Will was not pleased.
"And you believe what Xanatos told you?"
The captain's voice acquired a sharp edge. "Are you suggesting, Commander, that you believe I'm going to buy our way out of this situation with the boy's life?"
"No, sir," Will answered, visibly deflated. "Of course not. I just - he could as easily be trying to hide himself from Xanatos, knowing the man is coming."
Picard stared at him. "What would you have me do differently?" he snapped.
Will sighed. "Nothing, Captain. I don't know what else you could do."
"I need you to think like my second in command, now, Will Riker, and not like a worried parent. Ben is not a normal child. We don't know what he is and we don't know what he is capable of. We will do our best to safeguard him, but in the meantime we have an entire starship crew to protect. And a warship of unknown strength breathing down our necks. Now are you my First Officer, or do I need to temporarily relieve you of duty?"
Will closed his eyes, then opened them again. "I'm sorry sir. I'm with you."
"Will, I'm sorry," Picard continued more gently. "I know you care about this boy. I don't want to hurt him or frighten him. But I also can't take the risk of leaving him free."
"Suppose locking him up is exactly what Xanatos wants us to do?"
"To what purpose?" Worf asked.
Will put his head in one hand. This felt wrong to him somehow. But he couldn't say why.
"Worf, are your people in place?" Picard asked.
"They are."
"At least let Will and I go in first, to look for Ben," Deanna asked.
Picard nodded tiredly. "Proceed."
-
In the quiet of the access tunnel where he sat waiting, Obi-Wan stirred. There was something in the Force... something had changed. He frowned, trying to decide whether and how he should adjust his plans. What was happening? He could not get a sense of the new threat. His body tingled as he extended his senses: was the effect of Xanatos' drugs once more growing? Obi-Wan hesitated, uncertain whether to go further into the Force. He feared the rush of power that had overwhelmed him in Xanatos's apartment; feared that he would once more lose control.
Finally Obi-Wan stood. He would change his position; perhaps even find a door and listen for conversations or announcements. He walked to where he knew a door led on to the twelfth deck.
The door was locked, sealed tightly closed.
He walked more briskly to the next door, ten meters along the curve of the narrow passage. His stomach fluttered. What was going on? Why would the door have been sealed?
This door, too, was locked.
Now what?
From the corridor behind him, he heard a door opening. "Ben?" Deanna's voice echoed strangely in the enclosed space.
Oh, no. Why are they looking for me so soon? Obi-Wan tried to reason through the rush of fear that tried to seize him. He wanted, more than anything, to turn tail and run. Why? What am I afraid of?
This time Will called down the corridor. Obi-Wan heard two sets of footsteps moving toward him. "Ben, where are you? We won't hurt you. We won't let Xanatos have you. Please come here."
At the sound of Will's voice Obi-Wan could no longer control his fear. He ran, swiftly and silently, for the nearest ladderway: one going up to level eleven. He told himself he needed to hide, to remain safely undiscovered until after Xanatos attacked. But he knew there was more...
When he was halfway up, the locked door he'd left behind swung open, revealing a young man in a yellow and black uniform, with a kindly face, followed closely by a woman. The man stepped to the bottom of the ladder. "Ho, there," he called. "You need to come out with us, now."
Obi-Wan kept climbing.
"Davis to Worf. He's running, sir," the man spoke into his communicator. Obi-Wan was already at the top of the ladder; he didn't hear Worf's reply.
"Ben!" Will called, coming down the corridor toward him from the next ladder over. He must have headed up when I did, Obi-Wan thought as he backed away, then turned and ran, heart in his throat. Calm down and think! he scolded himself.
That was when a phaser bolt caught him in the side from yet another opening door. Knocked senseless, Obi-Wan crashed to the floor. Why so much effort just to find me? was his last thought before he blacked out.
-
Will carried the unconscious boy out to the main corridor of Deck Eleven. Worf and Picard were already there, waiting, having taken a different stairway up. "Was this really necessary?" Will asked angrily.
"It was the only way to ensure he did not escape in the limited time available," the Klingon answered stolidly.
"He'll wake in a few minutes," Deanna reminded him quietly. "Worf used the lowest phaser setting."
"Let me search him now, Commander, before he wakes," Worf said gruffly.
Grudgingly Will set the boy on the floor of the corridor, and let Worf search his clothes. The first thing the security chief turned up was the cylinder, now enclosed and sealed, that Ben had been working on from his first day with Wes.
"What is it?" Picard asked.
"Part of a project he's been working on with Wesley," Will answered.
"But what does it do?" Worf asked.
"I don't know, it's a kid's project," Will snapped back, irritated. "He can't exactly tell me."
"I'll have Data run a scan on it," Picard said, taking it and tucking it into his jacket.
Worf pulled a padd from another pocket. "This is a command padd," he told them, checking the markings.
Will felt his gut sinking. "It's mine," he said. "But I left it locked in my desk. And I told him it wouldn't work for -"
"Maybe it does, now," Worf said, holding up the next item he'd pulled from the boy's pocket. Will recognized it as part of the padd's innards. "It's the security check module."
Worf placed the padd in Ben's hand. It blinked to life, showing a display of Enterprise's defensive functions. No one spoke for a moment.
"The security modules are supposed to be impossible to simply interchange," Will said in a strangled voice.
Picard sighed. "Mr. Worf, have Geordi look into how he accomplished it later." Worf nodded and pocketed the padd. "In the meantime, it seems to me the boy poses a serious security hazard. He'll have to be confined, at least for the time being." He looked to Will as he spoke. The Commander nodded, still feeling somewhat bewildered, but more and more he felt disappointed, even angry.
"The half hour is nearly up; I need you all on the bridge," Picard said briskly.
"Ensigns Davis and Dinarra will take Ben to the brig." The two ensigns, standing nearby, nodded. Worf rolled the boy on his stomach and cuffed his wrists behind him with binders provided by Dinarra. Then he rolled him gently back to a sitting position. "Don't undo the bindings before putting him in the cell. He's a skilled fighter; we can't risk him running right now. And don't hesitate to stun him again if necessary."
Will winced, but didn't argue. Ben was coming around. He wasn't sure he wanted to see the boy's reaction on waking, but he stayed. He wanted to see some truth in Ben's eyes: something that would make sense of his traitorous actions. He crouched before the boy, waiting. Deanna, standing behind him, put a hand on his shoulder.
The boy's lids fluttered; he wriggled in Worf's grasp, then seemed to realize he was caught. For a moment, he was still. Then slowly, he raised his eyes to Will's.
Will realized his expression was hard, angry. He let his anger show.
Ben's eyes widened, pleading; his mouth worked silently. Will hardened his heart; if anything, more furious at what he now saw as a new attempt to catch his heart. Ben's face paled and crumpled. He bent his head, drawing up his knees; his body shaking.
Will stood and turned away. He knew the others were watching - or rather, studiously not watching, helping the security crew with Ben so he could have a moment to pull himself together. He smothered his anger, taking refuge in the pressing need of duty.
Behind him, he heard Ensign Davis say quietly, "Come on now, lad, you're to come with us please." Will turned to the Captain when he heard them moving away down the corridor.
"We have five minutes to prepare for Xanatos' ultimatum," Worf informed the group as Picard led them to a turbolift.
Deanna touched Will's arm, speaking quietly. "You don't know..."
"I don't want to discuss it," he answered sharply.
They gathered in the turbolift; Picard looked to Deanna. "Counselor, did you sense any emotion in the boy at all?"
"I've never sensed any from him, Captain," she answered sadly. "But that doesn't mean he hasn't any."
-
Obi-Wan hadn't the heart to look at either of his guards on the way to the detention cells, though both were really quite solicitous. He couldn't escape Will's hurt look, his anger and disappointment at Obi-Wan's apparent betrayal. Now Obi-Wan knew the reason for his fear in the service corridors earlier: he had not wanted to see that look of hurt betrayal again. Once was too much. After Qui-Gon, he never wanted to hurt someone that way again. But it was too late. Obi-Wan's plan had failed. He felt Xanatos closing in on the ship. Chances were, Will would never understand what Obi-Wan had tried to do.
If only he had anticipated that Xanatos would try to turn the ship's crew against him! If only he had some way to defend himself! But even his new lightsaber was gone, now - he missed its weight in his jacket. The captain had it; who knew what he thought it might be.
Deep in the Engineering hull of the ship, far from the buzzing of life that filled the saucer, Obi-Wan's two guards took him from the turbolift and stopped at an open space just off the corridor. A ring of detention cells lined the walls; a single guard station occupied the center. All the cells were empty. The young man at his side, Ensign Davis, led Obi-Wan into a cell on one side; Ensign Dinarra stopped just outside.
"Do you need anything? A drink? Help with the head?" Davis nodded to the back of the cell; Obi-Wan could see a narrow door there, their version of a 'fresher. He shook his head in answer.
"All right, then; call us if you need us. We'll be right here close."
As soon as he left the cell, Ensign Dinarra keyed the pad and a blue energy wall sprang into place across the wide opening, leaving the small cell completely visible to the guard station outside, except perhaps for inside the head. Obi-Wan sank to his knees, facing away from the energy wall, ignoring the narrow cot behind him.
How could he have failed so utterly? And now not only he would suffer for it. He felt danger in the Force. How could he have let fear blind his senses? Like when he had nearly killed Qui-Gon, come to rescue him from Xanatos... Fear was of the dark side. Had he strayed so far from the Jedi path?
Master, how I need your guidance now! He called. He felt no answer.