Summary

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.

References

Characters

Bodyguard 2 • Bodyguard 7 • Bodyguard 8 • Bodyguard 21 • Bodyguard 22 • Bodyguard 27 • Beverly Crusher • Data • Hosiki • Geordi La Forge • Jean-Luc Picard • William T. Riker • Deanna Troi • Worf • Yen

Referenced only

Bodyguard 4 • Tollar • Natasha Yar

Starships and vehicles

USS Enterprise-E (Sovereign-class)

Locations

Onuda

Races and cultures

Android • Betazoid • Human • Klingon

Referenced only

Romulan

States and organizations

Other references

robot

Chronology

Appendices

Connections

Star Trek: The Next Generation collected short stories, novellas and short novels
Strange New Worlds	I: ("What Went Through Data's Mind 0.68 Seconds Before the Satellite Hit" • "The Naked Truth" • "The First" • "See Spot Run" • "Together Again, for the First Time" • "Civil Disobedience" • "Of Cabbages and Kings") • II: ("I Am Klingon" • "Reciprocity" • "Calculated Risk" • "Gods, Fate, and Fractals" • "I Am Become Death") • III: ("Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story" • "A Private Victory" • "The Fourth Toast" • "One of Forty-seven" • "A Q to Swear By" • "The Change of Seasons" • "Out of the Box, Thinking") • IV: ("Flight 19" • "The Promise" • "Flash Point" • "Prodigal Son" • "Seeing Forever") • V: ("Bluff" • "The Peacemakers" • "Efflorescence" • "Kristin's Conundrum" • "The Monkey Puzzle Box" • "The Farewell Gift" • "Dementia in D Minor") • VI: ("The Soft Room" • "Protecting Data's Friends" • "The Human Factor" • "Tribble in Paradise") • VII: ("Life's Work" • "Adventures in Jazz and Time" • "Future Shock" • "Full Circle" • "Beginnings" • "Solemn Duty") • 8: ("Morning Bells Are Ringing" • "Passages of Deceit" • "Final Flight") • 9: ("Staying the Course" • "Home Soil" • "Terra Tonight" • "Solace in Bloom") • 10 ("Wired" • "A Dish Served Cold" • "The Very Model") • 2016 ("A Christmas Qarol" • "The Sunwalkers" • "The Seen and Unseen")
The Sky's the Limit	"Meet with Triumph and Disaster" • "Acts of Compassion" • "Redshift" • "Among the Clouds" • "Thinking of You" • "Turncoats" • "Ordinary Days" • "'Twould Ring the Bells of Heaven" • "Friends With the Sparrows" • "Suicide Note" • "Four Lights" • "'Til Death" • "On the Spot" • "Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You"
Star Trek: Explorer	"Q and False" • "Quality of Life" • "Broken Oaths" • "Prey" • "Growing Pains" • "Pulaski 2.0" • "The Disavowed" • "Paghabi" • "The Expert" • "Scramble" • "Dignified Transfer" • "Attempted Break-in" • "The Simulation" • "Family History" • "Into the Cardassian Quagmire"
Misc. short stories	"The Captain and the King" • "Last Words" • "Bedside Matters" • "On the Scent of Trouble" • "Life Itself is Reason Enough" • "What Dreams May Come" • "Twilight's Wrath" • "Eleven Hours Out" • "Darkness" • "The Sacred Chalice" • "For Want of a Nail"
Misc. novellas & short novels	"The Other Side" • "The Worst of Both Worlds" • "Brave New World"

Timeline

published order
Previous story: The Soft Room	Strange New Worlds VI	Next story: The Human Factor
Previous story: The Soft Room Strange New Worlds VI	TNG short stories	Next story: The Human Factor Strange New Worlds VI
Previous story: first Star Trek story	Stories by: Scott William Carter	Next story: most recent work
chronological order
Previous adventure: Rogue Section 31	Pocket Books Timeline	Next adventure: Almost... But Not Quite Strange New Worlds II
Previous adventure: Rogue Section 31	voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)	Next adventure: Gods, Fate, and Fractals Strange New Worlds II