"We've reached the outer regions of the Beta Stromgren system. On course for orbital intercept of Tin Man, ETA eighteen minutes."
"Grand," Picard said.
"Not altogether," Riker said, grimacing. "Astrophysics reports that the star's rate of collapse has increased. It could go supernova in the next few days."
"Noice," Elle said, giving Wesley a fist-bump.
"Not if we're in range," Wesley said.
Elbrun and Deanna came onto the bridge just as Data put the alien ship on screen. "Remarkable," the telepath breathed.
Elle stared at the ship on screen. It looked like an organic being, as inane as that sounded. The longer she stared at it, the more it became the figure of a living, breathing thing. She could almost imagine that it was breathing-
"Captain, we're detecting the subspace wave increasing-"
"Yellow Alert," Picard snapped, and the view changed to a Romulan warbird.
"Ah," Elle said, snapping back to the present. "Captain, I'd like to point out that if the Romulans can't make contact with the Tin Man they're going to destroy it."
"We need to get there first," Elbrun muttered.
"With three Romulans on our tail?" Elle shook her head. "You need to warn it."
"Warn it?" Picard asked. "You've been in contact with this ship?"
"Romulan warbird closing," Worf reported. "They are arming main disruptors, Captain."
"Arm photon torpedoes and stand by, Mister Worf. Mister Crusher, evasive maneuvers," Picard snapped, and turned to Elle. "You knew he was in contact with it?"
"I told you," Elle said, "Tin Man's lost its crew, it's people. It wants a new crew. Tam is the only one who's been able to commune with it."
The Romulan warbird fired through a strafing run and headed for the star.
Elle grabbed onto the rail and managed to keep her feet as the deck shuddered.
"Shields at seventy percent," Worf reported. "Minimal casualties."
"Keep making our way to the Tin Man," Picard ordered, his attention glued to the Romulan warbird.
It seemed to be limping through space. Data spun around. "Captain, it would appear that the Romulan's intent is to contact Tin Man first, at any cost. According to my sensor readings, the warbird has exceeded maximum engine output by thirty percent. They seem to have irreparable damage to their warp coils."
"A one way trip," Picard mused.
"And there are two more behind them," Elbrun added. "But they won't get through to it."
"Right," Riker drawled. "Because you're in contact with it."
Elbrun shifted his feet and stared back defiantly. "Yes. I am."
"We still have eighteen minutes before we reach the creature," Picard said. "Data, what do our long-range sensors show?"
Data consulted the scans. "The creature's anatomy appears most peculiar. It is indeed laid out as a vessel with what appear to be corridors and chambers. An internal environment suitable for carbon based life forms is being maintained, yet there is no evidence of a crew aboard. Tin Man is a living being which has been bred or has adapted itself to serve a purpose. I find that interesting."
"Why? Must living beings have a purpose? Or do we exist for no reason but to exist?" Elbrun asked.
"There's something beautiful about a being who wants nothing more than to share its life with other people," Elle said. "Especially a being so old and clearly powerful. Isn't the point that we each choose our own purpose in life?" She shook her head. "Anyways, that's not the point. The point is, before there's any shooty bits, you need to tell Tin Man, rationally and calmly, that the Romulans are here to destroy it, and it needs to protect itself from them without hitting us."
Elbrun nodded sharply and closed his eyes.
Elle winced as she felt pressure on her brain, the same kind of pressure she'd felt when Sargon had reached out to the original Enterprise. "Oh yeah, they're talking," she gasped, gripping her temples. "Holy- Great Bird, hello yes owww." Her ears rung painfully for a moment, and then the pressure disappeared. She squinted at Elbrun. "You didn't need to shout."
"I didn't," he said, staring at her strangely. His face was paper-white with strain. "That was Gomtuu."
Elle lowered her hands from her head once she was sure her brain wasn't going to come out her ears. "Oh. Cool!"
"Sickbay," Picard ordered sternly.
"But we're so close!" Elle protested, as Troi herded her back towards the lift.
"Yes, and both of you were just in contact with an alien ship," Picard said.
"Sir!" Worf said.
Elle whirled to the viewscreen, just in time to see the Tin Man shoot what looked like a green plasma wave at the Romulan ship. It barely missed the Enterprise at this angle, but the ship still shuddered as the wavefront passed and dispersed.
"Sickbay," Picard said again, and joined them in the lift.
-/\-
Dr. Crusher pressed Elle into one bio-bed and Elbrun into another. The telepath was scanned first. "Your brain activity suggests that you're coming out of a sort of fugue, or seizure. Your blood pressure and glucose are indicative of general systemic stress." She moved on to Elle. "And you... are suffering the exact same thing. Headache?"
"Like a giant ship kicked me in the head," Elle agreed.
Dr. Crusher gave her a painkiller. "You'll both be fine."
"Good," Picard said frostily. "Because I want to know exactly what you did. I want to know how closely you are in communication with the alien, and what you've learned about it, and I want to know now."
Elbrun sighed. "I just warned it, that's all. I've been in contact with it, sensing impressions from it. It calls itself Gomtuu. It's old, Captain. It's roamed the universe for many thousands of years."
"Where did it come from? How many-"
Elbrun waved a dismissive hand. "Far away. Maybe beyond the galaxy. Once there were millions of them. It hasn't seen another of its kind for millennia. It's alone. It may be the last of its species."
"Perhaps we can help it in some way. Can you ask it to return with us to Federation space? At least persuade it to leave the vicinity of Beta Stromgren, before the star explodes?" Picard paced in a tight circle, running through strategies.
Elbrun winced. "Captain, Gomtuu knows that the star will go nova soon. That's why it's here. It wants to die. There was an explosion in space. Radiation penetrating the outer layers. The crew. Oh, the crew died. Such loss. Empty pain, Hollowness."
"It's tired of being alone," Elle whispered, finally able to decipher the wave of mental infodumping. All that pain that had registered in her mind, it wasn't hers. It was the ship's. She rubbed at her eyes before her tears could start to fall.
Troi grabbed her in a hug, her empathy causing her own emotions to rise. "Tam. Stop this! You're losing yourself in this this merging."
"I know. I know." Elbrun shook his head, visibly refocused. "Tin Man hurts and wants to die. I can't do any more from out here. If you want me to really reach Tin Man, I have got to be in physical contact. I have got to go aboard."
"No. That is absolutely out of the question," Picard stated.
"He's the only one who can do it," Elle said, leaning into Troi's warm embrace for a moment. "The Romulans will stop at nothing and we can't let Gomtuu die."
Picard frowned at her. "What do you know?"
"Gomtuu wants a crew," Elle said, sitting up. "Tam wants peace and quiet, someone who understands him."
"No," Picard said, putting the pieces together. "I can't allow that."
"You have to," Elbrun said. "Please captain, don't you see? We need each other."
"And we need a liason, if we want to keep Gomtuu protected," Elle added. "This could be the most important cultural outreach mission in decades."
Picard frowned. "Counselor Troi, with me." The two of them moved away to talk.
Elle closed her eyes and leaned back against the biobed. Now that she had felt the initial blast, it was like a signal post in her mind, leading her to the Tin Man, Gomtuu. She reached out cautiously. Hello?
A wave of greeting, a general impression of wistful fondness. This ship knew she was young, had seen generations of children grow and become adults (tiny hands caressing the hallways, resting in beds that cradled their tiny forms, watched over lovingly by the ship, alert to any need - tiny toddling steps, helped along by leading strings suspended from the ceiling - shrieking children playing tag through oddly circular corridors - older children leaning against walls pulsing with life, breathing through their bright and sparkling emotions - family units, so many family units over the years-)
Elle breathed past the informational overload, and pushed out a feeling of curiosity. We want to know you better. Please don't destroy yourself.
She was hit by a wave of sorrow, of grief, of helplessness. A ghostly image of watching your crew die, unable to help them, unable to save them, unable to join them. Lifetimes of wandering, of searching, of talking to ghosts carried inside onself.
Elle wept for the creature's despair, but she couldn't help pushing forward a mental image of Tam Elbrun. All is not lost, she encouraged. He's looking for someplace to belong, just like you. Please, listen to him.
A stream of curiosity, of rapidly cresting hope. Gomtuu knew Tam, sent back an echo of the Betazoid's own mental signature. Pilot crew family home one yes- and pushed forward a mirror image of Elle's own mind.
Not me, Elle replied, apologetic. I have my own family, my own purpose. I can't leave them.
Gomtuu accepted this with grace, and pushed back an echo of Tam Elbrun.
A wave of loneliness and want crashed over Elle's mind, and she drowned in the sensation of it. Everything went blank.
-/\-
"... if you don't wake up in the next day or so I'm gonna have to call Admiral McCoy, and then you'll be responsible for our deaths when he comes out here and kills us all for losing you. You've already missed your Sunday call with him and I received the most terrifying communique about overwork of civilian minors. I don't know how much longer I can stall him. In other news, the Romulans haven't mentioned anything about Beta Stromgen, so we seem to have skated by without another diplomatic incident."
The words registered as pure noise, and then the meaning of the words slowly filtered through. Elle didn't see why Bones would kill anybody. "He's an old softie," she tried to say, but her head was pounding and forming the words took too much effort. "Nngh," was much easier to say.
The disgruntled voice stopped monologuing and called for a doctor.
"Bones?" Elle got her eyelids under command and managed to open her eyes. She stared up, disappointed, as Dr. Crusher and Captain Picard stared down at her, relief in their gazes. "Where's Bones?"
The two adults exchanged a glance. "Do you know where you are?" Dr. Crusher asked cautiously.
Elle frowned. "Enterprise...?" Why were they asking her that? Had something happened?
"Do you know what year it is?" Dr. Crusher continued.
Elle blinked, startled. "2366... right? We're still here? We haven't traveled?"
They sighed in relief. "Yes," Dr. Crusher said, squeezing Elle's arm. "Sorry. Just wanted to make sure you remembered."
Elle relaxed. "What, what happened? Where's Tin Man? The Romulans?"
They shared another glance. "You've been in a coma for the last three days," Picard said gravely.
"What." Elle struggled to sit upright, her arms like noodles. "Wh- what happened?"
"Tam Elbrun told us that you and Gomtuu were communicating mentally," Dr. Crusher said, her brow pinched with worry. "That the last thing Gomtuu communicated to you was overwhelming. The amount of psychic stress on your mind almost shut down your entire body. You had a seizure, and lapsed into a coma. All we could do was let you rest."
Elle stared at them, trying to remember... hope. Gomtuu had hoped... "What about Tam? And Gomtuu?"
"Data went with Tam to the ship," Picard said. "Tam managed to link telepathically with the creature and agreed to stay with it. Gomtuu left the sector. We don't know where they are, but Deanna assured us that Tam will contact us, eventually. You missed the supernova exploding."
"How do you feel?" Dr. Crusher asked, running her scanner over Elle's head.
"Tired," Elle admitted, hugging her knees to her chest. She closed her eyes, concentrated on her mental shields. They were gone, ripped to shreds by Gomtuu's depth of emotion. "My shields are burnt out. I'm gonna have to rebuild. But," she focused deeper. "I think everything else in my brain is intact."
"What you did was incredibly dangerous," Picard said sternly.
She winced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to reach out, but it was, overwhelming. It was lonely."
Picard wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her hair. "I am very glad you are awake," he said.
She leaned into his hug. "Me too." She yawned.
Dr. Crusher helped her lay back down. "You need some actual sleep," she said. "I want to keep you in sickbay another day for observation while you rebuild your mental shields. I don't want you to overwork yourself."
Elle nodded sleepily. "Can I send a message to Bones? And Spock?"
"Jean-Luc can handle that," Dr. Crusher said. "You focus on going to sleep."
Elle gave Picard a small grin. "Tell them, from me, to stop being worrywarts. I'm fine."
"No thank you," Picard said, "I choose life."
Elle laughed.
-/\-
Elle slept another eight hours, and then spent the rest of the day meditating, trying to restore her shields. Every time she came out of her mental desktop, Dr. Crusher made her drink more electrolytes and Troi made her take a nap.
Once she rebuilt her shields, she had to deal with her emotions. Most importantly, the emotional overdraft left behind by Gomtuu. Even approaching the deep well of despair shared by the sentient ship made Elle want to curl up in a ball and cry her eyes out, but it had to be dealt with.
She focused. Identify the emotion. Acknowledge it. Process it. Let it go.
It was slow going. Dealing with big, heavy emotions drained her strength, and more than once Elle had to stop and take a nap, exhausted.
She woke up from a nap and found Troi sitting next to her, holding her hand. "Deanna?" she asked, confused.
Troi smiled at her. "I'm very proud of you," she said. "You are incredibly brave to process this as you are."
Elle stifled a yawn. "I'm just doing what Spock taught me to do. And you." She sat up, rubbed her dry, gritty eyes.
"Would you like some company?" Troi asked.
Elle grimaced. "You don't mind if I start ugly-crying?"
"It's in my job description," Troi said placidly.
"Oh yeah." Elle gave her a small smile. "Sure." She sat up straight, took a deep breath, prepared to tackle the next chunk of borrowed emotions. "You know I wonder if there was a counselor on Gomtuu, if it ever got therapy. Tin Man needs therapy."
"If they ever come back this way, we'll be sure to get them some counseling," Troi assured her, eyes crinkling in a smile.
A/N: Hey guys, I'm gonna be on vacation with no laptop next week. But the week after that I'll put up two chapters, so stay tuned!