Author's Note: Phew! Here we are.
This is the final chapter of The Case. There is a short epilogue that follows.
I want to thank each and every one of you for taking this journey with me. Now that this story is complete, both The Complication and The Classified Incident will resume.
From the bottom of my heart – thank you!
-X-
"Data?" Geordi asked.
"Hmm?" Data responded without turning from the window.
"Is there anything you want to talk about?" Geordi offered.
They'd been sitting in silence for the better part of two hours.
"Do you think she is looking at it?" Data asked.
Geordi didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, Data," he said. "Yeah. I think she is."
Geordi gave Data's forearm a light squeeze of reassurance.
"Data, I have to believe that good things happen," Geordi declared. "We're surrounded every day by an environment that will do anything it can to kill us. There's a million ways to die in space."
Geordi smiled.
"But we chose this as our home. Because we have faith in our crew, hope for tomorrow, and an indomitable belief in Starfleet," Geordi went on. "And maybe, just maybe, we're a little bit brave."
It was not unlike the words his mother had spoken to him as a child.
"We face insurmountable odds every day," Geordi continued. "And more often than not, you're the one thinking up some miracle to get us all out alive."
Data had come up with some whacky ideas in the past – and usually they worked.
"I don't know if you're that good or that lucky," Geordi said. "But either way, I have to believe you're going to walk out victorious. I have to believe that."
Data wasn't unappreciative of Geordi's efforts to inspire hope – it's just that there were times his neural net could be a burden.
"Geordi, I have calculated the odds that-" Data began to say.
"Ah!" Geordi said, stopping him as he wiggled his finger.
"But, Geordi-" Data protested.
"What were the odds of escaping that black hole?" Geordi asked. "Or surviving in frigid temperatures long enough for the Enterprise to figure out we were trapped on the other side of an Iconian doorway?"
Geordi paused for dramatic effect.
"Hmm?" he pressed.
Data frowned.
"It would seem that I am incapable of accurately analysing situations given that I am so often incorrect," Data said.
"Daaaataaa," Geordi groaned.
"That was a joke, Geordi," Data explained.
There was a hint of a smile on his face. His lip curled ever-so-slightly upwards into an impish smirk whenever he found something amusing – even if Data claimed he didn't understand humour.
"What does your heart tell you?" Geordi asked.
Data turned his attention back out to the three moons that were orbiting around the planet below.
"That the next time we play Age of Sail, you will fall to the superiority of my Portuguese fleet," Data said.
-X-
YOU ARE READING
The Case
FanfictionA retelling of "Measure of a Man." Commander Bruce Maddox and Data have a long history. For the first few years of his activation, Data was confined as a prisoner for Maddox's research. He was conditioned to repress his feelings and desires - all in...
