Part 16 (1/2)
... no women.
It had been a long stretch, eight years. Riker had never antic.i.p.ated living the celibate life of a monk. And yes, there had been the terribly brief reunion with Deanna, but circ.u.mstances had sped him through that get-together and there had been no one since then.
Riker had never had any problem obtaining bedmates when he had so desired. One yeoman had once commented that he should have the twinkle in his eye insured for a million credits. He seriously considered doing it just so he could name her as the beneficiary, just for laughs.
So eight years ... going from feast to famine that totally and comprehensively ...
He cleared his throat loudly, perhaps a bit too loudly, but he couldn't help it since it was feeling unnaturally closed up.
Sela, meantime, was still talking about Klingons.
”They are users,” she said unequivocally. ”They used the Romulans until it no longer served them, and then they allied with the Federation when their own resources were destroyed.
Well, now other, powerful races have entered into the picture, haven't they. Powerful enemies, such as the Dominion and the Jem'Hadar. Inevitably, the Klingons will ally with them. It is their nature. They will ally themselves with the Dominion and shunt aside the Federation. Worse ... they will turn against the Federation. The price of entry to join the galaxy-spanning club of the Dominion.”
”You don't know that for certain ...”
”Was it not a Terran ... Santa Claus, I believe his name was ... who said that those who do not listen to history are doomed to repeat it?”
Riker tried to cover his mouth and stifle a laugh. He was not one hundred percent successful. ”I... I think you mean Santayana.”
”Oh.” Sela looked momentarily thrown, but then seemed to shrug it off mentally. ”Well... the names are similar. I was close.”
”Oh, definitely. They're practically interchangeable.”
”The point is,” she said forcefully, ”that you can be instrumental in ending an alliance that should never have begun. Plus,” and she smiled, ”my plans involve a certain Klingon. One whose activities you must be all too well aware of.”
For a moment Riker had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. The overheated effect that her presence was having on him abated slightly as he stared at her in confusion. ”Who are you referring to?”
”Worf,” she said flatly, and looked at him askance. ”Are you saying you don't know? That their involvement was conducted without your knowledge?”
Worf. Worf from the Enterprise. Tom was with her that far, but her talking now about ”involvement”? Riker was suddenly worried that he was approaching the outer reaches of his ability to carry off his masquerade. Trying to buy time, he said, ”You've lost me. You've totally lost me.”
”My oh my. I begin to understand.” She reached over, took her chair by the back, and slid it behind herself. She sat so that she was face-to-face with Riker, their knees touching. She took her hands in his, and there was a look on her face that was genuinely sympathetic. ”The heartlessness ... the utter heartlessness ... nothing could better underscore the pernicious Klingon mindset...”
”What are you talking about?”
”Worf and your precious Deanna Troi, whom you talk about in your sleep-they are involved.”
”In ... involved?” The notion made his head swim. For years, when he had been stewing in his own juices alone on that G.o.dforsaken world, Deanna had been locked into his head, as if frozen in amber, and he had cherished the relations.h.i.+p that they had had. When he met up with her again on the Enterprise, it had seemed the perfect opportunity to make right that which he had botched the first time. He couldn't believe that she hadn't already been s.n.a.t.c.hed up by someone, most particularly ... well... himself.
And then what had he gone and done but blown it.
During his time in the work camp, he had dwelt on his actions since being rescued and, oddly enough, he regretted nothing-not even the actions that had cost him his freedom. Nothing ... except the way that he had once again bungled his relations.h.i.+p with his Imzadi, with his Deanna. He had vowed that if he managed to get oif the Carda.s.sian rock that was his prison, he would somehow salvage the relations.h.i.+p.
In all those musings, it had never occurred to him that she might be taken because, after all, if fate had left her single for all that time, then certainly they were meant to be together.
And taken by ... by Worf? By a Klingon warrior? What sort of madness was that? He was brutal where she was tender, bristling where she was smooth, rough where she was gentle ...
Insanity ...
He realized that Sela had kept talking, and with an effort he managed to refocus on what she was saying.
”-kept it secret while you were serving together,” Sela was surmising, shaking her head in disbelief, ”and then, once you were taken prisoner, they dropped the need for secrecy and flaunted their affair publicly.”
”This... must be a mistake ...”
”No mistake. I have... operatives ... shall we say ...”
”What are you talking about? Operatives where?”
She hesitated a moment, and then said, ”All right. I may as well be candid. Our intelligence reports indicated that, in a full-blown war with the Dominion, Betazed would be a likely target for occupation by the Jem'Hadar. Both the Romulans and the Carda.s.sians are keeping the planet under close surveillance, with a network of informants and such.”
”So?”
”So, masterless samurai I may be, but I still have well-positioned sources in the Romulan intelligence-gathering network, at least. I hear of things. Once I knew of your interest in her, I checked into Deanna Troi's more recent activities just as a matter of course. It turns how she had just recently returned to Betazed ... with her fiance, Mr. Worf, in tow. Deanna's mother, Lwaxana Troi, held a rather large social gathering for her just the other day, in fact. A sort of welcome-home affair.”
Riker looked as if he'd been smashed across the face with a brick. ”Deanna... and Worf. No, he's ... he's all wrong for her... how could he let this happen ... ?”
”How could he let it happen?”
Riker's breath suddenly caught. He'd blown it, since of course he was referring to Will Riker, his counterpart.
But without hesitation, Sela replied, ”He's a Klingon, Riker. That's my point. He let it happen because he wanted it to happen. He cares nothing about loyalty or decency. As with all his kind, he wants what he can take because he is the stronger. He sees Deanna as a conquest; nothing more.”
There was a pounding in Tom Riker's head then, a whirlpool of emotions swirling within him. Anger at Will Riker, fury with Worf, desire for Deanna tinted with a sense of betrayal, and a need...
... a need, like a living ent.i.ty all its own. A need to love and be loved, a need to hold a woman in his arms, to reinforce his own desirability. A need to hurl himself into an abyss of pa.s.sion and sensation, to release the emotion that was roiling within him...
It was as if Sela sensed that need. Her hand was at the base of his neck now, as if feeling the throb of his pulse. She seemed everywhere to him: in his mind, in his soul, and when she spoke again it was with her hot breath caressing the inside of his ear.
”You can have her again,” she whispered. ”You can take her from the brute ... I can help you with that... I can help you with whatever you wish to do, for we are two of a kind ... we are both the outcasts, the forgotten ... we can help each other, Riker ... we're good for each other... you have a need, don't you ... don't you ...”
And yet, with all the buildup in his mind, in his body, he didn't know that he would press his lips against hers until he actually did it. Had no idea that he would grab her with a fierceness that astounded even him, pulling her body up against his, feeling the hard shape of her beneath the clothing, the tautness of her flat stomach and lean muscles. He felt her gasp into his mouth and then she returned the ferocity of his kiss with an intensity of her own....
CHAPTER.
Wo rorf hadn't been completely certain what to expect upon his arrival at Lwaxana Troi's house, but the sight of Lwaxana in battle gear certainly wasn't it.
It was a fairly warm morning, as most were on Betazed. The gra.s.s was still wet from the dew, and Worf unaccountably felt a certain spring in his step. For no reason that he could really determine, he was filled with an odd faith that everything was going to work out. That confidence lasted up until the point that Lwaxana opened the door, at which point he decided that all bets were off.
The fact that she had answered the door herself rather than having Mr. Homn do it was surprising enough. But her garb and demeanor were nothing like what Worf was accustomed to. She was wearing no makeup, and her long hair was tied back with a cloth. She was wearing a formfitting, one-piece blue outfit, with heavy padding around the shoulders, upper chest, and upper arms, and hips. In either hand, she was holding a long staff, with what appeared to be lights at either end of each staff. The lights were not on, however.
In addition to her workout armor, she was also smiling.
I M 2 A D I II.