Chakotay tensed as he heard Q level his threat against Kathryn. He watched Lady Q raise her hand. Pulling Kathryn to the ground with him, he grabbed for his phaser. He heard a snap as he spun around and fired. Both Qs disappeared as his phaser stream passed through where they had been standing, scorching the wall.

Chakotay felt Kathryn beneath him. He still held her hand tight in his as he watched her raise the other one. He slapped it down and said, "No! That's what they want." She gave him a slight nod as he pulled her to him.

Tom and a security team burst into the room, weapons drawn. Lifting up, Chakotay waved them back. "It's okay. It's all clear."

"Captain?" Tom noticed his flustered state and the mark on the wall but awaited his orders.

Chakotay kept Kathryn down as he rose up. "I'm fine."

"The woman…" one of the security crew members said.

"…is here at my request," Chakotay finished. "And she's fine."

"But how did she enter…"

Chakotay put up a hand and said, "The Q. I want immediate and ongoing scans at all times everywhere to detect them. They've made threats against us and I want them tracked and detained, if possible. You have my permission to use deadly force, if possible and if necessary. Belanna, do you hear me?"

"Aye, captain. We're on it down here."

Chakotay hesitated. "Do you also detect…"

"Aye, captain. She is with you right now."

Tom and the security team looked down and advanced on the woman who still sat on the floor by Chakotay's feet. He again waved them off. "Belanna, keep a lock on her at all times. If you detect the Q or anything else strange around us, transport her and me elsewhere. Got it?"

"Understood. Engineering, out."

Tom's eyes didn't leave the woman as he stepped back and holstered his weapon. "Do you or she require medical assistance, Captain?" he said.

Chakotay gave a sharp shake of his head. "We're fine but I want you to stay." At the rest of them, he said, "I want any and all security protocols that you can think of that can be or may be effective against the Q in place now. Dismissed."

"Aye, Captain."

Chakotay followed the team out of the ready room and paused at the door. "Harry, you have the bridge." Harry nodded and stepped down to the captain's chair as Chakotay addressed the rest of the crew. "I realize in the past the Q have not posed a serious threat to us. They do now. They have made direct threats to use deadly force and I want to be notified immediately if they appear anywhere on this ship or off of it. They are not welcome here. Harry, we'll brief the senior staff with details in one hour."

"Aye, captain," Harry said. He watched Chakotay retreat to the ready room leaving him wondering what had just happened behind the door.

Chakotay returned to find Kathryn sitting in her chair, his chair, behind the desk. Tom was circling behind with a tricorder as she said, "I forgot how much I missed this office." Looking up at Chakotay, she said, "Not bad with those orders, Captain. I see I've left Voyager in very capable hands but then I knew that before I died." She turned back to Tom who was finishing up his scans. She saw his eyes widen and his mouth open but, for the first time in his life, it seemed Tom Paris was speechless.

Kathryn touched his arm. "It's okay, Tom. You can imagine the look on my face when I discovered I could create and maintain a material state again."

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us," Tom said. Circling her one more time for another quick scan, he said, "Are you really real?"

"What does the tricorder show?" Chakotay asked.

Tom held it up. "She does register as human. Not fully human but enough for the database to put you in that probable species category."

Kathryn smiled. "Then, I've done a pretty good job of replicating myself. I'm impressed. How's that, Chakotay? I can fool a tricorder."

Chakotay grinned as he walked over and leaned over the desk. "Excellent. But you better keep your tricks coming because I have a feeling you are going to need them against the Q."

Tom put the tricorder away. "Yeah, explain that one to me. Why are we suddenly at war with the Q and how exactly do we plan on fighting omnipotent beings that can snap us out of existence before we can even yell at them?"

"That's what we're about to find out," Chakotay said. "Forgive me, Kathryn, but you are about to find yourself in sickbay undergoing a battery of tests."

Kathryn groaned. "Why? You know, as Admiral, I can overrule that decision."

"Yes, well, right now you are a dead Admiral. And, as a result, you have no rank on this ship or as a human being unless and until the Doctor certifies you as one."

Kathryn put a hand to her face and fingered her lips and cheeks for a moment. "Oh Chakotay, as much as I want to be, I don't think I am human anymore." She stopped and glanced up at him. "I think the closest I can get is to masquerade as one."

"Good. Because, as Tom said, we humans can't really put up much of a fight against the Q. But you might be able to. Maybe the Doctor can help."

Kathryn shrugged. "I've picked up a few tricks here and there but, Chakotay, I'm not Q."

"Is that why they suddenly want to pick a fight with us? You're not good enough to join the Continuum?" Tom asked.

"I don't think I was ever meant to join the Continuum," Kathryn said. "Lady Q was there when I…when I died. She asked me to go with her. She said the Q had a destiny in mind for me and I thought, why not? I wasn't ready to give it all up and what explorer wouldn't want to take the hand of such a being and see what else is out there?" Kathryn shrugged again as her face darkened. "She taught me a great deal. She showed me how to manipulate matter, energy, and physics in ways that you couldn't possibly imagine. But then, I started to notice that it was always her. Never any other Qs. I got suspicious and when I finally learned enough to be able to take myself from place to place, I went to go find out why."

"I'm guessing that was a big mistake," Tom said.

Kathryn nodded. "Huge. Q was as surprised to see me as I was to finally find him." She put a hand under her chin as she leaned forward and said, "You know, I've seen a lot of sides to Q. More than I've wanted to, believe me. But, I've never seen him truly angry. He was incensed. Immensely so."

"Lady Q said he cares about you," Chakotay said. "I think that's true."

"Yes, he probably does in his own unique way," Kathryn said. "But he knows that the Q would not, or in his words, could not let me continue my new existence. They would deem it unnatural and unacceptable for a human to have been granted access and knowledge of their realm. He told me he would make himself the executioner to ensure that I would have a proper and merciful death this time."

Tom rocked back on his heels. "Or maybe he wanted to buy you time until he figures out how to keep you alive. Alive? That's right, isn't it?" He looked at Chakotay who shot him a grin.

"I think Tom's exactly right."

Kathryn sat back and glanced between the two. "You believe Q could be helping me?"

Chakotay put a hand on her shoulder. "If he was serious about killing you, you and I would not be having this conversation now. I'd be just as dead as you are, were…" He looked at Tom who shook his head. "…whatever…the point is I think he put on a good show for the Q who were watching and then…left."

"Well, you are not as useless as I thought." Q appeared again, perched on the couch, just as he had been the first time.

Chakotay and Tom drew their phasers and aimed as Q flashed a white flag into his hand and waved it. "Relax, boys. I only have a few moments before the death squad comes." Looking at Kathryn, he said, "You, my dear, present me with an enormous problem."

Kathryn rose and came around the desk. "Well, I'm sorry the idea of me breathing again annoys you so, Q."

"Oh, it doesn't. I just know you enjoy making my life miserable and after everything I've done for you, too." Q stood up and walked towards her. "Now, what exactly do we do with you?"

"We can keep her safe," Chakotay said. "If you help us."

"Really?" Q said. "You, keep her safe from a species of omnipotent beings? I think that ink has finally seeped into your brain."

Chakotay pulled him away from Kathryn. "Give us a way to detect the Q," he said quietly.

Q stepped back. "I will not! Give up my own kind for the protection of this…this abomination and affront to everything the Q have stood for? Can you imagine the hysteria that will set in when she travels the universe Q-like but with no real Q abilities? We'll be made into a laughing stock! Entire civilizations that revere us will lose all respect. No! It must not continue! The time has come to end this." Grabbing Kathryn's wrist, he said, "I'll be back once I decide what method of termination will be the most humane." Snapping his fingers, he disappeared.

"Engineering to the Captain."

"Go ahead, Belanna," Chakotay answered.

"I'm not sure how but I think we've found a way to detect and track the Q."

"Understood." Chakotay looked at Kathryn as she returned his smile.

"Q gave me the idea," she said.

Chakotay grinned and shook his head. "I think the less people who know about you right now the better." She nodded as he called, "Belanna, transport the three of us directly to sick bay and meet us there."

"Aye, Captain."

"Energize."