//------------------------------// // Season 3 Interlude: "Last Call" // Story: Star Trek: Phoenix // by Dewdrops on the Grass //------------------------------// Interlude  “Last Call” Stardate: 52473.4 Location: Los Angeles, California, Earth Forward Avenue was a study in contrast. By day it was just another street in a relatively buttoned-down shopping and business district just to the south and west of downtown Los Angeles. But once the sun went down, the area’s maze of narrow streets and twisting sidealleys transformed into something else entirely. Bars and restaurants of all types sprang to life, tempting late workers and party goers alike with all manner of food and drink. Cover bands and street performers filled the air throughout the district with song, dance, and spectacle, as people young, old, and young at heart sang, ate, and danced the night away.  As the midnight hour approached, mobile food carts and street vendors began to replace the more traditional restaurants and cafes, their well-worn neon signs a final beacon of sustenance and clarity for the hundreds of night owls who would soon be streaming – or stumbling – out of the many nightclubs that ringed the outer edges of the district. In some ways, the night was only just beginning for this trendy neighborhood. With one curious exception – the cozy bar nestled on the basement level of the stony brick building at Number 10, Forward Avenue. “Sorry, boss. Got time to make one more?” Guinan glanced up at the waitress, a young woman with short, powder-pink hair and bright blue eyes. “I might…” she muttered as she dunked a trio of glasses into each half of the wash sink in quick succession, “if I hadn’t called last call fifteen minutes ago.” “I know, I’m sorry, Guinan,” the girl replied. “I had just cleaned that corner booth, and was working on the tables across from it. I dropped the cleaner bottle, and when I looked back up, this guy was just sitting in the corner booth like he had been there the whole time. I swear he wasn’t there earlier either. It’s like he beamed right into the chair or something.” Guinan moved the glasses to a drying rack and swiftly dunked the next set into the soapy solution without looking down. Years of practice had made the required motions as automatic as breathing. “Nah, it’s alright, March. Is what it is.” She stopped to wipe her brow and looked back up. For her part, March looked about as tired as Guinan felt. And she didn’t normally feel real fatigue either. “Still, we close in five minutes and we’re both beat, so whoever this guy is, he gets one drink only. What did he order?” “That’s just it. He said he didn’t need a drink at all,” March replied, slipping a bit of her hair back behind her ear. “He says he came by to see you, actually. Something about sparing a moment for a weary traveler?” “Did he now?” Guinan grabbed a small towel and began drying her hands as she stepped a few feet away and peered over at the booth in the far corner. She focused her mind for a moment and a spark of recognition hit her almost immediately. She wasn’t sure yet whether she should be concerned or not, but she hid it behind a gentle poker face for now. “Ah, him,” she said, walking back over. “I’ve run into him a few times, actually. So sure, I can spare him a few minutes.” “Hmm… okay, I’ll let him know.” March hesitated a bit. “You want me to hang around anyway, Guinan? Just in case he gets weird or somethin’?” Guinan chuckled and shook her head. “Thank you, but I’ll be alright, I promise. He’s a… unique character is all.” “Alright, if you say so.” March nodded. “Great. Thanks as always, March.” Guinan exchanged a quick fistbump with the younger girl. “Be careful on the way home and see you on Monday.” Guinan made quick work of the remaining cleaning, before finally approaching the corner booth. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.” “Don’t worry, I have time,” the man replied. “Says the guy who pops in literally at the last minute, and on the busiest night of the week too.” “Would you believe me if I said I forgot what day of the standard calendar it would be when I got here?” Guinan looked down at her guest and smirked. “I’ll let it slide this time, I suppose. For an old friend.” The man dipped his head a bit. “Thanks. At the risk of sounding glib, I really do need someone to listen right now.” “Well, you came to the right place for that at least.” Guinan stepped closer and gestured to the empty chair opposite him. “May I?” He opened his hands in a plaintive gesture. “It’s your bar.” “Touche.” Guinan quietly slipped into the empty side of the booth and fixed her eyes on her new guest. “So, what’s on your mind… Wesley.” Guinan sat back and let out a low whistle. “I knew Sunset had come back after seemingly dying trying to stop the Enterprise-D from exploding, but I lost touch with her after that. Any other time I’d say the story you just told me is impossible, and I’ve seen a lot. Then again... what part of that poor girl's journey has been normal?” Wesley nodded. “By comparison, my life seems almost simplistic.” Guinan chuckled at that. “Care for a drink?” “Actually, yeah. If you don’t mind.” “Follow me.” Guinan led him up to the bar, where Wesley took a seat on one of the bar stools. Guinan slipped behind the bar and quickly produced a bottle filled with green liquid and a pair of glasses, each filled with a single large ice cube. “Aldebaran whiskey?” Wesley tipped his hand. “Go for it.” He watched her begin to pour the drinks. “By the way, I'm surprised I found you planetside.” “I did follow the rest of the crew to the Enterprise-E, if that's what you mean. Beautiful ship, don't get me wrong. And I was glad to be there.” She finished pouring the second drink and slid the glass over to Wesley. “But I had a feeling I'd be needed down here sooner or later, so here I am.” “Fair enough," Wesley replied. "Oh, and cheers.” "Yes, cheers indeed." They softly clinked their glasses together. “So,” Guinan said as she took a small sip, “where are they now?” “Still at least half a year from the Federation and stuck at low warp.” “And their planet? Equus, you said?” “Mhmm.” Wesley sipped from his drink and he smiled a bit. “Ah, forgot how good this stuff tastes. Anyway, yes, their planet is Equus. And from what I could tell after quickly peeking in on them, they’re in rough shape. And the worse their sun gets, the worse conditions on the ground will become.” Guinan frowned at that. “Where’s her sister Twilight? And if you don't mind my asking, what prompted you to look in on them anyway?” “Twilight is planetside, with a team in tow. Considering what they’re up against, they’ve made more progress than I might have guessed. But they still have a lot of work left in front of them.” Wesley sat up a bit straighter. “As for why? I've been keeping my eye on a number of different potential... flashpoints lately, and this is a pretty big one.” “Can't say I totally like the sound of that,” Guinan replied. “Can they fix it?” Wesley took another sip and gently spun the glass around on the table. “Not entirely. The technology is recognizable, but fixing it is only a part of the larger problem.” “What about magic? If it can literally save their ship…” “Part of the equation, but again, not enough by itself.” Guinan took a longer sip from her drink and gave Wesley a curious look. “Why do I get the feeling one or both of us are about to get pulled into this whole situation?” “Never could slip anything by you, could I?” he chuckled. “This time though it’s just me, I promise. Your part is right here, helping me decide.” “Decide what?” “Whether I should get involved at all.” Guinan turned the glass between her hands, spinning the slowly melting ice cube a bit. “I see. So… be honest here. If you do nothing, can they still succeed?” Wesley paused for a moment, considering his words carefully. “There are permutations where they do, yes.” Guinan eyed him over the rim of her glass as she took another drink. “You don’t sound too confident.” “I’d be lying if I said their odds were great at the moment.” “Then why the hesitation?” “Because…" Wesley grimaced. "Because I can’t tell if I’m wanting to intervene because it’s the right thing to do, or simply because I can.” “Do you want them to succeed?” she asked. “Sunset and Twilight are my friends. Of course I want them to succeed.” He sighed. “You know as well as I do that it’s not just about what I want or what you want though. It’s what results in the right outcome for the universe.” Guinan tipped her glass a bit in recognition. “Understood. But on the other hand, watching the sun go out on an entire world and freeze it to death doesn’t sound very right in any universe.” “But that’s just it, Guinan. It could be. For instance, I doubt the miners on Praxis – Klingon or not – would have seen their lives as a fair trade for anything, much less détente with the Federation.” Wesley rapped his knuckles on the edge of the polished wood bar top. “Of course they wouldn’t, not that I’d blame them. But the thing is,” he took another sip of whiskey, “in the grand scheme, the lives saved, the advancements made as a result of that peace deal are almost incalculable. The universe all our friends inhabit inarguably benefitted from that chain of events.” “Okay then.” Guinan leaned forward onto the bar a bit and pointed her finger at Wesley. “Does the universe benefit at all from Equus dying out?” “I-In some permutations, yes. To some degree.” Wesley looked down into his drink, seeming ashamed of his answer. “Then what you’re really torn between is,” Guinan answered after a moment's thought, “whether one path might be more ‘right’ than the other.” He looked up at her. “When you put it that way, yeah, that’s probably a lot of it. Normally, any Traveler’s decision to intervene in an event or not is far more clear cut than this. Pruning clearly rotten branches instead of putting our thumb on the scale for a preferred option, so to speak.” “Then perhaps,” Guinan replied as she nursed the last few sips of her drink, “you should take a page from my book and listen to yourself a bit more.” “What do you mean?” he replied. “I mean, listen to Wesley more, Wesley. Stop thinking like a Traveler for a second and ask yourself what choice Wesley Crusher would make instead.” “But I’m not Wesley anymore, Guinan. You know that.” “You’re more than just Wesley, yes,” Guinan said. “But you’re still Wesley. Believe me, I still see and hear that part of you. And I think I know my friend Wesley enough to have a good idea what he would choose, too.” “Think about it this way,” she continued. “From what you’ve told me, none of the ponies or other creatures would be on Equus at all were it not for outside help. None of them asked to be there, hidden away from everything they once knew. So in that sense, they’ve already been wronged. Preventing their demise would seem to be right in line with ‘righting the wrongs’ that Travelers so often do.” “Huh…” he muttered. Wesley just looked at her for a few moments without saying a word. Finally, he took a deep breath, threw back the last sip of his drink, and slipped off the stool. “This is exactly why I knew I needed to come see you, you know.” “Oh?” Guinan asked. “Before you sat down, I said I needed someone to listen, and who better than you,” he replied. “But I also needed someone to talk back to me too, and again, who better than you.” Guinan laughed a warm, hearty laugh. She hadn’t laughed that deeply in a long time; not since a surprisingly quick-witted pony literally walked into her bar on the Enterprise-D. “Well,” she finally said through her mirth. “It’s the least I could do for a friend. I’m just glad I could help.” Guinan put her now empty glass down and walked out from behind the bar. “Now don’t you go leavin’ without giving me a hug, young man.” Wesley laughed as he embraced her, his smile growing. "Glad to know someone still thinks I'm young," he added, causing them both to laugh some more. They eventually parted, and Wesley made for the door. “By the way,” Guinan called after him, “a final thought for you.” “Sure,” he said, pausing just before the stairs back up to the street level. “You said the planet Equus, it used to be an Iconian world?” “Yes, as best as we can tell.” “Ironic then,” Guinan replied. “So often, Iconian technology is a harbinger of death and destruction to any race who encounters it. Yet it was some of that very technology that brought Sunset, Twilight, and by extension all of Equus, into our lives. Had they never discovered the gate, they’d have no clue as to the danger they face.”  Guinan brought her hands together. "It would be very right, I think, if those damnable gateways delivered a planet to its salvation for once, instead of its demise." Wesley seemed to ponder that, then smiled and nodded. “Thanks for the drink, Guinan. And for listening.” “It’s what I do,” she replied. “You take care now.” “You too.” And with that, Wesley was gone. Guinan was left alone with her thoughts… and a fervent hope that, whatever Wesley might be planning to do, he’d get there in time to make a difference. Anything else just didn’t feel right.