Lady Q? Kathryn followed his gaze to the view screen but only saw the spherical green planet below.
It had been such a paradise to find, a place of rest, and actual solid ground to plant their feet. So many things in the Delta Quadrant was just like this planet. Beautiful, warm, inviting, and ultimately deadly.
Hadn't Q himself said Humans weren't meant to be in this part of space for many more years to come. Perhaps he'd been right.
Kathryn felt a squeeze against her middle and she glanced down to the boy still tucked under her chin. She gazed around her at the frozen figures of friends at their stations.
It hadn't been all bad. She'd made mistakes but grown as a Captain. They each worked so hard and tried to get along. Now they had married couples and their children.
The information they had gained could fill a PADD to its capacity and still not be able to express it all.
She let her hand pat Juniors back and her eyes drift back to Q. Her teeth clenched. She couldn't waste time here, there were people who needed her.
"To Hell with your revenge." In the silence of the still frozen bridge it was as if she'd shouted at Q. His body went rigid as if she had yelled.
She pushed Junior back and stated for both men to hear, "There are people on that planet who need me. And I'm not going to sit idly by while they suffer."
Junior took a step back but shook his head, he turned toward his father, looking for answers.
Q moved faster than her eyes could watch, one moment he was still hovering near, the next his hands were latched onto her face, forcing her to look up and meet his gaze.
He was angry, but there was a hint of desperation clinging to the edges. She'd grown accustomed to this kind of urgency over their span of time in the Delta Quadrant.
"This isn't about revenge, Kathy. This is about protecting my loved ones from a dangerous sociopath."
"What has that got to do with my people down there?"
Q laughed, but it wasn't the kind she'd grown to enjoy. This laugh was to mock, to belittle. This was the same laugh he'd used when they first met.
"Don't feign ignorance, Kathryn, it's unbecoming for one such as yourself. You really believe all this was circumstantial, happenstance even?'
Kathryn lifted her hands to meet his and gripped them, letting her nails bite into his flesh. He probably wouldn't even feel it, but it gave her satisfaction.
"So it's a trap then? For me."
His eyes flashed and he stepped closer. She hated that her mind immediately realized how close their chests were.
"I won't let you fall into it. You humans are too much like curious little flies, not even realizing that you're standing in a Dionaea muscipula until it's jaws clamp down."
She put her hands against his chest and pushed, this was becoming too much. Q didn't budge. Arms wrapped around his middle and Kathryn watched as Junior began tugging at his father.
"Let go of her, you're hurting my mom!"
Hearing his son's voice did the trick, Q released his hold and took several steps back. His face, so full of emotion and heat one second, was replaced by a mask of calm and indifference.
"You led them here, Junior. I warned you to stay away. Now their lives are at risk." Junior's face paled at his cold words
"I didn't know. I didn't mean for this to happen. I just thought that-"
"You thought what, boy? Nothing. You didn't think, you let your emotions overtake you. You know as well as I that the Continuum is always watching. Did you believe they would cut you a little slack because you're a teacher? Did you think the council respected you? You have much left to learn, boy." Q's words cut through Junior.
Kathryn wanted to scream at Q, tell him to leave. But she had to know, was Junior the ignition to all of this? She caught sight of the planet again. Every second she was here was another second Tuvok, Chakotay, and the other members of the away team were being held hostage.
She marched past the two men and waited as the doors swished open for her. Of course they didn't. Whatever Q was doing prevented that much, so she began to pull apart a vent shaft.
She threw the metal top at Q's feet and crouched down to enter. If she was lucky she'd only need to crawl in this space until she found a hallway. From that point on she could find a jefferies tube. It'd be an easy passage to a shuttlebay after that.
Arms circled her middle and Q lifted her away. She batted and swiped but he evaded her hands and feet.
"You humans have an odd way of thanking someone when they're trying to save your life." Q grunted.
Kathryn settled herself and waited, she swung her feet forward, then backwards, and as they came back forward she shifted herself and let the momentum throw Q's gravity off. She grabbed his neck then, and heaved with all she had, successfully flipping Q onto his back.
Q's surprised silence was satisfying. Kathryn was beginning to pant, she was almost 35, playing keep away with an omnipotent being was a young man's game.
She crouched down to catch her breath and stare down at the man beneath her. His big brown eyes were reflecting her image back up at her. His hair was getting tangled and wild the more they fought. He was a beautiful chaos.
Her heart thudded and she wanted to retch. Out of all the beings she'd met, why did it have to be this one? How could this have happened? When did he take such a large portion of her heart?
She finally let her legs give out from under her and she sat down near his head.
"Alright Q, for argument's sake, let's agree that you're right. Lady Q is waiting for me on that planet. The worst case scenario is that I die and Voyager continues on their way home."
She didn't want to die. Typically nobody longs for death, especially not at the hands of a narcissistic sadist. But if the rest of them could keep going then she would pay the price. She made an oath to protect them as their captain.
"I can't let you die." His words sounded strangled. Kathryn looked up at the ceiling. She stared at the lights, at the pattern of the walls, anything but at him.
"Yes you can, and if the Continuum wants this to happen then you must." She hoped this redirected the conversation to safer grounds. He had his duty and so did she.
"I refuse. I won't let you die, Kathy."
She finally snapped her gaze back down to him, she was tired of this back and forth.
"Then help me save my crew." Her voice had more venom then she'd anticipated, but Q answered with his own
"Why do you care so much for them?"
His words made no sense to her, Q understood emotions, at least enough that he knew she loved her crew. Between one confused blink and the next, Q was suddenly back on his feet with his hand outstretched.
"Fine, if you must save them, then we'll save them together."
Kathryn looked from the outstretched palm up to the eyes peering back at her. He was open, no sign of deception or misdirection. Of course, that never stopped his tricks before.
She grabbed onto his hand and the moment their skin touched the turbo lift doors swished open behind him.