Guinan nodded. “The best. I feel right at home.”
Picard smiled. But then, the woman looked so different from the last time he had seen her.
First off, she wasn’t purple anymore. Like Picard, she had been restored to her original appearance by Doctor Greyhorse.
For another thing, Guinan’s garb was different. Though she had donned a dress similar to the one she had worn in Oblivion, it wasn’t the same washed-out shade of gray. It was a vibrant cornflower blue—just like her hat, which was even more extravagant than the one she was wearing when he met her.
However, those weren’t the only alterations that Guinan had undergone. It seemed to the captain that her demeanor had changed as well.
She seemed more animated, more optimistic than when he first saw her in that bar back on Oblivion. He wasn’t certain why that should be, exactly, but it pleased him.
“So,” said Ben Zoma, “if I understand correctly, it was Guinan who distracted the Cardassian in the cargo hauler while you dropped the shields?”
Picard shook his head. “I dropped the shields when the Cardassian killed his henchmen.”
“But,” said Guinan, “I knew it would take a few moments for you to realize the shields were down and beam us out. So I kept him busy.”
“With a little character analysis,” the captain added. He smiled at Guinan. “And no Starfleet counselor could have done a better job of it.”
“Where did you learn to do that?” Ben Zoma asked.
Guinan shrugged. “Here and there.”
Picard’s smile deepened. There was a lot more to Guinan than met the eye. It seemed to him that he could probably spend a lifetime getting to know her and still barely scratch her surface.
She wasn’t merely someone who had rescued him from a detention cell. He now thought of Guinan as his friend.
“One thing I don’t understand,” he told her, “is how you knew Demmix would drop the force barrier between him and us.”
“You mean when she fired into the ventilation shaft,” Ben Zoma noted.
“Yes,” said the captain, “then.” But he had barely gotten the confirmation out when the answer came to him. “What am I thinking?” he asked Guinan. “You just listened.”
Ben Zoma looked curious. “Listened…?”
“A valuable ability,” Picard explained with a wink at his friend, “or so our guest here seems to believe.”
“Actually,” she said, “there wasn’t any time to listen. It was just a hunch.”
“Really,” said the captain.
It occurred to him that Guinan might have learned a bit from him even as he was learning from her. He found the notion a gratifying one indeed.
“You know,” said Guinan, in a blatant attempt to change the subject, “I was telling Commander Ben Zoma here that you need to broaden your horizons.”
“Really,” said Picard. “In what way?”
“Earl Grey?” she said. “At a bar on Oblivion? You could have been more inventive than that.”
“What would you recommend?” the captain asked.
“Wait right here,” said Guinan.
Then she went over to the replicator slot. When she came back, she was carrying a pair of tall, fluted glasses with a roiling, bloodred liquid inside.
“Here you go,” she said, handing a vapor-topped glass to each officer.
“Will I regret this?” asked Ben Zoma.
“Not at all,” she assured him.
Picard took a look into his glass. It looked…formidable. Throwing caution to the winds, he took a sip.
And was pleasantly surprised.
“Not bad,” he said.
Ben Zoma agreed. “Not bad at all.”
“What do you call it?” the captain asked.
“Volcanic Spew.” She shrugged. “It’s a Tellarite drink.”
Ben Zoma turned to his friend. “You know, you ought to hire this woman on as our official bartender.”
“I wish I could,” Picard said in earnest.
“And while you’re at it,” his first officer added, “maybe you ought to get yourself a shipboard barber as well. That is, if you’re planning on growing your hair back.”
“I’m very much planning on growing it back,” the captain told him sternly. He frowned as he ran his hand over his hairless pate. “This is only a temporary condition, I assure you.”
Guinan put a hand over her mouth, badly concealing a smile.
“What?” Picard asked.
“Nothing,” she said, her eyes dancing with glee. “Nothing at all.”
The captain regarded her. Was it possible that his friend had a knack for foreknowledge she hadn’t let on about—and therefore, some sense of how his appearance would evolve in years to come?
No, he told himself firmly. Guinan had many talents, but no one could see into the future.
Epilogue
WHEN ULELO EMERGED from the turbolift to begin his shift on the bridge, he was certain that he had made the right decision.
But now that he had been at his post for a couple of hours, he wasn’t quite so sure. In fact, he wasn’t sure at all.
He hadn’t wanted to hurt Emily Bender. That part of the com officer’s thinking hadn’t changed. After all, she had been good to him. She had been kind beyond all expectation.
But his first duty wasn’t to Emily Bender, was it? His first duty was to the ones who had sent him here. Without them, without the mission they had entrusted to him, he would never have boarded the Stargazer in the first place.
Ulelo couldn’t forget that, or allow anything to distract him from it—not even his friend and the life she had helped him make here. He had to do what he had set out to do. He had to complete his assignment at all costs.
And he would—regardless of what Emily Bender or anyone else might think of him.
With that thought firmly in mind, he scanned the Stargazer’s bridge. After all, he had to make certain that no one was looking at him.
Commander Wu, who was sitting in the captain’s chair, was going over a supply requisition for the security section while Pierzynski waited patiently at her side. Vigo was bent over his weapons-control panel, running yet another in a series of routine diagnostics. And though it would seem there wasn’t much for the helm and navigation officers to do at the moment, the Asmund twins appeared busy as well.
None of them were paying any attention. That made it a good time for him to do what he had to do.
And yet, he hesitated.
Follow your orders, he told himself firmly.
And still he hesitated.
Do you want to fail in your mission? the com officer asked himself. Do you want to fall short of the task that’s been assigned to you?
No, he conceded. He didn’t want to fail. He most desperately wanted to carry out the mission assigned to him.
Ulelo thought he had put Emily Bender aside, along with the confusion she sparked in him. However, she had made a deeper impression on him than he had realized.
It was a test of Ulelo’s resolve, a test of his devotion to his duty. He couldn’t allow himself to come up short. He had to prove to his comrades that they were right to have given him this mission.
Looking around again, he made sure that he wasn’t being observed. Everyone was still going about his or her business, at least for the moment.
Turning his attention to his communications console, Ulelo tapped in a command that would access a seemingly innocent file in his personal database. Then, before he could hesitate again, he tapped in another command and transmitted the entire contents of the file to a distant set of coordinates.
Finally, he used a command code that he had pried from the ship’s computer months ago to erase any record of the transmission. That way, he would be free to repeat the procedure after he had put together enough information.
When Ulelo was done, he took stock of the bridge again. No one seemed to have any idea of what he had been up to. Once again, he had been successf
ul in his deception.
But then, he was nothing if not careful. It was, no doubt, one of the reasons he had been given such an important mission.
He just wished he remembered more about the life he led before he was assigned to the Stargazer. After all, it could only have helped him to remain faithful to his purpose.
And he wished as well that he could carry out his task without having to conceal it from Emily Bender.
Look for STAR TREK fiction from Pocket Books
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Enterprise: The First Adventure • Vonda N. McIntyre
Strangers From the Sky • Margaret Wander Bonanno
Final Frontier • Diane Carey
Spock’s World • Diane Duane
The Lost Years • J.M. Dillard
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Best Destiny • Diane Carey
Shadows on the Sun • Michael Jan Friedman
Sarek • A.C. Crispin
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Vulcan’s Heart • Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz
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Star Trek: The Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. McIntyre
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock • Vonda N. McIntyre
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home • Vonda N. McIntyre
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier • J.M. Dillard
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country • J.M. Dillard
Star Trek Generations • J.M. Dillard
Starfleet Academy • Diane Carey
Star Trek books by William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
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The Return
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Spectre
Dark Victory
Preserver
Captain’s Peril
#1 • Star Trek: The Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry
#2 • The Entropy Effect • Vonda N. McIntyre
#3 • The Klingon Gambit • Robert E. Vardeman
#4 • The Covenant of the Crown • Howard Weinstein
#5 • The Prometheus Design • Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath
#6 • The Abode of Life • Lee Correy
#7 • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. McIntyre
#8 • Black Fire • Sonni Cooper
#9 • Triangle • Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath
#10 • Web of the Romulans • M.S. Murdock
#11 • Yesterday’s Son • A.C. Crispin
#12 • Mutiny on the Enterprise • Robert E. Vardeman
#13 • The Wounded Sky • Diane Duane
#14 • The Trellisane Confrontation • David Dvorkin
#15 • Corona • Greg Bear
#16 • The Final Reflection • John M. Ford
#17 • Star Trek III: The Search For Spock • Vonda N. McIntyre
#18 • My Enemy, My Ally • Diane Duane
#19 • The Tears of the Singers • Melinda Snodgrass
#20 • The Vulcan Academy Murders • Jean Lorrah
#21 • Uhura’s Song • Janet Kagan
#22 • Shadow Lord • Laurence Yep
#23 • Ishmael • Barbara Hambly
#24 • Killing Time • Della Van Hise
#25 • Dwellers in the Crucible • Margaret Wander Bonanno
#26 • Pawns and Symbols • Majliss Larson
#27 • Mindshadow • J.M. Dillard
#28 • Crisis on Centaurus • Brad Ferguson
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#30 • Demons • J.M. Dillard
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#32 • Chain of Attack • Gene DeWeese
#33 • Deep Domain • Howard Weinstein
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#35 • The Romulan Way • Diane Duane & Peter Morwood
#36 • How Much For Just the Planet? • John M. Ford
#37 • Bloodthirst • J.M. Dillard
#38 • The IDIC Epidemic • Jean Lorrah
#39 • Time For Yesterday • A.C. Crispin
#40 • Timetrap • David Dvorkin
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#42 • Memory Prime • Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens
#43 • The Final Nexus • Gene DeWeese
#44 • Vulcan’s Glory • D.C. Fontana
#45 • Double, Double • Michael Jan Friedman
#46 • The Cry of the Onlies • Judy Klass
#47 • The Kobayashi Maru • Julia Ecklar
#48 • Rules of Engagement • Peter Morwood
#49 • The Pandora Principle • Carolyn Clowes
#50 • Doctor’s Orders • Diane Duane
#51 • Enemy Unseen • V.E. Mitchell
#52 • Home Is the Hunter • Dana Kramer-Rolls
#53 • Ghost-Walker • Barbara Hambly
#54 • A Flag Full of Stars • Brad Ferguson
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#56 • Legacy • Michael Jan Friedman
#57 • The Rift • Peter David
#58 • Faces of Fire • Michael Jan Friedman
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#70 • Traitor Winds • L.A. Graf
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#73 • Recovery • J.M. Dillard
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#78 • The Rings of Tautee • Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch
#79 • Invasion! #1: First Strike • Diane Carey
#80 • The Joy Machine • James Gunn
#81 • Mudd in Your Eye • Jerry Oltion
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#94 • Challenger • Diane Carey
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#95 • Swordhunt
#96 • Honor Blade
#97 • In the Name of Honor �
�� Dayton Ward
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#1 • Present Tense
#2 • Future Imperfect
#3 • Past Prologue
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#1 • The Edge of the Sword
#2 • Killing Blow
#3 • River of Blood
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Metamorphosis • Jean Lorrah
Vendetta • Peter David
Reunion • Michael Jan Friedman
Imzadi • Peter David
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Q-Squared • Peter David
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Kahless • Michael Jan Friedman
Ship of the Line • Diane Carey
The Best and the Brightest • Susan Wright
Planet X • Michael Jan Friedman
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I, Q • John de Lancie & Peter David
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The Genesis Wave, Books One, Two, and Three • John Vornholt
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A Hard Rain • Dean Wesley Smith
The Battle of Betazed • Charlotte Douglas & Susan Kearney
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Encounter at Farpoint • David Gerrold
Unification • Jeri Taylor
Relics • Michael Jan Friedman
Descent • Diane Carey
All Good Things… • Michael Jan Friedman
Star Trek: Klingon • Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch
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Star Trek: First Contact • J.M. Dillard
Star Trek: Insurrection • J.M. Dillard
Star Trek Nemesis • J.M. Dillard
#1 • Ghost Ship • Diane Carey
#2 • The Peacekeepers • Gene DeWeese
#3 • The Children of Hamlin • Carmen Carter
#4 • Survivors • Jean Lorrah
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#6 • Power Hungry • Howard Weinstein
#7 • Masks • John Vornholt
#8 • The Captain’s Honor • David and Daniel Dvorkin
#9 • A Call to Darkness • Michael Jan Friedman
#10 • A Rock and a Hard Place • Peter David
Stargazer Oblivion Page 20