Star Trek-TNG-Novel-Imzadi 1 Read online

  over her breasts, holding the padd over them as if

  it were a shield. She was dressed in flowing blue,

  a loose-sleeved tunic and a long blue skirt

  that the wind was swishing about her legs. "So you're

  going around and introducing yourself, one person at a

  time. That could take quite a while."

  "It'll take even longer when the people I'm

  introducing myself to don't even tell me their

  names."

  She angled her head slightly, regarding him

  with that outthrust jaw of hers. "Why should I bother?

  You know my name."

  Now he folded his arms. "You know ... it's

  going to be very difficult being at ease with a

  population that considers my mind an open book."

  "I didn't read your mind. I hazarded a

  guess. All you did was confirm it."

  "Oh. I ... just assumed ..."

  "Assumptions can lead to great embarrassments,

  Lieutenant. As I'm sure you can attest."

  She turned and walked away from him.

  He stood there for a moment and watched her go.

  Don't give up.

  The thought entered his head, and he wasn't

  entirely sure where it came from. Was it his own

  mind ... or was the source elsewhere? Was there a

  remote chance that the encouragement had come from her

  ... either consciously or unconsciously?

  A remote chance, yes. Remote. Very, very

  slim. Pathetically thin, as a matter of

  fact. So thin as to be virtually nonexistent.

  But still worth a shot.

  He kicked into high gear and trotted after her.

  It was surprising how quickly she moved, with

  brisk, rapid steps. His quick pace brought him

  alongside her and he said, "You used to do some

  geology, didn't you."

  That brought her up short and she stared at him.

  "A lot of fieldwork," he continued.

  "When I was a teenager, yes."

  "Why did you give it up?"

  "My true talents lay elsewhere. How in the

  world did you know?"

  "The way you walk. I had a friend, she was also

  a geologist, except she made her life's

  work out of it. She walked the same way ... a very

  precise, measured stride. And she knew

  exactly how much space each of her strides

  covered. That way she could always measure off

  distances even if she didn't have an instrument handy

  to measure them."

  Slowly she nodded her head. "Very good,

  Lieutenant. I'm impressed."

  "And I'm impressed that I impressed you."

  Once more he stuck out a hand. "I'm Lt.

  William t. Riker. And you are ...?"

  She sighed. "We've been through this, haven't

  we?"

  "I have. You haven't."

  This time she took his hand and shook it firmly.

  "Deanna Troi. The answer is no."

  He wished he could get more than a handful of

  sentences out of her at a time. He loved listening

  to her voice. "The answer to what?"

  "The answer, I would presume, to just about any

  question you'd care to pose." She folded her arms

  once more. "Look, Lieutenant ... I really

  don't mean to be rude here ... but I don't have

  the slightest intention of leading you on. I know you

  saw me at the wedding last night. In fact, we

  both know you saw me, and we both know what was going

  through your mind."

  He took a step closer to her, sounding as

  suave as he possibly could. "Then we're not

  exactly on even footing. I don't know what

  was going through your mind."

  "Then I'll tell you now. I'm very flattered

  by your intentions, Lieutenant. I'm vain enough to be

  pleased that I could provoke such ... strong

  feelings from you ... merely by the display of

  my body. Your reaction, however, would indicate

  an obsession for surface attributes only."

  "That's hardly my sole interest," he said

  defensively.

  "No, but it's a driving one."

  He drew yet another step closer, trying

  to discern whether his growing nearer was having any sort

  of effect on her. She wasn't stepping back,

  which either meant that she wanted him near her, or

  else she just figured it wasn't worth the trouble

  to back away from him. "Even if it is ... it

  doesn't mean that I wouldn't want to get to know you

  better on a variety of levels."

  "That might be. But it's the order of the levels

  that I have difficulty with. I also have difficulty

  with the transient nature of your personality."

  That stopped him. "Transient?"

  She looked down and seemed almost reluctant

  to speak. "I don't wish to say things that will

  upset you."

  His voice took on a deeper, somewhat

  annoyed air. "You won't upset me, I

  assure you."

  "Very well." She looked him in the eyes.

  Other students passing by afforded them quick glances

  before going on about their business. Her voice took

  on a clinical air as she said, "I sense that

  you're someone who thrives on quick encounters. Who

  enjoys the physicality of relationships without the

  deeper emotional attachments those relationships can

  and should bring with them. And that natural tendency of

  yours is heightened by the fact that you're only going

  to be on Betazed a few months. That's much more

  incentive, then, to engage in passing romantic

  assignations without any concern of long-term

  relations since, by definition, you won't be here

  long enough. Well? Am I close?"

  His lips thinned almost to nonexistence. "I

  suppose you feel you have me pegged pretty

  well."

  "Well enough for my purposes. Good day,

  Lieutenant."

  She turned and walked away, and this time there was

  no additional beckoning in Riker's mind, leaving

  him totally in the dark about where his mind was at, where

  her mind was at, and what precisely he should do

  next ...

  ... if anything.

  I'm home.

  Deanna nodded to Mr. Homn, who stepped

  back away from the front door of the mansion as she

  entered.

  In her head, her mother's voice replied,

  I'm up here, Little One.

  Deanna looked in the direction of the upstairs

  bedroom. What's wrong, Mother? It was very

  unusual for Lwaxana Troi to be upstairs

  at this time of day ... usually she was bustling around,

  tending to this, that, and the other, or perhaps entertaining some

  head of state. Her absence was reason for

  curiosity.

  Deanna trotted upstairs and into her mother's

  bedroom. Lwaxana lay in her bed, looking

  utterly spent. She blew her nose loudly

  into a cloth.

  "Oh, Mother, what happened?"

  It snuck up on me, replied her mother,

  responding to Deanna's verbal expression of

  concern. One minute I was fine, and the next

  minute my head felt ready to explode.

  Treasure your health, Little One. You never
<
br />   appreciate it until it's gone.

  Is there anything I can do, Mother?

  Lwaxana sneezed loudly, then thought,

  Yes, there is. Substitute for me.

  Where?

  The Federation embassy is hosting a

  reception for the Rigelian ambassador tonight. As

  a daughter of the fifth house, it's my

  responsibility to be there. Obviously I can't

  go when I'm in this shape.

  Deanna sat on the edge of the bed and fidgeted

  with her hands. Out loud she said, "I'd really rather

  not, Mother. I was out late yesterday with Chandra's

  wedding. I've been working late hours on my

  studies. I--"

  Lwaxana sat up, but her expression had

  changed from self-directed misery to a puzzled

  frown. "Who's Lieutenant Riker?"

  With a loud sigh of annoyance, Deanna said,

  "He's no one, Mother. And you know, after all this

  time, I still hate it when you do that. If I wanted

  to discuss him with you, I'd discuss him."

  "You would have sooner or later." But then the

  draining of Lwaxana's sinuses prompted her

  to lie back down, and as she blew her nose again,

  she thought, So who is he?

  I told you, he's no one. Just

  some Starfleet officer who can't keep his ... more

  base thoughts ... under control. He's of no

  consequence to me.

  He's of enough consequence, Little One, to be the

  primary factor in why you don't want to go to the

  embassy tonight.

  Deanna made an irritated noise.

  I'll go, Mother. All right? I'll go.

  I'll be charming and wonderful and I assure you

  I'll have absolutely no trouble with

  Lieutenant Riker. All right?

  Her mother reached up and patted her

  affectionately on the cheek. That's my

  girl.

  And deep enough down in her psyche that she hoped

  even her mother wouldn't be able to discern it, Deanna

  thought, Great. Just great.

  CHAPTER 16

  The Federation embassy was fully lit up that

  evening and was alive with the boisterousness and frivolity

  of the gathering.

  Unlike the wedding ceremony, which was almost

  entirely attended by Betazoids and hence was rather

  quiet, protocol required that conversation at

  embassy gatherings be primarily verbal, in

  order to accommodate offworlders. So it was that

  Riker found himself eminently more relaxed this time out.

  He watched Mark Roper working the crowd,

  overseeing the catering functions, and doing everything

  he could to make the Rigelian ambassador

  feel at home. Considering that up until that

  point Riker's sole exposure to Roper had

  been watching him fuss and bother over the details

  of his job, it was somewhat comforting to observe that

  Roper was indeed a perfectly talented

  diplomat when in the proper circumstances.

  Riker was no slouch at such activities

  himself. He had his charm cranked up to all

  burners and continually made all the right moves and

  said all the correct things. At one point

  Roper drifted over to him and said, "You ask me,

  Captain, I think you've missed your calling.

  You have a real flair for this line of work."

  "I'm just a gifted amateur, sir."

  "Oh, now don't be modest."

  But Riker hadn't heard the last thing Roper

  had said because his attention had been distracted when

  Deanna Troi came through the door. He

  watched as she looked around, trying to spot someone

  she might know. She attracted the attention of one

  of the older counsels and immediately went off with him.

  Roper watched the entire thing and his mouth

  twitched in amusement. "Your mind seems to be

  elsewhere, Captain."

  "Hmm? Oh." Riker looked down,

  slightly abashed that he'd allowed his attention

  to be so easily diverted. What the hell kind of

  training was that? "Sorry, sir."

  "Once again your famed noninterest in Deanna

  Troi appears to rear its head."

  "Frankly, Mark ... she's not a

  particularly friendly person."

  "Really?" Roper seemed genuinely shocked.

  "She's been nothing but friendly to me, and everyone

  who's gotten to know her. Are you quite

  sure?"

  "Well, she was extremely standoffish with me."

  "When was this?"

  "I ... happened to run into her. In the city."

  "I see. And how do you think you behaved?"

  Riker stared at him. "I was fine.

  Polite." Then he paused and admitted,

  "Frankly, I was damned uncomfortable."

  "Why, in heaven's name?"

  "Well ... I had a hard time becoming

  totally at ease with a woman who can read my every

  thought."

  Roper looked from the young lieutenant

  to Deanna, who was across the room, and back

  to Riker once more. "Who? Deanna? She can't

  read your every thought."

  "What? B--" Now Riker was clearly

  confused. "I thought that ... I mean, I just

  figured ... and you said her mother was so--"

  "That's her mother. But Deanna isn't anywhere

  near the telepath that her mother is. To be

  specific, she's half the telepath her mother

  is. Deanna's father was human."

  "Human?" Riker was astounded. Here he

  couldn't figure out how to come to terms with even

  talking to a Betazoid, and some man had actually

  found a way to marry one. And a powerful one, at

  that.

  "That's right. Deanna's no mind reader.

  She's an empath. She senses moods,

  emotions, feelings. She can sense honesty,

  duplicity, sexual desire ..." Roper

  paused after saying that, waited for Riker's

  expression of surprise, and when he got it,

  continued, "She's very, very adept at that ... but

  only in a general sense."

  "I see." Then Riker nodded and grinned.

  "Well ... perhaps I'd better try and

  rectify the situation."

  He took a step forward and suddenly Wendy was

  in the way. She was holding a drink and looked

  extremely mellow.

  "Will, have you been avoiding me?" She placed a

  hand on his shoulder and assumed a distinctly pouty

  air. "I'd be very hurt if you were."

  Riker tried to come up with a smooth response

  that would ease him through the situation, but now Roper

  stepped in and said, "Wendy ... there's someone

  I'd like you to meet. The Rigelian

  ambassador."

  "Really?" she chirped. It was becoming

  rapidly clear that the drink she was holding was

  hardly her first of the evening.

  "Yes, really. He's right over this way."

  Roper took his daughter by the arm and guided her

  away into the crowd, leaving Riker alone. Roper

  slowed only long enough to toss a wink in Riker's

  direction.

  Riker immediately seized the opportunity and cut

  his way through the crowd like a shark. Within moments he

  had drawn up be
hind Deanna and simply stood

  there, waiting for her to turn around.

  He knew that she was aware of him almost immediately,

  but for what seemed an eternity she only

  presented her back. The diplomat she was

  talking to was suddenly distracted by someone else

  clamoring for his attention, and he allowed himself to be

  pulled away with an apologetic nod

  to Deanna. Then she sighed and her shoulders

  slumped just a bit.

  "Why are you just hovering, Lieutenant?"

  "How did you know?"

  "I could feel you breathing down my neck."

  "No, not that. I mean how did you know that I was

  only going to be assigned to Betazed for a few

  months?"

  Slowly she turned to face him, an amused

  expression on her face.

  "I mean," continued Riker, "I had assumed

  you'd just picked it out of my thoughts. But someone

  who's an empath wouldn't be able to focus that

  tightly, would she?"

  "No. She wouldn't."

  "Well? I'm waiting." He even made a

  show of tapping the toe of his boot with impatience.

  She studied her fingernails as she said, "I

  asked around. All right?"

  "Now why did you do that?"

  "I was curious. Are you satisfied,

  Lieutenant?"

  "Call me W."

  "For the moment, I believe I prefer

  "Lieutenant."'"

  "For the moment?" He smiled ingratiatingly.

  "Does that mean you anticipate that there will be

  opportunities in the future to address me?"

  "Right now, Lieutenant, I'd like to address

  you to Vulcan and send you out with the next batch of

  communiqu@es."

  He mimed being stabbed to the heart.

  "Oh! How you sting, Miss Troi! To be at the

  receiveg end of your rapier wit ..."

  "Lieutenant," she said with a heavy sigh,

  "what do you want from me? No ..." She put

  her hands palm up in a don't-move gesture.

  "No, strike that. I know what you want. The question

  is, what will it take to get through to you that I'm not

  interested?"

  He set his jaw determinedly. "Go out with

  me."

  "Go out with you?" She laughed. "You feel the

  best way to dis-courage you is to en-courage

  you? Now that is truly a unique piece of

  logic."

  "I didn't say it was logical."

  "That's a relief."

  "What I do say is that it gives you a chance

  to make a decision based on something other than first

  impressions. If we spend some time together and you

  decide that you're not interested ... then fine.

  I'll accept that. Believe me ... I don't