"ensign set course for starbase 146 warp two"

"course laid in sir"

"engage"

"aye sir"

"Data would you…" Jewel sighs "Lt. would you make sure that we're ready for a simulation in three hours?"

"yes sir"

"admiral no offense but you seem distracted"

"I am James you see Data was supposed to be with us today for three weeks instead he's destroyed"

"I see well I hope that we can all adapt to his loss"

well it became the one year anniversary and everyone was affected by it the Enterprise actually stayed in dock that day and the station they were at didn't even try to make them leave and on the Jewel those that had served with Data were allowed to leave their shifts early with no reprimand since everyone knew what had happened and why they were acting all depressed. Well a Lt. on board a science vessel was on board a shipping vessel seeing as how they were having trouble with their engines and the Lt. just so happened to be an engineer on board the science vessel and seeing as how they were headed to DS9 for their new chief the Lt. was the one currently in charge and boy did she get a surprise all ships had been informed of Data's loss because he was not only an android but also one of the commanding officers of the Enterprise plus before he had been "killed" he had actually saved a few delegates lives.

"excuse me how much is this android?"

"he's not for sale yet"

"why not?"

"because he's bad merchandise he looks like a wreck we can't sell him like that"

"well how long have you had him?"

"a year if we can't fix him soon we're going to scrap him"

"why not just let me do it for you?"

"I didn't think you Starfleet officers were like that"

"normally we aren't but there's another reason why I want him"

"what's the reason?"

"well I'm an engineer I want to study him for a bit and then once I'm done I'll just scrap him who knows what we could learn from him"

"well it gets him off our hands finally very well give up your career and Starfleet can have him"

"sorry not happening and how did you know I don't have any money on me?"

"we know you people fine if you won't give up your career you stay with us we could use someone who's good with engines"

"not happening either"

and so they battle for quite a while until finally they reach a compromise with the permission of her captain they would get some metal that they needed to repair the ship and she would teach them a little bit about what they could do to keep their engines up and running in exchange for Data and it was decided that the exchange would happen at the same time. The Lt. made the repairs and for five hours taught the people on the vessel about proper maintenance of course, what her ship didn't know was that it was Data she was keeping that to herself so that the aliens wouldn't know the real reason why she wanted him, all she told her captain was that she wanted to bring something aboard that looked to be a very interesting object for her to study for a bit.

"Lt. Karen to Vanel one person and one object to beam aboard"

"stand bye Lt. we're still having a little trouble synchronizing the teleporters"

"standing bye"

and so she's finally beamed aboard directly to the bridge and at the same time the aliens got their metal

"thank you captain for the metal"

"and thank you for letting the Lt. get what she wanted whatever it is that she's covering up right now"

"well that's for her to tell you if she wants good bye"

"good bye"

finally communications are cut

"OK Lt. what is it that you're hiding?"

"it's Lt. Commander Data captain he wasn't destroyed but he's also not functioning right now we need to get to the nearest place we can stop so that I can repair him preferably a place with someone who knows him if not at least DS9 since Dr. Bashir is used to strange situations"

"Lt. you know that Data is gone"

"just look at him captain and you'll see that I'm right"

the captain does and goes white with shock

"but how he was reported destroyed in an asteroid field"

"that's what I'd like to know myself but right now all I care about is getting him repaired"

"in that case Lt. set course for DS9 warp three"

"course and speed laid in sir"

"go"

"Lt. I hope you're right about this and that he can be fixed"

"I hope so too captain because I think it's time for the crew of the Enterprise to be united again after all I have a feeling that they miss Lt. Commander Data and will be pleased to see him again"

well it didn't turn out exactly like planned due to small issues but they got to the station a year and a half after they had gotten Data back and only Bashir and the crew knew it was Data everyone else thought it was a new science project and a few days later Data was back unfortunately it wasn't without some problems for about two months he didn't even know where he was don't think about asking him his name he actually had to be given one by the two of them and though Sisko recognized him he was told that Data had no memories so Starfleet had yet to be contacted due to the fact that they didn't want to give them false hopes. Over the six months that they had gotten Data they repaired what they could when they could and then when it had been almost two and a half years since things happened they finally got the break they were looking for Jewel coming to the station for some officers that had been transferred including Data because they had actually given a false report and thus got "Mark" transferred with the Lt.

well it had been almost two and a half years since they lost Data and the Jewel was at DS9 for supplies and to get some officers to take them to the neutral zone for their assignments and one of them turned out to be Data unfortunately most of his memory chips were still scrambled though Bashir and a few others had been working on it they hadn't gotten very far and the Lt. who had done the most work explained that to the admiral

"maybe you could finish what we started Admiral we've done all we can but since we really don't know him we really couldn't do much"

"I'll see what I can do but then I'm gonna need someone from the Enterprise"

as it turned out Jewel could fix what Bashir and the others couldn't and once she was finished she woke Data up and naturally he was confused once he sat up

"where am I?"

"welcome aboard my ship Data"

Data turns his head to see Jewel

"Admiral what am I doing on your ship?"

"Data do you remember anything about the past six months?"

"not entirely no for some reason some of my memory is missing"

"you've been considered dead for almost two and a half years Data you were on a trade ship and an officer was shocked to see you and did everything except give up himself and his career to get you back Doctor Bashir an a few others have been working on your memory since then whenever possible"

"I remember navigating the shuttle one moment and the next…I woke up in a strange room with a man in a doctors uniform looking at some charts but the rest is a blur"

"not all that surprising considering how scrambled your memory chips were I don't expect you to ever fully remember the past six months oh and the room you woke up in was DS9's medbay and the man you saw was Dr. Bashir"

"when can I return to the Enterprise?"

"once I can explain the situation to the president because like I said you've been dead for almost two and a half years but until then I need a navigator who can come up with suggestions at a moments notice know anyone like that?"

Data immediately understands and goes to the bridge and instantly sees why she needed him to navigate her current navigator was beyond exhaustion trying to cover all three shifts as the others were confined to quarters due to illness

"I will take over now Lt. get some sleep"

the Lt. replies half mumbling

"not 'til 'miral tells me 'm relieved"

"she ordered me to navigate you have been relieved"

well the Lt. persists until Data uses his version of a Vulcan nerve pinch to knock the Lt. out which surprises James

"what did you do to him?"

"I knocked him out with my version of a Vulcan nerve pinch captain it was the only way for the Lt. to finally get some rest"

Jewel comes in

"well since my shift is over an his quarters are next to mine I'll take him to bed"

once the captain and the Lt. were gone Jewel gave her orders "Data make sure we're on a heading towards the neutral zone that's where most of the transfers are"

Data checks and sees they're heading the wrong way

"changing course now"

once there they enter a battle zone OK so it was a minor skirmish at the moment but by monitoring communications it was quickly escalating into a full battle