The BLTS Archive- Righting Wrongs
by Ken Parker (parkekn@okstate.edu)

---

Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything in this piece except the quote
from Hamlet and the plot, such as it is. That came from my own warped
brain, so blame me.

This story takes place between seasons one and two of The Next
Generation.

Author's Note: This is the jumping off point, so to speak, for the
(slightly) alternate universe the rest of the stories in this
semi-series will take place in. It's my first attempt at writing
fanfiction, and my first fiction of any kind as well, so please try to
be understanding at this point. I promise to try to get better, and
hopefully the stories will too.

---

You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Lieutenant Commander Data,
the only android in Starfleet, was feeling quite a bit out of sorts.
This was puzzling to him, since he professed to have no "feelings" as
such at all. Nevertheless, something was clearly amiss inside his
neural net.

Since Lieutenant Yar (Tasha, some spurious input insisted) had been
killed by Armus some 37 days previous, Data's thought processes had
been amiss. On average, approximately 27.35 percent of his
computational resources had been focused on her constantly since the
day she died. He found this quite odd, given that his duties required
only 8 percent of his resources for his usual superhuman efficiency,
and his idle thoughts about all of his other friends combined
typically hovered at about 6 percent.

Yet for some reason he could not fathom, Data could not stop thinking
about Tasha. Memories of their past interaction, questions he had
thought to ask her, thoughts of what he could have done differently to
save her, and, most puzzling, some unidentifiable sense of...emptiness
plagued him. He could not define what it was, but he was constantly
beset with it, and it had changed how he perceived the rest of the
universe. Something fundamental had been altered within him the day
Tasha died, and he no longer saw each new experience with the same
sense of wonder. According to what he understood, if he had emotions,
the feeling might be called sadness or melancholy, but since he had
none, it had to be a malfunction.

Data had hoped the problem would resolve itself over time, as his
friends had stated at the funeral, but the situation had remained
constant with each passing day. He had run numerous self diagnostics,
and all had shown no malfunctions, but clearly something had to be
wrong. Obviously, he needed outside assistance to help run further
tests and correct the problem. Data decided to speak with Geordi after
their shifts ended to get his input on the situation and help fix
whatever was wrong.

---

"Data, there's nothing wrong with your neural net."

"But Geordi, I clearly have a resource allocation problem," he looked
up from his quarters' workstation. "There is no other explanation for
this condition."

"Yes, there is, Data," Geordi sighed. "You miss her."

"That is not possible. I am incapable of any emotion."

Geordi shook his head. "No, that's just what you want everyone to
believe. Including yourself right now. Life's easier without emotions,
Data. But you and I both know that it's a lot richer with them, good
and bad. And you, my friend, are finally experiencing a situation
powerful enough to make you realize that you do have some sort of
emotions. You just don't recognize them. Or maybe you do, and just
don't want to deal with them."

"An intriguing hypothesis, Geordi," Data cocked his head to one side,
"but one that cannot be proven, and, unfortunately, does not help with
my malfunction."

"Data, diagnostics won't help with this. Talking about your thoughts
and working through them will. Now, I'm willing to do that, and I'm
sure every other one of your friends would be too. Feel free to run as
many tests as you want, but please talk to one of us when you're ready
to accept and deal with what's really wrong."

Data was silent for a moment. "I will consider your theory. Thank you
for your input. I will continue to run further diagnostics in an
attempt to find the real source of the malfunction."

Shaking his head, Geordi turned to leave, but stopped as he reached
the door. "She's not coming back, Data. I know that's hard to accept,
but you need to learn to deal with it. Like the rest of us are
struggling to do." With that, he left.

Data continued his diagnostics, but the last thing Geordi said
remained with him. "She's not coming back, Data." Data knew that, so
why did it continue to playback in his mind long after Geordi left?
And why did his shoulders suddenly slump?

---

Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Perhaps a tragedy is not the best reading material at this time, mused
Captain Picard. Given the recent string of events, it would probably
be better to peruse something a bit more upbeat. With aliens
attempting to take over Starfleet by mind control and the Romulans
returning to prominence, there was enough to worry about in the real
world. Not to mention the tragic loss of Tasha Yar just over a month
ago, which struck him both as a captain cares for his crew and as a
mentor for their student. He knew Tasha had idolized him, and he felt
that much worse for losing a person who had pulled herself out of the
darkness of her home colony and molded herself into a model officer.

He shook his head again at the waste of it all. Armus had killed her
simply for amusement, and there had been nothing he could do. The
combined negative emotions of an entire species, he thought, who would
have believed such a thing possible? And what sort of species would
leave something like that free to harm others? He shook his head once
more and strode to the replicator to get some Earl Grey, which always
helped him think.

Suddenly, a bright light suffused his ready room. He squinted, and
when he could see again, a glowing being, vaguely humanoid in shape,
was floating above the floor between his desk and the door. Picard was
preparing to declare an intruder alert when the being spoke.

"You are Picard of the Enterprise?"

Diplomacy first, Jean-Luc. "Yes, I am. And who are you?"

"My name is unimportant. It is sufficient that you know where my
species came from, ages ago. The planet you call Vagra 2."

"Vagra 2?" Picard was intrigued. "Then yours is the race that cast off
Armus?"

"Correct. We left the worst parts of ourselves there so that we could
ascend to new levels of consciousness. We thought him helpless.
Unfortunately, we were mistaken."

"Unfortunately?" Picard asked, incensed. "Your 'mistake' killed one of
my crew members, and injured three more!"

"We are aware of the wrongs committed by our dark parts. We learned of
your encounter with him, and I have come to set things right."

"Set things right?"

"Yes." At this, a purple glow appeared and brightened above the ready
room couch. It grew to blinding, and when the Captain could see again,
to his astonishment, he beheld what appeared to be the body of
Lieutenant Natasha Yar lying on the couch. She was in her dress
uniform, as she had been when laid to rest in her casket, shot into
space above Vagra 2.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The Vagran ignored him, and placed its "hands" about six inches above
Tasha's heart. Golden energy emerged from its hands and began
spreading over Tasha's body, completely engulfing her. As Picard
watched, bewildered, Tasha took a huge, gulping breath, and then began
to breathe normally. The energy withdrew into the Vagran, and the
being straightened. Turning to Picard, it stated, "The wrong has been
righted. Know that our lesser part has been confined within the heart
of Vagra 2, and he will trouble no one ever again. May you find
enlightenment, Picard of the Enterprise."

The being vanished, and Picard was left staring at his former security
chief, apparently back from the dead, lying on his couch. Within
moments, Tasha's eyelids fluttered open, and she began groggily
looking around.

Her gaze settled on Picard. "Captain? Where am I? What happened?"

This shook Picard out of his stupor, and he immediately exclaimed,
"Doctor Crusher, medical emergency, report to my ready room
immediately!" Tasha tried to sit up at this, confused.

"On my way, Captain!" came Crusher's voice.

Picard leaned over Tasha and gently pushed her shoulder back down to
the couch surface. "Relax, Tasha. All will be explained very soon." At
least, I hope it will.

---

Data watched from Ops as Doctor Crusher entered the Captain's ready
room at a rather speedy pace. He wondered what the reason was, but
quickly resolved that if it were relevant, the Captain and the Doctor
would notify him. He returned to his duties with his usual efficiency,
but he was still troubled.

After 1033 diagnostics in the past day, he still could not determine
what was wrong with his resource allocation subsystems. Thoughts of
Lieutenant Yar (Tasha, came the spurious input again) continued to
occupy more than one quarter of his mental capacity. He was at a loss
to explain what was wrong, and had resolved to take Geordi's advice
and try to talk about the situation. At the least, this strategy could
do no worse than any of his other attempts to correct the malfunction.

Data noted on the Ops board that a site to site transport of two
individuals had just been completed from the Captain's ready room to
sickbay. This caused Data to theorize that something must be wrong
with the Captain, and that he and the Doctor had been beamed to
sickbay. He was about to hail Doctor Crusher to ask the details of the
situation, when Captain Picard strode out of his ready room and onto
the bridge.

Confused, Data asked, "Captain? May I ask who was beamed to sickbay
with Doctor Crusher?"

"Not now, Data. You'll find out soon enough. For now, I want you to
scan the area for anything out of the ordinary."

"Aye, sir. Is there anything in particular I should search for?"

Picard shook his head, "No, Data. Just scan the area to the best of
your ability."

My abilities are not at their best, came yet another spurious input.
Aloud, Data replied, "Yes sir. I will have the scan completed within
the hour."

"Thank you, Commander. I'll be in sickbay. You have the bridge."

---

Fifty three minutes later, Data turned command over to Geordi and
headed for sickbay with his scan results. He could have contacted the
Captain over the comm system, but he had not been specifically ordered
to. Also, he was still curious as to who or what was in sickbay that
had prompted the scan.

Walking through the sickbay doors, Data saw no one in the main room.
"Captain?" he called.

Picard emerged from one of the private rooms and headed toward Data.
"Yes, Commander?"

Data handed him a padd. "The scan results, sir. Nothing out of the
ordinary appeared within 5 light years." The Captain sighed. Data
thought he looked puzzled and...relieved?

After a few moments, Picard smiled. "Amazing. Simply amazing."

"Sir?"

Picard looked at him, "Do you still want to know who was transported
here?"

"Very much, sir," Data replied, intrigued.

Picard's smile grew. "Then follow me, Commander. This may mean
somewhat more to those of us with emotions, but you will be among the
first to know the good news."

Data followed the Captain into the private room, and stopped dead when
he saw who was on the bed, sitting up and talking to Doctor Crusher.

His voice was a whisper. "Tasha?"

Tasha turned, smiled at him (What a wonderful sight, another spurious
input stated), and said, "Hi, Data. Did you miss me?"

A very faint upturning of the corners of his mouth occurred. "Your
absence caused a disruption in my neural patterns that I have
struggled to adapt to. However, since I have no emotions, I am
incapable of 'missing' you."

Tasha laughed, "Ah, Data. It's good to know some things haven't
changed." At this, Picard and Crusher laughed as well.

After observing (enjoying?) the spectacle for a few seconds, Data
asked, "Captain? What is to be Lieutenant Yar's official status?
Should I inform the rest of the crew of her return?"

The Captain sobered quickly. "Lieutenant Yar will be reinstated as
security chief, with Mister Worf as her second in command. We will
notify Starfleet that reports of her death have been greatly
exaggerated," he smiled, "and she will be recommended for a decoration
for valor and a promotion to Lieutenant Commander."

"And informing the crew, sir?" Data asked.

Picard smiled once more. "I'll handle that myself, Commander. It's not
often a Captain gets to deliver such good news to his crew. I'll make
an announcement within the hour. For now, keep it to yourself. Please
return to the bridge, I'll be along shortly."

"Aye, sir." With one final glance at Tasha, who smiled, Data left for
the bridge. His resource allocation problem appeared to be getting
worse. Now fully 32 percent of his mental capacity was occupied with
thoughts of Tasha. Tasha? Should it not be Lieutenant Yar? But even as
he thought this, the resources devoted to thoughts of her started to
decrease. Ah, the malfunction is finally correcting itself.

He arrived on the bridge and reassumed command. Approximately twelve
minutes later, the senior staff except for Data was called to sickbay
for a briefing. Geordi and Worf left the bridge, and the corners of
Data's mouth upturned slightly again. Approximately seventeen minutes
after that, the aft bridge turbolift doors opened.

Data turned to see Geordi, Worf, Captain Picard, and Tasha walk off
the lift onto the bridge. There were quiet gasps of astonishment from
the rest of the crewmembers on the bridge, but they quickly regained
their composure. Geordi, with a big smile on his face, took Conn, Data
relinquished command to the Captain and returned to Ops, and Worf and
Tasha together went to Tactical. The Captain then cleared his throat.

"Lieutenant Yar, open a shipwide channel, please."

Tasha smiled. "Aye, sir. Channel open."

The Captain smiled as well. "Attention all hands. Today, something
extraordinary occurred. This crew is whole again. Lieutenant Natasha
Yar has returned to us, thanks to a beneficial race of alien beings.
She is without doubt the Tasha we all knew, and has been reinstated as
security chief. Please join me in a moment of thanks to those who
returned her to us, and made our family complete again. That is all.
Captain out."

Data thought this quite a good method of reintroducing Tasha to the
crew, and filed it for future reference for his own command protocols.
At shift's end, Captain Picard asked Data to assign quarters to Tasha,
and Data was able to give her back her old quarters, which had yet to
be reassigned, or even cleaned out. Strange that I had not scheduled
that, he thought. He walked Tasha there. As she entered her quarters,
Data ventured, "Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Data?"

He paused. What was he planning to say? "...Welcome back."

Tasha smiled. "Thanks Data. It's good to be back. See you on the
bridge tomorrow."

"Good evening, Lieutenant." Her door closed, and Data continued on to
his quarters. When he arrived, he noticed that his malfunction had
finally corrected itself. The amount of his resources constantly
devoted to thoughts of Tasha was back to its normal level of 10
percent, and all was right with the world. The thought that no other
friend occupied over 2 percent of his resources never occurred to
him...

---

The End...for now.