Chapter II: Trust


Counselor Deanna Troi – technically an officer with a rank of Commander – was unfortunately in the middle of a session with a patient when the Captain called. Ensign David Thompson was thankfully well on his road to recovery, but having his fiancée assimilated was bound to leave lasting mental scars. She'd had to wrap up her session with him too quickly to get to the brig.

Deanna had no idea who she was about to meet, or why this unknown person was a prisoner, but perhaps that was for the best. She could get a better impression of a person if she met them as a stranger. A lack of preconceptions could go a long way.

But this still isn't right, a voice in the back of her mind told her. The half-human, half-Betazoid woman was accustomed to using her natural empathic abilities to help people, but ever since the Dominion had started probing the Alpha Quadrant, she'd become more of a tool for sniffing out possible enemies. She had always been useful in helping determine the motives of an unknown person, but being used as a direct tool of interrogation put her on edge.

Still, the prisoner was likely to be in need of counseling in any event. Incarceration could do things to people. With that in mind, Troi turned the corner of the hallway and entered the brig.

There was only one prisoner, and she appeared to be no more than a human girl in her late teens or early twenties. But she was definitely not normal. Two emotions vied for control of Deanna's mind: panic that she could read no emotions from the prisoner, and relief that she could simply use her training as a counselor to help instead of relying on her native talents.

"Hello there," she ventured. "My name is Deanna Troi. I'm the ship's counselor. Do you mind if we talk for a bit?" Be up front, be friendly, gain her trust.

The girl sat with unnerving stillness, and Troi wondered if maybe she wasn't human. The counselor herself appeared externally to be fully human, save for her black eyes. But even some humans had that feature.

"I don't mind. I have no choice. What do you want to know?"

She feels trapped and resigned. "I just want to get to know you and understand you. The Captain asked me to talk with you, but he told me nothing about you save that you were an unexpected guest, and that you were in the brig. I'm not here to judge you. I just want to talk," Troi reassured her.

The girl's face stayed blank. "You are here to interrogate me. I told Captain Picard the truth. You will gain nothing by questioning me further."

She's paranoid. She has no reason to trust us. "If you want to view this as an interrogation, then that is your choice. But I am not here to question your actions. I'm not interested in what you've done. I just want to get to know you as a person."

The girl finally showed something resembling emotion. Her eyes widened and she leaned forward very slightly. "You want to know me 'as a person.' I don't believe you. No one has ever treated me as a person before. I've been a tool since before I arrived."

Oh my! If she doesn't have regard for herself, this could be dangerous. "I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know where you arrived, or where you arrived from, but I'm a counselor. It's my duty to help people in need. And you are a person, like any other, regardless of species."

Now her eyes narrowed. "Other species are people? That isn't right. Other species are your enemies. The Federation is a human empire."

"What?" Troi exclaimed, unable to help herself. "That's just… I don't know what you've been told, but the Federation's full name is the United Federation of Planets. We count over one-hundred fifty member worlds, with as many or more sentient species as equal partners."

The girl leaned forward and placed her hands in her lap. "I upset you. I'm sorry. You're the first person to treat me as an equal since I came here."

Since she came here? Does this mean that there were people who treated you well before you came here? I wonder what is 'here' and what is 'there.'

A small smile formed on the girl's face, and it changed her completely. "There was one. He cared. He treated me like a person. He protected me from those who didn't. But I was a threat to him, so I went away. I ended up here by mistake."

So there was a man in her life. A friend? A lover? And she left him because she wanted to protect him. This is not the mind of a criminal. "Do you want to talk about him?"

"No," the prisoner said very quickly. "I've already divulged more than I should have. Please leave now."

She said 'please.' And she did talk a bit before stopping. She wants to trust us. "Very well. I'll leave you be, miss." The counselor nodded to the security officer and exited the brig.

Troi headed straight for the turbolift. "Bridge," she ordered once she had boarded. She needed to talk with the Captain about this. She wondered what the prisoner had told him, and what he was going to do about it.


Picard sat in his ready room, reading over a very specific clause of the document that would become the foundation of the entire Federation. Article Fourteen, Section Thirty-One was not very wordy, but upon closer reading of a few choice words, Jean-Luc's whole world changed.

'An autonomous investigative agency for purposes of safeguarding the citizenry is to be enabled.' There were a few other mundane clauses of Section Thirty-One, but this was obviously what Cameron had been referring to.

An organization that answers to no one, with unspecified discretion and jurisdiction. Hidden in plain sight. The thought of it sent chills through Picard's body that seemed almost more insidious than being assimilated by the Borg.

They weren't common knowledge, that much was certain. And Cameron had likely escaped from them. From his short conversation with her, this shadowy group was all that she knew of the Federation. She said that she'd been found, and it must have been this group that had done so. And she'd said they'd done things to her. Experiments. No wonder she tried to flee.

But there was still something missing. The girl was at least in her teens, so she had to have grown up somewhere. She had to have knowledge of the Federation and its basic tenets. Whatever the case, she had escaped with knowledge of things not meant for others to know. No wonder they tried to silence her.

Turning to his personal interface, Picard sent a request for a com link with the Admiral who had sent him the order.

It didn't take long for an answer. "Captain Picard," Admiral Fischer greeted him. "Report."

"The fugitive has been neutralized, Admiral. But it is rare that Starfleet issues an order such as this. What was this criminal guilty of?"

The admiral shook his head. "I'm sorry, Jean-Luc, but that's classified information. It pains me to issue orders like this, but some things just can't be helped. You understand, of course."

More clearly than you realize. "Yes, of course. I just hope that such orders are as few and far between as possible." Never would be preferable.

"I feel the same way. Thank you for your service, Captain. Fischer out." The admiral's face vanished, replaced by the UFP emblem.

The lights suddenly dimmed, and klaxons began sounding. The com chirped. "Captain Picard to the bridge," Riker's voice said.

The business with Section Thirty-One could wait. Picard strode out onto the bridge. "Report."

"Six Jem'Hadar fighters are approaching at warp 7.5. They'll be on top of us in-"

"Captain," Data said, "The Jem'Hadar ships have entered visual range. They are deploying in an attack formation."

Damn! The chase for Cameron had taken them away from the safety of the fleet, and now they had six fighters on top of them. Alone, they weren't much of a threat, but they seldom traveled outside of groups of three.

"Shields up. Ready phasers and photon torpedoes. Target their weapons and fire at will," Picard ordered as he took the center seat.

The ship rocked and buckled as the enemy's weapons rained down upon them. "Shields down to 45 percent," Data reported.

"One enemy fighter has been destroyed, Captain," Fleming said from his station. "Another is badly damaged and out of the fight."

"Dominion transporter signatures have been detected on decks fifteen through seventeen," Data announced.

Picard rose to his feet. "All hands, intruder alert! Security to decks fifteen through seventeen."

"Three more enemy ships have been destroyed, Captain," Fleming reported. "All three suffered minor shield fluctuations. The intruders probably beamed over from those ships."

"The remaining Jem'Hadar fighter is in retreat, Captain. It has gone to warp," Data said.

"Very good," Picard said. Now we just have to deal with a number of Jem'Hadar. "Mr. Data, How many enemy troops have boarded the Enterprise?"

"I detected twenty-seven transporter signatures. Nine each on decks fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen."

Picard nodded. "Mr. Fleming, take a security team and secure deck fifteen, then move your way down. Mr. Data, go with him."

"Aye, Captain," they said in unison as they headed for the lift.

"Captain," Riker said carefully, "The brig is on deck seventeen. Can we be sure those force fields are still active?"

"No, we can't, Number One. But security is stationed there already. They have a good chance of subduing Cameron if she gets out of hand."

"Cameron? Is that her name?"

"So it would seem. But right now, we have other things to worry about."


Data stalked down deck seventeen, phaser rifle in hand. Decks fifteen and sixteen were safe. Security had done its job well. And he was relieved that Geordi and Dr. Crusher were both safe, given that Main Engineering and Sickbay were both on deck sixteen.

They rounded a corner to find a hallway lined with bodies. Human, Trill, Andorian, Bajoran, and Jem'Hadar.

"Check them," Fleming ordered. The security team panned out as Data examined the first Jem'Hadar body.

It had taken a shot to its face, and the wound appeared to be from a Jem'Hadar weapon. Federation weapons were less direct.

"No fatalities among our own," one of the security team reported. "The Jemmies, though, they all took face-shots. Wonder what could have done-"

He got no further as a Federation phaser hit him square in the chest and took him down. Data looked up and saw a young woman – a girl? – holding a phaser rifle like his own. She aimed one shot at each of the security team in quick succession, disabling them before they could even get off a shot.

Fleming was able to get off a shot, but it only caused the girl to stumble a bit before she hit him in the chest. Data checked his pulse, and was grateful to find that he was still alive.

A phaser blast hit his chest, but being set to stun, it did not damage him. He stood up straight. "If you are seeking to harm me, you will find that task difficult," Data warned the girl. He didn't wish to harm her, but she had clearly done damage to his comrades. She was likely the prisoner who had been contained in the brig until recently.

The girl dropped her weapon and started to walk towards him, stepping nimbly over and between the bodies lining the corridor. Data aimed his weapon and fired, but it only slowed her down temporarily.

"I do not wish to fight you, but you leave me no choice," he said sadly as he dropped his weapon and moved to engage the petite girl, swinging a metal arm at her head.

She caught his arm in one hand, twisted it down, and picked Data up with both hands and threw him against the wall.

Stunned, Data moved forward and attempted a similar feat. The girl ducked underneath his arms and threw him to the ground. Data tried to rise, but felt a foot on his back pinning him down.

"What are you?" the girl asked him, her voice deceptively soft.

Failing to see the relevance of the question, the question could possibly distract her. "I am a Soong-type android," he answered. "Why do you ask?"

"What is your function aboard this ship?" she demanded.

A strange sensation was creeping into Data's mind. It was the emotion chip, and it was a negative feeling. Indignity. "I am the ship's Second Officer and Chief of Sciences," he said proudly. I should not have told her that, he chastised himself a moment later.

The girl removed her foot from his back, and he got to his feet. "I'm sorry," she said tonelessly. "I thought you were going to harm me. The Federation is different from what I thought I knew." She looked back down the corridor. "I only disabled your men and women. I killed the Jem'Hadar with one of their weapons after one of them tried to kill me. When your people awaken, they can verify my story."

Data tilted his head. The girl was a study in contradictions. And her strength was far greater than any human's. "Until power is restored, I am going to have to ask you to not leave my side."

"I won't," she said, sounding genuine.

Nodding his head, the android tapped his combadge. "Data to the bridge. All hostiles have been neutralized. We have fifteen injured crewmen on deck seventeen."

"Acknowledged, Mr. Data," Picard's voice said from over the com. "I'll have Dr. Crusher send a team down there immediately. Picard out."

"Before you consider harming us any further," Data said to the girl, "know that Captain Picard was ordered to kill you. He believed that this was a violation of the Federation's ideals, and opted to capture you instead. He is a good and just man. If you do not violate the trust he has put in you, then things will only get better. I know this from firsthand experience."

The girl nodded tersely. "What was that experience?" she asked.

"There are many experiences that have led me to this belief, but of all of those, my rights as an individual were threatened once. I was to be deemed property. Captain Picard fought for my rights, and he won them. I owe him my life many times over," Data said. "He will treat you fairly if you do not threaten us or violate his trust. You have my word."

The girl nodded again and turned to look at him. "Thank you for explaining."