Juliana was standing at science console one to the side of the command chairs and studied the worrying results on the screen. She'd been trying to concentrate on doing her job as a geologist ever since her son was confined, knowing that she would have no opportunity to help him. She needed to trust his colleagues to do that. But she needed to occupy her mind before she went mad with worry, so she spent her last few days here, at the science console and analysed the peculiar geological structure of Epsilon Four. She tried to stay for the nights too, now that she knew that theoretically, she needed no sleep, just as Data. However, she found that after twenty hours, at around dawn, she fell asleep over the console - a limitation Noonian must have implemented so she wouldn't suspect anything...

She was also trying to avoid Earl. It was more and more difficult to face him and his seemingly unconditional acceptance, while she herself had no idea how to accept herself. It was a strangely contradictory feeling: she felt she loved Data as a son without reservation regardless of the fact that he was an android, and her decades old dream was to see androids just like him living together with humans. But now that it was HER that was the manifestation of her very dream... she felt she had to face a certain prejudice she never realized she had against her own kind, nor did she understand the reason behind it. The fact was that, she felt less now that she knew she was not a human. Almost worthless... like and object would feel if it could... All of this was just so complicated, so overwhelming, that she wanted nothing but to put all this aside and concentrate on something that she could deal with. But she'd never have dreamt she'd find something as unsettling as she did when she finished her analysis!

She glanced over to the Captain's ready room uneasily. She needed to talk to the Captain about her findings immediately. But that Doctor Maddox disappeared inside a quarter of an hour ago, and she wasn't sure if her disturbance would do any good to her son's situation...

In a few minutes' time, the door opened, and Juliana watched as Maddox left the bridge with an unreadable expression. Her heart sank seeing the man seemingly so unfeeling.

The Captain came out and was about to take over command from Lieutenant Anderson, but Juliana stopped him stepping up to him.

"Captain, I need to speak with you for a moment." she started "In private."

"Sure, Doctor Tainer." Picard nodded, but they hadn't reached the ready room, when the turbolift door opened, and Will and Deanna stepped out on the Bridge in a rush.

"Captain!" they called in union.

"Counsellor, Commander!" Picard greeted them as they got to them "Report, Number One."

"It'd be better, if we went into your ready room, Sir." Will told him on a dead serious voice, and Picard nodded.

"Fine. Let's call Doctor Crusher as well, she might want to be here too."

Deanna obeyed and called Beverly through her combadge as they stepped over the threshold of the ready room.

"Captain!" Juliana called almost jumping after them before the door could close "I really need to talk to you too, it's urgent!"

Picard pondered for a second "Join us, Doctor, and we'll be listening to you in a moment's time."

"Thank you." Juliana nodded, and they all disappeared inside.


"So what are we doing in a shuttle bay?" Emma asked looking at Data questioningly "When we disappeared in sickbay, I thought the next moment we'd be standing on the planet!"

But they were actually standing in a small corner in shuttle bay two behind a small shuttlecraft.

Data peeked out from behind the vehicle as he answered on a hushed voice "Transporter logs can always be recovered and restored even if I remove them or temper with them. Without exaggeration, Geordi is an expert in that. The first and foremost priority is to get off the Enterprise leaving as little trace behind us as possible. Therefore, we will use the runabout instead of beaming off the ship." he replied watching the technicians working on the runabout. They'd watched as Deanna and Will got off and rushed to the nearest turbolift as if the devil was two steps behind them, and Data made the assessment that if they were in such a hurry, they must have found something. He then also calculated the odds on how useful that something might prove concerning their present situation and decided that leaving the ship gave them better chances than staying. He looked at Emma who was looking at him expectingly, while Earl stood close next to her - their destination on the other hand was another matter...

He opened the small bag that contained some valuable instruments and substances they received from Beverly and took out a tricorder.

"What are you doing?" Earl asked curiously watching the android tapping the instrument.

"I am setting off an alarm to make the staff leave the shuttle bay." and in confirmation, a few seconds later, a loud alarm went off and pulsating red light filled the shuttle bay.

"Warning! Depressurization alert! All personnel evacuate immediately!" the voice of the computer filled the air repeating its monotonous warning, and the technicians, though first looking at each other confused, started to run toward the closest exits. In less than a minute, Data, Emma and Earl remained alone.

"Come on." Data commanded, and they ran to the runabout.

Once inside, Data sat in one of the command chairs and tapped the console to see the stats of the vehicle.

"Anti-matter pod is almost on full capacity. All instruments standing by for launch. Perfect." he added tapping the console.

"Data, the technicians are back!" Earl warned him looking out of the window to the side "They must have figured out that you only took them for a ride."

"Initiating launching sequence." Data declared, and Emma had the creepiest sensation as if she was listening to a computer speaking on his lover's voice. He then turned to Earl "We will be clear in three seconds. I also closed the shuttle bay doors and cut off all communication systems. They won't be able to report that we've left, and the monitoring system will not notify the Bridge either."

"You trapped them there?" Emma asked taken aback.

Earl looked at him gaping "But will they not get depressurized as we-" he started to ask, but before he could finish, the runabout penetrated the forcefield and flew out into the night. Earl looked back into the shuttle bay to see the technicians - they seemed to be fine.

Data once again turned to them where they stood a few paces away from him "The forcefield of the shuttle bays can be penetrated by space vehicles such as the runabout without the danger of decompressing the shuttle bay itself." he explained and then looked back at the consoles and started tapping them to first conduct a diagnostics before laying in a course "On the other hand, I am afraid they ARE trapped in there, for as long as somebody does not notice that the runabout is missing. However, given that our leeway cannot be more than a few minutes even by my most daring estimates, therefore you can rest assured, they will not have to stay there for long."

Emma watched him baffled, still not able to put her finger on just what exactly was wrong with her lover, when he finally turned his head toward her to look into her eyes with the most deadpan expression she'd EVER seen on his face - and this time, unlike all other occasions, she could not project any emotions to his facial expression. It was completely void. Her frown deepened as she looked into his eyes, and he went on on the same colorless voice as before.

"I would like you to follow Doctor Crusher's orders and take a rest. I have chosen the runabout to be our means of escape not only because it has a larger operational range compared to other shuttlecrafts, but also because it offers a more comfortable living space. Which might be useful in your present condition."

"Present condition?!" Emma gaped now really taken aback "You're talking as if I had a deadly sickness, and I had to be nursed!"

He cocked his head slightly to the side "You are in denial of the fact that you, in actuality, almost died?" It WAS illogical indeed, though quite in line with her character, he mused.

"I'm not denying anything, but stop treating me as if I was some snotty kid in need of a babysitter!" she retorted.

Earl stepped over to them and looked at Data with a hard expression "There was something else that caught my attention in what you've just said." Data looked at him still with a blank expression waiting for him to go on "You said, the runabout has a larger operational range - why would we need a large operational range, if our destination is the planet only a few thousand kilometers below?"

Emma looked at Earl shocked, and Data turned back to the instruments. The diagnostics were still running, but he wanted them to be as invisible on the scanners as possible, so he pressed a few buttons and navigated the runabout to the northern polar region, where the magnetic field of the planet would hide them.

"Are you gonna answer Earl's question?" Emma demanded, and Data looked back at them - now a slight determination might have been made out in his eyes.

"Since I am the commanding officer on this ship, I do not owe you any kind of explanation."

Emma threw her hands up frustrated "We're rogues now, Deadpan, and not Starfleet officers on a starship, so stop pretending that we are!" she retorted "We're two against one, you're voted off, so spill it already!"

Data gave a slight shake of his head "I do not wish to put up with any kind of emotional distress either of you might display before we are on our way, so no, I am not planning to share our destination with you yet."

She gaped not believing her ears. Was he taken by aliens while she was in a coma?! Or was this some alternate universe, where they'd never ever felt any kind of tenderness for each other? She'd never seen him this cold ever before! But then why was he risking his career, his very life?!

"You're not planning to go back to Epsilon Four, are you." Earl told him already knowing the answer. Data did not reply, and the older man's hands clenched in a fist - he definitely did NOT expect this turn of events! "You may go wherever you wish, but I'm not going with you! Beam me back to Epsilon Four, and you can be on your way!" he declared and went to the transporter panel on the wall.

Data stood and jumped him before he could tap anything into the console. He took his lower arm in a firm grip and glared into the elder man's eyes "This is not for a civilian to use!"

"Then operate it and send me back!" Earl demanded now visibly desperate.

Data held onto his arm a little more firmly as he struggled against him "Epsilon Four is the least safe place for both you and Emma. I will not allow either of you to return."

"I agree about Emma, the best would be if you took her as far away from here as you could, but you have to let me go back! I have responsibilities down there, people that count on me! I cannot simply run away!"

Emma stepped up to them bewildered "Stop this both of you! You think I'm just a puppet that you can argue about whose turn it is to drag its strings?! If you haven't noticed, I'm running away from exactly that right at the moment, so I'd really appreciate, if I could have a word in my own fate! Thank you very much!"

The two man let each other go, and Data looked into her eyes with his calm gaze "I did not wish to make you feel as if the decisions are made without your word in them. However, I presumed that you would also concede to the fact that Epsilon Four is by no means the place to escape to for either you or Earl."

Emma stepped close to him looking into his eyes with a pleading expression "It is exactly the place, Deadpan! I've been safe with the Resistance for two years. Ed never could find us, we will be protected there!"

Data gave a slight shake of his head "Since he has a close association with Romulans, they might have better means to determine the location of the Resistance' hide-out. We cannot risk that."

"How do you know they're still there?" Earl asked trying hard to convince the android "Their mine collapsed, their business is gone, and on top of it all, a Federation starship is in orbit."

"We can never be sure about the fact that they had only one mining shaft on the planet. Also they could re-establish the collapsed shaft if they wish - and since it was a fruitful business, they do have a compelling reason to do so." Data reasoned.

"That point is moot, Data." Earl told him "Our hide-out, the studio lot is protected against scanners, so even if there were Romulans on Epsilon, we'd still be safe." he looked into his eyes pleading "Understand Data, the only way to stop Jones is through the Resistance. If we don't, not only the people of Epsilon Four will remain the captive of his machinations forever, but Emma too. Wherever you go, wherever you'd try to hid, you would never live in peace. He'd always try to get her back one way or the other. He won't stop until he does."

Data glanced away to analyse all the information at hand, to at least try to calculate their odds, had they actually landed on the planet - he suddenly felt he missed the gut-feeling his emotion-chip could give him, that had helped him from time to time to make a decision in the last two years. But he never got to the end of that analysis.

The computer started to chirp widely, and he ran back to the console just to find himself face to face with a Romulan ship looking in through the front window.

"It seems our decisions have already been made for us." he whispered as they stared at the enormous bird-of-prey for a second before its disruptors flared up!

"Shields up!" Data commanded the computer, but a moment later, they received a direct blow that could not be withstood by their shield, and suddenly all they could see around them were orange flames!


"A what?!" Juliana and Beverly gaped at them bewildered.

After a moment of stunned silence, the Captain decided that he couldn't believe his ears either "Would you care to repeat it, Number One?" he asked on a low voice.

"He's a Ullian, a strong telepath, Sir." Will repeated and looked at Deanna.

"He was surgically altered to resemble a human as thoroughly as possible." she explained, and Picard stared into her eyes for a few long seconds digesting the information. He then slowly turned and walked up to his desk from where they'd been standing in the middle of his room.

"Could that be really medically possible?" Juliana asked looking at Beverly.

She frowned thinking "Theoretically, yes but..." she trailed off "A telepath..." she whispered and finally, the realization dawned on her "Of course! This is how he woke her!"

They stared at her confused for a long moment, before Deanna finally asked "Emma is awake?"

"Yes!" Beverly nodded and went on explaining her shocking revelation "There had been experiments of using telepathy with coma patients, but the results were very varied: some people woke, but some remained unconscious, and some others died. The experiment became so controversial that the Federation finally banned the method altogether! But it seems, Jones knew he would be able to wake her all along."

Picard looked at her pondering "You think, he knew he'd get the permission from the Federation to take her into custody only if she's conscious, and he tried to get near her to wake her exactly because of that?"

Before Beverly could answer, Deanna asked what they all had on their minds "Who can possibly calculate all the steps so far ahead?"

"Someone, who knows the outcome of every move he makes beforehand!" Riker concluded "Probably through the Admiral."

A heavy silence descended on them for a long moment. Picard pressed his fingers straight onto the surface of his desk then looked up at them with a grim expression "Can we make an estimate as to how much unauthorized information could he have access to in the last days?"

Will turned his palm up frustrated "Given that he'd been spending all his time with the Admiral, any amount, Sir."

Picard nodded "And he has a close connection to the Romulans..."

"Sir," Deanna stepped up to him "now we have a strong basis to break all connections to Epsilon Four, moreover, we could take him into custody since the Federation has strict rules involving the official negotiations concerning telepathic races, which he'd knowingly breached."

Juliana looked at them frowning confused "If he's not a human acting on the part of a human colony, how can any of what he'd been negotiating about be accepted by any Federation institution?"

The Captain went on explaining "Strictly speaking, that shouldn't be a matter. The negotiating party needs to be chosen by the partner, the Federation cannot have a word in that. Of course, the fact that the Epsilonian people have no idea who their leader is, is an issue, but not a Federational one."

Deanna spoke up "The Federation requires a third-party telepath overseeing any negotiations, if either or both negotiating parties are telepaths. Since we were unaware of the fact, we had no chance to delegate a third-party telepath to the negotiations. Therefore, all of the contracts between the Federation and Epsilon Four that have Premier Jones' signature on are nullified." her features then let on a small smile "Including his petition of surrendering his wife and Mr. Mils to him."

"What about Data's confinement?" Juliana asked anxious "Can he be let free on the same grounds that Jones' complaints are not valid of consideration since he'd lied about who and what he was!"

"I'm afraid, no, Doctor." Picard replied "Though Premier Jones made the complain, it was Admiral McKinnley who decided on Data's confinement."

Will looked at her determined "But this is hard enough evidence to arrest him on the grounds of misleading Federation officials, and even spying and selling out information to a hostile race! Once he's confined, and his influence over the Admiral lessens, McKinnley might see reason finally about Data as well."

"Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly!" Beverly told them visibly scared.

"What's wrong, Beverly?" Deanna asked alarmed sensing her distress.

Beverly swallowed not exactly knowing how to break this to them "Data, Emma and Mr. Mils... they are... they are on their way to get off the Enterprise."

"What?!" the others gaped in union.

"Neither of them believed Jones could be stopped by any means we possess. They sincerely believed that they'd need to leave the Enterprise to be safe! Oh, god, Emma had no idea whom she was married to for a decade..." she gazed away shaken by the sudden realization.

Picard took her by the arm snapping her out of her distress "Beverly, what are they planning? Where are they going?!"

She shook her head "I don't know exactly. Only that Emma wanted to go back to Epsilon Four. To the Resistance."

He let her go and rushed out to the Bridge, the others followed him.

"Lieutenant! I have the Bridge!" he told Anderson who was sitting in the command chair.

"Aye, Sir!" she stood and switched places with an Ensign at the Operations console, while Will sat next to Picard, and the ladies went to stand at the science consoles.

"Computer! Locate Commander Data, Lieutenant Jones or Earl Mils." Picard commanded on a hard voice.

After a moment, the computer chirped "Negative results. Lieutenant Commander Data, Lieutenant Jones and Earl Mils are not on board the Enterprise."

"Oh, hell!" Will breathed.

"Ms. Anderson, check the transporter logs." Picard commanded "If they beamed off, there must be a trace about it."

"Captain," Will called "it seems the brig cells are occupied by the guards themselves." he grimaced wryly - of course, Data knew how to circumvent the brig monitoring system. "I'll let them out." he growled silently.

Picard looked at Deanna "Scan the planet, we should be able to track at least Data! He has unique component elements enough to stick out in any sensor sweep."

"Scanning, Sir!" Deanna replied and started to tap the science console.

"Not necessarily, Captain." Juliana replied, and Picard turned to her questioningly. "The planet's crust consists mainly of kelbonite. It's interfering with most of the scanning technology we possess."

"But we found you even inside the mines." Will told her confused.

"What you found was the signal of Data's combadge. It guided the transporter beam to get a lock on us. But... if their objective was to run away without a trace..." she trailed off not daring to think about what might happen, if they failed to find them.

"There's nothing peculiar in the transporter logs, Sir." Anderson spoke up "If they beamed off the ship, they must have covered their traces."

"I was afraid of something like this." Will growled.

Picard looked at Deanna urging "Counsellor?"

She shook her head watching as the scan of the planet completed without results "Nothing, Sir."

"Captain." Will called again "There's one more place we could check. If they're not on the ship and seemingly not on the planet, they can still be on-"

"A shuttlecraft!" Picard and Deanna finished in union.

"Computer! Is there a shuttle missing from the shuttle bays?" Picard asked in a hurry.

"Affirmative. The runabout is missing from shuttle bay two."

"Scan for that runabout, Anderson!" Will commanded.

"Aye, Sir! Scanning!" after a few moments of tense waiting, Anderson shook her head confused "Negative results, Sir! I've scanned the whole sector, they're nowhere to be seen!"

Will stood up "Mmmm..." he shook his head "The runabout is fast, but it couldn't have left the sector in less than an hour's time." he explained as he stepped up to Anderson.

"What are you suggesting, Number One?" Picard asked frowning.

Will tapped the Ops console "Let's see if Mr. Data was a good enough student of my tactics." he mumbled and when he finished, they could all hear Anderson's surprised gasp looking at her the small display of her console. "On screen, Lieutenant!" Will commanded, and on the view screen, the runabout appeared sitting on top of the planet.

Will turned back to the Captain "He uses the magnetic pole to hide from scanners. You can only find him, if you know where to look for him. I used this particular tactics decades ago, who else would remember it if not Data." he chuckled wryly shaking his head.

"Should I open hailing frequencies, Sir?" Anderson asked.

Picard stood "Not yet, Lieutenant! They're safe there." he looked into Will's eyes "Let's get rid of Jones, first!" he commanded on a low, determined voice.

But before they could make a move, they suddenly heard the raspy voice of the Admiral from behind "What is going on here?!"

Picard and Will turned to the two new-comers in union: the Admiral was followed by Premier Jones in tow as they walked up to stand opposite the officers in front of the command chairs. A deadly silence descended on the Bridge as nothing could be heard apart from the chirping of the computer consoles. They glared at each other for a long moment before Jones spoke up.

"Isn't it plain, Admiral? Your Captain and his loyal crew have just assisted three criminals to escape from your ship!"

Deanna was the one whose temper finally snapped at this "The only criminal on this ship is you!" she called out, and the Admiral and Jones turned to her taken aback.

"Counsellor, how dare-" the Admiral started, but she cut in standing opposite them near the Captain and Will.

"He's been lying to you and all of us about who he is, Sir!" she declared and finally took up the courage to look into Jones' dark eyes "He's not a human! He's a Ullian, a telepath!"

"Wha..." the Admiral gaped gazing from Jones to Deanna who were only staring at each other "This is nonsense! How can you come up with something as ridiculous as this?!"

"But it is true, Sir!" Picard told him standing next to Deanna.

The Admiral looked at Jones but suddenly didn't find his voice to ask a coherent question.

Beverly stepped up to where the Captain and Deanna were standing "Why don't you tell the Admiral how you've managed to wake your wife?" she asked on a low voice "How you could wake a coma patient who could not be waken by any modern medicine."

To their shock, Jones once again reacted as if this had all been part of his plans. He chuckled and raised his hands turning up his palms "Whoops, I'm caught! What do I do now?" he asked with an arrogant smirk then let his arms drop to his sides, and a deadly expression appeared on his features "You think you know anything?" he hissed to Deanna "You think just because you made a wild guess, you have any idea?"

She didn't waver or turn her gaze from his as she answered "I know enough to know that your machinations are over!"

He raised his eyebrows "You think so, my dear?" he chuckled again and looked at the Admiral. Seeing that this time, he would not talk himself out of this, he again changed tactics "Well, since I became an unwanted guest, I'd better be going." he declared turning to go to the turbolift.

The old man seemingly had no strength to call after him or to stop him, but Will jumped him "You're not going anywhere, Mister!" he growled dragging him back to where they'd been standing.

Picard stepped up to him "You'll have to answer for your crimes before a Federation court." he told him on a hard voice "And you can be sure that spying and treason will be on top of the list of your many charges."

Jones shook his head smiling forgivingly "You cannot prove anything."

"Yes, we can! We have your medical records from Epsilon Twelve." Deanna stated.

Jones snorted "Saying what? That I have plastic surgery every year? And so? I will be examined, and the examination will say that I'm only half Ullian. My other half is human!" They stood there gaping at this, and he pulled his arm out of Will's grip, then went on speaking only to Deanna "I'm not a telepath. I'm an empath, just as yourself my dear, Deanna. My telepathic abilities are no stronger than yours. Though it seems I use them a lot more efficiently than you do, my dear."

Beverly gaped at his cynicism "You dare say this after clearly manipulating everybody around you for long years, including your own wife?!"

He nodded as if it all was so obvious "Manipulated, yes. But I never stole anyone's thoughts, or telepathically made people do whatever I wanted them to. Because this would be the basis of your charges right? Hmm... No." he shook his head looking at the dumbstruck Admiral "I didn't need that. It was more than enough to sense that a high-ranking old man was desperate in wanting to prove that he's still useful. After some research, it wasn't difficult to find, that Starfleet Command was about to retire him. Which he had no desire to do." They gazed at the Admiral shocked as he went on "I just had to make him believe that I can be the most effective tool for him to prove to his superiors that his retirement is not due yet. That we can be useful to each other. Finding a reliable and cheap source of dilithium would be a great deed nowadays, wouldn't it?"

"You..." the Admiral clenched his fist.

"I'm really sorry that finally, we couldn't cut a deal. It would really have been useful for both of us, despite what you might be thinking right now - but please, don't be concerned, I will not leave empty handed..." he sneered.

They had no chance to ask what he meant, because he turned to Beverly.

"You're right. I did manipulate Emma too. But with her it was different. Different from anybody else!" he hissed and a strange glint appeared in his eyes "I always had a special connection to her. Something I never had with anybody before and ever since... It was so easy with her... She was so desperate to feel loved that she was willing to endure almost anything for it..." he shook his head with wonder in his eyes "I never got tired of examining just how much she was willing to endure..." he whispered, but the next moment a hard fist landed on his jaw.

He dizzily grasped a console to steady himself and looking up, saw Will Riker standing above him for a moment, before the man grabbed his collar and shook him.

"You son-of-a-bitch! You don't deserve the air you breathe! What kind of a monster are you?!"

"It's enough, Number One!" Picard snapped at him, and Will with a final shake let Jones go. "Take him to the brig!" the Captain commanded to two Ensigns, who stepped up behind Jones, but it seemed he hadn't finished.

"What kind of a monster?" he asked looking at Will "Just the kind YOU made me!" he hissed and chuckled again looking over at them "You proud yourselves over the fact that you're humans? I'll tell you one thing! There's no race in this universe capable of more cruelty and barbarism than humans! You think I was the one who had the idea of concealing who - WHAT - I was when I was a CHILD?! It was my human grandfather who couldn't watch me bullied day to day in the most elite private school in Paris! Just because I was different! But his solution was not to change the world around me. No. My dear old granddad had me endure the filing of my skull every singular month as long as I was still growing! To make me one of the many. It did not help, of course in stopping the kids' tortures... Do you know what DID? When I realized I can sense how they felt and that I could use that to have them do as I want. Slowly, one by one, all of my bullies regretted ever having touched me! And one day... one day, my dear old granddad walked out of a tenth floor window too, on his own volition, of course..."

They gaped at him speechless at this. Nobody felt up to answer anything to a man as sick as that, and he once again gave them one of his charming smiles.

"And now that I managed to quench your thirst for information, I need to be going. I have a world full of your kind needing a leader who can give them a system, where they can fully embrace their very nature." he looked at Juliana regretfully "I'm very sorry, I cannot take you with me. You would be the perfect tool for my needs! But I'll need to do with your son for now, or should I say brother instead?"

Juliana stood there petrified. Of course he knew! He couldn't have sensed anything from her, and since he sensed the same blankness from Data, he could have concluded what she actually was - maybe even before she herself knew! She looked at Deanna with dread in her eyes: did she know as well? Did they all know?!

They were all so shocked that when Jones pulled out a small device from his pocket, it took them more than a second to react - and in that time, he simply pushed a button "Au revoir!" he smirked as he dissolved into green particles in front of the stunned Bridge crew.

"Romulan ship decloaking at the northern polar region of the planet!" Anderson declared and looking at the view screen, they could see the enormous ship shimmer into visibility right in front of the runabout.

"Shields up!" Picard commanded realizing just where Jones have beamed.

"Captain!" Anderson called out "The runabout is a sitting duck just ahead of the Romulans, Sir!"

"Red alert! Prepare quantum torpedoes!" Picard ordered "Conn, intercept the Romulan ship! Navigate between them and the runabout, full impulse!"

"The ship is targeting the runabout!" Anderson declared.

"Open hailing frequencies!" Picard called quickly "Romulan ship! You're about to fire on a Federation shuttlecraft within Federation territory! This is a severe breach of the Treaty of Algeron! Disarm your weapons and leave this sector immediately!"

"No answer, Captain." they heard from tactical.

"Conn, how much time till we-"

"Too late, Sir!" Anderson declared on a shaky voice, and they watched in dread as the runabout was hit by the Romulan disruptor. Anderson tapped her console "Direct hit to the runabout's propulsion system!"

The Romulan ship then unexpectedly seemed to obey Picard: they disappeared behind their cloak.

There was a moment of stunned silence on the Bridge seeing that. "What the hell?" Will asked stepping up to the view screen.

"They probably realized that the Captain was right." the inexperienced Anderson told them innocently.

"No, Romulans never do half a job." Will replied.

"It depends what the job actually was." Deanna said.

"What is the status of the runabout?" Picard asked.

After some tapping, Anderson sighed "No good, Sir. They're losing anti-matter containment. They will suffer a warp-core breach in about twenty seconds."

"Can we beam them back?" Beverly asked on a desperate voice.

"Negative. It seems the runabout itself is jamming our transporter lock-on." Anderson replied on a tense voice.

"Data..." Picard growled "Open a channel!" he ordered.

"Channel open, Sir!" the tactical officer answered.

"Data, this is Captain Picard, do you hear me? We need to beam you out of there!" Only static noise came through. "Data, do you hear me?!"

"He won't answer you, Sir!" Deanna declared "They still think, Jones is here, and if they come back, he'd take Emma with him."

"We have to out-think him! Riker to Engineering!"

"La Forge here!"

"Geordi, can you beam anything that's big enough to be a person off of that runabout? Now!"

"Stand by, Sir!"

"I don't have time to stand-by! Geordi!"

But before the Chief Engineer could reply, orange light filled the room as they had to watch the runabout blew into tiny pieces in front of their very eyes.

"Geordi, did you manage to lock on to them?!" Will asked desperately hoping for a positive answer.

"No, Sir, there's nothing to lock on to..."

They watched the burning wreck twist and float about over the blue planet, against the dark sky in silence. Beverly put an arm around Juliana as the elder woman put a hand to her mouth stifling a sob.

"Oh, my god..." Deanna breathed feeling tears forming in her eyes. She glanced to her side and saw that the Admiral stood there almost as if he was in a trance - she could sense his overpowering shame and guilt. It all mixed with her own emotions and with the distress of the rest of the crew, and she knew that even with practice of long years, she wouldn't be able to keep such strong feelings out. She wiped her tears from her cheek.

"Could someone explain to me what on Earth has happened?" they heard Geordi's confused voice coming through the comlink, and Will exchanged glances with the Captain, wiping his mouth with his hand before he answered.

"You better come up here, Geordi... You better come up..."


A/N: Happy Holidays, my dear readers! - I know, I know, after a cliffhanger like that, you're not entirely happy... But anyways, I just wanted to thank you for following my story this whole year; thank you for your tenacity and patience! :)