CHAPTER FIVE
"Lieutenant Worf. Open a channel to Starfleet Command; level one priority, secure channel. Put it through to my ready room, please."
"Aye, sir," Worf said as Picard got up and walked into his office. Picard took a seat behind his desk and waited a moment for the communications channel to be opened. Admiral Nakamura appeared on the screen with a look of concern on his face.
"Twice in as many days, Jean-Luc?" The admiral said, leaning forward in his seat.
"Yes, Admiral. Couldn't keep away." Picard smiled then turned with a look of 'let's get down to business' on his face.
"Why are you contacting me on a priority one channel, Captain? Is there something wrong?"
"It seems we have a rather large problem on our hands, Admiral," Picard took a breath before continuing. "We've repaired the probe and have found evidence to suggest that it has been sabotaged. While my senior officers were over there, they found a young man. It was Wesley Crusher; he's been hit with a level five phaser blast at point blank range." The admiral raised his eyes in surprise; who would do something like that? "This Wesley is from another universe though, we believe that it's the same universe we encountered a year ago. It seems that the spatial rift is some sort of a gateway to that universe. We are trying to find a way to seal it but I fear that it may be too large.
"I called a meeting for my senior officers a short while ago and found that Data is missing." Picard paused while the admiral cut in.
"The android?" Picard nodded. "Where do you think he is?"
"We think that he has been transported onto a ship that is on the other side of the spatial anomaly. This other ship could possibly be the Enterprise of that universe and if it is, her captain will probably want to complete the mission from the last time we encountered them. Our main problem though is to find a way to get Mr. Data back home and send the counterpart Wesley Crusher back. This is a great threat to our universe if they have been able to access Data's systems. He is a fountain of information and while he would not betray us, they may have been able to get the information they need some other way."
"Well thank you for letting us know, Captain. We will be analyzing the information from the probe when it reaches us, in the mean time we will have to wait. Unfortunately the nearest ship is the Hood which would arrive in four days, after that is the Excelsior which is a week away at best." Admiral Nakamura informed him apologetically.
"That may be a little too late, sir but if they try anything we will do our best to stop them from succeeding."
"I know you will. I'll send the two ships your way then, Captain. Starfleet out." Admiral Nakamura said as he terminated the communication channel. Picard got up and went back out onto the bridge.
Lieutenant Worf and Commander La Forge were in engineering trying to figure out a way to seal the spatial rift. They had pondered over the problem for quite a while and they hadn't come up with any good suggestions so far. Geordi sighed for about the hundredth time and called for a meeting of the engineering staff and Worf. The staff gathered round and Geordi told them of the problem they were faced with, "... so I want suggestions, any no matter how ridiculous you think they are."
Hessan suggested scanning the anomaly with a tachyon beam first, to find out what the composition of it was. Geordi noted that idea as a good one to start off with and instructed Hessan to go and do it. She came back a moment later with the results. "Sir, I have scanned the anomaly and found that it contains omicron and alpha particles." Geordi asked for more suggestions from his staff. Lieutenant Redpath suggested using the phasers in some way.
"Use the phasers like a protodynoplaser, the rift seems to be just like a tear in skin. We could modify the phasers slightly to emit a low power, thin beam to bring together the edges of the rift and seal them back together again." Redpath said, making hand gestures to make his explanation more understandable.
"Yeah, I think that'll work, thanks Redpath." Geordi said pleased that they were finally beginning to make some headway.
"I spent a year at medical school, sir. We could even emit a nucleonic beam which would do the same sort of thing." Redpath said pleased that his medical training was beginning to pay off.
"We can use an energy conduit and put it across the rift so it can repair itself." Worf suggested.
"Yeah, I was thinking that as well but it may take a while and I think that time is of the essence here." Geordi said. He tapped his communicator badge and signaled the captain to inform him of the ideas that they had come up with on how to repair the rift. Picard instructed them to report to the bridge.
The meeting in engineering broke as crewmembers went about their own business and Worf and Geordi headed up to the bridge.
Meanwhile on the bridge, Troi and Riker were going through the information they had accumulated on the spatial rift so far. Worf had detected an ion trail before he had been assigned to another task, and now Riker and Troi were following it. It was more than likely that the ion trail was part of a warp signature from a shuttlecraft, and Troi decided to scan for Data's communicator badge signal as well, in the hope that it followed the ion trail. The computer informed her that it was no longer in range of the ship's sensors.
"Computer. When did the signal lose contact with the ship?" Troi asked exasperated.
"Working," the computer replied and then came up with the report. "The communicator badge signal was lost from the ship's sensors at twenty two thirty seven hours."
"Why were we not informed that the signal had been lost?" Riker asked, tired of having to talk to a non-sentient piece of machinery.
"Commander Data was transported using a Federation transporter device, and no emergency was called for at the time of transport." Replied the computer.
Troi sighed then asked. "Was Commander Data transported using a transporter device from the Enterprise?"
"Negative. The transporter device used was located outside of the ship."
"Well if that's so, why weren't we informed of the transport?" Troi asked again knowing that if any external transporter was used it should alert the bridge immediately, unless it was from a transporter of that particular ship.
"The transport took place from a shuttlecraft belonging to the Enterprise." Riker and Troi both looked at each other in disbelief, they were running round in circles with this method of inquiry.
"Were any of our shuttles missing from the shuttle bays at the time of transport?" Riker asked again hoping that the answer would be yes and that there was not as much cause for alarm as he anticipated.
"Negative." The computer replied coldly.
"Well that about sums that up then doesn't it? Data was definitely taken without his consent, and the ship on the other side of that rift is undoubtedly another Enterprise." Troi went over to the terminal again and asked the computer for a chronological display of everything Data did when he left the bridge, after a moment the information came up on the screen.
Data had gone straight to his quarters, he had stayed there and hadn't come out- so what ever had happened had occurred there. "Maybe we should go to his quarters and look for clues." Riker said to Troi.
"We should report all of this to the captain first." Troi suggested.
"Agreed but I want to scan for Data on the probe first, just to be certain that he's not over there." Riker tapped a few buttons on the tactical display and the sensors activated, scanning the probe. Just then Captain Picard stepped out of his ready room and approached the two of them, looking over Troi's shoulder as she waited for the scan to finish. The computer flashed its results on the screen a moment later. "No-one is on the probe." Riker said to Troi.
"Captain, we have a report for you." Troi said.
"Please save it for a few moments, Counsellor. Commander I've contacted Starfleet. The closest ship is four days away; they are sending the Hood and Excelsior. I'm afraid that if anything should happen before then, we're going to have to fend for ourselves. We mustn't discount the possibility that the Enterprise over there has sent for re-enforcements also.
"Now, that report please Counsellor..." Picard was interrupted by a communique from engineering.
"Sir, we have a few ideas on how to repair the rift." La Forge said over the intercom
"Well done. Come up to the bridge." Picard instructed Worf and Geordi and then turned to Riker and Troi. "I'll have that report in the conference lounge when Worf and La Forge get here."
Two minutes later Worf and Geordi exited the turbolift and stepped out onto the bridge. "In the conference lounge please gentlemen." Picard said as they all went off into the lounge and took their customary seats.
Geordi started and gave the captain the suggestions that they had come up with in engineering; everyone listened interested as he came to a close. "... So it's as simple as that," he finished.
"Before we seal the rift we should get Data back, sir." Riker said.
"Then he's definitely over there?" Worf asked.
"We scanned the rift and saw that the ion trail went through to the other side. The computer said that the comm badge signal was lost from the ship at around half past ten. We weren't alerted because he was transported using a Federation transporter located outside of the ship. The transporter was from a shuttle from the Enterprise, but none of our shuttles had left the bay at that time." Troi told the officers assembled in the lounge.
"There's no way to be one hundred percent certain that he's on that ship over there?" Picard asked.
"No, Captain, there isn't. I'm just assuming that he is because there is no- where else he could have gone apart from the probe. Counsellor Troi and I have scanned the probe and no one is there. Unless someone was to go over to the other ship and find out, I don't see any other way of knowing for sure."
Picard thought for a second before speaking. "Then that's what we shall do. I will go myself and I think either Commander La Forge or Dr. Crusher. I want to keep the team down to a minimum."
"Why you, Captain? You were there the last time and barley escaped." Riker said with disbelief that his captain should want to go back to that death trap. Picard looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Nice to know you have complete confidence in me, Number One." He cleared his throat, "however. Since I was there the last time, I know what to expect and how to deal with these people. The counsellor over there will undoubtedly be expecting our Troi to beam over again, and she would therefore be detected instantly. If I'm right she will probably know that La Forge isn't La Forge if he were to go either. Am I right, Counsellor?" Picard looked over to Troi.
"True, Captain, after what Geordi went through the last time she should know his mind better than he does- so it will have to be Beverly." Geordi felt a sigh of relief, it had taken him numerous counselling sessions with Troi to get over his mind rape the last time, and it was an experience that he didn't care to repeat ever again; it made him sick to his stomach just thinking about it again.
"Why Bev?" Riker asked again not liking any of this plan.
"Because she would most likely be the one working with the engineers over there to try to find out what Data is- if he's there." Geordi informed Riker.
"Well that's settled then, I'll go and see Dr. Crusher and then get some uniforms from stores. Number One, see if you can find a way to scan that ship by piggy backing a transmission, the way we did the last time."
"Aye, sir."
"Dismissed then." The officers began to get up, "Number One, I'm going to do what is necessary now so you have the bridge." They all left the conference lounge with a new purpose in mind.
Data and the android walked through the corridor toward the turbolift to go up to the bridge; various crewmembers stopped and saluted the second officer as he approached. They got into the turbolift and soon they appeared on the bridge. Data noticed that Detaith and Broad- the captain's and Troi's chief bodyguards were positioned outside of the ready room door. Data surmised that Picard and Troi were inside and so walked towards the door with the android beside him. Both guards saluted and Detaith signaled the occupants of the room that Data and the android were outside. The guards stepped aside as they entered.
Data saluted the counsellor and captain as he approached. "I have brought one of the androids as you instructed, Captain."
"Good. Sit down." Picard instructed the new android and he complied. "Do you know who you are?" Picard asked him.
"I am an android constructed and made to function for the good of the Empire." The android replied calmly as he looked directly at Picard with a placid face and lifeless eyes.
"Just what I wanted to hear. Mr. Data, does the android have a name?" Picard asked.
"No, Captain he does not. Commander La Forge thought that you would want to give him one yourself."
"Wonderful. Counsellor any suggestions?" Picard looked to her for any ideas that she might have.
"How about... Reval. On Betazed it means powerful and seems only fitting for an android I suppose." She suggested, and it seemed to work well.
"Okay then, Reval is your new designation and you will respond to it." The android now named Reval nodded his head. "You will be programmed with the information you need in order to function aboard this ship. You have the sum of Data's programming already so there is not much you need to learn. We have a plan to send you back to where Data came from. You will be beamed over to another starship and carry out your orders. Your job will be to take over that ship and bring it through the rift to our universe. While aboard that ship you will be named Data, you will respond to that name whilst over there. Is that clear?"
"Perfectly, sir." Responded Reval.
"When the ship is on this side of the rift you will hand control over to us. You will have to incapacitate the bridge officers over there in order to do this." Troi continued to give Reval his orders.
"When you have done this you will beam back over to this ship where you will be given more orders from there."
"You will wear a different uniform and I will give you all of the information you need in order to blend in on the other Enterprise. The information pertaining to the mission will be contained in a different part of your positronic brain incase they try to delete all of your files and re- program you."
"Understood." Reval replied to all of them.
"Dismissed." Picard said. As they left Picard said that Reval should be ready to beam over within two hours then he thought to himself, before the crew of the other Enterprise notice Data has gone missing.
Data turned to Picard, "Captain. Why is Reval being beamed over to my old ship? After all it was they who abandoned me."
"We are sending him over because your crew will be missing you and will regret what they have done. This will work to our advantage though because Reval will be working for us." Data nodded and Picard stood up from behind his desk as Data turned to exit. "Commander Data," Picard said stopping the android.
"Yes, Captain."
"I am not accustomed to having my orders questioned, the punishment is usually a dose of the counsellor's medicine in the agony booth, and I'm sure she will find something as equally horrifying for you. Don't question them again." Picard warned quite seriously.
"Sorry, sir." Data joined Reval out on the bridge.
Aboard the other Enterprise, Captain Picard went down to sickbay to speak to Beverly Crusher. Noticing the counterpart Wesley Crusher on the bio-bed as he entered, he made a mental note to ask about him. Dr. Crusher noticed Picard coming closer to her and she put down the padd she was working with to give him her full attention. "How is the boy doing, Doctor?" He asked looking toward Wesley's bed.
"He regained consciousness about an hour ago demanding to know where he was. I knocked him out with a shot of tricordrazine and he'll wake up in about twelve hours or so." Picard looked at her with an amused expression on his face.
"You could have just told him where he was, Doctor." Her jaw set in the typical 'don't mess with me' fashion and Picard decided to get straight on with what he had actually come down to see her about. He told her of the mission that lay ahead of them both. "We have to at least see if Data is over there before we seal the rift, Data is a veritable fountain of information on our universe. We can't risk the possibility that they have been able to duplicate him either. I can't even begin to imagine the consequences if they have managed to duplicate him."
"I have a question. What if he is there and we can't get him back?" Beverly asked, concerned that that might be the case when they got over there.
"Then we're going to have to destroy their ship." Picard responded.
"When do we leave then?" Crusher asked eager to get away from her counterpart son.
"As soon as possible please Doctor so make any arrangements you need to. We have to go down to stores to get some uniforms, and then see if Commander Riker has been able to get a scan of the inside of that ship. If not then we'll have to go by the information we collected the last time." Beverly got up out of the chair in her office and waved for Dr. Selar to come over.
"Will you keep an eye on him please, I'm going off ship for a short time- hopefully anyway. Don't under any circumstances allow my Wesley to see this Wesley." Beverly said pointing to the boy on the bio-bed, Selar nodded and Crusher and Picard left sickbay and headed off to stores.
On the bridge, Riker ordered Lieutenant Worf to try to piggyback a signal from the ship on the other side of the anomaly. That was how they were able to do it the last time and they hoped it would work in their favour again. It was proving difficult to get any sort of information this time though because of all the interference from the anomaly. "If we are going to get a scan I think we will have to launch a probe through the rift, Commander." Worf said from his station.
"Make it so, Mr. Worf." Riker told him, they needed all of the information available if they were going to make this mission a success.
"Aye, sir. Launching a type one probe now." The probe rocketed off into the rift and soon Worf was able to pick up a reading. "The probe is sending us information back now. The ship on the other side of the rift is in fact the Imperial Starship Enterprise- ICC 1701-D. I am trying to get a scan of the inside of the ship." After a few moments Worf pounded the console with his fist in annoyance. "There is too much signal leakage." Worf's console bleeped a few times and then the information faded out. "Sir, we have lost the signal."
"Okay, Mr. Worf. Bring the probe back or destroy it."
"I have altered the probe's course and am bringing it back to our side of the rift. If I had destroyed it the explosion would have been detected by the other ship."
"Very well," Riker tapped his communicator badge. "Riker to Picard."
"Go ahead, Number One." Picard said.
"Sir, we have launched a probe and are unable to get a clear scan, there is too much signal leakage and interference from the rift. We have confirmed though that it is the ISS Enterprise- ICC 1701-D."
"Thank you, Commander. Beverly and I are in stores at the moment. Will you have a shuttle prepared for our departure in one hour?"
"Aye, sir. Riker out." With that, the communication channel closed and Riker hailed Ensign Golgo in the main shuttle bay. "Ensign, prepare a shuttle for the captain and Dr. Crusher to depart in one hour, please."
"Aye, sir," the ensign replied over the comm link.
A/N: Please leave a review. Thanks
"Lieutenant Worf. Open a channel to Starfleet Command; level one priority, secure channel. Put it through to my ready room, please."
"Aye, sir," Worf said as Picard got up and walked into his office. Picard took a seat behind his desk and waited a moment for the communications channel to be opened. Admiral Nakamura appeared on the screen with a look of concern on his face.
"Twice in as many days, Jean-Luc?" The admiral said, leaning forward in his seat.
"Yes, Admiral. Couldn't keep away." Picard smiled then turned with a look of 'let's get down to business' on his face.
"Why are you contacting me on a priority one channel, Captain? Is there something wrong?"
"It seems we have a rather large problem on our hands, Admiral," Picard took a breath before continuing. "We've repaired the probe and have found evidence to suggest that it has been sabotaged. While my senior officers were over there, they found a young man. It was Wesley Crusher; he's been hit with a level five phaser blast at point blank range." The admiral raised his eyes in surprise; who would do something like that? "This Wesley is from another universe though, we believe that it's the same universe we encountered a year ago. It seems that the spatial rift is some sort of a gateway to that universe. We are trying to find a way to seal it but I fear that it may be too large.
"I called a meeting for my senior officers a short while ago and found that Data is missing." Picard paused while the admiral cut in.
"The android?" Picard nodded. "Where do you think he is?"
"We think that he has been transported onto a ship that is on the other side of the spatial anomaly. This other ship could possibly be the Enterprise of that universe and if it is, her captain will probably want to complete the mission from the last time we encountered them. Our main problem though is to find a way to get Mr. Data back home and send the counterpart Wesley Crusher back. This is a great threat to our universe if they have been able to access Data's systems. He is a fountain of information and while he would not betray us, they may have been able to get the information they need some other way."
"Well thank you for letting us know, Captain. We will be analyzing the information from the probe when it reaches us, in the mean time we will have to wait. Unfortunately the nearest ship is the Hood which would arrive in four days, after that is the Excelsior which is a week away at best." Admiral Nakamura informed him apologetically.
"That may be a little too late, sir but if they try anything we will do our best to stop them from succeeding."
"I know you will. I'll send the two ships your way then, Captain. Starfleet out." Admiral Nakamura said as he terminated the communication channel. Picard got up and went back out onto the bridge.
Lieutenant Worf and Commander La Forge were in engineering trying to figure out a way to seal the spatial rift. They had pondered over the problem for quite a while and they hadn't come up with any good suggestions so far. Geordi sighed for about the hundredth time and called for a meeting of the engineering staff and Worf. The staff gathered round and Geordi told them of the problem they were faced with, "... so I want suggestions, any no matter how ridiculous you think they are."
Hessan suggested scanning the anomaly with a tachyon beam first, to find out what the composition of it was. Geordi noted that idea as a good one to start off with and instructed Hessan to go and do it. She came back a moment later with the results. "Sir, I have scanned the anomaly and found that it contains omicron and alpha particles." Geordi asked for more suggestions from his staff. Lieutenant Redpath suggested using the phasers in some way.
"Use the phasers like a protodynoplaser, the rift seems to be just like a tear in skin. We could modify the phasers slightly to emit a low power, thin beam to bring together the edges of the rift and seal them back together again." Redpath said, making hand gestures to make his explanation more understandable.
"Yeah, I think that'll work, thanks Redpath." Geordi said pleased that they were finally beginning to make some headway.
"I spent a year at medical school, sir. We could even emit a nucleonic beam which would do the same sort of thing." Redpath said pleased that his medical training was beginning to pay off.
"We can use an energy conduit and put it across the rift so it can repair itself." Worf suggested.
"Yeah, I was thinking that as well but it may take a while and I think that time is of the essence here." Geordi said. He tapped his communicator badge and signaled the captain to inform him of the ideas that they had come up with on how to repair the rift. Picard instructed them to report to the bridge.
The meeting in engineering broke as crewmembers went about their own business and Worf and Geordi headed up to the bridge.
Meanwhile on the bridge, Troi and Riker were going through the information they had accumulated on the spatial rift so far. Worf had detected an ion trail before he had been assigned to another task, and now Riker and Troi were following it. It was more than likely that the ion trail was part of a warp signature from a shuttlecraft, and Troi decided to scan for Data's communicator badge signal as well, in the hope that it followed the ion trail. The computer informed her that it was no longer in range of the ship's sensors.
"Computer. When did the signal lose contact with the ship?" Troi asked exasperated.
"Working," the computer replied and then came up with the report. "The communicator badge signal was lost from the ship's sensors at twenty two thirty seven hours."
"Why were we not informed that the signal had been lost?" Riker asked, tired of having to talk to a non-sentient piece of machinery.
"Commander Data was transported using a Federation transporter device, and no emergency was called for at the time of transport." Replied the computer.
Troi sighed then asked. "Was Commander Data transported using a transporter device from the Enterprise?"
"Negative. The transporter device used was located outside of the ship."
"Well if that's so, why weren't we informed of the transport?" Troi asked again knowing that if any external transporter was used it should alert the bridge immediately, unless it was from a transporter of that particular ship.
"The transport took place from a shuttlecraft belonging to the Enterprise." Riker and Troi both looked at each other in disbelief, they were running round in circles with this method of inquiry.
"Were any of our shuttles missing from the shuttle bays at the time of transport?" Riker asked again hoping that the answer would be yes and that there was not as much cause for alarm as he anticipated.
"Negative." The computer replied coldly.
"Well that about sums that up then doesn't it? Data was definitely taken without his consent, and the ship on the other side of that rift is undoubtedly another Enterprise." Troi went over to the terminal again and asked the computer for a chronological display of everything Data did when he left the bridge, after a moment the information came up on the screen.
Data had gone straight to his quarters, he had stayed there and hadn't come out- so what ever had happened had occurred there. "Maybe we should go to his quarters and look for clues." Riker said to Troi.
"We should report all of this to the captain first." Troi suggested.
"Agreed but I want to scan for Data on the probe first, just to be certain that he's not over there." Riker tapped a few buttons on the tactical display and the sensors activated, scanning the probe. Just then Captain Picard stepped out of his ready room and approached the two of them, looking over Troi's shoulder as she waited for the scan to finish. The computer flashed its results on the screen a moment later. "No-one is on the probe." Riker said to Troi.
"Captain, we have a report for you." Troi said.
"Please save it for a few moments, Counsellor. Commander I've contacted Starfleet. The closest ship is four days away; they are sending the Hood and Excelsior. I'm afraid that if anything should happen before then, we're going to have to fend for ourselves. We mustn't discount the possibility that the Enterprise over there has sent for re-enforcements also.
"Now, that report please Counsellor..." Picard was interrupted by a communique from engineering.
"Sir, we have a few ideas on how to repair the rift." La Forge said over the intercom
"Well done. Come up to the bridge." Picard instructed Worf and Geordi and then turned to Riker and Troi. "I'll have that report in the conference lounge when Worf and La Forge get here."
Two minutes later Worf and Geordi exited the turbolift and stepped out onto the bridge. "In the conference lounge please gentlemen." Picard said as they all went off into the lounge and took their customary seats.
Geordi started and gave the captain the suggestions that they had come up with in engineering; everyone listened interested as he came to a close. "... So it's as simple as that," he finished.
"Before we seal the rift we should get Data back, sir." Riker said.
"Then he's definitely over there?" Worf asked.
"We scanned the rift and saw that the ion trail went through to the other side. The computer said that the comm badge signal was lost from the ship at around half past ten. We weren't alerted because he was transported using a Federation transporter located outside of the ship. The transporter was from a shuttle from the Enterprise, but none of our shuttles had left the bay at that time." Troi told the officers assembled in the lounge.
"There's no way to be one hundred percent certain that he's on that ship over there?" Picard asked.
"No, Captain, there isn't. I'm just assuming that he is because there is no- where else he could have gone apart from the probe. Counsellor Troi and I have scanned the probe and no one is there. Unless someone was to go over to the other ship and find out, I don't see any other way of knowing for sure."
Picard thought for a second before speaking. "Then that's what we shall do. I will go myself and I think either Commander La Forge or Dr. Crusher. I want to keep the team down to a minimum."
"Why you, Captain? You were there the last time and barley escaped." Riker said with disbelief that his captain should want to go back to that death trap. Picard looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Nice to know you have complete confidence in me, Number One." He cleared his throat, "however. Since I was there the last time, I know what to expect and how to deal with these people. The counsellor over there will undoubtedly be expecting our Troi to beam over again, and she would therefore be detected instantly. If I'm right she will probably know that La Forge isn't La Forge if he were to go either. Am I right, Counsellor?" Picard looked over to Troi.
"True, Captain, after what Geordi went through the last time she should know his mind better than he does- so it will have to be Beverly." Geordi felt a sigh of relief, it had taken him numerous counselling sessions with Troi to get over his mind rape the last time, and it was an experience that he didn't care to repeat ever again; it made him sick to his stomach just thinking about it again.
"Why Bev?" Riker asked again not liking any of this plan.
"Because she would most likely be the one working with the engineers over there to try to find out what Data is- if he's there." Geordi informed Riker.
"Well that's settled then, I'll go and see Dr. Crusher and then get some uniforms from stores. Number One, see if you can find a way to scan that ship by piggy backing a transmission, the way we did the last time."
"Aye, sir."
"Dismissed then." The officers began to get up, "Number One, I'm going to do what is necessary now so you have the bridge." They all left the conference lounge with a new purpose in mind.
Data and the android walked through the corridor toward the turbolift to go up to the bridge; various crewmembers stopped and saluted the second officer as he approached. They got into the turbolift and soon they appeared on the bridge. Data noticed that Detaith and Broad- the captain's and Troi's chief bodyguards were positioned outside of the ready room door. Data surmised that Picard and Troi were inside and so walked towards the door with the android beside him. Both guards saluted and Detaith signaled the occupants of the room that Data and the android were outside. The guards stepped aside as they entered.
Data saluted the counsellor and captain as he approached. "I have brought one of the androids as you instructed, Captain."
"Good. Sit down." Picard instructed the new android and he complied. "Do you know who you are?" Picard asked him.
"I am an android constructed and made to function for the good of the Empire." The android replied calmly as he looked directly at Picard with a placid face and lifeless eyes.
"Just what I wanted to hear. Mr. Data, does the android have a name?" Picard asked.
"No, Captain he does not. Commander La Forge thought that you would want to give him one yourself."
"Wonderful. Counsellor any suggestions?" Picard looked to her for any ideas that she might have.
"How about... Reval. On Betazed it means powerful and seems only fitting for an android I suppose." She suggested, and it seemed to work well.
"Okay then, Reval is your new designation and you will respond to it." The android now named Reval nodded his head. "You will be programmed with the information you need in order to function aboard this ship. You have the sum of Data's programming already so there is not much you need to learn. We have a plan to send you back to where Data came from. You will be beamed over to another starship and carry out your orders. Your job will be to take over that ship and bring it through the rift to our universe. While aboard that ship you will be named Data, you will respond to that name whilst over there. Is that clear?"
"Perfectly, sir." Responded Reval.
"When the ship is on this side of the rift you will hand control over to us. You will have to incapacitate the bridge officers over there in order to do this." Troi continued to give Reval his orders.
"When you have done this you will beam back over to this ship where you will be given more orders from there."
"You will wear a different uniform and I will give you all of the information you need in order to blend in on the other Enterprise. The information pertaining to the mission will be contained in a different part of your positronic brain incase they try to delete all of your files and re- program you."
"Understood." Reval replied to all of them.
"Dismissed." Picard said. As they left Picard said that Reval should be ready to beam over within two hours then he thought to himself, before the crew of the other Enterprise notice Data has gone missing.
Data turned to Picard, "Captain. Why is Reval being beamed over to my old ship? After all it was they who abandoned me."
"We are sending him over because your crew will be missing you and will regret what they have done. This will work to our advantage though because Reval will be working for us." Data nodded and Picard stood up from behind his desk as Data turned to exit. "Commander Data," Picard said stopping the android.
"Yes, Captain."
"I am not accustomed to having my orders questioned, the punishment is usually a dose of the counsellor's medicine in the agony booth, and I'm sure she will find something as equally horrifying for you. Don't question them again." Picard warned quite seriously.
"Sorry, sir." Data joined Reval out on the bridge.
Aboard the other Enterprise, Captain Picard went down to sickbay to speak to Beverly Crusher. Noticing the counterpart Wesley Crusher on the bio-bed as he entered, he made a mental note to ask about him. Dr. Crusher noticed Picard coming closer to her and she put down the padd she was working with to give him her full attention. "How is the boy doing, Doctor?" He asked looking toward Wesley's bed.
"He regained consciousness about an hour ago demanding to know where he was. I knocked him out with a shot of tricordrazine and he'll wake up in about twelve hours or so." Picard looked at her with an amused expression on his face.
"You could have just told him where he was, Doctor." Her jaw set in the typical 'don't mess with me' fashion and Picard decided to get straight on with what he had actually come down to see her about. He told her of the mission that lay ahead of them both. "We have to at least see if Data is over there before we seal the rift, Data is a veritable fountain of information on our universe. We can't risk the possibility that they have been able to duplicate him either. I can't even begin to imagine the consequences if they have managed to duplicate him."
"I have a question. What if he is there and we can't get him back?" Beverly asked, concerned that that might be the case when they got over there.
"Then we're going to have to destroy their ship." Picard responded.
"When do we leave then?" Crusher asked eager to get away from her counterpart son.
"As soon as possible please Doctor so make any arrangements you need to. We have to go down to stores to get some uniforms, and then see if Commander Riker has been able to get a scan of the inside of that ship. If not then we'll have to go by the information we collected the last time." Beverly got up out of the chair in her office and waved for Dr. Selar to come over.
"Will you keep an eye on him please, I'm going off ship for a short time- hopefully anyway. Don't under any circumstances allow my Wesley to see this Wesley." Beverly said pointing to the boy on the bio-bed, Selar nodded and Crusher and Picard left sickbay and headed off to stores.
On the bridge, Riker ordered Lieutenant Worf to try to piggyback a signal from the ship on the other side of the anomaly. That was how they were able to do it the last time and they hoped it would work in their favour again. It was proving difficult to get any sort of information this time though because of all the interference from the anomaly. "If we are going to get a scan I think we will have to launch a probe through the rift, Commander." Worf said from his station.
"Make it so, Mr. Worf." Riker told him, they needed all of the information available if they were going to make this mission a success.
"Aye, sir. Launching a type one probe now." The probe rocketed off into the rift and soon Worf was able to pick up a reading. "The probe is sending us information back now. The ship on the other side of the rift is in fact the Imperial Starship Enterprise- ICC 1701-D. I am trying to get a scan of the inside of the ship." After a few moments Worf pounded the console with his fist in annoyance. "There is too much signal leakage." Worf's console bleeped a few times and then the information faded out. "Sir, we have lost the signal."
"Okay, Mr. Worf. Bring the probe back or destroy it."
"I have altered the probe's course and am bringing it back to our side of the rift. If I had destroyed it the explosion would have been detected by the other ship."
"Very well," Riker tapped his communicator badge. "Riker to Picard."
"Go ahead, Number One." Picard said.
"Sir, we have launched a probe and are unable to get a clear scan, there is too much signal leakage and interference from the rift. We have confirmed though that it is the ISS Enterprise- ICC 1701-D."
"Thank you, Commander. Beverly and I are in stores at the moment. Will you have a shuttle prepared for our departure in one hour?"
"Aye, sir. Riker out." With that, the communication channel closed and Riker hailed Ensign Golgo in the main shuttle bay. "Ensign, prepare a shuttle for the captain and Dr. Crusher to depart in one hour, please."
"Aye, sir," the ensign replied over the comm link.
A/N: Please leave a review. Thanks
