Lieutenant Laforge stood near one of the tall windows in the briefing room, tapping his foot with bated excitement. He gazed raptly at the listing Romulan scoutship.

"I can't wait to get over there," he said to Counselor Troi, who sat with her arms folded along the tabletop nearby.

"He looks like a little boy on Christmas Eve," Dr. Crusher teased. She sat across from the counselor, one knee crossed over the other. Troi laughed in agreement.

Commander Riker couldn't help but chuckle as well. "Yeah, the kind of boy whose Christmas list has duilitic converters on it!"

Both women laughed again. Laforge grinned good-naturedly at his shipmates. "Come on, think about it! A chance to finally see Romulan technology up close!"

The briefing room doors swished open just then. All heads turned to their captain as he strode to the front of the table. Picard placed his hands on the back of a chair, but did not take a seat.

"Mr. Laforge, I assume you'd like a closer look at that scoutship?"

"Yes, sir," came the eager reply.

Picard smiled fondly at him. "I thought so. I need you to lead an away team as soon as this meeting is adjourned. Commander-" His eyes shifted to Riker. "In the meantime, I want you and Counselor Troi to question Setal further. See what he will divulge before we reach council headquarters."

"Sir, about that…" Riker cleared his throat, leaning forward in his chair. "Carmen has uh, requested permission to observe his interrogation. She knows him; thinks she can be of some help."

Picard arched an eyebrow. "She knows him? Not in a friendly way, I take it."

The doctor clicked her tongue. "Not at all. In fact, she said he destroyed her ship."

"Destroyed her ship?" Laforge echoed. "You mean the other Enterprise?"

Crusher nodded.

The lieutenant whistled soft and low. "Yeah, I wouldn't be too happy to see him again, either. But wait-isn't Setal just a low-level officer? Could she be mistaken?"

"No, I don't believe so," Riker cut in. "She mentioned somebody else-Toleel, I think? He recognized the name."

The captain breathed out slowly, pensively. "Counselor, I am in need of your insight," he said, turning his attention to Troi. "Carmen has proven to be rather...unpredictable."

"She spent her formative years in battle, sir. Alongside Klingons, nonetheless. The hostility, the aggression...it is how she learned to survive."

"Can she adapt, though?" He fixed his eyes on Troi with that unflinching gaze of his. But behind his eyes, and behind his words, the counselor sensed a dignified plea for affirmation.

"Yes, sir," she said, firmly resolute. "I believe she will make good on the chance you have given her. Once she's had time to properly mourn-"

"Setal said that his message was a matter of life and death. I don't know how much time I can give her." Picard rubbed at his jaw. "Counselor, I need to know-do you think it prudent, to have her present during the interrogation?"

Troi held fast. "I do, sir. Setal was certainly hiding something. The more we have on him, the better."

Picard mused over her assessment in somber silence. "Very well then," he finally conceded. "Make it so."

Just as he was about to adjourn the meeting, a ball of flames erupted outside of the briefing room windows. Laforge scrambled to his feet, staring at the sudden destruction with his mouth agape.

"The scoutship!" he cried.

But every last piece had been consumed in the blast. It wasn't long before the dark fabric of space seeped in to fill the void, making it appear as though the scoutship had never even existed.