Chapter 24

Enterprise D Main shuttle bay

"Wes...I'm your friend. Please don't forget that." Judging by the heat signatures in front of Geordi's Visor, not only was Wesley in fight or flight mode but the phaser he was pointing in Geordi's direction, was powered up.

Wesley gritted his teeth and ignored the sweat that dripped into his eyes, gesturing with the phaser. "Stand aside, Geordi. Stand aside so that I can leave."

LaForge raised his hands up above his head. "Where exactly are you going? That runabout would be torn up inside that conduit, Wes. You of all people should know this."

Wesley grabbed one side of his head and looked like he was going to tear out his hair. The anguish on the young man's face was genuine. "I can't fail. I need the answers I haven't been able to find onboard the Enterprise."

LaForge nodded. "I know...but this isn't the answer. Look, so much has happened to you. I know you are hurting. Maybe I can help-and if I can't I will find you someone who can."

"You think I'm crazy, that I've lost my mind."

LaForge shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Just put the phaser down. It's not going to help anything. Just tell me, why are you doing this?"

I'm out here Wesley. But you'll have to risk everything to find me. Wesley clawed at the side of his head again. He shut his eyes as his hand began to shake, threatening to drop the phaser. When he opened his eyes, Geordi was standing there with his arms at his sides. He was there to help, that was clear. But there was nothing anyone could do now to stop him. "I hear his voice inside my head," he suddenly blurted out. "He's out there, I know it!"

Geordi's expression went momentarily blank, but then his forehead creased with concern. "Captain Picard?"

Wesley steadied the phaser again. "Get out of my way, Geordi. Before it's too late."

USS Excelsior, Federation Space

"Have you heard from our son?"

Jack looked up from reading the morning news to find his ex-wife standing in his living room. He immediately sensed a confrontation coming on, and somehow knew it would be unavoidable. He sighed and put his coffee down. "No." He gestured at the table in front of him. "Care for some breakfast? We've got about twenty minutes until the briefing."

She walked over and stood next to the table. Her expression was raw, and she looked as though she had been crying. "Why haven't we heard from Wesley? What is going on, Jack?"

"He's on some kind of top-secret mission, Bev. I'm sure he will contact us when he's able to."

"You honestly believe that?" She watched as Jack got up and walked away to toss his coffee cup in the recycler.

He turned back to look at her. "Yeah. Yes, I do. Despite everything, he still loves us..."

"You're in denial, Jack. About Wesley, about Jean-Luc...about everything and everyone who matters to us."

He laughed harshly. "I'm in denial? You've been living in a fog since Jean-Luc left; hell, you've been taking drugs just to get by. Sleeping with Felix-"

"Leave Felix out of this, Jack. Felix is a good man and the fact is, that you were so intimidated by him that you had to tell him that you and I slept together. Why, Jack?"

"Why? Because I still love you."

"Oh come on, not that again -Jack-always throwing that word around."

"Felix is a replacement, Bev!" Jack exploded, finally letting loose. "And I wanted him to understand that. Just like me, he's just a replacement for Jean-Luc, right? Right? So don't you dare talk to me about living in denial!"

"You sonofabitch," she said in a quiet voice. They both remained silent, just staring at each other. Finally, Beverly spoke, in a voice dripping with bitterness. "Well, now I'm beginning to face things, Jack. And I'm not sure that I like what I'm seeing."

Still not able to talk, Jack just stared at her expectantly.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"What you knew," she said accusingly. "How long have you known that Jean-Luc was possibly trapped in some nightmare with Caine? In a prison that no one can locate? When were you going to tell me this?"

"I haven't known anything real for long."

"Anything real? You are forever the diplomat, aren't you?"

"I've been called much worse-particularly by you."

"And I had to find it all out from that...that Q you brought on board."

"Gilda Stern? You saw her?"

Beverly walked over to the counter and poured herself a glass of water, downing it swiftly. She considered throwing the glass against a wall, or even at Jack, but instead put it down carelessly, and it slid off the ledge and broke on the deck below.

"Are you okay?" Jack moved quickly to her side, but she waved him off. Then suddenly, she grabbed his hands in hers and pulled him closer. No matter how angry they became with each other, or how bitter the language had been between them over the last several years, they had never lost their physical connection. It was more than that, but their experience on the Q homeworld had changed so much. Beverly was more to him than a lost love, she was an addiction. She had said to him before, that she felt similarly. And even though she was fiercely angry with him, she knew it wouldn't stop either of them from filling that persistent need.

Her body language made Jack feel that she wanted him. And yet her gaze was defiantly cold. Still gripping his hands tightly, she looked up at him. "You told me recently you didn't know what happened to Jean-Luc, or why he disappeared. Was that a lie, Jack? Because I deserve to know."

He lifted his chin to gaze up at the ceiling and then closed his eyes tightly. "I found Gilda Stern a ship to disappear on. She was basically a fugitive at that point and said she had wanted to start over. The understanding was that she would leave and have no further contact with Jean-Luc."

"But then what actually happened? They left together on that ship and somehow ended up in the same prison as Caine?"

"That's what she's telling us."

"And so...you thought it was just a coincidence that Stern asked you for a favor and then she and Jean-Luc disappeared at the same time?"

"I-uh...I didn't think it through, clearly. I didn't put two and two together."

She let his hands drop, still looking into his eyes. "Sure, you did. You always do, Jack."

USS Enterprise-Cardassian space

"I see the sniveling Human child has been replaced by a Vulcan."

"Did you contact us only to deliver your observations, or was there something else you wished to communicate?"

"This is very simple, Vulcan...you will remove your ship from this sector of space within one of your hours."

Commander T'Sara stood on the bridge of the Enterprise with her hands clasped behind her back and a polite expression on her face. With little notice, Wesley had ordered her to report to the bridge to "handle things up there". At the top of the list of things the young human apparently wanted her to handle included avoiding interstellar war with the Cardassians. Meanwhile, in Engineering, Wesley obsessively continued to gather information about the Borg conduit, which had now become the center of growing hostilities.

Starfleet Intel had declared the current Enterprise mission to exit the galaxy, at an end, but so far, Wesley had failed to comply with his superiors, leading the small crew to wonder just how far Crusher planned to take things.

"I am currently under orders from Starfleet Command to leave this sector in four hours," said T'Sara. "We are well-prepared to meet that deadline."

"You have a new deadline, Vulcan," Dukat sneered at her. "Do not mistake my words, when I tell you that if you do not retreat, war will be only the first step we take to secure our territory from Federation threats."

It was then that a perimeter alert began to sound. T'Sara didn't bother to wait for the screen to turn off before she moved to a control panel. She checked the readouts and found that the Enterprise had moved to within 15,000 meters of the Borg conduit, and had stealthily passed Gul Dukat's ship while she had been conversing with the Cardassian leader. "Helm, report," she said rather sharply.

"Um...the course was set automatically using an encrypted code, Commander," the officer mumbled, clearly confused at what had just happened.

"The Cardassians are powering up disruptors," shouted the tactical officer.

"Shields up," T'Sara ordered calmly, as the bridge began to glow a familiar red warning.

"Sir, the Cardassian ship is firing!"

"Evasive maneuvers," she said, steadying herself on the back of the tactical station, as the ship took a glancing blow.

"Computer, what is the exact location of Officer Wesley Crusher?" T'Sara had no reason to doubt it was the young man who had tampered with the Enterprise controls.

Intel Officer Wesley Crusher is in the main shuttle bay, seated inside an unmarked, modified runabout shuttle.

"Lockdown the shuttle bay," T'Sara called out above the noise of the red alert.

USS Excelsior

"Data, it's an absolute relief to see you," said Jack from the head of a long conference table. "After your ship was reported missing, we obviously feared the worst."

Data nodded and looked around the table. Jack Crusher, Alison Igby, Beverly Howard, Felix Farmer, Alyssa Ogawa, and two of Data's officers, Science Officer Sovol, and his Chief of Security, Ashley Howell, had convened for a meeting on the observation deck. It was not beyond Data that the crew of the USS Excelsior appeared somewhat tense, but of course, most Starfleet officers were on edge now, due to current events. "The Jemison was fortunate not to take on extensive damage while we were inside the anomaly; however, the long-term effects on my crew remain unclear," responded Data evenly.

"The information you sent us was extremely helpful," said Felix Farmer. "To a person, we detected changes to the brain that are remarkable."

"What kinds of changes?"

Felix glanced at Alyssa, and then Beverly, who sat on either side of him. Neither woman seemed interested in talking, so he just continued. "Changes to the cerebral cortex that could potentially impact higher brain functions. As Captain Data said, however, only time will tell the extent of these changes."

"Without further study, we won't be able to determine if there is a connection with our experience on the Q planet," Alyssa Ogawa. "The data we currently have is-"

"Weak?" Beverly interrupted suddenly.

Ogawa turned to her old friend with clear disappointment. "Doctor, I could use your guidance with my study, but if you have personal objections -"

"Everything is personal now, " Beverly responded.

"What is that supposed to mean, Beverly?" Jack questioned.

Beverly got up from her seat and removed her combadge, putting it down on the table in front of Jack. "It means, I quit. Our mission was to find Data, and he's here, alive and well."

"Wait-"

"You lied to me, Jack. And aside from Data, I'm not sure I trust anyone else in this room." She turned to Sovol and Howell almost sympathetically. "No offense," she said before turning back to Jack. "The truth is, I don't like who I've become. The best way for me to stop feeling this way is to remove myself from this situation."

"I hate to interrupt what sounds like a riveting conversation, but I've important news," announced Alynna Nechayev, striding into the conference room, stopping next to Jack's chair.

He turned to look up at her quizzically. She had elected to be absent from the briefing, which had been fine with him. But she was known for her interruptions, and he felt something sink in the pit of his stomach. "As of this morning, I am taking over command of the Excelsior," the Admiral announced.

Jack stood up quickly. "What?"

Beverly moved to step around Nechayev, but the diminutive woman put her hand out. "Doctor Howard, if you would please wait a few minutes to resign your commission, I believe you will want to hear what I have to say."

Beverly slowly sat back down and crossed her arms, glaring down at her reflection on the table.

"I've just learned a few notable things that are linked to each one of you in this room. The first is that Intel Officer Wesley Crusher is currently missing in action. He entered a Borg conduit in Cardassian space several hours ago using a modified runabout, and hasn't been seen since. All attempts to contact Mr. Crusher have so far been unsuccessful."

Beverly got up from her seat again, this time feeling like she was moving in slow motion. She didn't take her eyes off the Admiral. "I need to go wherever he was last seen."

"Well, it is good that you happen to be on board this ship because I am taking the Excelsior into Cardassian space. The actions of your son have nearly provoked an interstellar war, and we must hurry to repair the damage."

"So you're not in the least bit concerned about my son?" Jack demanded. "As soon as we get to Cardassian space I am going to-"

"You are going to take command of the USS Enterprise, Jack," snapped Nechayev. She watched as the expression on his face went from livid to dumbfounded. A collective quiet descended upon the room.

"The Enterprise?"

"Yes. An undisclosed amount of time ago, the Enterprise was found floating in space. Entirely intact and operational. According to partially declassified documents, Starfleet Intel commandeered the vessel and manned it with mostly high-profile scientists within Starfleet. Most of them had knowledge of the ship's operating systems. The goal was to refurbish the ship in order to traverse an abandoned Borg conduit within Cardassian territory. The Cardassians had initially approved the project with the understanding that Starfleet intended to use the conduit for the benefit of anyone who needed to escape this shrinking galaxy. The project was an idea of Crusher's but proved to be far too ambitious and dangerous. When relations with the Cardassians fell through, your son entered the conduit by himself, against orders from the head of Intel and Starfleet Command. He went rogue. Now the Cardassians are threatening war unless Crusher is found and all other Federation ships leave Cardassian territory."