CHAPTER THREE
Commander Geordi La Forge sat at a console in engineering aboard the Imperial Starship Enterprise. He had been ordered by the captain to go over the specs and diagrams pertaining to the artificial life form, which he was doing to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, Geordi had never seen anything like the android in his life before; he had only read Dr. Soong's theory behind it prior to his murder, and Geordi was having great difficulty putting theory into practice. Geordi got up out of his chair and went into one of the large bays that had up until recently been the home of the inclusion apparatus- before he had been ordered to dismantle it. Now it was the home to the twenty-five lifeless androids that he and his staff had constructed. He went over to speak to Ensign Foster.
"Ensign, hurry up. The captain's coming down soon and I want an explanation as to how to get these machines working. Tell me what you've found out already." Geordi snapped angrily at the young officer.
"Yes, sir. We've got a big problem, there's no way to get the power flowing through the 'brain' without all the other circuits blowing. I think we have to get the original artificial life form back." He said nervously, it was bad news and he knew that he would be punished for it, whether it was his fault or not.
"Well I don't want to be the one to tell the captain that when he gets here, do you?" Geordi asked rather abruptly. There was no way that La Forge was going to take the blame if he could pass the buck onto one of his subordinates.
"No, sir, but I don't see another way around the difficulties. We haven't had much time to go through the problem after all." Foster said cringing in front of his commanding officer. Geordi reached out and touched the badge on Foster's chest. He went down just as Geordi had done on the bridge, crying out with the intense pain, while Geordi felt satisfaction as he carried the punishment out; this was his chance to pay someone back for the humiliation he had gone through up on the bridge.
"I don't want to hear your excuses, Foster!" Geordi bellowed in his ear. "I'm not answering to the consequences of your inadequate work. Got it?" Foster slowly got to his feet and stood to attention. "Get me some answers as to why this is not going to function." Geordi said pointing to one of the androids. "You have one hour, which is more time than I probably should give you, you incompetent imbecile." Geordi stormed over to the replicator to get a component for one of the androids while Foster hurriedly got back to work.
On board the Enterprise, NCC 1701-D. Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair a bit nervously at the message they had received from Commander Riker. His first officer had been vague and that had put Picard on the edge of his seat in anticipation. "Ensign, how long before we reach Commander Riker's shuttle?"
"We are reading the shuttle on long range sensors and we should intercept them in ten minutes, sir." The ensign at the helm position responded.
"Very well, decrease speed to half impulse as soon as we are close enough." Picard instructed.
"Aye, sir." The ensign replied.
Ten minutes later the Enterprise dropped out of warp and proceeded at half impulse power. Riker piloted the shuttle into shuttle bay two and called the captain for an emergency meeting in the conference lounge. Worf picked up the unconscious Wesley Crusher and took him off to sick bay along with two extra security guards for backup; incase anything should go wrong.
In sick bay, Dr. Crusher was mending a broken bone, when she looked up and saw Worf carrying her unconscious 'son'.
"Wesley! What happened to him?" She asked, quickly forgetting about her patient and guiding Worf to put her 'son' on the closest bio-bed.
"This is not your son, Doctor." Worf said trying to ease the mother's pain.
"Well who is it then, Santa Clause? The Tooth Fairy?" She said flummoxed and grabbing the nearest medical tricorder she could find.
"This is a Wesley Crusher from a different universe. He was hit with a level five phaser blast, it is remarkable he has survived this long." Beverly noticed the uniform that Wesley was wearing and recognised it as being different to what her Wesley normally wore, in fact it looked familiar to her but she didn't know where from.
Crusher got to work stabilizing his condition then turned to Worf. "Can you see that Wes is kept out of sick bay while this Wesley is here, please?"
Worf nodded, "I will try to keep him out of your way, Doctor." He turned and went out of sick bay leaving two guards to keep an eye on the new Wesley. *****
The senior bridge officers all met in the conference lounge except for Dr. Crusher who said she would monitor from sick bay. Picard motioned the meeting to begin and asked Riker to proceed with his report.
"When we got to work on the probe," he began, "we found that it had been sabotaged. We quickly repaired it and scanned the anomaly, which we found to be a doorway to another universe; possibly the universe we encountered a year ago. When we were getting ready to leave Worf heard a noise and went to investigate." Picard listened, deeply concerned.
"I went to see what the noise was," Worf continued, "and found an unconscious Wesley Crusher lying on the floor. He had been hit with a level five phaser blast at point blank range. Dr. Crusher is attending to him now. I have two security guards keeping an eye on him."
"How is the boy doing, Doctor?" Picard asked over the open comm link between the conference lounge and Dr. Crusher's office.
"I have stabilized his condition and he is sleeping now. We should keep him monitored for the next few days, then he should be alright." Beverly reported.
"Well done, Doctor." Picard said and turned back to his other officers. "We will proceed with caution for the time being. We really need to know if this is the same parallel universe we think it is, and if it is, we must stop them from completing their mission from the last time, which they most certainly will try to do." Picard looked to each of his officers and his glance fell on Riker. "They probably won't succeed if Riker is in command, he is not as versatile as our Commander Riker, and from what I observed of him, he is not likely to become anymore versatile in the near future." Picard said looking to his first officer who immediately blushed, slightly embarrassed. "That's no reflection on you, Commander." Picard said seeing his first officers face. "Any questions?" Picard asked, looking to his senior officers, he got no response. "Dismissed then. Commander Riker, set a course for the probe." Everyone got up from the conference table and left for the bridge.
On the bridge of the Imperial Starship Enterprise, Picard sat comfortably in his command chair. Troi sat on Picard's right while working a computer terminal next to her. Picard had instructed her to go through evaluation reports of the senior officers on board so he could promote one to the role of second officer. It had been decided that Troi would be the first officer and keep the job as security chief as well, after all it was her area of expertise and no-one on board even came close to being as good as her at the job.
"Have you found anyone suitable yet, Counsellor?" Picard asked, expecting a straight answer.
"I have narrowed it down to two. Lieutenant Miles O'Brien- chief of transporters, and one of the artificial life forms." She replied, glancing over at him for approval.
"Well, I know what type of a man Mr. O'Brien is. He is a good officer and not very ambitious thankfully; one man after my job was enough. I would like to try out one of these androids Commander La Forge has been working on though. He has a report due in ten minutes, so we shall see then." Picard got up out of his chair and Troi gazed at him expectant. "We can't see what the android is like from up here. We'll go to engineering." Troi got up reluctantly and they both headed for the turbolift with their chief bodyguards in tow.
In engineering, Foster finished off his third diagnostic on one of the androids and he did not look pleased with the results, for the third time also. "Commander La Forge," he called, saluting when he got a response. "Sir, I have a report but I don't think your going to like what I have to tell you." Foster proceeded to tell him of the difficulty of getting a positronic brain functioning and then he told him that the only person who could do it was the original android or the creator himself. Foster stood braced ready for his punishment but was surprised when it didn't come.
"I could have told you that an hour ago, Foster." Geordi said smirking then turning away from him; the other engineers were all laughing at him also. Foster felt stupid to say the least; he had just been working for one solid hour so he could be made fun of in front of the other engineers. Geordi went back into main engineering and gasped when he saw that the counsellor and captain were waiting for him. "Captain, Counsellor." He said as he came to attention and saluted them both.
"Report, Mr. La Forge." The captain said expectant.
"Sir. We have built twenty-five androids as you ordered, and we are pleased with what we have accomplished so far," he paused for a breath and looked to his superiors for any emotional sign- he saw the captain was becoming impatient and so he continued quickly. "Linking up the positronic brain is no problem but keeping the unit functioning is baffling. We can't get enough power to it without every other circuit blowing, it beats me as to how the other android can work." Geordi finished his report as they wondered into the room that contained all of the androids. "The android uses a sub micron matrix transfer technology to lay down neural net pathways. These neural net pathways have been duplicated and used in all of these androids you see here. The problem is that when one pathway breaks down we have to re-polarize it but then another breaks down and another until complete neural systems failure. Sir, if we're going to get these androids functioning, we need to get back the original." Geordi gulped as he felt the counsellor in his mind again, probably to see if he was telling the truth or just wasting precious time.
"Very well, Mr. La Forge, your next job is to go and get the original back. Go alone and don't take forever about it, as you seem to think you can these days. When you get back see if Dr. Crusher can help." Picard and Troi turned and stepped fully into the bay that housed all of the androids.
The room was about the size of the main shuttle bay, down one side of the room were lined the twenty-five androids with various crewmembers performing diagnostics and other tasks. As each crewmember saw the captain and Troi, they stopped and saluted. "Amazing," Picard commented, "one of these will make a fine officer, I believe. Of course I will have to see one functioning first though."
"Well the original gave us quite a fight before we were actually able to incapacitate him but my security staff are well trained in every form of combat strategy." Troi told him. They both turned and exited engineering.
Troi headed off up to the bridge with her bodyguard in tow, while Picard and Detaith went off to sick bay. Picard needed to speak with Dr. Crusher to see how she was coping with the news of her son, and to ask if she would help La Forge when he got back.
Dr. Crusher was mending a broken bone when Picard and Detaith walked in. Picard stepped closer to her, smiled a cold smile, and then asked if she was all right.
"I'm fine, Jean-Luc, after all it was about time Wesley was taught a lesson, I didn't want him to die through it though. It would have been nice to have his body brought back but I guess you're too busy these days; even for me." She finished what she was doing and they both walked into her office, Detaith waited outside. "I suppose I'm next on the hit list then?" She asked with little concern.
"What hit list?" Picard asked, although he knew full well what she was talking about.
"Don't insult my intelligence, Jean-Luc. You know exactly what I'm talking about." She said, clearly angry at the way he was treating her. "If you want rid of me, I don't see why you can't just transfer me instead of finding a way to kill me." She turned at her desk and sat down in her chair. Nodding as understanding came to her, she continued. "Wait, yes I can see why you won't transfer me. That course of action would damage your reputation, and we can't have that now, can we?" She looked him squarely in the face then let out a sigh and looked in the other direction.
"There is no hit list, Beverly." Picard said moving into her field of view and trying to make the statement sound convincing, and totally failing in the process. "I just think it's time for a few changes on this ship, and as for your son, that was an accident just as you were told." She looked away from him again not wanting him to see her break down and trying very hard to hold back the tears until he was gone.
"An accident? Well now, I did wonder about that. If you did order the body to be brought back, you know I would perform an autopsy to find out what he really died of. You won't do that though, just another twist of the knife in her back? See if you could possibly hurt her anymore? Well you won't succeed this time, not again... ever!" She spat the words at Picard with such vehemence that she even surprised herself. At that moment, her eyes filled up with tears and she covered them with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Picard listened for a few moments, and then he actually began to feel a little guilty. He turned, strode out of the office and headed for his quarters with his chief bodyguard in tow.
"Where are we going, Captain?" Detaith said almost running to keep up with Picard's fast pace.
"My quarters," was the simple reply. They turned the corner and stopped outside of the door. "Detaith. Get me Counsellor Troi down here. I want to speak to her straight away."
"Aye, sir." Detaith said immediately moving to a companel and summoning her. Picard stepped into his quarters and waited for her arrival.
Two minutes later Troi rang the chime alerting Picard that she was waiting outside. "Come." Picard responded and she sauntered into Picard's quarters leaving her chief bodyguard outside with Detaith.
"Counsellor," Picard said, "take a seat." She moved over to one of the sofas, opposite where Picard was sitting and draped herself in it. "I have reconsidered our plan. I don't want Beverly to be harmed. Have you got that?"
"Of course, Captain, but why this sudden change of heart and what are you going to be doing with her instead?"
"Call it captain's prerogative, and she will be transferred instead, as soon as I can arrange it." Picard informed her.
"I think you owe me a better explanation than that, Jean-Luc, after all we are going to be more than just colleagues soon," She said prying into his thoughts.
"Well this can be my first little secret from you, can't it." Picard said, not giving in.
"Jean-Luc," she began, moving in the chair and sitting straighter. "You should know that it is impossible to keep secrets from me." She smiled at him coquettishly. Picard felt the brush against his mind and realized that she was most certainly not going to let the matter drop. He stood and moved closer to her; she stood up as well and before long they were nose to nose with each other.
"I would appreciate it if you would just let the matter drop and turn off your empathic powers for a few minutes. I have my reasons for letting her live and don't worry, she'll be gone soon." He spoke softly to her while gazing into her deep, dark eyes; he knew what Riker had found so enticing now for one look into those eyes and your sole was lost.
"How much would you appreciate it, Jean-Luc?" She said as she complied with his wishes. He kissed her full on the lips for a long moment.
"That's how much, Deanna." He said as he led her to the bedroom.
Geordi La Forge piloted the shuttle with expertise and soon he was through the spatial rift and approaching the Enterprise on the other side. After scanning Data's memory banks, he had learned all of the codes to be able to get on and off the ship without detection. Geordi had put on some civilian clothes so he would blend in more easily, though where he was planning to beam to, he would be secluded enough as it was. As he approached the Enterprise, he put a code into the computer that would allow him to penetrate the shields and park the shuttle in between the warp nacelles once he was through. In doing so it would make a very good hiding place for the shuttle, as the sensors were weak when they scanned that close to the warp nacelles.
Geordi set co-ordinates for Data's quarters and transported over. He looked all about him quickly; once the transporter had finished, and noticed that Data was not in his quarters, he asked the computer where he was. "Lieutenant Commander Data is currently on the bridge."
"Great." Geordi whispered and hid behind the console to wait for him to arrive. There was no telling how long he would have to wait and he didn't want to go asking the computer too many questions about one crew member, as that would have alerted the security chief, usually with dire consequences- on his ship anyway.
Thirty-seven minutes later Data entered his quarters, after his duty shift had finished. Geordi sneaked out of hiding and crept up behind the android as quickly and quietly as he could. Data began to turn, as his android ears were far more sensitive that most species' were but La Forge was too quick. He had found where Data's off switch was located after examining the specs on the android. He pressed it and Data fell to the floor. Geordi signaled the shuttlecraft that he was ready to beam back with the android and they were materialized into the aft section of the cabin immediately. Geordi took the helm controls and set a course back to his side of the rift.
It didn't take long before the shuttle was on its way home with the kidnapped android. Geordi felt quite pleased with himself as he piloted the shuttle through the spatial rift.
Geordi La Forge got back to his ship in good time and litigated a guard to take the android to engineering. Geordi summoned Dr. Crusher and Counsellor Troi, asking them to meet him in engineering, then he proceeded there himself.
Geordi entered engineering and found Dr. Crusher and Troi already waiting and both looked very impatient indeed. He saluted them both and proceeded over to where the kidnapped android was sitting. The android was still switched off and posed as no threat at the moment.
"My mission was a success, Counsellor. I have the original android back and he's right here." Geordi said smiling and pointing to where the android was slumped in a chair.
"Why is he not functioning?" Troi demanded.
"I have turned him off, Counsellor." Geordi reached down to the android's off switch and flicked it back on. The android sat up straight with a start, his eyes flicking with disorientation.
"Geordi?" La Forge looked at him in surprise. "I assume it was you who brought me here to engineering... This is not the same Enterprise." Data looked about trying to figure out where he was. "Where am I and why was I deactivated?" Data asked cocking his head to one side as he looked around, disoriented.
"Shut up!" Troi said moving closer to the android. "You are aboard the Imperial Starship Enterprise and you will tell us everything we want to know, Robot."
"I am an android, Counsellor; an automaton made to resemble a human being and not a robot, as you so put it."
Troi shifted uneasily and annoyed at his insolence, she tried a stab of the mind but realised that it was a futile attempt since Data was a machine and she couldn't read his mind at all, which only served to infuriate Troi even more.
"I can only tell you limited information. My programming does not allow me to reveal certain intelligence to the enemy." Data said calmly.
"What is your name?" Dr. Crusher asked.
"Data, Dr. Crusher." He replied; there was no harm in telling them that.
"We need to know how to get a positronic brain functioning and I presume you know how to do it." Geordi said getting straight to the point.
"I can not tell you that." He replied simply.
"You will." Troi said cutting in forcefully.
"I can not because I do not know myself. I tried to build an android once before and failed. I was unable to keep power flowing without total systems failure." Data informed them, even if he did know he wouldn't have been able to tell them since it was information that could have been used against the Federation of his universe.
"The same problem we have, Counsellor." Geordi commented.
"You had better get the problem sorted out, Mr. La Forge." Troi said challengingly.
"Who built you?" Dr. Crusher asked.
"Dr. Noonien Soong, Earth's foremost robotics scientist and cyberneticist. Whom I believe was killed in this universe a long time ago."
"I am familiar with some of his theories." Geordi replied.
Troi ordered Dr. Crusher and Geordi into La Forge's office. She instructed them to re-program Data and get the information they needed. Geordi cut her off. "Counsellor, even if we can re-program Data there's no telling that he actually possesses the information we need." Troi stared at him, burrowing into his mind with her thoughts; he dropped to his knees in agony as she forced her way in uncontrollably. She installed a thought into his mind, "You had better hope that the information we need is there, La Forge or I won't stop hurting you." Troi recoiled from inside his head causing him more pain. She turned and left engineering. Geordi dragged himself up off the floor with the aid of Dr. Crusher. They left the office and went back out into engineering. La Forge walked over to the android, which sat patiently in the chair, and flicked the off switch again; the android slumped down, lifeless once more.
"Well, any ideas as to how we're going to do this?" Crusher asked, hoping that he would have some ideas.
"One step at a time." Geordi replied slumping down into a chair next to the android to think.
A/N: Please leave a review. Thanks
Commander Geordi La Forge sat at a console in engineering aboard the Imperial Starship Enterprise. He had been ordered by the captain to go over the specs and diagrams pertaining to the artificial life form, which he was doing to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, Geordi had never seen anything like the android in his life before; he had only read Dr. Soong's theory behind it prior to his murder, and Geordi was having great difficulty putting theory into practice. Geordi got up out of his chair and went into one of the large bays that had up until recently been the home of the inclusion apparatus- before he had been ordered to dismantle it. Now it was the home to the twenty-five lifeless androids that he and his staff had constructed. He went over to speak to Ensign Foster.
"Ensign, hurry up. The captain's coming down soon and I want an explanation as to how to get these machines working. Tell me what you've found out already." Geordi snapped angrily at the young officer.
"Yes, sir. We've got a big problem, there's no way to get the power flowing through the 'brain' without all the other circuits blowing. I think we have to get the original artificial life form back." He said nervously, it was bad news and he knew that he would be punished for it, whether it was his fault or not.
"Well I don't want to be the one to tell the captain that when he gets here, do you?" Geordi asked rather abruptly. There was no way that La Forge was going to take the blame if he could pass the buck onto one of his subordinates.
"No, sir, but I don't see another way around the difficulties. We haven't had much time to go through the problem after all." Foster said cringing in front of his commanding officer. Geordi reached out and touched the badge on Foster's chest. He went down just as Geordi had done on the bridge, crying out with the intense pain, while Geordi felt satisfaction as he carried the punishment out; this was his chance to pay someone back for the humiliation he had gone through up on the bridge.
"I don't want to hear your excuses, Foster!" Geordi bellowed in his ear. "I'm not answering to the consequences of your inadequate work. Got it?" Foster slowly got to his feet and stood to attention. "Get me some answers as to why this is not going to function." Geordi said pointing to one of the androids. "You have one hour, which is more time than I probably should give you, you incompetent imbecile." Geordi stormed over to the replicator to get a component for one of the androids while Foster hurriedly got back to work.
On board the Enterprise, NCC 1701-D. Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair a bit nervously at the message they had received from Commander Riker. His first officer had been vague and that had put Picard on the edge of his seat in anticipation. "Ensign, how long before we reach Commander Riker's shuttle?"
"We are reading the shuttle on long range sensors and we should intercept them in ten minutes, sir." The ensign at the helm position responded.
"Very well, decrease speed to half impulse as soon as we are close enough." Picard instructed.
"Aye, sir." The ensign replied.
Ten minutes later the Enterprise dropped out of warp and proceeded at half impulse power. Riker piloted the shuttle into shuttle bay two and called the captain for an emergency meeting in the conference lounge. Worf picked up the unconscious Wesley Crusher and took him off to sick bay along with two extra security guards for backup; incase anything should go wrong.
In sick bay, Dr. Crusher was mending a broken bone, when she looked up and saw Worf carrying her unconscious 'son'.
"Wesley! What happened to him?" She asked, quickly forgetting about her patient and guiding Worf to put her 'son' on the closest bio-bed.
"This is not your son, Doctor." Worf said trying to ease the mother's pain.
"Well who is it then, Santa Clause? The Tooth Fairy?" She said flummoxed and grabbing the nearest medical tricorder she could find.
"This is a Wesley Crusher from a different universe. He was hit with a level five phaser blast, it is remarkable he has survived this long." Beverly noticed the uniform that Wesley was wearing and recognised it as being different to what her Wesley normally wore, in fact it looked familiar to her but she didn't know where from.
Crusher got to work stabilizing his condition then turned to Worf. "Can you see that Wes is kept out of sick bay while this Wesley is here, please?"
Worf nodded, "I will try to keep him out of your way, Doctor." He turned and went out of sick bay leaving two guards to keep an eye on the new Wesley. *****
The senior bridge officers all met in the conference lounge except for Dr. Crusher who said she would monitor from sick bay. Picard motioned the meeting to begin and asked Riker to proceed with his report.
"When we got to work on the probe," he began, "we found that it had been sabotaged. We quickly repaired it and scanned the anomaly, which we found to be a doorway to another universe; possibly the universe we encountered a year ago. When we were getting ready to leave Worf heard a noise and went to investigate." Picard listened, deeply concerned.
"I went to see what the noise was," Worf continued, "and found an unconscious Wesley Crusher lying on the floor. He had been hit with a level five phaser blast at point blank range. Dr. Crusher is attending to him now. I have two security guards keeping an eye on him."
"How is the boy doing, Doctor?" Picard asked over the open comm link between the conference lounge and Dr. Crusher's office.
"I have stabilized his condition and he is sleeping now. We should keep him monitored for the next few days, then he should be alright." Beverly reported.
"Well done, Doctor." Picard said and turned back to his other officers. "We will proceed with caution for the time being. We really need to know if this is the same parallel universe we think it is, and if it is, we must stop them from completing their mission from the last time, which they most certainly will try to do." Picard looked to each of his officers and his glance fell on Riker. "They probably won't succeed if Riker is in command, he is not as versatile as our Commander Riker, and from what I observed of him, he is not likely to become anymore versatile in the near future." Picard said looking to his first officer who immediately blushed, slightly embarrassed. "That's no reflection on you, Commander." Picard said seeing his first officers face. "Any questions?" Picard asked, looking to his senior officers, he got no response. "Dismissed then. Commander Riker, set a course for the probe." Everyone got up from the conference table and left for the bridge.
On the bridge of the Imperial Starship Enterprise, Picard sat comfortably in his command chair. Troi sat on Picard's right while working a computer terminal next to her. Picard had instructed her to go through evaluation reports of the senior officers on board so he could promote one to the role of second officer. It had been decided that Troi would be the first officer and keep the job as security chief as well, after all it was her area of expertise and no-one on board even came close to being as good as her at the job.
"Have you found anyone suitable yet, Counsellor?" Picard asked, expecting a straight answer.
"I have narrowed it down to two. Lieutenant Miles O'Brien- chief of transporters, and one of the artificial life forms." She replied, glancing over at him for approval.
"Well, I know what type of a man Mr. O'Brien is. He is a good officer and not very ambitious thankfully; one man after my job was enough. I would like to try out one of these androids Commander La Forge has been working on though. He has a report due in ten minutes, so we shall see then." Picard got up out of his chair and Troi gazed at him expectant. "We can't see what the android is like from up here. We'll go to engineering." Troi got up reluctantly and they both headed for the turbolift with their chief bodyguards in tow.
In engineering, Foster finished off his third diagnostic on one of the androids and he did not look pleased with the results, for the third time also. "Commander La Forge," he called, saluting when he got a response. "Sir, I have a report but I don't think your going to like what I have to tell you." Foster proceeded to tell him of the difficulty of getting a positronic brain functioning and then he told him that the only person who could do it was the original android or the creator himself. Foster stood braced ready for his punishment but was surprised when it didn't come.
"I could have told you that an hour ago, Foster." Geordi said smirking then turning away from him; the other engineers were all laughing at him also. Foster felt stupid to say the least; he had just been working for one solid hour so he could be made fun of in front of the other engineers. Geordi went back into main engineering and gasped when he saw that the counsellor and captain were waiting for him. "Captain, Counsellor." He said as he came to attention and saluted them both.
"Report, Mr. La Forge." The captain said expectant.
"Sir. We have built twenty-five androids as you ordered, and we are pleased with what we have accomplished so far," he paused for a breath and looked to his superiors for any emotional sign- he saw the captain was becoming impatient and so he continued quickly. "Linking up the positronic brain is no problem but keeping the unit functioning is baffling. We can't get enough power to it without every other circuit blowing, it beats me as to how the other android can work." Geordi finished his report as they wondered into the room that contained all of the androids. "The android uses a sub micron matrix transfer technology to lay down neural net pathways. These neural net pathways have been duplicated and used in all of these androids you see here. The problem is that when one pathway breaks down we have to re-polarize it but then another breaks down and another until complete neural systems failure. Sir, if we're going to get these androids functioning, we need to get back the original." Geordi gulped as he felt the counsellor in his mind again, probably to see if he was telling the truth or just wasting precious time.
"Very well, Mr. La Forge, your next job is to go and get the original back. Go alone and don't take forever about it, as you seem to think you can these days. When you get back see if Dr. Crusher can help." Picard and Troi turned and stepped fully into the bay that housed all of the androids.
The room was about the size of the main shuttle bay, down one side of the room were lined the twenty-five androids with various crewmembers performing diagnostics and other tasks. As each crewmember saw the captain and Troi, they stopped and saluted. "Amazing," Picard commented, "one of these will make a fine officer, I believe. Of course I will have to see one functioning first though."
"Well the original gave us quite a fight before we were actually able to incapacitate him but my security staff are well trained in every form of combat strategy." Troi told him. They both turned and exited engineering.
Troi headed off up to the bridge with her bodyguard in tow, while Picard and Detaith went off to sick bay. Picard needed to speak with Dr. Crusher to see how she was coping with the news of her son, and to ask if she would help La Forge when he got back.
Dr. Crusher was mending a broken bone when Picard and Detaith walked in. Picard stepped closer to her, smiled a cold smile, and then asked if she was all right.
"I'm fine, Jean-Luc, after all it was about time Wesley was taught a lesson, I didn't want him to die through it though. It would have been nice to have his body brought back but I guess you're too busy these days; even for me." She finished what she was doing and they both walked into her office, Detaith waited outside. "I suppose I'm next on the hit list then?" She asked with little concern.
"What hit list?" Picard asked, although he knew full well what she was talking about.
"Don't insult my intelligence, Jean-Luc. You know exactly what I'm talking about." She said, clearly angry at the way he was treating her. "If you want rid of me, I don't see why you can't just transfer me instead of finding a way to kill me." She turned at her desk and sat down in her chair. Nodding as understanding came to her, she continued. "Wait, yes I can see why you won't transfer me. That course of action would damage your reputation, and we can't have that now, can we?" She looked him squarely in the face then let out a sigh and looked in the other direction.
"There is no hit list, Beverly." Picard said moving into her field of view and trying to make the statement sound convincing, and totally failing in the process. "I just think it's time for a few changes on this ship, and as for your son, that was an accident just as you were told." She looked away from him again not wanting him to see her break down and trying very hard to hold back the tears until he was gone.
"An accident? Well now, I did wonder about that. If you did order the body to be brought back, you know I would perform an autopsy to find out what he really died of. You won't do that though, just another twist of the knife in her back? See if you could possibly hurt her anymore? Well you won't succeed this time, not again... ever!" She spat the words at Picard with such vehemence that she even surprised herself. At that moment, her eyes filled up with tears and she covered them with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Picard listened for a few moments, and then he actually began to feel a little guilty. He turned, strode out of the office and headed for his quarters with his chief bodyguard in tow.
"Where are we going, Captain?" Detaith said almost running to keep up with Picard's fast pace.
"My quarters," was the simple reply. They turned the corner and stopped outside of the door. "Detaith. Get me Counsellor Troi down here. I want to speak to her straight away."
"Aye, sir." Detaith said immediately moving to a companel and summoning her. Picard stepped into his quarters and waited for her arrival.
Two minutes later Troi rang the chime alerting Picard that she was waiting outside. "Come." Picard responded and she sauntered into Picard's quarters leaving her chief bodyguard outside with Detaith.
"Counsellor," Picard said, "take a seat." She moved over to one of the sofas, opposite where Picard was sitting and draped herself in it. "I have reconsidered our plan. I don't want Beverly to be harmed. Have you got that?"
"Of course, Captain, but why this sudden change of heart and what are you going to be doing with her instead?"
"Call it captain's prerogative, and she will be transferred instead, as soon as I can arrange it." Picard informed her.
"I think you owe me a better explanation than that, Jean-Luc, after all we are going to be more than just colleagues soon," She said prying into his thoughts.
"Well this can be my first little secret from you, can't it." Picard said, not giving in.
"Jean-Luc," she began, moving in the chair and sitting straighter. "You should know that it is impossible to keep secrets from me." She smiled at him coquettishly. Picard felt the brush against his mind and realized that she was most certainly not going to let the matter drop. He stood and moved closer to her; she stood up as well and before long they were nose to nose with each other.
"I would appreciate it if you would just let the matter drop and turn off your empathic powers for a few minutes. I have my reasons for letting her live and don't worry, she'll be gone soon." He spoke softly to her while gazing into her deep, dark eyes; he knew what Riker had found so enticing now for one look into those eyes and your sole was lost.
"How much would you appreciate it, Jean-Luc?" She said as she complied with his wishes. He kissed her full on the lips for a long moment.
"That's how much, Deanna." He said as he led her to the bedroom.
Geordi La Forge piloted the shuttle with expertise and soon he was through the spatial rift and approaching the Enterprise on the other side. After scanning Data's memory banks, he had learned all of the codes to be able to get on and off the ship without detection. Geordi had put on some civilian clothes so he would blend in more easily, though where he was planning to beam to, he would be secluded enough as it was. As he approached the Enterprise, he put a code into the computer that would allow him to penetrate the shields and park the shuttle in between the warp nacelles once he was through. In doing so it would make a very good hiding place for the shuttle, as the sensors were weak when they scanned that close to the warp nacelles.
Geordi set co-ordinates for Data's quarters and transported over. He looked all about him quickly; once the transporter had finished, and noticed that Data was not in his quarters, he asked the computer where he was. "Lieutenant Commander Data is currently on the bridge."
"Great." Geordi whispered and hid behind the console to wait for him to arrive. There was no telling how long he would have to wait and he didn't want to go asking the computer too many questions about one crew member, as that would have alerted the security chief, usually with dire consequences- on his ship anyway.
Thirty-seven minutes later Data entered his quarters, after his duty shift had finished. Geordi sneaked out of hiding and crept up behind the android as quickly and quietly as he could. Data began to turn, as his android ears were far more sensitive that most species' were but La Forge was too quick. He had found where Data's off switch was located after examining the specs on the android. He pressed it and Data fell to the floor. Geordi signaled the shuttlecraft that he was ready to beam back with the android and they were materialized into the aft section of the cabin immediately. Geordi took the helm controls and set a course back to his side of the rift.
It didn't take long before the shuttle was on its way home with the kidnapped android. Geordi felt quite pleased with himself as he piloted the shuttle through the spatial rift.
Geordi La Forge got back to his ship in good time and litigated a guard to take the android to engineering. Geordi summoned Dr. Crusher and Counsellor Troi, asking them to meet him in engineering, then he proceeded there himself.
Geordi entered engineering and found Dr. Crusher and Troi already waiting and both looked very impatient indeed. He saluted them both and proceeded over to where the kidnapped android was sitting. The android was still switched off and posed as no threat at the moment.
"My mission was a success, Counsellor. I have the original android back and he's right here." Geordi said smiling and pointing to where the android was slumped in a chair.
"Why is he not functioning?" Troi demanded.
"I have turned him off, Counsellor." Geordi reached down to the android's off switch and flicked it back on. The android sat up straight with a start, his eyes flicking with disorientation.
"Geordi?" La Forge looked at him in surprise. "I assume it was you who brought me here to engineering... This is not the same Enterprise." Data looked about trying to figure out where he was. "Where am I and why was I deactivated?" Data asked cocking his head to one side as he looked around, disoriented.
"Shut up!" Troi said moving closer to the android. "You are aboard the Imperial Starship Enterprise and you will tell us everything we want to know, Robot."
"I am an android, Counsellor; an automaton made to resemble a human being and not a robot, as you so put it."
Troi shifted uneasily and annoyed at his insolence, she tried a stab of the mind but realised that it was a futile attempt since Data was a machine and she couldn't read his mind at all, which only served to infuriate Troi even more.
"I can only tell you limited information. My programming does not allow me to reveal certain intelligence to the enemy." Data said calmly.
"What is your name?" Dr. Crusher asked.
"Data, Dr. Crusher." He replied; there was no harm in telling them that.
"We need to know how to get a positronic brain functioning and I presume you know how to do it." Geordi said getting straight to the point.
"I can not tell you that." He replied simply.
"You will." Troi said cutting in forcefully.
"I can not because I do not know myself. I tried to build an android once before and failed. I was unable to keep power flowing without total systems failure." Data informed them, even if he did know he wouldn't have been able to tell them since it was information that could have been used against the Federation of his universe.
"The same problem we have, Counsellor." Geordi commented.
"You had better get the problem sorted out, Mr. La Forge." Troi said challengingly.
"Who built you?" Dr. Crusher asked.
"Dr. Noonien Soong, Earth's foremost robotics scientist and cyberneticist. Whom I believe was killed in this universe a long time ago."
"I am familiar with some of his theories." Geordi replied.
Troi ordered Dr. Crusher and Geordi into La Forge's office. She instructed them to re-program Data and get the information they needed. Geordi cut her off. "Counsellor, even if we can re-program Data there's no telling that he actually possesses the information we need." Troi stared at him, burrowing into his mind with her thoughts; he dropped to his knees in agony as she forced her way in uncontrollably. She installed a thought into his mind, "You had better hope that the information we need is there, La Forge or I won't stop hurting you." Troi recoiled from inside his head causing him more pain. She turned and left engineering. Geordi dragged himself up off the floor with the aid of Dr. Crusher. They left the office and went back out into engineering. La Forge walked over to the android, which sat patiently in the chair, and flicked the off switch again; the android slumped down, lifeless once more.
"Well, any ideas as to how we're going to do this?" Crusher asked, hoping that he would have some ideas.
"One step at a time." Geordi replied slumping down into a chair next to the android to think.
A/N: Please leave a review. Thanks
