437 The Illusion Of Control
Bespin Wesker re-read the encoded report from one of his best agents and still couldn't believe it. Barely a few days after getting new orders to do everything they could to make contact with the anomaly, she somehow managed to sneak, sleep, or cajole her way onto the advanced ship that had official registration tags and yet no corroborating number in Starfleet's database.
He would sacrifice a third of Section 31's active agents for a ship like that. The reported abilities alone were enough to make his mouth water. After reading her report? He'd give up two thirds of his agents for it. How in the world did the copy of Riker find the USS Pegasus and replace their ships normal cloaking device with the phasing cloak?
That thought made him call up William Riker's record and he saw his first long deployment was on the USS Pegasus under then Captain Pressman and how he saved the man's life when the crew mutinied. It was smart of him to get off that ship, considering it supposedly drifted off into space somewhere as the cloak malfunctioned.
Why did Thomas Riker replace the cloak he already had? It had been stolen from an old Romulan ship that had been assimilated by the Borg and kept inside one of their cube ships as junk. The Borg! Hell, he'd have to send a few secret communiques to his contacts in the Starfleet Ship Development Department to start upgrading their in service ships with better phaser banks and rotating shield frequencies. Both were Keyla's ideas, too.
That wasn't the only proof she had sent to him, though. She had somehow hacked into their armory and downloaded the replicator patterns for a new type of phaser rifle and body armor. Those he knew could not be faked and his fingers stroked the rifle on the desk beside him. It had worked and the thing was head and shoulders more powerful than the standard type three phaser rifle they had.
The armor he could take or leave, since it wasn't that important, then his eyes went to the report again and it had another idea to integrate the armor design into Section 31's normal uniform with the spots to modify the replicator patterns to fit and match. That he could approve of easily, since instead of having to armor up when they went on missions, they were already wearing all the armor protection they could need.
Her addendum stating she didn't even try to seduce Thomas Riker made him laugh. The fool should have accepted and had a great time with her when he had the chance, since she never mixes business with pleasure. Once she had what she wanted, he would not have access to her again.
It was one of the things Wesker liked about Agent Keyla, actually. She stuck to her own code of conduct and he respected that. Her having to put her partner in his place to achieve success, wouldn't even be added to her file. You only reprimand agents for failures and not successes, after all.
“You're gonna rub the finish off of it if you keep stroking it like that.” A male voice said from across the room.
Wesker sighed and turned to look at the man who spoke. “Sloan? What are you doing here? I thought you were off to do some background snooping on that Bashir guy on DS9?”
“I've got a mole or two doing that for me.” Sloan said with a shrug. “I won't have to step in until they hit a roadblock in their search.”
Wesker nodded. Having others do the grunt work for you was the best allocation of resources, in his opinion. “You going to sign out one of the stealth shuttles?”
Sloan nodded. “It'll let me travel undetected and I won't have to use up any of my official identities when I travel to DS9 for the follow-up.”
Wesker winced slightly. He remembered having to burn a cover once and it had been a disaster. He could have done so much with it and it was all washed away after a stupid mistake that he had to be a decoy for.
“Then I won't keep you.” Wesker said and closed the report he was reading, slid backwards, and scooped up the phaser rifle like it was a baby and stepped away from the console.
“Thanks.” Sloan said and sat, then started typing and checking files.
Wesker thought about offering to help, then mentally shrugged. If Sloan needed help, he would have asked or said something about not having what he needed to complete his assigned mission. Without that prompt, all he could do was step aside and let the man work.
If he had stuck around for another few minutes, he would have seen Sloan use his command codes to look at the file logs, then pull up Agent Keyla's report of her successful infiltration. His eyes narrowed as he read the words and he deeply regretted that he hadn't been in charge of that mission, since a lot of the higher ups in Starfleet had their eyes on Thomas Riker.
Another check showed they hadn't overturned the initial ruling of his status, since that would draw too much outside attention to the cause. No, they had added addendum after addendum, including granting him special status under Starfleet law, just like they had for Lieutenant Commander Data. That ended up reinstating Thomas Riker's time in grade as a Lieutenant and also as a Commander in charge of a starbase for eight years, which gave him a whole lot of back pay and hazard pay.
If he knew about his account being flooded with millions of credits, Thomas might willingly come back to Starfleet and resume his rank, then he could pass the leadership tests and assume the rank he should have had before the whole mistake came about.
Sloan thought about sending the man a subspace message, then chuckled. He added the information to the bottom of Agent Keyla's report and sent it back into the archives. If Keyla was smart, she'd check in soon and see the change and would pass it on. Maybe it'll bring them into a more populous system long enough for another ship, like his stealth shuttle, to meet up with them.
*
Captain Picard tried his best to not glare at Lwaxana Troi as her daughter brought her into his ready room. Commander Riker chose to stay and Deanna Troi stayed as well, probably to stop him from letting his feelings overwhelm his common sense. He had an interrogation to conduct to find out exactly how deep into the Thomas Riker incident the older woman was.
Picard's mind paused at that thought and his eyes studied her face and then the necklace nestled between her luscious breasts. There was no way she could really look so young, not with current medical technology. How had she restored her youthful look? If she let something slip while they talked, perhaps he could somehow benefit from whatever procedure she had gone through to shave off the effects of half her age.
Lwaxana thoroughly enjoyed watching the prudish man give her his searching look that lingered for quite some time on her breasts. Beverly had been entirely correct that her necklace would draw his eyes and his thoughts were all about how luscious she was.
Picard finally managed to draw his attention away from Lwaxana's boob window to look at her face. He didn't let his embarrassment show at being so obviously caught checking her out; and yet, he saw the brief smug look she had. He was so focused on her that he didn't notice Deanna and Riker exchanging worried glances and both had thoughts he was emotionally compromised.
“Thomas Riker.” Picard said.
“No, I didn't sleep with him.” Lwaxana answered the unasked question. “However, I wanted to.” She added and almost laughed as she saw everyone's surprised reaction. “He's an intriguing man and has depths to him that even I might struggle to comprehend, if Beverly hadn't thoroughly claimed him for herself. I don't stand a chance of luring him away.”
Picard's and Riker's eyes dropped to her hand as it reached up and lightly stroked the large sapphire gem on the necklace, then she took in a deep breath and let them admire her cleavage. Teasing men was such a fun time, especially the men that usually had such control over their emotions and reactions.
Unlike them, Thomas fully acknowledged her and Chappel's attempts to seduce him, admired the attempts, and then ignored them. Denying them completely like Picard and Riker were, only made her attempts all the more powerful, because they were fighting their own natures to not give in to her enticements.
“Be that as it may.” Picard said and looked back at her face. “You were aboard his illegal ship, as was the Cairn Ambassador. That is a breach of Starfleet protocol and...”
“No, it isn't.” Lwaxana interrupted him. “Lots of ships are not officially registered to the federation. I could have arrived on a garbage scow and you would have had to treat them properly bcause I was on it.”
“It's using official IFF for the ship normally and also just pretended to be another ship that is officially registered.” Commander Riker said.
Lwaxana gave him a sexy smile. “Is it against Starfleet regulations to pretend to be another ship to keep themselves safe?”
Riker opened his mouth to say it was, then closed it. He couldn't, because it had happened several times and it had worked, even as a distraction. They even created sensor echoes sometimes as other ships to trick opponents into thinking there was more danger than there actually was.
Picard leaned forward slightly. “Regardless, you have cavorted with...”
“No, I already told you I didn't do that.” Lwaxana interrupted.
Picard sighed. “Ambassador, you can't keep interrupting me when...”
“Really, Jean-Luc? How long have we known each other?” Lwaxana asked. “Do you have to be so formal?”
“I'm trying to conduct an investigation...”
“Oh? Is this an official interrogation?” Lwaxana asked and glanced around. “This doesn't look like an interview room and I don't see any official recording devices.”
Picard sighed. “Why are you making this so difficult?”
Lwaxana turned her head back to look right into his eyes. “Because your pompous ass pissed off two people that could have become very important to you personally. Instead, you ostracized both of them and pushed them together long before anything substantial could have developed between them.”
Picard's lips formed a thin line and he didn't say anything.
“The both of them have practically written off helping Starfleet in any capacity and that's your fault, Jean-Luc. You ensured that Thomas couldn't outshine the weak man your first officer has become and that's just pathetic.” Lwaxana almost spat.
Commander Riker bristled at being called weak and Deanna wanted to defend him.
“Can any of you defend his decision to refuse taking command of three separate vessels, the Drake, Aries, and Melbourne, since he's been the first officer on the Enterprise? What about the offers suddenly stopping years ago? No? None of you?” Lwaxana asked.
Out of all of them, only Deana looked shocked at how many Riker had refused.
“That's because they stopped considering Commander Riker for any kind of promotion years ago because Starfleet doesn't see him as ready for independent command after so many refusals.” Lwaxana told them and both Deanna and Riker paled at hearing that.
Picard looked at Lwaxana as if he already knew that, because he did.
“Don't give me that look, Jean-Luc.” Lwaxana admonished him. “Your own recent idiotic choices leave much to be desired, especially in the career advancement category.”
Picard winced at that. He instantly recalled his own reprimand for the quite public argument he had with Beverly Crusher on the bridge of the Enterprise. Being permanently marked with conduct unbecoming was never going to be scrubbed from his record and would stay with him for the rest of his career in Starfleet.
He was also going to be the focus of yet another inquiry, thanks to how he handled Thomas Riker's appearance and his role in the subsequent derailment of the man's career. He didn't regret calling in a favor to have the copy's career stalled, since it really would have seen the man advance far past Commander Riker's own position.
He did regret that his friend had resigned to avoid a public scandal. The admiral had accepted the blame for losing Starfleet what had since become a valuable resource that they no longer had access to, which brought Picard's thoughts right back to Lwaxana Troi. She had been on the new ship and was friendly with both Thomas Riker and Beverly Crusher. Her value as a contact had risen tremendously and he wanted to know the extent of that contact.
Also, any information Picard could pass back to Starfleet Command would ease his own situation considerably. Using mitigating circumstances as an excuse could only get him so far and he needed leverage to stop himself from suffering any lasting consequences. The thing that irked him was that Beverly only received the same reprimand and nothing else from her own inquiry, despite her liaison with the eight year old being that was Thomas Riker.
“Oh? Nothing to say to defend yourself from my accusations?” Lwaxana asked and he didn't respond. “That's such a pity, yet quite predictable. If only you had admitted your wrongdoing, Thomas would have agreed to return to Starfleet Command with no questions asked.”
Deanna sucked in a sharp breath and both Commander Riker and Captain Picard looked sick.
“Yes, pride is considered a sin for a reason.” Lwaxana said, a little proudly. “How proud do you feel, Jean-Luc, to know it was your own stubbornness to admit you were wrong, that has caused this whole thing to become much more than what it should have been?”
Picard only shook his head and didn't verbally respond. He knew a recording of this meeting would have to be sent to Starfleet Command and he was not looking forward to having the blame be refocused onto him because of it.
“Still remaining silent? Very well. I'll finish this interrogation with my own observations of the target, shall I?” Lwaxana asked and didn't want for anyone to answer. “Thomas Riker is an honorable man, loves with all his heart, and is devoted to helping those that can't help themselves. His knowledge is so vast that I could have half of the Betazed nobility in the room with him and we still couldn't plunge into the depths of his mind to find the end of it.”
Deanna was the one to look sick this time. If she had known he had that capacity, considering that her mother was one of the strongest telepaths on their entire planet, she might have given a relationship with a younger man a chance.
Yes, you should have. Lwaxana thought to her. His mind is... his immense power of telepathy... I can't describe it. Let me give you a touch of an echo of it.
Deanna's mind plunged into the echo of the vast mind as it briefly touched every single mind on the Cairn homeworld at the same time, thanks to Lwaxana's request for Tom to do so, and Deanna's whole being shivered, both physically and emotionally. It was... it seemed... almost... divine.
Yes, little one. It really, really was. Lwaxana thought and then spoke out loud. “With Thomas Riker's permission, I've been authorized to provide the unlock codes to the holodeck modification he installed that even Data and Geordi can't crack.”
Both Picard and Riker perked up at that. Perhaps their reports back to Starfleet wouldn't be all doom and gloom about this meeting.
“Just as soon as you can bring an admiral aboard to transfer the proper authority to.” Lwaxana said with satisfaction as Picard and Riker deflated, their plans being thwarted as quickly as they had come into their minds.
Picard needed a moment to compose himself. “Commander Riker has informed me of the USS Retaliation's next destination and the reason they're going there.”
“Yes, to work on the teryon fields of radiation there.” Lwaxana said, since she had been briefed about it.
“Why would he tell us about it?” Riker asked.
“Because he knows you can't resist chasing after him, even if it's through such a dangerous area as the Hekaras Corridor.” Lwaxana smiled knowingly. “Will you resist the lure and report it to Starfleet or will you follow his fast little ship into warp and report it after you reach there?”
Both Picard and Riker knew the answer to that, as did Deanna and Lwaxana. They couldn't resist.
“Commander, get us under way towards the Hekaras Sector, maximum warp.” Picard said and then justified his decision. “We won't be that far behind them and we'll be much closer to Starfleet to send our reports in.”
“Aye, sir.” Riker said and stood. He nodded at Picard, then at Deanna, then at Lwaxana, and left at a fast walk.
“Ambassador, councillor...” Picard started to say.
“If you will excuse me, captain. I need some time alone to come to grips with the things revealed here today.” Deanna said, stood, and quickly left before being officially excused.
She definitely needed some time to come to grips with the immense mind that Thomas had successfully hidden from her. She knew he did it to not influence her decision to avoid a relationship with him, so she didn't blame him for keeping it from her. No actually, she did blame him. She would have dove at him like a moth to a flame if he had opened his mind to her like that.
Instead, her damn mother got to experience it firsthand and that was irritating. Why would he give such a gift to her mother and not to her? It wasn't until she reached her quarters that Deanna understood why. They were on a ship with only a thousand people on it.
It was sparsely populated and her mother could easily feel the minds on a starship. It wouldn't have seemed like such a wonderful thing while they were in deep space and they would have to be on a planet to reveal the true depths of Tom's telepathic abilities.
Deanna didn't want to feel jealous of her mother, she didn't, and she pulled off her Starfleet uniform and grabbed the most outrageous outfit from her closet and slipped it on. It was her thin silk beige wrap that left nothing to the imagination and she felt very sexy wearing it. She went to her living room and laid down on the couch as she let her mind go over the thoughts her mother let her experience.
An entire planet of solely telepathic people's thoughts and emotions filled her mind again and she let her hands explore and play as she relived how much her mother loved that Tom hadn't tried to block her after revealing his telepathic ability. Having someone to be completely open and honest with, and have no secrets from, was as enticing to an empath as it was to a telepath.
Deanna gasped as she came hard and soaked both her hand and her dress as her other hand pinched her sensitive nipple hard enough to hurt. It brought her down from her high and she admitted she was jealous of her mother and how everyone that saw her, looked right at her breasts like they were a delicacy that they wanted to taste.
When Deanna used to show herself off like that, barely anyone gave her a second look. How did her mother pull it off? She immediately had control of the conversation and command of their attention, even the women. Why couldn't she do the same thing? She was confident and sure of herself, wasn't she? Wasn't that enough?
Post-coital bliss was not the time to think about serious things, because Deanna sighed sadly and admitted to herself that her mother had a presence that she was not capable of projecting. That was not who she wanted to be and trying to copy her mother's behavior would only make herself look foolish.
Deanna laid there and thought about her life and she wasn't happy that she had settled for being what she was. She had spent too much time pining after William Riker and following his career instead of concentrating on her own. It was unfortunate that she now knew for a fact she had missed a perfect opportunity to regain what she had lost and she regretted rejecting Tom a lot more than she thought she would.