and the novels Star Trek: The Next Generation: Takedown, Star Wars: A New Dawn, Star Wars: Kenobi, Star Wars: Knight Errant, Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith-The Collected Stories; and fifteen Star Wars graphic novels, as well as the original work Overdraft: The Orion Offensive. He has also written the enovella Star Trek: Titan: Absent Enemies. A comics industry historian and analyst, he has written for franchises including Halo, Conan, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Battlestar Galactica, Mass Effect, and The Simpsons. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife, two children, and far too many comic books.