Q listened with a bemused smile, undetected by Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay of the Federation Starship Voyager, given their miniscule comprehensions.
It was the eve of their soon-to-be voyage into the realm of what they amusingly termed as "quantum slipstream." A process of propulsion the omnipotent entity found to be modest to say the least.
"Any plans?" asked Janeway, her voice betraying an expectation Q had seldom heard from her.
"Nothing special, date with a replicator." Chakotay said with a hint of merriment to his voice.
Although it was scant seconds before the Captain would give her reply, in Q time, Q began a slow ponder as he grinned in his mischievous way. He knew what her reply would be, he'd seen this episode. Although speaking of episodes, he quickly thought of another episode...of a different time and place from Earth in which the more primitive people of their twentieth/twenty-first century era had begin a different yet no less tumultuous tenure into the Galaxy, but means of an ancient ring called a Stargate.
So, he has a date with a Replicator, does he… Q said to himself as he snapped his fingers…
In Chakotay's quarters, she appeared in a blinding flash of white light, looking around. This was not the homeworld of the Replicators.
Where am I? She wondered, taking in the view of the stars beyond the viewport. She frowned, not recognizing the constellations. She was on a vessel, that much was evident, given the artificial gravity and the construction of the carpeted deck and the curvature of the hull.
Closing her eyes, she attempted to commune with the Replicator Collective, hearing nothing but her own troubled thoughts. There *was* a presence she could feel. Two of them in fact, but she was unable to discern their natures or their precise locations in the ship.
Turning away from the viewport, she headed towards the exit of these quarters she found herself in. They certainly were luxurious, by human standards at any rate. The strange thin portal refused to open, but she simply adjusted her nanites to allow her to phase through the door, her white clad body cascading with a silvery sheen as she exited into the corridor. She stood there in shock. She was certain she had been unable to do that.
She stood, listening to the hum of the ship, glancing up and down the wide corridor, briefly admiring the strange silvery construction of its bulkheads.
Hearing two voices approaching from around a curve in the corridor, she stood still, unafraid yet intrigued…
Meanwhile, on the Bridge, Harry Kim was working on his slipstream permutations at the Operations Station as part of his flightplan he had been tasked to come up with by Captain Janeway. A tonal beep of his console made him frown as he checked internal sensors, double checking and triple checking the readings. What the hell… he thought as he tapped the internal Comms, hating to interrupt the Captain and the Commander.
"Ensign Kim to Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay." Harry said with a twinge of apology in his voice.
Captain Janeway looked up from her plate of food she was enjoying as she and Chakotay heard Mr. Kim's incoming voice. "Yes, ensign?" she inquired as Chakotay took another bite of his food.
"Ma'am, I just got a strange sensor reading from outside Commander Chakotay's quarters. There was a brief metallic reading followed by an unknown biosignature, the lifesign appears to be human, shall I sound intruder alert?" asked ensign Kim. The Captain frowned as Chakotay nodded his agreement with Mr. Kim, swallowing his food as she said "yes, ensign, notify security and are there any crew members present in that section?"
"Yes ma'am, as a matter of fact…"
Outside Chakotay's quarters…
Seven of Nine, tertiary adjunct of unimatrix 01, more commonly and simply called Seven by her shipmates and friends, let out a sigh as she walked in tandem with The Doctor. She was fond of her holographic friend, but in his efforts to better her social skills, he could be somewhat...irritating.
For once, instead of the holodeck, the hologram had suggested he and Seven simply walk around the ship for today's social lesson. She had agreed, as thanks for his efforts yesterday of helping her during her intoxication in engineering during the celebration and unveiling of the quantum slipstream drive.
"So you see, Seven, that is what it means to curtsy, a tradition practiced on Earth centuries ago, a lost art, you might say!" the Doctor said with a twinkle in his eyes as he smiled, his arms up in front of him as he spoke, gesturing for effect. He and Seven stopped in surprise as they saw a woman standing outside Commander Chakotay's quarters, clad in white with a square pattern in the torso area of her clothing.
Seven paused, guessing the woman to be about her own age in equivalency, youthful and slender like herself, with long dark hair and attractive facial features and eyes the same color as her own. The Doctor to his credit, kept his hands raised, turning them to the woman in a gesture of friendly greetings. "Hello there, miss…?" he asked as the woman regarded them both with casual aplomb, her hands loose at her sides.
She smiled, even as Seven remained guarded while the woman spoke, "I'm Fran. Hello."
"Red alert," Q said to no one in particular with a grin as the intruder alert sounded throughout Voyager.