by xJessykinsx
Disclaimer: All characters depicted herein are the rightful belongings to their respective owners. The only character that is mine is Antara D'Mari.
AN: This is just a short ficcie about my character Antara (pronounced "On-Tar-ah") D'Mari. A full length fic for her introduction to come soon. kay?
Commander Antara D'Mari pulled herself up off of the ground where she had been thrown. Her long, dark red hair falling down to the middle of her back. She wore a standard issue Federation uniform, consisting of a black and grey jump suit with a blue turtle neck on underneath and two pips on the side designating her position as a Commander of Bio-Mechanic Engineering. She was a valuable addition to the Enterprise crew considering their Lutenit commander was an android. Android lifeforms had been her specialty in the Academy. Upon graduation, she had been sent to Star Base 156 before her transfer to the Enterprise. Lending her services to the great Jean-Luc Picard was almost a dream come true.
The bridge was in ruin. Captain Picard's decision to collide with the Scimitar could have been classified as insane, except the Enterprise and her crew knew to trust his judgement. Antara raised her arm to prevent a puff of smoke and shower of sparks from harming her at what was left of the helm.
"Status report." Captain Picard said.
"Weapons systems near exhausted, shields at forty percent." Commander Data said from his post beside Antara. The young woman's fingers danced over what was left of her controls.
"Long range sensors offline, life support at sixty percent." She reported.
"And the Scimitar?" Picard asked.
"Shields at fifty percent and holding, Captain. Weapons disabled." Worf said from behind Picard. Antara looked back at the Klingon warrior and almost saw fear on his noble face. She couldn't blame him.
"All but one." Antara muttered. Her stomach lurched at the fact that their enemy, Shin'Zahn was in possession of a powerful weapon composed completely of Thalon Radiation. If you even breathed it in you would die. It would be like walking out in the middle of space and then taking off your helmet. Her stomach turned again and she glanced over at Data who looked back. It was as if she could see concern on his face as well.
Captain Picard's jaw shifted, as if planning something else out of this world. The distinguished elder stood up from his seat and went to a weapons locker closeby. He pulled out a blast rifle and set to the maximum setting.
"Captain?" Data asked.
"Shin'Zahn thinks he knows my every move. But he's wrong. Mr. LaForge, one to beam over to the Scimitar." Picard said. Geordi LaForge almost fell out of his chair.
"Captain, you can't be serious." Geordi said.
"Oh yes. Just do it." Picard ordered.
"Captain, perhaps I should go." Data offered.
"My word is final. Data you have the Bridge. Geordi." Picard said. The engineer nodded slowly and site teleported Captain over to their enemy's ship in a haze of blue light. The controls popped and sizzled and that was the end of the teleporters. There would be no way to get the Captain back.
"Data?" Antara asked.
"Worf take over command of the bridge. Antara, Geordi with me." Data said. Antara looked at Geordi, the dark skinned man nodded and the two of them left the bridge with Data. The three officers headed toward a hanger bay, sealed from space by a force field that Geordi had control over.
"I'm going to help the captain." Data said.
"Are you sure about this?" Geordi asked.
"Quite sure." Data nodded, he looked over at Antara. "Do you have the teleportation modification prototype?"
The bio-mechanics engineer nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small device no bigger than an identification card. A small compartment opened in his forearm and she set it in there gently. Her fingers worked slowly and he watched her every move. She reached a finger in a pressed a small button and two pins came up and secured the small device.
"Don't forget, only one can use it. There's a chance that you could transport two if one holds onto the other. Which means you have to be holding Captain Picard before you activate it." She said softly, not looking him in the eye. Data was her best friend, she even had feelings for him...would go as far to say that she loved him. But it was a silly notion...androids couldn't love back. Could they?
"I will return. When I do, I will buy you dinner at the next star base we visit." He said with a nod. Geordi stepped back away from the two, giving them time to say goodbye. The engineer had a feeling that Data wasn't going to come back.
"Please be careful, Data." She said quietly, she looked up at him, a look of concern across her lovely face. "We want the both of you back."
He closed the compartment in his arm and hugged her tightly. She closed her eyes and put her arms around his neck, returning his tight embrace. Tears fell slowly from her closed brown eyes. Fear? Sadness? Both? She didn't know.
"Take care of Bee-Four. Teach him all that you know. He's like a child, Antara, help him grow... like you've helped me." He said. Antara thought back to the primitive android similar to Data that was held in stasis in her lab. She wanted to argue. There could never be another Data.
Never.
"Data, just shut up and come back to me." She said. He squeezed her gently and then let her go.
"You ready?" Geordi asked.
Data nodded, he gave Antara a soft kiss on her cheek "Thank you for everything." He said and then walked away from her. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep her from crying anymore. Geordi lowered the forcefield and Data crossed over into the open hanger. He looked back at his two friends and nodded as the forcefield was put back into place. Geordi smiled, Antara faked her best smile, not wanting him to worry. As if droids worried... yeah...right.
Data turned away from them and ran out of the hanger. With a running leap he flew into open space and onto the Scimitar's wing. Antara watched him land on the ship and unlock an exterior compartment and slip inside the ship.
"Worf to Commander LaForge." A gruff voice said over the comm on Geordi's chest.
"LaForge." Geordi said, tapping his comm.
"Shin'Zahn has activated his Thalon weapon. He's locked onto us." Worf reported.
"Oh my God." Antara said quietly, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"Commander D'Mari and I are returning to the bridge." Geordi said. He looked at Antara, she leaned back against the hanger's wall, her arms around herself and her gaze far away. "Antara, he'll be fine, let's go." The two of them ran back up to the bridge, not wanting to waste any time with slow turbolifts.
"D'Mari to Worf." Antara said as they ran.
"Worf here." He said.
"How long before he fires?" Antara asked.
"The preperation sequence takes seven minutes." Worf told her.
"Seven minutes, that gives Data and the captain very little time." LaForge said.
"It's probably all the time Data needs to get the Captain and get back before that thing shoots the hell out of us. But I have an idea." Antara responded. They ran onto the bridge. "Geordi, try to divert all power to the impulse engines. Ensign Briggs, see if you can move this thing into full reverse and get us away from that ship."
"Commander D'Mari?" Ensign Briggs asked. The young woman looked at the man. He was beaten and bruised from the Enterprise's impact on the Scimitar. "Engine power is only at forty percent. Even if we can reverse the ship it would take a lot longer than seven minutes."
"It will take longer if we keep arguing. Just do it." Antara said. She turned around and looked over Geordi's shoulder as his fingers worked the controls. "How we doing?" She asked.
"I can get maybe twenty more percent on top of the forty we have, but I'm not making any garuntees." Geordi said.
"Give it a shot anyway." Antara said.
"Commander D'Mari! Commander LaForge!" Someone called. The two officers turned and looked at the woman at the sensor terminal. "The Scimitar, it's starting to implode." Geordi and Antara walked down onto the lower level of the bridge and watched as the Scimitar began to explode. Antara put her arm up to guard her eyes from the brightness of the explosion.
"Oh God." Antara said.
Soon, the familiar hum of a transporter was heard, Antara and Geordid turned and saw Captain Picard standing there. Alive and well, but where was--?
Antara looked back at The Scimitar and watched the ship blow into bits, the Enterprise shook at the force of the explosion.
Her knees went weak and she almost fell over, Geordi put his arm around her back and preventing her from hitting the ground. He was gone. Data had sacrificed himself to save them all. Tears fell unvoluntarily from her eyes but she was able to stop them. This couldn't be happening. She wiped her face viciously scolding herself silently for crying in the first place. All Geordi did was put his arms around her, letting the young woman lay her head on his shoulder.
Later, the Enterprise was suspended safely in a repair station. Ships buzzed around it fixing the exterior shell. Captain Picard called all of his officers into his ready room. He poured them all glasses of red wine and passed them out. Antara took hers, her one arm around her stomach.
"To absent friends." Picard said then they all took a drink of their wine. Antara set her glass down and left the Ready Room. No one stopped her. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She didn't want to think about him. She had work to do. Tons of work. Not only did she have to help Geordi in Engineering but she had a few things of her own she wanted to get done.
Bee-Four sat in a chair in Antara's lab as she worked on him. He was offline thanks to Data, but it was probably a good idea. Her hair back in a messy bun to keep it out of her face. She was making a few major modifications on the android, updating his programming. Her heart aching as she looked at his calm face. She found a recent download of Data's memories and programming and began to update him with it. Maybe she could at least bring him up to speed if not turn him into officer material.
The doors of her lab opened and Captain Picard walked in. She didn't even look up at him. She used a thin screw-driver device to work on Bee-Four's posotronic matrix. Then set it down and picked up a tricorder to run an evaluation on him once more.
"This guy is a mess. I have enough work here to last me a month if not more." She said.
"He is quite the challenge." Picard told her. "Perhaps when you are finished, he could be as good as Data."
"Nothing would ever be as good as Data." She said. "I wouldn't be working on Bee-Four if Data--" She sighed and sat back in her seat.
Captain Picard sat down in the seat at her desk. "It's alright to cry for him, Antara, he was our friend." He said.
"He was going to take me out to dinner." She told him with a small smile. A tear fell slowly, she wiped at it. She sniffed and looked down at the tool in her hands. "When the Enterprise stopped for repairs."
"He did what he had to do. To save the rest of us." Picard said.
She tossed her tool back on a tray by Bee-Four and got up from her seat. She walked over to the view port and watched at the repair ships buzzing around them. She pulled her hair down and let it fall. Running her fingers through it to loosen it up, she sniffed again and wiped her eyes.
"You meant a lot to Data." Picard said.
"Yeah right. Androids don't have feelings." She told him, she turned and looked at the Captain. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't mean to be so disagreeable and rude."
"It's been a hard few days, I understand." He said. "I came here not only to check up on you, but to ask you something."
"Yes, Sir?" She asked.
"Commander Riker has been promoted to 'Captain' Riker and in command of his own ship. Since he is leaving and Data has--well, would you consider being my first mate?" Captain Picard asked.
"I get to be 'Number One'?" She asked. "You're joking."
"No." He replied. "You handled this ship well in my absence and Starfleet has agreed to promote you."
"It would be an honor, sir. Just as long as I still get to work on Androids." She nodded.
He nodded and smiled. He put a hand on her cheek, wiping at another tear with his thumb. "Data would be proud." He let her go and excused himself from her lab. She sat down back in her seat and turned Bee-Four back on.
"Oh." He said, in a garbled voice not unlike Data's. "Hello Commander."
"Hey Bee-Four." She said. "How you feeling?"
"I don't really 'feel' anything. I am an android." He said.
"Well, humor me." She told him. "Do you know where you are?"
"The USS Enterprise under the command of Jean-Luc Picard." He said.
"Well, at least the modifications are taking effect." She told him. She opened up the casing on his arm and started tinkering with the machinery inside. It was a bit dusty and rusted from literally being blown apart and found on some remote system.
"Where is my brother?" Bee-Four asked.
"Bee-Four...let me tell you a story about your brother..." She started.
END
AN: Yeah, I know...sad and kind of lame, but hey, it's been awhile since I've written any Star Trek so bear with me.