Orion's Hounds

Oh, Abyss!“Troi?” Aili gasped. “You mean—she saw him leaving…she knows about…oh, no.” She was almost tempted to rip her suit open right here and drown herself in the air.

“Say, what’s the problem? No reason she’d be jealous. It’s not like Ravvy was frinxingher too—though not for want of trying, I can tell you.”

“Look, just—please, don’t tell anyone else, okay?” Without waiting for an answer, Aili moved on and hastened to her quarters. Now more than ever, she needed to be alone.

“Just to be clear,” Dea

“It will be necessary for Dr. Ree to neutralize the telepathic suppressants he administered before,” Dea

Tuvok seemed uneasy. “What you propose will be difficult for…the Vulcans on board. Once we make contact, the influx of intense emotion will prove difficult to endure.” Riker didn’t need to be a telepath to know Tuvok was concerned on a personal level, not just a tactical one. Most Vulcans weren’t nearly as good at hiding their feelings as they liked to think—a discrepancy which had served Riker well in many a poker game.

“Your role in the gestalt,” Dea

“Hopefully,” Tuvok repeated.

“Even if not, Orilly and I will bear the brunt of their communication. That may shield the rest of you from the full effects.”

“But again you ca

“Mr. Tuvok,” Riker asked with a touch of steel, “will you be able to perform this duty or not?”

The Vulcan met his gaze evenly, though he was very closed off. “Yes, sir, I will.”

“Good. Counselor, proceed.”

Dea

The others here were all Vulcan—Tuvok, T’Pel, Savalek—except for Ree. He was here mainly to monitor the others’ health, but Dea

Dea

Ree handled himself unexpectedly well in free fall, using his heavy tail to maneuver about his center of mass gracefully, almost like a cat. He sca

“Then we’re ready,” Dea

Ree tilted his head at them. “Should we all join hands?”

Orilly looked puzzled. “Why?”

“Oh. Never mind, then.”

“Just try to relax and clear your mind,” Dea

Ree sighed. “I knew I should have eaten first. Anyone willing to volunteer a limb?”

Orilly winced. “Please, Doctor,” Dea

“Sorry.”

After that, things grew quiet. With a little physical and empathic handholding from Dea

She reached out her senses, listening for familiar voices, sending out a probe: We are here. Speak to us.It seemed to echo now, her mental voice/presence; it was stronger, more resonant than before. She knew it would carry farther.

And indeed, before long there was a return echo, a faint impression on the edge of awareness: acknowledgment, curiosity. We are also here; where are you?Or so it would be if it were in words, rather than emotions and impressions.

Here.Dea

Yet there was more than she could see, and now she saw it. Fields of energy: gamma, radio, tetryon, psi [how’s the weather?/let’s ask it!].Contours of [starpull]gravity, hills and vales in spacetime. All of it a veneer atop the fathomless depths of subspace [we dive, but not too deep!/mustn’t lose our way].

They saw what she saw, and she felt attention focus upon her, engulfing her—gentle curiosity, but that of a child’s hand cupping a ladybug, not threatening but still overpowering. We greet you, but you are not-us [wary/ caution/curious]. How do you know us?