The Unknown

Chapter 8

AN: Think of this either as an earlier New Years present or a late Christmas present

When the red alert siren went off Beverly was sitting at her desk in her office. At normal times sickbay would have been bustling with all the preparations to treat serious injuries. Given the circumstances at hand, she had already prepared her teams for this. The few that were just on call would be making there way here now, but most were already there quietly doing some work. She couldn't help but wonder if Wesley was alright. She chided herself remembering that he was grown up now and would not be frightened by this. With that in mind she calmly got out of her chair and made her way over to the gathered personnel.

"Alright people, stand by for casualties." She said with her most reassuring voice.

With that handled she pressed went to her computer terminal and sent the indication that sickbay was ready and standing by. She could have used the comm system, but this way it was less intrusive. She waited a moment and got the acknowledged signal back.

"I hope we come through all right" she whispered to herself.

The magnitude of that statement struck Wesley dumb. He had stood up when he said it and now he found himself sitting down. He could never believe that in his desire to help he would get the Enterprise in trouble. 'No this can't be, I was so sure they were in danger. How could I have missed this." He thought to himself. And yet there stood the alien lady as if to contradict his mental reassurances. To make matters worse the whole bridge was silently digesting that last statement.

The first person to break the silence that had fallen over the bridge was the captain.

"Are you saying that you led us here through Wesley."

"Yes, I am. You see captain our people are very powerful telepaths."

"Why, what do you want from us."

"Well it was the practice of our people to lure more advanced races here, races only slightly more advanced than ourselves and then steal their technology, but as you can see you have nothing to offer us."

"Then why lure us here in the first place?" Riker asked

"We are from another part of the galaxy, we used our science to transport our whole society here. We have only been here for a few weeks and did not realize we were so much more advanced than the dominant races in this sector. We merely sought out individuals that could receive our message and broadcast it."

"Then why not let us go?" captain Picard asked.

"We do not wish to be known, therefore we will destroy your vessel."

Thankfully the firefight didn't last very long and there were very few casualties. In normal circumstances this would have been a relief, but under these it was more disconcerting. Beverly was busy dealing with one of the worst casualties, a crewman who had some second degree electrical burns from an exploding panel. She hadn't been formally briefed yet on the situation but she knew it had something to do with the alien planet. A planet which was located by Wesley and under the situation and circumstances Picard had chosen to come to. She couldn't help but feel worried with how Wesley might feel, He had grown so much in such a short time, she felt she didn't know him anymore. 'He can handle himself' a part of her chided, but another said 'He needs your help. She of course knew better than to try and coddle him, but she wasn't sure where to draw the line. She suspected that until he was a little older this question would be almost impossible to answer and may never be answerable. She sighed and continued her work, for better or worse all she could do was her work and wait.

Destroyed! Wesley almost felt like curling up into a ball the worst possible outcome was now a seeming reality. 'Why me, why did I have to know where they were' The thought had already crossed his mind, but it was never so loud. All he could think was that when Starfleet investigates they would all blame him. Everyone would know Captain Picard went by what he said. All the families would blame him for their loss. He was still on the brige but felt as if he wasn't part of it. He was vaguely aware that people were moving and some must have been speaking, but he couldn't hear them. A group of armed romulans could have been there and he would have done no more than make a mental note of it.

Meanwhile the captain had been stunned for a moment, but rebounded almost immediately

"Destroyed! What do you mean destroyed?"

"I mean exactly that your ship will cease to exist. There one moment, gone the next." She said in a matter of fact way.

"I assure you we mean you no harm."

"That fact is undeniably obvious, but given some time and enough people, maybe even with the help of your apparent enemies, it is possible however unlikely that you could retaliate. Our race is not a race of risk takers, we do not allow even the smallest chance of disaster to occur."

"Our people are ones of peace, we will even sign treaties that guarantee you seclusion."

"Treaties are so easily thrown aside, when opportunity arises. They are merely words with no real weight. I will not discuss this any further. We will give you one of your days and then we will destroy you." With that the view screen went blank

"All external communications are down." Worf said in a frustrated voice.

"Call a meeting of all senior staff and section chiefs. Advise them of the situation we are in and tell them I want ideas in one hour. I don't care how absurd it may sound. I want everything on the table."

"Wesley are you okay?" Deana asked in a concerned voice.

It was just now that the captain noticed that Wesley was sitting absolutely still with a blank star on his face.

"Mr. Crusher…Mr. Crusher!" the second time he had put all the weight of authority into it, but it still didn't elicit a response.

'It's my fault. It's my fault' kept repeating in his head over and over. Then the world went dark.

Sickbay

"What happened to him?" the captain asked.

"There's nothing physically wrong with him but he seems to be catatonic." Dr. Crusher said the deep concern showed in her voice.

"The best I can tell captain is that he is in a severe state of emotional shock. He couldn't cope with the situation so he withdrew." Deanna said.

"How long will he be like this?"

"It's hard to say, he could get over it in a matter of hours or in a matter of days. I can try to reach him, but at this point I don't think I'll have much success. This happened as a result of emotional distress and it will take the body time to process that."

"Well then counselor do what you can. I want to be advised when he is conscious."

"I'll keep you informed sir." The Dr. said.

With that said the captain left sickbay. Beverly made her way back to her office. She started to poor over texts on this occurrence. The only conclusions she could make was exactly what the counselor had said. Seeing no other alternatives she decided then to review the whole situation and see alternative paths she could have taken. She was so intent on her work that when the counselor came she didn't notice until the third time she said her name.

"Beverly, maybe you should take it easier. You've been working on that for two hours without taking a break."

Had it really been two hours? She had been so intent on her work that it seemed only a short time. The counselor then had been with Wesley for two hours trying her methods to help him cope and help him to wake up. That she was now in her office told her that she had made little or no progress and had little hope of doing so in the immediate future. She of course would continue to check on him, but she was doing the exact thing that she had suggested.

"I must stay here and make sure he is ok."

"You won't help him by wearing yourself out."

"I have to do something! I can't just sit around and hope for the best. I just can't."

"I know its hard, but you should at least take a break if only to get up and stretch and get something to drink."

"In a minute counselor." she said hoping to shoo her away.

The counselor continued to stand there for a bit staring at her. Then finally she sighed and left.

Well now that that part is done I can get back to work. With that the doctor continued what she was doing.

20 Hours remain

In the four hours since the alien had announced their destruction the crew had been hard at work. The captain had listened to the proposals and had picked what he thought to be the most viable for the amount of manpower vs likelihood of success. The circumstances were grim at best most of the proposals he knew probably would not work a few had a glimmer of hope, but there was no perfect solution. The senior staff were about to have a meeting on progress on progress. He had told them to report any new leads as well. So he would again have to consider options he might cut some that were going in order to pursue new ones or speed up the current ones. One person he missed in situation like this was lying in sickbay. Wesley had a knack for these situations. If not figuring out the solution he helped implement it. This time was different he seemed to have some inside connection that perhaps could be used. No, he's gone through so much he's just a boy, a special boy, but he needs to recover. He may not have a future if he doesn't help. The captain finally settled on letting him help, but he wouldn't push him.

19 Hours remain

'Destroyed, destroyed… thank you for leading them here… its all your fault your ship will be destroyed… help us Wesley…' The words echoed endlessly in his mind.

'No!' he yells 'I will stop you somehow.'

'You cannot, you cannot even control your own mind.' The alien voice taunted

'I must' and with that he concentrated all his will on overcoming the alien.

'You are strong, but not strong enough.' It was then that he felt his efforts pushed back so severely he almost blacked. Blacked out mentally anyways, technically he already was.

'None of your crew can overcome me."

'We will, we must, we will not sit by and let you destroy us.'

'Oh but you must." He felt the wave of voices try to overcome him.

'No, No!, NO!'

'Wesley… Its ok I'm here."

"Mom? When did I get in sickbay?"

"You were in a state of shock they brought you here, you were comatose for 5 hours."

"5 hours? It didn't seem that long. Did we get away from the aliens?"

"No, They gave us one day."

"So we only have 19 hours left and then they destroy us."

"I'm afraid so. The crew is working on ways out but at the moment we have no way to prevent it."

"I've got to help" he said as he tried to get up but he was met by a hand pushing him back down.

"Wesley you need to rest. You've just gotten out of a coma. I need to run some tests."

"But Mom, we don't have much time. I caused this I need to try to help fix it."

"I'm afraid you must stay at least long enough to let me run some scans."

"But, Mom."

"No buts I need to know you're alright before I can release you. The captain would expect no less."

"B…" he trailed off seeing the look on her face. He knew from the combined look of determination and worry he would just have to endure the hour or so of tests.

18 Hours remain

"Alright you're done." she said with a hint of frustration. "There is nothing wrong with you that I can find."

"Well then can I go?" he said with obvious anxiety.

"You should really take it easy, you've been through a lot recently. You are free to go if you must, but don't push yourself."

Now that he was finally out of sickbay, the first thing he needed to do was find out from the captain what he could do. So he headed to the turbo lift and boarded. "bridge" the real question was what could they hope to accomplish in such a short period of time against someone so far advanced. There must be a way to undo what he had done. As soon as the doors opened he could see that the captain must be in his ready room. Often Riker could be found on the bridge in times like this, but he suspected that like most of the other senior staff he was working on a solution. He took a quick look around as he made his way to the ready room, and saw he was correct not even Worf was here, the most senior officer was a junior lieutenant who would normally be the next in command during Data's watches. Being that Data never abandoned his post unless absolutely necessary in which case he usually informed the captain, he suspected that the lieutenant had never had command of the bridge. In this case he technically did but the captain was a short distance away and the lieutenant's primary job was to inform the captain. With this crisis going on everyone would be on duty so it was no surprise.

'Well might as well get it over with' he thought as he touched the panel to notify the captain he was there.

"Enter" he said and the doors slid apart. "Mr. Crusher, I see you're feeling better" the captain said in what sounded like genuine concern.

"Yes Sir, I am and I would like to help with this mess." Maybe not the best choice of words but mess it was. He would not normally have been so forward with the captain but the circumstances dictated it.

"I see and have you been cleared by the Dr." this seemed a mere formality cause the captain knew as well as anyone that he would not have been able to make it more than a few yards outside of sickbay if he had not been.

"Yes"

"Well then I think that Data is working on something that has a good chance and he is in need of someone with your particular skill set. He is working in the main science lab. Under normal circumstances I would recommend that you rested instead of returning to duty, but we need everyone now."

"I understand sir, that is why I came. I will report to Data then."

"Dismissed." with that said Wesley turned and made his way out.

'This could be a tough one.' he thought as he entered the turbolift.

16 hours remain

Data's plan did have potential, but much like the others there was no guarantee or even that much of a hope that it would actually work. This was exactly why he data and several other officers were hard at work trying to improve and figure out how to implement it. The precious few hours they had left was being spent on a continuous process of test and check. At this point they could only hope that when it came time it would work. It was somewhere in the middle of this work that he had this strange feeling that he was missing something. He checked his work and found nothing wrong. He shrugged it off and continued his work. Then the feeling came back a feeling that somehow he knew something important but had missed it. He tried hard to think of what it could be that he knew. It was like a voice in his head was saying that he had the key to stop this. Now he stopped what he was doing if this could save the ship he needed to figure it out. Data must have noticed his distraction because he started to make his way over. It was like he had a mental connection with the computer that informed him when he stopped working. Then something clicked in his head. There was a chance that he had never considered.

"Is everything alright?"

"I think I have just come up with a solution to our problem. I need to check something first."

"The Captain will want to hear about it as soon as you are ready."

Ten minutes later he found himself on the turbolift on the way to the bridge. This was by no means fool proof but something told him this would work, it just had to. Once again he was standing outside the captains door, but this time he felt much better about the situation.

"Come." the captain said

"Captain I think I've got a way to stop this."

"Well then lets hear it."

With that said Wesley began to explain "Well captain, I have all along had some sort of mental connection with this alien. At the beginning it was one way the alien spoke through me, but later i interacted with them at least on a subconscious level. All indications are that this is more of a two way link, so what i propose is that we use that. I think that with help I might be able to take over if only briefly the alien and perhaps we could escape."

"There are no assurances that you could overcome her."

"No sir, we won't know until we try. I have checked the crew and we have a few vulcans and a few others with some telepathic abilities. If we could figure out a way to join our minds we might have a better chance."

"Counselor Troi, please report to the captains ready room."

They waited until she had come and sat down. Then Wesley told his plan again.

"Well counselor do you think it could work."

"Its hard to say, but I think that there's a good possibility that the alien will not expect it and therefore be less likely to be prepared for it."

"So in your opinion its worth pursuing then."

"Yes I believe it is."

"Then I want you to organize the necessary people to work on this."

"Yes, Sir." with that she got up and waited for Wesley to do the same. They both made their way out of the ready room.

13 hours remain

The phrase easier said then done was starting to become very relevant. The group had been assembled and the unification process was starting, but it was not nearly complete. The vulcans in the group were basically the glue. Vulcans have been widely thought of as touch telepaths and while it was true that their strongest forms was in touch they were also able to project and intercept thoughts. The group that had been chosen were mostly mixed races of humans and telpathic races this made them a little tough to incorporate. Some like Deanna had had training in these areas, while others had only the vaguest training in general control. The vulcans for their part did not waver or show signs of frustration at impossibility, but he could tell that they had reservations. As yet he had barely had anything to do with the group, him not being a true telepath merely someone with a link he really didn't need to train. The plan was to use the vulcans to link the minds and then him to open the connection and they would then focus through the link. A good plan if they could manage to get the first part under control. He sighed as the illusion of how easy it would be to save the day quickly disappeared.

7 Hours remain

They were very close now. The tests of joining their minds were starting to be successful. They still had to work on some points to make their union seamless. It was understood that if they couldn't keep their minds in union the alien could possibly dismantle them one by one. This was thought somewhat unlikely considering the strength of their combined minds but counselor Troi and the vulcans did not want to take any chances.

"Well people we are getting close, but we can't push too hard. I want you to take a brief break to get some refreshments." Troi said.

Wes followed the group to the nearest replicator. They had finally been helping him in some basic techniques that would help him to open the initial contact. The rest of the group got their drinks and made for the nearest seats in the room. They all made small talk about various other things, but most of it was brief and some even had fits of nervous laughter. They all knew that this may be the only hope of the ship and they didn't want to be the reason why they failed. As people finished their drinks they started to prepare again for the union.

3 Hours remain

They finally had worked out all the problem in the union. It was time to inform the captain. The captain had already been alerted and was heading to them.

"Captain, we are as ready as we will be to try this." Troi said as he walked in.

"Good then, We are making final preparation on all the other attempts. I want your plan to go in effect first that way it has the best chance at succeeding, if the alien suspects something beforehand then maybe they will be able to stop it. If you fail we will move through the list. I will be on the bridge standing by for your signal that you are about to attempt it."

"Sir, we will do our best." Wesley said

"I know you will." he said as he made his way out of the room.

"Alright people, we will begin the linking of the minds immediately, prepare yourselves." Troi said

After a few minutes they were one except for Wesley who always was the last to join, he was to tell the captain.

"Crusher to the bridge."

"Bridge here" the captain replied

"Captain we are ready to begin the attempt. We will attempt to get the alien to drop the field that is effecting our systems. You should stand by to warp out as soon as the field goes down."

"Acknowledged."

"I'm ready." with that the vulcan near him made the traditional contacts to join minds.

He felt the wave of minds join with him. The connection they echoed. He concentrated and felt for the connection it was always somewhat hard to find. Finally he found it and tried to initiate contact. At first nothing happened, but then as all focused on it they began to get results they could hear the thoughts of the alien. Further, they all willed then they began to be able to see what the alien saw. It was at this point that they met a barrier the alien was aware of the intrusion. She put up a wall. They concentrated and dismantled it and grasped for more control. They got a bit more and another barrier went up, this time they got through it faster. They started to push the aliens conscious into a corner of the mind. She resisted and it took a few more minutes to do it but they did. Now they had uncontested control, but the question was where and how to deactivate the field, they probed the mind it took another few minutes until they found it. They willed the body to oblige their wills. Finally they had the hand on the control pannel and were punching in the sequence.

"NO, YOU can not escape us we will hunt you down." she screamed

But they were in her mind they searched for the truth, they were dismayed at first. Then they found a memory of being overcome by others before and the society always found it more appealing to move rather than risk anymore in an encounter. They saw the confirmation of the sequence and the field went down, they pulled themselves out and as soon as they were back to their bodies so to speak saw the relieving sight of stars streaking through the portholes.

"Well done, we got away." the captains voice came over the speakers. Everyone clapped and patted each other on the back and made their ways to either ten forward or their quarters.

It was over finally. Wesley was so relieved he almost shouted. The Enterprise was safe once again.

The captain sat in his ready room pondering the situation. Needles to say he hadn't seen that one coming. Which was somewhat unusual to not even have a clue beforehand. He was trying to collect his thoughts for his official report to Starfleet command. There would be further inquires, such as why he had chosen to disobey a direct order. More than likely they would sanction the action and try to make it look preemptive in nature, but there was always the chance there would be a reprimand or even a court martial hearing. The captain chose not to concentrate on that now, he had done what he thought was necessary at the time. The biggest mystery was what had happened to Wesley Crusher. It was then that Q appeared as if to answer this question.

"I'm surprised at you Jean-Luc, no harsh greeting." he said in his usual smug way.

"Q, what is your interest in Wesley and the situation. It's over now so tell me." he demanded

"Oh there's the captain I know. The boy has much potential and this was just a test of it. The continuum finds him very interesting."

" So you devised this situation." he accused

"No, this wasn't worth our time to devise. We merely were interested in how it would play out, as you would say. The boy should be proud he surprised even us with his abilities."

"Then what is your interest in him does this have to do with the traveler."

"The traveler, he couldn't hold a candle to a Q, but they are way more advanced than a mere mortal. Let's just say Jean-Luc I would keep an eye on the boy he has great potential."

The End

AN: Well here it is the end. I hope you liked the story. That was a dozy final chapter. It took awhile longer than I expected to finish it. If you like stories about Wesley, then I have another one dealing with his traveler stuff called Wesley's Story. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of the overall story.