REAL ENOUGH TO TASTE

               "It's so real, I can almost taste it ..."

                                      *   *   *

               "The Sutherland is within visual range, Captain."  I
            reported from my position at the tactical station.
               "Put it onscreen, Mr. Crusher."  Replied Captain Riker.
            I did as ordered, adjusting the magnification to a viewable
            level.  To the officer at the helm, Riker ordered, "Bring us
            alongside her, Lieutenant McKnight."
               "Aye, sir."  McKnight answered smartly.
               First officer Worf turned towards me and asked, "What's
            the Sutherland's alert status?"
               "Yellow alert, sir."
               Worf looked to Riker's face for acknowledgment, and
            seeing it there ordered me to put the Enterprise on the same
            alert level.  I noticed, for the first time, that the
            displays that indicated alert status were in a different
            place on this new Enterprise than they were on the old one.
            Surprisingly, this, and a few other cosmetic changes, were
            all the differences Wes Crusher could find between the NCC
            1701-D and NCC 1701-E versions of the Enterprise.
               "Hail the Sutherland."  Commanded Riker.
               "Aye, sir.  Hailing frequencies open."  I responded.
               The bridge of the Sutherland appeared on the viewscreen.
            Unlike the Enterprise, the Sutherland's bridge was very
            confined, and did not even supply obvious amenities, like a
            chair for the Captain.  Of course that would not a concern
            for its current commander.
               "Sutherland.  Captain Data, here."  The Sutherland's
            commander replied to the hail.  For many years, Data was
            denied his rightful advancement through the ranks of
            Starfleet by prejudice.  It wasn't an overt prejudice, just
            that the powers that be in Starfleet were extremely nervous
            about the prospect of an android officer rising to the
            command of a ship.
               In the aftermath of the destruction of the first Galaxy-
            class Enterprise, and given his newfound mastery of
            emotions, Starfleet command was finally ready to right the
            wrongs of the past and offer Data command of a starship.  He
            accepted.
               "It's been a while, Captain."  Riker noted.
               "Indeed, Captain Riker.  Our last meeting was at the
            ceremony where you became Captain of the Enterprise."
               "Making me the second of Picard's officers to make
            Captain."
               "Not exactly, Captain.  You held the rank before I did,
            by several years.  You were Captain of the Enterprise during
            the Borg invasion."
               "For less than a week ..."  Riker added.
               Data's first officer, taking a position beside her
            commander, spoke up, saying, "Excuse me, sirs, but we
            haven't time to talk over old times."
               "Yes.  Of course you are right, Commander Troi."  Data
            commented.  I followed Commander Worf's eyes, and noticed
            that they were on his counterpart from the Sutherland.
               "What have you found, Data?"
               "We nearly became embroiled in a battle between Romulan
            and Sycaran forces.  Apparently they are not content to
            confine their battles to each other's territories."
               Riker reinforced Data's statement, saying. "This war
            between them is getting out of hand."
               "At least while they're fighting each other, they're less
            likely to attack the Federation."  I observed.
               "That's probably not going to be the case much longer."
            Commander Troi countered, "The longer this war drags on, the
            more likely it is that each side will seek alliances with
            outside parties."
               "Indeed, the battle we witnessed may have been a prelude
            to this."  Indicated Data.
               Riker suggested, "Data, we should both recommend to
            Starfleet command an increase in the patrols along the
            Romulan Neutral Zone and the Sycaran border."
               "Agreed, Captain."  Was Data's frank reply.
               "It was good seeing you again, Captain,"  Riker told
            Data, and then to Troi, "Commander."
               "Shall we proceed with routine personnel transfers,
            Captain Riker?"  Troi interjected, "Ensign Wells and her
            step-son are ready to board the Enterprise."
               "Of course, Commander."  Riker answered her, and then
            turning to face me, ordered, "Drop the shields for
            transport, Lieutenant.  Signal the transporter room to beam
            them aboard."
               I responded with, "Aye, sir."  And did as commanded.  The
            transporter officer on duty informed me when transport was
            complete and I relayed that information to Riker.
               "Raise shields."  He told me, and then to everyone on the
            bridge, "Prepare to get underway."
               I first knew that something was amiss when the sensors
            detected that more than one transporter beam had been active
            within the confines of the Enterprise.  I quickly tracked
            down the unexpected one.  "Captain," I reported, "Someone
            just beamed onto the engineering deck."
               "Sound intruder alert."  Worf ordered immediately.
               The sound of the computer opening a communications
            channel was heard on the bridge, followed by the voice of
            Geordi LaForge, shouting, "Engineering to bridge ..."  His
            voice was cut off by the sound of phaser fire, just as the
            channel closed.
               "Mr. Crusher, reestablish communications with
            engineering," Riker ordered, "And get security teams down
            there."
               "Aye, sir."
               "Is there anything I can to do assist you, Captain
            Riker?"  Data asked.  I had all but forgotten that his image
            was still on the central display screen.
               "I'm not sure, Data, and I won't know until I find out
            what we're dealing with."
               "Understood."  Data replied, and then to Troi, ordered,
            "Perform a sensor sweep of the area, Commander.  That second
            transporter beam had to come from somewhere."  Troi nodded
            acknowledgment and relayed Data's orders to his crew.
               The Enterprise was suddenly rocked by a ferocious
            explosion.  The tactical display informed me that the source
            of the explosion was main engineering.  I explained this to
            Riker and added, "Our shield generators are offline, as are
            the warp drive and the transporters."
               "Can they be repaired?"
               "Unknown, Captain.  I still can't raise anybody in
            engineering."  I answered, "My security teams have been
            blocked off by forcefields.  I'm trying to override them,
            but there's some kind of adaptive program running in the
            security computers.  Every time I lower one forcefield,
            another appears in its place."
               "Keep on it."  Riker told me, "Shut down the forcefield
            generations if you have to."
               As I continued to work on getting the security teams into
            engineering, I noticed Captain Data as he tapped his
            combadge, saying, "Bridge to engineering."
               "Barclay, here."  Came the response from the Sutherland's
            engine room.
               "Extend our shields around the Enterprise."  Ordered
            Data.
               "Sir, if we come under fire, our shields won't last long
            under that kind of stress."
               "I am counting on you to make sure they do, Mr. Barclay.
            Use warp power if you have to."
               "I'm on it, sir."
               To Riker, I reported, "The Sutherland's shields have
            enveloped us, sir.  They are at twenty percent of normal
            efficiency."
               "You will have to do better than that, Mr. Barclay."
            Data informed his chief engineer.
               "I'm still routing in warp power, Captain."
               "Incoming fire!"  I nearly yelled in surprise as the
            first volley of photon torpedoes appeared out of nowhere on
            the tactical display.  Looking at the main viewscreen, I
            could see that the Sutherland was shuddering under the
            impact by the way Data and Troi had to struggle to maintain
            their footing.  The Sutherland's bridge lighting dimmed to
            emergency levels.
               "Track those torpedoes back to their source and return
            fire."  Riker ordered.
               "Aye, sir.  Firing."  I replied, launching a series of
            torpedoes.  The first two appeared to make contact with an
            object, presumably the attacking ship, but the rest missed
            completely.  I reported, "I got in a couple of good shots
            before they moved, Captain.  They must be Sycaran ships,
            probably Kulibhrer-class sir, if they're firing while
            cloaked."
               "Engineering, I need those shields."  Data calmly
            informed Barclay.
               "Not likely, sir.  The power transfer controls have
            overloaded.  I can restore power, but there's no way I can
            route warp power through there without blowing the transfers
            for good.  We can't restore normal shielding while we're
            protecting the Enterprise."
               "Captain!"  I reported somewhat excitedly, "I've bypassed
            the forcefields.  The security teams are reporting
            resistance from Sycaran soldiers."
               "Give them all the backup you can spare, Lieutenant."
               "Aye, sir."
               "Sycaran Veagtok-class vessels de-cloaking to starboard
            and port."  Commander Troi reported to Data, "They're
            firing."
               "Return fire."  Data ordered.
               "Fire, Mr. Crusher."  Added Riker.
               The sector suddenly became very full with phasers and
            photon torpedoes.  The Sutherland and the Enterprise were
            both able to give as well as they got, but considering the
            state of their shared shields, we were not going to hold out
            much longer.
               Soon, Barclay reported, "Shields are gone, Captain.
            These circuits are beyond repair.  Warp power is unavailable
            and photon launchers have been destroyed."
               At that point, we had our first good news.  I was able to
            report to Riker, "Security teams have retaken engineering,
            sir ..."
               I was cut off by a call from engineering.  "LaForge here,
            Captain.  We have several casualties down here, sir, but
            we're not too bad off.  I think I can restore shields."
               "Shields are up, Captain."  I reported, "But they are
            only at sixty percent efficiency."
               "Best I can do for now."  Geordi added.
               "Prepare to extend shields around the Sutherland."  Riker
            ordered, "It's time to return the favour."
               "I'm extending them now, Captain."  Replied Geordi, "But
            our shields won't even last as long as the Sutherland's
            did."
               "Understood."  Riker answered.
               "The Veagtok ships have re-cloaked."  I reported, "We've
            lost our fix on them -- Wait.  Another vessel is de-
            cloaking.  Sir, it's the Kulibhrer."
               The image of the Sutherland's bridge began to break up.
            Within moments, the communication channel was totally
            disrupted.  The viewscreen briefly showed an exterior image
            of the Sutherland, but soon that began to distort as well.
               "What's going on, Lieutenant?"  Commander Worf asked me.
               "I'm not sure, sir, but I think the Sycaran ship is
            attempting forced spectrum communications."  I explained,
            "They're breaking through into our communications channels."
               As I finished my sentence, the face of a Sycaran soldier
            appeared on the viewscreen.  His face was hideously
            distorted due to the nature of the communication.  He spoke,
            "I am Captain Sadran Bloodblade of the Sycaran starship
            Arcane.  The Lord General charges me with the task of
            negotiating for the Federation's allegiance against the
            Romulans.  You will comply or be destroyed."
               Riker stood from the Captain's chair and strode
            commandingly to the centre of the bridge.  He spoke in very
            measured tones, looking directly into his adversary's eyes,
            "I am Captain William T. Riker of the Federation starship
            Enterprise.  The Federation will never ally itself with
            Sycaras.  We would rather die than surrender to your
            wishes."
               "Very well, Captain Riker."  Sadran answered.  Without
            taking his eyes off Riker's, he gestured for one of his
            officers to approach.  To Riker he said, "I believe this
            negotiation would go more smoothly were it just one on one."
            And then to his subordinate, he ordered, "Destroy one of the
            Federation vessels."
               The subordinate nodded to his commander and shouted,
            "Fire all weapons!"  The communication channel with the
            Arcane went dead, and the viewscreen once again returned to
            the Sutherland.
               We were forced to watch in horror as the Arcane's weapons
            lanced out at the Sutherland, battering against it's feeble
            shielding.  I let the falling of our shields pass without
            comment, as there was no point in announcing the inevitable.
            I readied myself to return fire on Riker's order, but the
            order never came.  There was no point.  Right now, the
            Enterprise was no match for the Arcane, let alone the two
            other vessels we knew were still in the area.
               We watched as the telling blow fell on the Sutherland.  A
            single photon torpedo, no more lethal than any other,
            penetrated the Sutherland's hull.  It probably hit right in
            the Sutherland's engine room, and when it exploded, it
            caused an instant warp core breach.
               In less than a second, the proud and noble starship
            Sutherland was transformed into nothing more than debris in
            space.
               The bridge of the Enterprise was shocked into silence for
            long moments until I broke that silence with a single word.
               "Deanna ..." I spoke.

                                      *   *   *

               "... It's so real, I can almost taste it."  Wes Crusher
            told his companion Jaleek Y'Shar, for a long time known only
            to Wes as 'The Traveler'.  Y'Shar was still an enigma to
            his fellow traveler, despite the many wonders he had helped
            Wes discover since they began journeying together.
               "Like a remembered dream?"  Y'Shar inquired.
               "No.  It's more coherent than that.  It feels like a real
            memory, as though I'd lived it.  But, of course, I didn't."
               "The woman, the one whose name you spoke?"  Y'Shar began
            an implied question.
               "Deanna Troi.  She was ship's counselor on the Enterprise
            when I served there.  I don't think you ever met her."
               "You were especially close to her?"
               "No."  Wes answered, with more force than intended.  He
            noticed that, for the first time he could recall, Y'Shar was
            surprised by one of Wes' answers.  "I was no closer to her
            than I was to Geordi, or Data, or even Barclay, for that
            matter.  I'd hard pressed to say we had any kind of
            relationship at all.  I can't even say for sure if we ever
            spoke one on one."
               "But, in that perceived moment of crisis, it was from
            your lips that her name was spoken.  Not by her husband
            Worf, nor her former love, Riker."
               "I'm in no better a position to explain it than you are."
            Wes told Y'Shar, "All I can tell you is that this faux-
            memory is driving me to distraction.  At first it would come
            upon me whenever my thoughts were not focused elsewhere, but
            now I can barely focus my thoughts at all.  What's happening
            to me?"
               "It is her."  Pronounced Y'Shar.  "It may be because she
            is partly telepathic, or indeed, it may be more fundamental
            than that, but you and she share a unique bond.  I don't
            know when it began or why, but it is clearly there, and not
            only that, but it appears to transcend time and space.  In
            another of the countless alternate realities that exist
            along with our own, she is in trouble, and she's calling out
            to you.  That call, it would seem, is so powerful that it
            outstrips your ability to control it."
               "But how do I deal with it?"
               "When you discover how to do so, you must answer the
            call.  Until then, her distress is yours."
               Closing his eyes, Wes tries desperately to block out
            everything and regain his concentration.

                                      *   *   *

               "The Sutherland is within visual range, Captain."  I
            reported from my position at the tactical station.
               "Put it onscreen, Mr. Crusher."  Replied Captain Riker.

                                       THE END