Author's Note: Thank you all for your continued support on this journey. This chapter was inspired by Stargate SG1's Solitudes. While it is mainly focused on Geordi/Data friendship, this chapter is another piece in our growing Conspiracy/Romulan arc.
It's a two-parter!
Thank you for all your support, kudos, and kind words.
-X-
Sonya Gomez was humming to herself as she carefully took a sip of her hot chocolate. It was shortly after midnight, and it had been a slow shift.
She chuckled to herself and shook her head before flipping to the next page. The latest starship retrofit designs were getting wild.
As if! Sonya mused to herself. You can't just slap a third nacelle on a Souyez-class ship and expect a smooth ride.
She chuckled and put a bookmark on the page. She would have to show Geordi in the morning – he'd find the very idea a riot.
The Next Generation was a monthly publication run by a retired theoretical engineer. It featured articles and retrofit designs, interviews with various engineers, and specs for new ideas.
While there were occasionally some goldmine ideas to be found inside, Geordi often quipped that the whole magazine was run by a retiree with more time than brains.
Most of the ideas were fantasy at best or had real-world implications that made practical implementation unlikely.
Sonya was halfway through skimming a retrofit design on a Constitution-class warp coil when something caught her eye.
In the corner of her console, there was a small blinking light.
Sonya set the magazine aside and sat up straight.
She keyed in a targeted sensor sweep of the area.
There it was again! Sonya gasped softly.
For three hours, she sat fixated on watching the rare phenomenon blink on her console – taking additional sensor readings, running a diagnostic to ensure the equipment was functioning properly, and cross-checking any previous surveys of the area.
Shortly before her shift was due to end at 04:00, she decided the risk outweighed the reward.
"Engineering to Lieutenant La Forge," Sonya said, tapping her combadge.
-X-
Data was already up at his workstation. It had been an early night. The sparring tournament had only been a few days prior.
They were due to arrive at Starbase 173 in eighteen hours and Data was making final preparations for his proposal plan.
Tasha had spent the day readying the ship for final inspection before docking and had been exhausted. So, they had skipped Ten Forward in favour of a quiet evening at home.
They'd played a few rounds of a physical game that involved placing one's hands or feet on various colours across a playboard.
It had ended in a light-hearted argument with Tasha insisting that it was cheating for Data to simply detach his arm.
The argument had ended when Data had silenced her complaint with a kiss.
She is complaining no longer. Data thought.
No, now Tasha was sound asleep in Data's bed having dozed off mid-backrub.
But Data was in no mood to sleep.
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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...
