Title: Dangers of The Past
Rating: T ... or M ... It's got some blood and violence
Characters: Mainly Kathy and Q… with some of Capt. Janeway's family and the whole Voyager crew.
Relationships: Paris/Torres Q/The Human Timeline
Disclaimer: Space, the final frontier… a frontier that is owned by such as Mrs. Roddenburry and Paramount Pictures (At least I think paramount still owns it…) Regardless of who actually claims rights, it isn't me ;)
Summery: I don't remember… T'was so long ago… Oh, yes… Q. Need I say more? It is another Fic where Q gets involved… Not unlike and actually connected to what happened in the Next Gen. Ep Tapestry… Where Q sent Picard back in time. Now that you've tasted it, and now that these names, planets and such have wreaked havoc on my spell checker and grammar corrector… ENJOY!

"Shields up, red alert!" The computer complied with the order and a soft red light bathed the Bridge, helping to cut back on power resources.

Voyager's crew had returned from the Delta Quadrant 3 years earlier and were permitted to stay aboard her for another five years. The ship was now locked in an intense battle with a racist anti-Cardassian group known as the Maquis. Voyager had been sent to detain them, and to stop them from annihilating the Federations newest member, but ended up fighting them. More than 1/4 of Voyager's crew was former Maquis insurgents, including the first officer and the chief engineer.

"Janeway to ." Captain Kathryn Janeway stood silently studying Lieutenant Commander Tuvok's tactical readouts as they flashed across the small screen in front of her.

"Torres here. What's going on, Captain?" Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres, Voyager's half-Human, half-Klingon chief engineer, Was married to Lieutenant Tom Paris. Even having a three-year-old toddler named Miral running around their quarters hadn't cooled her temper at all. She answered her captain between bellowing orders to those under her command.

"We've run into...problems with the Maquis ships. I want all available power diverted to the shield generators. You have less than 2 minutes to do it in."

"I can't, Captain!" B'Elanna wailed. "We'll need at least 15! Everything just keeps shutting down! We're doing everything to keep life support going, the shields would knock it off line for sure!"

"Do it anyway!" Replied Kathryn in a cold tone.

"Aye, sir." Was the agitated reply and then the comm badge went silent on B'Elanna's end.

Kathryn walked to the front of the Bridge and stood behind Tom Paris, Voyager's helmsman and holodeck geek. She watched as three Maquis ships circled in like vultures. They had already done considerable damage and as she watched, they began to pick apart Voyager's hull, piece by piece.

Being hit with a photon torpedo, the ship lurched forward with such force, that it sent Kathryn sprawling across the floor of the Bridge. She heard Ensign Naomi Wildman's piercing scream as her console lit up in a shower of sparks and towering flames. Shouts from her friends echoed through Kathryn's head as she slipped into a painful state of unconsciousness.

What happened? Kathryn wondered as she slowly opened her eyes. She had to blink a few times to be sure they weren't still closed. It was pitch black ans the only sound she heard was dripping coming from somewhere behind her. She closed her eyes again and rubbed them vigorously.

"Turn the faucet off, Kathryn." A gentle voice rang in her ears.

This time when she opened her eyes she saw a woman, sitting cross-legged on the floor behind a wooden coffee table in a room adjoining the one she was in. In front of the woman, on the table, sat a small microscope, two open notebooks, a pen, a biology book, and small cup of tea. The woman, probably a scientist by the looks of it, had hardly glanced up when she had spoke. Kathryn looked around and saw she was in a small country kitchen.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but would you mind telling me where I am?" Her voice cracked and her head was pounding, but she managed to keep her face passive.

The woman looked up and chuckled happily. "What's wrong?"

Kathryn found none of this funny. "Where is my crew?" She demanded.

The woman's face became frighteningly stern. "Don't take that tone with me young lady, or you'll be weeding the cornfield with a bar of soap between your teeth!"

Where had Kathryn heard that before? My mother used to say... Her thought ended abruptly and she looked the woman over again. She was a petite woman, wearing her brunette hair up in a tight bun, she had a simple house dress on, and her eyes were a pale brown. It was her mother. Somehow she was now in her past, her childhood. Either that or she was still lying unconscious on the Bridge of her ship, alarms blaring. "I'm sorry." Seemed the most reasonable response to give.

"I forgive you." Her mother, Gretchen, said with a sigh. She stepped from behind the coffee table and walked over to Kathryn. Slipping her arm around her she said, "It has been hard these past few years, hasn't it?" She knew the reference was to her father's death. Admiral Edward Janeway had died under the polar ice of Tau Ceti Prime in 2358 leaving his daughter grief stricken for months.

Kathryn simply nodded and strode towards the door, subconsciously shutting the faucet off on her way.

She walked down the porch steps, across a small stretch of dry grass, through a field of flowers and tall weeds, and into a large apple grove. When she got there, she plucked an apple from the lowest branch, sat down, and began to contemplate her situation. "Alright, Kathryn. If you are asleep then none of this matters and you'll probably wake to find yourself in a quiet Sickbay filled with injured and recovering crewmen." She changed the reference to herself. "But if I really am in the past, then I am somehow seen as a young adult, most likely around 15 or 16. But on the other hand, I could be seeing what some would call 'my entire life flashing before my eyes'.Right?" She groaned and propelled the apple she had intended to eat at the nearest tree. Being as ripe and juicy as it was, it splattered in a dozen different directions.

"Who were you talking to?" Came a young, shy voice that somewhat reminded her of Naomi Wildman's when she had appeared to be around eight years old.

Kathryn turned to see her young cousin, Pamela, standing there with a pail in her hands, a captivating glow around her face, and no shoes on her feet.

"Nobody." She tried not to let her aggravation show over the plastered on smile.

"Can you take me swimming?" Pamela asked. "Look. I fixed the book."

Pamela held a small paperback book up to Kathryn. She took it in her hands and quickly looked through it. She immediately realized that the book she was holding, taped together in places that had previously appeared to be ripped, was her father's journal, the 15th in his collection. Then it hit her, she had been reading this book (according to the time line) only a few hour ago. Pamela had run by and playfully snatched the book from Kathryn's lap, tearing it in several places. She had been so angry, Pamela had run off and hid from her for hours.

"Ask your mother, Pamela. If she'll let you go, we'll take the horses down to the lake and I'll watch you awhile.

"I did already." A sneaky smile spread across her face. "She said to tell you to take me. I decided to ask you just to be nice."

"Alright then...I'll meet you at the stable in ten minutes." Kathryn ran back towards the house, determined to get a few of her questions answered. She intended on finding her mother, but she only saw Pamela's brother, Samuel, sitting in the kitchen, supposedly doing his homework.

"How old am I?" She demanded of her nearly look-alike cousin.

"Bite your tongue." Replied Sam casually. "Is this a new test, Your Scienceness?"

Kathryn forgot how much Sam had enjoyed teasing people, and how well it worked on her. "Yes. Answer it and I'll take you swimming."

His tantalizing smile turned into excitement and he stood. "You turned seventeen last week and you are on shore leave from that fancy starship, the Al Batani." His smile turned back to a wicked grin. "Why? Are you going to ask me if you're old enough to get married?"

"No?" Well, that makes him 15, Pamela is only 5, and Phoebe, she's 10?...No 11. She will die in about a month...I already know Mark. Tuvok and I have been friends for 2 years now, and... "I ought to go find Pamela. Coming along?"

"'Coarse I am. Indiana lakes aren't the same without me." He stuck out his chin in defiance and hooked his arm around her slim waist and dragged her out the front door.

As it slammed closed, Kathryn heard her mother yell out the bathroom window. "Where are you two going?"

"Taking them swimming, Auntie." Answered Sam.

"Who's them?"

"Kat and Pam. You want I should take Phoebe, too?"

"Go ahead. BE back for dinner. We're having guests."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

When they got to the stable, Samuel opened the door and shoved the girls in. Kathryn climbed up the loft and saw exactly what she expected to see. "Phoebe?"

"Yeah?" Came the fairly quiet response. Kathryn knew why she had practically locked herself in the stable all the time. After her father's death, he had died by falling under an icecap and drowning, Kathryn had thrown herself into an extensive state of depression, while her sister had been very quiet, but hadn't remained secluded. Phoebe had come into her older sister's room several months later and forced her out of bed and, eventually, out of her depression.

"Hey, Girl! What's up?" Kathryn crawled over to her and knelt in the hay behind Phoebe. "Sammy is saddling up two horses, wanna make it three?"

"If you're sure you want my company." She looked up hopefully.

"Sure we do. Sammy, make it three! We wouldn't dream of going without you."

"Can we pick some corn up on the way? Please, Kathryn, oh please!"Phoebe was now facing her with her hands on Kathryn's knees, a pleading look on her face.

"Sure, if you'll make a fire for us so we can have it the old way."

"I will. I'll be right back." She climbed out of the loft and ran towards the house.

Kathryn smiled to herself. If only I knew whether or not this is real. I'm beginning to feel like this is where I belong.

"Hey, Cowgirl! Where'd ya'll get yerself off too?" Sam's voice echoed through her thoughts.

"You're not down South, Sammy." Kathryn rolled her eyes. By the time she climbed out of the loft, Sam had the horses saddled and Phoebe had returned with a saddle bag to put the corn in.

"Saddled up and movin' on out!" He announced. Climbing onto his horse, Spocker, Sam pulled Pamela on behind him.

Phoebe climbed onto her horse, running water, and Kathryn climbed onto Indiana, her father's faithful mare. They then rode off together towards the corn fields.

"Stand down Red Alert!" Ordered Commander Chakotay after the phaser fire exchange had ended. The light that came pouring back onto the Bridge was flickering pitifully. "Casualty report."

"Heavy casualties on decks..." There was a pause as the information was checked. "...7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 18, 19, and no response from ." Seven of Nine stated, that was her Borg designation. She had been assimilated at an extremely young age and Janeway and her crew had helped her regain her humanity. Since then, she had fallen in love with, and married, Voyager's Native American First Officer The two had a child, but wound up seperating. The tension between the two had been extreme. Now the normally straight faced woman had a panicked look in her eyes. They had a 2 year old daughter named Tara, sleeping in his quarters on Deck 10. Chakotay gave her a somewhat comforting glance, than looked around the Bridge.

He suddenly realized that Kathryn was unconscious on the floor. "Bridge to Sickbay, we have a medical emergency, the Captain's hurt."

"On my way." Was the three word response.

Chakotay knelt at Kathryn's side and turned her onto her back. He pulled her hair out of her face and gasped. He slid his fingers over the gash on her forehead, tracing it from her right ear all the way up to her hairline on the left side. It was as wide as his middle finger was long and the cut was partly through each eye. Chakotay slipped his fingers down to her neck, than below her nostrils. He turned to Tom Paris who was kneeling behind him. "She's not breathing and her heart rate is slowing. It's practically not even there."

The turbolift doors slid open and the Emergency Medical Hologram, EMH, stepped onto the Bridge. "Where is she?" Asked the Doctor.

Chakotay pointed at Kathryn's limp body.

The Doctor hurried past the debris and knelt between Tom and Chakotay. Hooking extremely primitive monitors to her body and holding a tricorder, he announced, "I better not move her. Just touching her or not may be the difference between life and death."

Chakotay looked around at the worried crew who's lives were temporarily in his hands. Then thought of those who were unaware of the danger; his daughter, Tom and B'Elanna's daughter. They were still too young to know what was going on. Had they made a mistake by bringing these children into the galaxy?

Tuvok's maddeningly calm voice broke into his thoughts. "We are losing life support on all decks, excluding 15, 2, and the Bridge."

Chakotay thought a moment. What should he do? The Maquis ship had retreated, but he knew from experience that they'd soon be returning, this time with greater force. If he evacuated crucial areas there would be no hope for the crew. On the other hand, if he left them where they were, they may all very well die anyway. "Evacuate all non-essential personnel to the escape pods and shuttle craft. We'll be running on a skeletal crew for a while."

"Aye, Commander." Came the response.

"Harry, I want you to get all the children off this ship."

"But, Sir!" Harry Kim's perplexed voice begged. "I-"

"Now, Ensign! Then report back here."

"Aye, Sir." Harry stalked off the Bridge and into the turbolift.

Chakotay began to wonder why he had not yet received a report on systems under B'Elanna's command. "Bridge to . Torres, respond."

No response came.

Tom stood and turned towards Chakotay, a questioning look on his face.

"Go quickly." Chakotay said, seating himself at the helm. Impulse is out. At least I've got emergency thrusters.

After a few tedious moments had passed, Tom's alarmed voice came over the communications system. "Commander, the emergency bulkheads have shut from deck 9 all the way to . I think there's a hull breach."

"Get a team on it. I want those people out of there! Work quickly, oxygen levels aren't going to last very long."

"Yes, Sir. Paris out."

The quiet that followed was infuriating. Finally, it was broken by the sound of turbolift doors opening and closing as Harry walked back onto the Bridge. "All pods and shuttles have been jettisoned, Sir."

"Thank you, Ensign. Take your post. I want long range sensors operating as soon as possible. We have to be ready for that ship to return with or without their friends." Chakotay looked over at the Doctor as he worked to save Kathryn's life. "Report, Doctor."

"As an understatement, I'd have to say 'I'm losing her'." The Doctor's hands flew over Kathryn's body, checking malfunctioning tricorders and performing minor operations.

"And her chances are...?"

"Less than 10, Commander." Silence once again flooded the Bridge.

"Do what you can, Doctor."

Chakotay looked around the Bridge again. It was empty aside from Tuvok, Harry, Seven, the Doctor, Kathryn, and himself. What was normally a Bridge of 16 was dramatically reduced to 5 able-bodied officers, including the Doctor. And the rest ship, having previously been 164, was now a mere 14, excluding the 37 trapped in .

"Bridge to Lieutenant Pairs."

"Paris here."

"Any luck, Tom?" He new Tom was trying his absolute hardest to gain access to . Not only was it critical to get life support back online from that area, and to evacuate those trapped inside, but B'Elanna was one who was secluded from the other areas of the ship.

"Commander," Tom sounded stressed, and he panted in the hot, oxygen deprived corridor. "We're not gonna last much longer, oxygen levels are dropping to 10 pressure."

"Work faster, Lieutenant. Bridge out."

As Kathryn rode toward the lake, she felt a tingling centered along her spine. As they continued it traveled up along her back to her head. She experienced a spinning sensation and suddenly she blacked out.

What felt like decades later, she opened her eyes to a blinding white light. She heard a voice echoing in the distance, it sounded somewhat familiar, but she couldn't place it. As it drew closer, Kathryn could make out what this voice was saying.

"Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the Intrepid starship Voyager. You have reached what some like to consider..." The voice seemed to pause for effect. "...eternity. The transaction from life to death is said to be easier when one sees a somewhat comforting part of there lives...shall we say 'flash before their eyes?'"

"I refuse to believe that I am dead." Kathryn made a futile attempt to find the source of the voice.

It laughed menacingly. "You sound like another pitiful soul who once passed through my pearly gates. He want by the name of Picard...Jean-Luc Picard."

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"An old acquaintance of yours." A face Kathryn knew all too well manifested itself in front of her, followed after a moment by the body, clothed in white robes. His head bore a glowing halo that was fasted to his robe by a old wire clothes hanger. He carried an old leather bound Bible and held his arm outstretched from his body, indicating peace.

"Q?" She asked, bewildered. She stood still for a moment before recovering. "Why am I here?"

"Ahh...That is the great question of our day; Why? Would you like to know why, Kathy?"

She merely nodded.

"Because I like you, Kathy. I've decided to give you a second chance as well." Q had a smile that stretched from one ear to the other, his halo growing ever brighter as she watched.

"As well?'"

"Yes. Jean-Luc, God rest his soul, got this so called 'second chance' as well. You have the chance to change one of your misdirected choices. If you succeed you would have never died."

"How did the part of my past I just witness affect my life, or death?" Kathryn was clearly confused and frustrated.

"Your sister, Phillip is it?"

"Phoebe."

"Yes, Phoebe. Anyway, it's her birthday today. You were thinking about her death, causing you to unconsciously walk to the front of the Bridge. When the blast that sent you sprawling, hit, you slammed your head into the side of a computer terminal. You died a matter of hours later as the Doctor worked tirelessly to save your puny, almost worthless, existence."

Kathryn couldn't help but wonder if she would sorely regret taking what Q said for the truth.

"Say I believe you. What about the temporal Prime Directive?"

"It's always about directives, isn't it? So I'll say what I said to Picard. What you do here will have no adverse effect on life and history as you know it. You're not that important! What do you captains think you contribute to history anyway?"

"It was trained instinct, Q." Kathryn's diplomatic flare failed to compensate for her aggravation.

"Are you prepared to go through eternity with me as your supreme ruler? Or are you willing to change, or at least attempt to change, your past?"

Kathryn weighed each choice and there consequences carefully. "I will try what you're offering." She conceded. With that, she was suddenly back on her horse. Both cousins and her sister at her side.