Elion stood, transfixed, beside the great windows of the observation lounge. The planet of Vakrona drifted below, bands of blue and green and gold across its surface. Everything he had ever known, ever seen, ever touched-all lay within that little sphere that looked almost small enough to hold in his hand. The silence from up here was humbling, for no words would reach this far, no matter how loud or how important the speaker.
Only two other people occupied the room. One was Captain Picard, who sipped on a cup of Early Grey from the head of a long table. The other was Carmen, the only member of the away team well enough to be in attendance. She watched the agent with an unwontedly gentle expression, for his sense of awe and wonder reached both her Betazoid and human sides.
"Would you like anything to eat, Mister Elion?" Picard offered. "Or a drink perhaps?"
Elion's face turned towards him first, then his eyes. "No thank-you," he said, resisting the urge to return his gaze to the window. "I...I would like to get straight to the point, actually. What am I doing aboard your ship? Am I your prisoner?"
Picard smiled, appreciative of his candor. "No, you are not. You are merely our visitor." He gestured towards one of the chairs, and after one final glance out the window, Elion drew himself up to the table.
"You mean...you will return me home?"
"Yes." Picard set his tea down and breathed in deeply. "None of your people have ever had this chance before, have they? The chance to see their whole world out one window?"
Elion shook his head, still incredulous of it all. "It's something I always dreamed of. The stars...they've enticed me since I was a little boy. Nobody else ever understood. They took comfort, I think, in the idea of being all alone."
"It is a comfort of closed minds," Picard said, and his words struck an unexpected chord with Carmen. "But no one is alone. Not really. Those stars that enticed you...they told you that, didn't they?"
Elion's eyes seemed to smile. Carmen tried to read him, but his emotions were too subtle now. Still, she could tell that Picard had struck a chord with him, too.
"Yes, there are marvelous things out here. Wonders you can't even begin to fathom. But beautiful as the truth can be, it never looks quite as we imagined it." The captain rose, tea in hand. There was something rueful about his sigh as he approached the window. "Mister Elion, you were never meant to see the truth. Not yet. Your people...they need the comfort of their ignorance a while longer."
Elion frowned. "You want me to keep this to myself? To pretend this never happened?"
Picard's shoulders turned toward the agent. "The day will come, when they are ready. And when that day comes, when Vakrona is ready to venture into the unknown, I think you will find a hand waiting for you. Then, perhaps, the stars will be revealed for what they truly are: a promise." His voice grew steadily, rising like an ocean swell with slow but undeniable force. "A promise that even in the darkest hour of night, you are not alone. For where there are stars, there is life. And where there is life, there is hope. Do not rob your people of that revelation. Do not let the truth shake them before they are ready to stand on their own two feet."
Several moments passed before Elion spoke. He blew out a breath, long and low. And then the smile returned to his eyes. "Yes, I...I think I understand."
He meant it. There was nothing subtle about his mind now. Carmen looked over at the captain, nodding discreetly. Picard nodded back, then tapped at his combadge and beckoned an officer into the room. A tall, husky man with a curly crop of hair appeared.
"Mister O'Brien, will you escort our guest back to Transporter Room Four?"
"Aye aye, sir. Would you like me to collect the girl as well?"
"No." Picard shook his head. "I will leave that to Miss Riker."
A grateful smile beamed from her face. But as Elion and O'Brien filed into the hall, Carmen hung back. There was one more matter weighing heavily on her mind.
"Sir? May I ask you something?"
Picard stood near the window, tea up to his lips. He blinked, mildly surprised to find her still in the room. "You may."
"What will happen to Toleel?"
Picard decided against taking a sip of his tea. He rested the cup in the palm of his other hand and drew in a breath instead. "Toleel will be reunited with his father on Elba IV."
"Elba IV?" Carmen repeated. "The penal colony? Why? Toleel is not a criminal!"
"No. But he will be safe there, from the Tal Shiar. They both will."
Carmen looked away, reluctantly conceding the fact. Still, she felt conflicted. "Sir...what if the Tal Shiar isn't their only threat?"
"What do you mean?"
The young woman's shoulders tightened with her hesitation. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Go on."
Her eyes fixed onto his, and their depths seemed to darken. "I just feel like there's something more. Something coming. And I should be able to stop it this time, but I can't see all the connections. Not yet."
Picard drew himself close to the junior officer, the features of his face softening. "Have you heard of survivor's guilt, Carmen?"
A wry smile crept into the corner of her mouth. "You sound like my mom."
He chuckled softly. "Then I assume she's told you about the weight of tragedy at a young age, the responsibility that isn't yours to carry?"
She nodded.
"Listen to her." He rested a hand on her shoulder, a small but meaningful display of affection for so stalwart a man. "And remember-sometimes, these mountains that you carry, you were only meant to climb. Now off you go."
"Thank-you, sir," she mumbled, but as she turned to leave, she paused once again. "And...one more thing? While we're speaking plainly?"
"What is it?"
Her father's crooked smile tugged at her lips. "Do you really have an obsession with Ambassador Troi? Or is she just-"
"Dismissed!" He turned briskly away. "You are dismissed, Ensign Riker. Give Jora my regards."
Carmen found her Vakronian friend in Ten Forward. She sat next to Sheppard at a little booth in the back, casting him girlish smiles every now and then. Lwaxana was busy narrating some outlandish story, complete with wild and exaggerated gestures that made the young girl giggle. Haykov and Laforge had crammed into the end of the booth. Stacks and stacks of dishes covered the table, enough food for an entire fleet.
For a few moments Carmen hung back, not wishing to make her presence known yet. She looked from face to face, the faces of her bridge builders, trying to memorize each of their smiles as if she could take a mental picture of their contentment. And as she did so, their contentment became her own.
Sheppard was the first to notice her. He waved her over, and Jora joined him with an eager shout. "Carmen! Carmen, you have to try some of this Tarsmokian powder cake!"
"Tarvokian," Sheppard gently corrected.
"Oh, right. Well it's one of the most amazing things I've ever tasted! Even better than my mama's sweet rolls!"
"Come and join us!" Haykov offered, elbowing Laforge out of the way to make room next to him. Lwaxana stopped him short, however.
"There's something she has to do first. Jora dear, I'm afraid it's time for you to go."
"Oh," she said, her disappointment palpable. Not just to Carmen and her grandmother, but to everyone around the table. They all rose as she climbed out of the booth and said her goodbyes one by one. Sheppard and Lwaxana got especially long hugs. Soon enough, Carmen was heading towards the transporter room with the young girl trotting beside her.
"Hey Carmen?" Jora asked as they stepped into the turbolift together. "Will we...will we ever get to see each other again?" Her face pinched together in guilt, thinking back to her initial anger and betrayal upon learning Carmen's true identity.
"Maybe." The junior officer smiled at her warmly, trying to banish those traces of guilt. "Maybe one day, soon I hope, your people will be ready to fly in spaceships like us. And if the Federation ever decides to send Vakrona an invitation, I'll be first in line to deliver it personally."
The clouds over Jora's countenance cleared. "Maybe you'll even be captain of your own ship by then!"
Carmen laughed, half at the notion and half at the young girl's eagerness. "Well if I am, then you and your whole family can be my guests of honor."
"Will there be powder cake?"
Carmen grinned. "Lots of powder cake."
Dr. Gardener was forced to undergo rigorous rehabilitation. Meanwhile, Elion and Jora were returned safely to the planet. Armed with transponders, the agent located each of the remaining Romulan bodies and they were beamed aboard the Enterprise for proper interment. Jora (accompanied by the faithful Silver) amassed piles of gisbi fruit to coax the Grolese back to his den, where he could resume his hibernation. Once the rains subsided, it was safe to cross the river and leave the jungle behind, just as it once was.
Jora's family came bursting out of the house, overjoyed to have her back. Even her little brothers treated her differently for months thereafter, letting her be the space ranger instead of the alien and saving their crawlers for somebody else's sweet rolls. In time, life returned to a blissful ordinary.
She kept in touch with Elion for years. They would exchange letters about everything that had happened, about the family from space and their ship called the Enterprise. But eventually Elion left the city, retiring from the bureaucracy and the paperwork of his job, and they lost contact. He settled in a small town on the outskirts of a jungle that reminded him of Almer. The local children would gather on his porch, listening to stories about aliens and captains and space travel. Just a bunch of fantasy-or so they thought. One day, as Elion picked up the morning paper, he found big bold letters across the top announcing Vakrona's first-ever female agent. Under the picture of a woman who looked back at him with eyes bright as flames, he read the name aloud: "Jora Perler."
A/N: Only one more chapter to go! Which makes me kind of sad, because I've really enjoyed this journey with you. A huge thanks to everyone still reading along, and I'll see you at the end!