Chapter 5 - Appetizers
LeBeau and Troi sat in companionable silence in the Saucer Lounge. Julie had finally fallen asleep. Deanna had decided that since things were quiet at the moment she would allow herself a little alone time before starting her shift. Even though she had been looking forward to the alone time she had been pleasantly surprised when Tina had joined her. Now the two of them sat, thinking to themselves, enjoying the silence that only comes when friends are close enough to not need to speak.
Deanna was having trouble with the situation that had presented itself. Even with the entire mess that had been tossed into her lap, she was not dwelling on what most people would have thought obvious. Yes, Q hanging around bothered her, but it was just one of those things that she had gotten used to even before she came to the Titan. After Will had confided to her that Q more or less admitted that he was bored she felt more at ease. Q may be a troublemaker, but when he was not trying to convict humanity for the crime of just being there, his interference generally did not cause too much harm.
Even Tom Riker wasn't that much of a problem. She hadn't just been making the right noises as a counselor when she had told him that she still cared. She really did. In a way she could not escape the fact that he too was Imzadi to her. To this day no matter how many times she told herself to get past it, the idea weirded her out. She was probably the only person in the history of her planet that could say that there were two that were her Imzadi. After their meeting though, she was at least sure that there were no romantic feelings involved. Despite her bravado and confidence earlier she had not been positive that that was the case. He had in fact nearly gotten her killed. But he had been telling the truth when he said that he did not know the events would unfold as they did. Also in his favor was that fact that Worf didn't act to save her either, and the two of them were engaged at the time. She understood why Worf had done what he had, but just that he had made the choice helped to place Tom's part into perspective. No, in spite of the bad blood between them she still had an instinctual feeling that he was a decent man and worthy of her friendship.
One would think that these two problems would be the center of her attention, but the weren't. It was the kid. Julie was an extremely intelligent child, and her empathic senses were nearly as strong as her own. Given maturity, they might become stronger than Deanna's were now. Julie's instincts had said to trust Tom. Given how readily she had gotten past Tom's appearance and almost identical mental make-up to her father, Deanna knew that her daughter had picked up on something. What, she was not sure, but when a five-year old showed that kind of trust she knew to give it merit. Children were notoriously good judges of character. When that child was also an empath, one would be a fool not to listen. That was the line of thought when Tina came out of her little world.
"I'm not getting it Dee. I can't figure out why Q would want to get involved with us now."
"I don't know either. This whole thing is a little strange, yes. Most likely involving a certain amount of mystery, but not even enough of that for Q to even blink. It might be different if this had been the first time that we had seen Tom, but we have known about him for quite a while now. The only thing that I can think of is that Q knows something that we don't, which knowing him is a distinct possibility."
"I guess we need to just wait it out." She faded off again as she sipped on her tea. There has to be something that I am missing. Q had said that Julie's interactions with Tom would save the ship. That is certainly a vague enough statement. Maybe she is going to say or do something at just the right time. "What is Jules going to do?" She had muttered the question to herself and did not realize that Deanna had heard her.
"What?!"
"Sorry, thinking out loud I guess. Will said that Julie and Tom were the keys. What if we focus on them as themselves instead of the mission itself? We have two days after we leave 12 before we get to DS9. Why don't we see what happens between the two of them?"
"I hope you are not suggesting that they spend a lot of time together. Tom isn't a bad person, but I am not sure that I trust him to be around her too much, and definitely not without a chaperone. Will would have a cow."
"Actually I was thinking all of us. Tom does not know that I am a telepath. The same goes with Will. I know that he has a lot of trouble hearing people that he does not know very well, but I would be willing to bet that if there were a non-telepath that he could pick up on, it would be Tom. He might even be able to hear him as well as he hears you."
"You might be right about that. However there is no precedence for this. As far as I know this is the only time that there have been two completely functional individuals that had previously been one. But I think you have a valid point. If there was a non-telepath that Will would be able to hear, it should be Tom. I know my mother did a very good job at placing the mental blocks that had been necessary after Will was given that virus. He probably would not have been able to return to command for at least several months, if ever, otherwise. He might have been able to learn to control it eventually without help, but I doubt it. The blocks were very thorough. If he wants to use telepathy with anyone but me, he has to really work on it. As far as I know he can't read non-telepaths except in the broadest sense. Even with other telepaths, except Julie, he has to really concentrate. That's why he rarely uses it. I would have to ask him, and I am not sure is he would feel comfortable trying. I will broach it when I relieve him." As she finished her drink she stood to leave. "If he goes for the idea, he will probably stay late. Would you mind checking on Julie for me?"
"I'll go there instead of my quarters. I'll pull the babysitter routine and grab a few winks on your couch until Will comes in."
"Go grab a change of clothes. If your are out, Will might just leave you there. He tends to go with the idea of letting sleeping things lie."
Tom was not sure how to deal with this. He couldn't tell anyone the real reason why he had come back to federation space. What he had told Will and Deanna had been stretching the boundaries. The thing was, if he hadn't had told at least some of the background Deanna would have known. Not only would he have wounded her more than he had already, she would have demanded that he be placed in the brig. So what he had done was a trick that he had discovered over the years. He let out the truth in such a vague fashion that the sentiments would show as telling the truth. With Deanna, what most likely be seen was that he was not lying but was covering up information. He hoped that she would leave it at that and would assume that the message that had been relayed to him suggested he not even tell the Captain what he had seen.
. Not that he hadn't wanted to tell them everything. Every child that he had seen die, every mother that had cried with relief when her infant did not survive the night. Every twisted plant, animal, and person that he had seen walking, or even just lying in the street. All of this and more he had wanted to spill to them. He wanted them to know what they truly were facing. However he was stopped by duty. Five years ago, an operative for the intelligence sector discovered him. The man personally did not know of Tom's history, and had asked his superiors to recruit him based on the similarity he had to Will Riker. When word had been received of his discovery, Tom had been asked to join the man at a small village on one of the border colonies. There he had met Adm. Nechayev. She knew exactly who he was, even addressing him as Lieutenant Riker upon meeting. Tom had been working for her ever since then. She did not at the time reactivate his commission. Instead she had placed him in one of her little pocket organizations that never reported to anyone.
Since then he had been running more or less a listening post for her, as well as occasionally pretending to be Will to run some elaborate con where the clout of Captain William Riker would be useful. Playing Will had been the only thing that had allowed him any way to keep track of what had happened. The Admiral had neglected to fill in the life story of Will to an extent that he would not have been shocked at seeing Deanna here. All he knew was that Will Riker had been promoted to Captain and commanded the Titan. Apparently that was all he needed to know. Which led him back to where he was. This mission had been classified so tightly that need to know did not even apply. Both Jellico and Nechayev had briefed him on keeping this to himself.
Another thing that they had neglected to tell him was whom they were sending to retrieve him. Since they had not been very forthcoming with information, Tom honestly did not know were Deanna was until he woke up in sickbay. He had not expected to see her, or to find that she and Will had married. He should have expected it really. This brought him back full circle, keeping secrets. Deanna was the only person in the universe that he found he had trouble lying to. He could even lie to his doppelganger, although when he did felt like he was trying to lie to himself.
Tom had a theory as to why they had sent the Titan, hiding in plain sight. If he was on this ship, and this ship alone, he could hide. As far as the computers still knew, unless a combadge had been programmed to register him as Tom, even a detailed scan would only reveal Will Riker. He could even roam the halls here and the crew would think that he was the Captain. He worried though that being here would place Deanna in danger again because of him. All he needed to do was last until the got to DS9. Once there he would meet with Commander Vaughn and finally be able to spill all the information that he had. He would then be given a safe haven, as far away from Cardassian space as he could manage. He thought about one option that had been given him, to reaccept his commission. Nechayev had offered it to him just after reporting his findings, with a bump to full commander, provided he could re-certify his bridge officer test. Again it was the idea of hiding in plain sight. He would be productive, a moving target, and as well protected as he could be. The idea would not have appealed to him as little as five years ago. He always felt as if he were living in the shadow of someone else. Now he had several years of experience where people did not compare him to Will Riker, Captain of the Titan, or Will Riker, Commander, First Officer of the Enterprise. The idea of returning to active duty appealed to him now. Even if it is without Deanna. I can't blame her for moving on. Now she even has a little one of her own. I really am happy for her; I just wish it were me. I think I can manage now that I know that she is ok. I hope though that I can get to know that little girl. I think I would like to know what might have been before I move on the rest of the way. With the thought he realized he had made his decision.
"Computer, relay a message to Starfleet Command."
"State authorization."
I should have known they would lock out access to subspace. I am not crew, and I am a Maquis repatriate. I was hoping not to have to use my clearances yet. "Authorization T. Riker gamma 18."
"Civilian specialist Thomas Riker recognized. Authorization confirmed."
"Message is to Admiral Alynna Nechayev, Starfleet Command Earth. Message as follows: Admiral, I have considered your offer. I hear by accept reinstatement of my commission, effective immediately." He took a deep breath and continued, "End message. Send immediately, priority three. Deliver as soon as received."
"Message will be received in twenty minutes. Do you request to be notified if a reply is received?"
"Yes." Tom only hoped he did not regret what he had just done.
