Chapter Twelve

The reception was at 1900 hours. Maya dressed for it without enthusiasm, with a queasy sense of foreboding. Helena had picked out a white gown for her, with a simple shape and a fabric textured like watery pearl, and Maya twisted her hair up onto the top of her head and bound it with a long flexible sparkling band. The resulting appearance was very formal, but she supposed it would be appropriate for the occasion. At least no-one there would be paying particular attention to her.

She waited until ten minutes before the scheduled time, giving Tony the chance to find her if he wanted to escort her. Even as she made her way to Ten-Forward she hoped, every corner that she turned, that she would run into him coming to see her.

She entered alone. Ten-Forward had been transformed from an informal bar/restaurant into a spectacular function room. All but a few of the tables on the outer gallery had been removed, leaving a wide floor space for dancing, and the bar was covered with exotic buffet food attended by uniformed waiters. The curving wall of space windows was dominated by the swell of the planet below.

There were sparse groups of people, including some in a distinctive style of dress that emphasised red and gold braid. She assumed that these were the Lanthenons. They were smaller in frame than an average Earth human, and their faces had a delicate tapered bone structure.

Riker was with the Captain, one of the aliens and Deanna Troi, who was standing close enough to him to be touching against him. They had, at a glance, the unassumed appearance of a couple.

Maya, hesitating just inside the door, had the sudden idea that she ought not to stay. She was on the point of obeying the impulse to turn round and go back to her quarters when Riker caught sight of her. Immediately, he said something to the Captain and came over to her.

"You look amazing," he said, grinning at her frankly. Then he glanced behind her and said, in a quieter tone, "Are you on your own?"

With an ironic look backwards in the same direction, Maya said, "I appear to be."

"The royal party isn't here yet. Come and meet the ambassador."

Ambassador Trewhella was a pleasant, intelligent-looking man, slight in stature but with a strong handshake and direct, lively eyes.

"Maya is the Alphans' science officer," Captain Picard explained. "Are your colleagues on their way?"

"I expect so, sir. I - didn't come with them."

"I've looked forward to meeting you all very much," said the ambassador. "It's a most remarkable thing - you can't imagine the interest it's going to generate on Earth, when we lift the embargo."

"The Federation Council has decided not to release the news until after the wedding is over and the Enterprise has left Lanthenon," the Captain said to her, with a slightly abashed air.

Their party was approached by two Lanthenons, and the ambassador's attention immediately switched to them.

"Come on," said Riker, touching her elbow. "Let's get a drink."

Deanna came with them.

Maya wondered with a sharp twinge of embarrassment exactly how she felt about this situation. Her demeanour was relaxed and smiling and she seemed quite at ease. Maya envied her unforced composure, her naturalness - her maturity. She also remembered unhappily that this woman had some kind of telepathic empathy, and she didn't like the thought that her feelings were in any way accessible to her.

"When do we get to see the princess?" Deanna asked, as Will handed her a fluted glass.

"The royal party will make their entrance at about 19:20, after everyone else is here."

"How regal."

"Do you dislike this kind of ceremony?" said Maya awkwardly, conscious that there was an old, casual understanding between Deanna and Will.

"Deanna would never tell you this in a hundred years," said Will, with another glance at her, "but she is herself heiress to the succession of a very old, very noble house on Betazed. She has to take some kind of stand against ceremony, or nobody would believe she hasn't rejected her aristocratic heritage."

"I haven't rejected my heritage," said Deanna. "Don't listen to him, Maya, he's only trying to provoke me." She caught sight of someone coming in, and greeted him with a wave. "Excuse me."

Left alone with Riker, Maya wondered if Deanna had done it deliberately. There was a certain satisfaction in the way he watched her go, then turned to Maya and gave her a glass of pale green chilled liquid.

"It's a Lanthenon wine called dequith, so I'm told," he said. "Be careful, it's real alcohol."

"Thank you for warning me. This time."

"I thought I'd better. Though a repeat of your party trick might liven this reception up a bit."

"Don't you like functions like this?"

"I hate them."

"I thought you were gregarious."

"I can be, that doesn't mean I like to be. It's part of the job. But it can be boring, that's all. I like to be with a few friends, in an informal setting. But best of all, I like to be with one person."

Maya felt just the same way, though she didn't say so in case he misconstrued her words somehow. She was irritated that she now felt tongue-tied with Will, she was angry that a friendship she realised had become important to her had been spoiled and curtailed.

She saw his expression change slightly, inscrutably, and she looked round. The Commander and Helena had just entered, arm-in-arm, in step and together. Behind them was Tony, looking pale and tense. His eyes searched round and fixed on her.

She smiled, nervously but trying to appear forgiving.

He looked away without acknowledging.

Mortified, Maya turned her back on him and took a gulp of the Lanthenon wine without tasting it. Will must have seen what had happened, but he started to talk about something else without apparent concern.

Captain Picard had approached the Alphans and was introducing them to Ambassador Trewhella. Without consciously looking, Maya saw them all shaking hands and smiling. She tried to subdue her own feelings of hurt. This was not the place to risk any sort of scene, though she wanted to resolve everything right now. She promised herself that she would confront Tony after the reception, behind closed doors, and make it clear to him that his behaviour was unacceptable and had upset her; reasonably, without losing her temper.

She sipped the wine, forcing herself to focus on its clear fragrant taste, and started to listen again to what Riker was saying.

He was interrupted by an elaborately-robed Lanthenon chiming some kind of gong, and the room hushed.

"Their Majesties King Bahu and Queen Eletha," he said, in a high ringing tone. "Her Highness, Princess Amarantha."

The King, to Maya's surprise and vague amusement, was very fat. All the other Lanthenons seemed to be slender and fine-boned, but this did not appear to be a racial inevitability. The Queen was slightly taller than her husband, and perfectly elegant in contrast. Princess Amarantha, who had the glamour of a bride attached to her, followed a short step behind her parents and seemed unremarkable. She was magnificently attired in a golden garment that Maya guessed was traditional royal clothing, but her appearance was not otherwise striking. When, a little later, she was formally introduced to the Princess, she saw that she had a quiet manner but very clear eyes. The ambassador stayed at her side, and it was obvious, though they made no demonstrations of affection, how attached they were.

Maya was surprised by the strength of her sudden feelings, cold and queasy and longing. The trappings of a state occasion meant nothing to her, and instead of a princess she saw very clearly a girl no older - perhaps even younger - than herself, about to marry the man she loved.

She broke her resolution and looked to see where Tony was. He was with Data, who was sticking closely to him as instructed, and he was wearing the glazed look that Data's conversation often induced. She tried to catch his eye, but he wouldn't look at her.

After the royal party had circulated, a small orchestra began to play and the Princess and the Ambassador led onto the dance floor. The atmosphere immediately became more relaxed.

"Do you dance?" Riker asked her.

"Sometimes," said Maya.

"Like now?" He held out his hand.

"I think I'd rather just watch, for the time being."

He looked over at where Tony was, put his glass down, and said seriously, "Maya, don't let anyone's rudeness, or stupidity, dictate how you enjoy yourself. Go and ask him to dance with you if that's what you want, I'm not about to be offended, but don't not dance just because he doesn't want to."

More couples had taken to the floor. Captain Picard and Dr Crusher were dancing together with elegant precision. As she watched, the Commander was half-persuaded, half-pulled by Helena. She considered going across to Tony, who was sitting now at one of the tables with Data in patient attendance, but it seemed impossibly awkward to approach him like that without any indication of good will from him. It would also be conspicuous. And it would appear to Will as if she had rejected his polite offer, in favour of playing some childish game. She didn't want to make such an issue of it.

"Okay," she said. "Let's dance."

He smiled widely, took her hand, and led her onto the floor.

Immediately she began to think it had been a mistake. It was a simple waltz, of the kind she had learned on Alpha, but she had only done this with Tony before and she had forgotten how close the dance licensed their bodies to be. Will was taller than her, and she was unused to that. She was also troubled by her response to his touch, and reminded of the moment on the holodeck.

"You're trembling," he said, almost in her ear.

She could say nothing. She stared at his shoulder.

"Let it happen," he said, in the same murmur. "Don't be afraid."

She pulled back slightly and missed her step, meeting his eyes indignantly.

They said nothing more while they danced, and when the orchestra finished its piece Maya felt she had to get away from him. With a muttered apology she went over to the bar and let one of the waiters help her to some food. She ate something without noticing what it was and her stomach knotted around it.

Not much longer, she thought. She could leave reasonably soon, with it appearing abrupt, and then she could talk to Tony and make everything all right. She couldn't see him anywhere; perhaps he had already left.

Seized by this idea, and longing to get the confrontation over with, she went back to Riker to tell him that she was leaving.

"Don't go yet," he said, with concern. "The Captain's built up the Alphans to the King, he wants you to impress them."

"Well, Commander Koenig and Helena will do that. I'm not important."

"You are to me."

Suddenly Maya caught sight of Tony. She wasn't sure where he had concealed himself, but he looked straight at her now, put down a glass with a clatter that she could hear across the room, and marched towards them. To her consternation, he brushed aside a Lanthenon official on his way across the floor. His face was still pale, but the top of his cheeks were flushed.

"All right, Riker," he said. "I've had enough of this."

"You've had enough," said Riker very quietly, "of what?"

"You know damn well."

"Now, Mr Verdeschi, I've no quarrel with you."

"The hell you haven't! You've been stuck to her like a leech all evening, leering at her, pawing her - you touch her again and I'll kill you."

"Tony!" said Maya.

"Shut up!" he cried.

A mesmerised pool of silence had spread around them, as people nearby realised that there was something going on.

Still with unwavering calm, Riker said, "Maya's not an object for you to possess, Mr Verdeschi. She can make her own choice as to who she wants to be with."

Tony lunged at him.

"Tony!" Maya cried again.

Riker got to his feet and the chair clattered behind him. He made a defensive move but it was not quick enough to stop Tony punching him. He staggered back with the force of the blow, rallied quickly, grabbed Tony expertly by the arms, and threw him away.

Riker's strength was obvious and overpowered Tony, who was flung halfway across the floor and slammed with force against the sharp edge of a table. In the silence that had fallen, Maya clearly heard a crack. He cried out and rolled over.

She ran to him.

He started to get up, leaned over, and coughed. A shock went through her as she saw blood fall onto his hand.

"Don't move," said Dr Crusher, striding over and immediately taking charge. "Don't try to get up."

Helena knelt by him too.

Maya took several steps back.

"I'm sorry," said Riker. "I didn't mean to do that."

"Computer," said Dr Crusher, "medical emergency. Beam two directly to sickbay."

Immediately, she and Tony vanished in a shimmer of energy.

A babble of voices filled the void. Maya saw the Captain talking to Princess Amarantha and the Ambassador, and steering them away.

Helena stood up, looking shocked at the sudden disappearance. "I think his lung may have been punctured by a broken rib," she said to Maya.

"I'm sorry," said Riker again. "I didn't want to hurt him."

"Come on," said Helena, taking Maya's arm.

Maya saw the glance of distaste she gave Riker, and the Commander looked at him too before coming with them. She was in a daze of mixed anxiety and shame, and glad to be led out of the room full of people.

"He'll be all right, Maya," Helena said, when they were in the turbolift. "It might have been more serious back on Alpha, but the medical technology they have here - they can repair tissues and bones in hours."

Maya nodded but did not reply. When the got to the medical centre, they were met by Dr Crusher. She had put a kind of apron over her ballgown, but her hair was still arranged in jewelled ringlets.

"There's nothing to worry about," she said. "He'll be fine. One of his ribs was cracked, one was broken, and a splinter of bone's landed in the right lung - Dr Ekan is operating now."

"Operating?" said Maya.

"It won't take more than forty minutes. I want to keep him here overnight, though, just to make sure the tissue regeneration holds and the lung doesn't collapse. He was unlucky - it seems to have been a kind of freak accident, the way he landed."

"It didn't look like any kind of accident to me," said the Commander. "As soon as this reception's over I'm going to speak to Picard."

"No, Commander!" said Maya. "Please don't. Please don't involve Captain Picard."

"Involve him? His first officer just assaulted mine!"

"I get the idea," said Helena quietly, "that Tony started it."

"Please, Commander," said Maya again.

He frowned and sighed, and looked at Helena.

"You're welcome to wait through here, if you want to see him," said Dr Crusher blandly, into the silence. "He won't be able to see anyone for at least an hour, though."

"You go back to the reception," said Helena to the Commander. "I'll stay with Maya."

"No," said Maya. "Leave me, Helena."

"I think I ought to stay. You're upset."

"I'm not upset. I'm angry. Please. I want to be left alone."

"All right. There's nothing I can do here, to help?" she asked Dr Crusher.

She shook her head and smiled. "Really, it's not a serious problem."

Maya was led through to what was clearly designed to be a room for relatives and friends to wait in. It had low lighting, deep soothing sofas and undisturbing designs on the walls. There was even a replicator outlet. She sank down into one of the sofas, desperately relieved to be alone at last.

For a long, blank time she remained motionless, trapped in a horrible place between fury and pain. She couldn't help being distressed that he was hurt. It affected her physically, bypassing her mind and emotions and tugging at her stomach. But she had never felt so ashamed before, and she could hardly begin to swallow down the complicated humiliation. She pulled the band out of her hair and fiddled with it miserably.

Eventually, Dr Crusher looked in with a calm smile. "You can see him now."

He was in the small open-plan ward, half-propped up under a piece of medical apparatus straddling his chest. He looked at her with a quick sullen glance that seemed to have a hint of repentance in it.

"Are you all right?" she asked, neutrally, keeping her distance.

"Yeah, great, no thanks to your pet gorilla."

"Well, it was your own fault! How could you do that to me?"

"To you? I thought I did it to him."

"You humiliated me in front of everyone there - the ambassador, the King and Queen, Princess Amarantha, Captain Picard - "

"Who are these people?"

"And you hurt Will - "

"Look, I'm the one who's lying here mortally wounded."

"Hardly."

"Thanks for the sympathy."

"You don't care, do you? You really think that was an acceptable way to behave."

"What about you, if we're talking about behaviour? You were with him when I came in, you were dancing with him, you spent the whole evening hanging onto his every word - "

"Because he was talking to me, Tony, he was being pleasant to me, he wasn't glaring at me or shouting at me, or ignoring me - "

"What do you expect me to think? What the hell has been going on between you?"

"That is enough!" said Dr Crusher sharply, coming swiftly forward.

Maya jumped. She hadn't realised she was still there.

"Will you please sort out your personal life somewhere other than in my sickbay."

"I'm very sorry, Dr Crusher," said Maya, with quickly mustered dignity. She spun round and left the medical centre without looking at Tony again.

Her heart was pounding. She could feel the energy surging up in her cells, driving her body to change into something fierce and wild. For a moment she broke out in sweat in the effort to hold herself back, and pressed the bones of her hands against the wall of the corridor to feel their hardness. When the urge died down, she felt flat. Fortunately no-one had seen her, and she carried on walking much more slowly.

As she turned the corner she almost collided with Riker.

"I was on my way to see how your friend was," he said, catching her and letting her go immediately. "And to apologise to him."

"There's no need for your to apologise to Tony.," she said, made less uncomfortable by the encounter than she thought she would be. Actually she was glad to see him. "He should apologise to you. I'm afraid there's not much chance of that." She saw that the corner of his lip was cut and bruised.

"Well, never mind. How is he?"

"He's fine now - they're keeping him there overnight. Will, I'm so sorry about this."

"Hey, don't be," he said, clasping her arms. "It wasn't your fault."

His gentleness was a soothing balm on her exposed feelings. She wanted no more pain and conflict, for tonight at least.

A lieutenant passed by, and his head flicked round before he carried on.

Riker took his hands away. "Want to come back to my quarters for a raktajino? You look like you could do with something in it."

As soon as he could get away from the reception, John went to the ship's medical centre to see Tony. Helena stated in the waiting area, at his request. He wanted the chance to talk to Tony alone, something his conscience nagged that he ought to have done some time ago.

Tony did not look well. There were shadows like bruises under his eyes, and his face was white. He acknowledged John with an unsmiling glance, then continued to stare at the monitor across his chest.

"Tony," said John carefully, "I've been told that Commander Riker has been behaving badly towards Maya. Now if that's true, then it's my business too. I'll take it up with Captain Picard, if necessary."

"Maya's a grown woman, John," said Tony, after a long pause. He kept his eyes fixed on the monitor. "She can make her own choices."

"Okay... if that's how it is, I'll leave it. I just wanted you to know you're not the only one who cares about her."

"Yeah," said Tony, after an even longer silence.

"How are you doing, then, have they fixed you?" he asked, with a forced change of mood.

Tony made an inarticulate noise of affirmation.

Abandoning his resolution, John left him to it. He had intended to see Picard that evening, but he wondered now if it would be better to leave it until the next day. he wondered, in fact, if he ought to let the matter drop unless Picard called him to account for his second-in-command's behaviour. He went to bed disheartened and undecided, and lay, as he so often did, in a hopeless, aching state of wakefulness.

Eventually, as he always did, he got up. On Alpha, there was nothing to do but brew a cup of foul-tasting coffee and stare at the pictures on his wall. Here, he could draw aside a kind of electronic blind and see space outside. Light from Lanthenon's sun flooded into the bedroom, as cold as neon, making everything sharp and shadowed.

Nothing had changed, he thought. The burden of commanding Alpha had been taken away from him, and it was heavier than ever, weighing on him like guilt. And the difference was, he could do nothing about it now.

He turned to look at Helena, and saw that she had woken up. She was lying still, watching him, one hand resting on the pillow.

"What are we doing here?" he said, answering her unspoken question. "What are we supposed to do with - all this?"

She smiled and held out her hand.

He joined her on the bed. "You were right, what you said back on Alpha. I don't know what I'm going to do, what's going to happen to us. It hit me tonight, when Picard was introducing us to those aliens. Commander? Commander of what? At least you're a doctor, you've always got that."

"No, I haven't," said Helena, quietly. "When Tony was hurt, I wasn't the one there treating him. Beverly didn't even have any use for me in the medical centre afterwards. To them, I'm no better qualified than a medieval apothecary or a barber-surgeon."

He hadn't thought of that one. He had folded her in his arms and she was clinging to him, almost like a child. Her face, pressed against his chest, was expressionless.

"We'll be okay," he said, meaninglessly.

"We've been alone for so long, in haunted space... everything hostile, everything a threat... and now all these people who want to help us..."

"I'm not sure I want to be helped," said John.

She lifted her head and looked up at him. "No, you never do."

In the strange light, she looked different. Her skin was soft and her eyes were bright.

"Come on now," he said, trying to change the atmosphere. "We might be lost, but we're not alone."

"No. We're not."

"I've got to talk to Picard tomorrow, see what our options are. We'll get things sorted out in the morning."

"Yes, I think so. In the morning." She separated herself from him and lay back on the pillows.

Soon he heard her breathing dip to a regular rhythm. More at peace himself, he settled down and slept.

Maya perched on the edge of the sofa to drink the raktajino, to which Riker had added something sweet-tasting from a bottle with a dark label. She realised that her muscles were all clenched hard, and she tried to let them go. The lights in the room were dim, the silence was peaceful, and Riker, who sat on the east chair opposite and leaned towards her, was quiet and patient.

"Better now?"

"Really, I'm fine."

"You're pale and you're shivering." He left his seat to join her on the sofa.

"Then I will be all right, in a little while. Please don't be concerned."

"Of course I'm concerned, I feel responsible."

"Then you needn't. Tony was responsible."

She didn't dare to look at him, in case she precipitated something. Although he was close, he was scrupulous in not touching her. She saw his hand move, hesitate fractionally, and reach over for his cup of coffee.

"I think I will go with you to Lanthenon, if the offer's still open," she said.

"Certainly it is. It would be the best thing for you, to get away from these pressures for a while."

"When?"

"The hotel's booked for tomorrow night. I was planning to leave at around twelve hundred hours tomorrow... of course, we'll have to take a shuttle instead of transporting - but that's not a problem, I'll arrange to have one first thing tomorrow."

There was a kind of forced casualness in his tone, which Maya realised was an attempt not to sound too pleased. She felt a strange calm now that she had made this decision, or rather this leap. She had not debated it internally; until an hour ago, it hadn't occurred to her that she would accept his offer. The shaking died away, and a numb warmth crept over her.

Riker was about to say something when his comm badge sounded. "Picard to Commander Riker."

"Riker here."

"I want to see you in my ready room in ten minutes."

"Aye, sir. Riker out."

"Is - will Tony get into trouble?" Maya asked, her heart jumping again.

"No, I'm the one on the carpet." He grinned at her apprehension. "Don't worry, I can handle it. Stay, if you want, until I get back."

Maya excused herself. It was ridiculously late now, and she knew she ought to try to get some sleep. Fortunately, her mood of calm lasted when she went back to her quarters and curled round a pillow. She wondered if she would feel differently in the morning.

Riker felt that in such a state of elation he was not only unconcerned about what the Captain could say or do, he was actually uninterested. His confidence faded as soon as the door of the ready room closed behind him, and he saw the Captain's cold expression.

"Starfleet represents peace and good will between all peoples of the galaxy. Perhaps the only way we can communicate that ideal is in our own personal conduct, and especially the conduct of the senior officers of our flagship. The people of Lanthenon are new members of the Federation, and I don't have to tell you who the people of Alpha are - how important it is that we demonstrate to them our integrity. For both parties to witness the first officer of the Enterprise engaged in a squalid brawl over a woman - "

"Sir, anyone who was nearby will tell you that Verdeschi attacked me unprovoked. I retaliated in self-defence, and what happened to him was an accident."

"There are more powerful means of provocation than physical assault, Number One, as well you know. It's been brought to my notice, possibly not before time, that you have been pursuing Science Officer Maya with inappropriate attentions."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" said Riker, unable to contain his annoyance.

"It means, Will, stop pestering the girl, or I'm going to have to order you to have nothing more to do with our Alphan guests."

"Sir," said Riker, forcing down his temper, "this isn't some kind of trivial flirtation."

"No?" said the Captain, raising his eyebrows.

"No," Riker said emphatically. "I'm serious about Maya. I do not believe that my attentions towards her are inappropriate. I'm convinced that she does, or could, feel the same way towards me. I realise that there's this - complicating factor of Mr Verdeschi, but that's her decision to make and I've done my best not to interfere. I've asked her to come with me on shore leave to Lanthenon, and she's agreed."

"I must admit," said the Captain, his expression unreadable, "that I had considered cancelling your shore leave as a result of this incident."

"Permission to speak freely, sir."

"As always, Number One."

"That would be a grossly unfair punishment for something that wasn't my fault, something I didn't invite and did my best to deflect. I know it didn't look good in front of the Lanthenons, and I have to take responsibility as your first officer, but I must ask you not to do something that might affect the rest of my life."

"Then you are serious."

"Yes, sir."

The Captain rubbed his eyes, and sighed. "Very well. It might be just as well to put some physical distance between you and Mr Verdeschi for the time being, anyway. I thought you were planning to take this shore leave with Counsellor Troi?"

"Deanna will understand."

"I suggest you speak to her to see if she does. And I want you to apologise to Mr Verdeschi."

"I'd intended to do that this evening, but Maya warned me it wouldn't be wise."

"Dismissed," said the Captain, sounding weary. "Will," he added, as Riker was about to activate the door, "I'm not unsympathetic, but I wish you could have conducted this affair more discreetly, and with a somewhat better sense of timing. I'm also made uneasy by the thought that you've taken advantage of your position with respect to Maya."

"There isn't any affair, and I haven't taken advantage of her. It's just a possibility at the moment. But I have to try, sir."

The Captain nodded, and smiled faintly for the first time.