*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
"Geordi?"
"Zzzzzzzzz."
"Geordi?"
"Zzzzzzzz."
"GEORDI!"
"Huh?"
The chief engineer snapped his head up and his hands slipped off the console, knocking a padd to the floor. It took a moment for Gerodi to realize where he was. One minute, he was in the Holodeck, running his twenty-third simulation and the next, he had fallen asleep at the holographic console.
"It's 23:20 ," Dr. Crusher said, looking at Geordi's VISOR, "you should get some rest."
"I thought that's what I was doing," Geordi said, a hint of irritation in his voice as he rubbed his forehead.
"I meant in your quarters," the doctor corrected, "in a bed."
Geordi looked around him. The simulation was in the exact status it was when he fell asleep. He shuddered when he saw Data, or rather, the holographic Data in the holographic Sickbay.
"Trying another one of your ideas?" Dr. Crusher asked, tilting her head in the direction of the biobed that the holographic Data laid on.
"You mean another one of my failures," Geordi said, sighing, "Nothing I do increases Data's positronic activity even a tenth of a percent."
Geordi then proceeded to check monitors and assess the simulated Data's condition.
Dr. Crusher came up beside the chief engineer, "Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Stop!" Dr. Crusher made sure she met Gerodi's VISOR when before she said her next words, "I know that you're trying to do everything you can for Data, but right now, there's really nothing we can do."
"That's what we think, but there could be something that we haven't thought of yet."
"Like what?" the doctor challenged, folding her arms on her chest.
"Like… well…gimmie a few hours and I'll come up with something."
"Geordi," Dr. Crusher said, laying a gentle hand on Geordi's shoulder, "as a doctor I can't let you go on like this. You've had only a couple hours sleep in the past few days, you've stopped eating, and yesterday you were under so much stress, you snapped at everyone. You're making yourself sick!"
"And as a friend," she continued, "… I'm worried about you."
Geordi avoided Dr. Crusher's eyes as he took a deep, struggled breath.
"And if Data were here, he'd worry about you too," Dr. Crusher added, her eyes softening.
Moments of silence passed as Geordi leaned against the holographic console and Dr. Crusher studied his face.
"But… I can't just sit and do nothing! In three weeks Maddox is going to beam over. The least I can do is find a way to help Data regain consciousness."
Dr. Crusher turned so that she met Geordi's VISOR.
"Sometimes, the only thing we can do… is wait."
"… and hope for a miracle." Geordi finished.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Maddox should be stripped of command!" Riker said through gritted teeth,
"And kicked out of Starfleet," Geordi added, taking a sip of his Aldorian ale.
Geordi, Riker and Worf were gathered around a table in Ten Forward. Since the Enterprise was relieved of any missions, Starfleet officers found a lot of time on their hands. While some officers embraced the reprieve, those closest to Lt. Commander Data hated it. Missions kept their minds off the impending deadline. Sure, there were daily tasks to be conducted on a Starship; but once all the diagnostics, consoles, and control assessments were finished, nothing could distract the officers from their emotions.
"What're we going to do?" Geordi asked after a moment's pause, "Maddox will be here in one week!"
Riker shrugged his shoulders and his voice was barely above a whisper, "I don't know."
Another moment of silence commenced ad Riker and Geordi slowly sipped their drinks. Geordi nibbled at the chicken he'd ordered, or rather, Riker had ordered the meal for him after finding out the chief engineer hadn't had anything to eat in two days.
"Any ideas, Worf?" Geordi asked looking at Worf, who was staring down at the table.
Riker looked up, suddenly reminded that the Klingon was with them. He had been so quiet, Riker had all but forgotten he was there.
Worf looked up, bewildered, "What?"
Gerodi eyed Worf suspiciously. He had rarely, if ever, seen the Klingon lost in thought.
"Do you have any ideas on what to do when Maddox comes?" Geordi repeated.
Worf looked up at the expectant eyes of Riker and then to Geordi's anticipating
look.
"No." Worf said abruptly, shaking his head.
"Well, any ideas on some fast moves we can pull on Maddox?" Riker proposed, "Like a warrior death grip?"
Geordi chucked, showing his pearly white teeth. Riker laughed, his eyes turning into crescents as his smile widened. But the two immediately stopped smiling when they saw that Worf wasn't laughing. Instead, his angry gaze persisted.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Oh come on, there must be something on your mind," Riker pressed.
Worf looked carefully at the chief engineer and first officer.
"…Maybe it is time we take Data off life support," Worf said after a long pause.
"WHAT?!" both cried incredulously.
People in neighboring tables glanced towards the sudden outburst.
"I don't condone Admiral Maddox's lack of respect towards Lt. Commander Data," Worf explained, hoping his friends wouldn't misunderstand him, "but it has been a long time since he was conscious. We may be prolonging his life for no good reason."
"Wait a minute," Geordi said carefully, "you're saying we should kill Data?!"
"We would not be-"
"I can't believe you're agreeing with Maddox!" Geordi yelled, disgusted.
"What if Data is suffering while we are prolonging his life?" Worf asked, his sharp teeth starting to grit in frustration.
"Data doesn't feel pain!" Geordi retorted, "He doesn't have the emotion chip in him!"
"And what if he never regains consciousness?"
"HE WILL!"
By now, everyone in Ten Forward was staring at Worf and Geordi.
"Ahem… Gentlemen," Riker said clearing his throat. But Worf and Geordi paid him no heed.
"You don't know whether he will or won't!" Worf shot back, "If we were to take him off life support, he would die an honorable warrior's death… And he will no longer suffer."
"DATA IS NOT A WARRIOR!" Gerodi screamed, leaping to his feet, "He is a Starfleet officer!"
"I am just trying to think of what is in Data's best interest. If I were in his position, I would want to die an honorable death."
"And so you're ready to KILL HIM?!"
Worf didn't need to see Geordi's eyes to feel the fire inside them.
Before Worf had time to respond, Geordi continued, "I can't believe you would give up on him like this. And you call yourself a friend. You're right Worf, in that none of us know if Data is going to regain consciousness. But real friends would hold onto every hope Data has. You're just trying to take the easy way out…"
At this, Worf leapt out of his chair. A deep growl emanated from his throat and he bared his jagged teeth.
Riker then rose to his feet, "Guys, that's enough!"
But still Geordi continued, meeting Worf square in the eyes. The fury inside him was too much for him to bear.
"…you're turning you back on a colleague. You TRAITOR! You will NEVER die an honorable death!"
Geordi then turned quickly around and stormed out of the bar. Worf tried to follow, but Riker held him back. It took all his strength to keep the Klingon from tearing after Geordi; with teeth and claws bared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You caused as scene that was both an embarrassment to yourselves and to all senior officers!" Picard barked.
Geordi and Worf stood at attention in Captain Picard's Ready Room as Picard paced around them.
"What were you thinking? That no one would see you while you fought like children?"
Picard turned to look at Geordi and Worf. Both stood upright, backs straight; not a muscle even twitched in their bodies as they continued to stare straight ahead.
"Normally," Picard continued, "I would have you both relieved of duty and confined to your quarters… but seeing as how you both are tense even by yourselves, I will only relive you two of duty. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Aye, sir!" came the prompt replies.
"AND ANOTHER THING!" Picard's voice rose so that Geordi and even Worf cringed, "... I understand why you both are so tense." Picard's voice lowered considerably.
"Because we are all so close to Lt. Commander Data," Picard said, "we are all having a hard time dealing with our emotions. (He allowed himself a tiny smile at the irony of the word). I want you both to see counselor Troi and resolve whatever conflict you may have with each other. But keep in mind: we all have the utmost respect for Commander Data… as a colleague and as a friend. When one has such strong opinions, he tends to forget who his own friends are."
Geordi stole a glance at Worf, giving a slight apologetic nod. Worf glanced back, but his stoic gaze remained unchanged.
"Dismissed."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I don't get it," Ensign Lopez said, taking her seat, "two weeks ago, we postponed our performance, and now we're canceling the one for next week? We've been practicing and practicing, but we don't even have a set concert yet."
Ensign Lopez was seated behind a music sheet as were the other Starfleet officers. Ensign Lopez looked around at her colleagues, who shifted uneasily in their seats and nervously tuned their instruments.
"Maria," Ensign Waters addressed, "you're new to the Enterprise , right?"
"Yeah," Ensign Lopez replied, "I was stationed here three weeks ago. Why?"
Ensign Waters pulled her gently aside. Some of the orchestra fumbled with their instruments while keeping an ear out for bits of the conversation. Others chose not to listen altogether, busing themselves with testing their instruments. They didn't need to listen to know what Waters would say. In fact, it was the one thing that was constantly on their minds.
When Waters was done speaking, Lopez looked at him incredulously.
"I… I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't know."
"It's alright," Waters said, managing a small smile.
From there, the orchestra picked up their respective instruments. Ensign Lopez picked up her clarinet, suddenly aware of the empty space beside her. Up until now, she thought the orchestra had sounded wonderful. But as the melodies of the instruments played in sync, she now knew there was something missing. The song was being played without a violin. And for the first time, she thought the orchestra sounded horrible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Picard leaned against the console in the Transporter Room, half of him wanted to sabotage the controls so that no one could transport aboard. But he knew that Admiral Maddox was more stubborn than that. There was nothing he could do to prevent the inevitable.
"Energize," he sighed.
The lieutenant placed his fingers on the console and pushed them upward. The transporter hummed and in a blue shimmer, Admiral Maddox beamed aboard.
"Admiral," Captain Picard said as soon as Maddox was fully beamed aboard, "perhaps we can talk about this."
Maddox strode out of the room, barely acknowledging the captain.
"Computer," he instructed as soon as he was in the halls of the Enterprise , "where is Sickbay?"
Sickbay is on Deck 18. The arrows will lead you there.
Obediently, the computer lit up arrows on the black LED surface that lined the walls.
"Admiral," Picard tried again, "we need to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about." Maddox said simply, not even looking in Picard's direction. He strode purposefully down the hall; Picard in step behind him. When Maddox reached the turbolift, Picard placed both his hands on the doorframe, preventing the doors from closing.
"Do you realize what you are about to do?!" he asked, enunciating each word.
"I know exactly what I am about to do, Picard. I am going to prevent the Enterprise from being a danger any longer. And I am going to force you to face the reality you should have faced a long time ago."
When Admiral Maddox and Captain Picard entered Sickbay, they found it packed with Starfleet officers, who turned to stare at the admiral. Among those in Sickbay were Beverly Crusher, Geordi La Forge, Will Riker, Deanna Troi, Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien and his wife Keiko Ishikawa. Maddox hesitated, momentarily confused by the crowd; but he quickly recovered and pushed his way through the officers to the center biobed. The crowd only cleared to the sides of Sickbay to give Captain Picard room. Dr. Crusher stood to the side, her pleading eyes meeting Picard's.
Data laid on the biobed. His status had not changed since he was connected to the electronic stimulation system. Someone had closed his eyelids to cover the eerie glassy look in his gaze. Picard focused on his second officer's motionless form. In his mind, he begged for Data to move… for his positronic activity to rise… for a part of his status to change… anything to indicate the presence of life. But Data remained still.
"It pains me to do this, captain," Maddox said flatly, moving his hand to the wire that connected Data to the life support system.
Suddenly, Maddox felt his hand being pushed to the side. He looked up and saw Geordi La Forge, who had moved between him and the life support system. Geordi's leg had blocked Maddox's hand from reaching the wire.
"Don't you even dare!" Geordi spat at Maddox, arms folded across his chest.
Maddox took one more look at the chief engineer before muttering, "Get out of the way." He stepped to the left to move around Geordi, but Geordi followed suit, blocking the admiral.
"Didn't you hear me?!"
Maddox again tried to maneuver around Geordi, but Geordi was too quick. When Maddox reached out his arm towards the wire, Geordi quickly grabbed him by the wrist and pushed his arm away.
"I could have you arrested for this, lieutenant. For assault on an admiral." Maddox said, disgusted,
"Puh!" First Officer Will Riker said haughtily, "he barely even touched you!"
Maddox ignored the first officer.
"Captain Picard, get your officer out of my way," he instructed.
Silence.
Admiral Maddox looked over his shoulder at Picard expectantly.
"Well?"
Picard held his ground, completely silent.
"Captain," Maddox warned, "I just gave you an order. Failure to follow can result in a court martial."
"Understood," was all Captain Picard said.
"And I'm a lieutenant commander," Geordi corrected.
Maddox groaned, his frustration mounting by the minute. He scanned the people who lined Sickbay.
"Well? Isn't someone going to get him out of my way? If you do, you will be greatly rewarded… seeing as how you have to defy your insolent captain."
Not one person stood forward.
"Picard, where is your Chief of Security?" Maddox barked after noticing that one senior officer was missing from the room, "The Klingon."
"He is in his quarters." Captain Picard responded.
"You'll have to settle for me," Miles O'Brien stepped forward.
"Good. Get him out of my way," Maddox motioned towards Geordi.
O'Brien stepped towards Geordi and Maddox smiled. But his smile disappeared when O'Brien stood in front of Geordi, arms folded.
"What is this?" Maddox cried. He scanned the rest of Sickbay. Every Starfleet officer was staring at him defiantly.
"Refusal," Captain Picard said simply, "you see, we are not going to follow Starfleet's orders. I am ordered to terminate… kill one of my officers. Well, I refuse. I refuse to murder my own officer."
"You'll be stripped of command for this, Picard," Maddox spat out. He then looked at each officer in Sickbay, "Every one of you. Your careers in Starfleet will be over."
He then narrowed his eyes on Picard, "I could have you court marshaled instantly."
"GO AHEAD!" Picard challenged, "I wouldn't want to serve under a federation that cares nothing for an officer who sacrificed himself for over a thousand others."
Maddox let out a deep, irritated sigh.
"All this fuss over a machine," he muttered, taking one last look at the crew before storming out of Sickbay.
Riker glared icily at Maddox; his eyes narrowed, burning rage into the admiral. If it weren't for his experience over self control, Riker would have punched the admiral square in the nose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The last of the guests left, the tall brown doors bearing the combadge insignia hissing behind them. Waiters and waitresses gathered the last cups and placed them on the bar where they would be cleaned and stored for the next day's guests. Every once in a while, the employees would steal a glance at the giant windows, which showed the vastness of space. No matter how long one was on the Enterprise , the twinkling stars and blurred white streaks that breezed by as the ship flew in space, never ceased to amaze.
Suddenly, the doors hissed open again. Waiters and waitresses turned to look and nodded respectfully, greeting the captain. Captain Picard made his way to the bar and took a seat.
"Captain!"
"Hello Guinan," Captain Picard said, greeting the El-Aurian who ran Ten Forward.
Guinan was dressed in another one of her elaborate outfits. This time, she wore an immensely wide brimmed, cerulean fuzzy hat with a matching robe.
"What can I get you?" Guinan asked.
"Tea, earl gray," Picard replied.
As Guinan turned to the replicator to get Picard's order, she nodded to her employees, who quietly left the bar.
"Tired of brooding alone," Guinan asked as she placed the tea in front of Picard.
"No, I just came here for a cup of tea."
"Captain, you don't just come down here for 'a cup of tea.'"
Guinan then studied Picard's eyes carefully.
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"Isn't this something for Counselor Troi?" Picard asked ruefully.
"Normally yes," Guinan countered, "but these are anything but normal circumstances."
Picard nodded but said nothing.
"You're worried about Data, aren't you? And you're wondering whether you're making the right decision regarding his care."
Picard looked up into Guinan's brown eyes, "How-"
"Sometimes it takes a friend to understand what someone's going though."
"And I thought Counselor Troi was the Empath."
After a long pause, Picard took a deep breath.
"I'm about to face a court martial in two days… and I don't stand a chance. Admiral Maddox is right. I've become a liability to Starfleet. Because of my decision, sixty three Nankins are dead."
"And because of your decision, Data is alive today." Guinan reminded.
"Is he?"
Guinan raised her eyebrows.
"Is Commander Data still alive?" Picard asked, "His positronic activity hasn't risen as much as a tenth of a percent since he was connected to it five months ago."
"Captain, you're starting to sound like Admiral Maddox."
"… As much as I hate to say this, perhaps Admiral Maddox is right. Perhaps Data really isn't alive… and I'm endangering my crew and other ships for nothing."
Picard sighed dismally before continuing, "But, as long as there is still a chance that Data is alive, I can't bring myself to give up on him. The logical part of me says that it has been too long… that if Data had any chance of surviving, he would have regained consciousness long ago. But a part of me still refuses to give up on him. I don't know if it's instinct or just wishful thinking."
Guinan looked carefully at Picard, whose face seemed to have aged ten years. His defeated spirit was revealed by the bags under his eyes and his sorrowful eyes.
"Some of my crew will be disciplined for what happened in Sickbay, but if I am found guilty… I'll lose my career. I am the captain, I should 'know better than to refuse orders from an admiral. Especially in front of my crew.'
"… And yet, some of my crew is agreeing with Admiral Maddox. They think that perhaps it is time I let go. But as a friend… I just can't do that."
Picard took a deep sigh. Guinan noticed that his tea was left untouched.
"I…" Picard continued, his voice wavering. If Guinan didn't know better, she'd though he was fighting back tears.
"I… I just can't give up on him."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What on earth did you do?" Dr. Crusher demanded, examining Miles O'Brien's swollen ankle.
"I should've jumped when I ducked," O'Brien replied sheepishly, "Word of advice: Never practice tae-kwon-do with an angry Klingon."
"You practiced karate with Worf?" Dr. Crusher questioned, trying hard to suppress a laugh.
"Unfortunately. He kicked low when I thought he'd punch. I didn't realize until it was too late that he's still angry with Geordi."
Dr. Crusher nodded. O'Brien winced as he shifted his weight on the biobed.
"Well, it's broken alright. I'll be right back."
Dr. Crusher left for one of the wings in Sickbay to get the necessary medical tools.
O'Brien focused on the center biobed. Data remained motionless as usual. Sighing, he turned his gaze behind him. The small monitor that was mounted over the biobed he sat on ran his diagnostics. Anyone who sat on a biobed could have their diagnostics checked simply by the press of a button.
Positronic activity is rising.
10.59 percent…
O'Brien whirled his head around to the large diagnostic screen that monitored the patient on the center biobed. Was he hearing things?
11.45 percent…
The number indicating positronic activity continued to rise as the rest of the diagnostics sprang to life. What were once flat bars and unmoving lines became flowing colored displays.
12.82 percent…
"DR. CRUSHER!!!! DOCTOR!" O'Brien screamed at the top of his lungs.
To be continued...
