"Hello, my dear," said Lwaxana. When she spoke, her voice was low and melodious, and seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"Mrs. Troi... what's happened?" said Picard, although he strongly suspected he knew.
"I can't feel her," said Deanna. She walked slowly towards her mother. "I can see her, but I can't feel her. In my mind. In my heart, I can't feel her." "Oh, but I can feel you, Little One. I know it will be hard for you to understand but..." She smiled.
"Your mother is cosmic now."
Nistral was monitoring the battle, Dai at his side. Suddenly the lights flashed wildly throughout the control rooms. Everyone was looking around in confusion, not understanding what in the world was happening.
On the house ship of Graziunas, the exact same thing was occurring. No one could comprehend it.
Just like that, communication with everyone was being lost.
"It's a trick!" shouted Graziunas.
"It's some sort of Nistral trick! Some sort of weapon--to was "Sir!" shouted one of the monitor men.
"We're receiving transmissions from the fighter ships!" "What's happening out there!" demanded Graziunas. "Tell me!" "It's not a matter of "out there," sir," said the monitor. "Nothing's out there anymore." "What in the gods are you talking about?! If the ships aren't out there, where are they?"
At first Kerin thought he was hallucinating. There had been absolutely no warning. One moment he was swinging his ship around to re-enter the battle, and the next.
He looked down at his instrument board--dead.
The great engines were silent.
He could hear shouting now, bellows of confusion and anger. As if not believing his own senses, he scanned the instruments once more, giving them a brisk rap with his fist. Completely dead.
He settled back in his seat and shook his head.
"Some star jockey," he muttered.
Riker finally voiced what everyone already realized: "He's given her the power of the Q." Picard got to his feet and straightened his jacket, the better to give him a few moments to collect his thoughts. Lwaxana was waiting with what seemed infinite patience.
"Lwaxana," he said slowly, carefully.
He felt as if the least wrong word might send her hurtling off into the ether. "Lwaxana, I truly think you should reconsider this. Q gave the same "gift" to Commander Riker, and it nearly destroyed him." "Oh, but my mind is far stronger than Commander Riker's. No offense, Commander." "None taken," he said evenly.
"Lwaxana," Picard started again, "to take on the powers of Q--you'll become like him. You'll believe that you're superior to all life forms." "Jean-Luc, honestly," she said dismissingly.
"I've always felt superior to all life forms.
Now, I simply will be." Data turned towards Picard. "She does have a point, Captain." "Not now, Data," Picard said icily.
"Mother, please stop this," said Deanna. "You have no idea of what could happen." "Of course I do, dear. I will be all-powerful and accomplish great good." "Or great evil," said Worf darkly.
"Oh, nonsense, Worf," she said. She blinked over from one side of the bridge to the other, so that she was standing next to Worf. The Klingon took a step back in surprise. "Just because I'm omnipotent, that doesn't mean I'm no longer a nice person." "She's starting to sound like Q already," Worf muttered.
"Stop it!" she said with a stamp of her foot.
"Stop criticizing him! That's all any of you have been doing. If Q was the hideous creature you've all made him out to be, then why would he have given me the power to take action?" "Take action?" said Deanna. "Mother, what are you talking about?" "Captain," Data suddenly said. "The fighting has stopped." "What? You mean they're no longer firing at each other?" Picard's eyes searched the screen and he frowned, not quite understanding.
"No, sir. They are no longer in space.
They have vanished." Picard turned towards Lwaxana. "Mrs.
Troi," he said very slowly, very formally, "where are the ships?" "I put them back where they started," said Lwaxana. "It was so easy. It barely required any thought at all. I just thought about it and--poof--everything is attended to." "Mother, you can't do that!" said Deanna. "You can't just step into the middle of people's disputes and--" "No, Little One," Deanna cut her off sharply. The air in the bridge seemed to crackle. "You can't step in. I can. I can do what I wish. It's a free galaxy, and you're going to have to realize that your morals are not always pertinent to the issue at hand. I wanted to save lives. I saved them. Q offered me the power to do it, and I took it. And if he were to offer it a hundred more times, I'd take it a hundred times. I trust him. I trust him implicitly. He's brought me up to his level, and it's as if I've been blind all my life, blind until this very moment. There!" She pointed at thin air. "I just saw a molecule fly by. I decided to see one molecule, and there it is. And if I wanted to, I could make it do whatever I wanted." "Mother, please! Listen to me!" said Deanna urgently. "You're already changing! You're already becoming something you're not! You've got to tell Q to take this power back!" "Why? Because you're having trouble coping with it?
That, my child, is your problem. But for the first time in my life, I'm alive! You're asking me to give that up? To give up the wonders of this new state of mind? To make me like... like..." "Like us?" Deanna finished.
"Yes!" She pointed at Deanna. "Yes, exactly. To make me like you. You can't begin to realize the differences between Q and you. Between me and you. Don't you see? I never realized what I was missing until now. Life is a banquet!
And most poor bastards are starving to death!" "I've heard that before," said Deanna.
"Of course you have, dear. I've said it on many occasions." She patted Deanna on the cheek and Deanna trembled. It was her mother, and yet the touch felt... wrong. "I know what the real problem is. I know what's most on your mind.
But I can assure you, Little One, I will still love you, even when I'm a goddess."
Kerin was removing his helmet, when his father ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "What are you doing here!" he practically shouted at his son.
"How did all the ships return to the landing bay!" "I don't know!" shot back Kerin. "I was hoping you had some idea." "Oh, I have an idea, all right," said Nistral.
Other pilots were gathering around them now, looking to Nistral for leadership. Everyone was shouting at once.
"Graziunas!" someone was saying, and others took up the shout. "It must have been Graziunas!" "No," said Nistral sharply. "It wasn't, because their ships disappeared too. No, this stinks of some sort of Federation hypocrisy. And they'll pay dearly for it."
Sehra opened her eyes, expecting to find herself in the afterlife. She wondered momentarily what that would look like. Somehow, she had not thought that it would look like her room, but that was indeed what she saw when she dared to look.
The door opened and Karla entered. Her hands flew to her mouth as she gasped in shock. Sehra still wasn't focussing on what had happened.
"Karla--?" "I knew it!" Karla cried out. "I knew that Wesley Crusher could do it! He can do anything!"
Picard couldn't think of a thing to say in response to Lwaxana's profession of undying maternal love, even now that she was a deity. So he felt a flash of relief when Worf said, "Captain--incoming message from the Nistral," he paused, "and the Graziunas now as well.
They are demanding an explanation. They think we did something with our transporters to send them back where they came from." "The ingrates!" Lwaxana said stridently.
"I stopped them from killing each other! I stopped that young boy from unknowingly blowing his own lover to bits..." "You saved Sehra!" Wesley asked excitedly.
"Of course I did," she said. "It was child's play." Picard moaned inwardly. "Worf, tell them all concerned parties should meet here on the Enterprise within the hour. Everything will be sorted out then." "If they don't agree to that?" "They had better! Or I'll personally dismantle their ships a piece at a time," snapped Picard.
"Jean-Luc," said Lwaxana, "I can arrange that, if you wish." He felt a chill cut through him. "That is not funny, Lwaxana." "It wasn't meant to be, Jean-Luc," she said mirthlessly. "It wasn't meant to be."
Chapter Twenty-four
Graziunas and Nistral glowered at each other across the conference table until Lwaxana Troi entered. Then they glowered at her.
Picard, Riker, Worf, and Deanna were already there. Seated nearby, but also on opposite sides of the table, were Kerin and Sehra. They couldn't even look each other in the eye.
Nistral stabbed a finger at Lwaxana.
"Let me understand this. You're saying that this woman was responsible for stopping our blood feud?" "She dared to interfere?" boomed Graziunas.
"I don't believe it," Nistral began.
"I simply don't..." "Believe it," Nistral finished. And looked around to see that he was standing in the Enterprise engine room.
Geordi La Forge turned in surprise.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" Before Nistral could say anything, he vanished.
Geordi stood there for a moment. Then he tapped his VISOR a couple of times, shook his head, and went back to what he was doing.
In the meantime, Nistral reappeared in the conference lounge. The entire thing had taken only a couple of seconds, and when he did come back, it was to the open-mouthed astonishment of the other Tizarin in the room. To the Enterprise crew, of course, this was becoming standard operating procedure.
"Convinced?" asked Lwaxana calmly. "If you need more, I can send you into orbit around Vulcan." "That would be fine with me," Graziunas said.
"All right," snapped Nistral. "But she is here as a representative of Betazed, and of the Federation. Her actions were unspeakable." "Her actions saved lives!" snapped Picard. "Including, Graziunas, the life of your daughter." "My daughter?" Graziunas turned towards her. "What are you talking about?" Lwaxana pointed at Kerin in an offhand fashion. "She was in a ship, and he blew it to pieces." Kerin and Sehra looked at each other in shock. Together, they said, "That was you!?" "Yes," said Picard. "Do you young people see?
And do you--you elders? Do you see as well?" "Sehra, if I had..." Kerin couldn't even get the words out. "If I had..." "I didn't want to live!" she wailed.
"I didn't--" "I don't care what happens!" said Kerin.
"I don't care what you look like when you're old!" "I don't care if you think about other girls!
It doesn't matter! I just want you!" "Not again!" shouted Nistral. "First it's on, then off, then on! I won't tolerate this!" "It's what I'd expect from your son!" bellowed Graziunas. "Women twisting him around their little fingers! He hasn't a mind of his own!" "Shut up!" bellowed Kerin. "Both of you, shut up! We love each other! That's all.
We do! And if I hadn't been so damned gutless--" "It wasn't just you," said Sehra. "It was me. We let ourselves be pushed around and--" "Not anymore," said Kerin. He grabbed Sehra's hand and held it so firmly she thought her fingers would break, but she said nothing. It was the best pain she'd ever felt. "We've listened to all of you," said Kerin. "We've listened to others. We've listened to everyone and everything except our own hearts. No more!" "Get your hands off my daughter," said Graziunas.
"You're humiliating me!" Nistral said fiercely.
"No, I'm standing up to you. Get used to it.
That's the way it's going to be." Nistral was seated near Picard, and he started to get up out of his seat. To the surprise of all present, Picard grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him back down into the chair with such force that his teeth rattled.
"That is more than enough!" said Picard, his voice ringing. "It seems to me that what we have here are two young people with more brains than their parents!
Kerin and Sehra are ready to put their disagreements and problems behind them. But you... you two... are unwilling to let go of your hatred!" "You don't understand--" "Wrong, Graziunas. I do understand. I just do not care. Not about your rivalries. Not about your blood feuds. Not about your houses. A plague on both your houses! All I care about is that we started out with a young couple who wanted to celebrate a joyous union. And instead what we have is anger, jealousy, vituperation, accusations, hatred, and poor spirits. Now, what do you call that sorry state of affairs, eh?" "Why, Jean-Luc!" came a voice like the screech of a thousand bats. "It's what you humans call "love."" Q had materialized in the middle of the conference table. He stood above them, his arms folded, his smile lopsided.
Lwaxana extended a hand. "Q!" she said.
"How wonderful to see you, my love!" He glanced at her disdainfully. "Oh, puh-leeese," he said.
She shook her head, not quite hearing him properly. "What?" But now Kerin and Sehra were pointing at him.
