Resistance Is Futile - pt 34

All was quiet.

"Night" had fallen on the Enterprise...as much as it could fall on a busy ship that was never completely idle. There was always something going on somewhere. It was just usually quieter during the night cycle.

Ten-Forward often saw a small flow of people even in the middle of the night. Tonight was no different.

Ensign Ro Laren had been through earlier, silently looking for the admiral who had been a friend and sponsor during the hard days at the academy. Unlike most of the admirality, Hamilton had a long memory and well remembered the terrors of war. Admiral Hamilton had been the one to talk her out of joining the Maquis...which had turned out to be a pivotal decision for the Enterprise because it had been Ro who had saved the ship from the Duras sisters allied with the evil doctor Soran. Loss of life had been minimal and the ship salvagable. She had yet to be promoted for that miracle, but with the admiral on her side, Ro knew that she could count on it happening.

Lt. Shelby Mansion had been through as well. Unable to sleep she had sought out the calm of the Ten-Forward hostess. She had talked for several minutes, pouring out her worry over her parents deteriorating health and how she was so many lightyears away from being able to help. Guinan listened and sent the girl back to bed with a lighter load.

She had also spoken with Reg Barclay, though briefly. Reg, too, had been looking for the admiral, wanting to bend her ear on transporter technology. While engineering wasn't the admiral speciality, she had a great interest in it and had crossed Barclay's path years ago at the Academy. She had been teaching a course on First Contact methodology and had found him moping in gardens looking for a curiously absent Boothby. What had ensued was a fascinating conversation on technology...the advances she had seen in transporters and replicators...Warp speed had especially fascinated her. Not only had she eased his fears regarding transporters, she had encouraged his desire to switch from the sciences to engineering.

There had been a few others, Hopni and Johannsen to name two, who had wandered through, also looking for the admiral. Guinan herself couldn't help but look for Virginia as well each time the door opened. She knew that the alien admiral was seeing the captain after that man had ended his shift on the bridge. As much as Guinan believed that things would be fixed between the two, there was an underlying worry that things would go badly. Especially since Virginia had been drinking and was more "toasted" than Picard had realized.

Perhaps there was nothing to worry about. Perhaps Virginia had returned to her rooms to sleep it off. She would be sadly disappointed if it were to be any other way. Still, Guinan didn't feel at ease.

She poured herself a drink, and was surprised...very surprised...when Q appeared out of no where and sat at the bar in front of her. Without a word, she poured him a drink and pushed it his way.

"It never ceases to amaze me how many lives Virginia manages to touch," Q said quietly.

"She has a knack for it," Guinan answered. "Why are you here?"

"This is the only time I can talk to you," Q answered. "Virginia's sleeping."

"Good. Has she had any more to drink?"

"No. Hopefully she'll stay away from it. I thought about slipping in and hiding it from her, but that wouldn't do her any good."

"She has to make the decision herself." Guinan waited. Vagually she wondered at the lack of reaction to Q's presence from the few people in Ten-Forward.

Q, seeing her look around the room casually, said, "They only see a non-descript ensign."

"You've never been what one would call non-descript."

"I am today."

"You haven't answered my question yet."

"No, I haven't." The other man took a deep breath, then gave the hostess an earnest look. "Guinan, I've come to say...I'm sorry."

It took her a moment to formulate a response. "You're sorry?"

"I know you don't believe me..."

"Q..." She held up her hand to halt him. She was a listener. And she could hear the sincerity in his voice. His face she could disbelieve...his body language she could distrust...if she were a normal person, she could distrust what she was hearing...but she was far from being a normal person, and when she heard something ... even this shocking and unbelievable... "I believe you."

"You do?" He was quite clearly surprised.

"I'm just surprised."

Q looked embarrassed. "You've never known me any other way."

"No, I haven't. And...I've never really trusted Virginia's judgment concerning you. She doesn't pick the best of men."

"I think she does it to irritate me." Q shrugged.

"I've never considered that."

He shrugged again. "So, you believe me. Do you forgive me?"

Guinan paused, and could not resist the temptation. "I'll have to think about it."

"That's all I ask." With a nod of his head, Q disappeared.