The Bonds Of Friends And Family
Disclaimers: The characters don't belong to me, the story belongs tome and every else belongs to the movie company and the creator.
Warnings: For this Chapter it's showing the added side effects of the mission Wesley and Robin took on as they, Kurland and their friend create a new team. As they're going over things, as the truths of the added side effects of the games start coming forward. They see that the further they dig into and the more sinister that the Ktarians plan becomes as they're discussing things.
The true findings of the side effects make themselves clear to the senior staff crew. As things shift course, as they all realize just what causes their added problems were, while the added side effects make themselves known now. And as his diagnostics reveal the added damage to his body. And they take charge while the group gets a chance to deepen the bonds now.
As Wesley gets a chance to be with some new friends and having everything he wants now as an adult. As the episodes from here stay the same, Unification gets jumped, as they're dealing with the aftermath of this episode. So it jumps the cliffhanger and goes right to the next episode of the season, before it hits the next few episodes in the season, as things start picking up now for them.
Chapter 14: Gamma Squadron And Nova Inclinations
As Dayton said it. "Yeah I like that idea, with the fact we have you home for the next year, it means that we have a better shot at pulling the job off then before and with it. It means, if Nick pulls anything illegal when the commencement demonstration starts up. And we're the ones doing the investigating, but this also means if he's trying to finish his career with a bang, it's turning him in for picking an illegal maneuver if he tries it."
"And the same is said for the girls too." he said and Picard crossed his arms at that as Beverly said it for him. "How far would he be willing to go just to get out from under your shadow Charlie?" she asked and he sighed. "As far as choosing the starburst, so if they get it right for the first time since the academy banned it from use. It's he's finishing his career as the nova leader that attempted the starburst and pulled it off now."
"And upstaged the academic star of the academy, with Wes here, it's, and I don't have to hear it out loud, either from him or Josh. But they're planning on becoming your unspoken plants on the team so it works and he turns him in for breaking the restriction. If not and we lose another cadet because of it, same reason and he's gathering evidence to turn him into you and the captain so he can be expelled for every charge wracked up."
"And with that, with Wes home, he's not Nova and he never was, He's Gamma and we take care of each other. But our squadron were half soldier/half scientist and it's getting the coordinates and calculations correct. Because if it, the starburst, is off by even a fraction of a foot, and it's going to kill someone. And the damn idiot never took physics enough to know that, if he tries it." he said and Picard said it sternly at that remark.
"He tries it and he's in serious trouble, the Kolvoord starburst was banned after the last attempt killed all five cadets that tried it." he said and Will nodded as he answered that. "It gets better, but Jack tried it and it killed Damian Reynolds like we said, so if he tries it and tries to fix Jack's mistakes it could back fire and kill one or all of you." he said and Picard nodded as he looked at Wesley to go into that as he said it gently to him.
"Wesley, would you be willing to tell me the second it happens, and that we both know you weren't ready for this, you've mostly been flying ships this size and the shuttles. But trying movies like this that you're not ready for at the current moment. And by that I mean you just began your flight training in the starfighters. But you've been piloting a galaxy class ship for the better part of four years now, since I activated you."
"But with you staying for this long." he asked and Wesley nodded to him gently. "Aye Sir and yes I would, I never lied to you before and why start now exactly and with that in mind right now. Regarding the trio its I don't have to lie, just don't volunteer any new information." He said and she crossed her arms. "Yes and a lie of ommission is still a lie, and with that if Brand asked us to investigate this?" she asked and he nodded to her.
"Yeah, he deflects my going to the inquiry and the back door is coming right to you, but I made a promise if I was in trouble, I'd tell you immediately. Though if said trouble just barely destroys our family, and that includes Robin if she's carrying my child. No choice necessary, it's now breaking ten rules rules, and twenty other charges. But thankfully they can't get up here to stop me when I turned them in, why though now."
"It's because non crew members are locked out of the system and this was a crime anyway, so I'm telling you if he tried that at the moment. But I have a duty to the truth, I was born a Starfleet cadet and I have a duty to the truth. But a lie of ommission is still a lie and I will not lie to save the team. My duty, I have a stronger commitment here and it's to the squadron, here on the ship, and to the crew." he said and they smiled at that.
"I have a duty to the truth, to you, the parents of my lost friend, and to the federation, so I'm doing the right thing now. And it's turning in the ones who break the rules, go ahead and hate me if you want you guys, but I have a duty to the truth." he said and she smiled at the remark. "That's what I want to hear from you Lieutanant, we taught you well clearly, and I'm very proud of you." Picard said and he smiled at him then.
"Thank you Sir, but in truth, you, the six of you and the others I'm close to, matter more to me then all if them together on the team. It's the time difference, us close to 6 years, them only seven months, so with that, who's going to win here exactly?" he asked and Beverly smiled. "We will, you always thought of us first and leaving for a few months didn't change anything, you're still my cub, no matter how old you get now."
"But you never let me down before and why start now." she said and he nodded. "I know and I'm Starfleet, SGC and I'm also Gamma squadron. And we have a duty to the truth, be it scientifical, ethical, personal or responsible. And we never lie, so why risk expulsion by lying to stay there, when coming forward means you get to stay. But you or them, truth or friends, I choose the truth." he said and that did it for Hanson at the news.
"Yeah and what about your duty to your friends, the team?" Hanson snapped at that remark and he crossed his arms. "There is no duty to your friends when they're trying to get you to be dishonest, Derek. And especially with a superior officer, but duty to my friends, come on, they are not my friends, I barely know them, the crew up here. Who in the latest arrivals are just newly arrived exactly?" he asked and Allysa answered that.
"Aside from the rest of your quartet, it's Sam Lavelle, and Taurik, they're both newly assigned to the ship. In my case I've been here since Sarek was on board, Wes." she said and he nodded. "Let me take a guess the scholarships turned into a crew evaluation of it and they're pressing their limits just to get some attention. And the senior staff is more focused on mind over matter?" he asked and the seven all nodded, bemused then.
"Yeah you just hit the nail on the head, pal, which is the reason for his attitude problem and we were waiting for you to come home. But he, Lavelle and Taurik, as well as Farley are treating this like the high school athletic scholarship issue. And it's wearing down the patience of your mother and the sextet, especially after he got arrested, again." Jake said with a bemused look on his face and he nodded with an exasperated sigh.
"Yes, in your case, I'd do it in a heartbeat, because we're a true team, win together, lose together, we will not be tried separately. I would risk my life to save you guys, but a crew is a team, a team is a family, and though we already have family. Up here, where it gets more dangerous we become each other's family. Until you served on the front lines you're never going to get that Derek, you're a basic training ensign, I'm advanced."
"But if you want to take my place for the next 18 months at the academy, hey I'm fine with that, I never wanted to be on Nova anyway. And with the duo here and Jake still here, I have even more reasons to not be in Nova. Why, well it's because they're just like you, 'the shoot first, ask questions later' type, 'the leaping before they look' and their planet born, I'm a Starfleet born, and my equal is Charlie, he's medical born, as am I."
"So what if they consider me a traitor, and I failed them, well they're not the ones who's opinions matter, and neither is yours. They are." he said, pointing at his mother, the six and the rest of the group that were in the room with them. "Their trust and respect, I'd never let my mother or the crew down down no matter what happens and this is a very high factor, my father, but that's it, they mean more to me than the trio do."
"But Josh is my best friend in the squadron he would only agree with that, so if this resulted in killing someone else we'd do the right thing. And turn them in either way at the moment, but that's what being a Starfleet officer, to do the right thing we have to turn on our own people at times. Case in point is when Maxwell had a section 8 and Haden sent Captain Picard after him." he told him and he looked at the the older man.
"And frankly I don't blame you for the conflict of interest, but a duty to the truth and a duty to your friends. You had to do the right thing and no matter how much it hurts, Sir, but to a real officer, in order to do the right thing, you had to go against the whole. And turn in the ones who either were going renegade or were breaking the law by use of a banned maneuver when in training." he said to him and Picard nodded in agreement.
"Yes and that's what I wanted to hear from you, and you never lied to us before and why start now, if they force you into that position though. The only option left is by asking for weekend leave, because I don't doubt that Andrea is going to ask me to do that speech for the added assembled officers and cadets at the commencement demonstration. Thought this happens and she's asking us to do the investigation into the accident."
"Though at the academy, you're still under my command as a result as you're my student and my connection to your mother as well. As to that, if they're blocking the other outlets, that's the only way to get the truth out and we hit the reason why. But just telling us before hand and what happened and why. That's enough you're cleared of all charges as a result now here, and by acting as the undercover agent for us."
"But we've done this one too many times and you sound like me every time you do this." Picard said to him and he nodded to him. "I know and I had a good teacher, Sir you raised me and I'm not letting you down, so to me, it doesn't matter what they say. They don't matter to me, you do if it's a choice you or them, I choose you, every time it's going to be you guys now." he said and the sextet nodded gently to that as he went on.
"And the only to keep our bond intact is by staying here until the mission or episode prior to it happens, so whatever they did in the 20th to 21st century. That's our one chance whatever they called the episode leading into the first duty of every Starfleet officer." he said and Picard nodded. "Lal, if the people of the 20th century did do that, check this year and go down the list, if this was whatever number episode this is gets involved."
"In that season, then what's the number on the episode focused on that situation if I left at the end of this one?" Wesley asked and they watched the season number appeared and they nodded. "Episode 19 alright, so I leave in episode 17 and two months later possibly comes the accident so behind the scenes, if this show was 45 minutes long. Then I'm telling you what happened up there and we go to a sting operation."
"As we get them to incriminate themselves by their own words now and we keep it up until we separate. But if Robin gets pregnant leading into that situation, in her 8th month I'm coming home and we're restarting my on the job training as I'm staying here. Permanently, after that as I finish my career here on the enterprise and we make several changes but it's still not going to be a problem." he said and they nodded as she said it.
"At the moment, we just need a fifth member to our team, but if this means that Derek gets his chance at learning by doing it in simulation. And he takes Eric and Tony with him then all the better now, because right now. We need that time to make sure they can't sabotage our relationship or that we don't have any more repeats." she said and he nodded in agreement to that as the quartet all looked at Hanson then as Wesley said it.
"Captain what was the biggest reason for why Brand never allowed Derek at the academy at the time when you started his training with his parents on sabbtical?" he asked and he crossed his arms as he answered him. "We were afraid he was going to start up with the damn rumors that caused the knack in the first place. But this act of jealousy is a psychosis in your case that needs to end at the moment, and with that."
"What do you suggest Wesley?" he asked and he explained that. "One year in training at the academy has my record overwhelming records from guys like Nick and Derek anyway. As every adult on campus knows the reason for why I was starting training so no matter how hard he tries, everyone in my class. If he tries to drag up that rumor, is going to retaliate with the truth, so he wants attention it's by getting on a squad for it."
"And actually working for that lime light, but it's everything that Colin reacted to, but in our cases I've gotten the highest scores in every class they've ever been. Won every award they've ever been up for and its now you're comparing him to me. And ever since he walked on board this ship and he just can't seem to measure up in your eyes. So one option here, it's by getting him off the ship as he learns that lesson the hard way now."
"Your lesson to him when you reprimanded him last year, 'if you want to go somewhere and you want to be somebody. Then you better wake up and pay attention, because out in the real world, they don't care how good you think you are. Or who you're connected to it doesn't matter, if you don't have an education then you don't have anything.'. And he needs to learn that in only one way now as he's learning in simulation to practical."
"I mean look at us, we spent years paying attention in class, were taught by, in my case, Commander Riker, Commander La Forge and Lieutenant Worf, and in theirs. A different version of the trio, and four to however many years it took, we ended up going against a shipful of programmed members of our own crew. And beat the odds in one shot, and it's because of what you taught in that first lesson at the time and with that."
"It's he got arrested in fifteen minutes by wondering around the hallway and ends up getting arrested by Data for reckless endangerment. But as he just started his training, it takes years living on board said ship and knowing your crew better then they know themselves. So with that, it's time he learned that lesson, in simulations of training, if he was training to be a pilot." he said and Picard nodded to him as he answered him.
"Alright I'll talk to his parents and Andrea and we can get that set up, as for Joshua, it's going to have to wait a few weeks until we're clear of that virus. And in your case, you're partially recovered from what happened this week. But you're under adult supervision in case the diagnostics show up anything, understood." he said and Wesley nodded to him. "Captain, I think it's best that once this aftermath to this ends and I'm recovered."
"We do an exchange program and we get Sito, Josh and Katie up here and send Derek, Tony and Eric down there as they try to tell him. Tell I'm with his rival and ex girlfriend, that I've gone Gamma and I'm your man through and through. So we just run a little test now regarding the bad guy on that movie's remark. But Derek's over confidence is his weakness and Nick's faith in his friends is his." he said and Picard nodded to him.
"Yes, and to answer the unasked question regarding this when you were looking for Roga at the time that year. It took going over the exact sequence in order for me to remember here, but just the first two details were enough to get started as to why exactly. Because with breaking the beam, we had no idea where he ended up when you sounded general quarters at the time and two, and this is the big one now as I was working it out."
"Our communicators have a tracking beacon in them, so remove the beacon and you have to go to alternate ways to find them. Without someone knowing the mainframe this well it's takes longer than fifty minutes to find them till you activate the medical CG protocols. And have it tracking your quarry's life signs and signature once you do that you can find them easily, but Data is the only who knows how to do this now."
"And secondly why wouldn't she have knowledge of our ways in Starfleet, so with that in mind, I switched tactics to 400 years ago and went on stealth and it worked. You know me, but she doesn't, she's never been to earth to know our planet's history of 400 years ago. And our soldiers went on stealth mode when in a spec ops mission to keep from getting detected till the last minute at the time and with that."
"As to that I decided to use that against her, along with the fact that like Data I know our procedures better than she does, I was trained in the field for three years and I know you, by that I mean the five of you, better than she does here. So once I realized this I decided on, aside from frying the terminal, to play a game of cat and mouse with her to test her responses and her frustration was going into you at the time."
"Because she only got the last ten months after I left, but not the previous 31/2 at the time. She didn't know that we had an escaped and slightly homicidal soldier on board this ship, and we were playing a game of chess with him, before he got off the ship. She just met Commander Riker, but didn't know everything. And add more members of the crew that got turned into drones here, the harder it made it to dig through memories."
"Procedures of the ship, codes and so on, she had to dig through memories of close to 4 years together to get the clues to match up to the right memories. And codes to the right sequences and she had to dig up the important pieces out to find me." Wesley told them and they nodded. "I can take a guess that if we hadn't been compromised, you decided on doing what we suggested correct, Wesley." Picard asked him and he nodded to him.
"Aye Sir, in fact your advice was what I was going on this entire time, both of you, everything you taught me, from Remmick to Danar, I used for this. And with it, just because you think your know your opponent, never get cocky of your luck is going to run out pretty fast in this game. She got too cocky last night and I was playing games with her, because though she had you five and the rest of the adult crew here."
"Her victory was blown by three human teenagers of the same category." he told him and he shook his head smiling at that. "If there's more to this scenario than we think, just remembering that about using the computer as a gigantic medical equipment relay is enough. That to track the victim if their body is suffering from several weeks lack of rest and high body temperature." Beverly said and Picard nodded in agreement to that.
"I just pulled off the impossible as a decoy all this time, but then of this is how Colonel Jackson felt after they stopped the first renegade. I know how he feels now, but dad, I think it's time, I want to meet the rest of your squadron." he said and Will nodded as the now restarted use his of new title for him reactivated and he hid a smile at it. "That's the catch now isn't it, leading into the Borg you switch things around at the time."
"Since your mother left, I started acting like your father and now you're really acting like I am your father, including the informal term for the title, kiddo?" he said and Wesley nodded smiling at him. "Just short of two decades older, but so what, you've been acting like my father since I was 15 now. But our bonds, nothing is getting between us no matter what happens now, dad." he said and Will nodded smiling at him then gently.
"Issues of acting like the parent of a friend the results are the kid starts growing too attached to the friends of the parent. And if the said parent was a single parent and never got remarried right now. And instead of getting remarried I decided to leave you with my friends on the crew and here's the result." Beverly said smiling at that gently. "Wait, dad?" Hanson repeated in shock and he nodded smiling as he answered him.
"He's my godfather Derek, but here's the truth to why I'm disgusted with your attitude, but my biological father abandoned me and didn't care of what his actions would do. To me, my mother or anyone else that was connected to him. Walker Keel and the captain, the four of us shared the same thoughts regarding this. And I've hated my father ever since for abandoning me like this and after mom named the commander my godfather."
"He started acting like my father why do you think he said family emergency during our situation with Sarjenka. It's because mom named him and Counselor Troi my godparents, our bonds of family are the reason he was in this mess. First born cub leaving the nest, I'm his oldest training cub and seeing another who is my equal. That was hurting them emotionally, though now that the mission is over, they take over."
"Because the next monster is a more dangerous version to the Minotaur like monsters and that means trying to prevent our own people from ganging up on us. And when you've no clue who's got the secondaries and who doesn't it. But in order to do that, it's a matter of checking for slightly higher then normal body temperatures. What it also means is stage three emergency, right, buddy." he said and Geordi smiled as he said it.
"Than its enough we got to reprogram the computer and set it to a single person to track them, just to keep them getting off the ship, if this situation is just getting started. Though if it means making sure we can track the target from the search parties we'd have to program it to two different colors and then lock out everyone else here on the ship. So it's easier to focus and where ever the manhunt started from, and from there."
"It's locking down the floors above and below it, to keep him from getting out of it." Geordi said and Picard finished that remark. "Indeed, and that's worthy of noting as well but to beat the opposition, you want to win, got to be three steps ahead of them. And though we were compromised, it's still enough we have to work this out. So if it happens again, to change strategies, but nicely done." he said and Will nodded in agreement.
"Yeah but it would take blocking everyone, but the target and the search teams to find them, so without the tracking beacon you got to go life signs and heat signature. That is if the victim wasn't suffering from a fever high enough you'd be able to find him, like I said. Although those headsets had your body temperature raised to a dangerous level and that's what the parasites in that book were doing to the narrator as a result here."
"But with the fact I ended the incursion, before it got off the ship, it's, if we were in the middle of the same situation here as when they got to him finally. So it's catching the target, before he infects the military headquarters a second time. Though if that's her plan and it's making sure that the victim never makes it to the transporter rooms, on every deck on the ship or the shuttle bay just to prevent it, and with it."
"Whatever you guys discussed after Data broke you out of it, that is if I'm the primary target though I am. And with MacGregor here whatever this plan is she has it mind, the events are all in a certain length of time and that's not a coincidence either. Though if these pills have more than caffeine and I black out there's your problem right there." he said to him and he nodded in agreement to that remark as Will answered him at that.
"I'm just glad you were on duty at the time this was going, or I'd have killed him if he took you hostage. My being your mentor, but the age difference is enough that our bond was best friend/older brother/father and mentor, but if he even touched you like that, I'd kill him myself. It's been close to two years, but I forgot about this, but your tactics, I was trying to remember where I saw them, before the captain told me."
"And I remembered 2 of the 3, but trying to remember which direction it took was now next to impossible here. Because she was trying to dig through my memories of where and when the manhunt took a different turn until he got out of the ship. And by use of the cargo bay transporter room system and that was a fatal mistake here, because she turned off the main ones." he said and he nodded to him as he answered him.
"Yeah and I was waiting for you to remember that Sir, but if you can't remember every scenario we had, it's going to backfire on you. Remember where and when you saw these tactics, what with the fact you blocked off the Turbolifts, not every transporter room was out and was off line. Because you shut down the transporter rooms, but you never did the cargo bays, that's the fatal mistake." he said and he nodded as he got it.
"We're dealing with the regular ones, but the back ups, we should have deactivated all of them." he said and he nodded. "Yeah exactly, we know each other so well, that I had to alter strategies just to keep you busy, but all in all. Here's the reason you found the phaser on top on the console and inside the control panel Greyson, because the one I used was the one he took." he said and they nodded to that in bemusement to that.
" I'm just thankful I never had to hurt anyone, but you got the message right, I didn't want to be forced into making that decision. Guys, that hall I was in was the one he took when you arrested him that day, exact same hallway. With Pearson blocking off the other end of the hall I went to getting your attention by having it aimed at the shield. And I saw Pearson from my angle, and decided to keep that from going in the same direction."
"And hid in the alcove just off that corridor, so with the turbolift out and decided on planting the phaser in that hall. But I was trying to jog your memories in where you saw this before, where and when. Took the entry tubes and ended up in the cargo bay and started a repeat of his toying around with the systems, by leading you in circles. But I, once I planted the third phaser, I was sitting in the tube tunnel at the time."
"The one leading directly into the engine room from the second floor right above the reactor. But that's why you couldn't find me I was so close to it, it blocked me out, but I was listening to the entire conversation. And then to top it of, if she'd been smart, she'd have you looking straight up, because I was right above you. The second floor overhang, Roga climbed up the reactor core." he said to the duo gently and they nodded to him.
As Worf answered him. "And got into a Jeffries tube, yes I see that right now and with it. I take it you remembered which one he used to get into the Jeffries tubes?" Worf asked him and he nodded. "Yeah, but your fatal mistake was not being in there when I did, the cargo bay that I was in, or checking above you, like directly above you. It happens to be the one you were hiding in, when you tried to arrest him yourself at the time."
"I figured if she was tracking me through the other areas, that you obviously forgot where and when you saw this before. But remember, after the attack in engineering, you traced him to the shuttle bay on deck 11, you went to check and blocked it off. Before you realized he was in one of the cargobays and flooded them, before you did this, what happened next." he asked and Worf shook his head with a slight smile as he said it.
"I knew he was still in there waiting for me to leave and made it sound like I left the room, he gets ready to leave and I catch him. Before the phaser blows, knocking out the power and he escapes by using the cargobay transporter room system. After using the third phaser he had on him to power the blasted thing. If she checked my memory she'd have done that, but she didn't." he said and Wesley nodded to him smiling at that.
"Yeah the site to site transport, tracking system blinded, leaving the phaser on stun just down the hall from the turbolift you found his on and so on. I figured if she didn't know what these things were than you evidently forgot having a slightly homicidal soldier on board, otherwise the game would be done within 15 minutes. And she'd win, but you're lucky you didn't, otherwise that would be it, though the extension shaft in that case."
"That was my last throw in, as was getting into the bowels of the ship, those chips I created they were meant to simulate the phaser overloads. So keep her busy and making her think I was taking the same direction. Till she figured it out after digging though your memory and Geordi realized where these ideas were coming from. Just after I ended up the shaft you tracked me into earlier." he said and the quintet nodded softly.
"Nice she doesn't know that information, because we were programmed, but we found his back up phaser sitting inside the wiring when I deactivated the transporter a second time. And then you're hanging around the Jeffries tubes and wait twenty minutes to get our attention, by getting into the catwalks and we can hear it through the wall." Greyson said with a bemused smile on his face as he looked at him then and he nodded to him.
"Kid I swear, you keep pulling stunts like this and you're going to give us all a heart attack here if this keeps up, because though I couldn't find you. I checked the terminal he fried and found a third one inside it." Bates added to him gently and he nodded. "Yeah exactly, you all forgot a few things and without Data you had to do it on your own here. As if that's not enough the entire Jeffries tubes tunnel system is tough to navigate."
"As the system is like a honey comb of corridors, so trying to figure out where your quarry is-is next to impossible in this case with it connecting to 42 floors. And I had the system on repeated site to sites. So after that first jump it was by tracing it through playing with the systems and a few other things, before I turned it into a scavenger hunt. And the last touch was by getting your attention focused on me at the time ."
"As to why it's because the entire corridor systems in the Jeffries tubes and systems are shielded and you don't know where your quarry is going to come out, until they do. But until they start screwing with the relay systems and internal sensors you don't know where they are. But that's the intention, and I was watching you from the tube entrance right behind you in the engine room, though you couldn't see me at the time Sir."
"In fact every spot he was in I back tracked, but I was so quiet that you never noticed me till you picked me up in section twenty three finally." he said as he finished it off. "But I wasn't giving myself away till he got the palm beacon working, and when I did. Well that's when you found me finally and I got your attention on me to keep you from checking on him." he told him and he and Picard nodded in bemusement at that.
"I swear, we shouldn't have helped them arrest him at the time that year, because his blowing the tracking systems, getting into the tubes. And with 42 decks, we had no idea where you were, if that's not the act of a master strategist, nothing is. And because you're remembering these things better than we do. And Etana never checked the records, so she didn't know we had an escaped soldier running amok on board this ship."
"And without Data, he's the one programming the internal sensors, but he made it easier for us to find Danar, but without him. We can't find you, so several regular and palmed sized phasers in every spot he was in, redirects, decoy tactics and everything he did, leaving a trail for us to follow and then we pick you on the sensors. You decided to alter strategies and was delaying till the palm beacon was ready, and turning on the sensors."
"Just before getting our attention finally, you, kid, are incredible, if I remembered any of this, it wouldn't have worked. Because these games of hide and seek were driving us that nuts when we were looking for you. But my training you and his tactics just saved the entire ship, but that's incredible Wes, I never would have thought you could do this. And keep us guessing till you broke the conditioning on us and you guys pulled it off."
"And not too many teenagers can do this without the added skill of knowing the ship you were living on." Will said to him proudly and he smiled at him. "You know me too well Sir, but I had to take a different route just to escape detection. But everything we discussed last year was made and put to use. As for the avatar, that wasn't my idea, though she decided to take the added catch as she let her know that she was controlling things."
"But you know me and she doesn't, to prove that I decided to test her by turning it into a game and I won when you couldn't find me for the entire 25 hours after I left my phaser on repeated stun in the hall." he told him and he nodded. "She had us under her control, but she doesn't know you at all. But we did, so to switch tactics, you had to do things we'd never tried up to now and pulled it off." Bates said and he nodded to him smiling.
"You're kidding, that's where you got these ideas, that's incredible, no cadet could do this and last longer than a half an hour in situations like this." Robin said and he smiled. "Not when they haven't been serving on board a federation ship for real if they weren't a crew member, let alone the child of one. As to that, going above and beyond the call of duty was a requirement here that was needed, though the Admiral hears this."
"And he's going to see this as I deserve a promotion for preventing Risa's hostile take over bid from getting off of the Enterprise." he said and Picard nodded in agreement to that. "Quinn, let alone Admirals Henderson and Sullivan, are going to see that as well Wesley, no first year cadet could do this. And not when they've been working simulation for three years. It takes being in the thick of it, to not being taken till the last minute."
"But you, you've been serving for real, been doing everything your class mates have on a real bridge, working at a level that is harder than they think when in a true engine room. You served aboard a real federation ship, in our eyes you deserve that promotion because it takes a certain level of dedication, virtue and heart to pull this off and not get taken till the last minute." he said to him smiling gently, as he answered him.
"Evidently though she got to the six of you, I was at the academy, so though she read my record, she didn't know how I thought. Though you did, so to prove that I decided to run a test regarding this and shifted tactics, she was forcing her mind on you. So she didn't understand what I was doing and that thought landed in you. And till the last five minutes when the beacon was ready when you realized and remembered Danar."
"And this was something else you taught me, if your friends are compromised by the person influencing them. Then switch tactics and go a different way till their free of the conditioning." he said and they both nodded smiling at that. "Yes and it certainly paid off, if your peers and closest friends are compromised by a master manipulator. Than never mind using the old protocols you learned by the people that trained you."
"But switch tactics and if you dealt with a previous manhunt, than use those tactics and you'll never get captured." Picard said smiling and he nodded to him. "I think we trained you a little too well if you're getting this good. And at escaping detection now, because it took close to three quarters of an hour time find you. And the trail of breadcrumbs was beginning to annoy the heck out of us." Will said to him smiling and he nodded to him.
Looking at Wesley, he smiled in pride at the way his student took it so easily then. "You certainly made me proud Wes, nicely done. With the way this is going, the Admiral, once he hears this, is making you an acting lieutenant on board when he hears you prevented a foothold situation in the federation here. You both took a couple injuries, but if we were in the service of 400 years ago, you'd both get a promotion for your services here."
"Smart move, throw us off by acting like they were taken, before getting to work, though we caught them in the act by catching her without it. Robin, you just got added to the crew, but when around a superior officer and he's possibly compromised: never left your nervousness show, make eye contact and finally act like everyone else. I knew you were faking it that entire time, because we helped raise him, we know how he thinks."
"Which is why we caught you first and that just left him, but you never tell your possible compromised team mate what your plans are or where you're going. When doing them, or that blows the entire operation in heading off a foothold situation here. He knows this, as is trying to avoid detection by getting into the shielded areas." Will said to her and she nodded as as he went further to explain the chase down they dealt with to Picard then.
"Yes alright, so after overhearing your conversation with her Sir, he then went into the bio med lab and started fixing Data and then realizes he's the last one standing. Because we caught her in the act. And spends the next half hour dodging us in the halls, gets into the bowels of the ship, and starts distracting us by getting on the catwalks. Up on level seven, while Data finished it off, but pulling a drop attack directing on us at the time.
"But if this reminds me of anything it's the virus we got hit by in our first year, although in this case it's making sure that the mutated virus doesn't mutate into anything else. Especially after it mutated into a video game this time, but once was enough, if she's tries this when your ankle is still healing and nothing is saving her and her accomplices from jail time." Will added and he nodded to him as he answered her as he sighed then.
"Is that what the virus did to us, making us act like we're intoxicated, it's been four years and two months to the day of that situation here Beverly. I mean I read out the information regarding that?" he asked and she nodded to him. "Before you ask guys, but these instances were from huge gravity shifts that caused water molecules to be created, and they collected carbon from the body and acted on the brain like alcohol."
"Or recreational drugs, so like intoxication, but much worse, the victim's judgement is almost completely impaired." Wesley added and the nodded as Picard nodded in agreement as Beverly said it then. "Yeah you're right, but here's the thing and we're suffering the exact same symptoms we were then, included high body temperature which explains the sweating, though now we have to give our bodies a chance to recover."
"Because we're all in detox from these things." she said and he nodded as Wesley answered her as he said it. "Sirs, mom, Deanna, I recommend we go into security lock out, everyone here who hasn't been here longer then four years. And by that I mean everyone in this room was here either longer than four years or are part of the ones. That do start acting like ourselves again the second it breaks now are allowed into it."
"And the ones that aren't are locked out the mainframe, everyone in this room was either a veteran, or snapped out of the conditioning the second it broke on them. And locked the out of the computer in, and the corridors leading into the shuttlebays and the computer now. 70% of the ship had to deal with our minds being messed with repeatedly, we can take it and we're strong enough to handle it, but the new comers who haven't as long."
"Case in point is the newly activated members or the ones that have a case of screwing around with the holodeck or even suffering phobias. But the rest of us have a better chance to fight it off and it's because we've been doing this so long it doesn't even affect us anymore. But with the near altercation on the bridge and a possible flip out on the way, the ones that can't take it need to be locked out of the computer at the moment."
"And it's the same for the new arrivals, the ones that either just arrived from the academy or got transferred from one ship to another. They haven't been through what we have. Let alone suffered two viruses while doing it at the time. As to that, only command security and senior staff are allowed into the computers, as to why I'm saying this. Our plant, or secondary host, is going to realize that he's screwed once he realizes this."
"And we locked him out of the computer, he's going to realize that he is now the lone mouse on a ship full of snakes and knows the second he screws up he's in deep trouble. Like say insisting he be involved in the search for whoever the primary target is, though you say to stay out of it and leave it to the security and he does it anyway. Which is going to get him killed if the said primary target is a kid no older than me, Robin and the duo."
"The other thing is we need to get a look at the extended exposure to this thing, because of 80 new arrivals the ones losing it first are the quiet ones, the ones that are introverts and never socialize with anyone. So though we got a look at that thing briefly I did enough research to gain why everyone lost it earlier, but we don't know what the after effects are going to be and that's part of the problem here at the moment."
"If it was like when Lieutenant Barcley was screwing around with the holodeck computer or even the hallucinations we were all suffering from when we ran the warp speed tests. It'd be enough that the effects are going have one of the crew flip out and they could do more damage then necessary here. Or it turns into a case of drug rehab and they're flipping because they're now going cold turkey, but they're a threat now as a result."
"To themselves and anyone else and we'd have to go rehab regarding this from that thing, but for you guys, who've been here longer since day, it's not going to affect us at al, because we're strong physically and mentally and we've had our heads screwed around with so many times we're used to it now." he said and finished with a sigh. "Though added side effects in my case, with what I told you so far, could be a problem."
"In my case I drained 3/4's of my strength thanks to this, but I've dealt with this more times than I care to think about, any new recruit, my age or Robin's age who was exposed to that thing, once exposed, is going to have the same reaction. That Juno did last year, or for the adults, it's going to be like they'd taken in too much ethanol. Or drugs, or both and it's going to result in a speedballing over reaction, as to that."
"The side effects of these things are like narcotic's, losing the parasite killed their team mate and he went into withdrawal as a result, the secretary went into a coma. So for the ones that need to be watched, medical security alert, condition three, in case we have another flip out like we did after the entity hijacked Worf." Wesley said to him and he nodded. "Good idea son, that's a good idea, suddenly coming down off the high here."
"It's going to be like the victim really did cross chemicals and if it takes sedating them we have to make sure they don't try screwing around with this piece of junk or hurt themselves. So we're going into lockdown till the situation is done with as of now." Will said to him and he nodded. "Yeah exactly, the computer to access security codes, the shuttlebays on every deck and anything else that needs a security code is locked out."
"Only those of us who've been here longer than four years are allowed into the computer and in the case of the ones who gave you that intel regarding this are allowed in, that includes the security teams, more specifically Lieutanants Bates, Greyson and Adams and their teams, but just us who are trustworthy. So you, me, the captain, mom, Geordi, Deanna, Worf, Data and select members of the crew, as well as Dr. Anenzi and Robin."
"But other than that, anyone acting suspicious or are acting as though they're about to have a reaction to suddenly losing that thing and its effects, get ready for the nervous reaction or the flip out. Because it's going to be like the reaction from speedballing with the ethanol. Though the technology is a different response just remembering Remmick is another reason to take it seriously, and here's why, it stimulates the adrenal glands."
"As well as the testerone and several other hormones making them act like they taken in too much or like Roga when you arrested him at the time and with that. The secretary beat the heck out of him, before he got turned into the host. As to that, if it takes going five or ten on one, it's means we have to watch the ones who aren't strong enough in case of the flip out." he said and the entire sextet all nodded to that as they got it.
"And while we're on the subject here at the moment, the junior crew is getting recreated into Gamma squadron. Us Gamma squadron are the 'think, before we act' type, and we just pulled off something no squadron. And at the academy could ever do if their parents weren't all officers in Starfleet. But as up until last year it was just us four now and you just activated close to four months ago now, it's getting used to that fact now."
" So Derek, if you got a problem with that, then you're taking my place on Nova squadron, while I'm in recovery here at home with the trio. Because I never wanted to be on this team, I was happy as a solo wolf. Till I found my partner, and then heard my best friend was still up here, and with that. If you want to switch places, we can arrange that, so you better pull yourself together." he said to him at that as he looked at him.
"Yeah so why the reason for that exactly, Crusher, why didn't Brand allow me in five months ago?" he asked him coldly. "Because every Starfleet officer over the age of 25 knows why you're jealous at the moment here, in my case. She decided with me at the academy to make sure you're not spreading that rumor around campus. And for the record you're Lieutenant Commander Shelby and I'm Commander Riker, in this case."
"And I didn't have to hear the pop off in the turbolift either or the reason why exactly, with her erring twice and then she goes behind his back to the captain. But go ahead and admit it, just what does this have to do with me exactly right now?" he asked and they watched him as they saw the jealousy in his eyes grow. "Your comment regarding the captain just makes it clear when you said that, it's the same for Colin as well."
"I didn't have to hear the words in his case, because he's a 24 year old you, in the acts of jealousy. Every time you don't get what you want or you flunk a test you head for ten forward and get loaded. But here's the catch when on duty you're not supposed to be drinking, so it's either synthethol or non alcoholic in our case. Since, if we were in the 20th century, though adult, we're still considered minors to the adult crew."
"And anyway, though you're under piloting training, and not under commander Jenson's command that doesn't excuse anything at the moment either. As Colin saw after the drunken outburst in ten forward, though not in one branch or another. The senior staff and extended crew covers all areas, as we are just teenagers. So to them we're kids, you more than we are, because we all been at it, unofficially since we entered our teens."
"But with that in mind, here's the added catch, to them you're a college student on academic probation for getting arrested one too many times and your grades are falling. So to play in the next game you got to get those grades up, and it's by going to school and paying attention in class. You want to make good grades you better wake up and pay attention now, because we're switching places." he said and Bernard interjected then.
"So switch places with you on the team, and he's in piloting training and you guys reverse lives, while we're keeping you home and we bring Josh up here to finish your team off. While Rick is with him, Nick and the girls at the moment and Gamma squadron is now the junior crew up here while he's learning the real ways of Starfleet, son?" Bernard asked and he nodded to him as the quartet exchanged looks at the idea then.