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“Yeah. That’s what makes it so hard to say yes and so hard to say no.” He shook his head. “Thanks again. I’ll see you later.”

“A hologram?”

Picard held a steaming mug of Earl Grey tea in one hand and its saucer in the other as he said those words to Admiral Kathryn Janeway. The admiral’s face was framed within the small screen on the desk of Picard’s ready room.

“That’s right. Apparently, someone got their hands on a mobile emitter,” Janeway said bitterly. She had been the one to bring that technology to the Federation, thanks to a time-traveling adventure she had while her ship, the U.S.S. Voyager, was in the Delta Quadrant. “We don’t know who replaced Emperor Kahless with a hologram or why, but we do need to find him.”

“What is it you wish the Enterprise to do?” Picard asked, setting the tea down on his desk.

“Well, originally nothing, but Ambassador Worf strongly recommended that you be assigned to aid in the search.”

Picard beamed inwardly. Although he had nothing but praise for the work Christine Vale had been doing for the past four years, there were times when Picard missed Worf’s presence on the bridge. It was good to see that, even in his new career, he was solicitous of his former shipmates. “That is generous of the ambassador.”

Janeway smiled conspiratorially. “Honestly, Jean-Luc, it just gave some of us an excuse to give you the assignment. You aren’t completely out of the doghouse yet, but you’re pretty damn close—and there are a lot more people on your side. Even Upton was grudgingly admitting that you hadn’t entirely lost it yet.”

“How nice to hear,” Picard said dryly. Upton had been the one to assign the Enterprise to the powder keg that Delta Sigma IV had become, and Picard’s impression had been that the admiral had not expected the Enterprise to perform at all well.

“We’ve assigned two dozen ships to search several sectors that match some sightings of Kahless during a particular time period, as well as places he liked to visit in the past. This is in addition to the searches the Klingons are making.”

Since the Enterprise was still in the Xarantine system, which was a stone’s throw from Klingon space, Picard assumed that they would be getting a sector of their own to search.

However, Janeway surprised him. “But that’s not what we’re looking for from you. You were in command of the ship on the scene when Kahless ‘returned’ on Boreth ten years ago, and several members of your crew have interacted with Kahless.”

Picard winced. “Kathryn, ‘interacted’ is a rather generous term. Worf was the only one who spent significant amounts of time with him.”

“I realize that, Jean-Luc, but even that minimal interaction puts you one up on the rest of us. Plus, Will served on a Klingon ship, you served as K’mpec’s arbiter of succession, Data’s the best analyst in the Federation, and most of you served with a Klingon for eight years. You’re the closest we’ve got to a proper Klingon think tank, and that’s what we need. I’m forwarding all the intelligence the Klingons gave us, plus what little our people have been able to figure out so far. I’m also giving you everything on the mobile emitter, including our own attempts to reverse-engineer it, both on Voyager and by the S.C.E. since we got back.” Janeway gave Picard a rather mischievous smile. “Actually, since before we got back. From what I understand, they were trying to rebuild the thing just based on the log reports we were sending through Project Voyager.”

“From what I’ve seen of the S.C.E., that doesn’t surprise me.” Picard sipped his tea. “And what are we to do with this embarrassment of riches?”

“Sift through it. Analyze it. Look for a pattern. See if you can figure out where Kahless is.” The mischievous smile was now gone, replaced by a stern look. “Jean-Luc, we’ve got to do this right. There’s a good chance that the next president is going to be calling for a war with the Klingons, and between Kahless’s disappearance, the embassy seizure, and Tezwa, we may have that war without any push from Fel