Resistance Is Futile - Pt. 6

The hour was late and there were few people in Ten-Forward which allowed the hostess Guinan to sit with her friend who had chosen to seclude herself at a booth in the far corner of the large room.

Admiral Hamilton had long since changed out of her uniform and was dressed casually in a loose shirt and pant outfit. The drink in front of her, a harmless root beer, sat untouched as the woman stared out the window at the sparkling stars that streaked by.

"It's noisy in here," commented Virginia, breaking the silence between the two.

Guinan glanced around. "Actually, it's pretty quiet in here tonight."

"You know what I mean," the other woman replied, turning to look at her friend.

"I know," conceded Guinan with understanding in her voice.

"Some of their thoughts...it's like they're screaming." Virginia sighed, her forehead wrinkling as though she were in pain. "And before you say anything - Yes, I'd rather be here than in my quarters. At least here, some of the voices have faces."

Guinan did what she did best. She listened.

Virginia tilted her head, her hair falling from the loose knot she had pulled it into and regarding the others in the large room. Truthfully, there were just a scattered handful. Thoughtfully she raked her fingers through her fallen hair. "Erin looks as though she is listening to every word Richie is saying, but her thoughts are completely focused on the baseball game on Cestus III in a few hours. Enrique is trying to decide how best to ask Betani out...but...Betani's thoughts are the loudest. She sits alone...her heart is crying over the loss of her favorite uncle...wondering why no one sits with her just to listen to her. And..."

"And?" Guinan prodded when her friend fell silent.

Virginia looked back out the window quickly as the door to Ten-Forward opened.

Guinan looked over her shoulder to see who was coming in so late at night and smiled in greeting at the captain. He nodded to her and headed to the bar.

"And some thoughts are strangely silent," Virginia continued in a quiet murmur.

The Ten-Forward hostess regarded her friend, as perceptive as Deanna had been. "You like him."

"Don't be ridiculous. He's too young for me." The admiral shook her head even as her face turned pink.

"Chronologically perhaps. But even so..."

"I know, I know," interrupted the younger woman. "I'm still a kid to many."

"I was going to say that he's attracted to older women."

Virginia ignored her as she rested her head upon her hand as she quietly regarded the captain of the ENTERPRISE. "There's a calm control about him that reminds me of Marcus."

Once again, Guinan listened.

"There's a mature power about him. Yet...there are enough differences that I know it's a separate attraction." Her lips quirked in amusement. "For starters, Marcus had hair."

"It doesn't matter though, does it?"

"Not one bit." Virginia looked back out the window and sighed again. "He wasn't afraid to meet my eyes."

The dark colored woman considered this, along with the fact that the man in question rarely visited Ten-Forward, especially at this time of night. "Maybe he likes you too."

The pink in the admiral's face brightened. "He thinks it's a side effect of the mind access that happens at first eye contact."

"Really?" Guinan's forehead wrinkled in surprised amusement. "That's a first. Is it?"

Virginia shook her head. "No. I felt his attraction to me as soon as I beamed over. If it was a side effect...I'd be having sex a whole lot more than what I do."

Guinan refrained from chuckling. "I take it that it's been a while."

"Just a bit. Nothing but a passing flirt since Jayden...and he left me twenty some years ago. Not that I've been keeping track of something so trivial. I mean, what's a few moments pleasure compared to the fate of the Federation?"

"What's the fate of the Federation compared to feeling the love of one who accepts you for who you are?"

Virginia didn't answer.

"I need to get back to being hostess," Guinan stated as she rose to her feet. "From what you said earlier, Betani needs someone to listen to her."

"Don't we all?" replied Virginia with a smile. "I'll see you later."

"Of course."

The alien woman picked up her glass of carbonated water and downed a good portion of it, secretly wishing that it had a touch of alcohol in it. At least then, the voices on this ship would be silent...or at least her telepathic ears would be deaf to them. But the regulations that ruled her life strictly prohibited her from drinking while on mission, especially one where she might be called upon to use her powers. How she hated regulations. Sometimes, in her darker hours, she wondered if in some alternate reality, there was a version of her that lived without restrictions...and was that other woman happy? Which always led her to the thought, what would happen if she were to throw off those regulations and lived as she pleased?

A shadow fell across her table, and a male voice broke into her thoughts, "May I join you?"