Hi! Happy Fourth of July! Sorry for taking so long, but I hope you like this next chapter. :)

Chapter Two

It is 0953 hours Pacific Time as a solemn-faced group gathers in the main reception hall of Starfleet's main JAG office, in San Francisco. Just eight minutes earlier, an even more solemn judge had proclaimed the tribunal adjudicating the Enterprise court-martial would commence in just five days.

Before the gloomy group can leave and scatter, the defense council team warns the lost ship's senior staff that there will be no leeway given, no allowances made for these seven heroic officers who, in their eight years together, have protected Earth and the Federation from threats ranging in scale and scope from microscopic nanites, to Borg invasions, to the self-serving games of self-titled omnipotent beings. If anything, they say, those past triumphs will only put the command choices leading to the loss of the Enterprise-D under harsher and less forgiving scrutiny.

"You were in command at the time," the lead defense advocate, Captain Jimmy Bryce, told Commander Riker, "so the prosecution will focus a lot of their attention on your decisions and frame of mind. But, Captain Picard's decision to leave the Enterprise with a known hostile so near will also be closely examined. The Enterprise-D was a family ship, and home to many young children...something the media, and many admirals, consider controversial in itself. If the situation was dire enough to threaten the ship, the prosecution will have to wonder why you didn't separate the saucer section before engaging in a firefight."

The android officer, Lt. Commander Data, raised a white-gold finger. His analytical mind recognized this was not the right time to voice his personal opinions, but he was new to visceral emotions, and unable to quite contain the surge of defensive aggression that prompted him to open his mouth.

"Captain Bryce," he said irritably, "I feel I must point out that—"

"You know something, Commander? I don't care what you 'feel'," the lawyer snapped, his tone so harsh it took the Enterprise officers aback. "Your conduct during this mission was hardly above reproach. If anything, your decision to implant a piece of untested, scavenged technology in your already mysterious positronic brain – namely, one reconstructed 'emotion chip' that, as I understand it, has never been inspected or vetted by either Starfleet or the Daystrom Institute – paints both you, and Chief Engineer La Forge, here, as reckless – even negligent."

"Sir," La Forge protested, "you're not being—"

"Don't interrupt," Bryce barked, and they could all see his anger was real. "I'm not interested in justifications or excuses. My only concern here is how to most effectively anticipate and counteract the spin the prosecution will put on this fiasco. And trust me, they will spin it, and spin it hard. Not one of you performed up to your usual standard on this mission. I don't know if that's down to complacency or arrogance or just downright laziness, but I'll tell you this: we're looking at a weak case here. A very weak case. Now, you've all done a lot for us in the past, and I'll do my best for you, but I can't promise you won't each be facing some sort of disciplinary action at the end of all this. I just want you to understand, and to be prepared. And one more thing—"

He fixed each of them in his glare.

"Defensiveness and self-righteous petulance will not work here. You are here because you deserve to be here. Who you are does not matter. Nor do your past records. Only what you did or did not do in that specific time of crisis when the Enterprise-D was lost. Mistakes were made – that much is indisputable. As a result, lives were lost. Starfleet property was destroyed. You must acknowledge this – own this – before the prosecution can turn it against you. Only then can we move forward and deliver the story of what happened on our own terms. When you are called to the stand, I expect only specific, targeted answers delivered in a calm, direct tone. We will practice this. I will be calling each of you to my office in turn over the next few days, and we will work together one-on-one. Stay close until you are called. Do not leave the city. You are now dismissed."

Throughout the lawyer's speech, the Enterprise officers kept their gazes steady and their expressions tightly closed. Once he left, their eyes turned to Captain Picard, whose own expression was shadowed by the memories of another court-martial…another lost ship. His first command. The Stargazer...

"Captain Bryce is right," Picard said, his cultured voice low and serious. "The only way through a court-martial is to take responsibility, then look forward. The idea is to showcase our ability to learn from the past, to grow as leaders, and not get stuck in a destructive loop of guilt and blame."

His eyes met Dr. Crusher's almost against his will; an unspoken pain passed between them. An ancient, awkward guilt that boils down to a name.

Jack.

"Now, I want all of you to take the next few days for yourselves," he continued without pause. "Enjoy the city, try the restaurants, take in a show. Get some sleep. My communicator's channel will be open, should you wish to contact me."

The officers acknowledged their captain and began to trickle out the door and into the sunlit square beyond. Data and Geordi, Worf, Troi, and Riker… Soon, only Picard and Dr. Crusher remained.

"I'd tell you to take your own advice," she teased, though her eyes were still dim, "if I thought it would do any good."

Picard glanced at the decorative wall clock.

"I believe Dottie's Café is still serving breakfast," he said, and proffered his arm. "If you're willing to join me."

He looked at her, and she looked back, her expression softening as she took his arm in hers and they walked together through the sliding doors.

"Geordi," Data said as the two friends made their way through the crowded streets toward the nearest stop for the heritage street car – a very modern shuttlebus designed to look like the ancient street cars that used to run on rails through the old city. "I believe I am experiencing anxiety. The sensation is very strong…it is really quite awful. I do not like it."

"Don't let that lawyer get to you, Data," Geordi said. "It's his job to rattle us – to catch us off guard, find what puts us on the defensive, and force us all to re-examine our actions, and our feelings. That way, we'll be more prepared when the prosecutors start pelting us with questions."

"Oh…" the android groaned, and buried his pale face in his hands. "I know. I understand. But, I have never experienced anything like this before. Faced with circumstances like these, is it normal for a span of merely five days to seem like an eternity?"

Geordi smiled, and clapped his taller friend on the shoulder.

"You'll be all right," he assured him. "Sure, you had a few rough moments while you adjusted to the new input flooding in from your emotion chip. But, when things really hit the fan, you managed to keep your head – and our descent onto that planet – level and steady. If it hadn't been for you and your quick action, that crash would have been a lot worse. A lot worse."

"You are kind to say so," Data said, "but I cannot overlook the fact that my cowardice on the Armargosa station led to your kidnapping and subsequent torture—"

"Data, I told you, I don't blame you for that," Geordi said. "If I did, would I have asked you to come with me to my sister's place?"

"I suppose not," Data acknowledged, and offered his friend a little smile. "Ariana and her family live in Walnut Creek, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right," Geordi said, and straightened his VISOR on his nose. "It's across the bay, but Walnut Creek is part of Greater San Francisco, so we won't technically be leaving the city. We could transport there, but it's only a fifteen-minute ride, and I thought you'd like to see some of the landscape."

"You are correct," Data admitted. "And, it will be nice to have a chance to…calm down. Collect my thoughts. Before I meet your sister."

"That's a good point too. Oh – and here comes the street car! Get your 'FleetPass ready, Data."

As the android turned to watch the street car's approach, 'FleetPass already in his hand, his optic sensors caught sight of something else, something entirely unexpected, just at the periphery of his visual field.

A young woman with short-cropped blonde hair was striding quickly behind the gathering crowd, dodging her way past and through the throng of commuters and tourists on her way toward the JAG offices. He found her movements strikingly familiar; aggressive, yet graceful. Data could only see her from the back, and the crowd between them highly obstructed his view, but he could tell she had the stride of a dancer…or, a highly trained fighter…

Data's emotions gave an intense, startled leap, but his rational, analytical core rejected the notion they proposed almost before it formed. Tasha Yar is dead, it told him. She has been dead for seven years, seven months, three weeks, and six days.

But, Data's memory records did not lie. And, that woman's specifications were a near-exact match for Tasha's…on the day she died…

"Impossible," the android muttered. "Seven years, and she has not aged…? Unless she is a representative of an alternate universe - an admittedly unlikely scenario - she simply cannot be who she appears to be..."

"Hmm? You say something, Data?" Geordi asked, more concerned with securing them a good place in the forming line than his friend's sotto voce musings.

Data realized he faced a choice. He could do the rational thing and attempt to shrug off the disconcerting mystery as merely a peculiar quirk of human genetics, like the ancient theory of the doppelgänger. Or, he could follow his gut...see for himself whether his senses were playing tricks.

"Geordi," he said, "please board the street car without me. I will return momentarily."

"Data? What do you—" Geordi started, but Data's android speed already had him nearing the end of the block, where the JAG complex stood in full view.

The mystery woman, however, was nowhere to be seen.

To Be Continued…

References include - Star Trek: Generations; First Contact (movie); Evolution; Encounter At Farpoint; All Good Things…; Best of Both Worlds; Violations; The Measure of a Man; Descent.