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: The Borg have returned and have captured Data. Using very different tactics from their last encounter with the android, they will stop at nothing to gain control of the Enterprise … and Data may not survive the ordeal.
Eternal Scars
"I'm waiting…" the Borg Queen said, drumming her fingers along the side of the table.
Data stayed silent, though his quickened breathing seemed to echo around the bay.
The Borg Queen grit her teeth, then brought the serrated knife down across Data's right arm, slicing a deep cut.
Thousands of severed electronic signals fired at once, sparking at the frayed ends of Data's internal wires. His hand required several complicated programming to move each finger, requiring more wiring than his leg. His right arm burned as if he had laid it on the red coils of a twentieth-century stove.
"AUUUGHHH!!!"
Data cried out once again, his electronic signals intensifying. He balled his hands into fists, trying to bear the pain.
"This'll all stop if you just give me the codes," the Borg Queen said, her voice eerily soothing.
Data struggled to shake his head. Even as his fears were pushing, urging him to say the one thing the Borg Queen wanted, everything else inside of him kept those precious codes inside.
"I'm sorry, Captain Picard," Admiral Vincennes said, "but there's no sign of any Borg Cube within one-hundred thousand kilometers of any Starbase.
Captain Picard sighed. He stood in his Ready Room, staring at the image of the admiral on his laptop. He had doubted Starfleet could offer any more information, but that didn't stop him from trying.
"We'll continue scanning for Borg Cubes," the admiral continued, "the Federation is working on an attack plan in case any come near. In the meantime, you are instructed to keep within communication range of Starbase 54."
"What?!"
Now it was the admiral's turn to sigh. He had known how the captain would react to the orders.
"Captain you are not to go any further than communication range of Starbase 54. We cannot afford to lose contact with you. Starbase 54 is the Starfleet base at the border of explored space. Any further than that is unfamiliar territory. You don't know what's out there!"
"I know that the Borg Cube holding my second officer is out there!"
"A starship in unfamiliar territory would be a sitting duck to a Borg Cube. You'd be no match for it. You yourself said the Cube now has the ability to cloak and attack within a few seconds!"
"We were caught by surprise," Picard replied, breathing deeply to keep his anger under guard, "I am not going to just sit here while Commander Data is in harm's way."
"You may be willing to put your life at risk, but I can't let you put all the lives on board the Enterprise at risk. Starfleet is not willing to go hunting for the Borg," the admiral emphasized the word hunting as if it were completely ludicrous.
"Fine!" Picard said sarcastically, "We'll just sit here while a dedicated officer of Starfleet lies in the hands of the Borg."
"Don't patronize me! We have lost countless officers to the Borg. Every time I heard another life lost to those wretched things, my heart sinks…"
"So what're we going to do to save Data?" the captain asked, stared down at the admiral.
"Umm..." Admiral Vincennes hesitated, suddenly very interested in inspecting an invisible spot on his table.
"You mean, there's no plan to rescue him?!"
"I'm sorry captain," the admiral replied, "his mouth suddenly dry, "but sometimes the good of the many outweigh the good of the one."
Captain Picard huffed in disgust. He was getting awfully tired of that quote.
"What if the one was your son… or your wife… or your daughter?"
"Captain, I know how you must feel, but…"
"You don't have ANY IDEA how I feel!" Picard roared, his voice reverberating off the Ready Room walls. He brought his face an inch away from the laptop screen, his eye bearing into the admiral's.
"If he were human or any other species, we'd be calling up the fleet, ready to go to warp in a split second. You know perfectly well that the only reason we are not going out there, is because Data is an android. And you don't give a damn. 'He is a machine, therefore he is expendable.'" Picard quoted from some of his colleagues.
"Data is not just a machine. He is a colleague, a friend, and he is just as human as you and I. I'd rather die, knowing that I tried to save Data, than live, knowing that I just abandoned him in the hands of the most powerful enemy Starfleet has ever known!"
With that, Picard abruptly cut off the transmission, slamming his laptop shut. Purposefully, he strode out of his Ready Room and onto the Bridge.
All senior officers were there, looking expectantly at the captain. They were all hoping for a fleet of at least fifty starships to combat the Borg.
"Mr. Worf," he said, lowering his voice to a controlled calm, "open a channel to all on board the Enterprise ."
"Aye sir."
The controls chirped in reply.
"Attention to all onboard the Enterprise ," Picard bellowed, his voice echoing throughout every corridor and corner of the massive starship, "Starfleet has ordered the Enterprise not to pursue the Borg Cube. They don't think that Data's life is worth saving, or at least, risking everyone on board for. I am about to order the Enterprise to violate a direct order from Starfleet… to save Data from the Borg. Anyone who does not wish to be on board while we pursue the Borg, report to Shuttlebay 1. Shuttles will be waiting for you to take you to Earth. Any officer who does not wish to participate in this violation, it will be so noted in your personal file and you will also have a shuttle waiting to take you home. Picard out."
As Picard made his announcement, each officer and citizen thought about their own interactions with Data. Some remembered their own lives being saved by the android. Others owed their child's life to Data. All were touched by Data's desire to be human, by his cherishing every aspect of human life they took for granted.
At 0800 hours, Picard and Geordi made their way down to Shuttlebay 1. The doors hissed open, revealing the cavernous bay, nothing more.
Geordi scanned the bay with his optical implants; searching for a citizen or officer who may be hiding. However, not one person (other than Geordi or Picard) was in the bay.
In the distance, a set of double doors on the opposite side of the shuttlebay whirred open and a large group of officers and citizens, human and non-human, made their way to the captain and engineer.
"The shuttles can take six people," Picard instructed, "you should land on Earth in twenty minutes. The Enterprise will make sure everyone lands safely."
One officer stepped forward and stood at attention. Picard recognized him instantly. It was Timothy, a little boy who lost his parents on the research vessel Vico. When Picard met the boy, he was traumatized by the death of his parents, thinking he had caused the vessel's destruction. Timothy had warmed up to Data, admiring his lack of emotions and Data had cared for the boy as if he were his own son. In some miraculous way, the android who was incapable of emotions cared for the boy, and the boy cared for Data. Eventually, Timothy was able to feel again and understand that he was not to blame for his parents' death. He and Data had been friends ever since. Now, the boy named Timothy had grown up to become the fine young officer of Starfleet known as Ensign Tim.
"We're not here to take the shuttles sir," Tim said, nodding to Captain Picard, "we are here to help the Enterprise fight the Borg and rescue Data, in any way it can."
Geordi's lips turned into a wide grin from ear to ear.
"Are any of you here to take the shuttle?" Picard asked, making sure this wasn't too good to be true.
The group of officers and citizens looked at one another. Not one being stepped forward.
"Get in there!" the Borg Queen yelled.
Two Borg had each of Data's arms gripped tightly to their sides. As soon as they reached the chamber at the end of the corridor, they tossed the android inside like an unwanted rag doll. Data landed hard on the floor and his injuries magnified in pain in protest.
Bzzt A forcefield buzzed into place, trapping Data in the small chamber. But Data was relieved. After three hours, thirteen minutes and ten seconds, the Borg Queen grown tired of the interrogation, or rather, decided to come up with a different plan. After three hours, thirteen minutes and ten seconds, he was finally alone. And he would not sustain any more injuries… at least for now. Struggling to sit up, Data pushed off the floor with his left hand and leaned against the wall, wincing in pain. His right arm and leg had been torn to shreds; cuts, lacerations, and punctured wounds lined up and down his arm. The exposed wiring had finally stopped sparking. His emergency signal network rerouted the signals to the rest of his body to conserve electronic strength.
However, his right arm now sat limply at his side, having lost all function. Although his right leg fared better, he would not be able to walk without assistance. Both legs had deep wounds in them; wounds that still cried out in pain. Weakly, he lifted his left hand, which also had deep wounds. He would have the repair the damage manually. But how? He had no tools with him and it hurt to even move. Still he brought his left hand to the gaping wound in his right thigh. Gingerly, he brought a hanging piece of artificial skin over the open wound. However, his leg stung more than ever, forcing him to stop.
Tilting his head back against the wall, Data gulped several breaths of air. His input functions were now only working at forty-five percent, constricting the wiring that brought him oxygen, forcing him to breathe harder. He closed his eyes, trying to conserve what little energy he had left.
Even as his internal functions were trying to process it all, there was still a glimmer of analytic sense left in his positronic brain. Isolating that one sense, Data searched for that little glimmer of hope. It was the one time he savored and cherished being an android. He did not know whether a human would be able to think straight after enduring an interrogation like that.
Downloading an image of the Borg Queen, he analyzed it right down to its very core. From the pale haunting skin to every wire and programmed function. How was the Borg Queen able to rise out of death? Was there a weakness to her that he could hone in on?
Suddenly, an image came into his subconscious view. It was of the time he had consulted a 20th century comic to understand humor. He smiled at his own attempt at humor with "Take my Worf, please." He even laughed at how stupid the joke was and yet how funny it was at the same time. As soon as that image faded away, another took its place. It was of him playing poker with his friends, he giggled at Riker's poker face and laughed at his own attempts to read it. File after file, image after image, he went through a range of emotions, from shedding tears over the passing of Lal, his daughter, to the elation of playing with a Ba'ku child.
When the images stopped processing, curiosity took its place. He must look as if he had gone made, laughing and crying when in sheer pain. Was this his way of suffering a cascade failure? Humans have often said that their life flashes before their eyes when they are faced with death. Was this an android version of a life flashing before one's eyes?
Before he could formulate an answer, he heard the sound of footsteps and a forcefield. Opening his eyes, he saw just one Borg standing in front of him. He tried to grab its foot with his one good arm, but it was like an infant grasping an adult's leg. The Borg closed its fingers around Data's arm and hauled him up, easily overpowering the android. As the Borg half carried, half dragged Data to the now familiar and dreaded interrogation table, Data wished for a cascade failure; anything to stop the pain and punishment.
To be continued…
