The First Officer of the Enterprise ceased his slumber, making a noise that could only be described as a mix of a yawn and groan. He felt rather stiff, like he fell asleep in a weird position. As his eyes adjusted to the lighting, he came to realize that he was not in his ship's quarters... and that the poor excuse for a bed he was on, certainly wasn't his orthopaedic mattress that helped him able to sleep soundly despite chronic back pain. The commander concluded that he was in some sort of brig— the question of who's, however, was still to be determined.
He put his fingers to where his combadge would generally be, "Riker to Enterprise, come in". It was not until he got no reply (or he was now just fully waking up) that he noticed he didn't have his communicator... and that he was still in his night clothes. "Whoever brought me here must have did it while I was sleeping..."
"Right you are!"
The voice of Riker's captor encouraged him to get up off the cot, he wanted to see who was (arguably) clever enough to take him off his ship in the wee hours of the morning. He scowled upon seeing that said captor had a very familiar face, "Q."
"Well not YOUR Q, but yes! The Q! We've heard soooooo much about you, Number One" the entity replied, a grin stretching across his face.
A growl rubbled in the commander's throat as he sprang forward, "argh!" he hit the force field and fell back on his ass. "What do you want with me?" He hissed, narrowing his eyes at the entity.
"Ooooh nothing from you. We brought you to the continuum to use as—"
"Bait," Riker cut him off. "You freaks want to test Councillor Troi this time around?" He exhaled, running his hand through his hair.
A female presenting Q joined the one who was keeping watch over the first officer. The Q chuckled, "Troi? Oh you came to that conclusion because–" he smirked.
"She's your lover, or whatever" female Q interjected. "No, you're here because it has come to our attention that a certain misbehaving Q is very fond of your captain."
The commander laughed. "Uhuhuh, what's that got to do with me? Also, Councillor Troi isn't 'my lover."
Female Q rolled her eyes then moved closer to the cell. "Isn't it obvious? Captain Picard cares about and values you a lot— the only way he'll ever see you again is if your Q helps him find you" she explained. "We want to test to see if your Q is enamoured with Picard enough to willing help him again- it a setting that's not life or death. You're important to the captain, Riker. If he's important enough to your Q, Q will help him find you" she concluded with a grin.
"Seeing my ship again relies on Picard and Q working together? Guess I'm dying here then" the first officer whined, plopping his behind back on the cot. "I didn't even get to tell Deanna that I still love her" he said to himself as the Q left the continuum's brig, leaving him alone again.
Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise...
"Jean Luc, I understand you're very upset and very concerned about your pet, but I swear to the prophets, I had nothing to do with it" he reiterated, putting his hands on his hips. "I didn't even CHOOSE to come here, the continuum dropped me!" He added.
"Captain, we have an incoming call... from the Q Continuum?" Data announced as he turned around to face Q, Picard, and Troi.
"On screen" the entity replied before the captain had a chance to answer the lieutenant commander.
Two other Q appeared on the viewer. "Q, glad to see you arrived to the Enterprise safe and sound" the female Q joked.
"Hilarious really, didn't even have the decency to drop me off in my uniform" Q replied with a huff, meeting the female's gaze.
The androgynous Q on the screen cleared their throat. "I'll make this quick— we captured your number one and we're holding him in a cell somewhere in the continuum" they grinned.
Q turned his attention back to Picard. "I told you so! I TOLD YOU SO!" He said with a sing song voice. He then looked back towards the viewer. "Messing with the humans is my thing, what suddenly made you decide to do it?" He asked them, "and why snatch the commander?" Q thought it was odd that the other Q would willingly bring a human into the continuum– he had an idea about where this was going, but decided to let them explain it, for the bridge crew's sake.
"We know how important Commander Riker is to Captain Picard" the female spoke again. "We also know how much you enjoy playing around with the captain– soooo the only way Picard and the others will EVER see their first officer again, is if you and Picard work together to find him" she followed that with what could only be described as an evil laugh.
Q took his attention from the screen, turning around to meet Picard's gaze. "Well well, mon capitaine. I guess an away team if you and I will be leaving shortly ."
While Deanna was reluctant to believe anything Q was trying to day, she currently felt next to no deception from him. Even from the moment he blipped into the ship, he seemed genuinely confused, and if she wasn't mistaken, concerned. Difficult to accept given the past and everything Q had put them through countless times, however this time the emotions- or rather, the Q equivalent to emotion whatever that may be, were very similar as to the day he was stripped of his powers.
"Captain.." she said, her voice wavering a bit with anxiousness. "I fear he is telling the truth. I sense nothing suspicious at all coming from him.." Picard turned his attention toward the counselor, more inclined to believe what she was saying and all at the same time felt his anxiousness become suffocating. The ever tightening of the snake in his stomach continued to squeeze until he felt he may actually throw up. The beating of his mechanical heart matched speed with the turmoil his nerves were putting him Through. He breathed in a long breath and let it our through his nose, looking over his shoulder at Q, then back at Deanna.
"Yes, well-" He started, but was promptly interrupted by Data. "On screen." He said at the same time as Q, which only irritated him further. For the time being he put all that aside, turning to face the view screen.
"The entire continuum. We should be so lucky." He said, straightening his uniform shirt, then placing his hands behind his back. The information he Had currently been given with much to be desired. Information heed currently been given with much to be desired. He stood and listened to what the Continuum had to say to him, trying to ignore the arguing That took place between the 2 entities. The one on his ship was surprisingly less irrational and irritating as the ones that were currently feeding him information, and he found this to be the most ridiculous variable of them all.
"You've got custody of my officer and I demand he be returned to me immediately. End this tomfoolery at once. Surely as omnipotent beings of much higher power you have better things to do than to run us through the ringer like lab mice as a sort of test for a member of your congregation. Furthermore this alleged infatuation could not be more false, in fact I find I can't stand him so please. Reset all of this and just be on your way." It was no use, before he was able to finish pleading his case, the three Q who were informing him of his sudden doomed destiny closed the channel, leaving Q to his own devices.
He turned to Q, his irritation now very apparent on his face. "Just put an end to this. With what powers you have, can't you just return Commander Riker without all of this foolishness?"