Emma woke to the slight shaking of the ground underneath her, and she squeezed her eyes moaning as she turned to her back. Oh, she hated to wake to the tremors! She then blinked frowning and looked around feeling terribly disoriented: tremors? Where was she?! She gingerly sat up and snapped her head toward the sharp sound of a metal bucket landing on the floor from a shelf. She was still in the wooden shed in the middle of the forest on the planet, she slowly realized, and scowled understanding that she was all alone. Then as what she'd thought to be a gentle tremor grew stronger, she started to feel alarmed.
"What the hell..." she breathed, as the ground shook violently underneath her, and the next moment, it threw her on her side drawing a painful grunt out of her. Her mind was still too foggy to grasp entirely that what she was experiencing was not the usual Epsilonian tremor but a severe earth quake. Even if she did, she was still too weak to try to do anything to escape it, so she just turned to her stomach and decided to remain that way, in lack of a better option. She didn't really have the energy to grow very scared.
She heard the cracking of trees around her, and finally realized that she was in serious danger. But where were the others?! "Deadpan!" she wanted to shout, but somehow it became only a sigh. Objects kept landing on the ground around her from the shelves, and she tried to cover her head with her arms and hands. With a loud crack, the ceiling opened above her, and she could hear the slates smashing outside on the ground. She turned on her back and stared up stunned and dizzy at the sky.
The next moment, she thought she saw movement above her, and the next thing she knew was that she was gathered up into two strong arms. She didn't even have the time to look at her saviour, before he picked her up - though she knew, it was Data. He was lightning fast! He jumped through the crack in the ceiling with her to effortlessly land on what remained of the roof. Then jumped off onto the ground outside, and she barely felt their landing in his secure arms. He took a few more leaps to get away from the ruins of the shed, and a second later, a huge tree fell on top of it, crashing it completely into the ground. Emma turned into Data's chest now really scared. He could feel her trembling, and held her closer. The quake died down in a few seconds, and silence descended on the small valley.
She reluctantly released her grip on his undershirt and looked up at him "What happened?" she asked on a thin voice that surprised even herself.
"This was another severe earth quake." he replied then looked into her eyes "While you were unconscious yesterday, we experienced a similar one."
"Where is Earl?" she asked alarmed.
"Here I am!" they heard from their side, and the old man walked up to them dusting himself off bemused.
Data looked at Emma "I asked Earl to hide under what seemed to be a sturdy enough rocky ledge - although in such a quake, nothing is a hundred percent secure."
"Don't worry, my friend, I'd always turn up like a bad penny." he smiled a little bitterly then looked at Emma "Are you alright?"
She nodded and let out a long breath that she just then realized she'd held in.
Data cocked his head to the side and told her on a lower voice "I am sorry, I did not arrive sooner. We were taking a short walk with Earl when the quake commenced. I hope you are not frightened too much."
She gazed into his eyes for a moment longer before she glanced away with an aching heart. She recognized from his expression and his words that he must have turned his chip off again... She sighed and decided not to let him realize how she felt about it: she just looked back up at him with a small, grateful smile "Better late, than never, Deadpan. Thank you for saving my butt!" He gave her a nod and a tiny smile in exchange for the humour. She returned it but had a difficult time to keep the bitter question out of her mind: would they always be like that when he would not be using his chip? Would they always have to pretend? She that she accepted it, and he that he appreciated whatever she told him?
She didn't want to think about this! She shook her head a little then patted his chest urging "Now, put me down, baby, and give me a shot of my meds, so we can be on our way."
He resisted "I would prefer carrying you while you are resting, Emma." he told her, but in the next moment, saw Earl put the hypospray to Emma's neck and gave her the last shot of L-Cordrazine they had. Data looked at the older man confused.
"Have you not learned that there's no point in arguing with her?" Earl asked raising his eyebrows then looked at Emma "I don't feel like listening to this conversation over and over again." then back at Data "We're almost home, she can rest there as much as she needs."
Emma looked at her old friend bemused and then tapped Data's upper-arm to put her on the ground already. He obeyed only reluctantly.
"Let us go." he commanded finally with as deadpan an expression as ever, though he sensed a measure of resentment resonating in his neural net at her stubbornness, and Earl's indulging her in it!
It took them another three hours to get through the ravaged forest to finally reach the hills behind the once studio lot. They peered out at the façades from among the trees standing on the path winding around a hillside. The lot seemed to be intact, however it was silent - too silent. And suddenly, Emma had a really bad feeling about this.
"I will go down to check around." Data told them on his usual quiet voice still looking at the lot through the trees "Please, stay here. I will return momentarily." then turned to them and looked into Emma's eyes "If I do not return in fifteen minutes, go to Ethel city and hide there."
At that, she looked at him with visible fear in her eyes "No, Deadpan, we're waiting for you here, in this very spot!" she declared.
"Emma. Let us not argue this time." he asked patiently "If there is any danger down there, I want you to be as far away from it as possible. You know that no one can harm me on this planet, you must not worry about me." he told her and was about to turn and go, when he felt her hand on his suddenly. He turned back to her with a slight questioning frown.
She squeezed his hand in hers almost as if she never wanted to let go "I don't want us to lose each other!" she told him on a trembling voice "Even if you are not harmed, what will you do all alone on Epsilon Four?"
He took a short moment to find the appropriate answer to Emma's overwhelming worry for him then cocked his head slightly, and made his lips curve into a tiny smile. "I will not be alone for long. Because I am going to find you. Wherever you go."
She felt her voice was lost as she stared into his beautiful eyes. She didn't think she could let him go.
Earl stepped up to them clearing his throat, as he could see her reluctance as much as Data did "Not to break the enchanting romantic moment between you two youngsters, but there's an old man right here with you, who cannot live on romance alone and is desperate for a hot shower, a good tea and some rest." Data let her hand go, and Emma looked at Earl with a bemused - and a little embarrassed - frown as he went on looking only at Data "Go, my friend and check around. I agree we should be as cautious as possible. If you by any chance wouldn't find us here, when you return, look for Lou at Providence bar in Chicago-town. He'll lead you to us."
Data nodded to him in acknowledgement then turned back to Emma to give her a small reassuring smile. Emma fought the urge to reach out to him again or to kiss him. No. They were not saying goodbye. He would be back in a few minutes, she told herself - but then why was there that terrible trembling around her heart?
As he disappeared among the trees at an amazing speed, she felt Earl's comforting arm around her shoulders, and she looked at him trying hard to seem a lot less scared than she actually felt.
Data had a certain sensation of contentment in his ability to distance himself from Emma's worried gaze as he was advancing through the forest down the slope. He wanted to concentrate on whatever lay ahead, and with his chip off, he could do just that. On a background thought process, he mused that getting used to being emotional at one time and unemotional at another was not as difficult to handle as it first had seemed. Especially, that Emma seemed to accept it too! His greatest worry was alleviated.
He reached the tall brick-fence of the lot and effortlessly jumped on top of it then landed on the ground inside. He looked around: there was no movement. Among the small façades of the Western settings, he could see the taller ones belonging to the city-scape at the far end of the lot. It was peculiar. When they started for the mines in the morning, five days ago, people were coming and going among the façades, almost as if it was a real town. But now, there was nothing, and he could tell, it was not natural.
He walked through the Western village, trying to look for anything out of place apart from the lack of people, but again, all seemed to be in order. He went on to the city settings cocking his head from side to side, and suddenly he heard a clicking sound from above him. He turned his head around and upwards sharply toward it - the sound seemed to have been coming from one of the upper windows of a façade. He saw a slight movement, then the ear-splitting sound of a rifle firing cut into the silence, and he had only a moment to react to the large bullet flying toward his chest. He ducked just in time to avoid it, and the projectile drilled itself deep into the wall of the holo-disguised building. Shortly after the first one, he heard another click, and he knew he had only a fraction of a second before the next bullet was heading right toward him. He ran to find some sort of a protection suitable against the bullets large enough to take out an elephant. He knew very well, that even these gigantic projectiles wouldn't have been enough to harm him beneath the bioplast, but he had no intention of walking about in torn clothes and torn sheeting with his metal endo-skeleton visible underneath his damaged 'skin'.
He took cover in the doorway of the holo-disguised building, while the number of the echoing gunshots multiplied. There were at least ten people firing right at him. From the sound of the guns, he could tell, these were not the guards of the Resistance. These were snipers! It seemed that Jones finally found the Resistance' hide-out and was waiting for them to return to the only place they could hope to hide. And he also knew that the enormous guns were there to take HIM down, but Jones probably had no idea that twenty-first century weapon-technology stood no chance against twenty-fourth century robotics-technology which enabled his endo-skeleton to be as sturdy as it was.
In the cover, he tried to assess what to do next. He could simply run out of the lot, but it was not an easy option, if he wanted to receive the least number of shots while avoiding the possibility that he might lead their enemies to where Emma and Earl were. He could also hide inside the façade, but then he'd definitely need to get out of there after a while, if he didn't want to be trapped inside forever. But before he could get to the end of that thread of thought, suddenly, the door opened behind him, and he was pulled inside the building just to find himself face to face with his two friends.
"Geordi! Commander Riker!" he gaped at them stunned. But the next moment, he had to grab both of them and made them duck from a lightning fast bullet whistling too close to his two vulnerable human colleagues. They crouched next to the wall, in a corner, while the shots didn't seem to stop raining at them through the broken windows. "What are you doing here?" Data asked sincerely stunned to see them.
"We thought you might need a hand!" Geordi smiled wryly and handed him a phaser. He took it with some suspicion.
"Where's Emma? We need to beam out of here!" Riker asked him on a tense voice - they were running out of time.
"We are not going back, Commander!" Data declared shaking his head "I will not allow Emma to be taken away by her husband!"
"You don't have to! We got rid of him yesterday, just after you left." Riker explained hurriedly and as a surprised expression spread on Data's features he added with a wince "Right before you were blown into pieces in front of our very eyes."
"At least the eyes of those who had the fortune to be notified..." Geordi remarked under his breath to his superior's bemusement.
"I thought we are over this." Will growled squinting at the engineer.
"But how?" Data cut in feeling a mild sensation of shock at the unexpected turn of events.
"There's no time for this now!" the Commander frowned impatiently "In case you haven't noticed, we're still being shot at!" and indeed the hail of bullets hadn't ceased outside. It already had smashed all the windows of the building.
Data could tell he had no choice but to believe them "Alright..." he conceded "Emma and Mr. Mils are still in the forest, near here, at the top of the slope. 1.629 kilometers to the north from this point."
"You heard, Captain?" Riker asked addressing his combadge.
"Loud and clear, Number One. Now, prepare to be beamed up." Picard ordered.
"No!" Data stood his ground "As long as I cannot make sure that Emma is safe, I am not leaving this planet!" he declared.
"Damn, you're stubborn!" Geordi hissed.
"Captain!" Riker called again.
"I heard that as well, Number One. We also ran into a slight problem here: Emma and her companion don't show up on the scanners. We need to beam down to them, so the transporter could lock on to a combadge signal. You'll-"
"We will meet you there, Captain!" Data cut in and didn't really wait for the confirmation from his superior, he simply turned and ran out. Geordi and Will could only stare after him for a moment, then at each other with a rather dazzled expression at their friend's behaviour, before they bolted through the door after him, phasers set to stun.
"Where is he?" Emma mumbled pacing up and down on the path. She felt the trembling around her heart steadily growing - something was out of place! Where are you, Deadpan?!
"We should make a move. He's been gone for twenty minutes now. Something must have happened." Earl told her feeling the tension building in him as he had to watch his surrogate daughter pace so nervously.
"No, I'm not going anywhere without him." she declared standing opposite him.
Earl let out a long breath to impose some patience on his tired mind "Look. He told you, he'd find you. We told him where to look for us, and you know that nobody can harm him. But if we stay here for much longer, and there's really some trouble down there, we're a lot less likely to survive it than he is." he tried to convince her, but she kept shaking her head.
"No, I-"
But they suddenly heard a female voice from down the path "Emma!" She turned frowning, then took a few steps ahead trying to make out who was calling.
"Bev?!" she gaped recognizing her friend after a moment, running up to her closely followed by Captain Picard.
Emma felt fear spreading all over her. Did Ed manage to make even her closest friend cooperate with him and help him get her back?! She shook her head "No, we're not going back!" she declared - and didn't start to run in the opposite direction only because she felt her knees too weak for it! Finally, Beverly stopped opposite her gasping.
"You have to! You're not safe here, the Resistance was raided." she panted trying to catch her breath.
"What?" Earl stepped up to them shocked.
Beverly took a deep breath "We wanted to find you to take you home yesterday, but found no one at the Resistance. We're sure everybody got imprisoned or..." she shook her head glancing away for a moment.
Emma grew pale hearing this "Oh, god..." she breathed and looked at her friend pleading "Data just went down there, we have to find him, he-"
"He's fine." Picard cut in finally catching up with them. They turned to him as he went on "At least he was a few minutes ago. He refused to beam up until he made sure you were safe. So I'd suggest we continue this discussion elsewhere, before Premier Jones realizes how close you are!"
Emma shook her head now really confused "But aren't you-"
"Too late!" they heard a satisfied male voice from behind them.
They turned to see Jones walking towards them leisurely as if he was taking a stroll in the sunny forest - except for the fact that he was leading a group of soldiers armed to teeth, all pointing their guns to the Starfleet officers. Picard pressed his combadge, but the next moment, his shoulder was hit by a blast of green. He moaned in pain pressing his palm into his bleeding shoulder instinctively.
"Jean-Luc!" Beverly called scared and jumped to him. Picard leaned forward feeling really light-headed from the pain, and she held him close, holding on to his hand over the wound to slow the bleeding down.
Jones and his gang walked up to them, and the man pointed his Romulan disruptor at Picard's head who was still gasping in pain "No chit-chatting your way out of my century to yours, Captain." he said with a smirk "Drop your weapons!" he ordered on a harsh voice, and when Picard didn't move, he pressed the gun tightly to his head "Do it!" he hissed. The Captain gingerly fetched his phaser from his pocket and dropped it. As Beverly followed his exampled, Jones turned to Earl "You too, Mils!"
Earl pulled out the phaser he had received from Data in the brig and staring right into Jones' dark eyes, let it fall to the ground.
"Very good!" Jones remarked taking the gun away from the Captain's head. He stepped up to Emma and put a gentle hand under her chin "Welcome home, ma chérie!" he told her with a tenderness that made Beverly feel a chill crawl up her spine. Emma pushed his hand away with a defiant expression on her features, and he grabbed her arm forcefully "Stop struggling against your fate!" he hissed, but in the next moment, he felt himself grabbed from behind, and a hard object was pushed to his temple.
"Leave her alone!" he heard and felt the hot breath of his opponent on his neck. He struggled to remain on his feet as he was dragged a few steps backwards by an irresistible force. Nobody had a chance to see anything beforehand! Data ambushed them soundlessly as if he was a wraith of the old folk-tales, that left even the trained soldiers simply gape at what was happening. "Nobody shoot!" one of them exclaimed, and Data could tell there was tension and perplexity in his voice. They were still pointing their weapons at the small team of Starfleet officers, but were looking around and at each other confused as to how to solve the unexpected situation.
"You use a gun now, android, to intimidate me?" Jones asked snarling on a trembling voice.
"It seems that once again you leave me with no other choice." Data told him on a colorless tone "Tell them to drop their weapons!" he commanded. Jones struggled against him for a moment, but the android held him in an unmovable grip.
"Drop it!" he moaned finally through his teeth, and his soldiers obeyed. "You'll regret this, machine!" Jones hissed in impotent anger.
Data shook his head "I do not see how you would be able to make me regret anything, while I am holding a phaser to your skull. And believe me, until you are behind the forcefield of a Federation prison cell, this state will not change. As you might know, my arm cannot get tired." he locked his gaze with Picard. "Are you alright, Captain?"
"Just a scratch, Mr. Data." the Captain lied still holding on to his bleeding shoulder "I'm glad you arrived, my friend. Let us beam up!" he commanded "Mr. Jones has a handful of crimes to answer for in front of a Federation court."
Emma and Earl exchanged confused glances at this. "What?" Emma breathed, and Beverly looked at her smiling.
"We uncovered his true nature. He has a strong empathic ability, and he abused it every time he wanted to reach his goals with others, breaching at least a dozen of Federation laws and regulations." she explained. Emma and Earl both stood there petrified, thinking they must have just misheard something.
"It's impossible..." Emma whispered shaking her head in denial. She'd lived almost a decade with this man! How could she have not known?!
Jones suddenly laughed out at this, a hollow gasping laugh "Of course, ma chérie! Even if the whole universe pointed at the obvious, you'd still stick to what you believe." he then grunted as he felt Data's grip around him tighten just enough to make him think, he would not be able to draw another breath.
"Enough of this!" Picard called on a hard voice standing between them. "Data, where's Commander Riker and La Forge?"
"Here we are, Captain!" they heard Will's gasping as they ran upward on the slope - or more precisely floundering on the steep hillside, holding on to anything their hands had a grasp on.
"Sorry to be late, but it was not possible to catch up with Data!" Geordi explained panting and finally pulled himself up to where they were standing on the path.
"I'm not surprised." Picard remarked with an intended smile which was turned into a grimace by the pain.
Beverly pressed her badge "Enterprise, we're ready to-"
"You're not going anywhere!" they heard yet another voice, this time a female, as green particles integrated into a dozen Romulans surrounding them.
"What the hell?!" Geordi groaned.
"Sela!" Picard gaped at the now-materialized Romulan commander.
"Good to see you, Captain!" she smirked at him "Now, drop your weapons!" she commanded.
"I feel I'm in an old Mexican stand-off..." Riker remarked as he and Geordi obeyed her. She stepped up to Data still holding on to Jones "You too, android!"
Emma shook her head with dread in her eyes, and seeing it, Data took another moment to consider the odds, but simply couldn't come up with a scenario where all of them could leave unharmed from among the tight group of Romulans. And Jones' soldiers had already recovered their guns too. They stood no chance against them. He let Jones go and dropped the phaser from his hand.
Jones swirled around and laughed triumphant "I knew you wouldn't have the guts to pull the trigger, machine!" he stared into his eyes "You were built to serve. You cannot kill your masters!" he hissed with glinting eyes, then motioned for the Romulans to seize Data.
Earl took a step up to him - all guns were immediately pointing to him, but he ignored it as he asked Jones "Why don't you keep this between us?" he motioned around "The Starfleet officers here have nothing to do with our petty local feuds! Let them all go!"
Jones looked into his eyes for a moment then smiled at him patronizingly "Well, old man, it seems we're thinking more alike than you may like to believe. I was just about to suggest the same!" he turned to the Captain "Don't take offense, my dear Captain Picard, but you and your people have outstayed their welcome! Use the opportunity, that I'm in an exceptionally good mood, and get the hell off of my planet!" he turned his head to Emma, smiling into her frightened eyes "Except of course, my wife, the traitor Mr. Mils..." he then look into Data's eyes again "and the machine." he finished on a satisfied hiss.
"No..." Emma breathed terrified. Jones looked into her desperate eyes, and she just couldn't turn away from his dark gaze. She felt it penetrated right into her soul and she felt herself falling into a bottomless pit of despair - and this time, she dragged Data with her! she realized with a new-found dread she'd never experienced before.
"I'm not leaving without my full crew!" Picard stood his ground.
Jones swirled around energetically and smirked again enjoying his victory "Let us get this straight, my dear Captain Picard! You either leave now or become the tool in my propaganda. I thought one execution for today would be quite enough," he chuckled looking into Earl's still defiant eyes for a moment then went on "but we could preserve you for a later time." he turned up his palms shrugging "When the people become uneasy again and need a scapegoat to project their fears at." his expression then darkened "Which one will it be, Picard?" he asked on a hard voice.
The Captain was about to object, but suddenly, they heard Emma's silent voice as she looked right into the face of her inevitable fate "Accept it, Captain!" everybody stared at her shocked as she went on on a silent, yielding voice "There's enough on my conscience, I don't want even more people to be harmed because I was not strong enough to keep you away from Epsilon Four. So please... Please, go!" she whispered.
A long moment of silence descended on them as nothing could be heard, only the voices of the forest around them. The Captain's blood dripped soundlessly into the dirt through his fingers, and in a few moments, he realized he had no choice but to withdraw for now.
"We'll leave." he stated on a low voice. He rarely ever felt as ashamed as in that moment.
Jones walked up to him and nodded appreciatively "Wise decision, Captain."
Picard glared at him defiant "Enjoy your small victory, Jones, for as long as it lasts. Because Starfleet will not leave its people behind! Never forget that!"
Jones smiled "Of course not... Not like the last time, I presume?" he chuckled implying how Emma and her late colleagues got stuck on the planet a decade ago. He turned and looked at his wife "Say goodbye, chérie! We're leaving!" he commanded as if they were finishing a delightful visit at some friends.
Emma gazed up at Beverly, desperation clearly written all over her features, and the elder woman pulled her into a tight embrace "It'll be fine! Just don't be scared! We're not going anywhere without you! I promise!" she swore to her beloved friend.
Emma pulled away and looked into her eyes begging "Oh, Bev... Just get Data out alive. Just save HIM! The rest doesn't matter..." she implored on a whisper.
"Ah, just stop talking nonsense, dear, and don't you dare to give up!" Bev told her taking her hand firmly in hers.
And Emma felt a small, hard object pressed into the flesh of her palm. She looked up at Beverly with a hint of surprise on her features, which she smothered in a moment. Bev pulled her close once again, allowing her a short moment to slip the object into her pocket quickly without anyone noticing. She pressed her lips to Emma's cheek firmly, and pulling away a little, took her face into her palms for a moment. She gazed deep into her eyes trying hard to make her believe that it was not over just yet!
"That is enough, girls!" Jones walked up to them "My heart's gonna melt - or my groins gonna burst." he told them chuckling.
Beverly let Emma go with a glare at Jones who then stood behind his wife as they watched the Starfleet officers gather in a group. He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, pressing his lips into her hair, close to her ear as all her friends slowly disappeared.
Data watched his lover unmoving in the arms of her tormentor, resigned to her fate and again, a peculiar sense of contentment filled his neural net over that fact that he could feel no emotions at present. He was sure, he'd have to process a great deal of pain, if he had to see his defiant, fiery lover submitting herself finally, because she had no more strength left to fight - or even to cry.
