Epilogue
Deanna Troi sat on a chair in her quarters, staring out at the Dopplered stars streaking past the Enterprise. The door buzzed. 'Come in.'
Riker entered the room, his face concerned. Troi turned to look at him, but didn't smile. The first officer frowned at her. 'What's up?'
Troi sighed. 'Just thinking about what's happened these last few days,' she said. 'Just thinking what a waste they've been.'
Riker nodded solemnly. 'I know what you mean.'
'And that's the biggest shame,' said Troi. 'Two perfectly good lives ruined.'
'Lieutenant Thames and Captain Picard?' asked Riker.
Troi shook her head, feeling despair overwhelming her. 'No. Thames, and Admiral Nechayev. Two people who didn't ask for what fate or God or the Aralla thrust upon them. Just two innocent people, destroyed like that. It's not right.' And at that moment, her voice, which had been cracking, failed and she felt tears spilling down her face.
Riker rushed to her side, and took her in his arms. He held onto her for a moment, letting her tears soak away, before she shook herself and moved away from him, turning to face him, wiping the tears away. 'I'm sorry,' she said eventually. 'I thought I'd got all of this out of my system a few days ago.'
Riker smiled gently at her. 'I don't think we'll ever get this out of our systems,' he said. 'This was bad.'
Troi nodded, and saw the padd in his hand. 'What's that?'
Riker looked confused for a moment, before he remembered the padd he held. He gave it to her. 'This is an Intelligence report that I got a few days ago. I just happened to mention to Admiral Drayton what Ambassador Spock did for the captain, when he gave me this.'
Troi scanned the padd, and she looked up at Riker, stunned. 'According to this, Ambassador Spock never left Romulus. Not even for the wedding.'
'He wasn't invited,' said Riker flatly. 'So who did we have with the captain for the last few days?'
Troi stared out at the stars. 'I guess we'll never know....'
Picard slept uneasily. Troubled images filled his head, random confused pictures of a past that never happened.
Stood over him, watching him sleep quietly, was a slim figure, whose face was hidden by shadow. 'Sleep well,' said a woman's voice, not loud enough to wake him. The tone that was used did not resound in the room, but there was one sensation within the voice – pure unconditional love. 'The first two tests are over. But one still remains. You have done well thus far. All I hope now is that you pass the third.'
So saying, the figure raised a hand, gave Picard another gaze of saddened triumph, and disappeared in a blaze of white light.
The End of the Second Book of the Final Reckoning