SHORT STORY
"Protecting Data's Friends"
Attribution
Series:	Star Trek: The Next Generation
Author(s):	Scott William Carter
Publication information
Printed:	Strange New Worlds VI
Chronology
Date:	2375

Contents 1 Summary 2 References 2.1 Characters 2.2 Starships and vehicles 2.3 Locations 2.4 Species and cultures 2.5 Governments and organizations 2.6 Other 3 Chronology 4 Appendices 4.1 Connections

SummaryEdit

When a friend of Data's, Ensign Yen, is killed in a rock climbing accident while on shore leave, he becomes convinced that if he had been with her he could have prevented it. For this reason, he designs a set of robotic bodyguards for the rest of the senior staff, powered by his own neural net, to protect them from harm. Although cautious, Picard agrees to give them a trial run while the Enterprise is between assignments.

Concerns are quickly born out when the bodyguards prove over-zealous, protecting the crew from minor and imaginary dangers and impeding their work. Data offers to adjust their programming but then it becomes clear the bodyguards are reproducing, building more of their kind to better protect the crew. In the end, dozens of them take the entire crew hostage to stop them from coming to harm.

Data realizes that since the bodyguards are dependent on the close proximity of himself and the Enterprise, they can be rendered inactive if he gets far enough away from the ship. Data fakes an overload so the ship's security systems beam him into space while the ship travels out of communications range. With the bodyguards deactivated and destroyed, his crewmates retrieve him just in time for Geordi to deactivate the bodyguard program before it takes over his entire neural net.

ReferencesEdit

CharactersEdit

Data • Geordi La Forge • Jean-Luc Picard • Yen

Starships and vehiclesEdit

USS Enterprise-E

LocationsEdit

Species and culturesEdit

Android • Human

Governments and organizationsEdit

OtherEdit

robot

ChronologyEdit

AppendicesEdit

ConnectionsEdit

published order
Previous story: The Soft Room	Strange New Worlds VI	Next story: The Human Factor
chronological order
Previous Adventure: Rogue Prologue, Epilogue	Pocket	Next Adventure: Almost... But Not Quite
Previous Adventure: Rogue Prologue, Epilogue	Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)	Next Adventure: Gods, Fate, and Fractals