The Bonds Of Friends And Family TNG Season 5: The Game Aftermath I

by BazzCatgirl03

After breaking the control the K'tarian rebel Etana Lol had on the crew, they realize that the side effects of the game are not over. Deciding to look at what his future holds, the senior staff check the tv show focused on them. As seeing the truth to what the traveler had planned, Wesley decides to bring in the members of his squadron and the descendants of SG-1 and their friends.

5. 5: Bonds And Confrontations

The Bonds Of Family And Friends

Disclaimers: The characters don't belong to me, the story belongs to me and everything else belongs to the movie company and the creator.

Warnings: This story is going to be alternate reality from the end of this episode and forward, as what if the game had far reaching consequences than they were expecting and as time went on the bonds between him and the sextet had deepened even further, as this reaches season seven and his future.

If he'd been part of the enterprise for a following few months and the repeated traumas effect him enough he's choosing to stay longer. But in this story Journey's End to Nemesis never happens and the stories leading into Nemesis never happen and he, the O'briens, Riker, Worf and Deanna never transfer off the enterprise as they stay with the crew and Starfleet after things end.

All characters named that were not in the show, are members of the un-named members of the crew in each episode, but the ones named the most are part of the engineering crew and Geordi's team and the ones Wesley spent the most time with. Aside from a guest appearance from the duo in 'The Naked Now.', and the duo that are his age, next to Robin Lefler.

Chapter 5: Truths Of The Rival And New Friendships

"It's not one planet or another, we have a guard looking like the man who kidnapped him on the ship. The ship that Maxwell wanted you to board was planet number two and I think it's a mutiny if Macet wasn't involved in and then finally we have a K'tarian medic at the academy, and I'm not sure if he's part of Etana's plan at the moment here either, but it was after he arrived, and Chief O'Brien got married the dreams started Sirs."

"There at the academy, but all the anomalies are all pointed at the exact same time frame and as if that's not enough. It's started right after the wedding, just after he met me and I have nothing to do with this unless, oh you..." Dayton said with a low grow and they looked at him. "What exactly?" he asked him and he said it firmly. "Your miscreant of a basic training cadet, Hanson is involved in this situation at the moment right now."

"But it's a set up in two ways right now regarding me and Wes, but 1) by it being a conspiracy and the other a personal vendetta, by the Hansons and I'll explain why later. Sarah did you drag this up last night to Michaels as he cleared ten forward?" he asked and Hailey explained that to him. "Yeah and it's time we yanked emergency plan beta Charlie, you're next generation Gamma, if we were in the 21st century."

"We're SGC, Nova NID, Nova is trying to destroy him and the Hansons are possibly in on it at the academy. Code 237565 Echo, Gamma, Foxtrot, Delta." she said and he nodded. "What's that mean exactly?" Evans asked and he explained that. "The Traveler, the one they encountered, is acting like Oma Desala, they're encouraging him. To use his abilities and getting him special attention, if Jackson was here, he'd have prevented that."

"But that's why I'm trying to prevent him leaving, but he's the kid on the movie from 19 to 22, it's the added act that this traveler is feeding his arrogance and anger. The longer it goes on and he's going to drop out of the academy, especially if Nova's also involved. And if they are it's by trying to destroy a very good officer and I think your husband had the ancient gene, Aunt Beverly." he said and they nodded as Picard answered him.

"If Jack did, he never told me that, but it's clear to us why this traveler told me that, it's so he can get Wesley and get him out of the following ten years. But games in theory of an alien incursion on board the ship, he has to see what she dug up out our minds. Just to see what she did know to what she didn't know, but Roga, Data. And the ability to mimic us as we are now, the pass code after we had the homing beacon hijack us."

"And his computer program the fact, he and I were playing chess repeatedly, but with that in mind. It's ten dozen other things in this scenario, when he and I were alone at the time, but this must have been why Marks and clique gave him such a hard time. And I was teaching him in how to speak French and Latin that entire time. But she didn't know any of this, with the fact I didn't get infected till after Data was incapacitated."

"As a result, she didn't understand what I was saying to him during the party that day when he got back. Since that was a personal thing between us as I was teaching him to speak French, as well as Latin at the time and our bonds started deepening at the time. But everything she didn't understand was something he knew that she didn't and as to why exactly at the moment, close to a year and it's either trying to focus now."

"Or it's because we either buried that knowledge or we'd forgotten we ever had these situations on board. But those situations are because the eight of us were together and year one was just the beginning. But right after Tasha was killed right now at the time four years ago, but to us, the fact that we had the chance to fix these problems. But it's enough I'm not taking chances and with that." Picard said and he nodded in agreement.

"Lal, analysis set of the entire list of things she didn't understand until she dug it out of our minds, if the search took this long to end. With the boys bouncing ideas off each other, how many were connected to earth facts. Because K'Tarians never, unless they're the military, leave their home planet." he added as he called out and the diagnostics on Data's terminal activated and the technician read through it and smiled as she said it.

"It's landing on 300 different items here, captain, looks like everything he used was another thing she didn't understand here. Nice move honey, you really out thought her in this one." Ensign Diana Baker said smiling and Deanna smiled as she nodded. " Lal, what did this end up turning into while he was on the go exactly. And if he's spent fifteen hours dodging us, or rather our alter egos?" Deanna asked and she explained that to her.

"The situation was a combination of five things regarding this, but a combination of previous scenarios in this that went on, before he created my new programming. But he used every scenario that involved the ship getting taken by the opposition or their forces and implemented that into this situation. Along with a few from the earth's backhistory of love for science fiction."

"A first person shooter novelization, it's the first portion of the novel, based off that game and the novel that was created by Lieutenant Heinlein, Counselor." she said and and they nodded. "Our previous scenarios, the virus, the conspiracy after I infiltrated the command and prevented them from co-opting you next, captain. The entity, Dr. Soong and the homing beacon and then along with that is our love of..."

"Science fiction stories and books he's used that to fall back on five times in training and the conspiracy after we destroyed the mother creature and killed Remmick was the very first one of several of these. Lieutanant Heinlein, Robert A. Heinlein, why didn't I see that one coming..., alright, the game was trying to suppress our normal selves. And when he went to deprogramming, our normal selves were getting stronger every minute."

"Yes I see it now, Robert A. Heinlein's 'The Puppet Masters', he was trying to make our normal selves strong enough to break through, before Data destroyed the programming on us. And the first person shooter, first person shooter..., he's dodging us and the security teams by staying in the Jeffries tubes, and then he had to take a break. And it's by dragging whatever he ate into them with him." he started to say and they looked at each other as Geordi said it for him as he said in exasperated concern then.

"Oh great, it's the first chapter of that game, in the novel, he's looking for his friend and he's got to take a break in the middle of it when he becomes too exhausted to continue and needs a chance to rest and eat." he said and Will nodded in agreement to his thoughts. "Yeah that's it alright, he had to take a break, headed back to their apartment and ransacked the medical supplies to create his survival kit in there and with that."

"If this is just the beginning and she's waiting to hear back from us it's her seeing that the entire bridge crew and senior staff is back to normal. But she's the megalomaniac in our conversation last year and from everything we theorized here on the bridge. After he dropped the truth to why he pushed himself that hard. But this has just landed itself on the table now." Will said and Picard looked at him then as he thought it over then.

"You were acting strangely detached when he got back, as was Deanna, Will, and I noticed that when we set up that surprise party. What was that about?" he asked and they both sighed. "Not realizing that these were meant to trigger a mind control sequence now, we've been tricked. And these are the same as having our double's take our places, to which its one thing as I get hit first and the alien personality takes hold."

"From there, she ordered me to do Deanna next, she got to Beverly and it started causing a chain reaction. And I think he figured it out that if I was one than, you, Deanna and Beverly are the others, along with you, Geordi and Worf. But half of the seven of us get infected, Data gets deactivated and then the rest of the senior staff gets hit next, and she chooses the ring leaders being the two senior officers, you and me."

"And the ring leaders of the entire crew happen to be the seven of us, as the expansion is meant to hit Starbase 67, the endeavor and then. From there, straight to the academy next, hearing that over the radio, he was going through scenarios and it hit two at once. But if his test on the Koyobashi Maru was set for being in the next two months, he's just ended up in the real thing and it's turned into the no win scenario as a result."

"But here's the scenario now: what do you do when your entire crew is taken over by alien forces and this is now switching to not just any scenario. But the games in theory he gave us last year when we talked this over. It just landed itself on the table and he took charge, though at the same he does, whatever causing those spasms. And repeated body temperature spikes starts becoming more frequent and he's drenched in sweat."

"Causing his eyes to get glazed slightly in a feverish tinge to them and she calls our medical code for a patient on the edge of ending up in sickbay. As a reasonable excuse to arrest him and turn him into the next host, though now that he's got the drop on her. By actually telling her his plans that throws her off track and he's three steps ahead for the next 15 and nearly 20 hours." Will said to him and he nodded as he said it to him firmly.

"Nice thinking, but 15 to 20 hours while she loses total control over the computer system and he locked her out of setting the auto destruct and he's playing decoy. Data is freeing the ship's crew department by department and saving us for last as we're the supposed ring leaders. Being on the bridge right now, and of this conspiracy she had planned now as a result." Lieutenant David Evans said to him and he nodded as Picard said it firmly.

"Yes and our conversation last year when we were removing the beacon from Data's mind and making sure anything else like this wouldn't cause this a second time. That's just became her downfall now, as every second counts in this and he used it all up. He remembered enough that he went to a military scientist, of the 21st or 22nd century. And was evaluating it in that way, he's a scientist and soldier rolled into one here."

"But he was doing this by being a teenage scientist and evaluating everything in how to do this safely without any casualties and switched it to Games in theory. Games in theory of an incursion on a flagship and into the federation and going it by a scientific mode of training strategies. And she just dropped this on him once we got to the rendezvous site here in this sector, though we were staying put here till we got ready to do it."

"And he probably over heard my conversation with her, deduced that if I'm one leader, than you're the other and..., oh god. Hearing that, he realized the only chance of preventing that from getting off the ship was it landed on either destroying it or killing us. Trying to get him to focus by his focusing on our voices like we are now, it takes reactivating Data and from there the mission to prevent that thing from leaving begins."

"Working through plans he went to what we already dealt with and used that: Roga Danar, the homing beacon and Dr. Soong, the virus and the conspiracy when we took out Remmick after you got annoyed with him interfering in our operations Will. And was using everything we taught him regarding this. But every second counts on the timer and he was using it till the final confrontation." Picard said and he nodded in agreement.

"I know, I mean the scientists in the storyline of the Heinlein novel were running studies on the alien bug soldier they captured and its leader in the end of the story. But he's not a soldier, he's a teenage scientist and mechanic and one that is going the extra five miles just to prevent that thing from getting off the ship now. That's the scientists way of handling an alien incursion, run a games in theory and he's busy decoying us."

"Till he ended it by stage acting, we also explained this to Marks when the quintet and Derek were letting him have it for his attitude, before you threw him and his clique off the ship last year Sirs. Survival skills and doing this out of non violence to, he pulled it off in just one try. Because he's not rushing the net he was taking his time, reset that clock and probably taking the time to rest and eat, if he's looking slightly worn out now."

"But he's just possibly used up the second or maybe third dose of the general stimulant cocktail he's created and with it ransacked one of his caches of supplies before it landed on the final take down!" Geordi said smiling in shocked amazement and Will nodded smiling as he answered the computer. "Well the test worked, because we forgot he added that chip to your programming, or that Data could mimic us so easily at the time."

"So what was he doing after he restarted that clock anyway?" He asked and she explained that. "He returned to his quarters and created a camping equipment bag of food and supplies to last him till he and Commander Data ended this. But they deactivated the security in shuttle bay two, so Dr. Pulaski had a chance to get from the shuttlebay to the medical lab and as she joined Commander Data."

"And he initiated the lock out sequence code he created last year to lock you out of the computer commander. Only this time it's a combination of both the Nanites and the homing beacon. Non aggression or violence, he's just out thinking her by use of the four years experience you dealt with, before she turned you into your alter egos Commander." she said and the trio nodded to that.

"The damn security code that we had hijack us when the homing beacon activated last year. Well thanks for the help Dr. Soong, you just helped him in preventing the incursion from getting right off the ship today and last night. Danar, Dr. Soong, the Nanites and possibly the virus, every situation needed where this is concerned and she didn't know the code he created to lock us out of the computer at the time last year."

"But then the security code is one we never could break and I'm not about to ask what it is here. Because that's our insurance policy in case we get hijacked for a fourth time here. How serious is his condition right now, if he decided to reactivate your added programming and get Kate Pulaski involved. If she and my father arrived right after you over rode the orders given out earlier and had to reset that clock again here."

"Just so he could take a break before the final take down, Lal?" Will asked and they heard a sigh at that as it answered him. "It's enough you're going to have to keep him home Commander Riker, he patched the entire network in my programming. And my link to sickbay and medical diagnostics, resulted in my A.I.. reading through what he was telling me here and it's serious enough."

"To do this, but upon reading it out, my added programming kicked in and I realized he needed a severe sabbatical from the academy. His medical diagnostics were downloaded into his tricorder and he was waiting till you were free to give it to you. The engineering team and Dr. Pulaski have it, and it was passed to Dr. Anenzi." She told him and he nodded to the android's explanation.

As he exchanged looks with the quartet worriedly, before the conn officer tried to lighten up the mood. "I wasn't expecting the computer A.I. to start talking back to you before it answers your question, Commander." The Lieutenant said and Lal answered that. "Wes activated my added function during the crisis Lieutenant Evans, but this was a stand by in case of emergencies, in case the crew got hijacked at the time."

"Or replaced at the time, but with father getting deactivated and fixed, Wes activated me and I took over. That this one the captain and the commander agreed to when we deployed, from Starbase 416, they just forgot he did this. Just before he left for the academy last year and before all of you got compromised this week." she said and the sextet nodded as they started laughing.

"I really hope he turns that off a second time, before we leave this spot, because I'm not having the computer trying to disobey orders at the moment and not after the last situation with Lore." Picard said and Will nodded in agreement to that. "Nice to know that everything we forgot here was put to use, but this is getting ridiculous right now." he added and Picard nodded in agreement to his thoughts as the seven smiled at that.

"Hate to have to tell you this Captain, Commander, but the new programming activated my personality chip as well." She said and Picard covered his eyes at that. "You mean to tell me the sentient programming turned you nearly human in personality traits right now?" Geordi repeated and he heard an amused tone in the computer's, his friend's daughter's, voice. "Yes Commander that's right, added side effect, but with the possibility of further trouble, with the situation not over yet."

"At the moment as well and there being the possibility of another conspirator on board connected to Etana Lol, or just to Radue. Then it's best if I stay like this for the next month and he's got me hooked into his laptop after that later." she said and they nodded bemused. "Alright that's fine, but you start getting smart with us and you're getting turned off, clear?" Will said and she answered him gently at that.

"Crystal." she said in response and the added eight adult officers started laughing at that as Evans said it for the entire adult crew in the bridge with a smile. "God, what next exactly, that's the first time I've ever heard the computer do that. I didn't think he'd have that type of repoire with the ship's computer." The lieutenant said, as he was sitting at the forward left console as he started laughing at that as Dayton looked at him then.

"Didn't we already go over that last night, cool it with the rhetorical questions or..." Dayton started to say, before they heard another loud crash and clang. "To repeat my remark last night, you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. And with that in mind, you better cool it with the rhetorical questions or that's going to happen again. I'm not sure what the code was to turn on that control right now at the moment."

"Alright computer, uh Lal, wherever that's coming see if you can turn it off now, will you." he said and Lal said it to him gently. "Wes had it like the system over ride, Ensign Dayton." she told him and he nodded with a slight smile to that. "Did he said that on automatic or just manual?" he asked and he heard a bemused tone as she said it. "It's on automatic Ensign." she said and he nodded as he covered his eyes at that.

"It's Charlie now, Lal, if he told you to call him by name, and Jake did the same, Robin and I want you to do the same with us now, okay. As for that information, Wes knows more about your added programming then I do, so I have to learn by example in this but for crying out loud man was that really necessary right now. The games are over, I wish you told me the deactivation code for the sound effects, but this going too far here."

"Oh god man, what is this, playing practical jokes over the radio, because this is getting ridiculous right now at the moment." he said as he tried to keep from laughing. "Now normally, I would have turned it off the second the game ends, but this time he's too worn out to do that. And I don't know the sensor codes to deactivate the distraction and division ploy he used right now." He said and they nodded as Geordi answered him.

"Wes is up here with us, as are you and Robin is with my team, so just who the heck did that this time?" Geordi asked with a bemused smile on his face as Dayton said it as he started laughing as he answered him. "Delayed reaction Commander, I think that was in case he got captured now. But the intention was so while you're trying to check that out, he's turning this into the run around at the moment, as you saw last night."

"And got several clear indicators of how much we're alike, just to annoy her further, it's getting this turned into a series earthborn games. And with the added sound effects to go with it, but the holodeck training scenarios just made a come back at the moment. And he's milking it for all they're worth now at the moment Sirs." Dayton told them and they nodded at that as they exchanged looks at this as Will said it for the whole group.

"Alright who's bright idea was this, last night was enough but not turning it off though the scenario ended?" Will asked and he smiled and Will shook his head. "I think he read my mind about keeping up the sound effects tape at the moment. Though whatever codes he downloaded into it, I don't know. But that's why I said that, hold off on the questions, or you're going to hear that, again." he said and Worf said it for all of them.

"What is this, childish pranks over the radio now that the games are over at the moment?" Worf asked and in answer to that they heard another crash and as they watched him sit down in the chair as he tried to get his laughter under control. "Yeah I think that's would this could be considered to Lieutenant, because it switched courses. And now that you're back to normal, he's trying to play the funny man at the moment."

"With your prize pupils being a trio of teenagers, it's turned into childish pranks at the moment right now." Dayton said to him and they nodded with a bemused smile at the explanation. "Captain, is anyone else hearing this right now at the moment?" They heard from Guinan. "Yes and we got a case of childish pranks breaking out as a result of the games coming to an end here." Picard said as they heard another one then.

As Will said it for all of them as he tried to keep from laughing at that remark. "Well that's the catch of the training going haywire right now, but this is getting ridiculous right now. Alright who's bright idea was it to start adding the rhetorical question punchlines after this scenario ended right now. Because practical jokes like this are going way too far after the scenario has ended at the moment." Will said with a chuckle at that remark.

"God you kids need to take it down a notch, I knew I drew the short straw regarding having all three of you training up here. Or that you and Wesley are this much alike when it comes to training at the moment. But these pranks in the middle of a training turned real scenario is going way too far right now Charlie." Picard added and he hid a smile as he answered him gently at that remark then as he said it.

"I get the feeling he set up, in case you keep asking questions regarding this, to start adding the sound effects. So while you're checking that out, he's one, two or even three decks away from you and the scene of the crime just to keep this up at the moment, captain." he said and they nodded. "Alright nobody ask that question or we're going to hear that again, everyone." Picard said and they nodded as Beverly said it, smiling.

"Alright, again, cool it with the rhetorical questions or we're going to hear that again. God this is getting ridiculous right now, if this was that cartoon tv show based back in 20th century the star of that cartoon show would be considering it as 'ask a silly question you get silly answer'. But his trying to keep it up like this is getting out of hand right now." Beverly said as she started laughing as Will answered that with a chuckle.

"Well at least we're back to normal, but the kids pulling stunts like this is getting out of hand here at the moment, I mean multiple redirects, crashes in the bowels of the ship, the alarms going off, this is getting ridiculous right now. But trust me, Lieutenant, regarding the computer, after having the computer getting snarky with us. I'm relieved we don't have it getting smart anymore, but again Worf, don't start a fight with her."

"Would you please, after the Microbrain once was enough right now." Will said and they looked at him as Deanna started laughing at that. "Wait what?" Evans asked and she smiled. "I'll tell you later, but to get back to it right now. Beverly, we all lost count to how long this was lasting, but this was just short of 24 hours on the go. Just without the hunting and killing, it's evading detection all night that he was doing here and with it."

"But I'm looking at 17 hours on the go here and he reset the clock at midnight last night so he could get a chance to eat and four to five hours to rest now. To her, she thinks that Data is out of commission now and is not bothering with keeping his apartment door locked and guarded. A fact he used that against her and he bunked there for the night, before triggering the alarm in Worf's quarters while he was in my quarters."

"He must have added or activated the programming computer chip he created and put into the computer, if it's gone from basic and straight to sentient right now. But that was a nice ploy to keep her busy: distraction, division and misdirection." she said and they nodded as Will finished that as he smiled. "Good point and you're right Deanna, with his skills he was using that to rest for the night, before he started a second time and believe me, I can see he's going to need it now with him up for 24 hours."

"Wes's training in this is unsurpassed and as to why and how, I spent three years training him in every scenario that was needed here. Though he applied for the academy when he was fifteen they rejected it the first time. And we decided to go to on the job training and he was learning these things by doing it up here. Though the damn game was trying to suppress us, our personalities, earlier this week in our normal selves."

"The us he knows, that is Deanna and me, we get extremely territorial with him when we got a threat like this running loose on the ship. His primary focus regarding that batch of armor on the Anbo Jyutsu sparring mat, that was because we did that all the time after my father arrived back then. But fencing, Anbo and other activities that are more art the self defense, he's a teenage genius and these activities work in his personality."

"But the five he's closest to are me, Deanna, Geordi, the captain, Data and Worf, but he's got friends with a third of the veteran members of the crew, all members of the entire four years he was still up here. And trust me, if this isn't over yet, and if I have to guess, it's we're going a combination of two pieces here. And it's the second portion of that game and the book, because in a megalomaniac's eyes it's best two out of three here."

"Though once we start going over the side effects of this scenario repeatedly and we can class this to worse case scenarios now. It's enough that we learn from our mistakes and it's not happening a second time, especially if this situation starts turning serious, medically, at the moment. Though the four going after him in our command staff are me and my away team, along with Miles and Derek, Jack and their teams."

"In her case, she's going to think she knows us in the way he does, but the fact that she doesn't just came back to haunt her when we're ourselves. Because if it's a member of the crew, let alone my team, I'm not leaving it to the computer tracking systems to find them. I'm actively involved in the search and he knows this. So it's back to games in theory and if she tries this twice, it's best two out of three, or three out of four."

"But in this case it's working over time, and while the kids had the easy part, we've got the next two supposed monsters in that game. But one is that rocket launching Minotaur character and the one after that is the one here. That looks like Pennywise in his natural form, but either way. The harder the game gets and it takes a much stronger warrior to deal with it." Will said and he nodded to that, smiling as Geordi finished that remark.

"Trust me, it just gets better from there, because he knows the systems inside and out and at the moment, he created a sentient program and downloaded it into the computer. Whatever else he created gave us our added engine and power boost, putting us back to full and is having the added tractor beam lock this strong at the moment." Geordi added and he nodded as he answered him at that, before the young ensign said it for him.

"Yeah well he said that if you were yourselves and regarding comming you and setting off the alarm, repeatedly you wouldn't see this as a fail in his training, but a pass?" Dayton asked and the duo both nodded. "He's right we wouldn't, in fact, the act of throwing us off guard by suddenly getting into conversation with us over the radio, was a very well thought out idea at the moment, as was disabling the background sights too."

"So though we could see him, we can't see which room he's in and with it it was the act of guessing games now in trying to figure out where he's comming us from. So we could see him, but we couldn't see past him to know where he's hiding now. In fact, it's the fact he was turning this into a live version of his stealth training on the holodeck, if someone's to close to your equipment and you need to restock your supplies."

"Than distract them by making making a lot of noise. With her busy with trying to find him, he decided to trigger the alarms a case of misdirection, in keeping her busy. So while she searching the room he's in, he's two or even three decks away and resting." Beverly said and he nodded as he answered her smiling. "This happens again, I'm acting as he does, but double the distractions and we're working together."

"And with it so your junior crew are working as one Sirs." he said and the duo nodded gently. "So Hanson is the reason you're trying to push yourself to the limit son?" Will asked and he nodded to him. "Like Wes, I've been looking for a friend that can keep up with me, everyone in my hometown can't understand how good I really am, but that's the scope of it, one of you is unique, perhaps special, but 100 of you, 1000."

"And it diminishes us in ways these knuckleheads can't even imagine. If he and I'd been in the same school term at the academy, when he took that test, he'd be part of my squadron and we'd be together. That's why Brand chose now to get us back together. Though she hears why he needs that sabbatical and it's enough she's just added in to his emotional therapy with Robin and me here, with us together now."

"As we're both permanently here on the enterprise, I'm just a training ensign as is he, but we're that good in these things. To the point we can play the training scenario out a second time and do it when he's fully recovered." he said and they all nodded to that one. "Yes well you guys can compare notes later, but you start going at it in sickbay and we get caught in the middle of your playing around and you're both going to get it."

"And I mean that Charlie." Will told him with a gentle smile as Charlie looked at him smiling. "Yes Sir." he said to him. "When did he create that program exactly, because he couldn't have come up with that idea on the fly that fast." The Ensign said and Will smiled as he explained that. "It wasn't on the fly, it was a computer back up program he created after we were at dealing with engine upgrades at a Starbase 416 last year."

"We just added him to the crew two years prior and he's been in training for three years and the ship was undergoing repairs. And it was after we had Data's brother on board it at the time that it's the act of telling apart the real from the fake. But to prevent the ship from falling into enemy hands this was an added fail safe he created, the friend vs foe programming back up plan we had when you were 17 a little over a year ago."

"I think the computer was relieved to have its original programmer back, because he downloaded a sentient program into it." Will said with a slight chuckle. "But when he suggested we do this in case any of or all the command staff got compromised, this was to insure, in case we got boarded. That a member of the junior crew or a fellow, former member of the crew could take control of the ship and the ship's computer."

"And until Data could come up with the cure, which was to deactivate the whatever technology, if the virus was technologically based, was being used in a mind control ploy. And, in case it was technological conditioning and brainwashing at the time, like what Etana just pulled now. The programming was meant to activate the second we had hostile forces on board or we ourselves became the hostile this time."

"And he pulled it during that chase down by activating her added functions and here's the result. The computer just reactivated the second Wesley turned it back on, because it needed a way to prevent the ship from getting out of our hands and ending up in Etana's. And keep that virus from getting off the ship and infecting the next seven towns over the and the entire federation" Picard said and they nodded as Beverly smiled.

"It's too bad the three of us weren't together up here, if he had got in then, because we could done that program together and it's our ace in the hole once we reached the final take down." Dayton said and he smiled. "If the academy rejected you three on the first try, I'd be training you altogether and your skills are the same as ours, Charlie. But fate had a higher hand in putting you three together now." Will said and he nodded gently.

"I never thought that the survival mission and stealth tests would come in handy, he created six bags, used one for a decoy. And then once Eric left the room, took it with him." Lieutenant David Evans said to him and he smiled proudly. "Yes, but he's been in training like this before. As to how the stealth test lasted close to two weeks and the survival skills and tracking just a week at the time." Picard said and he nodded to him.

Thinking it over Will smiled as he got it then. "Yeah you're right, but in that one its training, a game, this went real and despite having two surgical strikes thrown at her, he wasn't getting too reckless, but by staying under cover all night. Uh huh, yes I get it, and just like the stealth test we did last year, and it was thirteen on one in that situation. And it lasted for 15 days in the run around and each pack had three days worth of food in each one. Times six bags and that's eighteen days worth, in total here as well too."

"Before test two activated and he created 36 bags, and started leaving his trails leading in four different directions. His own trails were lead away from us in the case of his supplies and at 30 yard intervals and when he needed to resupply himself. Than he simply just grabbed the bag and marked the spot so he didn't get side tracked. But during that test, the guys, the sextet, Miles and I were testing out the strength."

"In our bonds, but this was to keep it up and the marked areas were for him caches of equipment. So his spots didn't cross over our's now so we don't find him too soon or the game ended too early now, but our trails in this bonding test. They were from the outer edges of both rooms together as this kept up at the time and with that it mind now. I see what he was doing with the initials on the wall in the shafts and the pieces of paper."

"It was with figuring out which ones were false and which ones were real, it was knowing his thinking strategies that we're going to help in this case. So we had to do this by choosing which path to take between the two paths: so you had to two paths, one was marked in red, while the other in blue, and the blue was the false trail. The red was the right one, and the significance of that was because those were the colors we used."

"When on the Anbo Jyusitsu training pad and if you know him that well you're going to figure that out pretty fast. I was normally dressed in the red armor and jumpsuit, he had the blue and my father wore the white one, which explains the third batch of armor sitting on the pad. But I chose one activity that was left over from the good parts of my childhood, before my father took off on me when I was I was fifteen at the time."

"And with it combined my own and that was martial arts, as things kept up, during his training with his mother planet side. I was taking him through several martial arts classes and chose this as a father/son bonding exercise between us. Just to strengthen up our mentor/student bond and as a result. We decided to test the strength of our bond by running this test and this was the second half to the in stealth and survival training."

"And together it was enough he had the training worked out, and he was a red belt now by this point, but the trails had the marks on every tree in a red or blue arrow. So if there were a false trail and a real one in both the team mate to the opposition, then the good one was marked and the other one wasn't and said mark was marked by his initials and an arrow in red purillon dye on the tree, and the other piece to that in this case."

"Was the last time we saw that particular in dye colors and as to why one of my charges last year pulled a practical joke on his younger brother that used that color dye. But the acts of acting like a father with his kids was drawn into it here and she didn't understand what it meant now for me. If you've been studying earth cultures and read human books and studied their back ground you'd at least be able to make it maybe ten days here."

"But if you knew how he thinks you'd have a better chance now and with it find him before the deadline ends and that was three to ten days and up to two weeks at the time. Which is what he was planning on in the game trail test last year and hidden in the underbrush, like ten or twenty yards away from it were the supplies, like the stealth test they each had three days worth in supplies in them and next to it was a smaller bag."

"And that bag had a sleeping bag, and a few small odds and ends needed for camping till the test was over. But decoding our message system between us as well too, such as our culture references. And I know him so well it's I get the added messaging in the clues and each bag had a piece of paper in it. And just ten yards away from the ones I was doing were the bags and I got the first one within twenty minutes of it too."

"And six bags worth in my case and six in his and that's twenty four days worth of food, water, and medical supplies. And this one was combined with the added door lock of getting fraom one holodeck to another and he was camping out in the cave he created in the holodeck on this one. As he waited for me and Porter to find him and I wind up doing it in seven days during that test." Will said as he smiled proudly at the young man.

"Alright just where did he come up with that idea exactly anyway?" Evans asked and he chuckled as he answered him. "It's the video game novelization and the fact he and I had the same taste in books. But Journey to the Center of the Earth, the narrator's best friend was keeping him alive by leading him in a trail right to her. Said marks with her initials and the arrows were in a red dye and it was decoding them correctly."

"And that was leading him in the right direction till he got to her, and though Tasha wasn't from Earth she'd get this pretty quickly, because of their brother/sister bond. So Wes decided on the same thing here at the time, to test the bond of our relationship to see how well we knew each other after three and a half years together. It was time to put it to the test and we decided on this like a few days after Soong hijacked the ship."

"That one took close three weeks and he used up five bags in that time as well, and while I did the same thing as each one had three days worth of food, water, medical equipment and camping equipment. But that's the strength of our bond, he knew me so well and vice versa. It's I could find him faster, but it's the same for Tasha if she was still alive and we'd both be able to do it faster than the opponent could in these situations."

"Which was something Etana couldn't figure out last night or this morning when he was leading the security teams in circles. But she made another fatal mistake here and it's if I'd been myself it's screw the computer I'd go looking for him myself. And use our bond to find him, even outside the holodeck I'd be tracking him down, though at this rate it's no longer needed, hopefully." he said as Beverly looked at him at that smiling.

"Yes that's true, but we're looking another thing that she didn't take into account here too, Will. And that's instead of going by rank and titles with each other, we go by name, you've been calling me by my name ever since Aldea and I've been doing the same with you. She also never took into count that I chose you to be his legal guardian when I left that year and with you was Deanna, Geordi and Jean Luc." she said and he nodded to her in agreement to that as Evans looked at the duo gently.

"Was Wes in training before he left if he's dressed like this, this doesn't look like the one Charlie is dressed in?" Evans asked and they looked at him. "That's his work out uniform if he decided to turn the holodeck into a race track, Dave. From the looks of it-it looks like he changed into this one, before dinner last night. And it's a good thing he did, because he's been on the go, for the last 15 and 30 minutes."

"Though they're dressing in training uniforms, Wes is or was at the academy, but he, Charlie and Robin earned the right to wear their uniforms now at the moment. Because they just proved the point of my training lecture to the recruits that were stationed here for training. Like Hanson at the moment, but the trio pulled it off in one shot, that's something no cadet or training ensign could ever do if it was in training, let alone real."

"Because no cadet, if they haven't been raised on the ship said attack was based on, could break this latest record right now. Half the time the scores were 3:45:00, 4:50:00 or 7:00:00 exactly, but the trio just broke the record for the longest hunt down in record history for a cadet at the academy. And when he'd been raised on board the enterprise since deployment." Geordi said smiling in satisfaction and he nodded to him.

"Yes well thank god this didn't last longer than a day before you freed us Data, because I don't doubt that by the time you did. And he was stuck in there with a possible broken or dislocation in his ankle that the paranoia would be serious enough. That, had he'd been carrying a phaser, his instincts were so focused he'd have shot anyone that got to close. It's only been 24 hours and his focus with us right now is like it's normally is."

"He's responding to us like he normally does when he's beyond exhausted." Beverly said as she looked at her son as she pressed her forehead to his and in response he buried his head into her shoulder and into the crook of her neck. As she then wrapped both arms around him as the lieutenant hid a chuckle at the response and she smiled at that. "Like I said if I was the cat, he'd be my kitten and that was his reaction now."

"To his mother cat protecting him now, because our bond is enough he's not letting go now." she added with a smile as she hold him, as she finished that sentence gently as she said it. "Well that's him when he was eight years old now, because he's acting younger than he really is when he's beyond exhausted right now. My cub is so exhausted he's not bothering with the added catch of trying to stay independent, at the moment."

"The little boy in him just made a come back now and I've seen him like this ten times prior to us being assigned to the Enterprise since Jack was killed, but he depended on me for everything before he hit his eleventh birthday. As to that if we had met you the five of you, 3 years earlier, like say 2361, the connection would be even stronger. And he did this all the time when he younger, before we met you and he fell asleep on me."

"Before I got him in bed and he's acting like that again now." she said with a slight smile as she rubbed his back and he rested his his head on her shoulder as Will looked at him gently then as he said it. "That's possibly because he knows he's safe now that we're back to normal, the acts of his training were enough to keep him alive and it's clear what ever amount he had in that first aid kit, he only used a single days' worth of food."

"He didn't use more than he needed, but depending on how long those survival kits last, I've got to figure out what orders he programmed into the replicator. If he replicated every possible combination of his favorite foods and a self synthesized way to keep from getting ice into water bottles. But once the true purpose of these exams gets started, and he's fully recovered, physically, though he's not leaving when he is."

"But it's time to run this test of trust and bonds a second time, and with Ro here now and it's a two fold situation with two apprentices. It's time to put it to the test now, but his acts of knowing exactly what was wrong with us were pretty clear if he focused those decoy attempts and holograms on us. As well as activated the program during the middle of stage two or or three now." Will said and she nodded in agreement as she said it.

"I think my son over did it, if the computer is acting like this when around him, but this is ridiculous right now." Beverly said as she started laughing at that. "Yeah well it's worth knowing our young computer genius is around to prevent this type of thing from getting off the ship now. But his acts of doing it are something no one his age can touch now, no one but his trio, and not when they don't know the ship's systems as well as he does."

"Let alone we forgot he ever created that computer program and downloaded it into the ship's computer last year after our last encounter with Lore last year. That's one thing we forgot, we also forgot we ever had Danar on board the ship, and finally the amount of damage Shelby did to the ship after you got taken by the Borg, Sir. That's eighteen months of a time gap at the moment, he's been gone for eleven months."

"A a week and it was seven months after he left that the pain of his leaving was beginning to get to us and we blocked a few things out. But that was more than enough of a time gap in that we forgot several key things, but he didn't and he was leaving hints to the situation with Danar. By pulling the same ploys to get us to remember, but jumping past both options in the test and created a third by activating the program he created." Geordi said and Will's eyes narrowed in concentration as he answered him.

"No not three options, there were four, but the first two are a no winner, because they'd both result in him getting caught and arrested by her on board the enterprise. And the third, is trying to teleport off the ship and taking out her out or the shields and engines on her ship out, but that option also results in a failure. So that leaves it to option four and it's by acting on stealth, survival skills and his knowledge of our procedures."

"So repair work, stealth, survival skills, taking your time and working as a team, he was using what I taught him, combined it with Roga's ability to get passed detection. And then used our previous worst case scenarios to take back control of the ship and by then the Calvary just arrived and the engine crew and sickbay are free of her influence. And it was after Data was imitating us when we're like we are now, games in theory now, he was acting like a teenage scientist in this by doing a games in theory test run."

"And that's it, the games of testing in games in theory have begun and he's now leaving hints to the things we did together and what we were like together to break through the conditioning. But she doesn't understand the hints, one last case of tag and freeze tag and in the end, we win this game, but she doesn't now." Will said and finished with a smile as he looked at him then as he got it then as he finished that remark gently.

"Well you gave him permission to take back control of the engine room and ship if we all got compromised and this happens to be it, Sirs. And he's just dragged up a faint reminder to that first year after you and I were trying to get into the terminal booth. But we pulled a repeated ploy to get her from going anywhere at all, by using us to do it. Jim and I yanked the security cards he used after we got hit by that virus Geordi."

"But it worked, it was a combined effort in tactics now, but he pulled it off by using everything that involved the ship getting hijacked." they heard and turned to see Lieutenant James Shimoda walking into the room and they nodded. "Yeah and working over time to break her hold on you just drained us both today, at the moment, him more than me at the moment." Dayton said and she looked at him bemused ad she said it.

"Then again the stress of the last few hours just hit us full force, so I hop Hanson thinks before he acts at the moment. As to why, because neither Wes, Robin or I are in the mood for his attitude problem right now at the moment." he said and Wesley sighed as he said it then. "Yeah and that's the understatement of the century right now, Charlie, before you ask guys, we better deal with her first." he said and Picard nodded to him.

"Well with us back to normal and she's just crossed the man she shouldn't have right now at the moment. So you took a guess and guess right that she got to us first, before she hit your mother at the welcome home party we threw for you?" Will asked him crouching in front of him then. "I did dad, but her idiocy was leaving a string of clues to that, but first you guys, then mom, Data gets deactivated then the trio now."

"But her idiocy in leaving the radio going was a fatal mistake right now, as I basically told her through you now at the moment. That the second you're back to normal that you're all going to kill her once the three of us explained this to you right now." he said and the sextet nodded firmly to that. "You're right we will, because putting you kids at risk like this crossed a line in our eyes and especially when you're in no condition for this."

"I don't believe this, first the Nanites, then Shelby, followed by Potts and now this, well she just pushed me one to far regarding you son. And enough is enough of this, in this case that last run around was implication, right Wesley?" he asked and Wesley nodded. "Aye Sir, but at the moment, she just ticked all of you off, regarding us at the moment, me most of all and like Charlie told you, that last attack hit me on the floor of the shaft."

"It was close, but if I hadn't been in the floor when it hit me." he said and they nodded as Geordi said it for all of them. "And your losing your grip on the ladder, or at the top of that shaft and that could have broken your neck. And she's screwed with us as a result of that." he said and Wesley nodded. "Yes but her first, explanation later, and that's including why I look like this Sir, mom." he said and they nodded as Worf said it for him.

"On more then one occasion these characters always push me too far regarding you at the moment, but this just crossed the line completely in my eyes, Wesley. 3.5 years together and in my eyes you're like my own now and with that. She wants to trigger the parental feelings in me let alone everyone that knows you on the ship. She's got 300 furious parents ready to dismember her now." he said, before the comm beeped then.

"Too late, Wesley she's hailing us right now." Worf added and Data turned to Picard at that. "Captain are you alright?" he asked and Picard nodded. "I think so Data." he said as Worf said it to him then. "We are being hailed by the alien vessel, Captain." he said to him and he said it to that. "On screen." he said and they looked at the image of the alien woman as she looked at them coolly as she said it to him at the looks on their faces.

"Explain yourself, Picard." she said and he smirked as he answered her. "The explanation is simple, your attempt to capture our ship has failed." he said and she said it firmly. "Release us immediately, or we will open fire." she said and Will crossed his arms. "Did you forget something, when in a tractor beam your weapons will not work, aside from that, my apprentice has disabled your shields right now, Etana."

"So just try it, and we will destroy you, so with that, tactical analysis, Mister Worf?" he asked and Worf smirked at that. "Their weapon systems are substantially inferior to ours, they are not a threat." he said and she looked at him in shock. "What's wrong, surprised that we know you're bluffing, because my program disabled your shields. You're weapon systems are inoperative, and your shields are neutralized, so try it, take a shot at us."

"And you're ending up dead, because we just boosted the weapons on our ship right now." Dayton said firmly as Wesley stood up then as Will wrapped an arm around him to keep him from collapsing. "So you're my opponent Etana, you know for a military tactician you don't know a thing about humans. Last night I made it clear that when they were back to normal, they were going to kill you for putting me and my friends at risk."

"And like this too, well you just pissed off the people you shouldn't have, on our planet it's a parents job to protect their children. And we maybe young adults, but that's not stopping them from acting like our protectors. But if you're in league with Aldea, I swear to god, our parents, my parents and my fellow hostages. You or whoever you're in league comes near us again and they will kill you." he said and Will finished that remark.

"And we mean every word of that you hag, he's my son, so you ever harm him or any of my Cubs, you won't have to worry about winding up in jail. And it's because you're ending up in the electric chair for this, but I'm making it clear. That you ever harm a hair on his head and I swear there's not going to be a place safe enough for you or your associates when we get through with you." he snapped as he turned to Worf then.