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“I hope that it has,” Taris replied, eyes narrowed. She pointed overhead with the weapon’s barrel. “The Haakona in orbit above our heads is equipped with a much larger device that operates on the same principle, and that can deliver sufficient amounts of radiation to incapacitate a large number of androids at one time.” She paused, glancing around them, almost casually. “An entire city full of them, for example.”

Data’s expression remained blank, unreadable.

“If I or any of my officers fail to report in,” the subcommander continued, “or if there is any aggressive move made against me or my ship, the Haakona is under orders to open fire on the surface.”

“That is, I think you would agree, something to be avoided, Subcommander,” Data said.

“Perhaps,” the Romulan said, and turned away.

Isaac watched Data’s face carefully, curious about what the android would do. But in the next instant, Isaac’s attentions were diverted when he detected the signal ping of an incoming transmission on the subspace transceiver incorporated into his body, situated just below the main bulk of his positronic matrix. He replied subvocally with an answering hail, and then “heard” the voice of Lal calling in his head, followed by a quoted command from his superior, relayed in Picard’s own voice.

Without employing his vocal cords or uttering any sound, Isaac formed words in his positronic brain and transmitted them via subspace. “Captain, I am afraid matters are continuing to complicate.”

7

This was not good, Sito Jaxa thought. This was less than good. This was, in fact, bad.

From the expression he wore, she could see that Captain Picard felt much the same way.

“An anti-positronic disruptor,” he said in a low voice, eyes half-lidded. “In the hands of the Romulans.”

Commander Isaac had completed his brief report on the situation in the concourse, and Picard had ordered him to report back in shortly, or as developments warranted. Then Lal had broken the subspace connection, and when she spoke again, it was in her own voice.

“It is not right,” she said with evident horror. “We should not…” She trailed off, and it occurred to Sito that she had rarely seen an android at a loss for words. She’d never seen an android like Lal at all, for that matter, but it was somehow stranger to see an android stammering than to see one with a girlish figure and a woman’s face. “It should not be allowed.”

Picard stepped forward, and laid a gentle hand on the young android’s shoulder. “There are a great many things that should not be allowed, Lal, but I think you’ll find that a great many of them continue to exist, regardless. We must deal not with what should be, but with what is.”

Crusher and La Forge were still busy analyzing the console at the center of the room, and were now deep in conversation with the hairless android who operated it. But Sito’s attention was fixed on the scene before her, and the worried expression on the face of the young android.

Lal stared into space for a moment before looking up to meet the captain’s gaze. “The populace…”

“Yes, Lal?”

She regained her composure, visibly. “The populace has allowed the inspection to continue to this point because it had been assumed that the Romulans lacked the ability to inflict any significant harm on us, either individually or collectively. And if the Romulans made any such attempt, we would have the Iconian software virus and gateway network as fallback solutions. However, it is now clear that the Romulans can inflict harm on our population, not only with their shock troops in the streets, but with the armament of the ship in orbit, as well. And if the subcommander is to be believed, it would appear that the software virus is no longer a viable option.”

“How so?” Picard asked, arching an eyebrow.

“The delivery mechanism is a physical probe, launched from the planet’s surface. If the Romulans are on an alert status, they are likely to view the probe’s launch as an aggressive gesture, and open fire with