Chuck: Thanks man.

Kevin Joe Bays: Okay, you really ticked me off and I'm sorry, but I'll try to be nice to you. First off, the story never says that Data and Hayes got married over a few days. As far as the nail goes, yeah I agree with you there. But, there has to be some way to hang a painting, and that's what I used. True, there is more than one holodeck, but I'll bet the Captain has one that he likes to use the most and besides, he was going for convenience. That one was probabley closest to his quarters. The person in the ship was Q. I haven't mentioned that yet. The final speech was her nerves, not her. They are in the Neutral Zone, yes. But, the ship's counselor had it on her mind and she wanted to get it out. And the ship thing, she is an Admiral, but she doesn't like to pull rank unless she has to. Q's experiment probabley went back to when Data was blown up. I'm not really sure, he hasn't told me yet. So, all I have to say besides that is, dude. I can tell that you're a Trekkie (or Trekker, whatever) but you don't have to get all technical with me. May I point out that Nemesis didn't make all that much sense either. In fact it tanked. But people still like it (not me though). I am a Trekkie, and I love Star Trek. But I know the fine line between writing a story for fun and writing a story just to show off my "superior" knowledge about Star Trek.

-----

Chapter 7

The next day, Hayes sat in Engineering with Data's pieces spread between her legs.

"Let's see," she said as she tried to connect them. "The hip bone is connected to the…subtonic processor?" She sighed in frustration and fell over. The doors opened and Geordi walked in. She sat up. "Hey, Geordi." He walked up and his mouth moved while he pointed to the sky. "You were trying to help me again, weren't you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't think he would consider that one help."

She smiled and tried to piece together two other pieces. Geordi sat down next to her.

"So tell me, how does a 26 year old get to be an Admiral in the Federation Council?"

Hayes sighed and fiddled with the pieces. "Well, that's an interesting story. I was 15 when I graduated early from the Academy with special honors befitting a cadet who not only had an amazing capacity to learn, but also spent every waking moment doing homework. And to top that off, both of her parents and all four of her grandparents were already officers on Starships." She wiped her nose and continued. "I was assigned to the U.S.S. Bastion where my mother's father was the Captain. After one year, he raised me to Lieutenant. I was re-assigned again to the U.S.S. Nielo where my father's mother was the Captain. After two years, she raised me to Lieutenant Commander. After that, it was the U.S.S. Mooning with my mother's mother. After three years, she raised me to Commander. Then I was re-assigned to my father's vessel, the U.S.S. Luther. I was his First Officer, which was difficult considering that I was ship's counselor. After three years, my father's rescue ship exploded, killing him and all of the bridge crew, except for me. The President of the Federation Council promoted me to Captain himself and since my father had been considering a spot on the council, the position was offered to me. I've been on it for two years and was promoted to Admiral last spring."

"Well, that sounds pretty convincing to me. You must know more about electronics than you let on."

She threw the two pieces into the big pile. "No! I don't know anything! Don't you get it? My family promoted me! They thought that I was smart! I didn't have to take the rank tests because they thought that I would pass them! I don't know the first thing about being the Captain of a starship!"

Geordi handed her the pieces and she started putting them together again. "You should've said something."

"I know…but would you want to be the one to tell the entire Federation that your hero parents and grandparents lied? They told everyone that I had taken the tests."

"I guess the best thing you can do is try your best."

She sighed and pushed her bangs behind her ear. "Yeah well, sometimes my best isn't good enough." She moved the pieces and suddenly, they clicked together. She smiled and held them out for Geordi to see. "Hey, look. They fit."

-----

By the time the ship reached Earth, Hayes had re-assembled Data's legs and part of his hips. Madden took care of docking the ship so that Hayes could keep working until the last possible second.

Dr. Crusher walked through the hallway at Engineering dressed in her dress uniform with Geordi, who was wearing the same.

"Are you sure that she's ready to go, Geordi? She hasn't left Engineering in two days and now she's supposed to meet with the Federation Council looking like shi-" As she spoke, they reached Engineering and the door opened to find Admiral Hayes in her Council robes working on Data. "Never mind."

Geordi and Dr. Crusher started putting all of Data's pieces into a large box.

"Admiral, it's time to go," Geordi said as they finished.

Hayes reached down to pick up a piece from the box. "But I just have one more-"

"No, now, Admiral." He took her arm. "I promise, we'll beam Data down to your quarters on the surface."

Reluctantly, she followed them to the transporter. No one spoke as they walked. Hayes knew why. She was facing a court marshal and it wasn't only about her marriage. She had decided to come clean about not earning her promotions. After it got out, she would be lucky if her entire family didn't get court marshaled.

Her lifeless feet walked onto the transporter. She tugged at her sleeves and looked at the ground.

"Energize."

-----

"Admiral Hayes, after hearing your testimony, the council has decided to adjourn for two days to decide your punishment." President Jaresh-Inyo pounded on his desk. "This council is adjourned."

The room emptied, but Hayes stayed there. Her feet were standing on the Federation symbol that was engraved into the floor. She looked down at it. It had always represented her future. Now it represented her downfall.

In a flash, she remembered and ran to her quarters to fix Data. She only had a few more hours to finish him before her time was up. Various council members expressing their concern and sympathy stopped her on the way. Politely, she got away as fast as she could. She soon reached the end of the hall and got in the turbolift.

"14th floor, please." The computer beeped and started moving. The numbers lit up as each floor passed. When the lift stopped, an access panel came out from the wall.

"Please have your retina scanned, call resident on this floor, or leave the resident on this floor a message," the computer said. Hayes owned the entire floor, so she had the computer scan her retina. "Admiral Rose Hayes, acknowledged." The turbolift doors opened and she stepped out.

Her little terrier, Bloo, ran up to her and barked.

"Hey Bloo." She scratched his head and he licked her fingers. She took off her council robe and laid it on her couch. Her computer lit up.

"You have 3 new messages."

She went to the food replicator and got a glass of sweet tea. She sipped it as she walked up to Data and unloaded his different parts.

"Computer, play my messages." The computer lit up and started the videos. Hayes's hair stylist popped up.

"Hello, Admiral! I can see that you're out, so we can reschedule your re-colouring session. I noticed that you're getting a few grey hairs around your face, so when you get back, we can get rid of those."

Hayes sipped her tea and talked to the screen. "They're silver. Not grey." The message stopped. "Computer, delete message and go to the next one." Hayes's mother popped up.

"Hello sweetheart! I dropped by to say hello but I can see that you're not here. I'll come back later, dear."

Hayes picked up a piece and fit it to Data's hip. "Hmm, I'm getting rather good at this. Computer, delete message and play the next one." Hayes's First Officer came up.

"Hello, Admiral. I'm sorry about what happened with the council and all. If it's alright with you, I'd like to take you out to dinner tomorrow and maybe we can talk about…us."

Hayes stopped working and looked at the screen. He was still talking.

"Computer, delete message." She turned back to Data. Instantly, a flash of light was behind her. She turned to see Q leaning on her couch.

"Hello, Admiral."