บท 34: Trouble Brewing on the Horizon
A/N: Oops, sorry readers, I messed up the timer and did not realize it!
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The next day, Tuvok requested Q to show what life was like in the Continuum just as he had in the show. Although Q tried to argue against it, Janeway agreed, and they brought us to the Continuum. Almost immediately, I had to shift into my Dusa form to resist the effects of multiple Qs' auras, but this was their home, so I could not ask them to withdraw their Domains, though a few did, noticing our arrival.
The appearance of the Continuum, at the moment, was that of a desert road with the sun beating down overhead. Q led us over to a white building that looked like it had been built in the fifties, and the few 'people' that we could see also appeared to be from that timeframe, but there were oddities, if you knew where to look. There was a clock with no hands, an old man was reading a book titled 'The Old' while a young woman read a magazine labeled 'The New', a pinball game with the name 'Q Continuum Galaxy', people playing croquet with balls that looked very much like planets despite their small size, and a scarecrow dressed in a Starfleet uniform.
Just like in the show, Q began to explain things and his suffering. The road connected them to the universe and then back to the Continuum which he had traveled countless times. He had played the games, read the history of the universe, been the dog and even the scarecrow simply because he had not done it. He pointed out the lack of conversation because everyone, not just him, had heard everything, seen everything, and not spoken to each other in ten millennia. His life's work was done, and yet he was forced to keep on living a meaningless life. What I believe truly got to Janeway's heart, was when he asked if she would want to live forever with nothing left to explore. Immortality was a disease which took away the meaning of life when there was no longer a way to grow.
After we returned to the Voyager, Janeway called a recess for the rest of the day and would give her verdict in the morning. I never heard from her during the evening, so I had no idea if Q appeared in her quarters to try and bribe her by agreeing to the terms she had requested the day before, that Q would not have to go back into cell, though I guessed that he had with a comment that she made to him. In the end, she ruled in favor of asylum and Q was made mortal, cutting off his access to the Continuum though his Soul was still tied to it.
The rest of the day was quiet, but the next was not. I had only been on my shift in Aeroponics for an hour when I got a call from the Doctor asking for me to come to Sick Bay. Quinn, the now mortal Q, poisoned himself. Janeway had also been called and, when we met in the corridor, she gave me a look which I could only smile wryly at.
"Is there nothing that you can do?" Janeway asked as we walked in together.
"I'm afraid not, Captain. He swallowed a rare form Nogatch hemlock. There is no known cure," the Doctor said.
"Rebecca, can you heal him?" Janeway asked.
"Possibly, but I won't. Quinn made his decision, and as one of the few Q I respect, I won't take that away from him," I replied.
"Thank you, Dystina. I'm sorry to disappoint you, Captain, but I would only have been pretending to fit in to this mortal existence. This is my final gift to my people. Oh, tell them those were my last words. I dearly thank you for making this poss..." Quinn said weakly; his sentence never to be finished.
"In peace, may you leave this shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels," I said softly, using the same prayer of Skaikru that I had learned long ago.
"Doctor, do you generally keep samples of fatal poisons in storage?" Tuvok asked.
"No," he stated firmly.
"The replicators will not produce them either."
"So, how did he get his hands on Nogatch hemlock?" Janeway asked.
There was a flash of white light next to me and Q appeared then replied, "I got it for him."
"You assisted his suicide?" Tuvok asked with a bit of surprise.
"Illogical, Tuvok? I don't think so. By demanding to end his life, he taught me a little something about my own. He was right when he said that the Continuum scared me back in line. I didn't have his courage or his convictions. He called me 'irrepressible'. This was a man who was truly irrepressible. I only hope that I make a worthy student," Q explained as he looked down at Quinn's body.
Janeway turned to Q and looked at him with a bit of surprised respect, remarking, "I imagine the Continuum won't be very happy with you, Q."
"I certainly hope not. Au revoir, Madam Captain. We will meet again," Q said with a confident smile on his face and then disappeared in a flash of light.
Janeway looked over at me and I smirked as I shrugged, but she was not fooled. To my surprise, though, she let the matter go with a shake of her head and a sigh. She had the Doctor take care of Quinn's remains, and let me go back to my shift without any complaints.
Thankfully, the rest of the day was quiet as were the next few. Without realizing it, an entire year had passed for us on the Voyager. Things had been a lot calmer than our first year in 'The 100', but that was more due to the difference in pacing of the two shows. Still, we had made a home for ourselves here on the Voyager, and had done some good as Seska was the only casualty since our arrival. We were even helping the people outside of the crew, so it was a nice change from our last world.
Rumors were still going around the ship about us, but so far, no one had actually asked what was required for us to grant them powers. I had thought L'Naan would have been the first person to ask since our relationship with her was closer than anyone, and she would often grumble about our abilities during our occasional spars. Though, it was not too surprising who ended up being the first person to ask.
"Thanks for your help," Pedira said as I helped her move some equipment on her ship.
"No problem; I don't have a lot of uses for my strength these days," I chuckled.
"I... ah, I've heard some rumors about your group," she stammered a little.
"I'm sure," I sighed.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."
"It's fine, Pedira," I replied with a smile. "You want to know if we can give you abilities like ours, right?"
She sighed and nodded her head.
"Unfortunately, no. It's not a simple matter to change a person into a Vazukuru and the four of us alone are not able to accomplish the feat. There are more of our kind in the Alpha Quadrant, but it would do little good for you and your people by the time we reached there," I explained, using the excuse that we had come up.
"Of course," she sighed. "Things would be a lot easier if I had access to that energy that you can use. Raven and I have a working prototype that heals, but unless we can figure out how to create those mana crystals that you can make, it's nothing more than a waste of space."
"Raven is working on an energy converter, but it's not an easy process, sadly. If it was, we would have already made some improvements to the Voyager's systems."
"True, and I'm still working on L'Naan's DNA, but I'm just not a geneticist. I wish Danara was here; she'd be able to do a lot more than I can."
"Danara?" I asked, recognizing the name instantly.
"My cousin, and what's left of my family aside from Syrala, of course. Genetics is her specialty," she said with a light smile.
"She's a geneticist?" I asked with surprise since she had been a hematologist in the show.
"Yes... most children who get the phage end up going into some medical field with geneticists being the most common. She always wanted to be the one to cure the phage, but I'm closer to an answer than she will ever be," Pedira sighed.
I could practically feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise with her words. Danara Pel was a character that only appeared in two episodes, but I loved her character because she fell in love with the Doctor. I remembered complaining to Tori that she should have stayed with the Doctor instead of going back to her people since I was a hopeless romantic. With Danara being both a geneticist and Pedira on board, I could see how the pieces linked up. We would need her to cure the phage, but contacting her would be extremely dangerous, and even if she popped up in the same way as she did in her episode, there was still a chance that she would be tracked by the Vidiian Sodality since Pedira's research had gotten out.
"Fate has a way of unfolding to make things happen. Unless you need anything else, I'm going to head back to our ship. Katye is making something special for dinner," I said, coming up with an excuse to leave.
"Of course. Oh, one last thing, Syrala wanted me to thank you for the holo-deck time. She loves Flotter," she said.
"Good. Remind her that she has to save the chapter "Flotter, Trevis, and the Ogre of Fire", to do with me," I chuckled.
"I will."
She gave me one last smile before I headed out of her ship. It was a short walk back to ours and the others were all gathered around the kitchen counter. I sat down on the last stool next to Raven with a light sigh.
"So, she did ask," Raven chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll make you the crystals that I owe you later. I still thought it would have been L'Naan to ask first," I replied.
"She's too proud to ask for help," Echo replied.
"That's true," I agreed. "Now, for the important matter. Something has changed and I think it's more because of me than our actions. Pedira's cousin is Danara Pel, who is from an episode that should be popping up soon. Originally, she was a hematologist, but Pedira just told me that she's a geneticist."
"Could you be misremembering it? It has been years since you've watched it last," Katye asked.
"Possibly, but I remember complaining many times to Tori that Danara should have stayed with the Doctor. Unless Raven can make an energy converter, the only way we are going to be able to help them cure the phage is with a geneticist. I know the Doctor is trying to help her, but Vidiian medicine is still a lot more advanced than the Federation's."
Raven sighed with disappointment because she had been unsuccessful so far. Fae's databanks had a lot of information when it came to enchanting, and her Opec'atii instructor on the holo-deck was talented, but the converter was simply too complex for her currently. The technique borderlined on the Grand Master rank, and Raven's skill was only Journeyman. Considering that she had been training for a little over a year, it was actually an impressive level to achieve, and it showed her dedication to her craft.
"I'll be the heartless one and say it. Why do we need to cure the phage? These people butcher other races to preserve themselves. They are no different than the Mountain Men," Echo asked.
"The Mountain could be stopped, but the only way we can stop the Vidiians is by curing the phage. While we aren't responsible to solve every injustice in this universe, this whole universe exists because of us, because of me... It would be nice if we could shed some of the Karmic debt that we got from Iseto's army and the Disciples," I replied.
"Considering that you were the one to decode Sancu's message, I'm guessing that you aren't considering solving our problems with the Vidiians by coming up with the cure," Katye remarked.
"No, I'm not. I think Danara is going to be the bait to lure us into the trap."
"It wouldn't be the first trap that we've walked into," Raven retorted.
I gave a wry smile as I remembered our first meeting with Iseto which ended with me breaking my back literally in our escape. No one else had really been hurt, but it took me days of healing myself during every waking moment, before I was able to recover. While I could handle taking another injury like that if it meant that the others were safe, there was no way to guarantee that, or to prevent the Voyager from being pulled into the trap with us.
"Then the question is, do we tell Janeway or not? She knows that I can get glimpses of the future, but how do I convince her to walk into the trap as well and risk the crew?" I asked. "They would be in more danger if we avoid this; Sancu has said as much, but how do I explain that to her?"
"Do you think that she trusts you?" Katye asked.
"I think she did before Seska, and I see the potential for it again after the hearing with Q, but I don't know if it's to the point that she will take my word for this," I replied with honesty.
"Then we don't, not yet anyways. I'm only a few languages away from removing Sancu's penalty, so until Danara appears, we just make what preparations we can. Raven, can you make me an exo-suit. Once my mana is back, I'll be able to fight like Becca out in space if we get into a serious situation."
"I've got a half-completed suit, so if I focus on that, I should be able to complete it in two days without missing any duty shifts," Raven replied.
"I should be ready in three, so that will work; thanks," Katye replied.
"Voyager's torpedoes are powerful but limited. Can we make something that they can use in a similar way? You've set boobytraps before," Echo added.
"That's not a bad idea. Voyager can replicate everything that they need for a torpedo except for the explosive device, so if we replaced that with an unstable mana crystal, we could do some serious damage to a ship," Raven replied.
"Magic torpedoes... I love it," I chuckled. "Alright, I can't help with enchanting, so I'll work on making mana crystals."
"I'll help you, I guess," Echo said with little else she could do to help.
"I'll handle designing the enchantment if you take the container to hold the crystal properly," Katye offered.
"Deal," Raven agreed.
It was nice to know that I had these three behind me no matter what happened. We were getting ready for our first real fight in this universe all because I wanted to help the Vidiians. Just like Echo had said, they were no better than the Mountain Men who I helped kill without giving them any option to compromise, but I saw this as a chance to redeem myself. We were putting ourselves, and the Voyager in danger, and, even if it was a danger that we had to face, they did not hesitate to step forward to tackle the problem.
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