Chapter Twenty-Two

The sun had just started its early-evening descent, but the desert wind still blew as hot and dry as it had at midday.

Data took a swig of water from his canteen, then urged his horse, Sagebrush, into a quick, three-beat canter, enjoying the rush of air against his skin as he closed his eyes and opened his arms to the wind.

"Yeeee-haaaawww!"

Kurak watched the android ride, her stony expression betrayed by the glint of amusement in her eyes.

"Nom qet! We run!" she ordered her horse, and it broke into a gallop, kicking up coarse trail dust as they swerved to overtake the android. "Fast! Faster!"

Data opened his eyes as they approached and resumed his grip on the reins, delighted to find she seemed willing to play.

"Howdy, Darlin'," he shouted over the thunder of hoofbeats, tipping an imaginary hat. "You wanna race?"

"Are you always this strange?" she teased.

"Not at all," he called back. "But today, right here, in this moment… I feel very, very happy! So, if you will forgive the exuberance after so many hours of anticipation, pent-up tension and anxiety, I shall now stand on my stirrups and release a whooping cry. YAAAA-HOOOOOOO!"

He laughed brightly and sat back in his saddle.

"You try!" he invited.

Kurak shot him a look, but willingly tilted back her head and released a controlled, yodel-like hunting yell.

"YAAHLLLAAAYAAHLLLAAAYAAHLLLAAAYAAHLLLOOOOOO!"

"Excellent!" Data cheered, and she gave him a toothy smile.

"I, too, am pleased the operation succeeded," she said as the pair of them dropped back to a pleasant trot. "Your doctor friend believes your adjustable stasis field will now ease the human child's recovery?"

"She does," Data confirmed. "Mikey's chance of surviving the trauma has risen to a very encouraging eighty-six percent. If no complications arise over the next twelve hours, those odds will rise exponentially."

"You really care about that boy, don't you," she said. "It's not the usual Starfleet 'all done in the line of duty' with you. His welfare, and the welfare of that Orion child - it is personal."

"I have become used to them," he admitted.

"Is this because you lost your own daughter?"

Data blinked, and made Sagebrush stop short. Kurak turned her horse around until she and the android faced each other.

"Is that what you think?" he demanded. "That I am only reaching out to these children to 'fill a gap,' as it were?"

"You tell me," she challenged, their eyes meeting for a long, charged moment. "Isn't 'noninterference' the Starfleet way? You drop in, fix a problem, then disappear again into the sunset? No families, no strings, no long-term commitments?"

"That is not the case," Data protested.

"Then how do you explain your captain and that doctor, or your friends Riker and Troi?" she said. "I have eyes, android. I know you Starfleet people tend to avoid relationships that threaten to last longer than a two-week shore leave."

Data wrinkled his brow, looking as if he'd been struck across the face.

"What exactly are you asking me?" he demanded.

"Those children look up to you, Commander," Kurak said. "Kahlestra looks up to you. She and that Orion child believe the promises you've told them. I want to know if you intend to deliver, or if I should prepare to explain to my daughter why her android hero seemed to evaporate the moment he returned to his ship."

"'Evaporate'? But, surely it is not possible for…"

Data trailed off, utterly bewildered, his head tilting about like a bird's until a realization began to dawn.

"This is about trust," he said, watching her face carefully to see if he'd read her correctly. "You want to know if you can trust me to continue to care for you, for Kay, for Ishta and Mikey even after my official leave has ended."

She straightened her posture and lifted her chin, fixing Data with an intimidatingly regal stare.

The android sighed through his nose and lowered his gaze to where his hand rested against Sagebrush's warm mane.

"It is true that I have a duty to my captain, and to the Enterprise," he said. "But that ship…it is not the ship I knew. It lacks the community…the sense of family…that allowed me to develop my confidence and personality. I feel - no, I know. I know that I have grown more in the handful of days I have spent here on this world than I have in over a year back in that…that stifling environment of constant suspicion and fear that has clouded our missions since the rise of the Dominion...and the return of the Borg. We are not the organization we once were. We have become smaller, colder, more reactive and less curious."

He sighed again and shook his head, running a hand through his wind-blown hair.

"I know this is not the answer to your question," he said. "But…right now…I feel I am, perhaps, facing a transition. My desires no longer seem in sync with the demands of my career. And I…I do not…"

"Is it your intent to leave Starfleet?" she asked curiously.

"I admit, I have considered the possibility," he said quietly. "I have also considered the possibility of requesting a transfer to a ship more in tune with my own ambitions. A ship that, unlike the Enterprise-E, provides accommodation for children and families. But…I am still uncertain. I don't know what is best. I can only tell you what I told Ishta…although, as she pointed out, it leaves the situation unresolved…"

"What's that?"

"I want to adopt her," he said, lifting his gaze to meet Kurak's. "It has long been my dream to have a family…children and a wife to love and support, who will love and support me in return. My android status makes it complicated. But, even if the Federation courts prevent me from petitioning to serve as Ishta's legal guardian, even if we must be separated, I will still do all I can to provide her the support she needs to thrive. I will not break contact. That was my promise, Kurak. And you can trust that I will keep it."

Kurak furrowed her deeply ridged brow.

"Data," she said. "As a Starfleet Officer, are you not a citizen of the Federation? Does a Federation citizen not have rights?"

"So I've been led to believe," he said, rather bitterly. "Though I have had occasion to wonder over the years if there is not a double standard where I, and those like me, are concerned."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Data snorted darkly and almost smiled.

"I was constructed, not born, you see, as was my daughter, Lal," he said. "Our 'artificial' status seemed to give certain parties the idea that electronic beings like us were not 'people' in the same sense that the Federation's biological citizens are 'people.' These parties viewed our construction as intellectual property belonging to the Federation in general, and to Starfleet in particular. They believed that gave them the right to challenge my parental rights, to…to attempt to 'confiscate' my child for their own purposes…"

He shook his head, sniffing hard as his wiped his dusty face against his sleeve.

"By Kahless…" Kurak muttered. "I did not know…"

"No, you would not," he said, releasing a shaky breath as he worked to calm the threat of tears. "The fact of my child's…malfunction…was released to the general public. The contributing 'cause' was not. The flesh peddlers who kidnapped your daughter were of much the same mindset - viewing living beings as commodities, not as people. I have been pushing the captain, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi, Commander Riker, and your friends to bring the activity of these black market slavers to the attention of the Federation authorities. But, somehow, I doubt much will be done. In the current political climate, maintaining the peace with the Cardassians tends to outweigh the exploitation of border colonies like Mikey's…many of which lost the protection afforded by the Federation when the treaty was signed and the border redrawn."

Kurak nodded, her expression grim and thoughtful.

"I believe I can understand how you feel, Commander," she said. "Growing up, I was treated in much the same way by my parents and, later, by the husband they chose for me. Once I grew to be a teenager, my father traded me away for land and status, phrasing the whole sordid deal in terms of 'tradition,' 'honor' and 'duty.' When I tried to refuse, he threatened to kill me just to save face and he would have succeeded had my brother not intervened on my behalf. He risked his life and his honor to save mine, but was unable to prevent the marriage."

Data blinked in dismay, his amber eyes crinkling at the edges

"I was not aware such…traditions…were still practiced within the Klingon Empire."

"Maybe not in the cities, or the newer colonies," she said. "But, in the more conservative, traditional districts, such practices are still viewed as private, family matters; an extension of patriarchal honor and ancient values not to be interfered with by the state. For that reason, arranged marriage and child marriage is still considered legal within the Empire. To my mind, though, it is an ancient barbarism, an atrocity I will not allow my ex to inflict upon my daughter. I will kill him first."

"An understandable sentiment," he commented, and her expression softened, just for a moment.

"You wished to see the ruined city," she said, looking out over the golden sands ahead. "I'd say it is not more than a kilometer away from here. Our horses seem rested enough. Do you still want to race?"

Data smiled a slow smile that grew into a broad, delighted grin.

"You got it, pardner," he drawled playfully. "I'm game if you are."

"Then, on my signal," she said, as they moved their horses to stand side by side.

"Nom qet!" she shouted, and their race was on.

"Qet rur SuS!" he shouted back as their horses charged together down the trail. "Run, Sagebrush! Run like the wind!"

To Be Continued...

References include - TNG: Redemption I/II; The Offspring; A Fistful of Datas; The Measure of a Man; The Quality of Life; Evolution; Datalore; The Schizoid Man; Legacy; Journey's End; the novel Sarek and the movie First Contact.

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