If there’s one man in the galaxy who can claim to have been there and seen it all, that man is Captain Will Riker. And through it all, he has managed to hold on to his charm and wry humor. Not bad for a guy who was even briefly bestowed with the power of godhood. But some things are harder to take than others. While Riker has come through confrontations with some of the meanest, most dangerous entities in the Alpha Quadrant and beyond, none of that can compare to the heartache of personal loss. For this Riker has felt the death of a son, and the reverberations of that event as they shook through his relationship with the love of his life, Deanna Troi. Yet still, he remains at core the man he always was. A loyal friend. A man of honor and courage. A man who has seen the evil that lies in the depths of space and can still look back at the universe with a wink. A man who, much like his beloved jazz, can take a note of sadness and weave it into a melody of sublime joy.