Chapter 4

"Captain, before you continue, may I have a word with you." the doctor interjected, indicating they should talk in private. Kathryn raised a brow in irritation at the doctor's interruption but, she nodded her agreement and followed him into his office. She positioned herself so she had a view of the main sick bay, and its occupants, although her attention was with the doctor as he spoke.

"This had better be important Doctor."

"Her bio scans indicate she is human but, she isn't one of the crew and there haven't been any planets or ships anywhere near us for the last three weeks, let alone any with humans on them."

"Go on." Kathryn inserted, she already guessed the human part, knew for certain the other part, but felt the doctor had more to divulge.

"She mentioned something called a Fae and indicated I might one. I have no idea what that is. We haven't encountered any species recently that call themselves Fae. We should consult with Seven, see if the Borg know of them."

"I see. Is that all?"

"There is more Captain. I detected a trace of chroniton particles when I scanned her." And that, thought Kathryn, confirms what I was thinking, Q is up to his old tricks again. Sticking his nose in places it shouldn't be. One day someone's going to chop that nose off, and I hope I'm there to see it.

"Thank you Doctor."

On her way back into the main room; Kathryn's gaze settled on the curious non-ranking crewman and she stopped in the office doorway. She quickly decided he didn't need to know anymore than he already did.

"Crewman?" she called him over to where they were.

"Jerry Platt Ma'am." he said.

"I think we have enough people here to deal with this, you can return to your post."

"Yes Ma'am." he was almost at the door when she added.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you, nothing you've seen in this room is to go any further."

"Yes Ma'am." Kathryn inwardly cringed, she really did hate that term, it made her feel old. I am not a Ma'am.

As the sick bay doors closed behind him, Kathryn turned her gaze back toward Tom; she decided all she needed from him was a recap of what happened for now.

"Now, Mr Paris, would you like to explain what happened here? Or do I have to guess?"

"I thought the doctor may have been getting creative, altering his program again." Tom stated after giving a brief recount of bringing the wounded crewman in for treatment. "That was until he appeared as well."

"Ideas?" she asked, looking quickly sideways at Lauren, who seemed quite taken with Tuvok and was staring at his ears with a curious look on her face, but seemed content to remain silent for now. It's the reaction she expected from someone who'd never seen a Vulcan before, which isn't unusual in itself considering they were in the Delta Quadrant and Vulcans were scarce, but with her suspicions growing stronger, she would say she had never seen a Vulcan before.

"I thought maybe she could be a hologram that somehow leaked into the holomatrix here from the holodeck. B'Elanna could probably confirm that. I'll get her to run a diagnostic on the holographic systems right away." he offered hoping to be dismissed so he could talk to Harry.

"That won't be necessary." the doctor said to Tom with a smug look on his face. Tom looked at him questioningly.

"She's human. A perfectly healthy specimen in fact." he said triumphantly, noting the shocked look on Tom's face.

The doctor's unfortunate choice of words finally brought Lauren's attention back to the others in the room. She looked at the doctor in shock. Specimen? What do you mean specimen? She, Kathryn said we are on a ship. Oh my God, am I on a space ship? I am aren't I? I've been abducted by aliens, and now they're going to perform experiments on me. That's why everything looks so strange. Looking around the room, everything was directing her thoughts to that conclusion. The doctor's appearance from thin air; his comment about her being a human specimen; their strange dress and mannerisms; the male with the pointed ears. Lauren could feel panic building in her chest.

"Oh dear God. I'll co-operate, tell you anything you want to know. Oh God, please don't hurt me." Her panic mounted with each wild thought running through her mind. The doctor, sensing she was close to full-blown hysteria, picked up a hypospray and prepared a mild sedative. Intending to calm her down, he slowly approached her. Thinking the worst, namely that the doctor was going to incapacitate her, she backed away from him eyes widening, frantically looking around her for a means of escape. All forward directions were blocked, unfortunately so were the ones to the rear; she came to an abrupt halt against the wall.

"I can assure you, I have no intention of harming you. This is merely a mild sedative to help keep you calm." he indicated the hypospray. "I'm a doctor, not a barbarian." he eventually got close enough and managed to place the hypospray injector on her neck and dosed her. Unfortunately he wasn't prepared for her reaction to the sedative. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she slowly crumpled toward the floor; unconscious. He barely managed to catch her before she hit the floor. With Tom's assistance they lay her on a biobed.

"Doctor?" Kathryn asked concern creasing her brow.

"I don't understand Captain." He was more than a little perplexed by her reaction. "That was a mild dosage, and was only supposed be enough to calm her down; it most certainly shouldn't have rendered her unconscious. She may have fainted as a result of her panic attack." he picked up a tricorder and started scanning. Now that she was on a biodbed he received a more in-depth report.

"Well that explains it." He said looking at the data on the tricorder. "It appears she has a very low tolerance to Improvoline, almost none in fact. That was enough to render her unconscious. I'll have to run more tests, but it appears she is missing several genetic markers that have been in human DNA for the last two centuries. This is most unusual, I haven't seen anything like this." the last comments were merely his musing out loud; everyone in the room forgotten except his patient. His brow furrowed with concentration as he continued his scans.

While waiting for the doctor, Kathryn decided it was time to clear the room of unneccessary personnel.

"Tom, I don't see the need to keep you here any longer, you can return to your duties." She paused while he left. Looking at her good friend she strengthened her tone, she knew he would try to stay so she needed to be firm. He had become very protective of her over the years, and although it was an endearing trait, it was a nuisance at times. "Tuvok, she doesn't pose a threat while she is unconscious, I'll call you if I need you again. I'm going to stay and go over the doctor's findings with him."

"That would be unwise."

"Maybe, but I have a feeling she may be a victim in this scenario." She voiced part of her theory to him. Because of the probable 'Q factor', she wanted as few people to know about this as possible.

"Need I remind you…" he began, but she didn't let him finish.

"No you don't need to remind me. I know the arguments. Trust me old friend." She finished softening her tone placing a hand briefly on his forearm in reassurance.

His only answer was to raise an eyebrow. But he deferred to her; knowing from experience she often saw aspects of a situation he did not; inclining his head slightly, he left to return to the bridge. The doors had only just closed behind him, when the doctor exclaimed.

"I don't believe this, she is missing the genetic modifiers that allow interspecies procreation. These modifiers have been part of human DNA since the 22nd century. This is starting to make sense now, missing modifiers, chroniton particles, I think..." in the blink of an eye the doctor disappeared and in his place Q stood before her.

"She is not from this time." he finished the doctor's statement with a flourish and a cheeky grin. Puffing out his chest, he appeared most pleased with himself.

"I was wondering when you were going to make an appearance." Kathryn said in her most stern 'don't mess with a Janeway' tone and directing a level 10 scowl at him.