there when Admiral Janeway passed away? During that whole awful business when the Borg ate Pluto? You didn’t tell me that, dear.”
There was a great deal that Seven had not told her. She hadn’t wanted to give Annie the impression that the most recent years of her life had been a walk in the park, but neither did she feel the need to tell her in extraordinary detail every hazard that she had encountered.
The Vulcan’s gaze darted from Seven to Annie, and then, before Seven could reply, she said, “She was there in an advisory capacity, watching from a distance. Without her… advice… the situation would not have been resolved in a manner favorable to the Federation’s interests.” She then regarded Seven with an upraised eyebrow as if to say, Do you wish to contradict me?
“Yes, that is precisely what happened,” Seven told her without inflection.
There was a dead silence for a moment, and then Annie said, “You know what? I think it would probably be best if I went out for a walk. Let you two talk about… whatever you need to talk about… for a while.”
“That would be most considerate,” said the Vulcan.
Moments later, having picked up her hat and light jacket, Annie walked out, leaving the two of them in the living room, both standing and staring at each other, like sculpted bookends.
“Who are you?” said Seven the moment the door slid shut behind her aunt. “Why are you here? And why is the manner of Admiral Janeway’s death of any importance to you?”
“My name is Soleta.”
“Soleta.” The name was familiar to Seven, but it took her a moment to recall it. Then she did, and her eyes widened. “You were the Vulcan science officer who turned out to be a Romulan. You were discharged from Starfleet as being a security risk.”
“I didn’t turn out to be a Romulan. My mother was Vulcan, my father Romulan.”
“From my understanding of the antipathy between the races, I am surprised your mother took up with—”
“She didn’t ‘take up’ with anyone. It was not remotely consensual.”
That stopped Seven for a moment. When she ran the conversation back through her head, she realized that she had sounded rather stiff, even Borg-like. It was almost as if thinking and reacting like a normal human was something that required practice. “I am…” She cleared her throat. “I am sorry. About that.”
“So was my mother, but she didn’t let it affect the way she raised me, so…” And she shrugged. “In any event, I am here because I was sent by Captain Mackenzie Calhoun.”
“Calhoun, your former commander.” When Soleta nodded, Seven said, “I met him. Jean-Luc Picard introduced us at Kathryn Janeway’s memorial service. He seemed very… interesting.”
“He is that.”
“But he is your former commander. Yet you are here on his behalf.”
“I owe him more than a few debts that, in truth, can never be repaid. So he knew he could count on me to help him perform this service.”
“And what service would that be? Does it pertain to the passing of Kathryn Janeway?”
“Only in that you have more experience with artificial life forms and computer intelligences than any other human.”
“And you need me to apply that experience to a problem?”
“Yes.”
“And what,” said Seven, “would the nature of that problem be?”
“Captain Calhoun needs someone to help him terminate a once-human computer entity that could possibly destroy the entire Federation.”
Seven stood there silently, taking that in. “Can I get you something to drink?” she said at last.
“Is it alcoholic?”
“It could be.”
“Then yes, definitely.”
iv.
Soleta had not known what to make of the note that had been left in her quarters on her ship, the Spectre. The vessel had been stolen by the D’myurj—technically by her former (and now deceased) lover, but the D’myurj had been pulling the strings—and recovered by the crew of the Excalibur. She had not expected to find a handwritten note from Calhoun, however, if for no other reason than that she couldn’t remember the last time someone had handed her something written on paper. She couldn’t imagine where Calhoun had managed to acquire it, although she supposed that she shouldn’t have been surprised. There was very little Mackenzie Calhoun could not accomplish if he put his mind to it.
The fact that he left a note at all was enough to pique Soleta’s interest, because she couldn’t fathom the reason for it. She had picked it up and read it with curiosity. By the time she got to the end, it was all she