A/N: You can blame CharlieFenwick and Lady_Lore for opening this particular can of worms for me. Data has always been my favourite character, and you know I like writing Trek smut, but I had never dared to attempt a Data fic until reading CharlieFenwick's The Complication and Lady_Lore's accompanying The Complication – Missing Scenes (on AO3). Those stories are so good, I fell down a rabbit hole and this little nugget was at the other end. I haven't written any fanfic in so long and I'd forgotten how much fun it is, so thank you to these amazing writers for reigniting the spark for me.
Also, I can now not watch Data at ops without watching his hands, so thanks for that, guys... o.O;
-Doc
In the Pursuit of Something
Dr Spleenmeister
Tasha chewed on a thumbnail. What was she doing here? Had she lost her mind? She squeezed her thighs together as she eyed up the holodeck control panel. Yep, she had definitely lost her mind.
The Tsiolkovsky incident had been quite the eye opener for Lieutenant Yar, and despite her blunt statement to Data that 'It never happened', her usually well-controlled libido had other thoughts.
Seeing her second officer nearly every day on the bridge should have returned her to a sense of routine and normality after the wild intoxication of The Incident (now capitalised in her mind), but it just wasn't happening. Her calm and collected superior officer had absolutely and unequivocally shown her just how much of a man he was, and ever since then she couldn't get the thought and feel of him out of her mind.
She had always liked and admired Data, she considered him a good friend and enjoyed spending time with him. She'd always felt able to talk to him about anything knowing that he would not judge her, but since the Tsiolkovsky she was considering him as something else and she was in trouble with a capital T.
When they were on the bridge Data was generally either stationed at Ops, or one of the science stations behind her tactical arc. Whenever he was at the former, she would find herself stealing glances at his long neck and slender, nimble fingers as they caressed the controls of his panel, and when he was at the latter, she would feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise and stand on end for the entire time he was there. His soft voice had started sending tingles through her, especially when he muttered to himself while working at the science station. He had once hummed deeply in satisfaction at a result while sitting at the station directly behind her and she had almost stumbled at Tactical as the sound went straight to her knees.
Returning her thoughts to the present, she took a deep breath and shook herself. You're here now, Tash, she said to herself; might as well get on with it.
Stepping up to the holodeck control panel she input her programme by hand, fingers flying over the controls and shaking her head at herself the whole time. The computer beeped completion and the doors slid open.
Tasha stepped inside.
Data was stimulated.
He had never thought that he would feel the sensation, yet he could definitely detect within his positronic systems an increase in pulse, a shallowing of breath, and a blossoming of perspiration on his bioplast brow.
Tasha moved again and his fingers tightened into the seat pad on which he was sat.
"Lieutenant…" his voice was breathy.
She looked at him, "Relax, Data."
He tried to do as she had bidden, but he found that instead his fingers dug even deeper into the seat pad. He heard a faint tearing sound as his duranium fingernails punctured the fabric.
That would be coming out of his pay-check.
He felt the bottom drop out of his synthetic stomach as Tasha's manipulations sent them into a freefall…
He hated manoeuvres where he was the passenger.
Tasha whooped beside him, and he wished – not for the first time – that he had beaten her to the shuttle's pilot seat.
"Move over, boys, this baby is mine" Tasha strong-armed the rest of the shuttle pilots out of the way and jumped into shuttle 2. She had previously configured the controls of this shuttle to her particular tastes, and if they were going out on manoeuvres, she was going to be doing it in her 'baby'.
"Who's my co-pilot?" She shouted out of the open door without looking up from the controls as she located her favourite low-inertia playlist that was saved to this shuttle's memory banks.
"That would be me." Data's soft voice coming from behind her as he entered the cockpit sent a delectable shiver down her spine and she grinned as he settled into the seat beside her.
"Welcome aboard the SS Badass, Data."
Data's brow furrowed in confusion, "I believe that this shuttle's moniker on the Enterprise manifest is Shuttle 2."
Tasha grinned even more widely, "Not when I'm in charge." The ship lifted smoothly off the deck plating and shot out of the hanger bay doors, the atmospheric forcefield humming frantically to keep up as they whizzed through.
Data raised an eyebrow, "Lieutenant, I believe that your exit from the shuttle bay was a little faster than standard operating procedures recommend."
Tasha nodded her head in agreement, "That's because I'm a fast girl, Commander."
Data surreptitiously fastened his seatbelt as Tasha slapped a control panel on the wall and 21st century heavy metal music blasted from the shuttle's speakers. He winced as the unnecessarily loud music threatened to overload his auditory receptors. "LIEUTENANT!" He raised his voice to be heard over the music, "IS THIS VOLUME NECESSARY?!"
Tasha laughed and reached over to shove against his shoulder until he rocked in his seat, "IT SURE IS, DATA! HAVEN'T YOU EVER FLOWN FAST AND SUNG LOUD?!" She snarled along with the angsty music as she sent the shuttle into a move that skimmed the atmosphere of the planet below.
No. No he hadn't.
He tightened his grip on the seat.
Data had never experienced relief as strongly as when he stepped clear of shuttle 2 and felt the cold, hard, sturdy deck plating of the Enterprise shuttle bay under his feet.
If he had been human, he would have dropped to his knees and kissed the deck.
Tasha breezed past him, her fingers ghosting across his shoulder as she also stepped clear of the shuttle, "Thanks for the ride, Data." She winked at him – prompting a raised eyebrow from the deck traffic controller – and walked briskly towards the door to the corridor.
Data watched her go, cleared his throat and nodded to the deck traffic controller, who smirked knowingly in return. Data did a brief double-take as he attempted to interpret the other officer's facial expression. Realisation suddenly dawned and Data shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, "Nothing like that, Chief."
Tasha all but skipped to the holodeck.
Low-orbit manoeuvres completed for the day, she was feeling invigorated and over-stimulated, so she made a beeline for the holodeck and her new favourite programme. She took a quick guilty glance down the corridors, then stepped inside and locked the doors.
"Hello again."
Tasha closed her eyes and smiled as the familiar voice purred behind her and he appeared in her personal space. She felt a soft breath by her ear, then warm lips on her neck.
The Enterprise, the same as other deep-space Federation ships equipped with holodecks, carried an extensive database of intimacy programmes. With the ships being between planets or star-bases for such extended periods of time, Starfleet knew it was in their own best interests to keep their personnel from becoming frustrated, or they risked hormone-fuelled tension onboard their vessels.
Tasha sighed as the lips traced a path from her earlobe to her shoulder; she felt gentle hands on her hips. She relaxed and turned around in the loose embrace. The blue eyes and tousled brown hair that greeted her made her heart skip a beat. The face was so familiar, yet so different. His face eased into a wide, comfortable smile, "I missed you," he said softly, confidently, and then closed the gap between them, his expressive lips capturing hers in a sweet, gentle kiss that quickly deepened into something toe-curling.
"Data to Lieutenant Yar."
Since the Tsiolkovsky incident Data had felt a strange push/pull dynamic forming between himself and Tasha Yar. On the one hand his flawless memory recalled every second of their illicit encounter, and he was keen to explore what had occurred a second time, but on the other she had instructed him to more or less forget it. The confused distance that had formed between himself and Tasha distressed him.
He had not missed the quick glances that she had cast at him across the bridge, or the way she had seemingly taken any opportunity to be physically close to him on away missions. At their last poker game, the table had been full of players, and he had spent the entire time squished between her and Worf; the feeling of the length of her pressed against him for two hours had been… pleasant. However, on the other hand he had noticed her to regularly put as much distance between them as possible whenever they rode the turbolift together, and whenever he joined a bridge officers' gathering in Ten Forward, she would excuse herself and leave.
In an attempt to repair their friendship and increase his closeness with the Enterprise's head of security, Data was hoping to spend some time with Tasha this evening, discussing her eclectic musical tastes. Their time in the shuttle today, despite being stressful, had been quite enlightening. Tasha had – as some of the human officers would say – let loose, while at the controls of the shuttlecraft.
However, Tasha was yet to respond to his hails; he had attempted three times within the last half hour to contact her.
His brow furrowed. Perhaps she was injured and unable to answer him.
He addressed the ship's computer, "Computer, locate Lieutenant Yar."
"Lieutenant Yar is on holodeck two."
Data hesitated. He was concerned about Tasha's wellbeing, but he had no desire to invade her privacy. He weighed up the risks/benefits of going in search of her and decided that it would be best to go to the holodeck and see if he could reach her through the arch comm system.
Tasha sighed into her lover's neck as he slowly and sensually tended to her, she hadn't felt this good in a long time. Her fingers stroked into the short, unkempt hairs at the nape of his neck, and he hummed in appreciation as he moved over her. He pulled his head back to look at her and, not for the first time since starting this programme, her breath caught in her throat; his eyes were so blue, and the pink of his human skin was flushed. The face was familiar enough to the one she really wanted to make a good enough replica.
The holodeck door chimed, and she stilled where she was.
Her lover had other plans, "Make them wait," he murmured into her ear as he sank down between her parted thighs.
Tasha gasped at the teasing contact but steadied herself enough to answer the chime over the comm system, "I'm busy."
"Lieutenant?"
Data's voice over the comm sent a rush of heat and anticipation to her core. Her lover noticed; he grinned into her throat and pressed ever-so gently forward, his tip slipping into her. He held it there while she panted for breath. "Answer him." He whispered devilishly.
Tasha gulped and forced a composure that she absolutely did not feel into her voice, "Data! I- uh- I'm kind of busy right now-" He pushed further forward, and she broke off with a strangled cry.
"Tasha, are you alright?"
She flailed lightly as she was slowly penetrated more deeply, "Y-Yes, Data, nothing to worry abou-" she gasped deeply as he bottomed out and light bloomed behind her eyes. "Oh God…"
"I am coming in."
His words registered too late, she abruptly realised that his higher-level security clearance would enable him to override her lock. She heard the doors opening, pushed her lover off, called for the computer to remove the character, and scrabbled around for something to cover herself with as Data rounded the corner.
Data rounded the corner of the holographic simulation at almost the exact moment that Tasha managed to cover herself with a sheet. He stuttered to a halt at the sight of her state of undress, while she blushed from her toes to her hairline as her commanding officer clapped artificial eyes on her.
"Data! Hi!" Her voice was shrill and manic as she pinched the sheet more tightly around herself, "What can I do for you?"
Data didn't know where to look, "L-Lieutenant… I…"
Data didn't get to finish as a smooth, familiar voice sliced through the awkwardness, adding a whole new level of WTF, "Ah, so that's why you deactivated me."
Tasha's face lost any grip it had on any blood present, and her embarrassed blush immediately morphed into a mortified blanch as she turned slowly to face the owner of the voice, her eyes the size of saucers.
The simulated man that she had sent into the aether had rematerialised at the absolute worst possible moment. She hissed at him through her teeth, "How did you manage to reactivate yourself? That shouldn't be possible!"
He scoffed and folded his arms across his chest as he leant against a simulated wall, "Pff, I was one of the most talented programmers to ever have roamed this galaxy, do you really think that it would have been beyond me to sneak a little harmless computer virus through the back door of networked Federation computers?" He pushed himself off from the wall and approached her, "I never liked the idea of anyone messing with my work," he reached out and touched her hair, tucking some errant strands behind her ear. "So I snuck a teeny little subroutine into the Federation archives that would allow my avatar to behave true to life whenever it was activated." He puffed up his chest, "I could certainly bypass any measly 'end program' command with very little effort."
Despite being very impressed at this revelation Tasha was more aware than ever that a) her body was naked under the sheet, b) the man she was grilling had just been very much inside said naked body, and c) Data was close, very close to her naked-below-the-sheet body, and staring in android disbelief at the hologram.
Data blinked, "Doctor Soong?" He was as close to slack-jawed as an android could get.
The hologram gave him a mock bow, "At your service."
Tasha swallowed, her arousal not quite fully in remission, especially when confronted with the man she wanted, and the man he had been modelled upon, in such close quarters. She looked from one to the other, and swallowed again, desperately trying to regain control of her tongue. "Data, maybe we should end this program."
"Hold on a minute," Soong was computer-fast, he stepped in front of her and lightly took her shoulders as she tried to turn to her commanding officer, drawing her gaze to him instead. "You came here to release some tension, yes?"
She couldn't help herself, his mischievous eyes did something terrible to her insides. "Y-Yes, yes I did."
He turned her in his grip to face Data and moved behind her, leaning down over her shoulder to whisper in her ear, "Because of him, yes?"
Tasha flushed again as his lips brushed her ear, and her eyes dilated. She looked away from Data, her voice a guilty whisper, "Yes."
Data took a disbelieving half step towards her, "Tasha…"
Soong whispered in her ear again, "He has all of my drives you know."
Tasha's eyes widened in shock and she lost her breath. She locked her gaze back onto Data's; Data swallowed and didn't break the eye contact.
"It's true," Soong continued in a low husk, "I programmed him with as much of myself as possible." He smirked and licked his lips behind her, "Do you have any idea how many assistants I went through in my time researching for the Federation? I like sex. Ergo, he likes sex."
A faint golden blush dusted Data's cheekbones at Soong's admission, and one corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
Tasha found her voice as her eyebrows twitched, and she regarded him with new eyes, "Data?"
He looked embarrassed and gazed down at his toes as he shifted uncomfortably. He mumbled, "You never asked."
Tasha blinked hard enough to dislocate an eyelid, feeling as though the floor had been liquified below her feet. Luckily, Soong's hands on her shoulders held her up. Any air she had left in her lungs had run panting for the shadows, and she sucked in a heated breath, repeating his name, this time in a voice she didn't recognise, "Data?"
Data, recognising the desire in her whisper, raised his eyes again, just enough to make eye contact. He didn't speak, but the temperature in his suddenly blown irises told her everything she needed to know. She didn't recognise him.
Before she knew what she was doing she was on him, her fingers in his hair and her lips pressed to his. He sucked a breath in through his nose and hummed into her mouth, his very evident desire swelling into existence against her.
She broke the kiss, retaining her hold on his hair and catching her breath just long enough to look firmly into his eyes, "Data, if I had known-"
He was equally breathless, fascinating for an android who didn't need to breathe, "You do now." And wasting no further time he seized her lips in his, thrust his tongue into her mouth, making her moan loudly at his dominance, and claimed her as his, pushing her up against the nearest wall and rutting unashamedly against her.
The Soong hologram smirked and deactivated himself, his work here was done.