Author's Note: Thank you all for your ongoing support of this story!
I apologise that it's been so long for me to respond to comments & update. I started 2024 horribly ill. Spring marked a number of busy milestones in my personal and professional life. Summer brought some fresh health challenges.
From the bottom of my heart—thank you for your patience.
It's a multi-chapter drop!
The President of the United Federation of Planets mentioned in this chapter is taken from Keith R.A. DeCandido's Articles of the Federation.
There's a lot of action happening behind the scenes on the Romulan end that is not seen in this arc. I want to be clear that Sela and Morak are only a part of the broader Romulan arc. They are not joining the fic as a major perspective.
Data/Tasha are the primary focus and will continue to be so.
However, I felt we needed some resolution on the Romulan side because the conspiracy has still infiltrated Starfleet. Additionally, the events that transpire at the end of that conspiracy directly set in motion the Klingon Civil War/Redemption story arc that will be a major component for The Course We Set (S3/S4) and The Choice (S5).
Those events will be covered in detail in The Consequence companion piece (which I intend to release in 2025).
So, we will see this arc where the action is once again split between the Enterprise & the Romulans. Once complete, the focus will shift back to Data/Tasha almost exclusively. Please note, there will be a handful of other Romulan storyline scenes at the conclusion of The Complication.
C/W: Pregnancy, grief, whumping/injuring (major character), death (not major character), pregnancy.
There's also a steamy scene in the next two chapters. One ends abruptly. The other is 'fade to black' but a bit more oomph than I typically write.
I want to thank Lady_Lore for helping me to experiment & grow more comfortable with writing in that aspect.
-X-
"You will defeat the insidious designs of our Enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force to secret Artifice. You will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled patriotism & patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings..."
- George Washington | The Newburgh Address | 1783
-X-
Captain's Log. Supplemental. The Yamato's entire crew and their families, more than a thousand people, have been lost. Circumstances unfortunately permit us no pause for grief.
-X-
The Red Alert klaxon blared overhead.
Just outside the viewscreen, the wrecked fragments of the Yamato floated in an eerie manner.
What little remained.
More than thirteen hundred people were gone in an instant.
The loss of the Yamato was a cruel reminder of just how dangerous life on a starship could be.
"I'm reading no life signs," Lieutenant Jae reported from Operations.
"Keep scanning the larger sections," Riker ordered.
He hoped against all odds that someone—anyone—had managed to get into an escape pod.
The turbolift doors slid open. Data and Tasha stepped out onto the Bridge and took up their positions. Jean-Luc wasn't going to question their presence. He needed his team.
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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...
