And then the door to the captain's ready room hissed open. Shelby's back was to it, but she saw the look of pure shock in Pi-card's eyes, and before she could turn, she heard a familiar voice say in a slow drawl...
"All right, Picard. Take your damned hands off my chair."
CALHOUN
moke rubbed his eyes as he emerged from the sleeping area in the back of the runabout. He didn't even give the stars out the viewport a glance. Calhoun considered this a bit amusing. When they had first launched, the boy had been practically glued to the front viewport, amazed at the sights, gasping at the view. "So many," he'd kept whispering. Seeing the glories of outer space through the eyes of a child served to remind Calhoun of just how truly wondrous a place the void could be.
But by this point in the journey back to Federation space, Moke had become so accustomed to the view that he barely noticed it anymore. Grozit, the lad's adaptable, Calhoun thought.
What Moke did notice was a small twinkle of excitement in Calhoun's eye. "What's happened, Dad?" he asked.
"How do you know something's happened'?"
"I don't, for sure. But you just kinda look... I dunno... like you heard something funny."
"Amazingly perceptive for one so young," Calhoun admitted. "Moke... remember how I said that, before I came to your world... I lived in another place..."
"A ship. Like this one, only much, much bigger," Moke said quickly. The lad was quick, Calhoun had to give him that. He had
been uncertain about trying to explain the world-the universe- in which he resided to a boy who came from a planet that had lit-tle to no concept of such things. But the boy had comprehended everything Calhoun had told him, or at least had been able to dis-till it to enough of an essence that he could follow and accept it.
"Yes, that's right. And do you remember the ship's name?"
"Excalber..."
"Close. Ex-cal-uh-bur," he said, one syllable at a time, and Moke mouthed each with him.
"And the Ex... calibur blowed up... T
"Oh, yes. It blowed up rather impressively. The thing is, Moke, I've just picked up over general news broadcasts on the ether... they've built a new one. Or, at least, they've taken a ship that they were close to completing already and given it the name of my ship. And here's the great thing: They're going to be offi-cially christening it in a Starfleet drydock in about two days."
"Why is that a great thing?"
"Because," Calhoun said with puckish satisfaction, "I think it would only be polite of me to stop by and say hello."
"But you said that everybody thought you were dead."
"That's right," nodded Calhoun. A glint of wicked amusement shone in his purple eyes. "Remind me, Moke, when we have a free moment, to give you a copy of a story written many, many years ago. It's called Tom Sawyer..."
EXCALIBUR
"I knew it! " said jellico in wonderment.
Shelby felt as if the muscles had gone dead in her legs. Her gaze was riveted on the man who was standing in the door of the ready room. He had a scraggly beard reaching around the edges of his chin, there were a few more streaks of gray in his hair, and his skin was darker than she remembered. He wasn't wearing a Starfleet uniform, but instead some sort of... of getup that looked more appropriate to a primitive society. Most bizarre of all, there was a small boy standing behind him, dressed in similar garb.
He couldn't be here... looking like that... in this place, at this time... it simply wasn't possible...
Except, there he was...
No one said anything after Jellico's stunned outburst. Every eye was on Shelby, who was as shocked as anyone else. Slowly she walked toward him, amazed that she was able to get her legs to function at all. She drew to within a foot of him, afraid to say any-thing, afraid of breaking the moment, afraid of it all popping like a soap bubble.
He spoke to her.
"Marry me," he said.
She drew back a fist and hit him so hard in the face that it al-most knocked him off his feet. He staggered against the door frame, holding his chin in surprise.
"Who the hell are you" she demanded irately, "and what have you done with Mackenzie Calhoun?!?" She stared at the boy be-hind him, and pointed. "And who the hell is that?!"
Intimidated but undaunted, the boy said quietly, "I'm Moke. I'm his son."
Dead silence. Finally, it was Kebron who spoke.
"Busy six months," he said.
There had been questions, of course, dozens of questions, fly-ing at him from all sides. There had been medical probes and careful examinations. He had been subjected to a truth scan, and even more questions, and finally... finally...
It came down to the two of them.
Calhoun and Shelby, in sickbay, of all places, while he pulled on his shirt after what had seemed the umpteenth examination. He had that same damned smile on his face, undimmed by all that had happened. "Do you like the beard?" he asked, stroking it.
She stared at him. Just stared at him.
"Do I take that as a no?"
"You're here." She said it in wonderment. "You're... really here."
"Yes. I really am."
"How the hell did you get into the ready room? How did you get aboard the ship at all, and get all the way up there, all without anyone seeing you?"
"A stolen ship with a personal transporter and a rather innova-tive disguise program to deceive sensors. I've already turned it over to Starfleet R&D. They were most interested in it, as you can well imagine."
She was shaking her head. "You couldn't let me do it, could you? Couldn't let me take over the Excalibur. After all the resis-
tance to the idea, after all the complaining about coming back... you still had to be in charge of this ship."
"What can I say? Picard was right. It gets in your blood."
"It's my ship now."
"I want it back," he said simply.
She laughed at that. "And what am I supposed to do? Go back tc being first officer, after being a captain? Take a step back in rank?'
"Is that what you're concerned about?" Calhoun, who was usu-ally the most unflappable of men, looked and sounded surprised "Your career?"
"I don't know, Mac! I mean... I'd barely adjusted to you being dead, and you're back! And you're asking me to marry you! How the hell am I supposed to react to that?"
"I can't tell you how to react. I can only ask you."
"You just asked me to be dramatic."
"No. I asked you because I almost died... and because I spent the past months with a good, honest, and loving woman, and an entire life that I could have embraced wholeheartedly, but didn't because all I could think about was you. And because I've come to the realization that dying doesn't particularly frighten me. I've lived with death, seen so much of it, that it holds no terror for me I won't embrace it, but I won't fear it. But the only thing I'm afraid of is living without making a commitment to you for every one to see. So that everyone-including you and I-know that wherever we go, whatever happens... we'll have each other to come back to. You see, Eppy? That's all it'll take. We just have to make a solemn promise always to come back to each other, and if we do that, we can live forever, because neither of us would break a solemn promise."
"You're insane."
"No. I'm in love." He took her by the shoulders. "And you are too. You say you want a command, Eppy? Jellico's already told me there's one available for you. The Trident. Perhaps we can pull a string or two and have both ships assigned to Thallonian space After all, it's the new frontier. More than enough to keep two
ships busy at this point. And I suspect, at this point, Jellico will agree to just about anything, just to get me away from him."
"Two ships."
"Yes."
"And we're each captain of one of them."
"Plenty of good officers out there for two ships-including, I'm told, two who served under Kirk and are back on active duty. They should be-"
"And if we're married and captains on different ship
s, when would we be together?"
"Eppy... I crossed half a galaxy and came back from the dead to be with you. A little thing like two different ships isn't going to stop us from being together if we want to be. So."
"So what?"
"So... will you marry me, Eppy?"
She stared at him for a long time. "If I do, will you stop calling me Eppy?"
"No."
"Can I keep your sword?"
"No. I want that back."
She stared into those purple eyes that she had known for a fact she would never see again.
"Oh, the hell with it. I'll marry you anyway."
The wedding took place on the bridge of the new Excalibur, with Moke acting as ring bearer, and was conducted by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who wished the record to note-in no uncertain terms-that Mackenzie Calhoun, despite whatever nice things Heard had said during the ship-christening ceremony, was the single most frustrating individual he'd ever met.
Calhoun chose to take that as a compliment.
As did his wife.
THE STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER MINIPEDIA
by David Mack
Adis
A highly placed member of the Romulan political hierarchy, a rich and pow-erful politician who is said to be a member of the Praetor's inner circle. Tall and aristocratic-looking.
Came to the Titan colony to assassinate Rajari because Rajari's smuggling had interfered with Adis' private arms sales to the Cardassians.
Adulux
Litenite who sought the help of Zak Kebron and Mark McHenry in the search for his abducted wife, Zanka. Adulux' brow is slightly distended, and he has thick, black hair. Though he claimed to love his wife, he treated her poorly, and after her rescue from her abductor, she eventually left him.
Ahmista
Desolate, ash-covered world on which Tarella Lee lived with a Promethean weapon, which sustained her and destroyed all other sentient and semi-intelli-gent life-forms on the planet. The planet was rumored to be a place where the Prometheans could be found. It is the third and outermost planet in its star sys-tem.
Alas, poor Yorick!
Famous quotation from William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. Spoken face-tiously by Hamlet when a grave-digger hands him an unearthed skull. Yorick was the court jester during Hamlet's boyhood. The full quotation is, "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio!"
Aldrin, U.S.S.
A Starfleet vessel, registry number not established. It put an end to the piracy and smuggling of Rajari, a Romulan fugitive, who was later determined to be the biological father of Starfleet Lieutenant Soleta.
Alice in Wonderland
Common misquote of the title of Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a satire of the 19th-century British government whose plot focuses on a young girl who tumbles through a rabbit hole into a fantastical realm where nothing makes sense. It is often confused with its sequel, Through the Looking Glass.
Alora
Planet that deported its unwanted members to the colony planet of Enev.
Alpha Carinae Central Hall of Worship
The primary temple of Xantism on Alpha Carinae, and residence of that world's High Priest of Xant.
Alphans
Humanoid species indigenous to Alpha Carinae. Large, muscled, relatively savage of mien. They converted to Xantism in the 24th century for a brief time. They soon rebelled against and killed the High Priest of Alpha Carinae, releas-ing a virulent pathogen that exterminated their species and every plant and ani-mal life-form on the planet.
Ap'Boylan, Laura
Ship's counselor aboard the U.S.S. Exeter, under the command of Captain Elizabeth Shelby. A Betazoid woman with large, limpid eyes and blond hair.
Arango
Son of Tara of Rolisa. In a parallel reality's future, he begat Izzo, who begat Faicco the Small, a great thinker. In this reality, Arango died during birth, when Rolisa was devoured by the Black Mass.
Arbora the Unseen
Leader of an Unglza clan from the eastern territories of Zondar.
ArgeliusII
Pleasure planet According to Morgan Lefler, "So hedonistic that it makes Risa look like kindergarten."
Arthurian
Adjective meaning "related to or derived from the mythology of King Arthur," a legendary British monarch who was renowned for his Knights of the Round Table, castle Camelot, queen Guinevere and his sword, Excalibur.
Atik
A Dog of War who had the darkest, blackest fur of any of the Dogs. The only Dog who carried weapons, a pair of razor-edged swords captured during a
foray. Always considered himself a "Dog of Destiny," one upon whom Fate often smiled.
Atlantis
Mythological lost civilization on Earth. Legends say the island of Atlantis was destroyed in a cataclysm and swallowed by the sea.
Atol
A henchman of Zoran.
Augustine, Lieutenant Toreen
Junior officer aboard the U.S.S. Exeter under the command of Captain Eliz-abeth Shelby. Served a residency in xeno-studies as part of a NonObservable Team assigned to Makkus ten years prior to its invitation to Federation mem-bership. Was recommended by Exeter first officer Garbeck for an away mis-sion to Makkus.
Awakening, Time of The
Period in Vulcan history associated with Surak, the father of Vulcan's logi-cal philosophy.
Ayre, Lieutenant Kristian
A conn officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-E.
Azizi
Replaced Celter as provisional governor of Nelkar, following a popular uprising sparked by the heavy-handed tactics of Laheera.
Aztecs
Ancient society of Native Americans who resided in Central America until the arrival of European explorers, whose foreign disease vectors infected and rapidly wiped out the native population.
Bard, The
Nickname for William Shakespeare, a late 16th-century Earth playwright.
Bairns
Scottish word for "children."
Barsamis
Friend of Mackenzie Calhoun, who was murdered by an Orion trader named Krassus. Barsamis' death was avenged by Calhoun.
Barspens (planet)
A relatively barbaric world, its most popular form of entertainment is public
executions. Xyon of Calhoun was scheduled to be the main attraction at one such execution, but he narrowly escaped.
Barspens (species)
Race native to their eponymous homeworld, they make a squishing sound when they shift side-to-side on their tentacles. Moving on their tentacles, they seem to glide.
Bartog
A wandering Yakaban gunman who was a player in the card game that ended in Kusack's murder of Tlirkin of Narrin.
Basner, Lieutenant Naomi
Former chief security officer of the U.S.S. Exeter, under the command of Captain Shelby. Was a fan of 20th-century comic books. Underwent physical therapy after a shooting incident on Zeron ffl. Killed in the Exeter holodeck after disengaging the safety protocols for a training simulation.
Battle of Condacin
A conflict the Danteri High Command assumed would be the "preeminent military strike of the century" against the Xenexians, but which ended with a Danteri defeat at the hands of rebels led by M'k'n'zy of Calhoun. The brother of Danteri officer Delina was killed in this battle.
Bearclaw
A very tasty, fluffy pastry popularized on Earth in the 20th century. Reputed to be very popular aboard the rechristened U.S.S. Excalibur, under the com-mand of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun.
Beth, Ensign Ronni
A member of Burgoyne 172's engineering crew aboard the U.S.S. Excal-ibur. Fairly slim and athletic, with a round face, large eyes, and shoulder-length curly hair. An avid skier. Was romantically involved with fellow engineer Ensign Christiano, but their relationship ended badly.
Beyond Gate, The
Black hole in the Tulaan system, through which Xant, deity of the Redeemers, is said to have "gone on" to the ne
xt plane of being. The Redeemers believe He will re-emerge from the Beyond Gate at the time of the Second Coming of Xant.
The Excalibur crew lured the Black Mass into the Beyond Gate to destroy it and prevent the destruction of Tldaan IV, much to the chagrin of the ungrateful Redeemers, who considered that solution a defilement of a place they hold sacred.
Star Trek - NF - 11 - Restoration Page 38
