Dee
Deanna woke up a few hours later. The first thing she saw was the face of Dr. Crusher, smiling to her, with the medical scanner in her hand.
"Welcome back! Your pressure went back to normal. How do you feel?"
"A bit sleepy," she smiled back to her.
"Well, you are not alone in this," Beverly pointed the other bed. Deanna gasped in amazement and sat up. The girl from the asteroid was still sleeping. In the bright light, they could see her more clearly. Her silky hair was softly spread on the pillow and her pale skin had a gentle tone of blue, the kind of blue though that didn´t look sick, or bad in any way. The gentle features and a peaceful expression made the girl looking almost like a child. Deanna watched her with fascination and the feeling of being warm and calm fulfilled her.
"She is so pretty," she commented quietly after a while. "Did you learn anything from her?"
"No, she is being asleep since she got here. If she doesn´t wake up by herself, I will do it. But let´s give her a little bit more time."
The Enterprise successfully docked to the station. Admiral Kinsky and his assistance awaited them in the crowded and noisy main hall.
"Jean-Luc, it is so wonderful to see you again!" He called with artificially effusive tone and hugged Picard´s shoulders. The captain forced himself to answer equally friendly. Riker and La Forge exchanged amused looks and, after giving the admiral a proper salute, they left the company and headed to the nearest bar.
The admiral was in fact on his way back to Earth after inspecting a few of the stations. This was the last one and he waited only for the Enterprise that was about to have the seven days' dry dock and a check-up on the station.
"I know I could catch a shuttle today, but I wouldn't miss the opportunity to meet you in person. Speaking of which," he stopped smiling, "we expected you at least two hours earlier. Technical problems?"
"Not at all, just the curiosity of the explorer," Picard hoped that it sounded as lightly as he wished. The admiral gazed at him, clearly awaiting more explanation.
"You know our Commander Riker and Lieutenant Data. They would never miss an occasion for some extra research and they got a liking to a particular asteroid belt on our way here."
"Is that so? Well, I am sure you would appreciate a dinner that doesn't come from the replicator. My treat. Commander Riker is welcomed, to. The main diner, in half an hour?"
"With pleasure, admiral." Picard shook his hand and headed back to the transporter. He was more than sure that dinner wouldn't be just a social gathering.
In the hospital wing, the girl from the asteroid woke up. She opened her eyes and moved her head carefully. Then she raised her hands and closed them to her face, looking at them with an uncertain expression.
"Welcome aboard! Beverly, our patient is awake!" Deanna was sitting on her bed and watching her with a smile. Dr. Crusher rushed towards them. The girl put her hands on the blanket and looked back at them.
"Hello. My name is Beverly Crusher and I am the ship's doctor. And this is counselor Deanna Troi. It is her who had found you…" Dr Crusher broke, seeing that the girl's expression of a surprise got replaced by a concern.
"And I am on…" She started and hesitated.
"On the Enterprise. The Federation starship," Deanna finished and gazed at her in question.
"Have you heard about us?"
"Your commander Riker mentioned it back on the surface." She answered, musing. And suddenly she smiled in such a sweet way that Deanna again felt the warmth spreading all over her body. "My name is Dee. I still didn't have a chance to say thank you. You saved me." She said with a completely different tone. Deanna couldn't resist taking her by the hand. Dee's fingers closed slightly around Deanna's hand.
"Thank you, Deanna," she repeated.
"She is so touching," thought Beverly.
*****
"So, you stopped because the Counselor Troi had sensed a mayday call?" Admiral Kinsky looked deeply in Picard's eyes and cut a piece of his steak. "Oh, that's wonderful. An old Californian cuisine, from Twenty First Century."
"Indeed," Jean-Luc agreed, not précising if he was referring to the question, or the food. They were sitting in a VIP part of the main restaurant. If the circumstances were different, Picard would have been delighted by the food. But not in the company of the admiral, who, under the jovial small talk conversations, kept on interrogating them and demanding all the details of the last mission.
"I am looking forward to your report on the next meeting, then. It sure will be an interesting read."
To Picard's relief, the voice of Dr. Crusher sounded from the communicator. He exchanged look with Riker, which wasn't unnoticed.
"Until the next meeting, then!" They exchanged insincere and jovial goodbye words.
"The next meeting will be a long one," Riker commented at the transporter point. Picard just nodded.
"Captain, our guest is awake," Beverly didn't even bother to say „hello" and was sure it wasn't even noticed. "It looks like she is quite in a good shape," Picard looked around the empty room, „and she went with Troi to her quarter, to pick up something to wear," she continued. Picard gasped.
"Very well. Then... meeting in the conference room, in half an hour."
When Deanna and Dee came to the conference room, everybody was already there. Picard gasped and gazed at Riker, who looked amused. He realized that Dee was wearing a pink dress, one of Deanna's dresses which she put on only during a vacation time. That particular dress was so well remembered because of the abduction of Deanna and her Mother by two Ferengi, a day that Picard wouldn't forget for the rest of his life. The dress suited Dee very well. It brought up her bright skin and her long hair floating around her shoulders made her look even more girly. Plus, she was smiling brightly at all of them, and holding equally cheerful Deanna by the hand.
"We can start. Let's sit down," Picard ordered and turned towards Dee.
"Can you tell us where do you come from?"
Dee tensed. She moved closer to Deanna and stared at the table. Everybody watched this change with anticipation. It took her almost an entire next minute to start talking again.
"You wouldn't understand the dimension I come from. I have traveled through galaxies, I took different forms in each of them. When I came here, I decided to stay longer. In this shape." She pointed at herself and smiled. Troi smiled as well. Dee seemed to calm down again and Picard wasn't interrupting, patiently waiting for her to speak some more.
"New planets and civilizations fascinate me. I was assuming the forms of their people and was getting to know them, by pretending to be one of them. Nobody ever knew who I was. Until…" Her voice changed. Deanna squeezed her hand. Dee continued, but so silently that it was difficult to understand her. "It is better if you don't know too much. They wanted to get inside me. I wouldn't let it, so they injured me, locked me there, isolated, and left me. I put myself to sleep, to regenerate. I was sleeping for a long, long time. Creating the crystals so they would break through the isolation barrier and would call somebody to help me. And you have found me." Her last words were barely a whisper. She sobbed and tears rolled down Deanna's cheeks. She embraced shivering Dee with her arms and they were both started to cry. Dr. Crusher was watching this with attention.
"Dr. Crusher, please take our guest back to the sick bay and stay with her." As they left, everybody looked at Troi. She composed herself and dried her face.
"I am sorry. I cannot control this, captain. I am picking up her emotions so strongly, it is overwhelming. She is so scared. Too scared to tell more about what really happened to her. But she is hiding something. I don't think she is lying, but she is afraid to reveal more about herself. She was startled when you asked her where she came from."
"She didn't tell us much, indeed. But it can change when she gets more confident here. She seems to trust you, counselor. I would like you to assist her and inform me when she decides to tell you some more."
"Of course, Sir."
"Mr. Data, is the crystals' analysis ready?"
"It is, captain. Unfortunately, all the samples had vanished. What is interesting, they all disappeared at the same time. When our guest got to the Enterprise.
"The help had come so there was no need to create the new ones." Said Deanna automatically. They stared at her. She snapped, as if waking up from a trans. „I am sorry. It was just a thought, it came from nowhere. Like it was something obvious to me."
"Deanna, you seem to be connected to Dee from the beginning. Is it possible that you can also sense her thoughts?"
"Maybe…" Deanna replied, musing. „I have so many new emotions in me. I can't even describe them. Or tell them apart, it is too overwhelming. I even cannot tell which ones are mine anymore, it is all mixed up. But captain, now I think I know. Dee knows us. I can't explain it. I asked her if she was on this ship before and she said no. I don't think she lied to me. But she know about us. This ship. And about you, captain. I don't think she is a threat, though. Not her anyway." Deanna massaged her forehead and took a deep breath. „She seems to like us, for some reason. Even more than that. She sees us as... it will be a strange reference, but it just appeared in my mind. Do you remember the visit of Q stripped of his powers? I remember his fear, mixed with a desperate hope, an attachment and trust in you, captain. I would say this one here is somehow similar."
Picard rose his eyebrow. Before he regained his voice, the communicator called with the voice of Dr. Crusher.
"Captain, Troi, come to the sick bay. Quickly." She didn't finish the sentence when Deanna put her hands to the head and screamed with pain. Picard and Riker grabbed her between themselves and ran out.
Dee was lying in bed and struggling against the two medics trying to hold her still. Deanna fainted. Riker put her on the closest bed and Dr. Crusher walked from Dee to Troi and back with her scanner, trying to determine something.
„It looks like she has a nightmare, I don't see any other reasons," she said with frustration, watching suffering Dee. In the meantime, Riker sat beside Deanna, whose forehead was covered in sweat.
"Fever, loss of consciousness…," Beverly kept on talking to herself. "I am afraid that Dee's emotions start to be too strong for Troi and she withdraws from the consciousness as a form of self-protection. I can put her in a coma, but I really don't know… Captain, do you remember Kevin and Rishon? I couldn't help her there and now I am afraid the case is similar. It is Dee that needs to be cut off. The sooner, the better for Troi.
Picard remembered. The powerful being that assumed a human form because it fell in love with the earth woman. Was Dee the same kind of being? The symptoms were alike, but he instinctively felt something was also different in this case. Kevin put a telepathic blockade on purpose, to hide. Dee did something quite the opposite, she opened a part of herself before Deanna, to be heard. She would have cut herself off if she could. If she were strong enough. Suddenly he had a thought.
"Dr Crusher, I would like to be alone with them for a moment."
Riker rose his eyebrow, but he left with the others. Picard leaned over Dee and put his hand on her shoulder.
"It is alright. You are safe here. Please, tell us how can we help you? You are not in any danger here..." He kept on talking like this for several minutes and the calmness in his voice seemed to take some effect on her. Dee stopped shaking and opened her eyes.
"Nert," she whispered. Picard blinked.
"Nert?" He repeated after her. She stared at him.
"What does it mean?" He asked.
"Nert can help me." As she said that, her face relaxed.
"Who is this Nert?"
"Nert can help me," she repeated with a childlike stubbornness.
"How can we find him?" He asked again. This time she shook her head.
„Not him,"
"So Nert is a woman?" To his surprise, Dee giggled with an amusement.
"You don't understand. You never understand. Nert is Nert. Nert will find me. I am sure of it." Her voice silenced and she closed her eyes again, as if that conversation exhausted her. Picard went to Dr. Crusher Riker and told them what he heard.
"So we are dealing with some entity that doesn't have a gender?"
"Or is beyond our understanding of gender, Number One." Picard corrected him. It would fit with the earlier conversation with her. She could assume any physical form she wanted. The question is, what her true form is like."
"Look at Deanna." Beverly stood by Troi's bed. The counselor was peacefully sleeping and her breath went back to normal. Picard looked at Dee one more time.
"They both reacted at that name. The word „Nert" was for them like a cure."
"Captain, we have company," sounded from the bridge.
