The bridge crew are at their stations. Picard is not on the bridge.
"I won't do it." Worf said grumbling.
"It's tradition, Worf. You of all people should appreciate that!" Deanna said then whispered. "Besides, I've already seen it."
"A warrior does not appear without his clothing. It leaves him... vulnerable."
"I don't think we're going to see much combat on Betazed." Riker said.
"Don't be too sure. Mother will be there." Deanna said.
Worf groaned while Picard emerged from his Ready Room.
"I won't do it."
"Won't do what, Mister Worf?" Picard asked.
"Captain. I think it is inappropriate for a Starfleet officer to appear," Worf said then said the word he hates. " naked."
"Come now, a big, strapping fellow like you? What are you afraid of?"
Deanna laughed then a readout on Worf's console attracted his attention.
"I'm picking up an unusual electromagnetic signature from the Kolarin system." he said.
"What sort of signature?"
Worf looked up and glanced at Data.
"Positronic."
Later Geordi was at the Engineering station with Picard, Riker and Data.
"It's very faint but I've isolated it to the third planet in the Chlorine system." he said.
"What do we know about the planet?" Picard asked.
"Uncharted. We'll have to get closer for a more detailed scan."
"Theories?" Picard asked Data.
"Since positronic signatures have only been known to emanate from androids such as myself, it is logical to theorize that there is an android such as myself on Kolarus III." he said.
"How many of you did Dr. Soong make?" Geordi asked
"I thought only me, myself and Lore."
Riker looked at star chart.
"Diverting to the Kolarin system takes us awfully close to the Romulan Neutral Zone." he said.
"Still well on our side." Picard said looking at star chart.
Then he glanced at Data, recognizing the android's deep desire to explore this possible connection to others like himself.
"I think it's worth a look. Don't worry, Number One, we'll get you to Betazed with time to spare."
"Thank you, sir..." Riker said.
"Where we will all honor the Betazoid traditions. No cold feet, or any other parts of our anatomy." Picard said to them all, especially Worf. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'll be in the gym."
Then he left.
"Mister Branson, set course for the Kolarin system. Warp Five -" Riker said to Helm officer and Deanna shot him a glance.
"Warp Seven."
"Plotted and laid in, sir." Helm officer Branson sad.
"Engage."
"You better believe you're engaged!" Deanna said.
Meanwhile, Geordi and Data remained at the Engineering Station studying the displays.
"What do you think, Data, a long- lost relative?" Geordi asked.
Data didn't respond but the curiosity on his face was apparent.
The Enterprise is in orbit around the uncharted planet was in the distance of distorting violence of an ion storm.
On the bridge Kolarus III was on the viewscreen, the ion storm raging beyond it.
"I read six distinct positronic signatures, spread out over a few kilometers on the surface." Geordi said.
"What do we know about the population?" Picard asked.
"Isolated pockets of humanoids. It appears to be a pre-warp civilization at an early stage of industrial development." Data said.
"Captain, I don't recommend transporting, that ion storm doesn't look very neighborly. It could head this way without much warning." Geordi said.
"Understood. Data, Worf, you're with me." Picard said.
Picard, Data and Worf started heading toward the turbolift.
"Captain, I hope I don't have to remind you-" Riker said standing protesting.
"I appreciate your concern, Number One, but I've been itching to try out the Argo." he said.
"Sir-"
"Captain's prerogative, Will. There's no foreseeable danger, and your wife would never forgive me if anything happened to you." he said and stepped into the turbolift with the Data and Worf. "You have the bridge, Mister Troi!"
The turbolift doors slid shut and the bridge crew heartily enjoyed Riker's momentary demotion to house husband.
Over Kolarus III the shuttlebay doors slid open and the transport vehicle Argo emerged.
The Argo was larger than a regular shuttle with a particularly large cargo area at the back.
The Argo landed on the planet, it's primarily a desert environment with some canyons and mountains. Like Death Valley, blazing heat waves shimmer in the distance. The shuttle sat silently for a moment.
Then the rear cargo doors slid open and Picard, Data and Worf roared out on a 24th Century equivalent of a military jeep.
Picard drove, Data beside him while Worf stood in the back at a mounted phaser canon, "The Rat Patrol."
Picard screeched to a stop and Data and Worf lurched. A cloud of dust momentarily obscured them. Data quickly monitored the positronic signatures with a tricorder.
"The closest signature is two kilometers to the west... that direction, sir." he said.
"Thank you, Data." he said smiling. "Let's see what she can do."
Then he roared off in a cloud of dust and roared over the desert terrain at breakneck.
Worf clinged on to the mounted phaser canon for dear life and Data steadied himself by grasping onto the roll bar.
"I will always be baffled by the human predilection for piloting vehicles at unsafe velocities." Data said.
Picard smiled and drove a little faster.
"Over that rise, sir... half a kilometer." Data continued monitoring with tricorder.
They continued on. Before long they saw something on the level desert floor before them. They saw an android arm. The fingers patiently drumming the ground.
"It appears to be..." Data started then scaned with his tricorder, an arm."
"Why is it moving?" Worf asked suspicious.
"Like me, it has been designed with modular power sources."
"Mister Worf, if you please." Picard said.
Worf climbed from the jeep and carefully approached the arm then he gingerly picked it up. The arm responded to being picked up, the hand starts feeling around in the air like something from a horror movie and Worf shuddered.
Then he returned to the jeep and quickly set the arm down in the rear cargo area.
"The next signature is one kilometer to the south." Data said.
Picard started the jeep in motion.
Time passed as they continued on... coming across another arm... a leg... a torso... another leg... various disassembled components of a Data-like android!
In Kolarus III Canyon Worf stands uneasily amidst the moving body parts. There was only one component missing: the head. Picard steers the jeep into a canyon. Stops. Data scanned with his tricorder, pointing it up into the gently sloping hills that form the sides of the canyon.
"The final signature is approximately 300 meters up that incline." he said.
"Mister Worf, accompany Data please." Picard said.
"To find the head, sir?" Worf asked uneasy.
"If you don't mind." Picard said amused.
Worf and Data climb up into the hills in pursuit of the final piece as Picard opens the jeep's hood and checks the engine.
On the hills Worf and Data climbed as Data scanned and indicated the direction.
"Ten meters..." he said.
Worf pulled his phaser, ready.
"I think it unlikely you will need your phaser to recover the cranial unit. Of course, it could bite you."
Then they saw it, Data's head. Or the spitting image anyway. Lying inert in the dust before them.
"It's you." Worf said.
"The resemblance is, striking."
Then the head's eyes popped open. It looked up at them with a sort of blank, childlike wonder.
"Why am I looking at me?" Head said.
"You are not looking at yourself. You are looking at me." Data said.
Then Head said looking at Worf.
"You do not look like me."
"No." Worf said.
"I would like to pick you up now. May I do that?" Data said to Head.
"You have a pretty shirt." Head said back.
"Thank you."
Data gently picked up the head and looked at it. The two identical faces gazed at each other.
"Fascinating..." he said.
Then there was a boulder near them explodes. Worf and Data spin to see a nomadic tribe of desert aliens swarming toward them firing primitive plasma weapons.
Data and Worf race back down the canyon, toward the jeep - some open-field running and a bit of phaser action - Worf firing to distract and slow the aliens, not kill them - through all of this the head is chattering away blandly:
"I have two arms and ten fingers. Do you know where my arms are? I cannot see where we are going. Where are we going?" the head asked.
The action continued. Then Data found himself almost surrounded -
"Commander!" Data said.
Worf turned then Data threw the head to Worf like a football, a perfect spiral - the head is still chattering away and Worf caught it -
"STOP TALKING!" he yelled.
The head abruptly stopped talking.
Data, hands free now, quickly incapacitates the aliens around him with a dazzling demonstration of his superior strength and agility.
Meanwhile, Worf tucked the head under his arm and sprinted like a master running back, evading aliens and occasionally firing his phaser.
They're closer to the jeep now but they are in trouble and the swarm of aliens almost overtaking them.
When a thundering BLAST sends up a shower of debris, stopping the aliens - Picard is standing in the rear of the jeep, firing the phaser canon.
Data and Worf climbed into the jeep as Picard leapt into the front seat and roared off.
On the jeep Worf, standing at the phaser canon, quickly handed the head to Data in the front seat:
"If you wouldn't mind." Worf said.
"Thank you." Data said.
The head looked up at Picard.
"You have a shiny head." it said.
Picard glanced at the head.
"He is very observant." Data said.
"I can see that." Picard said.
"Captain!" Worf yelled.
Picard turns to see that they are being pursued! The aliens are racing after them in crude desert-terrain vehicles -
"Shall we try some "unsafe velocities?" Picard asked Data.
He floored it racing across the desert landscape.
Worf fired the mounted phaser canon - blasting away at the aliens, not killing them, just stopping them - a few dramatic crashes as the alien vehicles overturn -
Meanwhile:
"You have a red shirt." the head said to Picard.
"This is not an appropriate time for a conversation." Data said to the head.
"Why?"
"Because the captain has to concentrate on piloting the vehicle."
"Why?"
"Data!" Picard said.
"Sorry, sir."
They continue to speed over the landscape - bouncing and flying over natural rises in the terrain - trying to evade their pursuers.
Picard put the pedal to the metal and raced through the alien vehicles - weaving in and out, avoiding their fire, Worf blasted away with the phaser cannon.
Finally they were within sight of the Argo but they see it is surrounded by more of the aliens!
"Mister Data. Let's make like the wind."
Data punched some buttons on a dashboard console and the Argo lift off by remote control.
Data used the console to swing the Argo around and lower the rear cargo doors it hovers over the surface.
Picard floors the jeep using a natural rise in the terrain as a ramp the jeep flew through the air. Rover the aliens and into the cargo bay.
When they got on the cargo bay Picard slammed on the brakes the jeep screeches to a stop as the doors shut and the Argo shoots into the air.
Picard climbs from the jeep. He nonchalantly rubs a bit of dirt from the hood and then disappears into the main cabin.
Data and Worf remain in the jeep for a beat, stunned.
"He must have Klingon blood." Worf said smiling.