*Disclaimer: Star Trek the Next Generation is property of Paramount Pictures and all respective cast, crew, and employees. I am not making a profit off this. This is simply for fanfiction enjoyment.**

Summary: When parasites feed off the Enterprise, Data makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the entire crew and everyone on the Enterprise.

Ultimate Sacrifice

Though Data was only a few feet away, it seemed to Gerodi that he could not get to him fast enough. Data lay on the floor, his entire body convulsing violently. On the left side of his head, his artificial skin had been peeled back, revealing the inner circuitry. A thick cable was plugged into his exposed positronic brain. The other end of the wire was frayed, showing the thin wires that were encased in the cable. The ends crackled and sparked. The Holodeck's control panel had been ripped out, revealing the intricacies of the controls. In the middle dangled the other end of the thick cable.

As soon as Geordi reached Data, he scanned him with his tricorder.

"Oh God," he gasped, looking at the readings. His positronic activity readings were everywhere: jumping from zero to overload and then back again.

"Data!" Captain Picard called out, staring hard into the android's yellow eyes, "Data, can you hear me?" Data's eyes stared blankly ahead. Half of his Starfleet uniform was burnt. It was only then did Picard realize that Data's abdomen lay exposed. The skin that used to cover his stomach was gone, allowing Picard and Geordi to see that much of his body was badly burnt. Most of the exposed wires were frayed, broken, or both. His usually slick hair was a tangled, frazzled mess. All the time, Data's body still convulsed erratically, forcing Picard and Geordi to try and hold him still.

"Picard to Sickbay!"

"Crusher, he-"

The captain didn't wait for Dr. Crusher to finish her acknowledgment.

"We have a medical emergency on Holodeck 4! It's Data."

"I'll be right there," Dr. Crusher said, her breath catching in her throat.

While Geordi placed his hands on Data's shoulders, firmly pushing them to the floor, Picard grabbed Data's tricorder from the android's belt. Quickly, he scanned Data's body. The captain made no attempt to hide his horror as he gasped, looking at the results. The now familiar blue light emanated from the tricorder and shone on Data's body, revealing what was deep inside. There were parasites… everywhere. Only tiny gaps between the white anomalies indicated that this was indeed Data's body the captain was looking at, and not a cluster of white fibers. He then shone the tricorder on the Holodeck, revealing that the ship was completely cleared of the parasites.

"Data," Captain Picard sighed. Looking from the cable connected to the android's head to the dangling end connected to the Holodeck, he could barely form the next words, "I…. I had not idea… you had this in mind." His second officer had sacrificed himself for the sake of thousands of others. He had connected himself to the Enterprise, allowing all the parasites on the ship to enter his body.

Geordi was at a complete loss for words. As soon as he realized what Data had done for the crew… for everyone on the Enterprise, his entire body weakened. His grip on Data's shoulders loosened, and again, the convulsions sent Data's body thrashing wildly about. Quickly, Picard held Data down. His hands fumbling, Geordi grasped the cable and gently pulled it from the connection to Data's inner circuitry. He then turned to his toolkit and thrust it open. Picard noticed that the chief engineer's breaths were shallow as he nervously dug though tool after tool.

In the distance, the sound of turbolift doors could be heard. Dr. Crusher raced in, followed by two nurses who rolled a biobed between them.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" she demanded, stopping momentarily dead in her tracks as she surveyed the scene.

"Beverly," Picard said, his emotions showing though the use of first names, "help him."

The doctor then regained her composure and joined Geordi's side.

"He… he used himself to house the parasites," Geordi spoke up in a shaky voice.

Pounding at her combadge, Dr. Crusher shouted, "Three to beam…"

"NO!" Picard shouted, raising his hand in front of Dr. Crusher.

"No," he said, easing his voice slightly, "We don't know what the parasites will do to him. Transport might be too dangerous."

Dr. Crusher nodded. She then pulled out a hypospray from her medical kit and pressed it onto Data's neck. As she did so, she looked at the android's face. Data's eyes were fixated forward and his jaw was clenched shut. For a moment, the doctor thought she saw fear in Data's eyes. Though Data's pupils didn't dilate like human eyes, she thought they looked bigger than usual. Instinctively, she brushed the side of Data's head with her left hand, smoothing his messy hair. As soon as the hypospray worked its way into Data's body, his body became rigid and the convulsions stopped. Everyone breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Let's get him up to Sickbay," Dr. Crusher said.

"Don't worry, Data," Geordi said, placing a gentle hand on his best friend's arm, "we're going to take care of you." Though Geordi knew Data was not conscious, he felt a need to comfort the android.

Dr. Crusher's nurses rolled the biobed closer and bent over to pick up Data, but Geordi and Captain Picard beat them to it. They looked up at Dr. Crusher in surprise. No commanding officer needed to do that: that was their job. But Dr. Crusher held up a hand. There were still some things her subordinates had yet to learn; things that were not covered in any medical book.

Geordi held Data's upper torso and head and Picard supported Data's lower body. As they rose to their feet, Geordi and Picard felt Data's body become limp. Dr. Crusher noticed this as Data's limbs went from stiff as a board to relaxed, draping around the captain and the chief officer's hands. A lump formed in Geordi's throat as he felt his best friend weaken in his arms.

As soon as Data was laid on the biobed, Dr. Crusher and her nurses rolled it to the nearest turbolift. As the turbolift proceeded to Sickbay, Geordi resumed assessing Data's condition with his tricorder. The device beeped and flashed as he scanned Data's body.

"God, no!" Geordi cried out loud.

Captain Picard leaned in next to Geordi, who turned to look up at him and the doctor.

"There's almost no positronic activity," he said somberly.

As soon as the turbolift doors opened, Dr. Crusher and the two nurses pushed the biobed into Sickbay, where Head Nurse Ogawa had already set up a monitoring system. Geordi looked closely at Data's exposed circuitry on his stomach and the side of his head. Data's circuitry should have been a vast array of colored lights, blinking and pulsating, indicating his intricate positronic activity. Instead, Gerodi found himself staring at dead lights. No colored lights blinked or even turned on. The wires that had been split on Data's stomach stuck out, the frayed ends jutting out in all directions. Dr. Crusher ran her fingers quickly over the diagnostic console, which displayed Data's condition on a nearby wall.

"We need to put him on a life support system," she said, reading the numbers displayed on the console, "It'll send electric pulses into his system and stimulate his positronic net…" her voice trailed off as she stood deep in thought. She took in a deep breath and seemed to stare off into space.

"Doctor!" Captain Picard said, his voice rising harshly from near the entrance doors, "What are you waiting for?!"

Dr. Crusher turned to face the captain. Geordi was already setting up the system.

"We can't," the doctor said, her voice barely audible.

Geordi stopped turning on the monitors and sighed heavily. Propping his elbows on the biobed Data lay on, he buried his face in his hands. He had reached the same conclusion Dr. Crusher was thinking.

"Explain!" Picard demanded, looking from Geordi to Dr. Crusher.

"The life support system is connected to the ship. The parasites will use anything that is connected to the ship as a transporter. If we put Data on a life support system, the parasites will just get back into the Enterprise."

"And even if we use a portable life support system, we'd just be feeding the parasites." Geordi said, looking up at the captain, "The parasites won't invade the life-support system itself, because it's took weak, but they will stay on Data and continue to populate."

Geordi sighed, then said his next thought out loud, "The parasites use a complicated electronic host to feed off…. Data knew he's the only other food source they'd feed off, besides the Enterprise."

Captain Picard took a few steps, closing the gap between him and the biobed. He looked carefully at Data. From the frayed wires, to Data's burnt form, to his inactive positronic net, there was never a time Data looked worse.

"There must be some other way!" Geordi cried, jolting the captain from his thoughts.

"Radiation, um… radio waves, phaser blasts…," the chief engineer rattled off.

"Radiation would kill us before we were to help Data," Dr. Crusher said gently, "and we've already tried radiation waves and phaser blasts. They don't work."

Geordi began pacing up and down. His thoughts were racing. In his mind, he knew they had already gone over all the possibilities they could think of for killing the parasites, but his heart refused give up.

"Right now, we can treat his outer wounds," the doctor said, looking to Geordi.

Picard was almost afraid to ask his next question; he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"And then?"

Dr. Crusher paused, then took a deep breath before fear forced the response out of her, "Then, we can only wait until the parasites die."

"Wait," Geordi said, raising a hand; his VISOR stared straight into Dr. Crusher's eyes, "The parasites won't die unless…." Geordi sighed, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"… unless Data dies first," Captain Picard finished, his voice barely above a whisper.

"There must be some other way!" Geordi interjected, "I am not about to let Data die!" Every muscle in Geordi's body tensed as he said this.

"I wish there was some other way," the doctor sighed, "Data may survive the parasites. Right now, we need to treat his outer injuries."

The doctor then proceeded to lay out the tools she needed to heal Data's outer wounds. She prompted Geordi to do the same, nodding towards his toolkit. Geordi shook his head as if trying to physically shake off the dreaded thoughts in his mind. Right now, he needed to focus on doing what he could for Data.

Captain Picard watched in silence as Geordi and Dr. Crusher began carefully grafting the frayed wires on Data's stomach back together. It took a moment for him to realize he would just be in the way.

"I'll be on the Bridge," he announced before he turned away, but not before stealing a last glance at the gravely injured android on the biobed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How is he?" Riker asked, looking up at Dr. Crusher and Geordi.

It took several hours for the doctor and the chief engineer to repair the damage Data sustained. A blanket was placed over Data, with a square hole to allow work on his abdomen. The doctor ran a device over Data's stomach, which was now almost fully repaired. New artificial skin had been grafted on Data's stomach and Dr. Crusher was now eliminating the scarring with a low-powered laser. The skin on the side of Data's head had been re-patched and the wires inside repaired.

"Not good," Dr. Crusher confessed, then she hesitated before saying her next report, "… his positronic activity is at 5.23%."

"5.23 percent?" Riker repeated incredulously. He looked at Geordi, who confirmed the doctor's statement with a slight nod of his head. Gerodi seemed very interested in arranging the repair instruments back into his toolkit.

"Isn't there anything we can do?!" Riker cried.

"There seems to be no way to kill these parasites," the doctor concluded.

Geordi stopped what he was doing. He was trying to hide his frustrations by keeping himself busy, but even he had his limits.

"So what do we do, doctor?" he asked, his voice terse, "Just sit here and wait for Data to die? I don't know about you, but I won't let that happen!"

As soon as the last words left Geordi's mouth, he sighed.

"I… I'm sorry, Dr. Crusher… I can't believe I just said that."

Dr. Crusher walked to Gerodi and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay," she said softly.

"I just… he's so…." Geordi tried to gather his thoughts, but a coherent sentence would not come out of his mouth.

As if Geordi reminded her of something, Dr. Crusher looked to Riker.

"There's something else we need to tell you, but we'll have to wait for the captain to get here."

Riker nodded. He looked to Geordi for any sign of the gravity of the unspoken news, but he didn't have the heart to probe the chief engineer with any more questions.

Dr. Crusher thought a few moments, seeing the distraught look on Geordi's face.

"Data's self-sufficient positronic net is strong," she said, "he may be able to withstand foreign anomaly. And as soon as all the parasites are dead, we'll put Data on life support."

Gerodi considered the doctor's words carefully. It was a possibility that Data would survive. After all, he had shut down and then revived after a virus entered his system.

"What if…," Geordi suggested, "what if we shut Data off. That might conserve his strength long enough for him to revive. And it'd cut off the parasites' food source."

Riker nodded, listening to every word. He continued to stare at Data, who lay on the biobed. Data's glazed eyes stared up at the ceiling and his limp figure rolled helplessly with the slightest touch. Though Captain Picard had explained to the rest of the senior staff what had happened, it still didn't prepare him for what he saw in Sickbay.

"But will he revive himself?" the first officer questioned.

"There is a possibility he may never revive himself," Geordi said softly, "in which case we turn him back on and hope for the best. Besides, what other choice do we have?" Geordi looked intently at Data, as if mentally willing him to revive himself.

Riker nodded to Geordi and Dr. Crusher, who helped Data sit up. Riker then flipped the hidden switch under Data's right shoulder blade… but nothing happened. Data's eyes remained transfixed and the diagnostic console on the wall indicated that he was still on.

"Damn!" Riker said, "The parasites have taken control of his on/off switch." Riker, Dr. Crusher, and Geordi then gently eased Data back onto the biobed. Several moments of silence passed as the three stood, not knowing what to do.

Geordi then took Data's tricorder and scanned his body with it. There seemed to be no visible change in the population of the parasites. Data's internal circuitry was still blanketed with the white anomalies. The tricorder showed that the number of parasites had decreased by 1,234.

"1,234 down," Geordi thought, "25,789,421 more to go." He slowly let out a breath and grit his teeth in frustration. Though his heart wanted to hang on to any source of help for his best friend, his mind tortured him with the minimal probability of Data's survival. If the Enterprise was any indication of the parasites' destruction, Data had no chance.

Luckily, the sound of the turbolift doors opening provided a distraction from Geordi's dark thoughts. The captain walked into Sickbay. In his hands was a new yellow Starfleet uniform.

"Condition?" he demanded.

"He's still fighting, sir," Dr. Crusher reported, "but his positronic activity is at minimum."

"The parasites are dying," Geordi said, "… though very slowly."

Picard nodded and handed Geordi the uniform he had in his hands.

"It's a new uniform for Lt. Commander Data," Picard said, his eyes softening, "to replace the one that was burnt."

"Thank, you sir," Gerodi said, clutching the new uniform in his hands. Then he continued, "Captain, when we ran a full diagnostic on Data… we found that he didn't have the emotion chip installed."

"You mean…"

"Yes sir. Data sacrificed himself for the Enterprise… without any emotions."

Captain Picard turned to Data, who still lay motionless on the biobed.

"You know," the captain said, looking pensively at his second officer, "if you ask me, he doesn't need that emotion chip at all. He's one of the most human, compassionate, heroic Starfleet officers I know."

For the first time in a long while, a smile spread across Geordi's lips. Instinctively he looked at Data for some kind of reaction. But of course, the unconscious Starfleet commander remained unmoving on the biobed.

"It funny," Geordi thought, "fellow officers often envy Data for his flawless performance as a Starfleet officer, but at the same time, Data considers being referred to as more human as the greatest complement."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Damn!"

Geordi pounded his fists yet again onto the delicate computer console, sending a spider web of cracks into the interface of the console.

"You're supposed to simulate a strong computer." Gerodi said through gritted teeth.

The chief engineer stood there, staring straight into the console at the white anomalies that invaded its inner circuitry. The sound of doors whirring open reverberated in the distance and Geordi glanced towards the entrance.

"Geordi," Riker stood in the doorway of the Holodeck, "are you alright?"

Geordi sighed, looking around him. This was the twentieth simulation he'd gone over in an attempt to kill the parasites. Creating the same situation the Enterprise had encountered earlier on the Holodeck allowed Geordi to test his hypothesis. Though he had already tried them several times, a part of him hoped that this time it would work. He kept telling himself that. If I just try one more time, or just differentiate that variable slightly, it might work. But of course, every attempt led to a failure.

When Geordi didn't answer, Riker approached him and raised a gentle hand.

"Maybe you should take a break."

"Commander," Gerodi replied, his hands still gripping the simulated computer, "I ask permission to continue. I am not going to take a break as long as Data has the parasites in him."

"Gerodi, I know you want to help Data, but right now, I think you'd help him more by taking care of yourself."

Gerodi opened his mouth to protest, but he couldn't come up with a good argument. He had completely run out of ideas, and he knew that if Data saw what he was doing right now, he would object as well. Geordi took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair.

"…. Maybe you're right."

As the two stepped out of Holodeck 7, Gerodi tapped his combadge.

"LaForge to Sickbay."

"Data's positronic activity is down to 1.73%," Dr. Crusher replied immediately, as if anticipating Geordi's call, "and the population of parasites is down to 1,475,223."

Riker shook his head in dismay. The parasites weren't going to die until long after Data's positronic activity was completely gone… and then what? The captain had ordered the doctor to put Data on electronic stimulation life support as soon as the parasites were dead, but would it help?

When Geordi and Riker reached a branch of the Enterprise that would lead to officers' quarters, Riker turned, but Geordi continued forward.

"When I said 'take a break,'" Riker said, stopping Geordi by gently grabbing his arm, "I meant go to your quarters, not go to Sickbay."

"I'm just going to check on Data," Geordi explained, "I won't be long."

Riker nodded and followed Gerodi to make sure he was true to his promise of taking care of himself.

When the two reached Sickbay, Riker was met with a weary Dr. Crusher. Geordi took a seat by Data who looked no different from when Gerodi had left (or rather, been ordered to leave and "rest" by Dr. Crusher).

Riker took a seat on the other side of the biobed as Dr. Crusher checked the diagnostic console. For the last several hours, she only had to read the diagnostic console once every hour, but she found herself checking it far more frequently. By all accounts, she should have had more energy. There was nothing she could do for Data now except check his status. However, her exhaustion was much deeper than having to stay up all night.

As Dr. Crusher turned away from the console and took a step towards Commander Riker, the diagnostic console erupted in a shrill high-pitched tone. All fatigue disappeared from the commander, chief officer, and the doctor. Dr. Crusher whipped her head around to the diagnostic console.

Data's positronic activity had plummeted from 1.73% to 0% in less than thirty seconds.

Geordi and Riker watched in horror as a violent convulsion took over Data's body; his entire body jolted upward in a wave. Data's arms, legs, and feet seized up, locking stiffly as he landed back on the biobed. As soon as his back hit the biobed, all electronic strength in the android drained away and his arms and legs fell limply, sprawling him in an awkward position.

No one could even cry out for their comrade; their voices were stolen by the shock and terror. The entire Sickbay fell silent except for the cold sound of the computer.

Positronic activity is at zero percent.

To be continued....