AN: thank you to my reviewer, Linda Weaving for expressing an interest in the story! Here's some more (;
It had been almost a whole week before Lore retreated from his quarters. He had immediately found his way to the bridge and had been lurking in a corner, watching everyone. After a while they just ignored him.
"Captain Picard, I am detecting an anomaly near the ship," Data said, pressing buttons on his control panel.
"Is it a threat?" Picard asked, sitting up slightly. Data pressed several more button sequences before replying.
"I am unsure if it is dangerous, but it appears to be a crystalline entity, very similar to the one that-" he paused and glanced at Lore, unsure if he should continue. Lore looked cooly back at him, guessing what he was about to say.
"Similar to what, Mr. Data?" Picard prompted, ignoring the exchange between the brothers.
Data unnecessarily cleared his throat, "Similar to the one Lore brought here." Lore smirked at that. What, did Data think he would be bothered with this? He felt no remorse for what he had done, and he would do it again. His brother ignoring the things he had done did not make Lore feel particularly guilty or forgiving. He just felt annoyed. His face twitched for the 8th time that day and he put a hand up to still it once more.
Picard looked at him then, and seemed to consider something deeply before turning his attention back to Data.
"Is there any way that we can communicate with it?" he asked. Data's fingers flew across his board.
"Yes, I believe there is a way we can attempt to contact it," he answered after a few seconds.
"Open communications," Picard told Data. "Lieutenant Commander La Forge, make sure the shields are up and functional in case this goes awry." Geordi nodded and punched in the necessary commands.
The bridge crew tensed, waiting to see if the crystalline being would interact with them. Seconds passed, maybe even minutes, before any sounds, words or otherwise, came from the entity.
The language the structure spoke was no vernacular that anyone aboard the Enterprise had heard before. It sounded like high pitched tinkling glass in varying tones, they didn't even sound like words.
"I am sorry sir, but I cannot understand what it is saying," Data apologized, looking up at Picard.
"I can."
Everyone looked to where Lore was leaning against the wall. The shock seen throughout the room could be described as a physical object, something that could be punctured with nothing more than a toothpick.
"You can?" Picard asked, recovering quickly.
Lore shrugged. He was bored and he was going to be here for a while, so. He would also get to flex his superior intellect in Data's stupid face, which was always a plus.
"I can translate what the crystal is saying," he said, face looking disinterested. Triumph could be seen in his eyes, though. The eyes could hide nothing.
"It just asked who you are and what your business in its territory is," he translated smugly, setting himself apart from the crew.
"What's the catch?" Riker questioned harshly. There was always a catch when a villain offered to do something good.
"There's no catch," Lore replied. "I can do something you can't, so I might as well."
Worf snorted. Of course Lore wanted to show off. Ha'DIbaH.
Picard considered Lore for a moment, trying to think of any and all ways that this could go wrong. Finally, he nodded.
"Very well, if you think you can talk to it, you can try."
Picard wanted to communicate with the entity, absolutely. But he also wanted to test the extent of Q's… spell, or charm, or whatever it was.
Lore grinned sardonically and pushed off the wall. He strode over to Data's command station.
"Move."
"Why?" Data asked, looking up at Lore in confusion.
"Talkers get to sit," Lore answered, smirking. "So move."
Data looked as if he were about to reply with some sassy android response but Picard stopped him.
"Data, just let him sit," he said tiredly, already regretting his decision to let Lore do this. "You can have it back when he's done." He looked pointedly at Lore.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, old man," Lore said, brushing Picard's unspoken warning off. Data vacated his chair, looking as annoyed as an "unfeeling" android can. Lore immediately sat down and surveyed the panel in front of him, gathering his bearings. In seconds, he had gotten himself calibrated with the buttons and their functions. He pressed his finger to the square button that allowed the entity to hear him.
"Hello, this is Lore Soong. I am aboard the USS Enterprise, just passing through," he tried in English. When the crystal did not respond, he came to the conclusion that it did not understand that language.
"This is Lore Soong, I am on the USS Enterprise. My captors are from Starfleet, and they're just passing through," he said in the same tinkling language as the crystal this time. He felt at liberty to change his wording a bit, now that nobody else could understand him. Lore was doing them a favor, but that sure as hell didn't mean he had to shed them in a good light.
"Why are you in my territory?" the crystalline entity repeated.
"What did it say?" Picard asked.
"It asked what we're doing in its territory again," Lore translated, annoyed. "I already said we were just passing through."
"Tell it again," Picard said. Lore huffed.
"We're just passing through, we mean no harm to you whatsoever," He said. Then he had an idea. These people hadn't done anything for him. He was likely going to spend the rest of his near immortal existence a slave to Starfleet, passed on from ship to ship. Even if they did take him to court for his crimes against Starfleet and the Enterprise, they'd probably just stick him in a cell until his joints rusted and his gears stopped spinning. His only choices were to be a servant or a prisoner.
Or he could die. He could tell the crystal to destroy the ship. Sure, he would be destroyed, but he would take these people and the brother he hated and envied so much with him. His sole goal in life after being rebuilt by his perfect brother had been to destroy him. That had been stolen from him, and there was nothing left, really. Nothing keeping him tethered to this mortal and ever changing universe. Was life really worth living?
Lore looked around at the people keeping him here, their lives so easy to snuff out. No. Life really wasn't worth living.
He nodded, mind made up, and spoke.
Well, he tried to speak, anyway. Nothing would come out. No matter how hard he tried to push these words out, they remained stuck at the back of his throat. He quite literally could not speak.
Data looked at Lore curiously. His brother was gasping like a fish out of water, looking more and more enraged by the second.
"What is wrong brother?" Data asked.
"I can't speak," Lore said, fully expecting nothing to come out. Everyone on the bridge looked bemused. Lore was incredulous. He had known that that dastardly Q had placed some sort of metaphysical bindings on his thoughts, but he had not realized they were to this extent. His hatred for Q grew tenfold.
Picard saw Lore's rage written clear across his face, and put two-and-two together.
"You were trying to get the crystal to destroy the ship," he said, looking stern and almost… disappointed? He seemed to have been expecting- maybe even hoping- that Lore would do something different. But he was proved wrong.
Lore said nothing, simmering in his defiance. He would not feel cowed by this man.
"Sir, I believe I have surveyed enough of this language to be able to replicate it," Data said, tentatively inserting himself into the conversation. Lore felt a bolt of fury.
"How dare you!" he spat, shooting up and spinning to look into Data's face.
"No, how dare you!" Picard shouted back at Lore. "We trusted you to do this and you stabbed us in the back! You are in the wrong here, not Data!"
Of course. Lore was always in the wrong. So what if he wanted to be free from these people? He cursed Q again for finding him. He would have been content to live the rest of his days on some inconsequential planet in a forgotten corner of the galaxy. He would have faded away knowing that he never beat Data, but at least he would have been free. But clearly that was impossible now, so he would settle for going down in a blaze of glory, equal with his brother in ash.
Lore straightened his spine and let his face fall into a cold and detached expression. He held eyes with Picard, determined not to be the first to back down.
"Mr. Data, please take over for Lore." Picard ordered, breaking eye contact with Lore and looking at his counterpart. Data nodded once and waited for Lore to move so he could sit.
Lore took this as his dismissal and left the bridge, feeling something akin to hurt bubbling in his stomach. He pushed it deep down inside of himself and locked it away. Caring was for the weak, and Lore was by no means weak.