Star Trek - TNG - Vendetta

by Peter David

  understanding, you can rebuild. It will take time, but you

  have that in abundance. It will take support, but you

  will have that in as great quantities. Come out to me.

  Reach out to my soul, Reannon. You see it there,

  calling to you."

  Nothing.

  There were footsteps just outside, and Geordi

  La Forge entered. He paused in the threshold and

  said, "Sorry, Counselor, I didn't know you

  were ... I can come back later."

  "No, it's all right, Geordi," she said,

  gesturing for him to enter. "Your presence can only be

  of benefit."

  He sat down within arm's reach and shook his

  head. "Still can't believe that thing survived cutting

  right through a star. The radiation, the heat--it's just

  incredible."

  "What's more incredible is that we're still in

  pursuit and trying to convince ourselves we can stop

  it," said Troi.

  He looked up at her. "That sounds

  surprisingly fatalistic for you, Counselor."

  "There's a fine line between fatalism and

  realism, Geordi."

  "Hey, who would have thought that the Tholians would have

  let us depart from their space without any sort of

  further challenge? They still can't believe that the

  captain risked everything to save their homeworld."

  He leaned forward towards Reannon. "Any

  progress?"

  "There was that moment in the engineering room," said

  Troi, settling back and trying her best not

  to look discouraged. "That was a definite breakthrough.

  But now there's nothing. It's as if she's hiding."

  "I can't say I blame her entirely," said

  Geordi.

  "Nor can I. Obviously, she does not wish

  to face the reality of her memories of the Borg.

  So she has blocked out everything, rather than deal with

  it."

  Geordi reached forward, took her hand and brought

  it up to his face. "This got a reaction out of

  her before," said Geordi. "She seemed interested

  in my VISOR. Maybe she will be again."

  He brought her ice-cold hand up in front of

  his face, took the tips of her fingers, and ran

  them across his VISOR. When they reached the end he

  rubbed them back in the other direction, and all the

  time he kept saying, "Reannon? Reannon?

  I know you're in there. I know I can help you.

  Reannon?"

  Slowly, ever so slowly, her gaze shifted

  to Geordi and actually seemed to focus on him

  for a moment.

  "Geordi, she's reacting," said

  Deanna in a hushed voice, as if afraid that

  speaking out loud would somehow break the spell.

  Reannon's fingers closed on the VISOR,

  and she yanked with all her strength. The VISOR

  flew off Geordi's face and the world immediately

  became blackness around him.

  Reannon held the VISOR tightly, and again

  she started to make sounds, muttering incoherences.

  Out of a reflexive sense of panic to the darkness

  that had enveloped him, Geordi La Forge

  lunged forward, trying to get to the VISOR. He

  missed completely and fell heavily to the floor.

  The ruckus immediately prompted the security

  guard outside to enter, phaser drawn.

  "Lieutenant!" he shouted, seeing Geordi on

  the floor, grasping about desperately.

  "No!" cried out Deanna, leaping to her

  feet and raising her hands as if to ward off a

  phaser blast. "No, don't! It's all right.

  It's going to be all right!"

  Reannon had turned away, moving quickly but

  in a very tight circle. And she was trying to shove

  the VISOR onto her face. She got it on

  once but it slid off, and she grabbed at it while

  muttering incoherent, incomprehensible shrieks.

  "What's happening!" called out Geordi.

  Troi was helping the engineer to his feet, and again

  the engineer said, "What's happening? What's going

  on? What's she doing?"

  Reannon hesitated for a moment, looking around

  in confusion, and then, gripping the VISOR with one

  hand, she started clawing at her eyes with the other.

  Fortunately, it was the prosthetic hand that was

  holding the VISOR, because if she'd used that hand

  to attack her face, she might possibly have

  done serious damage to herself.

  Troi reached forward and grabbed Reannon's

  wrist, all the time hushing her and whispering to her

  to calm down, that everything was going to be all right, that

  she was among friends. And finally the fit seemed

  to pass, and Reannon slipped back into the

  sullen, coma-like attitude that she had had before.

  Without a word Troi handed the VISOR back

  to Geordi, who quickly replaced it on his face.

  As what passed for the world snapped into view once

  more, he sighed in relief. "Not damaged," he

  said. "That's a relief. What happened,

  Counselor?"

  "I believe," said Deanna slowly, "that she

  was attempting to rip out her own eyes and

  replace them with a mechanical implement."

  He hung his head. "Trying to re-create herself

  as a Borg. My God. That's what she was

  trying to do, isn't it."

  "That is my guess," said Deanna. "And

  yet, she is of two minds. On the one hand, she

  tries to recapture her transformation into a

  Borg. On the other hand," and Deanna ran her

  fingers maternally through Reannon's hair, "she

  is repulsed by it and tries to deny what happened

  to her. She is a very tortured individual."

  "But I was sure I was getting through to her," said

  Geordi fiercely. "I was so certain."

  Troi looked at him curiously. "This is so

  important to you, Geordi. More so than I would

  have suspected. Beyond any of the explanations you

  gave before. Why? What is it about her that seems

  to have touched you so?"

  He sat there, trying to find a way to put it

  into words, and ultimately was unable to. "I

  feel close to her, that's all. I admire the

  type of woman she is. Or was. The

  adventurer. Someone who is totally independent,

  willing to take on anything. I admire her and

  I respect her and--"

  "Do you love her?"

  La Forge looked slightly taken aback.

  "I ... don't think so. I love the

  opportunity to help her, and I think about ..."

  His voice trailed off a moment and then, softly,

  he admitted, "I think about her all the time."

  Then he drew himself up, squaring his shoulders, and

  said, "It's a challenge, that's all. A

  project. The same as any other challenging

  project. I want to help her to feel better.

  That's all."

  "If you say so, Geordi," said Troi

  neutrally. He glanced at her face and wondered

  if she was smiling or not.

  At that moment both Troi's and La Forge's

  communicators beeped. La Forge tapped his,

  as Troi did hers. Picard's voice came

  over both of them as he s
aid, "I'm calling an

  immediate conference of all senior officers."

  "What's happened, Captain?" Troi could

  instantly sense the controlled distress the captain

  was feeling.

  "Reports from outlying starbases along the

  frontier," said Picard. "The Borg are on

  their way." He paused. "In force."

  Picard signed off, and Geordi and Troi

  looked at each other. "They're obviously

  determined to destroy the planet-killer," said

  Geordi, "before it gets to Borg space."

  "And in a battle between Delcara and the Borg

  ... whose side would we take?" asked Troi.

  Geordi chewed his lower lip and finally

  admitted, "That's going to be the big question, isn't

  it. The big, and maybe final, question."

  Guinan walked slowly down the corridor, not

  even noticing the crewmembers who walked past

  her. That was extremely unusual for her, since

  on those rare occasions when she was noticed moving

  through the hallways of the Enterprise, she always had

  a kind word or a polite nod for anyone who

  passed her. Now, though, she was clearly

  preoccupied.

  She stopped in front of a holodeck door and

  paused, as if considering her options. The ship was

  still on yellow alert, so no crew members were

  busy living out some sort of amusing fantasy through

  the Enterprise holo-technology. Guinan

  composed herself and walked in.

  The yellow grids glimmered around her as she

  stood in the middle of the holodeck. She took a

  deep breath, clearing her thoughts, and then she put

  her fingers to her head.

  "Delcara," she said softly, and again,

  "Delcara." And when she spoke, her voice

  went far beyond the confines of the holodeck, beyond the

  confines of normal space.

  All was silence for quite some time, and then an

  image shimmered and appeared before her.

  Guinan gasped when she saw her in spite of

  herself. Delcara's face was more lined than before, and

  now her hair was brittle and looked like it might

  even be falling out. When she stood it was wi th hunched

  back, as if she were carrying the weight of the world on

  her. And her very aura had changed. Once it had

  glimmered, white and pure, and now it was darksome and

  disturbing. Her eyebrows were heavier, her eyes

  seeming to be receding into her head. When she

  regarded Guinan, her entire face seemed

  constructed for exuding suspicion.

  "What's happened to you?" whispered Guinan.

  "Nothing," said Delcara. "Nothing, bond

  sister. You called me. I have come. What more can you

  wish from me than that?"

  "Computer," Guinan said abruptly.

  "Access ship's log, stardate 44793.6.

  Re-create from visual records the woman named

  Delcara who appeared in holographic form.

  Physical form only. Do not animate."

  Within an instant the computer had complied, and a

  perfect construct of Delcara stood before the two

  of them. She stood there quietly, unmoving, a

  mere shell. Yet there was a grace and quiet

  beauty still in evidence that had already faded from the being

  who had come to Guinan at her behest mere moments

  ago.

  "Geordi tried this with his Borg friend," said

  Guinan. "A woman whose soul he is trying

  to recapture. I figured, if it's good enough for

  him ..."

  "A Borg friend?" Delcara looked at her

  skeptically. "Recapture a soul? That cannot

  happen, my bond sister. They have no souls.

  Nor does this," and she gazed in fascination at the

  body that stood before her, motionless. "This, however,

  does present interesting ... opportunities."

  She stepped forward, like a specter, and merged

  with the body.

  The body staggered for a moment, as if getting its

  bearings, and then Delcara's heart shone through the

  eyes. She held up the hands and experimentally

  touched them to the face. "Intriguing," she said.

  She looked over to Guinan, who was standing there with

  quiet satisfaction, and held out her hands to her.

  "Bond sister, I feel as if I see you with

  new eyes. You are looking well."

  "And you--" Guinan took her hands. "You

  look terrible."

  "Blunt as ever," said Delcara. "Wrong as

  ever. You counseled forgiveness, Guinan. You

  counseled that I should live my life and not dwell

  on the past. But look at what I have achieved,

  sister. Look."

  "Yes, let's look, shall we?" said Guinan

  sharply. "Don't you understand what's happening to you?

  Your obsession is destroying you. It's eating

  away at your soul. God only knows what it's

  done to your body. You won't let us see that."

  "My body is in perfectly fine health,"

  Delcara told her.

  "Come aboard the Enterprise, Delcara,"

  Guinan said urgently. "Leave the

  planet-killer behind. Come be with me. Come be with

  him. We are your future. Not that machine in which you

  hide."

  "You do not understand, Guinan. They need me, and

  I need them."

  "You only need them if you need vengeance. If

  you put vengeance aside, you need only love.

  And you don't need a machine that was built

  to destroy to provide you with that."

  Delcara turned her back to her. "You don't

  understand."

  "No, no, I've never understood," said

  Guinan. "Letting an obsession consume you in the

  way that it has is totally alien to me. I

  remember you as you were, Delcara. There was a

  darkness in you, true, but you were willing to let in

  light. You were willing to love. You were willing

  to dream and hope of things other than destruction."

  "We change, Guinan. Well, not you, of

  course," said Delcara with a touch of sarcasm.

  "You are the same, sweet-tempered, attentive

  individual you always were."

  "I remember a time when that was important

  to you," Guinan replied. "Delcara, come back

  to us. To me."

  "They need me," she began again.

  Guinan squeezed Delcara's "hands" as

  tightly as she could. "They need. They need. But

  they don't give, bond sister. They take and

  take from you. But they don't give you the flesh and

  blood relationship that only other living beings can

  provide. The spirits of the dead possess you and

  destroy you. Leave them and return to us."

  "I can't!" cried Delcara in exasperation.

  "What would you have of me, Guinan! What would you

  have!"

  "Give up the vendetta ..."

  "I can't! Don't you see? That's all I

  am. That's all that's left of the woman you once

  knew. I don't know anything else, nor does

  anything else matter!"

  "I don't believe that."

  "Whether you believe it or not doesn't change

  it."

  "Let us come to you," said Guinan

  desperatel
y, urgently.

  "Impossible."

  "Not impossible. Let us into your vessel.

  See us like this," and she squeezed Delcara's

  "hand" firmly. "Let us address the many beings that

  you represent. Picard can be very persuasive."

  "Picard," said Delcara with a faint whisper,

  and then, her voice more firm, she said,

  "It's impossible, I said."

  "That's not you speaking," said Guinan with

  surprising fierceness. "That's them."

  "They are many. I am one."

  "But you're the one that matters to me."

  "All right," said Delcara, sounding

  extremely tired again. "All right, Guinan.

  I swear, you and your relentless nature. You would

  vex the gods of patience."

  Guinan smiled. "At the very least, I'd

  give them something to think about."

  "Time draws short, though," said Delcara

  darkly. "I sense more of the soulless ones on the

  horizons of space. There are three of them this

  time."

  Guinan cast a glance in the direction that

  Delcara was pointing, as if she could see through a

  bulkhead. "Three."

  "Yes. It will be a difficult battle. But

  I will prevail. That is the main reason that I

  agree to see Picard now, you see."

  "On the eve of your great triumph?"

  "No," she said simply, and sadly. "Because

  I anticipate that he will not face the Borg

  another time and live. And his departure will leave a

  great absence in me. How fortunate that I do not

  love him."

  The holodeck-generated body arched her back

  slightly, and then slumped forward, its eyes

  vacant and wide, staring at nothing. Guinan

  nodded slowly and said, "How fortunate indeed."

  Once again Picard had assembled his top

  officers in the briefing room, with Korsmo and

  Shelby in attendance as well.

  It was a strategy conference, the type of which

  Picard had hoped he would never have to call again.

  "The Borg," he said, "are on the way. The

  speed reported by Starbase 222 was somewhere above

  warp nine-point-nine."

  Geordi whistled. "Incredible. The fastest that

  subspace radio goes is warp

  nine-point-nine-nine-nine, and that's with booster

  relays, which means that the Borg may be barely

  behind the radio transmission. You know, the laws of

  physics say it's impossible to reach warp ten,

  but if anyone can do it, I bet the Borg could.

  Not that I get any particular pleasure from that

  thought, mind you."

  "What's even more incredible is that they