[Original story formerly published in paper by the Star Trek Italian Club, which graciously granted permission to publish it digitally. Cover and drawings by Chiara Falchini.]
Chapter I
Commander William Riker walked the curving corridor of the Enterprise with a half-smile bending up the corner of his mouth, a joyful spark in his eyes, his steps fast and impatient, and he didn't almost see the people coming across him, giving them just a distracted nod. He was absorbed in pleasant memories, never faded by the implacable flowing of time, and he was full of an almost devouring anticipation.
Therefore, around a corner he barely avoided to run over Deanna Troi, the ship's counsellor, nearly slamming her against the wall.
"Hey!", the young, beautiful brunette cried, "Where are you running? Is there a fire on board?"
Riker gazed at her bewildered, before abruptly coming back to reality.
"Oh... I beg your pardon, Deanna!", he stuttered, embarrassed, "Did I hurt you?"
Deanna smoothed her uniform, which green colour showed her belonging to the scientific staff, and reassured him:
"No, no, absolutely. But where are you going in such a rush?"
"If you come with me, I'll explain it", Riker replied, inviting her with a gesture and setting off. Deanna hurried at his side, taking three steps each two of the Number One's long legs, and glanced at him questioningly. Riker had an impulsive character, which he had learned to dominate for a long time now, and the excitation she perceived in him, with the clarity her empathic nature gave her, was therefore somewhat unusual, even if absolutely not alarming.
"Do you remember Viviana Morgante?", Riker asked, stopping in front of the turboelevator. After a moment, the doors slid apart with a hydraulic hiss, revealing the car, and they entered.
"Transporter Room 1", the first officer ordered the computer. The car moved while Deanna pondered:
"Wasn't she your best friend during the Academy years?"
"Exactly she", Riker confirmed smiling, "And she's coming to the Enterprise."
"Really?", asked Deanna, puzzled, "If I don't remember wrong, she didn't finish the Academy... Or maybe she returned there later...?"
She left the interrogation suspended, and Riker shook his head:
"No, when she retired it was a final decision. She simply realised she wasn't apt to military life and dedicated herself to a wholly different career."
"Creator of holographic games, right?"
"Excellent memory!", the Commander complimented her, beaming his contagious smile, "She's become a true authority in this field, almost a kind of institution. There's no game publishing company which wouldn't pay a fortune to employ her permanently, but she's very independent and prefers to sell her creations to whom she chooses, that is, someone who is willing to respect her ideas, rather than someone who pays the highest fee."
The turboelevator stopped gently and the doors opened. The two of them exited and headed hastily to the transporter room.
"But didn't you lost contact with her years ago?", Deanna enquired, intrigued. During their romantic relationship, Riker had often talked about the deep friendship he shared with that girl, so that she had initially been a bit jealous. But then she realized that that bond was completely platonic, comparable to the one they developed after the end of their association, when they met again after a few years and built up a completely different relationship.
"Yep, that's why, knowing she's coming, I'm rushing to welcome her", the man explained, "Let's witness what a face she'll make, seeing me!"
He beamed rascally and Deanna smiled, amused.
They arrived at the transporter room, where Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge stood behind the console, his large brown hands resting on the multi-coloured surface.
"Commander, Deanna...", he greeted them with a nod, "Ready to beam on board Miss Morgante."
Deanna wondered why the ship's chief engineer himself had come to beam up personally the newcomer, but she had no time to ask for any explanations, because Riker ordered:
"Energise."
A column of sparks whirled on one of the transporter platforms, inside of which a human shape materialized. When the device's effect ran out, on the dais there was a young woman, not very tall but nicely shaped, with short chestnut-brown hair; in her attractive face, two extraordinary green-blue eyes shone, surrounded by long black lashes. Those eyes gazed at all of them and when they focused on a very tall, bearded man with dark-brown hairs, they flashed with a sudden, blinding light, while her pretty features showed an unexpected, incredulous joy:
"Will!"
Riker approached her, beaming a smile so large, it seemed to open up his face in two. She jumped down from the platform and threw herself at him, planting an enthusiastic kiss on his mouth. He embraced and lifted her from the ground, reciprocating the kiss with the same enthusiasm.
Deanna perceived La Forge's shocked stare, but she didn't turn and continued watching the scene, smiling. She felt the bond between those two, and it was something rare and precious which only few people have the luck to find; there was a deep and passionate affection between them, but it was completely immune from sexual implications; it went beyond friendship but wasn't love, meaning the sentiment bonding a couple.
The two friends broke off, shining eyes, bright smiles.
"I can't believe it!", the woman cried, "What are you doing here?", her eyes fell on the collar of his uniform, red because he was in the operational section, where three black dots stood out, "Commander, no less!"
"Well, actually I'm the first officer of the Enterprise", Riker explained, amused as usual by his friend's exuberance. She stared at him for a moment, dazed, then she cleaned hastily the lipstick smear on his lower lip and took a step back.
"Damn, Will, I didn't want to embarrass you", she mumbled. Riker guffawed.
"No embarrassment at all, Viviana! After all, we didn't see each other for twelve years, and a bit of enthusiasm is normal, between old friends.."
La Forge lifted an eyebrow behind his VISOR, the prosthesis that allowed him to see: if this was a bit of enthusiasm, he wondered what they meant with great enthusiasm. Deanna, catching sight of his face, hold herself barely from laughing hard.
"Come, I introduce you to the other ones", Riker was saying to Viviana, inviting her to approach the console, "This is Deanna Troi, the ship's Counsellor. Deanna, my friend Viviana Morgante."
The young woman's face turned instantly to an ember-red.
"Oh my God, what a gaffe!", she stammered, totally embarrassed, "Counsellor, I feel awful, I didn't... I mean, it wasn't my intention..."
"Don't worry, Miss Morgante", Deanna interrupted her gently, perceiving empathically the other one's recognition, "Commander Riker and I are not together for years now."
Viviana moved her gaze, in which had arisen a great perplexity, from the beautiful brown woman to the tall bearded man at her side.
"Ah", she uttered. She remembered the letters of the former Lieutenant Riker, full of love for whom he described as a wonderful creature, and she found it hard to believe that it was over now; she would swear Deanna Troi would be the only woman in the world able to catch that womanizer of her friend. Life's mysteries, she concluded, finally able to put on a controlled face.
"And this", Riker went on, diplomatically ignoring the interlude and pointing to the man behind the console, with the ochre uniform of the technical staff, "is Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, chief engineer of the Enterprise."
"Nice to meet you, Commander", Viviana said smiling. La Forge smiled instinctively back, happy he had decided to come and welcome her personally on her arrival on board: now he was certain they would work together well.
"My pleasure, Miss Morgante", he stated.
Riker glanced at the transporter platform, where an antigravity trolley still stood, motionless, a large bag on it.
"That's all of your luggage?", he enquired. Viviana nodded:
"Yeah, I travel always light."
"Fine, then I take you to your quarters", the first officer stated, "Shall we dine together?"
"I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world!"
They exited nodding a goodbye to the other two, followed by the trolley with the bag. La Forge reset the transporter controls with automatic gestures due to his long practice.
"Friends, eh?", he muttered, looking doubtfully at Deanna. The Counsellor nodded, absolutely sure:
"Friends, yes."
They exited together the transporter room, heading towards the turboelevator.
"If you say so, Deanna, I must believe it", La Forge said, "But my impression is different."
Deanna didn't feel offended: after all, he wasn't empathic and he was unable to see beyond the appearance, despite his VISOR could perceive light frequencies far beyond the human eye's possibilities.
"Well, you're not completely wrong", she conceded therefore, "Calling them just friends is reductive. Their relationship is very deep and goes far beyond the common friendship. However they're not in love with each other, and it's unlikely they'll ever be", she smiled, "I envy them", she concluded, emphatically, "Only few can experience such an intense and disinterested bond, in their lifetime."
La Forge's doubts had been greatly diminished by Deanna's words.
"Yes, you're right", he admitted, "It's nice to know it's possible."
****
Riker and Viviana stayed until very late in his quarters. They had so many things to tell each other, and it was wonderful for both finding again, intact, their mutual understanding, which during their Academy years got them the nickname of Siamese Twins. They laughed together about the amusing episodes, and mourned together about the sorrowful ones; Viviana learned bewildered about the existence of a double of her friend, created by a transporter malfunction, who had taken Riker's second name, Thomas. Overcoming the initial shock, she commented wittily:
"For space's sake, how can the galaxy now bear even two Rikers?!"
The first officer split his sides laughing.
At a certain point of their narrations, without her having asked for it, he explained her how and why his relationship with Deanna Troi had come to an end, and Viviana, with her usual frankness, asked him bluntly:
"Have you ever repented it?"
Riker was equally frank:
"For a long time, I was afraid I could, but finally we agreed both that, if maybe it wasn't better this way, it has surely not been a mistake."
When finally they were both too sleepy to go on, they parted and went to bed.
The next morning, La Forge, who, as the chief engineer, had to supervise the needed modifications on the holographic generator, picked up Viviana to show her her station. From here, she could introduce all the changings needed to improve the holographic programs and bring them to the interacting and realism levels of Dreamworld, the famous planet hosting an immense playground endowed with the most sophisticated hologames of the whole Federation, with which the young woman often worked together. Starfleet was constantly interested in giving its members the best, and if the experiment on the flagship would give good results, for Viviana it would mean the final consecration to the Olympus of the highest experts in the field of the holographic games programming. Not to speak about the astronomical fee they had offered her...