The Complication

Conquest

Author's Note: Part two! Yay!

I want to thank my writing partner Lady_Lore for helping me to better develop my characterisation of Sela. You will notice a few themes borrowed from some of her Sela fics – namely around Sela's personality.

(Please note: We would like to make ABUNDANTLY clear that The Complication and Lady_Lore's Sela stories DO NOT take place in the same universe).

I've always felt Sela was a criminally underdeveloped character that had great potential to be a complex villain. This series explores some of that.

The bulk of this chapter is more fun for our crew. However, be aware that the end takes a dark turn to set us up for our next arc. Sela's a fascist. She's bigoted and hateful. Be warned that some of her dialogue is rather strong as Sela eschews this viewpoint.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of this series! <3 Charlie

-X-

"Al-alright everybody. We've worked h-hard for this," Reg stammered. "And, and I know you're going to do-"

He paused and gulped. ­

"Just great," he squeaked out.

Motivational speeches weren't really Barclay's wheelhouse.

"Thank you, Mr Barclay," Picard said.

Reg froze as he felt the Captain's hand on his shoulder.

"You've been a most excellent captain," Picard said, offering the nervous Lieutenant a reassuring squeeze.

It seemed Reg's tutelage had paid off.

Jean-Luc had scored a victory for the team in the individual foil competition. Lieutenant Selar had been victorious in her match against the Yamato's Security Chief.

And Barclay the man himself had faced off against the petite (but mighty) Ensign P'kil in one of the most exciting sabre events Jean-Luc had ever witnessed.

Reg fainted upon learning he'd won.

-X-

Data and Tasha had watched the fencing events from the comfort of her quarters as they ate breakfast.

"Most interesting," Data remarked.

"Hmm?" Tasha asked through a mouthful of porridge.

"The betting authorities have downgraded our chances in the race," Data said.

"What!?" Tasha exclaimed.

She snatched the tablet out of Data's hands and grumbled as she skimmed through the morning alert from Guinan – the ship's unofficial turf accountant.

Tasha was aghast as she saw that their chances in the race had shifted from a 'Toss-up' to 'Lean Yamato.'

"I read that Lieutenant Switzer won the Academy marathon three times," Data said.

In preparation for the challenge, Data had read all of the personnel files for the opposing team's roster.

Tasha stopped eating.

"Three times?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yes," Data answered. "2359, 2360, and 2361."

With her physical condition still recovering from the nanocite incident, Tasha was already worried about her performance. She was coming off an impressive match the night before. Tasha was trying to cling to the high of that victory.