I still don't own Star Trek.

Picard's POV

It had been hours, and still there was no sign of Hugh. The labs had taken the bloodied tricorder and combadge and determined that it was indeed Hugh's blood on them, which made me worry more. He was out there somewhere, hurt, and I couldn't get to him. My only blessing was that Orion was going to a sleepover in another cabin, so he wouldn't notice Hugh's disappearance right away. That would give me time to either find Hugh (the ideal option) or come up with a way to explain it to him. I sighed and pressed my combadge.

"Picard to Riker."

"Riker here." He gave a deep sigh, "Still nothing, sir. but we're gonna cover every last inch of this goddamn planet until we find him or find some clue as to what happened. Either way, we're not leaving without him, sir." I held back tears at his dedication. He knew what Hugh meant to me, and he knew I couldn't leave him behind. I sighed and sat down on our bed, looking down at the gold band on my finger. It was larger than its counterpart, enough so that Hugh's ring could fit inside it. Just like Hugh was small enough to fit perfectly in my arms.

Where are you, Hugh? I thought, What happened to you? That was the question no one could answer, and that scared me more than even the fact that Hugh was missing. At least if we knew what happened, I would know if he was alive, or if he was safe, maybe at least I would get a clue as to who had taken him and why. But no, I had nothing other than the fact he was gone. I wondered if it might be Q again, but quickly dismissed that idea. Q wouldn't be able to resist gloating or taunting me with that infuriating little smirk of his that made people want to punch him in the face.

"Bonjour, mon capitán." Speak of the devil.

"What do you want, Q?" I groaned without turning around, "And make it short, I'm not in the mood."

"Oh you never are, Picard." Q scoffed, "Even when I just drop in to say hello."

"You never just drop in to say hello." I pointed out.

"Where's Hugh?" Q asked, "Isn't he usually stuck to you like a little cybernetic tumor?"

"None of your business!" I shot back, then regretted it. It was never a good thing to let Q know he was hitting the sensitive spots, because then he'd keep at it.

"Ooh, I see I struck a nerve there, Captain. Ohhhhhhh, I know. He's missing, right? And you have no idea what happened." I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. He was trying to make light of Hugh's possibly life-threatening situation! How dare he!

"How dare I?" Q laughed, "When I threw you out to meet the Borg, I never thought you'd actually take one and keep it! Oh wait, it's two now, isn't it. That's right, the little one. Yes, I know your strong thoughts, Jean-Luc. There's not much that I don't know." I was about to strike him when something stopped me. Something in what he'd just said.

"There's not much I don't know."

Maybe he knew something about Hugh!. As much as I hated it, Q would be a very useful asset in the search. As much as I hated dealing with him, I knew I had to. Hugh would do the same for me. And I needed all the help I could get. I sighed again, standing and swallowing my pride as I turned to face him.

"Q..." I said, taking a deep breath.

"Yes?" He grinned. Ugh, I hated that. But I had to do this. For Hugh.

"...I need your help."

Hugh's POV

All I knew was pain.

Without warning, it tore into me and I screamed. A horrible, almost inhuman sound followed by gasping and sobbing and whimpering. My captors had covered my eyes, and I could tell my eyepiece had been removed. For what reason I didn't know. At the moment, I hung from my wrists, bound above my head, my feet shackled to the floor. Someone was walking circles around me, growling in frustration.

"LIAR!" he yelled, "You're a Starfleet, and a Borg! I know they've assimilated Starfleets, and I know you have all their knowledge from before you got severed! Now who are the operatives?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" I cried. Even before I finished my sentence, I felt the weapon slam into my side, causing my entire body to erupt in a fresh bout of pain. I screamed again, my throat starting to hurt, until the thing was withdrawn and I fell into sobbing and whimpering again.

"I swear, I don't know! Not everyone is given that information! That's why they're UNDERCOVER." I sobbed. I could feel the tears streaming down my face, which was already soaked with them. A hand smacked hard across my cheek, and I felt claws dig into my skin. Blood mixed with a fresh wave of tears, slowly dripping down my face.

"You dare insult my intelligence, scum? Suggesting I don't know what undercover means?"

"N-No, I-" He smacked me again, across the other cheek, drawing blood from that one too. I heard rustling around, then the sound of a weapon cocking and charging up. I bit back a sob as I realized what was about to happen. I was going to die. Alone. Jean-Luc would never find me, would never know what happened to me. How would he explain it to little Orion? Suddenly, I heard a door slam, followed by heavy, rapid footfalls that came to a stop close by.

"Don't kill him." warned another voice. "Not yet anyway." I couldn't put a finger on it, but there was something familiar about the newcomer's voice, almost like I'd heard it before, like I should know who it was. But at the moment I was too weak from pain and torture to think too much on it.

"Why not?" the first voice asked. I felt at least two sets of eyes lock onto me, and a deathly chill ran through me.

"We may yet have some use for him."

Oh no, Q is back!