AN: Salutations and bienvenue! Here it is! The last chapter, I can't believe it! I'm actually going to finish a story! (sob) I'm so unbelievably happy!
Q: Would you stop your blubbering! These people came for the epic conclusion to this barely readable story.
AN: Don't you have somewhere to be, you yammering deity wannabe? Any who, one thing I wanted to clear up before this starts, is that I used STO's version of the Borg Queen, so if you want to see what she looks like for yourselves, look her up on google. But enough of that, on with the story
Fortunately for the crew of the Hades, they were shot through into their dimension. Unfortunately, they were now spinning out of control towards one of the gas giants in the system.
"Chief! Tell me you have a solution to this problem!" Zevil shouted as he and the rest of the crew clung to either their seats, their stations, or in the case of the unfortunate Dr. Cooper, to the railing with a death grip.
"I'm trying sir, but with the starboard nacelle hit, its proving difficult to steady our girl!" Unlike the rest of the crew, Rupert had the benefit of not having to be affected by the inertia the spin was causing the rest of the crew.
"Try harder!" Cooper yelled, who had his eyes firmly shut and had now wrapped his legs around the railing.
"My, my, this is a pickle you're in, isn't it, Xavy?" said an unfamiliar voice to Zevils left. "If only you had seen it coming."
Zevil looked in that direction and saw the last thing he ever wanted to see, "Q!" Zevil shouted in disbelieving outrage, right before the spinning stopped. Zevil looked around and saw that it wasn't that they had stopped spinning, but that time had stopped, for Zevil and Q only. "If I find out that this is your fault-" he started to say as he turned, but Q was already gone.
There was a flash of light and Q appeared sitting on the top of the viewscreen, "When are you Starfleet types going to come up with more original material? You're worse than Picard, but at least he never called me an imp." said Q, his voice sounding both board and miffed, "One would think that he was your hero and not my dear Kathy."
"If I were anything like them, I would try and appeal to your better nature," Zevil said as he stood up from his seat, "but I highly doubt you have one!"
Another flash and he was now reclining in Zevil chair. "Now is that anyway to talk to the man that not only saved you and your crew, but also lent a helping hand to our mutual friend, Lyddie?" He asked and then he turned to the frozen form of Six, "What do you see in him?"
"Alright, I've had enough," Zevil growled as he turned around to face the 'higher being', "either give me whatever twisted lesson you think I need to learn and help my crew or restore time and let us figure it out ourselves!"
Q whistled lowly and turned back to Six, "Never mind I see it now." A flash and Q appeared next to him, "An odd request given what you've been up to with those medaling and bumbling time travelers." He snapped his fingers, flash, and he was holding the tesseract device, "Should I take this with me when I restore time so you can practice what you preach?"
"Give me that!" Zevil snapped angrily and reached for it, only to have it and Q disappear.
"So, you don't want me to restore time, then?" Q asked as his smug face appeared on the view screen, "Good! Then we can get to my 'twisted lesson' as you so charmingly put it!"
Q snapped his fingers and he was physically on the bridge again, but the screen was showing a slide show of Zevils past missions, his Delta recruit missions in particular. "If you really felt that time shouldn't be messed with, you would have never accepted that offer from your future self."
"This is nothing like my mission as a Delta recruit, Q." Zevil said, his boiling anger going to subzero temperature. He wasn't surprised that Q knew about his mission, the bastard said on multiple occasions that he was omnipotent.
"Isn't it though?" Q asked, snapping his fingers and the view screen showed the Hades spinning out of control and hitting the gas giant, shredding the starship from the force of the planet's gravity on impact, which created sparks that ignited the gas around them, destroying the ship utterly in the explosion. "If I hadn't intervened when I did, that would have been you and your crews' fate."
"I suppose I should thank you then?" Zevil asked incredulously, "Because the way I'm seeing it, my crew and I are being held hostage just so you can make a point."
"A point that you are spectacularly missing by focusing on trivial minutiae." Q said in his usual bored tone, "The point I am trying to make, by doing everything but literally beat you over the head with it, is that you are doing nothing wrong!" Q said this last part slowly, as if he was speaking to a particularly dim child (and to Q, Zevil was a particularly dim child).
"What are you talking about?" Zevil asked, confused. Yes, he had worried that what he was doing could cause harm to the space-time continuum, but he figured that it was negligible considering that reality hadn't been destroyed when he took the tesseract device.
"You think that because you knew about the future and that you are using advanced technology, at least by your primitive standards, that you don't deserve all the wonderous praise that has been heaped upon you." Q snapped his fingers and the bridge seemed to be taken back to when the Borg Queen was onboard, but thankfully still frozen. "Let's go back to when her Borgness was here." Q looked the woman up and down, making a face and making a tisking sound, "The years have not been kind."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Zevil asked, trying to see the madman's angle in all this.
"You did what any good captain would have done: You held your head up high, protected your crew, didn't bow to this trumped up toaster ovens demands, and even had the where with all to stall for time while your science officer got her hologram out of your ship." Q said, gesturing dismissively to the Queen when he referred to her.
"I did what anyone would do in that situation, that wasn't anything special." Zevil said, crossing his arms. "And we only just barely escaped that meeting. I'm sure someone with more experience would have done much better."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Q said and the view screen changed to different images of Janeway's and Picard's interactions with the Borg Queen, "The times that Kathy faced off against the Queen were close calls and she only ever barely escaped them and, I do I hate to sing Jean Luc's praises," Q said as he snapped his fingers, and in a flash, he was dressed in an operatic valkyrie costume, complete with blonde wig, winged helmet, and spear, "but sing them I shall! Ooooh-"
"Q!" Zevil cut in, annoyed and glad he stopped Q before he could really start, "I believe I know what your trying to get at, and while I…appreciate it, now is not the time for a pep talk and this ridiculousness!"
"Your no fun." Q said as he reverted back to his Starfleet uniform, "Besides, it's the perfect time for my ridiculousness," he disappeared and then appeared with his arm around the Queens shoulder, "or would you prefer the brand of ridiculousness I sent to you earlier?"
Zevil was confused for a millisecond, until it clicked. "This was you?" He asked, his voice dark and angry.
"Now before you decide to embrace the dark impulses you had when you watched Hakeev die," Q said as he held up his hand to ward off the angry Valixian, "I only brought the Borg Queen into play, everything that proceeded and came after that was all still going to happen. The Continuum made themselves very clear that they didn't want me to make any big changes for a 'pep talk'."
"And the situation my crew and I found ourselves in before you intervened?" Zevil asked angrily, stepping threateningly toward Q, "Am I to believe that a random bolt of bio-electricity hit my ship and sent us into an uncontrollable spin without any help from you?"
Q snapped his fingers and the bridge was reset back to the way it was when this mess started, with Q in Tyufia's chair and Zevil back in his, but unlike when Q stopped time, he was being held down by the centrifugal force of the spin, "All right, I'll admit that was little old me, but I needed to make sure I had your full attention."
"You certainly have it." Zevil said through gritted teeth.
"Good," Q then got up and leaned down so he was looking right into Zevils eyes, placing his hands on the chairs armrests, his face uncharacteristically serious, "then listen closely, because I am loath to say this at all, let alone again: stop this insipid little pity party of yours and accept that you are one of the rare few in this galaxy that know what they are doing, because if you don't the Iconians will eat you alive.
"While they can't hurt me or the Continuum, we still don't want them back in power, so get a grip and focus on doing your job." Q held Zevils gaze for a moment, before he smirked, "Ciao." And then he was gone, and time resumed.
"Damn you Q!" Zevil quietly seethed.
On the Fury, Tyufia was thinking of every possible way to help her crew and friends.
"Commander, can't we do anything? A tractor beam or something?" asked M'Mutt, not tearing his eyes away from the view screen.
"If we try that it could tear the whole ship in half." She answered back, then she had an idea, almost as if it was whispered to her, "But you might have the right idea M'Mutt!" she opened the linked comm frequency, "Brigadier General J'vasa, Sub-Admiral Vi'eth, Admiral Tuvok! I think I have an idea to save the Hades and the rest of my fellow crewmen!"
"Then spit it out, Betazoid! My beloved's life depends on it!" J'vasa snapped.
"If you and Sub-Admiral Vi'eth use your tractor beams at the same time that Voyager uses it's tractor beam repulsors on the Hades in the opposite direction, that should stop her without ripping her apart." Tyufia said, hoping to the four deities that her plan would work, "We'll do a reverse energy siphon to give the Hades a bit more power for her structural integrity. You hear that Xavius?"
"We did indeed Commander!" Zevil said and then shouted at Rupert, "All power to the structural integrity field Chief!"
"Aye sir!" answered the Photonic lifeform and he quickly did so as all four ships got into position and fired their beams of energy. There was a sudden jerking motion and an ominous groaning sound, but then they stopped. Those that did not have the benefit of chairs promptly fell either down to the floor or against their station.
"Sir?" called out Yizura, who was slowly and shakily getting up from the floor, Osi right behind her.
"Yes, Lieutenant Vel?" Zevil said as he slowly released his death grip from his chair's armrests, wincing when small sounds of torn metal met his ears, his claws having sunk into them during the stressful ride.
"I'd like to request a chair for the sub-deck's science station." She replied, her voice just as shaky as her legs, coming up the stairs to look her captain dead in the eyes, "with seat belts. All the seat belts."
"Me too!" Asouzi said with gusto, as she released her own death grip on her station.
"I would also like a chair, sir." A weary K'Thoke said from his place on the floor, determined not to get up till the room was finished spinning.
"Granted." Zevil said as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
A short time later, the Hades conference room was once again occupied by the expedition leaders, but with the notable and sad absence of Captain Simmons. They had all been through the wars, none more so then J'vasa and Loreth.
J'vasa had lost her right eye in a fight with the Borg boarding party that had attacked them and was now sporting a Klingon eyepatch with an angry looking scar around it, while Loreth had broken her arm when she had been knocked out of her chair when a plasma torpedo had hit their ship when the shields were down. The bones had been minded, but her ships doctor had put it in a sling to help it heal.
"Admiral Zevil and I need to report to Starfleet command immediately and you must go to your leaders as well." Tuvok, who like Zevil was sporting no noticeable injuries, informed them, once again leading the debriefing, "We thought that the Undine were responding to a Borg incursion into their space, but now it appears that the Iconians, or some entity posing as them, has created false Alpha and Beta quadrant ships and sent them into Fluidic Space."
"Clearly, the Undine attacked us because they thought we attacked them first." Zevil said, then sardonically and a touch bitterly said, "Rather childish, in all honestly."
"Starting with the bad news, I see." Said Loreth as she shifted in her seat, wincing in pain as she did so, her arm still tender even with her bones mended.
"There is some good news, though." Zevil told them, snapping out of his dour mood, "The spread of the Borg nano-virus has halted and thanks to Dr. Cooper's research, we should be able to prevent future planets from being assimilated in this same way.
"The Borg will adapt in time," Tuvok cautioned, "but we have also stopped them from transmitting the technique for Undine assimilation to the Collective, despites the Borg Queens interference. It is possible they could learn how to do so again. We will need to remain vigilant."
"What about the Borg in Fluidic Space?" J'vasa asked, her remaining eye glaring at the Vulcan, "I doubt the Queen was killed in the qa'meH quv's extermination attempt."
"The Borg in fluidic space were forced to retreat, including the Queen," Replied Tuvok, as usual unfazed by the hostility that accompanied the generals questions, "and logic suggests it will be quite some time before they trouble the Undine again."
"The end of the Borg attacks in their home might also stop the Undine advance into our space, if we're lucky." Loreth said a little hopefully, then she frowned, "But, if the Iconians continue to trick the Undine with false incursions, they could decide to invade ours in retaliation. What happens now?"
"Voyager will take Dr. Cooper and the other survivors back to Earth." Tuvok answered, "I suggest that we all confer with our fleet commanders to determine the next course of action. We have not seen the last of the Undine." With that last ominous statement, the four high ranking officials got up and made their way to the bridge's transporter pad.
"The Hades will be joining you on your journey to Earth." Zevil said to Tuvok as they stepped into the turbolift, "We will do a few minor repairs to restore basic warp flight, but we will need the expert hands of ESD's best repair crews to make the Hades ship shape again."
"We can escort you there until we need to turn to New Romulus and report to D'Tan." Loreth said as the turbolift stopped and they stepped onto the bridge.
"Given the damage our ships have sustained, your assistance is welcome Sub-Admiral." Tuvok said as they stopped in front of the transporter padd, "If we were to come across a Star Empire vessel, our odds of survival are not high."
"Do not worry, Vulcan." J'vasa said with a feral smile, "I am sure with both my beloved and the Romulan at your side, you will beat any odds. Alas, I must return to Q'onoS and report to the High Chancellor of what we saw in that dimension." She then turned her undivided to Zevil, much to the man's displeasure, "Farewell, my beloved enemy."
She surprised Zevil by grabbing his face and kissing him. Although, in retrospect, he really shouldn't have been surprised. 'I am not kissing back, and my hands are at my sides!' he desperately 'said' to the raging nexus of jealous outrage further away on the bridge.
Six, who was talking to Tyufia further away on the bridge but still in view, huffed, and broke off her conversation with the Commander, who was silently laughing at her friend's predicament, and went to the transporter controls.
"I have clearance from your ship to send you back, Brigadier General." Six said to the Klingon woman, who was still kissing her captain and boyfriend, "So you can leave now." She said sternly and a little waspishly.
The Klingon broke the kiss and caressed Zevils bewildered face. "Till we meet again on the field of battle." She then sent a glare to Six, "and perhaps you can leave your Borg pet at home." She then released him, walked onto the padd, and not even a second later, she was gone.
"One day," Loreth said to Zevil, a cheeky grin on her face, "you are going to have to tell me your side of the story." She then stretched out her good hand to him. "Till next time, Xavius."
"Hopefully with less Borg and explosions and only if you provide refreshments." Zevil said as he took the offered hand with a smile of his own, sending her the image of a bottle of green liquid.
"My Chief of engineering will look forward to that." She replied with a knowing smile and a wink as she turned to shake Tuvok's hand. She then stepped onto the pad, and unlike the previous user, turned and gave the order to energize.
"I will have my Chief of Operations inform you when Voyager is done with its initial repairs." Tuvok said as he turned back to Zevil. "Along with my report if that is agreeable."
"Of course," Zevil said with a nod, "I'll call Captain Martin and Admiral Quin to submit both our reports and inform them of the situation." Seeing that this was the end of their meeting, Zevil added, "Once again, it was an honor to work with you on this mission."
"I feel the same and look forward to doing so again if the situation demands it." Tuvok replied as he stepped on to the pad. As he turned, he held up his hand in the Vulcan farewell/geeting, "Live long and prosper."
Zevil mimicked his gesture and replied, "Peace and long life."
After several hours of repair to the engines, the Hades was flying through space, just barely at warp six, heading for Earth Space Dock with their Romulan escort flying beside them cloaked.
Currently Zevil was giving his and Tuvok's mission report to both Quin and Martin, just as he said he would, at his desk in his ready room.
"We may not have been able to remove the Borg presence in Fluidic Space, but it looks like the Undine will." Martin said after Zevil was finished with his report, "Hopefully this will end their aggressiveness."
"As am I, however I find your reports of false flag ships in Fluidic Space troubling." Said Quin, his tone grim, "If the Iconians are trying to trick the Undine into believing that we are invading their space, it could explain everything that's happened."
"Your referring to the incident on P'jem." Zevil said, not phrasing it as a question, he had been thinking the same thing to be honest. The incident in question concerned a Vulcan diplomat that was taken to P'jem on what was supposed to be a routine diplomatic mission. The captain, a Lieutenant Commander Th'rana Sho'than, and her crew were attacked by a Klingon ambush, accusing the Ambassador of being an Undine.
The captain didn't believe the Klingons and fought them in orbit and on the ground. It was only when the Ambassadors assistant contacted her and said that the Ambassadors body had been found that she realize the Klingons were right. They confronted and drove the Undine imposter from the planet and fought them until reinforcements arrived.
Zevil had been among the reinforcements that had come with Captain La Forge and had helped not only deal with the ship, but also scanned it as part of a Delta recruit mission.
"Precisely." Quin replied, "Unfortunately, it only means that the Undine may be prompted into an invasion of their own, and if that happens, our entire dimension will be at risk."
"Luckily we won't have to deal with the Borg for a while thanks to you," Martin said gratefully, "Task Force Omega is in your debt, Fleet Admiral Zevil."
"Glad we could help, Captain Martin." Zevil replied with a smile, "Don't hesitate to call if you need any further assistance."
"Of course, Admiral, Captain Martin out." Said the Human before his side was taken up by Quins, signaling that the line had been ended on his side.
"You won't be much help to anyone if the Hades breaks down during a fire fight." Quin said, his grim demeanor pushed to the side for a scolding playfulness that only his mentee's ever saw.
"Not to worry, sir," Zevil said with a smile as he held up his hands in mock surrender, "We're on our way now. Slowly, but surely."
"Good, I believe Lydana is due to drop in any day now." Quin said with a genuine smile, "Perhaps the three of us can do lunch."
"That sounds delightful," Zevil said, his smile growing a bit wider at the mention of his petite friend, "I look forward to it, but unfortunately, duty calls. It's going to take us a while to get to ESD. Plenty of time to do…paper work." The ending of that sentence lost the energy he had gained earlier.
"I know how you feel." Quin said and they shared a mournful sigh and a commiserating look before they both said goodbye and cut the link.
"You didn't tell them of Q's part in this." Six said from her place in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Zevil had called her in earlier to tell her about what happened with Q, but also to reiterate that the kiss had been onside, and it defiantly wasn't his side.
"The addition of that imp's part in all this is unnecessary and would complicate matters, not to mention the subject of that meeting." Zevil said as he leaned back in his chair and threaded his fingers together in a thoughtful pose, "For now it must remain secret, like the rest of my work as a Delta recruit. I will say one thing, Q was right." Zevil made a grimace, "That left an odious taste in my mouth."
"Perhaps clarifying will lessen the distaste." Six told him as she raised her brow, not so subtly asking him to go on.
"Ever since I accepted 'my' offer, I have never felt I deserved any of the praise or promotions I've been given but looking at it now…" Zevil paused as he tried to find the right words, "I think I'm starting to see that maybe I was wrong to not truly accept my own accolades.
"Now, mind you, I won't be walking around with a head the size of Valix," Zevil told her and she smiled at that image, "but I think I can start accepting that I not only deserve my post, but that I can truly do my job, without the worry that I don't, hanging over my head."
"I'm glad to hear that." Six said as she leaned forward and placed her hand over his clasped hands, a somber and caring smile on her lips and in her eye. "Through the link we shared when I confronted you, I felt how heavy that despair felt on your shoulders, Xavius, and no one should carry that, let alone by themselves."
"Would you," Zevil tried to say, but he was surprisingly getting choked up a bit at the sincerity in her voice as he leaned in, opened his hands, took her hand in between his, and whispered, "Would you be willing to share that burden with me?"
Six's smile became a little watery and she placed her hand over his other one, "Of course, but I warn you," she whispered, "I have my own burdens."
"Then I would happily share that burden." Zevil said, sending the honesty of his words to her mind and leaned in to kiss her, which she happily returned.
His future was still complicated, his past a little less so, but his present was even better than before.
The End…for now.
AN: I…I did it…I finished a story…I FINISHED A STORY! Someone pinch me I must be-OW!
Q: There, I pinched you, now get on with it already!
AN: Your only mad that I waited till the end to bring you into the story! I don't care what anyone says, you are the biggest primadonna in existence!
-ahem-
Like I said folks, this is only the end for now. I have so many plans for my dear Xavius, not to mention plans concerning a few of the other OC's I created for this story!
I have loved every minute of writing this and I love that it put me in contact with my dear friend MaliceUnchained! Without their support and help, I might not have finished this. I would also like to thank Kretolus who also helped not only inspire this story, but also helped Malice and I create the L.O. (Lydana, O'Neil, Zevil Universe)!
If you guys haven't read their stuff, you really should, it's all beyond amazing!
Till next story, I bid you adieu!