To The Journey
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This is an AU story.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Fountain of Youth
Worried as she was about Data, Tasha had fully agreed with Picard that Worf would be better-equipped for the mission to recapture him. He had gone off the rails days earlier, blowing the cover of a sensitive mission, ignoring orders, and generally acting very strange. They had promised that the device they were using to momentarily disable him so he could be brought back to the ship wouldn't hurt him, but she still couldn't trust herself not to hesitate.
He was aboard now, apparently without incident, though she'd caught Worf muttering something incomprehensible about Gilbert and Sullivan. She made a mental note to ask him once this all blew over.
The village on the planet below them was idyllic. The photos and reconnaissance reports hadn't done it justice. There was something in the air, something she couldn't identify, but it made her feel so young and alive it took her breath away.
This is possibly the least hostile hostage situation that ever existed, she thought as she looked around. There wasn't a weapon in sight. If their orders from Command hadn't been so clear, she would have been convinced that something had been lost in translation, that these officers weren't really being held hostage at all.
The hostages approached the landing party who met them halfway. "Captain, Subahdar Gallatin, Son'a Command," one introduced himself.
"Lieutenant Curtis, attache to Admiral Dougherty," said another.
"Are you all right?" Picard asked.
"We've been treated extremely well," Curtis replied, confirming Tasha's suspicions that this would not be a normal hostage situation.
"They have an incredible mental discipline, clarity of perception."
Tasha turned to Deanna, who had spoken completely out of context, and followed her gaze to a group of children playing. She was right. They seemed much more focused and coordinated than the children in the Enterprise school. In fact, it reminded her of nothing so much as Asil and her brothers as children.
A man who appeared to be a local approached them. "My name is Sojef, Captain."
"Jean-Luc Picard," he replied. "These are my officers, Doctor Crusher, Counselor Troi, Commander Yar."
"Would you like something to eat?"
"No, we're here to ...rescue them." It was clear from his tone that he found this description as inappropriate as Tasha did.
To his credit, Sojef didn't comment on that. "As you wish. But I would ask you to disarm yourselves. This village is a sanctuary of life."
Picard nodded to the away team, who removed their phasers. "Prepare the hostages for transport to the ship."
"They should be quarantined before joining the ship's population," Beverly advised.
Picard nodded his assent, but he was already on to the next issue. "We were under the impression they were being held against their will."
"It's not our custom to have guests here at all, let alone hold anyone against their will," replied a woman.
"The artificial lifeform would not allow them to leave," Sojef explained. "In fact he told us they were our enemies and that more would follow."
"Are you our enemy?" the woman asked bluntly.
"Anij!" Soref chided.
The universal translator didn't get that, Tasha thought. It must be the woman's name.
"Our people have a strict policy of non-interference in other cultures," Picard was explaining. "It's our Prime Directive."
"Your directive apparently doesn't include spying on other cultures," Anij pointed out rather astutely.
"The artificial lifeform is a member of my crew," Picard explained, dodging the more difficult issue the woman had just raided. "Apparently, he was taken ill."
"There was a phase variance in his positronic matrix which we were unable to repair," said another man.
Picard's eyebrows almost shot through the atmosphere. It didn't go unnoticed.
"I think the Captain finds it hard to believe that we'd have any skills for repairing positronic devices," Anij's words might have been more plausible if she hadn't had such a teasing tone in her voice.
"Our technological abilities are not apparent because we have chosen not to employ them in our daily lives," Soref told them. "We believe when you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take something away from the man."
Picard glanced back at Tasha, clearly telling her not to get into it. She sighed, biting her lips to keep silent. She almost wished he didn't know her so well, just so she could have gotten off a retort before he could stop her.
Anij was talking now. "But at one time, we explored the galaxy just as you do."
"You have warp capability?" Picard asked, and Tasha could see the tension drain from his shoulders. If they were warp-capable, then the Prime Directive didn't apply and Data's actions, while puzzling, weren't nearly as serious as they had believed.
"Capability, yes," Anij replied. "But where can warp drive take us, except away from here?"
"I ...apologize for our intrusion," Picard said simply, having no answer. "Picard to Enterprise. Energize."
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I had to reconstruct Data's neural net and replace these," Geordi explained as he walked down the corridor with Tasha and the Captain. "They contain memory engrams."
"How were they damaged?" Picard asked.
"By a Son'a weapon," Geordi replied, nearly stopping both of his companions in their tracks. "There's no doubt about it, Captain. That's what caused Data to malfunction"
"But the Son'a report claimed they didn't fire until after he malfunctioned." Picard looked more than a little troubled, and Tasha was sure his expression was mirrored on her face.
"Well, I don't believe it happened that way," Geordi replied as they stepped into Engineering.
"Why would they fire at him without provocation?" Picard asked.
"All I know is he was functioning normally until he was shot. Then, his fail-safe system was activated."
"Fail-safe?" Picard frowned.
"His ethical and moral subroutines took over all of his basic functions," Geordi replied just as Tasha opened her mouth to do the same. She was no engineer but she knew everything there was to know about Data.
"So what you're saying he still knew the difference between right and wrong."
"In a sense, that's all he knew. The system is designed to protect him against anyone who might try to take advantage of his memory loss."
"And yet he attacked us." Picard still sounded as confused as Tasha felt. "And told the Ba'ku that we were a threat." He dropped that train of thought momentarily as Geordi rubbed his artificial eyes. "Are the implants bothering you?"
"No, I'm all right. I'm just tired." As he spoke, Geordi opened a door behind which Data stood and activated him.
Data's yellow eyes opened. "Geordi? Captain?" A smile lit up his face as he saw who else was there. "Tasha."
"You're on the Enterprise, Data," Picard explained.
"I seem to be missing several memory engrams. There they are," he added as Geordi held out the pieces in his hand.
"Data, what's the last thing that you remember?" Picard pressed.
"His nose should pant and his lip should curl..." Data sang. Tasha just barely bit back a laugh as Worf's Gilbert and Sullivan comment was thrown into some context. She'd have to ask the Captain for details when this was all over.
"From the mission," Picard corrected before the impromptu performance could go any further.
"I was in an isolation suit gathering physiometric data on Ba'ku," he told them. "My last memory is going into the hills, following some children."
Picard glanced over at Tasha, and she was the one who said aloud what everyone was thinking. "We'd better figure out what's in those hills that someone didn't want us to know about."
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Tasha had been more than a little startled when she saw the ship that had been submerged under the water, but that was nothing compared to how she felt when she saw the holographic setting on the ship; a recreation of the village where Data, in his confusion, had held those officers hostage.
"Data, if you were following the children and discovered this ship..." Picard was saying when Tasha finally regained her ability to understand speech.
"It is conceivable I was shot to protect the secret of its existence," Data finished for him.
"Why would they duplicate this village except to deceive the Ba'ku?" Picard asked.
"Deceive us?" Anij gasped.
"To move you off this planet," Picard replied grimly. "You go to sleep one night in the village. Wake up the next morning on this flying holodeck transported en masse. In a few days, you're relocated on a similar planet without ever realizing it."
"Why would the Federation or the Son'a wish to move the Ba'ku?" Data asked.
"I don't know." But they didn't have time to speculate. The words were barely out of Picard's mouth before the quiet conversation was interrupted by a disruptor blast.
Anij dove away in fright and ended up careening into the lake, accidentally taking Tasha down with her. The security chief surfaced in time to see Data and Picard take down the shooter and deactivate the program, but it was clear to her that Anij was having far more trouble.
"Help!" The woman's panicked cry only confirmed what Tasha had suspected. "I can't swim!"
In seconds, Data and Picard splashed down beside them.
"Don't panic." Picard advised, taking hold of the woman.
"I've been shot at. Thrown into the lake out of an invisible ship that's come to abduct us. What's there to panic about?" Anij replied a little testily.
As if on cue, Data rose to the surface, bobbing in the water without needing to paddle. "In the event of a water landing, I have been designed to serve as a floatation device."
Tasha laughed out loud. She well remembered when they had installed that program, to prevent a repeat of a holodeck incident which had involved Data trying to swim only to sink to the bottom. He couldn't drown, of course, but that didn't mean they wanted it to happen again.
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"The time is 0705 hours."
Tasha moaned softly. She had finally figured out what the incessant noise she'd been hearing was. "Computer," she mumbled, "deactivate alarm." Then she rolled over and went back to sleep.
She woke to a voice. "Computer, shut up," she groaned. Then she felt a hand touch her. The words finally started to make sense.
"Tasha. Tasha. Wake up."
She knew that voice now; her husband's voice. "Data. What is it?"
"It is after 0930 hours. You were due on the bridge well over an hour ago." She felt the bed dip a little as he sat on it. "It is not like you to be late."
She tried to sit up but fell back with a groan. Instantly his face was etched with concern. "Are you well?"
"I don't know."
"What is wrong?"
"I just don't feel well," she mumbled. "I'm tired and I hurt."
"Where?"
She laid a hand over her lower abdomen. "Right here."
He jumped up so fast he almost dislodged her from the bed. "Data to Sickbay."
"What is it, Data?" Beverly's voice came through the comm.
"Tasha is sick. Would you please come to our quarters?"
"I'll be right there."
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"Well? What's wrong with me?"
Beverly had come down to examine Tasha and then advised that she be moved to Sickbay to run further tests. The tests were done, and now Tasha was just eager to find out why she felt so awful so that it could be fixed and she could go back to her life.
"I'm not entirely sure, but it looks -" she paused, as though unsure how to proceed.
"Looks like what? Tell me."
"I don't want to get your hopes up -"
"Then it's good news?" Now she was just confused.
"I think so. You see, twenty-four years ago when you gave birth, the placenta probably failed to be expelled completely from your body, causing an infection that led to scarring."
"The reason I can't get pregnant again."
"Exactly. But the scan I just ran shows the scar tissue starting to heal. You're not the first person I've seen today with old scars starting to reverse themselves, but this is the most substantial instance I've seen so far. If this progresses at the same rate, the scarring will be completely gone within two weeks."
Her pain forgotten, she sat straight up and stared at the doctor. "If that happens, does that mean I'd be able to have children again?"
"As I said, I don't want to get your hopes up. The healing appears to be connected to the radiation in the planet's rings, there's no telling what will happen once we leave orbit. But if the healing is completed and it doesnç¨ start to reverse once the radiation is no longer affecting you, then you would have no more trouble conceiving than you would have if the damage had never been done."
Tasha heard all of what was said, including the warnings, but even the extensive list of cautions wasn't enough to dull the sudden wave of euphoria that ran through her. Tears of joy ran down her face as she hugged the doctor and then Data.
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It was hard to believe how fast things had changed. Tasha lay in Data's arms in the cavern, musing over everything that had happened in the past few days.
Tasha's healing had progressed with incredible speed, even faster than Beverly's predictions. Though the scarring wasn't completely gone yet, the doctor had told Tasha that she was able to become pregnant, although it would be harder for her to conceive and carry to term than it would if the scarring were completely nonexistent. As with before, even the cautions and reservations they had been given, they had been beyond delighted and spent most of the night apparently trying to prove by exclusion of possibility that Data really couldn't conceive a child the way a human could.
But things had gone bad fast. Picard had finally figured out what was going on, and it wasn't good. The Son'a weren't the only ones trying to get the Ba'ku off their planet. The Federation was involved too. At least, Admiral Dougherty was. The Son'a were trying to harvest the energy in the planet's rings to heal themselves. The Federation wanted a bite at this apple, and perhaps more importantly they needed the Son'a to fight the greater threat of the Dominion.
But everything about it felt wrong to Tasha. While she had always believed in the philosophy that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of a few, she had always believed that applied to voluntary sacrifice or a situation in which an immediate choice needed to be made to save lives. This interpretation wasn't sitting well with her at all.
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It was over now.
Tasha had tried to listen to Geordi and Will's explanation of how they had raced out of the web of radiation that surrounded the Ba'ku planet, but had gotten lost in the complex technical explanations. There was a very good reason she'd never considered becoming an engineer.
It had looked grim for a little while. The Son'a had grown tired of waiting and decided to deploy their collector anyway, an act which would have killed thousands. But the Enterprise crew wasn't ready to take that lying down.
Picard and Data's final move had been nothing short of brilliant, and the irony of how it had worked just sweetened the pot.
Picard had somehow managed to turn the Son'a first officer and gain information about the Son'a systems. Working in conjunction with Data, he had taken a leaf out of the Son'a book and transported the entire crew to a holodeck. By the time they figured it out, it had been too late to stop Picard from disabling the collector.
The discovery that the Son'a were actually descendents of the Ba'ku had shocked all of them, but after the death of their leader, the remaining Son'a had returned home. It had been a sight to see.
But the planet wasn't the only place where old feelings and relationships were starting to reemerge. It was clear to see that the feelings Will and Deanna had been dancing around for years were finally coming out. Tasha hadn't even bothered trying to pretend she hadn't started to walk into a turbolift only to see them locked in a passionate kiss.
All was well again.
I'm so sorry this took so long, but I've been planning this forever and had to pretty much completely rewrite it to get it right.
Please review.