Almost an hour and a half into what seemed like a slideshow presentation of PADDs punctuated by a great many questions requiring quick answers from either the PADDs or Data, she popped half a muffin in her mouth before trying to get her boots on, then downed the remainder with coffee and switched over to reading the reports about their guests and other pertinent matters that had come in while she slept. "Okay, that's it; out of time.", she declared; they had a senior staff meeting to be at in five minutes.
"Satisfactory?", Data asked, referring to the 'lesson'.
"It'll have to do."
"Are you still upset?" He left off the end - upset at him, at herself, or just in general.
"Yep.", she took a swig of what was left of her coffee, "But I'll get over it. Let's go." A small pile of PADDs in both hands, she was out the door in the blink of an eye.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
It turned out they weren't nearly the last ones through the door, so before the captain and commander arrived, Data took the opportunity to introduce his old friend to his newer ones.
"Deanna, Geordie.", Data spoke after they had entered the room to find them standing by the table talking, "I would like to introduce Lieutenant Natasha Yar."
Hellos and nice-to-meet-yous were exchanged as Tasha put the PADDs on the table and stuck out her hand. Before any conversation could really get started, the rest of the senior staff walked in.
"If you haven't met her already, Lieutenant Yar is our new chief of security.", Riker announced as everyone took their seats. Tasha tipped her head to everyone in acknowledgement.
"To business at hand.", Picard moved right along but looked back to Tasha. "What's the total?"
"Two hundred and twenty-three in total, sir; one hundred twenty-five here and ninety-eight on the Tecumseh."
"Count on three more, at least over here, in the next few days.", Pulaski added.
"And not counting all their animals.", grimaced Tasha. A few others around the table shared her look.
"The sooner they're off ship, the better.", Riker looked to Picard.
"We are en route to Starbase Rhaeoto, where Captain Raginmund tells me they've agreed to be dropped off. But I worry; for humans, they were anachronistic in 2123. Is there any indication how they will cope?"
"There's no question they could learn and adapt, but" Riker started to answer when suddenly the klaxon went off. Tasha tapped her commbadge for a report as they all quickly filed out onto the bridge.
"Fire in Cargo Hold Seven." came the reply.
"The Bringloidi.", Riker sighed.
"I wonder what they've done to my ship now.", Picard shook his head.
"I'll see to it, sir.", Tasha declared, making her way up the ramp to the turbolift.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
"Hi, Data.", he called from the other end of the engineering room when he saw his friend come through the walkway.
"Hello, Geordie." he replied as he approached. "I was told you may need some help with replicator allotment and some potential malfunctions."
"Yes, we sure could." He walked around the large engineering console to where the information was. "I've been in meetings all morning and haven't had a chance to get to it." He tapped the console a few times. "Here's what's going on."
He took a quick look and nodded once. "I will be able to take care of this and have two of my staff speak to the guests."
Geordie broke out a smile, relieved he wouldn't have to mess with that part of it. "Great - thanks, Data. I owe you one."
Data almost opened his mouth, not sure if Geordie really had meant that or if he had only meant it as an expression, but he decided against asking or taking a tally.
A half hour passed, and various engineering personnel came and went, a few of them stopping, needing to speak to Commander LaForge. "Sir, a report on the power usage.", stated Lieutenant Argyle, his latest visitor, who handed him a PADD.
"Thank you, Lieutenant." Argyle walked off. Geordie skimmed it and made a small frown, reminded yet again about their funloving visitors. He then took notice of Data, remembering what he was doing. "Everything okay, Data?" he asked, walking over to him.
"Yes.", he replied without turning to look at him. "I had three interruptions, but I'm nearly finished. Lieutenant Devral and Ensign Clancy have been dispatched."
"Thanks, I appreciate it. But I meant how are you?", he furrowed his brow at his friend. 'I haven't heard you say an extra word since you first got here."
Data glanced up at him. "I have found I am slightly preccupied."
'Okay... How does an android get preccupied?', he wondered to himself.
When Geordie didn't leave, Data supplied a little more information. "Tasha isn't happy with me."
He wasn't able to fathom what Data must have done in the span of a few hours. "Oh? How did that happen - if you don't mind me asking?", he added, since Data wasn't terribly forthcoming.
Data stopped what he was doing and gave him his full attention. Maybe, he though, rather than let it blow over, Geordie could help him figure out a more appropriate course of action if there was one. "She wanted to study without resting last night. She was unproductive because of her exhaustion and fell asleep. I woke her well before the staff meeting this morning, but she is somewhere between unhappy and angry with me for allowing her to fall asleep. Did I do the wrong thing by not waking her earlier last night?"
"Mmm. No, Data, I think you did the right thing. She just sounds strung out."
"Strung out?", he enunciated.
"You know," he twirled one hand in front of him in explanation, "Stressed, frustrated, a little emotional."
"Ah."
"Once she gets a chance to decompress, she'll be over it. I wouldn't worry."
"Thank you, Geordie. That makes me 'feel better'." He nodded in agreement with his words, and the affected crease disappeared from his forehead.
"Picard to Engineering.", came the captain's voice on the comm.
"Go ahead, Captain.", replied Geordie.
"I need you and Mister Data to report to the bridge. We have been advised there is a second colony that needs to be", he paused for an inaudible sigh, "dealt with."
"Yes, Sir. On our way."
"Picard out."
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
Later on...
"Hello, Data.", she greeted cheerfully, characteristically stopping the 't' short at her palate.
"Hello, Counselor."
"Please come in." She turned back in and offered him a seat. "So what brings you here today?"
"Curiously, I'm under the impression that I may have experienced emotion this morning."
Deanna was startled. "You've never experienced any emotions before, right?" She motioned for him to sit, which he did.
"That is correct."
She herself sat and crossed her legs, tall burgundy boots showing. "Can you describe for me what happened?"
"I experienced two stimulus responses I have never experienced before, but I'm uncertain how to describe them." He paused for a second in thought. "As an example, one finds difficulty in adequately describing a color to a person without comparing it to another color, and the other person must typically have experienced color in order to precisely understand the color being described." Deanna nodded in sympathetic understanding. "I find the best I may be able to provide you is information on my actions at the time, past observation of others' emotional states for comparison, and the use of commonly related metaphor and simile."
She smiled and stifled a chuckle at the way he put it. "I don't doubt that's probably the best any of us could do, Data. Tell me what you can?"
He nodded once. "A friend of mine was posted to the ship yesterday. I wasn't aware of this fact when I met up with her shortly after she had come aboard. It was when I heard her voice down the hall that I was 'stopped dead in my tracks', as one might say. I was unsure if I had imagined her voice or if it were real, but to be... somehow internally jolted, then compelled to come to a physical and verbal halt yet still be conscious is not an event I have ever experienced before."
Troi was intrigued. "Do you know if you may have malfunctioned?"
"That was my first assumption; the meeting was not something I had expected, so perhaps I had experienced an irreconcilable 'misfire'. However, after we greeted one another I performed a self-diagnostic, and all my functions appeared to be operational and within normal parameters with no report of such an event."
Even with this said, Troi wasn't convinced it was emotional, so she turned to the practical implications. "Would you say the experience was uncomfortable enough so you wouldn't be able to function normally if it were to happen again?"
Because of the comm from Commander Riker, he wasn't able to tell her about the second and third incident. "Commander, you're needed on the bridge. We've arrived at the second colony."
"Yes, sir. I am on my way." He stood to leave, and she stood politely along with him. "I'm sorry, Counselor. Perhaps we can continue this conversation another time?"
"Of course, Data. And maybe you should discuss your reactions with Doctor Pulaski also. She might able to figure out"
"I would prefer not to.", he interrupted her simply.
"Oh." His abrupt answer wasn't what she had expected, and she couldn't help but to delve back into counselor mode. "Is there anything you would like to talk about regarding her in that next session?", she asked as they arrived at her office door.
"She does not regard me as a sentient being and would likely be more interested in disparaging me than in diagnosing me."
Troi looked down before she responded. "I was embarrassed for her at her first ready room meeting here. At the time I picked up on the hostility, but also believe I may have sensed a very low-level type of fear. It's possible that she feels threatened by you in some way."
Data's face showed he was considering this information. "That is a reasonable possibility, Counselor."
"But you don't need to be treated as an inferior by asking her to examine you. So what I would suggest is to come to me again if you should have another experience, or else analyze them in a personal log and see what conclusions you can draw if don't feel comfortable speaking to me about them."
"Thank you. I appreciate your help.", he nodded meaningfully, and left for the bridge.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
Tasha had been held up with the colonist mess for over an hour after Data's shift had ended and was running on fumes by the time she made it to his quarters.
"Hey.", she huffed in his direction.
It was something faint. Not an emotion? He couldn't be sure. "Good evening, Tasha.", he greeted, standing up from behind his desk. He noted her half-accidentally dumping another stack of PADDs on the sofa. "Can I help in some way?"
"No, but thanks.", she sighed. "I'll get them sorted out and out of the way."
"Don't worry about them; I don't mind."
"Alright. Then in that case, I'm going to be smart and head straight to bed."
He nodded, looking at her to try and pick up what she was feeling when she said that.
She caught on. "Yeah... I want to apologize for my mood when I woke up this morning." She shook her head clear. "It was totally my fault I fell asleep, and it's probably a good thing I got the sleep I did."
"I understand. Again, there is no need to worry."
"I worry when I act like a jerk for no reason."
"Lack of sleep can have that effect. Your situation was very forgivable."
She smiled meekly, ashamed of how she'd acted. After all, he was hardly her keeper.
"Please use my bed. It is much more comfortable than the sofa."
"Oh right," she looked in the bedroom, "you said you got it put in because you started to experience dreaming. Well, how convenient for me.", she laughed. "Thank you." He sat back down at his desk console, and she went in the bathroom to clean up and change. "Hey Data?", she called a few minutes later, walking back in the main room. She'd had the question lingering on her mind that she hadn't had time to think about.
"Hey Tasha?" He replied in same, making her chuckle lightly. She'd forgotten he'd picked that one up during their Academy days and had used it on her once before.
"Okay, make that two questions. How many people have you used that line on since you last used it on me?", she asked curiously, grinning.
"None; only you."
She lifted an eyebrow in genuine curiosity. "Why's that?"
He gave the question thought. "When the possibility arose, it either never seemed appropriate or it never fit into the conversation when the other person promptly continued to talk."
She couldn't help but feel touched, and she smiled. After a second she remembered what she meant to ask in the first place: "Other question was... well, I'm just curious - earlier when we met in the hall with Captain Picard and Commander Riker, why did you pause like you did when you introduced me as your friend?"
He looked down in consideration of his words and then up again before he started to speak, looking her in the eye in his own uncanny and forthright way. "I was not certain as to whether I could rightfully consider you my 'best friend' anymore, as in the last year on this ship I have been referring to Geordie with that term, and I did not want to verbally suppose it for you as well if it were inaccurate." When she didn't respond promptly, he added, "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to offend you."
"No, no, Data; that's not it.", she allayed as she placed her hand on his arm for a second. "I was just trying to figure out how I've classified my friends. And now that I think about it, I wonder how they might've organized their own friends in their minds..." she trailed off before grinning at him. "You have a way of putting life experiences into perspective." The ends of his mouth turned up lightly. If most anyone else had said that to him, he would have reason to wonder if they were casually debasing him.
Though exhausted, she took the time to sit down opposite of him to think about his question some more. "I'm thinking three's probably a crowd when it comes to best friends. Or... maybe the sexes of the friends can matter - having one of each may not seem intrusive." She stopped to ask, using his word, "But that might be supposing."
"No, I believe that may be an accurate conjecture. I can certainly see how it would be applicable in my case."
"You're my best friend too, Data." She smiled, eyes tired, and got up. "Only one still for me, but I'll letcha know."
He stopped himself from cocking his head, realizing she wasn't actively working towards another best friend or believing he was inadequate as one.
"'Night. I'll see you in the morning, this time around with bells on."
"Bells?" He didn't skip a beat.
"An expression." Neither did she.
"Ah. Sleep tight, Tasha." He looked it up while she slept - and ran another futile self-diagnostic.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
A/N: Feedback? Good or bad or neutral, bring it. (And, this chapter was put together at drastically different times in the last few months, so... if it needs some smoothing, please let me know. :) ) Thanks!