Disclaimer: See chapter one. CBS/Paramount own these characters, I just play with them. Thank you.

Foundlings

Before Picard could ask a question of the newly arrived pair, both silently shook their heads at him, causing him to frown puzzled. If their investigations hadn't gained results, why were they here? he wondered. Neither gave him any indication as to the answers, he'd hoped for.

A shout of anger and fear came from among the children, causing all to focus on the formerly lost group of youngsters, noticing an unidentified adult trying to pull a couple of the children from the whole group.

"No!" the taller older child shouted, whilst the other struggled in the adult's grip. "Leave us alone!" Riker, Ayala and Molina strode over, all three were of a certain height and could be quite intimidating, yet the children as a whole, moved towards them. Molina gathered them close and spoke reassuringly to them, asking the children to join and disperse among the crew and stay close to the main senior staff, thus leaving the struggling adult isolated. The younger of the two captured children kicked the shins of the adult, making him cry out in pain and relax his grip on the younger boy; now free he ran and hid behind Ayala. Riker meanwhile had reached the male adult and the taller child, he didn't touch the boy.

"I would suggest you let him go," he instructed firmly.

"Why, he's not yours!" the man said, the child twisting around in order to free himself.

"It would appear that he knows he's not yours either. Therefore, you should let him go," his tone quiet yet firm. Something in that tone caused the boy to stop struggling and pulling away from this strange adult male who held him. The lack of pulling startled his attacker, putting him so much off balance that he relaxed his grip on the boy's arm. With one decisive twist the boy pulled himself free and stood beside Riker, glaring at the unknown man, panting hard with residual panic and excursion.

"Now, Sir. Would you care to explain yourself?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you, Commander," the man snapped, still rubbing his shins.

"Maybe not, Sir," he responded, keeping himself calm for the child's sake. "But this child deserves an explanation as to why you were trying to abduct him and his companion," Riker said mildly. Nearby Zach was quietly capturing all this on camera, his gaze steady, therefore his head camera was fixed on the strangers face. The male pulled himself up to his full height that matched Riker's and glared angrily at him.

"I'll have you know that both boys belong to my family. Not that you need to know that!" he spat the last phrase.

"Is that so! Then why have you not gone through the proper legal channels, Sir. Why here?" he challenged, noting that all was quiet around them, as every eye was focused on this ongoing scenario.

"Because Dad didn't like him," the boy piped up, having obviously placed the man. Will Riker hunkered down to the boy's level a gentle arm around him, his expression encouraging.

"Is this person your next of kin?" he asked softly.

"Yes and no. He was Dad's half brother," trying to stem the tears that threatened at the thought of his father.

"Was? Your father died in the attack?" The boy could only nod, to choked by tears to speak. "And your mother?" He shrugged and shook his head, indicating he didn't know. "I see," he acknowledged, looking up to see Deanna quietly standing nearby. "I suggest you go with Counsellor Troi, she'll look after you for now," he advised. The child sniffed and scrubbed at his eyes and quietly took Deanna's offered hand and left. Riker stood and faced the stranger. "To you, Sir. I would advise that you leave and use the proper channels to enquire after the boy's legal status," his tone commanding, leaving the man in no doubt that he was not welcome here. The man scowled, muttered something unpleasant under his breath and walked away. Everyone breathed relieved once the stranger was out of sight and hadn't challenged Cmdr. William Riker.

=/\=

Although all of them at FNN Broadcasting were still reeling from the death of their young colleague Robin Hood, yet they all knew they had a duty to continue broadcasting the news of the day, however painful it might be for them personally. Gaffer was especially affected as the young man had shown such great promise as a reporter, having just about completed his apprenticeship year, with only the final interview to be scheduled, within the next month before getting his badge/security clearance as a fully fledged reporter; 'Not just a reporter, but an investigative reporter. Such a waste,' he thought. As he watched Zach's camera focusing in, on the incident among the children, frowning at the strange male who'd tried to abduct the two boys, there was just something about him that triggered a memory. Leaving his team to monitor things, he made for the main computer archive and asked the computer to match and cross reference the strange male from Prixin/Zach's camera to any within the FNN data banks.

#One match found# He was informed a moment later.

"Display," he ordered. "Audio as transcript text," he added, watching the non-broadcast material of a little known group who were supposedly offering new caring homes/families to all the war orphans. Contacting the CEO's secretary, he asked her to hook out the file on the group, along with the follow-up information on the group and why it hadn't been broadcast.

"Reanna, be discreet and bring the whole file to me personally," he said, into the secure comm.-system.

"Understood," she responded and cut the link.

It wasn't long before he was joined by Reanna, with a small data file, closing the door to the small office where Gaffer had retired to, still reviewing the non-broadcast-ed material, as if trying to pinpoint what was bothering him about this group.

"This is all we have of the follow-up information on this group," she informed him, putting the data file into the desk console. The information displayed before them had both veterans of the news world looking at each other with concern.

"How well is the Federation adoption agency coping with the influx of war orphans?" Gaffer asked quietly.

"Not really well," Reanna responded, having kept up-to-date on such things; 'A finger on the pulse' as he knew she called it. "It might be why this group appeared on the scene, offering a quick solution to the problem," she added softly.

"True. The next question will be; then why is the adoption agency still getting requests from couples that have places to offer and the agency has no children to fill them? If this group is supposed to be helping find new homes for the agency. That begs the next question, where are these children really going?" The pair looked at each other for a moment. "Reanna can you take this to Janeway do you think? Especially her XO," his tone cautious, adding the extra data from the FNN archives, to the data file, encrypting it.

"As it's my lunch break, I'll take a walk," she told him, taking the data chip, her eyes never leaving his.

The secretary quietly pocketed the chip and left the office and the building and made her way to the Prixin event at the Starfleet Academy grounds.

=/\=

The incident with the strange adult and the two boys had left the whole crew on edge, including the Starfleet security detail that were now in evidence, thus Reanna was stopped from joining the group immediately, it was only Copper verifying her ID, that she was allowed to proceed.

"Copper, I need to speak with Cmdr. Chakotay, urgently," she quietly informed him, but only after he'd silenced his camera and audio equipment at her request. Copper frowned puzzled, silently asking all his questions with one expression. Reanna smiled at him, he was a good events reporter, but he just wasn't patient enough to wait for all the facts to be revealed, as an investigative reporter should.

"Sean Copper, please," a hand on his arm. When she called him that he knew he wasn't going to get any advanced information out of this astute news woman. He nodded and led her to his wife who was at that moment talking to Chakotay, sharing some insights into her time with the children in the sewer system.

"Reanna?" questioned Zach, who was standing nearby. When she made the same sign she'd earlier given to Copper, he quietly shutdown his equipment. Chakotay frowned deeply, feeling the hands of his two children tighten around his fingers.

"I think it best if all your senior staff hear," she said, her tone serious. Reanna watched as this Tattooed gentleman quietly assessed her, taking in everything about her, expression, body language, etc. A good observer of people she noted, yet open and honest, which often meant that others could play that against him, and had, she thought sadly. He nodded once and led the way to where the senior staff of Voyager stood, along with most of Picard's senior staff also. Copper and Zach received instructions from Gaffer via their personal audio comm.-system, to private record. Both knew what that meant. They shared a look, wondering what was going to be revealed and not be broadcast live. The main screen in the covered area showed a different news report from FNN, that of the upcoming conference of all the UFP leaders and some allies at Pacifica. Across the bottom of the screen ran the fact that this was Breaking News!

"So Mister President when do you and the council leave for Pacifica?"

"As soon as possible. No details for security reasons."

"I suppose that's understandable in view of the recent shuttle crash that killed five Starfleet personnel and one civilian."

The reporter's tone caused Copper to growl under his breath with disapproval and scowl angrily.

"You've used that tone in the past," noted Zach softly with a smile. The pause in the reporter's comment was telling as if all knew what would come next.

"Can you tell us why all those persons were on that shuttle, Mister President?" the tone condescending.

"The investigation is still ongoing," the Bolian said, his expression saying he didn't like this reporter's attitude and tone.

"Surely you have some idea?"

"No comment!" he responded firmly and tried to move away followed by his entourage. "And before you open your mouth, Mister," he said, when the reporter blocked his way. "NO comment, means NO comment." with that said he strode off, leaving the reporters open mouthed.

"Good for him," commented a voice none were expecting.

"Sean Copper!" admonished Melissa surprised. The man grinned sheepishly and shrugged, causing many to laugh quietly.

"You had some information you wished to share, Reanna?" Zach quietly reminded them all.

"Yes. It's to do with the children and a group calling themselves 'The Foundlings'." she informed gently. The two children next to Chakotay looked horrified and clung to him tighter, the boy started to sob, hiding his face into the man's thigh. All the children reacted in similar ways, causing concern to ripple through the crew.

=/\=

NB: From Author. Thank you to all who have added this story to their alerts/follows/etc. Much appreciated.