Paramount Global owns the Star Trek franchise. This is a piece of fan fiction based on Star Trek the Next Generation
History
Data sat on the edge of his bed. The images that filled his head scared him. How was it possible for Nienoon to have betrayed him this way? The Sheno’s history made him sick. There was no way it could be true. But it was. He knew that a creature that looked much like the Sheno commander had injured her. He knew how the creature was killed. Their history cemented that memory for him. The other part, NO! It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. It was impossible. He blindly walked over to the window with that horrible image in front of him. He still couldn’t understand why she was attacked. There was nothing in the Sheno’s history to link her and the attacker. Nothing! There were more unanswered questions than before.
This knowledge also brought back the failure he had suffered by trying to make Lal. His stomach cramped at the thought of her. Memories of her was all he could think about. At that moment he understood loneliness. For the first time he realized the void he was trying to fill. He broke down into sobs, uncontrollable wailing. Did he really want to control how he felt? Should he just accept this and let it flow? He wasn’t wrong in not wanting to be alone. In his unknown desire to be a father. But this. This was an emotion that he didn’t know how to handle. 591 separate emotions he had experienced with certainty. This feeling of regret was nothing he had felt before. It cut deep in him. All the way to the bone. Worse than letting Geordi get captured. Why did this hurt so badly? Maybe if he gave into the feeling that he needed to throw up, it would relieve some of the pressure inside of him.
His door chimed. Choking back his tears, he managed “just a moment.” After cleaning up his face he called, “enter.”
It was Picard, “Captain?”
“Data, may I?”
“Yes, come in.” Data motioned him to a chair. “Is there something wrong sir?”
“I wanted to talk to you.” Picard’s voice was calm. They both sat down. “I was hoping you would give me a report on the Sheno’s history.”
“Sir, you did not request a report.”
“I know. You have a habit of filling me in anyway. I was concerned when you didn’t do it for this event.” Data sat for the longest time. Picard thought he was staring into nothingness. “I can order you to write a report.”
“You can.”
“Should I?”
“You should.”
“Data, I want a report on the Sheno’s history by the end of the week. If it will help us in anyway unravel this mystery mission we are on, I want to know about it.”
“I will write your report, sir.”
Data was still staring into space. A point on the wall. He didn’t make eye contact with Picard. “Are you alright?”
“No sir. I am not.” Data got up and walked over to the window. “I will never be alright again.”
“Was their history that violent?”
“No, it affirmed a piece of mine.”
“Data?”
Data’s hands were shaking. The look on his face was one of dismay, “I am numb. I cannot feel anything.” He stuck his shaking hands in his arm pits. “I will write your report.”
Picard walked over to Data placing his hand on Data’s shoulder. “Data?” He whispered.
*Lal
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