Resistance Is Futile - Pt 21

Guinan paused again, and looked around. Ten-Forward had a moderate crowd, a little large for this early in the morning, but that happened once in while. Everyone seemed calm and happy. She walked to the comm unit again, which sounded even as she reached for it.


"Guinan here," she said.

"You called earlier?" Virginia asked, her tone strained, though it sounded like an attempt to be cheerful.


"I did. I had a feeling ... and you know the feelings I get ... I felt a shift, and I was just wondering if everything was all right with you."

There was a pause, almost too short to be noticed, before the other woman answered saying, "Why wouldn't everything be all right?"

Guinan looked at the comm unit sharply. Virginia only ever said that when something was wrong. And usually when there was someone who could overhear her. It was a code phrase that dated back to the Third Earth War. Virginia had a tendency to get into what Marcus called 'scrapes'...and Marcus had had a tendency to be able to get her out of them. Guinan hadn't known the two then, but she didn't doubt the retellings one bit. Remembering the codes reply that let the other know that she knew it was the code, Guinan replied with, "No reason I can think of."

"All's well that ends well," remarked Virginia, too lightly. "I'll talk with you later. I have to call my office as they've been harassing the lines."

"Right. We don't want them sending someone to check up on you."

"I'm the one admiral in StarFleet with watchdogs that take their 'job' seriously. Keep the chocolate nearby, k?"

"You can count on it." The conversation terminated and Guinan was even more concerned that she had been before. Not only had Virginia given a code phrase...after Guinan had replied with the acknowledging response, Virginia had also given the countersign 'All's well that ends well'. The request for chocolate was part of a code as well, though separate...something Marcus had devised for her to say in a crowd, or when starting to feel stressed, to let him know that she wanted a drink. To hear the three phrases all within the same conversation could not be a good sign.

Could it be...that something had shifted in Virginia?


Guinan didn't know for sure, couldn't know until that woman got her butt down here to talk, but Guinan knew one thing...Virginia's voice had held a tone that she seldom heard...and the three times Guinan had heard it before had been when Marcus had died, when Jayden died, and when Ian had been named Q. Each time, Virginia had emotionally downspiraled and disappeared for a time...usually after doing something drastic...like taking a shuttlecraft and facing down the Romulan fleet during the Romulan war...challenging the Warlord King of Anfasiz to a duel...drastic things...

Guinan, usually the epitome of calm...began to pace Ten-Foward and fidget.