Wesley Crusher's anxiety about leaving Enterprise family versus Starfleet Academy obligation

In the narrow corridor outside Ten-Forward, Jean-Luc Picard waylays Wesley with a start-and-stop, emotionally skirt-ish apology that grows into something starker. Beneath the Captain’s clipped tone is recognition that Wesley …

After a birth that unfolded without pain and with unnerving speed, the sickbay still bristles with phasers: Worf’s security cordon stands between Troi and her own wonder. Riker steps forward—not …