Disclaimer: I'm not breaking any copyrights, because I get no profit from writing this. Except reviews, but I haven't been getting much of those lately. Is my story that bad? You can't fault me for not updating, because I update much more often than many, if not most writers on this site.
Please review people, even if you don't like it. Your opinion matters, so I can write better in the future.
The bridge was in semi chaos. Deanna was trying to help Zandile, who had been put into shock by the alien chancellor's mental attack. Captain Picard was talking with Dr. Crusher over the comm system, trying to find a way of helping the crew without hurting them or putting the ship at risk.
"Maybe we could flood the crew quarters with knockout gas." Suggested Deanna, who had been listening to the conversation while she telepathically linked with Zandile. Zandile sat up, rubbing her forehead and looking dazed.
"Good idea," said Captain Picard to Deanna. "Doctor, did you hear that?"
"Yes, it's an excellent idea." Said Beverly.
"Make it so." Said Picard. Data pressed buttons on his console.
Dr. Crusher sighed over the comm. "The crew is unconscious. They can't hurt themselves or anyone else now." She said, then closed the comm link.
Captain Picard turned to Zandile and Deanna. "Are you all right, Lieutenant, Counselor?" He asked, concerned.
"Yeah," said Zandile. She stood up and returned to her duty station and made sure that the encrypted lockouts she had established for vital ship's systems were unbroken.
"I'm fine," said Deanna. She sat back in her chair next to Commander Riker's usual place.
"Does anyone have suggestions as to what we do now?" Asked Captain Picard, whose best ideas had been shot down by the chancellor.
"We could work out an arrangement with them." Said Zandile. "And if they don't accept diplomacy, we could outrun them or outgun them.
"No likely," said Deanna. "They have already don't want to talk, and from what I saw of the chancellor's mind while he was controlling me, they have the guns to back up their threats."
"Maybe a covert team could take a shuttle and disable their sensor satellites. That's how the people on the planet detect passing ships and there are other satellites that amplify their psychic attacks. I saw it in the chancellor's mind." Said Zandile.
"Yes," said Captain Picard, catching on to the idea. "We would be able to fly the Enterprise past them and far away without even noticing. The new shuttlecraft has advanced shield harmonic adjusters. It would be easy to disguise the ship while it was in orbit." Picard looked at Deanna, and then Zandile in a way that asked their opinions of the idea.
"I think that would work." Said Deanna. Zandile nodded.
"Good, Lieutenant Rey, Mr. Data. I would like for the two of you to pilot the shuttle, because you aren't susceptible to the alien's mental attacks. Please be ready to leave in 15 minutes."
"Aye sir." Said Data and Zandile in unison.
15 minutes later, a shuttle sped gracefully from the shuttle bay and toward a beautiful green and blue orb that shimmered from the light of its sun. From the bit of information that Zarin and the ops officer could get from the scrambled readings from the blocked sensors, the shuttle looked like a rock hurtling toward the planet. The plan was working.
Zandile and Data carefully maneuvered toward the first satellite. "They don't know we're here," said Zandile. "Phasers at full power."
Data stopped briefly next to the satellite, just long enough for Zandile to blow it up. Zandile felt a reaction from the planet. "They felt that one, but they still don't detect us." She said.
Zandile grew less confident as they destroyed the remaining sensor satellites. "I think they know where we are, even if they can't detect the ship. We should get out of here, Data." Said Zandile.
Data maneuvered toward the next one, and said, "we only have three left. We must destroy the rest so the Enterprise can pass safely. We cannot leave yet."
"Data, I can feel them closing in." She said, worried. She blew up another satellite, and Data piloted to the second to last one. When that one exploded in a spectacular fireburst, Zandile felt a sense that the aliens were targeting them. "Data, we've got to get out of here!" She exclaimed.
"One left, Lieutenant, then we go back to the ship…fire phasters, Lieutenant." Chided Data as he pulled up to the last satellite. As the last target blew up, so did the nacelle of the shuttle.
"What was that?!" Cried Zandile.
"I'm sending a mayday to the Enterprise." Said Data, fighting to control what was left of the engines. Zandile got out of the copilot's chair, grabbed the fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over the smoking and burning circuitry.
"I'll try to repair it and give you more control. It's a good thing we had the shields up, or we'd be space dust like the satellites." Said Zandile. She pulled a panel off the wall and was elbow deep in wires that fell out on her.
"It is too late. I am piloting a way to crash land as we speak." Said Data calmly.
"You mean we're going to crash on a planet full of people that want to kill us?" Said Zandile. "What about the Enterprise? They can't save us. They can't even go near the planet without the same thing happening to them as it did to us!"
"It was said once, the good of the many is greater than the good of the few. Our duty is done; the Enterprise can complete the mission and go home safely. Brace yourself, Lieutenant." Data was as calm as Spock had been in the firefight on Romulus.
The shuttle became a fireball as it raced though the atmosphere. The heat resistant hull was at its limit when the ship crashed in an empty field.
Cliffhangers are what happen when there's no reviews. If people are nice to me, I'll update again before school starts again next Monday. If there's no reviews, then this is the end and Data and Zandile are left to the fate of your imaginations. You choose.