Chapter Seven

The call for both Maddox and Barrows to report to their duty posts had come in. Barrows did not respond or report. Data saw the notation on his console during the battle. This heightened his already alarmed state. He had sensed something strange from her and then their connection had been severed abruptly. The experience had almost felt painful for a moment.

Data sent a message to sickbay requesting they check the lieutenant's quarters for injury. It was not easy to wait for the next update. There had already been reports of twelve fatalities. Data knew every name, since he made himself familiar with every crew member's record even before they set foot aboard the ship.

He would mourn each of them, even if they had not been one he had personally met. He did try to meet everyone.

This time three of the fighters had tried to break off and head for the planet, but with their shields down, the Enterprise picked them off before they had time to wreak any havoc.

"Did you do something to affect their shields, Mathison?" Riker asked, wondering if someone had found a neat new trick to use against the enemy.

"Not me, sir!"

"Data?" Riker asked.

The android turned in his seat, shaking his head. "It was timely, but it was not of my doing, sir."

"Have there been any reports of weakness to their shields before, Data?"

Moving to science two, Data accessed the records in seconds. "No reports listing the sudden lowering of all ship's or even one ship's shields, Commander."

"We need to understand what happened and if it's possible to do it again!" the Captain fumed. He turned to the counselor.

Deanna shook her head. "I've never been able to get much more than hate and fury from the Jem'Hadar, but I did sense some confusion just before the shields went down. Maybe there was a malfunction in this ship. But it's just a guess."

The mystery did not sit well with the Captain. He ordered engineering to gather any remains of the ship they could find and tractor in, to be gone over with a fine toothed comb.

Since not much did remain, Commander La Forge warned there may be little left to find, but he would do his best.

Data was instructed to join Geordi and lend whatever hand he could.

Once the crisis was over, Deanna headed to sickbay to see if any of the injured needed to talk. Many would, in her experience. The injuries that battles like this caused were always traumatic.

When the counselor arrived, one of the beds held an unconscious Lessa Barrows. Beverly was holding a scanner over her, recalibrating it, and scanning again.

"Dammit!" the redhead said under her breath. Her frustration level was very high from what Deanna could sense.

Taking note of Lessa, Deanna suddenly realized she could not sense emotions from her since she was not awake, but she could sense her! This time, that may be a bad thing.

"What's wrong with her, Beverly?" Deanna asked, coming up on the other side of the bed from the doctor.

"That's just the thing, I haven't a clue! She failed to mention something in her disclosure to the Captain. Not only do tricorders read her as being human, seemingly a false reading, but it reads her as a perfectly healthy human. Even if she's obviously not!"

Deanna's dark eyes went wide with alarm. "I can never sense her unless she lets me in. I can sense her now!"

As the ladies debated what, if any, course of action they could pursue the patient groggily came to.

"There's a tricorder I've modified in my quarters," Lessa admitted, realizing she probably should have shared this little fact with the doctor before this happened. Something Crusher voiced seconds later – tersely.

Security was asked to retrieve said tricorder and bring it to sickbay. As they waited, Lessa kept her eyes closed, held her agonizingly painful head and moaned.

Mathison was the one to hear the call to get a tricorder from Lessa Barrows' quarters. He told his staff he would attend to this. It may be dirty pool to sneak a peek at her personal space, but a man had to do what a man had to do.

It took him a bit of snooping to realize he was looking at a hand built kitchen, since Greg was a replicator baby. He doubted he'd ever had a meal that hadn't been replicated in his life. His grandfather had been the cook in his family, but he had died before Greg was even born. Neither of his parents had ever bothered to learn.

He found the tricorder in Lessa's bedroom, along with what must have been a hundred candles. Apart from them, the room had no decorations. A kitchen and candles. It wasn't really much to go on, Greg lamented. Maybe he'd learn more from the woman herself. He hoped she wasn't too hurt.

Beverly took the tricorder from Mathison the moment she could grab it out of his hand. This one finally worked. Knowing that this mysterious woman did not like her secrets shared, the doctor dismissed the security chief.

Looking over the readings, Crusher's brow furrowed with concern and surprise. "What did you do?" the doctor asked Lessa, as she called for an instrument from her staff. "You have swelling and a brain hemorrhage. I don't think you should even be conscious!"

Lessa recognized the tool Crusher was using to heal her, but her head was pounding too bad for her to summon the name.

"I wish I wasn't conscious."

"From these readings, and my knowledge of Vulcan and Betazoid brains, I suspect you were using your telepathy. Too much. Is that the case?" Beverly was still working on the hemorrhage, but spared a second to frown with disapproval at her patient.

"A little," Lessa hesitantly admitted.

"Lessa, you don't get a hemorrhage and swelling from 'a little' telepathy," Deanna chided her. Taking the girl's free hand, she encouraged her to tell them the truth. They were far enough away from others so no one would overhear. Deanna knew Lessa did not like to advertise her ability.

"I was just wondering if the Jem'Hadar were immune to telepathy." Two jaws dropped around her. Lessa gave a hesitant shrug. "I found out they aren't. Resistant, but not immune," she added meekly. She didn't like the upset expressions on everyone's face.

"You almost killed yourself for the knowledge," Crusher lectured.

"You got them to lower their shields, didn't you?" Troi asked, frowning at the mere idea. The counselor knew how resistant to mental contact their enemy was from experience.

Meekly, Lessa nodded.

"She did what?!" the Captain demanded. Certain that what he had heard the first time had been incorrect.

The senior staff was assembled in the observation lounge for this after action debriefing. Data could not blame the Captain. He was just as stunned. But the android wondered if Lessa had realized that her own actions had revealed to more of the command crew the very secret she had asked the Captain to conceal.

While this meant only the additions of Mathison and Geordi, Data doubted this would sit well with her. Even if he did not fully understand her reasons for wanting to keep it quiet.

Dr. Crusher continued. "Once I had the properly calibrated tricorder to scan her with, I discovered she's almost turned herself into a vegetable doing it, though. So don't expect to ask her to do it again."

Deanna took it from there. "From what Lieutenant Barrows told us, the stronger the will of the target, the harder it is to force them to do something against their natural inclinations. And as we've all seen, the Jem'Hadar all have wills of steel."

"She will recover, doctor?" Data asked. When Crusher nodded, the android gave an inner sigh of relief. He could not help but notice that Mathison was also visibly relieved.

"Yes. I sealed the hemorrhage and got the swelling down, but she'll need to rest for a few days. I'd like someone to check in on her twice a day if you wouldn't m-"

Both Data and Mathison were volunteering to do just that, drowning out the rest of the doctor's question. Both men looked at each other, startled. Data could see Riker perk up with interest shining in his eyes. He rested one elbow on the table and leaned his chin into it. A knowing grin lit up his expression.

"In shifts, I think we have the lady covered, Doctor," Riker noted, grinning like the cat who ate the canary.

"I would assume you instructed the lady not to attempt anything like that stunt again, doctor?" the Captain asked.

"Oh, yes. In clear, concise, mostly not four letter words," Crusher told him with a droll expression.

"Good. Data, see that she understands it's an order. Or I will deliver the message personally."

"Yes, captain. I will do so, sir." And he stood to do just that.

Data did note Mathison looked thwarted in not being able to go first. But Data was not aware how the security chief had gotten the opportunity to do some spying on a part of Lessa's quarters that even the android had yet to see.

To ensure that he did not wake her, Data asked the computer for Lessa's exact location within her quarters. The reply indicated she was not in her bedroom. By Data's calculations, she was in her sitting area.

During the debriefing, the information the doctor and counselor had relayed gave Data enough to firmly substantiate one of two suspicions regarding his loss of contact with Lessa during the Jem'Hadar engagement. It was either caused by her needing all her strength for the task she had planned, or because she had lost consciousness. Either explanation resulted in the same conclusion. If it happened again, Data would need to act. This would mean he would need to get Lessa to agree to allow him to tell the senior staff that she could communicate with him telepathically. He still did not understand her reasons for wanting to keep it between the two of them.

Before she had responded to Mathison's interest in her, Data could have believed it was an indication that Lessa was interested in him. But that was plainly not true.

He would have to discover the true reason.

Arriving at Lessa's door, Data signaled for and was granted admittance.

She was right where he expected her to be. Sitting with her legs up on her couch, Lessa...Lieutenant Barrows had a PADD in her hands and was typing something. She greeted him without looking up. She was wearing a full length, long sleeved sleeping gown of dark blue with a matching robe. Matching slippers were on her tiny feet.

"You're not happy with me, are you?" she asked, no real emotion in her voice.

Coming to sit on the couch across from her, Data could see even in the soft light she had set, she was pale and unwell.

"You endangered yourself. Did you expect me to be pleased by that?" His reply came out snippier than he intended, but he decided against apologizing.

She looked at him finally, just for a second. Data tried to keep his expression unreadable, but suspected some of the hurt and anger was coming through on his face or in their connection.

"No. I got carried away." She shook her head, but stopped, looking pained. Swinging her legs off the couch, she put the PADD on the coffee table between them. "I was able to find the Jem'Hadar that had access to the shields and got him to lower them. It was exciting, because they're not easy to read. I wanted to see if I could get them all to do the same when I saw the fighters launch."

"It was a foolishly dangerous thing to do!" he scolded her, getting even more irritated. She winced, but would not meet his eyes again. "I lost contact with you. I did not know what it meant."

Now she did look at him. "I would guess it was when I hit the floor. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause a stir."

"You must allow me to tell the senior staff that you can connect with me. If this happens again, I will be able to explain why I know I need to have someone see you."

Now Barrows' head came up, heat flashing in her pale purple eyes. "Damn," was all she said.

"Why do you object to this?"

She sighed heavily. Bringing her feet up, to rest on the coffee table, she stared at her covered toes. "I don't want Bruce to find out. And that is the way this is heading."

"Why do you object to Commander Maddox discovering you are a telepath?"

"Oh, it's not the telepathy, exactly. It's the fact that I can read you. He won't like that," she assured Data, her tone holding a warning of bad things to come.

"Why do you think so?"

"Because of the day he and I were ready to kill each other. The really bad one, not the normal ones."

Data almost laughed at that. She did cause Maddox to lose his temper with her on a regular basis. But Data knew the instance she was referring to.

"When he would have struck you, had I not intervened."

"That's the one." She was silent for a time. Data let some of his anger dissipate, but not all of it.

"Explain what this is about, Lieutenant!" he ordered.

"Lieutenant? Wow, you really are mad. Hiding it from me. Some." She threw up her hands in defense at the narrowing of Data's eyes. "Okay, I'll tell you!

"Bruce saw you leave my quarters the evening before that one. He jumped to the conclusion that something was going on. He was waiting for me when I arrived at the lab. He accused me of trying to...seduce you. Which is crazy, since I am not even capable of that!" She threw her hands up again, shrugging too. The expression on her face clearly showed how impossible she believed that to be.

Now Data was confused. "Why do you say that? You are fully functional, are you not?"

"Fully functional?" she repeated, lost as to his meaning.

"You are capable of sexual intercourse," Data explained, succinctly.

First she turned bright red, then she became even more colourless than before.

"I assume so...but I've never tested the theory," she replied, still ghostly white.

Now Data was speechless. Something few had ever managed to cause in him. He just stared at her blankly.

"You did ask. I guess it's only fair that I ask you." She went back to red.

"I can and I have. But not with any frequency."

She got up and walked away from him. Data had no idea what to do. He remained seated and watched her, confused.

Concentrating on the connection he had with her, he could feel her dismay. She was nervous, sad, frightened and a jumble of other emotions he could not untangle.

Now Data stood, feeling a strong impulse to offer her comfort and something in him urged him to protect her, but from what he did not know. But when he moved closer, she turned around and backed away from him.

"I have frightened you." He would not have expected prejudice over his being an android from her. Data found his anger returning in full force.

"No, not you. The subject matter, but not you. I heard that thought loud and clear, Data. Nothing about you scares me. I'm just not comfortable talking about sex." She turned away again. "I know it's a normal thing and all. Dating, kissing, sex….but I've never been ready. Never been good with people in general and men in particular I'm even worse with. I know I'll have to get over that some day, but that day's just not here yet."

Now Data was ashamed at his reaction. He had not come here to upset her. She was hurt, in need of rest to heal and he had come, hurting her more.

"Data, you're thinking very loudly again! I'm not upset with you. I forgive you. Will you forgive me for making you angry, offending you?"

"Yes. I am sorry. Will you try to rest now?"

Still turned from him, she nodded. "I will. I'll see you later." Data knew he should just leave, but she needed to know to expect her other visitor.

"Dr. Crusher wanted someone to check on you while you were recovering. I was only one of the two volunteers."

Now she turned, leaning against her kitchen counters to stare, questioningly at him. "And the other is...Troi?"

"Lieutenant Mathison."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Why? Am I under confinement?"

"No," Data began, knowing he never should have started this. She had just admitted to a discomfort with this topic, but she may have to face it now whether she was ready or not. "I believe the gentleman is smitten," he told her. Not wanting to even see her reaction to his words, Data moved to walk out of her quarters. It took all his strength not to look back.

Lessa watched him go. She wondered why Data seemed so angry and why...no, she had to be wrong about the other emotion she had sensed. She tried to tighten her barriers and let Data have at least some of his privacy, but the android still managed to punch through.

It was a fascinating sensation. For the first time since this connection had formed between them, Data was able to sense Lieutenant Barrows falling asleep.

If his interpretation of what he sensed was correct, she only slept for three hours, sixteen minutes and twelve seconds. This was not long enough, he was certain. But he was not slotted to check on her next.

The eagerness of Lieutenant Mathison was almost as apparent as Data's own dread. The closer the end of shift came, the more confident and excited Mathison became.

Data was at the science station, but positioned himself so he could study the man's behavior. During the last half hour of their shift, the man straightened his uniform three times, smoothed a hand over his bound hair twice, and checked his breath four times.

Deanna Troi wandered over to stand beside Greg Mathison after having taken note of not only his fidgeting, but his heightened emotional state.

"You have a date after shift, don't you?" she whispered near the man's ear.

Greg looked startled, but his grin, though he was trying to hide it, was still there.

"Not a date, Deanna. I'm going to check on Lieutenant Lessa. You remember. I'm gonna make sure the little lady is recovering from her ass kicking of the Jem'Hadar! She's quite something, isn't she?"

Deanna chuckled. "She is. But she's also very fragile right now, Greg. She needs to get back on her feet before you can sweep her off of them."

Greg grinned. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks Dee."

Deanna smiled, shaking her head at the silly grin plastered over Greg's face. The anticipatory feelings she sensed from him were quite wonderful.

As she turned away, letting go of her empathic connection to Greg, another person's feelings almost slammed into her. Looked around, it only took a second to see the furtive and distraught glances Data Soong was giving Greg Mathison.

Jealousy from Data? Anger, some small bit of shame too. Data had also volunteered to check on Lessa, with a small show of eagerness too. Deanna had seen Will's reaction when both Data and Greg had said they would check on Lessa. But she had dismissed the suggestion that it meant anything on Data's part. Lessa was part of Data's project team. The counselor assumed that has been his only interest.

As his counselor, Deanna knew about Tasha. She also knew what had happened during Data's encounter with the Borg Queen.

Even with his drive to be more human, and the addition of his emotion chip, the only two encounters the android had experiences involving...intimacy had been either from intoxication or during a two way attempt at manipulation.

Never had Data just been interested in a female without some ship wide incident going on.

But if Data was interested in this girl, now was not the time to discuss it. Deanna needed to see how some of this played out first.

Being linked to a telepath must make one more sensitive to other mental probes, Data decided. He knew the counselor had sensed his disturbance regarding Lieutenant Mathison's upcoming visit with...Lieutenant Barrows.

Data had overheard every word they said. While not much had really been exchanged, the reference to "sweeping Barrows off her feet" was clear enough. Data had heard this euphemism before. He knew just what it meant.

But worse than dreading this, was experiencing it.

Once their shift was over, Data took the port lift to his quarters, while Mathison sprinted to the starboard lift.

Safely in his quarters, alone, Data knew the exact moment when the security chief entered Barrows quarters.

The trepidation he felt from her clinched it.

What if this man did help her to move past whatever reluctance she had involving intimacy? Would Data be able to sense that too?!

Furious and horrified, Data resolved to find a way to get her to sever this link between them. If not that, he needed to… find a broom.