Another Favor

Star Trek: The Next Generation, all characters and ideas there associated are the sole ownership of someone that's not me.
All original ideas and characters contained in the following story are the sole property of J.L. Scott.

"Finally" Worf growled.
"Geordi has restored power to the weapons array" Data said, though it was hardly necessary. Both Captain and Commander Riker were engrossed in a conversation about possible battle plans, and there was no one else on the Bridge except Lt. Potter at Helm.
"He has also restored power to the replicators and stabled the shield harmonics" Data noted.
"Geordi is not responsible for that" his counterpart corrected, looking at the readouts from those two functions, "This is the work of Morgan and Mary Picard-Riker"
"Children?" Worf asked, with a growl.
"Yes" DataA replied, "Both repairs bear the mark of the twin's work" Worf just grunted and went back to work. Data would have asked for a little more clarification, but he had another question on his mind which he had been awaiting the appropriate time to ask. While waiting, he contemplated human intuition. Somehow, they could simply feel when it was the right time to do something. He found himself wishing for the ability now.
"If you will calibrate for Lt. Worf's changes for the torpedoes" DataA said, "I will begin realigning the phase canons"
Data nodded and began the work. He slid a glance at his counterpart, who was working studiously. He had observed that humans very often chose to initiate important conversations while both parties were busy with some other task. Councilor Troi had told him that the distraction of doing something very often helped to dissipate the building tension. She had warned him, however, that choosing the right task coupled with the right timing was much more difficult than it may appear to him.
"Data" Both androids lifted their heads. The Rikers were standing near the open turbo lift.
"We're going to Ten Forward" Captain Riker (distinguishable only by his green uniform) said, "You have the Bridge"
"Aye, sir" DataA replied with a nod. The men left and the Bridge was quiet. Data let a moment of it passed and decided now was a good time to initiate conversation.
"I was told that you constructed a child" he said.
"Indeed. Her name is Laal" DataA replied.
"I too attempted to create a child" Data informed his counterpart, "And named her Laal. My attempt failed. Her neural net collapsed after only a short time" DataA paused in his work.
"I am sorry" he said, "Laal has become such an integral part of my life, that I find I can no longer imagine life without her"
"I would be very...interested in learning how you stabilized her neural net" Data said hesitantly. His counterpart considered for a moment.
"If you have no obligation tonight, I would be happy to go over the information with you" he said.
"Thank you" Data replied, "I would be most appreciative"

With the matter arranged, Data was very pleased with himself. He had always said that, someday, he would again attempt to create another Soongian android, another child. Perhaps after examining the Laal that succeeded he would be able to figure out what he had done wrong.
Data wondered if this Laal was able to use conjunctions, or if she had developed emotions, as his Laal had. He wondered about her experiences at school and with Guinan in Ten Forward and if anyone had ever tried to take her away. These questions could all be saved for later, however. Data returned his focus to the job at hand, trying not to wonder if his counterpart was just as curious about his life. This thought brought the poor android around to questions about the fates of his father and brother in this reality which turned his thoughts to their fates in his own. He began replaying events in his mind, trying to determine all of the variations, and which would have been worse and which would have been preferable.
All of this made Data wonder how humans ever managed to ignore it all and focus on what they were supposed to be doing. Had he voiced these concerns to any human on either Enterprise present, they would have told him that he was much closer to being human than he realized.

Deanna, Raylyn, Troi and Jean-Luc had crowded into the Ready Room. Jean-Luc had taken stock of it as soon as he had stepped in. Despite the fact that it now served William T. Riker, who was very much a different man than Jean-Luc Picard, the Captain found that little had changed in the room. His tropical fish still swam in their tank, a thick tome of Shakespeare still sat on the corner table. The table was shared with an Alaskan landscape etched in crystal. A picture frame containing a recent family photo was the only extra clutter on the polished desk, and hung on the wall behind were what appeared to be a three part series of some sort of blue prints.
Raylyn gathered tea orders from the replicator now operating minimally well. Jean-Luc took a seat on the couch with Troi. His natural instinct had been to take the seat behind the desk, but he had restrained himself. Deanna had taken one of the guest seats.
"They're the kids first original engineering designs" Raylyn suddenly said as she handed Jean-Luc his tea.
"Hmm? Oh! The blue prints" Jean-Luc nodded.
"Yes. Some kids draw their pets or nearly unrecognizable renderings of family scenes when they're five and six" Deanna smiled.
"Mine draw blue prints" Raylyn sighed as she seated herself in the second guest chair.
"Does that worry you?" Troi asked, unable to help being the councilor.
"Oh, I've been assured a thousand times they aren't developing abnormally for their intelligence level" Raylyn replied, "I'm more worried about their age level. They don't have any friends their own age"
"Our close knit family also seems to restrict their ambitions in making friends their own age" Deanna admitted.
"From what the Captain has told me, they sound like very happy children" Troi said.
"Yes. They're perfectly happy as long as they're together and getting into trouble" Raylyn replied. Troi smiled.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much" she said, "I'm sure they'll grow into the social structure"
"And then you'll have to worry about them having too many friends" Jean-Luc said. They all shared a small chuckle together before the tension that had accompanied them into the room returned.
"So. There's something I can help you with?" Jean-Luc finally asked. The Imzadi exchanged a look. Troi could feel their nervousness, but also their determination in the course of action they had chosen.
"Papa, we want to do a sort of...Betazoid version of a mind meld" Raylyn told him. Jean-Luc had been part of a Vulcan mind meld, but he was not aware that Betazoids had that capability. Of course, a full telepath would have been able to enter his thoughts easily and at will. However, each of these women were only half Betazoid and were telepathic only with other telepaths which he was not.
"How is that possible?" Troi asked, saving him the trouble of expressing his trepidation.
"Obviously, none of us could do any such thing individually, but together I believe it would be possible to access those memories about the Borg" her counterpart explained.
"Why not just have me relay the experiences?" Jean-Luc asked, as that had been what he was expecting.
"Conscious memories often aren't as complete as subconscious memories" Raylyn answered.
"And much more detail can be relayed telepathically than verbally" Troi added, sounding as if she suddenly understood.
"Sir, it may provide a lot of information that even we don't have" Jean-Luc sighed and lowered his eyes while he thought. Having the sanctity of one's mind breached was not a pleasant contemplation. However, the benefits did seem to outweigh the drawbacks. The truth was, he consciously remembered very little of his experience. It mostly haunted his dreams and the soft, misty edges of his mental reach.
"All right" he agreed, setting his cup down and sitting up a bit straighter.
"It will not be painful or intrusive" Raylyn informed him, "In fact, I'm not even sure that you'll experience the memories" Jean-Luc nodded and sat back, preparing himself for some odd feeling. After each of the women had closed their eyes, however, all he felt was an uncommon sense of sleepiness.