Not far from their entrance to the service corridors, Obi-Wan paused at a ladderway, his eyes distant. Will signaled the others to stop.
"The Captain and Geordi are almost directly below us," Obi-Wan said at last.
"I'll go first," said Deanna. "Come on, Wesley." Wes shouldered his phaser rifle and followed the counselor.
"You next," Will told Obi-Wan. He looked sharply at the boy when he didn't respond. Obi-Wan's eyes were unfocused, blank. "What is it?" he asked.
"Probes coming," Obi-Wan answered quietly. "Will, I think Data may have been right. The implant Xanatos cursed me with may be calling them."
"There's no time to worry about that now," Will said. "We'll deal with any probes that come."
Obi-Wan focused, now, on Will, his eyes intense. "I'm endangering you all," he said. "You go down. I'll draw them off."
"Oh no you don't." Will grabbed the boy's arm, holding tight, suddenly afraid he would run away. "And what will you do then - wait until they catch up with you, all alone? Or Xanatos tracks you down?"
"I'll destroy the implant."
"Dr. Crusher said doing that could kill you," Will protested.
"It has to be done."
"No," Will said. "I'm not letting you go off alone to get yourself killed or captured. We will figure something out. But right now, you're going down this ladder." He pulled Obi-Wan toward him.
For a moment, Obi-Wan looked like he would object. Then he frowned and seized the ladder. "Be careful, Will. They're coming fast," he warned as he descended.
When there was space to follow, Will mounted the ladder one-handed, keeping his phaser rifle at the ready in the other. The back of his neck prickled; he kept his eyes raised as he went. Sure enough, when he was one and a half decks down, a probe droid swung into view. He fired. It danced in the air above him. It fired back, narrowly missing him. Then a second droid joined it, descending to level with the first, shooting off a steady stream of energy blasts. Will was trapped in the narrow space, with precious little room to maneuver. He fired again, this time hitting a droid squarely. It dropped, bounced off the wall of the shaft, and hit his back. At the same time, the second droid fired a blast that hit his arm holding the ladder. His fingers went limp. He fell back, wedged between ladder and shaft wall. A worse position: now he was an easy target for the remaining droid. He took aim.
Suddenly the droid whizzed up the shaft again. It slammed against the ceiling above. Blue sparks danced over its surface. Then it fell, straight for him. And stopped, centimeters from his upturned face, hovering. But not humming. Its power source was dead.
"Can you get off the ladder, Will?" Deanna called from below, her voice anxious. "There's a deck opening just below you, at your feet. We're safe on the decks below you."
Will realized he was gaping at the floating droid. He shut his mouth and swallowed, but couldn't tear his eyes away at first. "I - " He blinked, and slung his phaser over his shoulder. Then he reached out with his now free hand and took hold of the ladder. His left arm hung, useless, at his side. Now he thought of it, a rush of searing pain from the wound took his breath. He clung to the ladder, suddenly dizzy.
"I'm coming up to get you," Captain Picard called. So they'd found each other. Will could hear him mount the ladder.
Will shook his head and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I'm fine. I'm coming down." When he opened his eyes again, his balance and vision had steadied. Carefully he descended six rungs to the level of the deck just below him. There, just to the side of the opening, Obi-Wan stood looking up at the floating droid, arm and hand slightly upraised. Will watched, dumbfounded, as the boy lowered his hand and swung it behind him. The dead droid followed, clattering to the floor some ways away.
"How did you -"
"What's going on?" Picard asked from several meters below.
"Be still," the boy said quietly. He put one hand across the space between them and placed his palm flat against Will's chest. The pain Will had been trying to ignore lessened somewhat; became more bearable. Obi-Wan gave him an encouraging smile. Then he turned and ran silently down the corridor, soon turning a corner and disappearing from view.
"Obi-Wan, wait!" Will called, too late.
Picard squeezed to one side of Will, until Riker's knees were even with his chest. "What happened?" he asked. Will only pointed with his uninjured arm, to the dead droid on the floor of the corridor.
"Who was here?" the Captain asked. "You called someone."
"Ben. He saved me from the second droid. I still don't know how. Then he ran away." Will swallowed around the lump growing in his throat. "He told me he thought Data may be right, that the droids are following him."
Picard looked up, to where the droids had entered the shaft; then down the corridor where Obi-Wan had disappeared. "We'd better go before more droids arrive. We'll have to find another route down. This one has become too dangerous. Come, it's too late to chase the boy now."
"I have to go after him. He -" Will groaned as he bumped his arm on the shaft wall.
"You'd never catch him, Will. Come down, now." Picard waited for Will to start down, and climbed down two more decks with him.
Geordi waited there, with Deanna and Wes, guarding the down shaft and the corridor stretching beyond them. Deanna helped Will climb off the ladder, then ripped the sleeve from his shirt to bind up his arm. At that point Will found it difficult to continue attending to their surroundings. He leaned against the wall; tried to ignore the pain as Deanna wrapped the wound and injected him with a painkiller and antibiotic from the small store Beverly had left with her. The wound was an ugly mess, but at least his bones were still whole. Damn, it hurt.
"We need to decide whether to continue this way," Picard was saying. "Geordi and I have been trying to find a route to one of the engineering stations that hasn't been trapped. We're trying to reach his office now," he explained.
"We can't go without Obi-Wan!" cried Wes. "Where is he, Will?"
"He said he would draw off the droids. He left. I tried to stop him, but -"
"Oh, no -" Deanna said.
"We have to find him!" said Wes.
"Do you know where he went?" the Captain demanded.
"He left me on deck 41, I think," Will answered, "heading forward."
"That was deck 41," Picard confirmed. "Will, are you certain that finding him again is a good idea? That he's not going straight to Xanatos?"
"He's not," said Deanna firmly.
"He wants to get back to his own people," Will added. "They should be here, somewhere, looking for him."
Picard sighed. "We're going up, to deck 36. We'll have to hope our path crosses the boy's. Geordi, can you find us a new route?"
"There are other ladderways," Geordi said. "They're narrow, but passable."
"Better that than wait for another attack as we climb," Deanna agreed, tying off Will's makeshift bandages. Will grimaced. Deanna shot him a tolerant look, dark brows raised.
"I can help find the way," Wesley chimed in.
"Alright," Picard agreed. "Geordi, you take the lead, with Wesley behind you. I'll guard the rear. Counselor, keep an eye on Will ahead of you."
"I don't need to be babysat," Will grumbled as he fell in behind Wes, skirting the down shaft. He knew the fire in his arm was affecting his temper, but he needed an outlet.
"You'll need to help Wes and Geordi with door codes, Number One."
"I'm still keeping my phaser ready."
"That goes without saying," Picard agreed. His amused tone did nothing to help Will's mood.
-
They set a quick pace once they had passed beyond two sealed doors that served as security between the maintenance corridors near the Matter/Antimatter storage facility and the even narrower access shafts around the science labs and sensor stations beyond. Geordi and Wes frequently consulted in quiet tones: the functioning of Geordi's visor was unimpeded by the darkness, and they rarely even paused at the cross-corridors and branchings. All four adults had to walk stooped over to avoid the pipes and conduits hanging overhead, and Will was beginning to feel decidedly claustrophobic. He leaned heavily on his gun arm so his wounded arm wouldn't brush the wall.
In the dark passages there was little to focus on but the quiet shuffle of their passage. Lighting in Enterprise had not yet returned to normal; faint light filtered through occasionally from rooms around them where the conduits branched off, but for the most part they relied on the string of tiny blue emergency lights that followed the passage, and on Geordi and Wesley's guidance. Be careful, Will. Obi-Wan's voice in his memory was gentle, almost musical in tone and cadence. He could only hope the boy was safe; that they would find him soon. He had shown frighteningly little instinct for self-preservation in the short time Will had known him. On the other hand, he had also demonstrated that he was possessed of skill beyond his years as well as mysterious abilities. How did he plan to destroy the implant on his own - a task that Beverly had tried with surgery? Will glanced down a side passage, hoping for a glimpse of Obi-Wan, though he suspected finding him would be difficult indeed if Obi-Wan didn't wish to be found.
They stopped as they reached a junction of three corridors, with a ladderway leading up. Geordi and Wes moved aside to let the others gather in the more open space. Will stretched, as did Picard and Deanna. Wes looked solemnly to Picard. "This will bring us most of the way."
Picard nodded. "Geordi, take the lead. Be careful. Then Counselor Troi. Wes, you next."
The small group ascended three more decks without incident. By then Picard could take the lead again, as they had returned to an area of larger accessways, near the more central areas of the ship. They had also come to an area where more of the invaders were congregated. They kept silent as they walked, listening for any sign of discovery or pursuit. Will listened for news in the conversations they passed, hoping for news of Worf and the rest of the crew. In hurried whispers on their way through the smallest corridors, Picard had explained that Worf's team had held sections of the saucer against the invaders for the past day. They could not risk communicator contact on an occupied ship - it was too easy to trace - but all Will could hear through the insulated walls was an occasional word or phrase.
Finally they reached deck thirty-five, and the corridors servicing the Engineering control room and Geordi's office. They could hear the rumble of many voices within the walls of the control room; the lights shone brightly.
"It's overrun with invaders," Geordi whispered to them after peering through a crack in the wall of the corridor where the conduits entered the ceiling of the control room. "We won't get to anything in there. Let's try my office."
The small group walked around two more corridors, to a point that should be just above the Engineering chief's office. Sure enough, the lights were off, the room silent. "All clear," Geordi told them, after peering in with his visor.
Picard and Deanna used their phasers to loosen the rivets holding the section of wall at the ceiling of the room below, then Geordi helped to pull the loose section carefully out of the way into the maintenance tunnel. Quietly they dropped into the room; Geordi, Picard and Wes moved immediately to the workstations, Will and Deanna to guard the door, one to each side. Will heard a cold, angry voice speaking in the far room: he put his ear to the door to better hear what was going on. A glance at Deanna confirmed his opinion: it was Xanatos.
"Idiots! How is it that, even when they are trapped in a corner with a limited supply of weapons, you cannot defeat them? That you are losing ground?"
"The big one fights like a Togorian, Boss; and they use their knowledge of the area to surprise us. We've set all the traps we have, but you wanted priority around the area where the boy disappeared."
"And has there been any sign of that boy? Anything that might possibly hint at his position?"
A hesitant pause. "About half an hour ago two of our droids picked up what might have been his signal, two decks below us, in the maintenance tunnels. They were destroyed almost immediately. I sent out a team to investigate, and more droids, but those tunnels are a maze -"
"Why wasn't I told earlier?" asked Xanatos dangerously.
"It might only be the renegade crew -"
"No. It's him. Instruct everyone they are to report to me immediately any sighting of the boy, any hint of him, no matter how unlikely. He's to be captured if at all possible; but if necessary, kill him and bring me the body. Keep a guard around this area, and call for reinforcements."
"Boss, the nearest reinforcements are in the Denebar system -"
"Then get them here! Jaffertin! Why haven't you cracked their computer systems yet! We need those deck plans!"
"It's an alien system, Boss, like nothing I've ever seen -"
Will thought of Obi-Wan, hidden somewhere in the Jefferies tubes, and hoped he was safe. He wished he knew why Xanatos wanted him so badly.
All had gone quiet in the room beyond. Will wished he could see what was happening. Suddenly Deanna stood away from the door, a look of alarm on her face. "We've got to get out," she hissed. "They know we're here."
At that moment, the door exploded inward in a burst of flame, knocking Will to the floor. Deanna fired at the shadowy figures beyond from behind Geordi's desk, as a rain of laser fire swept the room. Picard immediately grabbed Wes around the middle and hurled him up through the opening they'd made, back into the Jefferies tubes. "Run!" he ordered the boy. Wes hesitated only a moment. But in that moment, a force like an unseen hand seemed to pluck him up, pulling him back into the room.
"Stun only! I want prisoners!" Xanatos ordered. There came a pause in the laser fire, which Will and Geordi and Deanna put to good use, taking out several of their attackers. Picard had grabbed Wesley's leg, trying to pull him back to the floor, with only moderate success. Both were slowly losing ground. Then a high-pitched burst of sound filled the room. A diffuse flash lit Picard, who toppled, unconscious. A moment later Deanna fell to another burst of light, then Geordi. Will ducked behind the desk, and didn't even look when next he fired toward the door. He heard a body fall, regardless, and shot again.
"Give up, Will Riker," Xanatos called. "You are only endangering your crewmates." Will heard Wesley cry out in pain.
Will stood quickly. He threw his phaser to one side and raised his good arm away from his body. Pirates rushed into the room. They carried his friends out of the office, and herded him out at gunpoint. One of the invaders held Wesley, arms twisted behind his back, face showing his fear and pain, though he held his chin high, bravely.
"Where is my simulant?" Xanatos demanded of the boy.
"He's not your anything," Will spat back.
Xanatos' blue eyes glittered. He nodded to his minions behind Will, who seized hold of him. One of them took hold of his injured arm and twisted. Despite himself, Will screamed. Distantly he heard Xanatos asking again.
"He's dead," he heard Wesley saying. "Your probe droid killed him."
"You're lying."
Something struck Will's arm, this time, burning the damaged tissue, and he screamed again, and nearly blacked out.
He heard Wesley's voice, young and frightened, fading in and out. "...don't know where he is, he ran away... deck forty-one... haven't seen him in..."
"Have all available droids search the ship on the five decks above this one, including the maintenance corridors. Report anything they find, anything at all, to me."
Will heard the scuffle of many feet moving in and out of the room. His arms were bound in front of him; he was thrown to the floor against the wall.
"Will? Are you okay, Commander? Will?" Wesley's voice was anxious; with gentle hands the boy tried to adjust the disturbed bandages on his injured arm. Will gasped.
"I'm sorry," Wesley whispered.
"Don't be." Will managed. He lifted his head and opened his eyes. Wesley's hands, too, were bound in thick metal rings in front of him. Picard lay in a crumpled heap behind Wes; Will watched an invader secure the captain's hands behind him. "Where are Deanna and Geordi?"
"Behind you, still out cold. What are we going to do now?"
"Before the door was breached, I heard Xanatos bellowing about some problems they were having. Sounded like Worf is giving them hell. I think the hostages are free as well, because the invaders can't get to some of the upper decks anymore."
"They defeated us before."
"Worf has held them off for a day and a half, now." Will spoke encouragingly, but he was worried. Xanatos had also called for reinforcements.
Picard stirred. "Captain's coming around," Riker told Wes. "Help him sit up, if they'll let you."
Wes turned, watching the guards for any sign of disapproval. When they didn't stop him, he bent over Picard, speaking quietly to him. Picard came quickly to full alertness. Will could see his fury, tightly controlled, in the set of his face.
The Captain wasn't to be allowed to move, though - when he tried, a guard quickly stepped in, threatening with a long nasty-looking energy weapon. Picard sank back to the floor. Will wasn't about to press his luck. He wasn't certain he could move without passing out, regardless. He leaned his head against the wall and shut his eyes.
"You look awful."
Geordi's voice came from behind Will. He shifted to put his back against the wall. "You don't sound so good yourself."
"My head hurts in the worst way. Did they knock you out, too?"
"Only in a more indirect fashion," Will answered, glancing down for the first time since they'd been captured at his arm. The bandages were torn out of place, the flesh twisted and mangled: on second thought maybe he wouldn't look. Feeling queasy, he leaned his head back against the wall once more.
"Not nice. Not nice at all. What next, do you think?"
"Play it by ear. Wait for Worf. It appears he's still free, and wreaking havoc."
"Some guys have all the luck."
Will felt the brush of Deanna's mind on his: she was worried about him. Peering beyond Geordi he could see her lying still with her back against the wall, her eyes closed. He worked to clear his mind as she'd once taught him, so she could read his thoughts. The old exercise helped him cope with the pain as well, he soon found.
Are you okay?
Whole and with a raging headache, she replied. Now what?
Why is everyone asking me? he asked, peeved.
Because Captain Picard is isolated on your other side, Commander. You can't be too badly off if you're whining. Hurting, but not dying yet.
Very funny.