Star Trek: The Next Generation
Data's Return
by Jennifer L. Madison
(chrstjones@yahoo.com)

DATA'S RETURN

Author's Note: This story takes place approximately one year after the events chronicled in the motion picture- "Star Trek- Nemesis", where Commander William T. Riker and Commander Deanna Troi finally announce their intent to get married following the successful completion the Enterprise-E's current mission to Romulus as a Federation Goodwill envoy just as the Enterprise-A had done in 2293 under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, where the Enterprise-A had been ordered to escort the Klingon Chancellor- Gorkon to Earth. The Sovereign Class- II, U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard is dispatched to Romulus to meet with the new Romulan Praetor- Shinzon.

Also mentioned in this movie was that Commander William Riker was also in the process of accepting the command of the Sovereign Class - III, U.S.S. Titan also to take place after the completion of the Enterprise-E's mission to Romulus. Accompanying Will Riker to his next assignment would be his beloved new wife, Commander Deanna Troi, who would also assume the position of Ship's Chief Counselor on board the Starship Titan.

Commander William Riker had recommended to Captain Picard to have Lt. Commander Data, replace him as the Enterprise-E's new First Officer, this to was also suppose to take place after the Enterprise's mission to Romulus; but Data had sacrificed his life to save his Commanding Officer and friend: Captain Jean-Luc Picard who was trapped on board the Reman Warship- Shimitar that was facing the battered Enterprise-E.

So a new First Officer, Operation's Manager, Chief Counselor, and Chief Medical Officer were selected to replace the missing personnel on board the Enterprise. Picard's new Senior Staff in this story will consist of the following: Commander Martin Madden (Executive Officer), Lieutenant Commander Tamara Whitehouse (Chief Operation's Manager), Commander Alexandra "Alex" Mitchell (Chief Counselor & Senior Bridge Officer), and Commander Dr. Katherine Pulaski (Chief Medical Officer in the absence of Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher), Commander Worf (Chief of Security/ Tactical Officer), and Commander Geordi LaForge (Chief Engineer).

CAST of CHARACTERS
• Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Captain William T. Riker
• LeVar Burton as Commander Geordie LaForge
• Michael Dorn as Commander Worf
• Marina Sirtis as Commander Deanna Troi
• Gates McFadden as Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Brent Spiner as B-4 / Commander Data
• Diana Muldar as Commander Dr. Katherine Pulaski

AND
• Wil Wheaton as Lieutenant Wesley Crusher
• Lexa Doig as Commander Charlotte McCullough
• Ashley Judd as Lieutenant Commander Robin Lefler Crusher
• Kate Mulgrew as Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway
• Robert Beltran as Captain Chakotya
• Tim Russ as Commander Tuvok
• Roxann Biggs - Dawson as Lieutenant Commander B'lenna Torres Paris
• Robert Duncan McNiel as Lieutenant Thomas "Tom" Eugene Paris
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine a.k.a. Annika Hansen
• Robert Picardo as Dr. Lewis Zimmerman (The Holographic Doctor)

AND
• Michelle Scarabelli as Captain Jenna Lynn D'Sora
• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Commander Alexandra "Alex" Mitchell
• Teri Hatcher as Lieutenant Commander Bronwyn Gail Robinson
• Shannon Fill as Lieutenant Sito Jaxa
• Julia Stiles as Lieutenant Commander Tamara Whitehouse

The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E, upgraded to the new Sovereign Class-III Heavy Explorer, like her sister ship the U.S.S. Titan, having completed her assignment to survey the Denab Star System - an area of space not been explored until the Enterprise-E's mission to the region. Following the events in the Bassen Rift against the Reman Warship - Scimitar, the badly damaged Enterprise-E was towed back to Earth for major structural and systems repairs or upgrades. While the crew mourned the loss of one of their closest friends, the Enterprise-E was docked at McKinley Orbital Docking Facility to receive those repairs that the ship so badly needed. It took close to a year for those repairs and upgrades to be completed on the Enterprise-E; at which time the ship was launched from McKinley Station to begin the survey of the Denab System. Now two years later, 2383, the Enterprise-E having completed the preliminary survey of the Denab Star System, was enroute to the Romulan Neutral Zone to meet up with the U.S.S. Titan on patrol along the border.

While the Enterprise is enroute to the Romulan Neutral Zone, Captain Picard receives a message from the captain of the U.S.S. Fortessal. Commander Martin Madden, Executive Officer of the Enterprise in the absence of Data or Riker, is manning the bridge when the call came in from the Fortessal's Captain.

Commander Worf, standing behind of the center seat at the Security/ Tactical Station spoke up when his console indicated a call for Captain Picard, "Commander, we are receiving a communiqu‚ from the U.S.S. Fortessal, Captain Jenna D'Sora commanding, Sir."

Commander Martin Madden acknowledge the statement with a slight nod of his head as he contacted Captain Picard in his private office (Ready Room) just off the bridge. "Bridge to Captain Picard, incoming call for you from the U.S.S. Fortessal, a Captain D'Sora;"

Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise leaned back in his chair behind his desk and let the beginnings of a smile play at the corners of his mouth as he immediately recognized the name of the Fortessal's Captain. Some years ago, Jenna D'Sora had served aboard the Enterprise-D as Security/ Tactical Officer under Lt. Worf's command.

Now after fifteen years, Jenna D'Sora had obtained the rank of Acting Captain of one of the most powerful and newest additions to the Federation Fleet, Picard could help but see the changes that had taken place over those fifteen years that he had known her from her days on the Enterprise-D to her tenure aboard the Enterprise-E and to the time when he had thought that she had been killed during the Cardassian / Dominion War.

He was relieved to find out that Jenna had made it out of the Cardassian / Dominion Prison Camp where she had been held for several months prior to her escape; but the imprisonment had left a lasting deep impression on the once vibrant young woman that he had known aboard the Enterprise-D in 2368 when she had first joined his crew. She was tougher than he had ever seen her before in all of the years that he had known her; she had a hunter's instinct about her that was tempered by her sense of fair-play and her duties to the Federation & Starfleet. During her time behind enemy lines, during the Dominion War, her ship remained behind enemy lines fighting to keep the enemy forces in chaos, disorganized and to cause as much havoc within their space as she possibly could. By all accounts that he had heard of those encounters that the Fortessal had with Cardassian & Dominion and Breen Forces; the ship and her crew fought valiantly against overwhelming odds time and time again.

As he thought back to those days that Jenna Lynn D'Sora had served aboard the Enterprise, he realized that he was proud to have had her serve aboard his ship and to have had the chance to have gotten to know the woman behind the uniform that served on both Enterprises that he has commanded over those eighteen years from 2365 to 2383.

"Commander Madden, send that communiqu‚ to my Ready Room," a moment later the computer screen on his desk was activated and there the screen was the woman that he had been thinking of moments earlier. "Captain Picard, I didn't catch you at a bad time did I," as she spoke to him he could see a spark of that old personality still there waiting for a chance to come to the surface."

"No, of course not Captain D'Sora, what can I do for you," Picard spoke to his former shipmate with the same tease of sense-of-humor that she had shown to him when she had spoke to him.

"Captain, the Fortessal has been ordered to the planet- Betazed to act as guard for a very tense Diplomatic Conference being held that could result in a hostile situation arising should things get out of hand of course. However, the reason that I am calling you is because the Enterprise is the closest vessel to investigate a mysterious spatial anomaly that our sensors are tracking. If the Fortessal was not on her way to Betazed, then we would be investigating the anomaly; but such is not the case here Captain. Starfleet's orders leave no room for discretionary powers or interpretations of those orders and so the duty of investigating must by definition fall to the next available vessel; which just so happens to be your ship Captain - the Enterprise-E."

Picard could help but see the dilemma that Captain D'Sora faced, "Captain D'Sora, rest assured that the Enterprise will head to the mysterious spatial anomaly that you are tracking on your sensors and we'll investigate it. Good luck at Betazed Captain and god's speed to you and your crew always." With that mutual understanding between the two of them, Jenna and Picard severed the communications channel practically at the same time; Picard exited his Ready Room entering the bridge.

Without any preamble to his crew, he immediately ordered an immediate course change from heading to the Romulan Neutral Zone to the mysterious spatial rift that the Fortessal was still monitoring for the next few minutes at least. The Enterprise at maximum warp speed, she was still several hours away at best; but this did not deter the crew from proceeding with their assignment of investigating the rift.

At the spatial rift, one ship exited from the rift at full impulse power and then made an immediate jump to maximum warp speed. The Fortessal's long-range sensors caught the ship exiting the rift and its configuration was nothing like what the Fortessal's Tactical Database had and this information was also sent to the Enterprise-E by the order of Captain Jenna D'Sora.

Silently, Jenna thought to herself, 'It would seem that Picard has a real mystery on his hands this time. Let's see if Private Investigator - Dixon Hill is still as good as he was aboard the Enterprise-D.'

On the Enterprise-E, the information on what was taking place at the spatial rift was received via the subspace relay system and for Picard this was looking rather peculiar to him as it was to the rest of his crew. At this time he decided to assemble his senior staff for a mission briefing on their new assignment; as was the custom aboard the Enterprise, the briefing was being held in the Forward Observation Lounge.

However, soon after the Fortessal had detected the exiting ship from the rift, the Fortessal left maximum effective sensor range and was of no further use to the Enterprise in providing any more useful information on the on-going mysterious rift that the ship's sensors had originally detected. The Enterprise continued on course for the rift at maximum warp speed and was still three hours away from their destination. At the same time that the Enterprise was still three hours away from the rift; five other ships of a small, compact design was also exiting from the rift, but at a significantly reduced speed than the first ship that had exited the rift. The Enterprise's sensors at the distance was able to determine that the five ships exiting from the rift had sustain damages that were consistent with going through an intense spatial anomaly; that would even shake the hull-plating on the Enterprise-E if she were to go through the rift as these ships had done.

The leading ship from the rift was of a spider-like design and was speeding away from the rift & the pursuing multiple vessels at the ship's top speed and then some too. The pursuing vessels were not so well equipped as the ship that they were pursuit of; but they maintained their continual relentless pursuit of the rouge ship and its pilot up ahead of them by at least a couple of hours.

The pursuing vessels had taken some damages going through the accursed unstable rift as they had gone in after the vessel that had lead them to the rift & going in and thus also forcing them to go in after the ship too. Their lesser design capabilities & the damages that they had incurred going through the rift; was further hindering their continual pursuit of their query in the spider-like designed ship speeding away from them at more than three-quarters of their current rate of speed.

This continued to give the spider-like designed ship more time and distance ahead of its pursuers, until the pursuers finally lost track of the ship as it exceeded the distance of the pursuing ships' sensors.

There were five ships in the pursuit convoy going after the one rouge ship & its pilot; to someone else it might have seemed a bit like overkill sending five ships after one ship that was smaller than any of the five ships that were in pursuit of it. But to the individuals on those five ships, it didn't seem like overkill to them at all; as a matter-of-fact they wished that they had the rest of their battle group of six more ships to assist them in the capture of the rouge ship & its lone, rebellious passenger that has managed to effectively elide them for years now and much to their displeasure was still managing to do so with that accursed ship of hers.

Yet a capture of their query seemed even more remote as they lost track of her ship again; thanks to those high powered and efficient running warp engines that were more than capable of powering one of their full-size command ships.

The lone occupant of the small, maneuverable, long-range attack craft that was in the shape that resembled a large black spider; settled back in her chair and watched impassively as her pursuers continued to loose ground in their pursuit of her. Her ship had done its job superiorly again, and despite the rather considerable amount of strain on her ship's systems and hull integrity, she decided to keep her ship at maximum (red-line) speed to keep ahead of her pursuers even more than she already was at the moment.

After several more hours of traveling at this rate of speed, changing course several times, going through dense magnetic storms, ion storms, and nebulas all over the place; she finally reduced speed and plotted a course for the Bassen Rift, where her ship's sensors indicated the location of a planet deep inside of its dense folds of greenish gaseous nature.

Her ship's sensors also were tracking the movements of ships along what appeared to be a mutually understood barrier also known as a 'Neutral Zone' to some races that she's encountered over the years in all of her travels over the regions of deep space that she had left behind her when she came through the rift several hours earlier. Her ships entered the greenish gaseous spatial anomaly known as the 'Bassen Rift', on impulse power enroute for what she hoped would be an uninhabited planet to which would allow her some measure of peace & quiet from the Hunted Killers that were in pursuit of her.

The Enterprise-E was still at maximum warp speed in pursuit of the multiple vessels that had come through the mysterious spatial rift anomaly. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise had dispatched a full report to Starfleet Command - Earth: c/o Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway; the report's contents concerned the mysterious spatial rift that had disappeared from their space and that the Enterprise-E was currently enroute & in pursuit of the equally mysterious warp signatures that had been detected by the Enterprise's sensors as leaving the rift proceeding further into Federation Space, but also on a relative course heading for the planet - Betazed.

In a way Picard was glad that they were heading in that general direction; because at the planet - Betazed was the Galaxy Class - III Starship: U.S.S. Fortessal NCC-76239, under the command of Captain Jenna Lynn D'Sora, a former security / weapons tactical officer from both the Enterprise D & E. Jenna's ship had originally monitored the rift's arrival in Federation Space, but her orders had taken her directly to the planet - Betazed and thus not permitting her to divert her ship to the rift to conduct an investigation of it. Thus the duty fell to the crew and officers of the U.S.S. Enterprise to conduct the investigation of the rift; but given the rift's disappearance from the area, the Enterprise still had the duty to pursue the mysterious vessels that were roaming Federation Space, if for nothing else than to ascertain the vessels' origins and their intentions in Federation Space.

What troubled Picard more was that the five vessels seemed to be in pursuit of a single vessel that was up ahead of them by a great distance that would take even the Enterprise hours to reach even at maximum warp speed. Still the smaller vessel was able to increase the gap between its pursuers & the Enterprise too.

This surprised Picard when his fairly new Operation's Manager (OPS) Lieutenant Commander Tamara Whitehorse (Human - Deltan) that had replaced Picard's deceased friend - Lieutenant Commander Data, whom had recommended to Picard, Tamara's assignment to the Enterprise. That recommendation had been under the understanding that Data was soon to be taking Will Riker's position as the ship's new First Officer, when Will Riker left the Enterprise to assume the command of his own ship the U.S.S. Titan. Picard had honored Data's recommendation by sending his personal acceptance of Tamara Whitehorse's posting to the Enterprise as the ship's new Operations Manager. Picard had not been disappointed when the Ops. Mgr. worked diligently on the Enterprise's repairs and refitting during the year that the ship was in dry-dock at McKinley Station, Earth. During the three years that Lt. Cmdr. Whitehorse has been a member of the Enterprise crew, she has completely justified the confidence with which Data had spoke of her to Picard concerning his recommendation of Whitehorse as his replacement as the Operations Manager aboard the Enterprise.

If the smaller vessel continued to increase the gap between it and its pursuers, the amount of time would not be a matter of hours until they reached the ship and its accursed pilot; it would be instead days. At the planet - Betazed, the Federation Starship: U.S.S. Fortessal was in orbit around the planet to act as a deterrent for any hostile actions taken to disrupt the high-profile diplomatic conference held on the planet's surface. So far the mission had been relatively uneventful; yet the crew of the Fortessal remained vigilantly aware manning each of their assigned posts all over the ship; and if they were not on-duty they still remained on the alert to spring into action if they were needed for some reason or another.

Like most Federation Starships serving in Starfleet on missions of defensive, offensive, diplomatic related assignments and the traditional exploratory type of missions; the Fortessal's crew was a mixture of personnel that was far more diversified than any other ship in the entire Federation. Only about half of the crew were Federation Citizens that had entered Starfleet; the remaining half of the ship's compliment of crew and officers were represented by Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, and several other races that were participating in a 'Foreign Cultural Exchange' program instituted by the Federation Council and was approved by the Klingon, Romulan and Ferengi Governments.

However, the crew of the Fortessal had formed a rather strong sense of loyalty, duty and emotional attachment to their ship; but this attachment was particularly strong with their Commanding Officer - Captain Jenna Lynn D'Sora. For nearly three years, they had served with Jenna on board the U.S.S. Fortessal during the peak of the grueling Dominion War from a few years ago.

After Jenna had retaken the Fortessal completely intact from the Cardassians & Dominion Forces; she had then proceeded to liberate the POWs on the planet's surface that the starship was docked nearby in orbit around a small moon. During the Dominion War, the Fortessal's crew and caused all kinds of havoc & chaos behind enemy lines; ever since their release from the Cardassian Prison Camp by Jenna D'Sora - her crew has remained steadfastly, stubbornly and at times defiantly at her side through the war and now in semi-peaceful times they were still with her.

Her interstellar crew primarily consisting of (Klingons & Romulans) were strongly criticized, harassed and threaten by their own governments trying force them to return back to their homes and leave the Fortessal and their Commanding Officer. Yet the crew stubbornly refused to cave-in under the pressure that they received from their respective governments; as a matter of fact the Fortessal launched a clandestine (covert) operation into both empires (Klingon & Romulan) to retrieve the threatened families of the Fortessal's crew. This action was done not as officers of the fleet, but as independent citizens and completely on their own with one motive fueling them; to rescue and save their families from harm.

The then Acting Captain Jenna D'Sora was called back to Starfleet Headquarters for questioning with the possibility of being charged for her role in the clandestine (covert) operations to both empires. However, given the testimonies from her crew both Starfleet & Foreign Exchange caused great understanding & sympathy to be generated on Jenna's behalf and the incident was logged down in her official service record as being still under review of the circumstances following the clandestine operations that she had lead into both empires. The final conclusion of the investigation was that Captain Jenna D'Sora had showed the same kind of teamwork, leadership and courage that Starfleet tries to instill in its officers and thus she is cleared of the suspicion of any wrong doing in the eyes of the Federation Council & Starfleet Command.

Just as the crew of the Fortessal had stood beside their Commanding Officer - Jenna D'Sora during the height of the Dominion War; they stood beside her now knowing that she would sacrifice her very life for any one of them at any given time, just as she knew that her crew was just as equally fiercely loyal to her too.

Admiral Kathryn Janeway contacted Captain Jenna D'Sora concerning the approach of the five mysterious vessels that had entered Federation Space via the rift that the Fortessal had originally detected and reported to Starfleet and later to the Enterprise-E. The approach of the mysterious vessels caused Jenna to place her ship and crew on Yellow Alert until the vessel's intentions were determined.

Jenna then decided to contact the senior Federation Ambassador on Betazed - Lawxanna Troi (the mother of Cmdr. Deanna Troi); Jenna informed Lawxanna Troi of the situation concerning the approaching unidentified vessels. Within a matter of mere minutes every system on board the Fortessal was at full power in the anticipation of a possible battle about to occur involving their ship.

The five alien vessels maintained their pursuit of their ever elusive query that they were still after. They were also painfully well aware of the fact that they too now had a ship on a pursuit course for them and their query too. The last thing that they wanted to do was have a confrontation with the massive ship that was in hot pursuit of them. Even more than that was their desire to keep the ship away from their query (ship & pilot); this desire was even stronger for them than their desire to keep the pursuing ship away from them.

Things were however, not in the favor of the crews of the five alien ships being chased by the Enterprise-E. Their damaged engines were on the verge of over heating & shutting completely down on them and the Enterprise would be there on top of them long before they ever got their engines repaired enough for them to resume their pursuit of their query.

This situation forced the leader of the pursuit group of Hunted Killers (HKs) to make a quick decision for them to posse as foreign law enforcement officials new to the area and they were in pursuit of a criminal wanted by their government on several very serious charges.

So when their engines finally cut out on them, they waited for the arrival of the Enterprise-E to arrive on the scene. The leader of the pursuit group was beamed over to the Enterprise-E & escorted to the bridge: Captain's Ready Room, where Captain Jean-Luc Picard waited patiently while he sipped a cup of steaming hot Earl Grey Tea.

The ships of the pursuit crews were losing life-support and thus forcing the Enterprise crew to beam them over to their ship. The rest of the pursuit crews were being held on board the Enterprise in private quarters under heavy armed guard until the situation could be sorted out through official channels.

Until the matter was completely sorted out to Starfleet's and the Federation Judicial Authorities; no work was being done on the motionless vessels hanging out there in front of the Enterprise.