Author's Note: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I cannae share how reaffirming it is to know that people find enjoyment and entertainment in this story.
I adore reading your feedback and theories – it's really helped me get through this pandemic.
This is a longer chapter. Sorry for the delayed updates.
C/W: This chapter is the conclusion of our creature-feature adventure. It's intended to be a run through the jungle, avoid the big monster, escape the planet type story. This means there's a mix of action, humour, and some violence.
Regarding the timeline, this story is set approximately six weeks after The Void.
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Data felt someone grip his forearm.
He looked down to see Tasha's hand. She was standing next to him, petrified as she stared ahead.
"It blinked," she squeaked.
Data followed her line of sight over to the amber-encasement and all the way up to the eyes of the formidable Jaradan queen.
They were large, seemingly black eyes. However, Data knew that despite their glossy appearance, the Jaradan eyes weren't truly black. The cornea was black, and their irises were a dark shade of blue.
Although he had studied this, it offered Data little comfort.
The unique design of their eyes gave the eerie illusion of being lifeless.
In fact, were it not for their blinking, it was easy for the Jarada to give the impression of being statues. They trained so rigorously that they had the ability to appear motionless. Furthermore, being cold-blooded, they did not stand out on thermal scans.
All of sudden, the Jaradan queen blinked again – her eyelids quickly closing vertically and then retracting again.
Data gasped softly.
She's alive! He realised, utterly fascinated.
His mind raced with questions as he simultaneously began to theorise if this royal jelly amber created some sort of casing to preserve her, if she had been in a deep state of hibernation, and if such an act was a natural part of their life cycle or the result of some accident or disaster.
Data sensed Tasha's whole body stiffen next to him.
They weren't the only two who noticed the movement.
"Data?" Riker asked in alarm.
Data's eyes were wide. His head was moving rapidly as the amber continued to crack.
"This is most intriguing, sir," Data confessed in awe.
The shards of resin began to fall away, impacting the rocky soil below and sending a cloud of dust into the air.
"This is most unexpected and merits further study," Data went on.
Tasha's grip on his arm tightened, wordlessly urging him that now was not the time for such speculation. She knew they needed to act, but Tasha found herself unable to tear her eyes away.
As the dust settled, the Jaradan queen's head moved as she surveyed the room.
No one moved as they stood enthralled in the presence of such a large, magnificent creature.
She lifted one of her powerful legs and stepped forward. The impact reverberated throughout the cavern, shaking the ground. A split formed.
Commander Riker watched as it started at the impact point and ran along the ground toward the group and then past it.
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The Complication
Fanfiction"Am I the 'complication'?" Data asked. Following the events on Ligon II, Data struggles to reconcile the discrepancies between Tasha's verbal and nonverbal communication. Furthermore, his attempts to better understand what's happening lead to him fr...
