章 32: Along Came Q and a Set of New Problems
The day had started out like so many others. My little group of four had breakfast in the Mess Hall, sitting with Kes, then we split up to go to our different duty stations. Today, my shift was in the Aeroponics Bay, so I had been looking forward to the quietness... too bad those plans got thrown out the window a few hours later.
Suddenly, an oppressive force engulfed the ship and the surrounding area, which forced me out of my meditation as I struggled to breathe. The aura felt quizzical and playful by nature, but the problem was that it was simply too powerful despite the lack of wanting to harm me, or anyone else. It felt like I was being pulled down to the bottom of the ocean with the pressure constantly building up on my body.
I had to catch myself from collapsing forward which allowed me to see that the symbols on my left hand were turning green, one by one. Taking in a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down while I stirred both my mana and Soul Power in hopes of alleviating the pressure of the person's aura. The next thing that happened, was that a Red Alert flashed on the console by the door and my comm badge chimed.
"Katye to Rebecca! Are you okay?" Katye asked with concern in her voice.
"I'm holding on," I replied. "Are you?"
"I'm not affected by whatever is happening, but Filigree fainted, and we just got reports that Echo and Raven did as well. Do you know what's going on?"
"I don't know for sure, but it's an incredibly powerful aura unlike anything that we've seen before, so I only have one guess... Q."
I knew that this episode had been coming, and was dreading it since I had no idea how things would play out once the Q Continuum learned of our existence on the Voyager. In the episode, the Voyager encountered a strange, comet-like mass flying through space, and they were curious about what caused the unique trajectory. What they had not been expecting was that when they beamed onboard a core sample, it freed a Q who had been imprisoned by the Continuum.
Instead of heading up to the Bridge where I knew the imprisoned Q and the Q first introduced in The Next Generation series would end up, I headed for Sick Bay. If Katye had received reports about Raven and Echo, that also meant that both would be brought there. I was slowly burning away my mana while I fought off the pressure from the aura, though the addition of Soul Power made it negligible, but they would not be able to do the same while unconscious, and Katye could not transfer her own currently.
When I stepped into Sick Bay, Katye was nearly frantic as she came over to me and said quietly, "Thank goodness. Filigree is draining my mana slowly and the others seem to be losing theirs at a faster rate."
"Take Filigree back to the ship and see what you can learn from Fae; I'll handle the others," I replied.
Katye nodded with a sigh and walked over to the bed where Filigree was laying. I headed over to Raven and Echo, with Nyka laying at her side, who were in beds side by side, and moved between them. Currently, their internal reserves were a little over half, but since they did not typically need their powers for their duties, it was a troubling sign. I placed a hand on both of them and infused my mana into them, but I would only be able to last for so long since I could not recover my own energy like this. Katye did not dawdle and hurried out of the room with Filigree in her hands.
"Is there anything that I can do to assist you?" the Doctor asked.
"Unfortunately, no. I asked Katye to head to our ship and see if she can find any information on how to stop this, but there are times when our powers are a double-edged sword," I replied.
"Do you know what's causing it?" he asked.
"Not for sure, but I have a good guess by the pressure that I'm feeling," I said then groaned as the pressure on me doubled with a second aura appearing.
The new aura felt arrogant and mischievous, which was my impression of the Q from the Enterprise, so I could only guess that he had made his appearance.
"Rebecca!" Kes said with concern when I stumbled because of the added drain. "Your symbols are changing color."
I gave a soft growl of annoyance, but it was not at her, rather at myself. The fact that I was trying to tap into my Chaos nature subconsciously meant that I was scared. A single Q outclassed me more than the entire combined might of the Disciples compared to the day that I first woke up in 'The 100', and now there were two. Neither of them had even acknowledged our presence since nothing had been directed our way; this was just the passive nature of their strength.
"Katye to Rebecca! Fae's shielding has stopped the drain. You just need to bring them inside and they'll be fine," Katye's voice chimed from my badge.
"Understood. Doc, can you set up a site-to-site transport and send the three of us to the Shuttle Bay? I can't carry and transfer them mana," I requested.
"Yes, I can," he agreed as he walked over to the console.
It took another moment, but the transporters locked onto us and beamed us away. When we rematerialized in the Shuttle Bay, I scooped up Raven just as Katye stepped out of the ship. I transferred her to Katye's arms then carefully picked up Echo so that Nyka was laying on her stomach. Both of us carried them onto our ship and then upstairs before we laid them on the bed.
"It's definitely Q. Fae had this ready when I got here," Katye said, passing me a data pad.
Scanning through it quickly, it was filled with information on the backstory of our Vazukuru, but I skipped most of it. What I did focus on was that they had the ability to restrain their aura, but rarely did because only elemental creatures would be affected by it. Basically, this was a message from Tori saying that we could either hide in the ship like scared dogs or confront them which would also reveal our existence on the Voyager.
"I think there are three episodes with the Q, including this one, but the second one pulls Janeway into the middle of a Q civil war and the third has Q dropping off his son to learn to behave for over a month. We aren't going to get out of this without leaving the Voyager," I said with a bit of anger and annoyance.
She sighed, "I'll watch over them. Don't start a fight, but don't back down either. The two of us are actually able to hurt them in our Dusa forms and are well known among the Continuum, our past lives, anyways."
"Of course," I grumbled and stood up. I placed a hand on shoulder and gave her a weak smile, saying, "Thanks for being by my side through all of this."
She placed a hand over mine and smiled back as she replied, "Always and forever, my fussy dragon."
I chuckled lightly, and then made my way off the ship. The pressure from the two Qs returned as soon as I stepped off Fae, but without having to worry about Raven and Echo, I could manage until I talked to them. On my way, I had to completely close off my senses to the elements as the Q played hide and seek with the other one. He jumped from the 'Big Bang', then reduced the ship to the size of an atom, and finally, attached it to a Christmas tree, at least that had been the order in the episode.
"The hell you will," Janeway practically growled as I stepped out of the turbo lift. "The vaunted Q Continuum, self-anointed guardians of the universe. How dare you come aboard this ship and endanger this crew with your personal tug-of-war?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're angry when you're beautiful?" the Q from TNG asked with a mocking smile.
His face was on the viewscreen when he spoke, but after a flash of white light, there were stars on the screen and he was sitting on the framing around it.
"We're back where we started from, Captain," Tom said.
"Doesn't matter. I'm not going back into that cell," the formerly imprisoned Q retorted.
"How would you like to spend eternity as a Gorokian midwife toad?" the other threatened.
"Oh, just try it," he growled, readying his arm.
"Four billion years and you fools still act like children," I said, teleporting myself between the pair. "Your unrestrained auras would have killed three of my people if we had not acted fast enough. Pull back your Domains."
"You," the formerly imprisoned Q gasped with surprise.
"Eight-Clawed Chaos Storm Dragon mutt," the Q from TNG said with disgust.
Deep anger from my Soul Realm stirred at the insult, but I also shared that feeling as I gave a deep, inhuman growl with my Soul Power infused into it. It had the desired effect as both Q flinched and stepped back before reining in their auras. I let out a deep breath and tried to calm myself down.
"Rebecca?" Janeway asked with surprise.
"Forgive me for speaking out of place, Captain. The Q can affect any form of elemental creatures with their natural aura unless they restrain it which is a simple matter for them to do if they ever thought of anyone but themselves," I apologized while throwing a final insult at the pair.
"She's right, Captain Janeway. It is a common courtesy that we would normally obey if Q and I were not at odds," the formerly imprisoned Q remarked with an apologetic tone.
"You're fine then, Rebecca. You want asylum, correct?" Janeway asked to which the Q nodded. "Fine, we'll have a hearing."
"A hearing?!?" the other Q exclaimed as he walked around the conn station. "You would have me put his future into your delicate, little hands?" he asked then remarked as he picked up her hand, "Oh, so touchably soft. What is your secret dear?"
"When the Captain of a Starfleet vessel receives an official request for asylum, there is a clear procedure to follow. I suggest, to end your deadlock and to save my ship, that we follow it to the letter," Janeway explained.
"Well, this could go on for a millennium or two, I suppose. Alright, I accept on behalf of the Continuum on one condition, if you rule in our favor, Q agrees to return to his confinement."
"I have two of my own. I want Dystina to serve as a liaison to help you understand the differences between the Q and Mortal races, and if you rule in my favor, then the Continuum must grant me mortality."
"Why? So you can kill yourself?" the Q from TNG accused.
"Exactly," the other replied.
"Accepted!" the first agreed with an almost giddy smile. "Well, this is going to make for an amusing diversion. Will you send him to prison for eternity or will you assist in his suicide plan? That's a toughie, but then again, that's why they made you Captain, isn't it? To handle the real tough ones. My, my... Now I guess we get to find out whether the pants... really fit."
Janeway sighed as she felt the weight of the decision that she would have to make, then asked, "Can either of you call this Dystina then?"
"Why? The mutt is right there," the Q from TNG remarked with a smirk. "Oh, I see... you joined that little faction that wanted to reclaim your humanity. Going well it seems," he mocked.
I clenched my jaw with annoyance. Not only was he mocking the fact that I needed to rely on the seal from Mimic, but he had also hinted at the secrets behind my racial identity in front of the entire bridge crew. There would be no way to hide the fact that we had some tie to the Q Continuum from the rest of the ship, which would create all new types of rumors.
"The hearing will begin tomorrow at eight hundred hours. I expect that neither of you will do anything to disrupt the activities on this ship until then," Janeway ordered.
"Of course," the Q asking for asylum agreed.
The other just smirked and snapped his fingers, vanishing in a flash of white light.
Janeway sighed with a shake of her head then asked, "Rebecca, can you join me in my Ready Room?"
"Yes, ma'am," I replied right away.
I followed her into the other room while feeling the eyes of the bridge crew on me, even the Senior Officers who did know a little about my powers. They might be able to keep things quiet, but there were another eight crewmen on the Bridge, so even if she ordered everyone to not speak of the matter, it would still get out through the rumor mill. She walked over to the replicator and ordered us both drinks, making me give a wry smile.
"So, how did the Q suddenly stumble onto your ship? They typically need some reason to draw their attention," I asked as I slowly walked over to the couches.
"We released the one asking for asylum from what we thought was a comet. Are your people okay?" she asked, motioning for me to sit.
"Katye can resist their presence similar to myself, but Raven, Echo, and even Filigree were all rendered unconscious by the shock and their mana was quickly being drained. They should be able to regain consciousness now that they are shielded on our ship, but it will have done some minor damage that will take the rest of the day to recover from so long as the Q play nice around us," I explained after I took my cup of tea from her.
"I don't understand how their presence alone can do that much damage to you."
"The ultimate difference between Mortal races and elemental creatures is their ability to manipulate what we call mana. Every single thing in the universe has some kind of mana which you have learned to study in your own ways, like Gravity, Heat, Time... I can keep going, but the simpler explanation is that mana is the building blocks of the universe, even smaller than atoms. The Q Continuum are like us in that they can control mana, but their level of control over the elements of Space, Time, and Matter are at an absolute level. As a Mortal race, you can't override their control, so you aren't disturbed by their natural aura, but for us, our bodies naturally fight and resist against that control."
"I see," she sighed before taking a sip of her coffee. "I understand why you felt it necessary to step in, but you must understand that I won't be able to stop the rumors from spreading after this."
"I know," I replied. "But you are smart enough to guess that even if I had stayed hidden on my ship, this wouldn't be the last time that Q will appear on your journey with the nature of what this decision ultimately comes down to, the Individual versus the State."
"You've already seen all of this, haven't you?"
I gave her a smile, and then took a long drink from my cup before asking, "Would you have me sway your honest opinion? This matter should be argued by those that it affects; telling you anything would always make you second guess your decision and me."
Janeway sighed and looked out the window. "Perhaps I was just hoping that you would solve the matter for me."
"I could, but it would be a disservice to you. Decisions like these are what help people grow," I replied.
"I guess you've had similar situations in your life?"
"The Q weren't involved, but I've seen how shielding people from hard decisions can stunt their growth," I said, thinking of my time in 'The 100'.
"The name that they called you..." she remarked after a few moments of silence.
I cut her off with a sigh and explained, while bringing attention to my left hand, "Dystina, the Eight-Clawed Chaos Storm Dragon... That is who I once was. Katye pulled up some information from our data banks about the Q, and it seems that our past-selves had some dealings with them, so that's why they recognized me."
"Do you want me to address the matter with the rest of the crew?"
I shrugged, "If it causes problems and you believe it will help, you can, but it won't stop the rumors. Now that Q knows that I'm here, I'm more worried that he will do what he is best at, annoying me to death, than I am about the crew shunning us."
She chuckled a little at that then I could see the realization click into place and she remarked with a sigh, "Which means I'll have to deal with him more."
"There are downsides to having four Vazukuru on your ship," I chuckled lightly.
"I guess so," she replied with a wry smile. "I'll need you to sit in on the hearing in the morning."
"Of course, Captain," I agreed as I stood up. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Thank you, Rebecca."
A/N: Today is a double release in just a few minutes and I'm back to releasing two chapters a week! Thanks to my readers that have stuck by me during the slow release period.
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