It started out as normal as any normal day on the Enterprise got until they received a series of bizarre subspace transmissions from the S.S. Tsiolkovsky, a research vessel that was scheduled to monitor the collapse of a red supergiant star. The last had been from a woman in a low, husky voice: "Well hello, Enterprise. I bet you've got a lot of pretty boys on board. I hope you get here soon, because I'm willing... and waiting..."
"Captain, it's been thirty minutes since their last transmission and they haven't responded to hails. We've lost contact.", announced Tasha from tactical.
Ensign Ro spoke from the conn. "We're approaching the Tsiolkovsy."
"There are no life signs.", Data noted curiously as he ran further scans.
"Are you certain? Yes, of course you are.", Picard corrected himself, so Data didn't respond.
Riker jumped to his feet and, with a nod from Picard, motioned for Data and Tasha to follow him to the turbolift. They met up with Geordie and extra security officers in the transporter room, phasers and tricoorders at the ready.
"Put us on their bridge, Chief.", said Will as they found their respective circles on the transporter pad.
"Life support systems are not functioning in that area, sir.", Miles replied from behind the transporter station.
"Main corridor?"
The transporter chief, looking down at the console, nodded. "Can do, sir."
"Energize." They materialized in the corridor, all quiet except for a low systems hum of the ship. Looking around and taking readings in the dimmed light, they saw nothing. "Computer, lights at a hundred percent." Interestingly, the ship's computer complied, so he tried another one. "Computer, temperature at twenty-two degrees celsius."
"Unable to comply. Environmental controls have been locked out."
He frowned. "Put tricoorders on record and split up. Commander Data, you're with me. LaForge and Yar, try to get to engineering. Thosal and Fong, see what you can find." They moved out as instructed.
Not long into their search, Will and Data came across scorched walls and trash on the deck. "Indications of a 'wild party', sir?"
Will gave a quick head-shake, not knowing what had happened, and kept looking around. He noticed a viewscreen down the hall and went to it. "Their bridge.", he explained simply, tapping in the sequence to get the viewer to show the bridge. The image disturbed both of them; the hatch had been blown, and the only things left were the consoles and chairs. "Damn. Somebody must've blown the hatch, and they were all sucked out into space."
"Blown out, sir.", he corrected, still analyzing the image from the bridge.
He wanted to roll his eyes, but his command persona kept him in check. "Thank you, Data."
His attention was redirected to their conversation. "A common mistake, sir..."
"*Thank you*, Mr. Data.", he enunciated, and Data got the point and filed Will's initial reaction so he could more easily tell when he stepped over into the realm of annoying the next time.
"Understood, sir."
Tasha's voice came over the commline. "Yar to Commander Riker."
Will tapped his commbadge. "Go ahead."
"We're in Engineering. It's very cold down here, sir, and all ten of the crewmen in here are dead, frozen." Baffled, she took note of the 'situation' on the master systems display table - two naked, frost-covered crewmembers were in an embrace. "And they weren't wearing too much, either."
"Frozen how?"
She'd checked the computer readouts. "We're guessing someone was toying with the environmental controls."
Giving Data an incredulous look, he commented, "That's ridiculous!"
She agreed. "That's what I say, sir." Walking over to another body, this one partially but scantily clothed, she crouched down to touched it to make sure it really was dead and frozen as it seemed, and it was. The frost from where she touched immediately melted and got her hand a little wet, which she wiped on her pantleg as she stood back up.
"Any other info?"
"Lieutenant LaForge has got the environmental settings under control as you've probably noticed by now. The lighting in here had been dimmed like everywhere else we've seen on the ship. Nothing more to report at the moment."
"Acknowledged. Continue to look around. Riker out."
He tapped his badge off and addressed Data before contacting the Enterprise. "Nothing we can do up here. Let's head down to Astrophysics." It wasn't far from Engineering.
Data nodded and followed his lead. Thankfully for them, everything, including all the turbolifts, were still functioning.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
They quickly searched parts of the ship they were passing through on the way to Astrophysics to upload the Tsiolkovsky's research data to the Enterprise. They repeatedly ran into the same eerie situation as Tasha had in Engineering, as well as one crewmember that, judging from his bruises and frozen blood, had apparently been beaten to death, but scans gave no indication what could have caused any of it. "Any thoughts on what could've happened, Commander?", asked Will.
"An unknown type of mass delusion, a drug, a pathogen, or, least likely, a Q-like entity."
"And yet our tricoorders aren't picking up any drugs or pathogens."
"That is correct, sir."
Suddenly, Data turned around and Will flinched. "What was that?"
Before Data could reply that it sounded like people were approaching, Tasha, seeing the normal level of light coming from the room, called out from down the hall: "Commander?"
"Yes, Lieutenant, it's us." Will was relieved it wasn't anything sinister. She came in ahead of Geordie and the other members of her security team and glanced at Data and then back to Will when he asked, "Anything further?"
"No, sir. We weren't able to find any other clues."
He tapped his comm. "Riker to Enterprise."
"Picard here."
"We're finished here and ready to beam back."
"We're ready for you, Number One. But be patient; we'll bring you over two by two because the transporters have been set to maximum decontamination. Report to sickbay for examination once you're aboard."
"Yes, sir. Riker out."
Data folded up his tricoorder as Will and Geordie began to slowly dematerialize. "This is pretty twisted.", she shuddered, recalling the creepiness of the bodies and the whole situation. "What do you think it is?", Tasha asked him.
"As I told Commander Riker, it is most likely an unknown type of mass delusion, a drug, or a pathogen." He had cocked his head, taking notice of her eyes. "Are you feeling alright?"
She wobbled her head back and forth. "I feel fine, Data. Why?"
"Your pupils are dilated two millimeters more than usual." The two security ensigns heard the and tried not act as though they were paying attention to the conversation before they were beamed out, but they thought it was odd he would notice something like that. But then, he was an android and did remember everything he saw.
She shrugged and guessed, "It must've been the low lighting everywhere."
"It's possible," he didn't sound convinced.
"In that case, I almost hope the doctor does find something so we'll know what's going on."
He nodded, and they began to dematerialize.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
"If you were any more *physically* perfect, Data, I'd write you up in a Starfleet medical textbook.", Doctor Pulaski declared as he sat up, emphasizing "physically" to be able to get in a requisite jab.
Her patient wasted no time picking up on it and replying in kind: "I am already listed in several, Doctor; just none written by you." She, unlike Doctor Crusher, had written no textbooks. And unfortunately for her, a large number of articles didn't count for the purpose of this conversation.
She was not much short of stunned. "Data?", Will questioned, finding his borderline insulting comment out of the ordinary. Geordie had made a little frown with one side of his mouth as his friend got off the biobed. Tasha, who'd already been cleared by the doctor as normal, raised a wide-eyed eyebrow. Even if Data wouldn't admit it, or know he felt it, she knew he couldn't like her much, and had good reason.
Data replied to the commander with a blank, blameless face. "Yes sir?"
Will tilted his head but said nothing. 'What a pair.', he thought, still surprised Data had said that. 'May be a symptom if this thing really is a pathogen like he said.'
Pulaski, not able to form a come-back, settled on acting as though Data had said nothing at all, essentially ignoring him, and called for her next patient. "You're next, Lieutenant." She started to take Geordie's readings, and, about to announce all was normal with him as well, glanced up and noticed a bead of sweat on the side of his temple. "Geordie, why are you perspiring?"
"Well, you do have it pretty warm in here. What else would it be?", he asked, a tiny bit snippy.
Because the room's temperature was normal, Pulaski and Riker exchanged a worried look. "That doesn't... exactly sound like you either, Geordi.", Will commented.
"I feel perfectly fine, doc. Honestly."
"I believe you, but maybe you should stay here awhile so I can take readings a little later, just to double-check."
"Alright." He sighed and laid back down.
Will wasn't necessarily comfortable with Data's behavior, but his help to figure out this mystery was needed. "Data, I'd like you on the bridge. I'll meet you there in a few minutes when the doctor's done with Fong and Thosal.", he dipped his head their direction.
"Yes, sir."
"Yar, you're technically due to go off duty, but we'll need a report from you and your men too."
"Yes, sir.", she echoed, getting her team's attention across the room to make sure they inferred to report to her as well, and then she and Data both left sickbay, headed towards the turbolift.
"Tasha," he commented, "although the doctor didn't find anything amiss, your eyes are still dilated more than usual. Do you still feel normal?"
"As far as I can tell."
"Please contact me or the doctor if you should begin to feel differently.", he said, his face seemingly concerned.
"Definitely." She stepped onto the lift with him. "Deck eight.", she told the computer, intending to head for her quarters to sit down and write up the report.
"Bridge.", he spoke, then asked her, "Also, would you mind feeding Spot? I may not return to my quarters for some time."
"Of course not. What should I give her?"
"She currently prefers feline supplement one-twenty-five."
"One-twenty-five.", she repeated to help remember it. "Will do."
He tacked on an extra request: "And tell her she is a good cat, and a pretty cat?"
She let out a laugh, genuinely thinking that was great. "I will, Data.", she smiled. He imitated the smile, trying to look pleased, because he was under the impression he might just be.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
An hour later, Will snapped his head up with an idea, addressing the captain, Worf, and a very normal-acting, seated Data around a console on the side of the bridge. "I remember now...", he started to trail off but got back on the thought, "I was reading a history of all the past starships named Enterprise."
Data took the initiative to input the information into his panel. "Enterprise history. Aberrant behavior. Medical cross reference..."
Picard entered then, and Will filled him in on his hunch. "Captain, I think we've got the answer to what happened over there."
The captain walked over to where Data was examining the information he had called up.
"The Constitution-class Enterprise, Captain James T. Kirk commanding..."
"Similar conditions.", Will added. "They were monitoring a planet that was breaking up, not a collapsing star as in this case, but there were the same huge shifts in gravity..."
"...which somehow resulted in complex strings of what appeared to be water molecules which then acquired carbon from the body and acted on the brain like alcohol! Mister Data, send that information immediately to medical.", Picard finished.
"Aye sir, sending."
The three of them continued to read - or, rather, the two commanding officers and Worf continued to read, as Data had already finished before they had even started. "Fascinating!", Picard exclaimed, a ways out of character for his normal command persona. "Their entire crew going out of control..."
"Like intoxication but worse. Judgment almost completely impaired..."
"Until they found this formula, barely in time. Picard to Doctor Pulaski."
"Go ahead Captain."
"You can relax, Doctor. The answer to all this is feeding into your medical banks now... including a cure."
It took Pulaski a few moments to check out at the data that had been sent to her. "Oh boy! Are you certain, Captain?"
Will and Data exchanged looks while Picard beamed, drawn into her upbeat mood. "Absolutely!"
Data practically winced at his exclamation. His captain's new demeanor was an additional bad sign.
"Ohhhkaaay. Pulaski out."
Without missing a beat, his commbadge chirped again. "Troi to Captain Picard."
"Picard here."
"Sir," she said worriedly, "Lieutenant Yar's acting oddly. She's just left my quarters..."
Data glanced back up at the captain who responded, "Thank you, Counselor. Picard out." That was the sixth call now - Yar, LaForge, Fong, Thosal, Keenan, and Pulaski, not to mention himself and Will. He tapped his commbadge once. "Doctor. Let me know when you've made a test injection. We're getting indications that this condition is spreading rather rapidly."
"Test injection already? You just gave me the data I needed, like, thirty seconds ago. I'm a doctor, not a magician. So no, no test yet, Captain, but very soon."
He sighed as if troubled that she wasn't indeed a magician. "Fine. Picard out."
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
'Captain's log.', he typed into the console beside his command chair on the bridge. 'It has been an hour and a half since the away team beamed aboard the Tsiolkovsky. Whatever strange contaminant that led to the deaths of their crew has been spreading aboard the Enterprise.'
Picard looked up from his console when he heard his own voice over the intercom, although as anyone around him could see, his lips were clearly not moving. "Attention all decks, all divisions. Effective immediately, I have handed over control of this vessel to Acting Captain Wesley Crusher." The bridge crew looked at each other in stupefaction.
"Sir," Worf spoke up, "I'm getting very strange reports from all decks..."
"Such as?"
"Such as the ship's training scheduler ordering all officers to attend a lecture on metaphysics." His frown was unmistakable.
"Confirmed, sir. And there is a rather peculiar limerick being delivered by someone in the shuttlecraft bay to the lower decks.", Data added, seemingly perfectly in control of himself.
"Daaata.", sung Yar over the commline. He lifted his head, feeling something akin to confusion and worry. "I thought I'd report my condition to you."
"Lieutenant!", exclaimed the captain. "Where are you?", he demanded to know.
"Keep your britches on, Captain.", she huffed, her fun interrupted. "I'm in my quarters, and I'm a little occupied at the moment. It's too bad for you!"
Picard gathered all the composure he had. "Alright, Lieutenant; just stay *right there*."
She chimed, "I will until I get tired of waiting."
Whatever that meant, he nor anyone else had any idea, nor did he particularly want to know.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
"What was in that, Doctor?", Geordie groaned, holding onto his forehead as he sat up after being unconscious for about half an hour. "Man."
Pulaski did a little uncharacteristic hop of joy in response. "Good for you! It's worked!" She turned to refill the hypospray, albeit distractedly, with a bluish liquid
"Marvelous.", Picard smiled open-mouthed, looking like he was about to break into a dance number. "Let's do it!" He hopped onto the biobed Geordie had vacated and nearly missed but managed to steady himself and lie down. Pulaski moved in closer to him than necessary to inject him, and he fell asleep without incident. Lingering, she had forgotten what it was she was supposed to be doing until Data brought her train of thought back in focus with a "Doctor?". Geordie and Data had exchanged questioning glances.
"Oh, right." She turned back to the table where the other two dozen or so hypospray refills laid and began to fill them and place them in a satchel. "You'll need to, um, admins... aminst... administer," she finally got the word unslurred, "a dose of this to anyone showing signs of the intoxition. Iiintoxic. Introx..."
"Yes, doctor.", he interrupted her again to get her back on track.
"All of this should be enough for about a thousand sprays." She handed it to him and, seeing the captain out of the corner of her eye, began to drift over his way again. "He's even more handsome laying down..."
"I will begin the inoculations now.", he acknowledged. She had mostly stopped paying attention to him, so he had to take her gently by the arm and redirect her focus by pointing to the nearest empty biobed.
"But Datta...", she complained but got on the bed anyway. "You're such a fucking buzzkill..." Geordie was astounded by that kind of talk to and about his friend.
Without replying, Data injected her, then stood where he was for a second: "That felt good. Hmph.", he said, surprised at himself.
Geordie blinked a few times and redjusted his visor. 'I must still be under the influence.', he thought. 'I do still feel dizzy.' "Data, I don't think I'm quite well, yet, so I'm just gonna lie back down for awhile if it's all the same to you."
"I believe I can manage, Geordie. I will contact you if I need your assistance."
"Sure, thanks."
He took a hypo holster from the table near the sickbay door and left with it and the satchel to begin his ship-wide mission.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
Counselor Troi and Ensign Ordoez were engrossed in an outrageous amount of giggling as they held onto each other, swaying drunkenly down a hallway on deck eight. Data greeted them, to which they could barely respond with more than a nod as they had their mouths covered with a hand apiece in a failed effort to look far less obvious about their behavior than they really were coming across. They looked at each other, and seeing they were both doing the same thing, they burst into another fit of giggles. He took the opportunity as they staggered past to reach out and press to their arms the hypospray he had in his hand. After a couple of seconds, they clumsily reached their arms out towards the floor and walls and each other to try and keep from falling. They were unsuccessful and slumped to the floor, passing out cold.
Now, after approximately twelve minutes into his mission to inject the entire crew, he found himself at the door to Tasha's quarters. For reasons of ship safety, the intention was to attempt to get to the senior staff first, then the security personnel, followed by the remainder of the crew and finally the civilians onboard. Tasha was the last of the senior staff he had gotten to, although he had already inoculated thirty-five personnel and four civilians he had happened by on his way. Once he saw the two officers in the hall were down, in order to ensure the compound was working on everyone, he wasted no time in holstering the hypospray and ringing her doorchime.
"Who is it?", she inquired in a sing-song voice from inside.
"It's Data.", he replied, curious as to what her response would be, based on the delivery of her first words and her communication with him when he was on the bridge. Her door slid open, revealing a low-lit living space with faux candle shadows dancing on the walls and ceiling, and revealing his friend - his best friend, looking starkly different from how he had ever seen her look. Her hair was slicked back not totally unlike his, he thought, her makeup was much more dramatic, and, most strikingly to him, she was wearing a two-piece dress whose bodice was upside-down, in effect, to provocatively reveal the bottom of her breasts rather than the top. He questioned how to react to this new Natasha Yar.
"Data," she crooned, "I'd hoped you would find your way here... but I had just about given up and was going to go looking for you." She sauntered up to him and posed. "I'm glad you didn't keep me waiting toooo much longer." Reaching out, she released the satchel from his hand, which dropped to the floor, and took both his hands in hers, gliding backward. He allowed her to lead him into her bedroom. She backed herself up directly against the end of her bed and let go of his hands in order to wrap hers loosely around his neck. "Now... you wanted me?", she importuned, toying with the hair at the back of his head.
He stood hesitantly, uncertain how much of her behavior, even if the littlest amount, may have been innate and how much had been affected and loosened in a general way by the pathogen. There was no question in his mind that he found her revealing attire, sultry voice, and persistent actions alluring, but there were two significant problems he couldn't ignore: One, he had a job he must finish. Two, and even more important to him, was how she would feel about this once she was herself again. He had little doubt that, based on her past, she would be panicked had she found herself in this situation sober. Appreciating these facts, he decided he would supply her an answer with the easier of the two available truths: "I 'want' for you to not be intoxicated. The crew requires your assistance right now."
"But I already got out of uniform," she whined suggestively with a pout, "and just for you." With that, she drew him closer and breathed, "I think we should stay here for awhile." She had already begun to distract her hungry eyes with the glimmering skin on his face and neck when she noticed his uniform had been torn on his shoulder. Before he could really respond in the negative to her begging, she petted his shoulder and asked, "Data, what happened to you?"
He glanced down at where she touched him. "Lieutenant Worf is apparently an 'angry drunk'.", he answered matter-of-factly.
"Ohh, poor thing...", she smiled, drawing him flush with her body and bringing his face down the remaining inches to hers.
Against his better judgement, he allowed his lips to discover hers, though he wasn't prepared for the emotion that washed through him in doing so. Because of his momentary euphoria, it took him longer than he anticipated to gain the capacity to put his arms behind her and gradually press her backward with his body in order to lay her down on the bed gently. At the same time, with her thoroughly distracted by his mouth, he placed a hypospray to her unclothed side and pressed the button.
He regrettably broke their kiss. She was smiling in blissful reverie. Her eyes, on his, began to unfocus in short order. "Has anyone ever told you", her speech began to slow down mid-sentence because of the injection, "you have a great sense of humor?" And with that, she was out like a light.
"Yes, Tasha." He regarded her thoughtfully, his face hovering mere centimeters above hers. "You have." And with that, as much as he wanted to give her another kiss, he carefully lifted himself off of her, walked to the door, and picked up the dropped satchel. He paused to watch her for a few moments, her chest rising and falling easily, her face uncreased and seemingly very content, before exiting to complete his mission. He did not fail to lock her door once outside, to discourage any potential uninoculated visitors before she had a chance to wake up.
=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=
The shift's crew, all of whom were wearing fresh, crisp uniforms and acting perfectly sober again, albeit extremely self-conscious and even nervous, filtered in from the turbolifts and took their positions. Data had been working at one of the stations on the horseshoe when he saw Tasha come in, spy him, quickly look left, and take her place a few feet away. Farther away, by a foot, than she should have been to work most efficiently at that particular station. Not anywhere close enough to feel her personal bubble was being violated by her own or anyone else's actions. She stared intently at the panel to her front right, tapping once at it, and didn't look up or around at anyone. But when Data moved closer to her - there went her bubble again - and spoke her name just above a whisper, she couldn't stop her head from involuntarily jerking over to look at him, and in doing so, she felt her face catch on fire to the extent she was sure her station and the carpet underneath her would alight as well. Then her defenses kicked in. "Data!", she whispered back, "I'm only going to tell you this once: That never happened." She went right back to staring at the panel in an effort to show him the conversation was over and save herself from further perceived embarrassment.
He found the way she was treating him disturbing. Or perhaps the way he had treated her was disturbing? His brow lowered while he thought, and then he turned to where Captain Picard had entered a second earlier from the other turbolift and asked him, "Sir, may I speak to Lieutenant Yar for a moment in the Observation Lounge?"
Picard, not having seen Tasha's face, and not having remembered her calling up to the bridge earlier, assumed it related to the security of ship functions and gave it no further thought. "Yesofcourse, go ahead, Commander." He waved them off as he made his way to the command chair to go over status and damage reports.
Data gave her a look suggesting she should lead the way. Eyes wide and face still flushed, she felt about two feet tall having been called out, and it might as well have been that she was half naked once again. More than anything in the universe she did not want to spend any amount of time in a confined space with him right now, but she had little choice but to follow his 'suggestion'. Entering the room, she stopped and looked down when she reached the long desk, too humiliated to turn around. Data waited until the door fully closed behind him to speak. "Tasha, how much of what transpired while you were 'intoxicated' do you remember?"
There was a brief pause before she replied. "All of it."
"Then you remember the situation you claimed never happened did in fact happen." He wasn't being nave, she knew; he just wanted to get it out in the open and clear the air.
She was flustered enough so that the right words weren't coming to her and, even turned away from him, a tear was threatening to prick her eye, so she sighed in momentary defeat before admitting it softly: "I don't know what to say."
He walked around to her side to get her to look at him. "Please say you aren't ashamed or embarrassed."
She couldn't believe he would think she couldn't be. Her one real friend she'd had for years, the only one she'd trusted with her personal life, and she went and, at the least, sabotaged that in her own mind. "But Data, I was all over you. I can't believe I... I didn't meant to put you in that position." When that last phrase left her lips, she felt her face flush all over again and started to move away. 'Dammit...', she mentally kicked herself.
He touched her arm gently so as not to invoke her natural defenses to such a personal invasion of space. "Tasha, you were drunk." She lifted her liquidy, hazel-grey eyes to his complex yellows, and he steadily held her gaze. She didn't fight his touch either, despite desperately wanting to look away. In the back of her mind was the realization she didn't acknowledge, that there was something about being so close to him now that was tempting, but it couldn't overpower her shame. "However, I have no excuse.", he continued. She made a puzzled face. "I should have simply injected you shortly after you opened the door and then carried you over to your bed rather than the other way around, and thus I am responsible for allowing the situation to continue. For that I apologize."
She experienced a disconnect. 'It's hardly your fault!', she was about to say, before he went on speaking.
"Please understand there is nothing I regret about what transpired between us unless my actions should have caused you to be uncomfortable around me from now on."
The goofy stock phrase of relationships, 'It's not you; it's me!', entered her mind, but nonetheless the face value of the sentiment felt appropriate to her. She closed her eyes and shook her head to clear it. "There you go thinking about someone else instead of yourself." He waited patiently for her to mull it all over. "No, Data." She looked back up to him. "You know I always feel safe around you."
He looked relieved, with a ghost of smile appearing on his face. "I am very glad to hear that."
As he was turning to walk back out onto the bridge, she stopped him because her own curiosity prevailed this time. "Why didn't you? Or, why did you?" 'Was he just interested in experiencing that, or did he want to kiss me?', she couldn't help but wonder.
He didn't need her to elaborate on the question in the form she asked it, but he wasn't sure how she would interpret a loose-ended answer like, 'I was certain one kiss would not ruin our friendship.' The last thing he wanted was for her to feel he had violated her trust in that manner, so he opted for a more cryptic answer. "Because for a time, I was very tempted by your offer."
She inhaled and lifted her eyebrows slightly, otherwise posed perfectly still, not sure what to make of this new information. "How long a time?"
"Zero point six eight seconds." He paused to see what if any reaction that would get him. She didn't know how to feel, thinking it hadn't meant anything to him. All he got from her was a blink, so he explained with assurance, "For an android, that is nearly an eternity."
And it then did get him the reaction he had hoped for. She smiled, albeit shyly, and her bottom lip twitched. He mirrored her smile thoughtfully before exiting onto the bridge with her following behind, at much greater ease than when she had entered. We're okay., she admitted to herself, able to release a long breath with that knowledge.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
A/N: If you read this chapter and don't review it, I will find you and beat you up! No really; you simply MUST review. So go on. ::points adamantly to the widget below:: Click that, review, and then Facebook-share this 'fic with 500 of your closest Trekkie friends. What, no? ;) Well, at LEAST tell me you liked how it ended up better than the original? =)