"This is Cargo Bay Four," Riker said as the doors slowly crawled open. Reynar stepped inside as soon as he could slip through, and Riker and Troi followed.

"She looks fine."

"The ship was undamaged," Data said, stepping away from a console near the craft. "However, we have been unable to restore power."

"May I?"

"Be my guest," Riker told him. Reynar stepped up to the ship and ran a hand along her bow as he stepped inside. He appeared in the cockpit.

"Are you keeping an eye on him?" Riker asked.

"The Captain asked me to assess his mental condition."

"And?"

"He's coping. I think he'll feel better when he finds out what happened to his planet."

"I can understand that. Are you going tomorrow night?"

"To what?"

"Don't tell me you forgot Data's poetry reading."

Deanna suppressed a groan and shot a glance at Data, who was busy at the console but who she suspected could hear them.

"Of course I am. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Riker shot a glance at Data and then grinned. "I'll see you there then. I'm expecting it to be at least as good as the last."

Deanna recalled awakening Will halfway through one of Data's poems, only to hear him start clapping.

"I'll make sure to keep you awake," she whispered.

Riker was smiling when Reynar emerged from the cockpit.

"She seems in good shape."

"Do you know why the power's down?"

"The power is tied to the shields. It creates a feedback loop that kept the major systems on. When you shut down the shields, it shut everything else down."

"That doesn't seem very efficient."

"It is if you just need to keep it going for years without changing course or anything else," Reynar countered. Troi thought she detected a sense of wounded pride. She wondered if Reynar had helped design the shuttle.

"I guess it worked well," Riker conceded. "It kept you alive."

"Exactly. Thank you for letting me see her. It…is a small reminder of home. I'll return to my quarters now."

Reynar stepped out of the cargo bay, followed by his security escort.

"He isn't much of a talker."

"He's hurting."

"Sir." Data stepped forward. "We have discovered the data module that the ship uses to store navigation information. When we have powered it up, we will be able to find the location of his home planet."

"Excellent, Data, keep me informed." Riker followed Troi out of the cargo bay. "What do you think we'll find when we get to Arcadia?"

"I'm afraid to find out."

After Data extracted the coordinates, it proved to be a two-day journey to Arcadia. Deanna found herself in Ten Forward the next day, having lunch with Beverly.

"I just don't know if it's worth it," Deanna said. "I already have the job I want, so I just I don't know if it would be worth it."

"Have you talked to Will about it?"

"He thinks I should go for it. He said having command experience would be good for me."

"Maybe it would be." Beverly took a bite of her sandwich and spoke the next words with a full mouth. "It's not about career advancement, maybe it's about doing what's best for you."

"I have been wanting to have a more active role on the ship," Troi admitted. "I love my job, but sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on what's going on on the bridge. Do you ever feel like that?"

"I have enough excitement in Sickbay," Beverly said. "I get to revive unconscious five-hundred year old men."

Deanna sighed. "Reynar is a very interesting man."

"I spoke to him this morning when he came by for a checkup. He's not very talkative."

"He's dealing with a lot of trauma," Deanna said. "I sense so much pain in him and it's so tightly controlled, I'm worried that he may break."

"What do you think will happen when we find his planet?"

"Will asked me the same thing. I don't know. I have this horrible feeling that it won't be anything good."

"It sounds like he's going to need a friend. Speaking of which, I need to get back to Sickbay."

Deanna's eyes followed her friends sudden departure from the table and out the door. Standing at the entrance of Ten Forward was Reynar. He caught her eye and then stepped up to the bar.

Deanna watched him as he ordered something and the server shook his head. Another question and another head shake. She set down her drink and crossed the room to slide into a chair beside him.

"I always find that chocolate is good."

Reynar's head snapped up to look at her.

"What's chocolate?"

"Ivan, could we have two chocolate sundaes, please?"

"Of course." The man smiled brightly and turned to the replicator at the back of the bar.

"You'll see," Deanna said to Reynar. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

He was still wearing the grey uniform they had found him in, although it looked like it had been cleaned. His collar was stiff around his neck and raised seams framed his shoulders. He was sitting just as stiffly as his collar, back straight up against the chair. Deanna could sense that his emotions were just as tight.

"What were you trying to order?"

"Kaprick. It's common on Arcadia." He swallowed. "It was, at least. I don't know if they eat it anymore."

"I expect a lot of things have changed."

"If they're still alive, you mean."

"Yes," Deanna said softly.

Ivan returned with their sundaes and Deanna dug into hers. Reynar watched her take a bite and then hesitantly picked up his spoon. His eyes widened as he put a spoonful of the ice cream and chocolate into his mouth.

"It's cold," he said after he had swallowed.

"It's called ice cream."

"We don't eat cold food on Arcadia." But he was following up the first with a second and third bite. "Is this a common food?"

"It is for dessert. But sometimes I eat it as a meal."

They dug into their sundaes and ate in silence. As they did, some of the tension started to disappear.

"What do you do here, on the ship? As Counselor."

"I talk to people. I find out what they need and try to help them find it."

"Sounds very emotional." Reynar's brow was furrowed as he took another bite.

"It can be. But it also requires me to be objective and logical at times. I can be there for someone as they cry, but that isn't always what they need."

"So you think you know what people need?"

Deanna paused to consider. "Usually people already know what they need. I just help them express it."

"Using your telepathy?"

"Sometimes."

"Seems like prying to me."

"You don't like empaths, do you?"

Reynar set down his spoon. "On my planet, they're rare. Most of them enter the military. In the Task Force, they were our trainers, finding exactly what we were most afraid of and using it to break us down."

"That sounds horrible."

Reynar shrugged. "It made us stronger. But it didn't endear them to me."

"I use my empathic powers to help people," Deanna said. "Never to hurt them."

"Hmm," was Reynar's only response as he took another bite. His bowl was almost empty now. Troi returned to her own dish.

"Who comes to you for counseling?"

"All kinds of people. The Starfleet personnel on the ship, and their families. Sometimes someone will come after a loss or a tragedy, but sometimes they just need help with their day to day life."

"Sounds like they should learn to deal with things themselves."

"It's not weakness to need help."

"I don't need help."

"I didn't say you did."

Bowl empty, Reynar set down his spoon.

"Thank you for the…ice cream." He turned and left the mess.

Deanna let out a sigh and took another bite of her own sundae. They would arrive at Arcadia the next day and then they would find out how Reynar would react to finding his home either still prosperous or entirely gone.

"We are approaching the planet, sir," Wesley Crusher said from the conn. Picard stood up and approached the viewscreen.

"On screen."

A green and blue world appeared below them, covered in white clouds.

"That's it, that's Arcadia," Reynar said, moving up to stand beside Picard. His eyes were wide as he stared down at his homeworld.

"Life signs?" Picard asked.

"I am reading vegetation and animal life, sir." Data said from the conn. "No humanoid life signs."

"What about other planets in the system?"

"Negative. This is the only M-class planet in the system."

"Counselor, are you sensing anything?"

Deanna shook her head. "No."

"Try hailing the planet, Mister Worf."

"There is no response."

"I have to go down there," Reynar said. "Maybe your sensors are wrong, or they're hidden somehow."

"Sir, with the virus, that may not be wise," Data said, turning in his chair. "We should not risk an infection on the Enterprise."

"The transporter buffer screened out the virus last time," Riker said. "And if everyone's gone, there may not be any carriers left. The virus could have died out."

"Worf, launch a probe to the surface to detect for signs of the virus."

"Yes, sir."

A probe appeared on the viewscreen and slowly descended to the planet's surface. As they waited for readings, Reynar stepped closer to the viewscreen, as if he wanted to reach out and touch the planet in front of him.

"It looks exactly the same," he breathed. "Five hundred years?" He glanced over at Picard. "It feels like I've only been gone days."

"We are receiving telemetry from the probe, sir," Worf said from behind them.

"Get it to Doctor Crusher to analyze for any signs of a virus. Number One, prepare an away team."

"I want to go down," Reynar said again, stepping forward.

"Of course," Picard said.

"Data, Worf, you're with me," Riker told them.

They watched the world spinning below them as they waited.

"Where should we start looking?" Riker asked.

Reynar considered. "There's a major city on the top end of the largest continent. I used to live there. It's also the military headquarters of my country. If there's anyone, they should be there."

"It's as good a place as any," Riker conceded. He opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it again.

Finally, Beverly contacted the Bridge. No trace of a virus that could infect humanoids had been found.

Riker wasted no time getting an away team together. The four men grouped in the transporter room and beamed down.

It was deserted. They transported into what had once been some kind of city square. All around them towered the gutted remains of buildings. Plant life had taken over, with trees rising up from busted concrete. Vines climbed the towering ruins.

Slowly, Worf put away his phaser and Data drew out his tricorder.

"There is no sign of humanoid life," he said.

"This was my home."

The three Starfleet officers turned to see Reynar with a hand pressed against the ruins of a building at the edge of the open square. Beside him, a tree at least eight foot in diameter towered through the broken remains of the roof. "I came here for meetings sometimes."

He turned with blank eyes to survey the surrounding ruins.

"Data, how old are these ruins?"

Data scanned the surrounding trees. "It is difficult to ascertain an exact age, but these trees are approximately four-hundred years old."

"Four hundred years," Reynar whispered. He let his hand trail over to the tree, brushing the bark and then dropping it to his side. "So they survived for another one hundred years after they launched my ship."

"That is a likely hypothesis," Data said. "One hundred years or slightly less."

"I'm sorry, Reynar," Riker said, coming up to stand beside the Commander. Reynar shook his head.

"What about the other cities?" he demanded. "Could there be people in those?"

"Neither the ships sensors nor the probe detected any life signs." Data was repeating what Reynar already knew.

"No one survived," Reynar whispered. "My entire country. My entire species."

Riker tapped his com badge. "Riker to Enterprise, we're done down here. Four to beam up."

Reynar barely made it back to his quarters before he collapsed to his knees.