Paint and Powder
A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
Picard sucks. Let's keep fixing it with shipgirls!
Enterprise had asked for help from the crew of the Marco Polo, and the moment she'd shown them the feed from her tricorder, they'd agreed. They beamed over to her, along with Data and Sela.
Sela had complained, but Data had just grabbed her and they'd transported away.
She was still sulking nearby, John Carter and a number of her holographic duplicates holding phasers on her in her sickbay.
In the main sensor cluster, Enterprise had more of her duplicates keeping phasers on Data, while Captain Thane's science officer, Throu, helped examine the android on the surgical table.
Enterprise stood back behind a forcefield with Captain Thane, staring pensively at Data through dozens of eyes. The Andorian captain looked over at Enterprise in concern.
"So...?" Thane prompted.
Enterprise sighed deeply.
"Every single scan I've taken is... It says he's the real thing," she admitted.
Throu took Data's hand off, and examined it in his robotic limbs. Data watched, a bit bemused.
"Is it possible you can be convinced in the next five minutes?" Sela demanded. John Carter gestured with his phaser at her.
"Shut it," he stated. Sela growled.
"I am a Romulan admiral! Try treating me with more respect?"
"This is as much as I can manage," one of Enterprise's holograms growled. John Carter nodded back.
"I'm with her," he stated. Sela sighed deeply, and glared.
"We're on the clock you stupid ship! Are you going to be done any time soon?!"
"You said forty eight hours," Enterprise stated, "that doesn't leave a lot of destinations out of my reach-"
"We don't have time for this!" Sela insisted. Throu reattached Data's hand, and headed back through the forcefield. Data watched him go, and Enterprise and Thane both looked at the Medusan. His encounter suit shrugged.
"I have found no more discrepancies than Enterprise did," he reported. "For all intents and purposes, this is Commander Data."
"But how?" Enterprise asked, "I saw him die!"
"Like I said before," Sela nearly shouted, "my Tal Shiar agents on the Valdore beamed him away at the last second! They thought we could use him! But in the chaos of the Hobus Supernova, his remains were lost! I found him! I put him back together!"
"Out of the goodness of your heart?" Enterprise sneered.
Sela huffed.
"Of course not! But like I said: We have a mutual enemy."
Enterprise shook her head. She looked at Data. The android stared back. She took direct control over one of her holographic avatars, and set aside her phaser rifle. She stepped through the forcefield, standing right in front of Data. The android continued to stare at her. Data tilted his head thoughtfully.
"I commend your security measures," he said, "they are very thorough."
"I learned through hard experience," Enterprise replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She sighed. "How do I know you haven't been reprogrammed by Sela?"
Data stared back at her.
"You know as well as I do that my positronic net cannot be forcibly altered. Information cannot be forcibly extracted or inserted-"
"Unless they knew their way around your neural net, like they might if they had examined, oh, B-4," Enterprise replied drily. Data nodded.
"B-4 was not reprogrammed. He was a basic prototype, susceptible to coercion-"
"But who knows what they got out of that!" Enterprise insisted. "It's hard to trust you on this, that's all." She gestured over to Sela, "even harder to trust her."
Data nodded.
"I do not disagree," he said, "however, I have seen the same data you have. There is a Tal Shiar general in a position of power as a Starfleet Admiral. She is hoping to take over both powers. Sela's motivations are purely selfish, for her own ambitions."
Enterprise nodded.
"I suppose we can trust her to be that," she said. She looked into Data's eyes. "I just... When I lost you..."
Data nodded.
"I know," he said, "it was the only thing I could do to save you all. After that... I was left in darkness. Now I have awakened and I find things have changed. But... My duty remains."
Enterprise smiled at him.
"I suppose so," she said, "for both of us."
"However, to demonstrate that I am still fully loyal to the Federation and have not been compromised," Data said, "you can link to me directly."
"Yeah, I know," Enterprise said with a nod. She sighed. "She might have had some kind of... I don't know, Kaizo Trap waiting for me. I know they've been messing with Borg tech."
"Have you found any Borg technology in my system?" Data asked. Enterprise grumbled.
"No," she said, "but that doesn't mean there isn't any."
"I know," Data said, "in your position I would be taking the same precautions. However, we are, as Sela said, on the clock. We require the information she can give us to save the captain, and our fellow AIs." Data looked into her eyes intently. "We must act now."
"On Sela's word," Enterprise grumbled, "I must be crazy."
"It would not be the first time we did something irrational and illogical," Data stated. "Especially involving Sela."
"Yeah, but what if she's put together this big, insane, convoluted plot to destroy us?" Enterprise asked. Data blinked.
"You believe she could have learned to plot effectively in the years I have been dead?" He asked.
Enterprise hummed and shrugged.
"Fair enough," she said.
She reached out her hand. He extended his hand, and took it.
"Data link established," Enterprise said. She closed her eyes, every firewall and defensive measure she had slamming into place as she linked with Data.
She scanned through his memories... The moment he blew up the Thaleron generator... The hum of a transporter beam as energy washed over him, burning away his skin and damaging his systems... Emergency lockdown. The next memories were intermittent, seeing through Data's eyes as Romulans worked on him. Sela was there a great deal, staring at him.
Daddy issues... Enterprise thought to herself with a snort.
She let Data go, and took a deep breath.
"Well," she said, "we're in pretty deep."
"That's what she said," Data replied. Enterprise beamed, and hugged Data tightly.
"It's good to have you back, Data," she said. Data returned the hug.
"It is good to be back," he replied.
Enterprise and Data walked out of the forcefield together, holding hands. Thane raised her antenna and hid her smirk. Enterprise tried to pretend she didn't see it.
"All right Sela," Enterprise said, "we're game. Now, are you going to tell us where we need to go, or not?"
Sela nodded, her arms crossed under her breasts.
"I will," she said, "if you take me with you."
"Oh like hell," Enterprise growled. "You stay here!"
"Take me with you, or no deal," Sela stated.
"Like we're going to buy that," Thane snorted. John Carter nodded.
"That sounds like a bad idea," he said. Sela sighed.
"Look," she said, "I want to see Oh get her comeuppance, and die horribly knowing that I spelt her doom. I want her to know that I will be Empress of the Romulan Star Empire, and not her!"
Enterprise and Data looked at eachother. They looked back at Thane, and then over at Sela.
"I can respect that," Thane said.
"You are much like your mother," Data said with a nod.
Sela's glare deepened.
"Fine," she said.
"All right, let's go!" Enterprise said cheerfully, "and we're going to...?"
"Once we're out of the nebula, I'll tell you," Sela said. Enterprise sighed.
"Fine, fine," she said. She looked over at Captain Thane, "would you care to accompany us to go blow up the horrible bitch whose fault this all is?"
Thane took about two seconds to think it over.
"Love to," she said, nodding to her crewmembers.
Enterprise and Marco Polo headed out of the nebula, emerging on the rimward side of what had been the Romulus System. Enterprise was very glad to see the stars again. She was even more happy to have Data sitting in her captain's chair. The android's emotion chip wasn't fully restored, but he was far more relaxed than he had been since she'd reconnected with him.
It was a bit spoiled by Sela being on the bridge, sitting in the first officer's chair, but hey: You couldn't have everything.
"So...?" Enterprise prompted. Sela smirked.
"Coppelius system," she stated. She inputted the coordinates into the computer, "and we now have even less time."
"Why?" Data asked.
Enterprise frowned and checked her sensors. There was a relayed transmission coming from a cloaked Romulan satellite.
"Marco Polo, you getting that too?" She asked. The battlecruiser responded.
"Yes," Thane replied, "and it's not good."
Enterprise brought the transmission up on the viewscreen. It was... Her. Her avatar, anyway, smiling brightly.
"Hi everyone! This is Enterprise! I'm on the run from everyone to the Coppelius System! Catch me if you can, suckers!"
Then her avatar flashed everyone. She then closed her uniform top back up, and winked at the camera.
"See you there!"
Enteprise shut off the transmission. She glared death at Sela. Data raised an eyebrow.
"That seems uncalled for," Data stated.
"WHY?!" Enterprise demanded.
"You think your two ships can handle this all on your own?" Sela asked, "we need back up. This is the fastest way to get it."
"And why did you have me do... that?!" Enterprise demanded.
Sela smirked.
"That was just for fun," she admitted.
"I'm going to kill you," Enterprise growled.
"Before that, set course for Coppelius, maximum warp," Data said calmly.
Here we go...