valkryies4

Ship of the Valkryies (Part Four)

A Star Trek crossover fanfic by Lt Taya 17 Janeway (TaTTooGaL™)

When the meeting was over, Ro followed Kira to her quarters to settle down. Because of lack of space on Voyager crewmembers had to share quarters, and Ro had elected to stay with a fellow Bajoran. Well, it was not like they were extremely close, but Ro remembered the time all those years ago when they'd shared a huge common room together. Well, Kira had been nine then and she'd been twelve, and it was only for a month and in constant fear of the Cardassians, but it was better than nothing.

Kira was shuffling along the corridor, almost as if she had no energy left to move her legs. According to Jadzia, Kira had been awake for more than forty-eight consecutive hours, and the strain was showing. She said almost nothing on the way back, and the moment she was inside the quarters, she made a beeline for the sonic shower.

Maintenance had put a second bed in the first officer's quarters to accommodate the two of them. Ro dropped her sling bag one of them and gazed around the room. It probably wasn't as big as the one Riker had on the Enterprise, but it was haven compared to the paltry quarters she had on her cramped, dingy ship. She kicked off her boots, then flopped backwards on the bed. "So…" she asked Kira, "how much experience do you have with dragon slaying, at any rate?"

Kira stepped out of the shower, looking fresh and clean. It must have been on express cycling. "I've never even seen a dragon before. Aren't they supposed to be mythical creatures?"

Ro shrugged as Kira clambered into bed, sighing as she snuggled between the sheets. "Q can make anything real. Even the Easter Bunny. Why not dragons? I wonder who in the world they're going to dispatch to take care of this problem? With my kind of luck they'll probably send me. What do you think, Major?" There was no response. "Major?" Ro turned to look at Kira, only to find her sound asleep. Ro rolled her eyes and got off the bed, preparing for another day of grueling work.

******

"Why me?" protested Torres as she headed down to the Mess Hall with Janeway the next morning. "I have absolutely no experience whatsoever with dragons of any kind!"

"If it's any consolation to you, I'm doubtful that Major Kira or Guinan have any experience in dealing with them either," Janeway told her.

"Thanks a lot. It's so comforting to know that I'll be going off to hunt dragons with a group of similarly clueless people."

"It probably isn't going to be as bad as it seems," Janeway assured her as they entered the Mess Hall. Guinan was at the pantry, talking to Ro as she prepared breakfast. Janeway leaned over the counter to see what she was making- it looked like bacon and scrambled eggs. Nice, normal bacon and eggs.

"Morning, Captain," said Ro cheerfully.

"Morning. Isn't Kira with you?" As Guinan handed Ro the platter, Janeway took the chance to ask, "Are those really bacon and eggs?"

"Yes," replied Ro as she picked her cup up with the other hand. "And no, she's still asleep in her quarters. I couldn't get her up."

"Well, she'd better get up fast," grumbled Torres as she grabbed one of the cups of coffee Guinan was arranging on the countertop. "I don't want a sleepy partner when I'm killing dragons."

Ro looked at her in surprise. "She's going? I thought it'd be me."

"Well, the captain came to a decision to send the three of us," said Guinan, effortlessly scrambling a few more eggs while working the antique percolator she'd magically produced from somewhere. "Would you like anything with your scrambled eggs, captain? We have cheese, mushrooms or poultry. I'm not so sure about the poultry, but Sam Wildman assured me it's safe to eat."

"I'd just like my eggs plain, thank you. The poultry must be the Riccardian fowl Chakotay caught from the last stop we made…"

Guinan nodded and started to fry the bacon. "How about you, B'Elanna?"

Torres frowned and leaned over the counter. "Anything which gives it additional nutritional value… anything."

"Right now the most nutritional additive I have must be the bag of plant fertilizer under this cabinet, so I'll just add a dash of that."

Torres laughed. "Okay, I give up… I'll have cheese and mushrooms."

Guinan smiled in triumph and served Janeway's breakfast. "Yours will be ready in a couple of minutes' time."

Janeway picked up the warm plate. "I'm curious. There are a hundred and forty people on this ship. Do you really plan on serving each one individually? We'd be here all day."

"I'll do the best I can," said Guinan, cracking a second egg into her pan. "I'd rather stay here and cook all day than fight dragons, at any rate."

A corner of Janeway's lips quirked upwards at the mention of dragons. When Cass had mentioned their task the day before she'd initially thought it was a joke. Dragons, indeed! The thought came unbidden: I wonder what Chakotay would have thought of this?

Just the thought of Chakotay and all her missing crewmen brought a lump into Janeway's throat. She glanced at the floor to hide it, but Guinan seemed to have picked up on some subtle cue or the other as she vigorously stirred Torres' pancake. "Are you close to your crew, Captain?"

She shrugged in return. "When they're all that you've had for the past five years, you tend to get rather close to them."

Ro, who had found a table for them and put down her dishes, came sauntering back. "How close is close?" she asked, her eyes sparkling is mischief. She walked past them to the replicator on the other side and punched up a glass of orange juice.

Janeway and Torres exchanged a glance. "Varying degrees."

"Oh." Ro smiled wickedly. "Now there's a euphemism if I've ever heard one."

Guinan scooped the eggs onto a plate and started on the bacon. The sizzling aroma wafted through the Mess Hall, and Janeway's stomach growled. "I don't get what you mean."

"Oh, come one," said Guinan, casting Janeway a smirking sideways glance as she flipped the bacon over. "Surely it can't be that amongst all the eligible men on the ship, there's not a single one to which you've developed a particular attachment to?"

Janeway shot her an annoyed glance over her plate. "Unfortunately, as captain of the ship, that's a luxury I don't have."

Guinan finished with the bacon and handed the plate to Torres, who was trying her best not to laugh. "That's just an excuse. Why, even Jean-Luc Picard had his own crushes every now and then."

At that moment Beverly Crusher elected to step in through the doors. "Did someone just ask for me?"

Ro let out a sharp snort of laughter which she stifled with her wrist. When Crusher gave her a strange glance, she shrugged and said, "Bad pun."

"What was that all about?" asked Crusher as she looked over the pantry counter. "Is that bacon I smell cooking?"

"That's breakfast," affirmed Guinan. "With scrambled eggs. Your order, please?"

"How about bacon in scrambled eggs? I remember my mother used to cook it that way." Crusher turned and surveyed the gaggle of women standing with plates in their hands. "Are you all waiting for me to get my food? Or is this some strange Voyager ritual?"

Jadzia Dax came in then, fresh and impeccable as usual, hair tied in a flouncing ponytail. "Hmm, that smells good," she said, as she headed over to the crowded space in front of the pantry. "Is there a queue here, or something?"

"No," replied Guinan. "It's scrambled eggs with bacon for breakfast. How would you like yours done?"

"Eggs with cheese, if you please." Jadzia glanced around. "Nery's still asleep?"

"She'll probably be here soon," said Ro. "Mission starts in two hours."

Guinan gave Janeway a glance. "There are a hundred and forty people on this ship. Do you really plan to stay and wait for all of them to get their food? You'd be here all day."

Janeway had to laugh at that. "You have a point. Come, let's go sit down and wait."

******

"She'll never wake up."

"Just wait. She will."

"Maybe we should poke her."

"It might hurt. Then she'll get mad at us."

"She won't. Just poke her a little bit."

Kira awoke slowly to the sounds of two young voices. Blearily, she opened one eye and found herself looking at two round faces glancing down at her. She recognized one: Molly O'Brien, Keiko's daughter. The other was a blond-haired girl, also about Molly's age, who looked vaguely Ktarian. Kira sat up.

"There," Molly said, "I told you she'd wake up."

Kira blinked to get the sleep out of her eyes. "How did you get in here?"

"We opened the door," said the blond child. "It must be malfunctioning."

Or Ro figured that I probably wouldn't wake to answer the door chime, thought Kira as she climbed off the bed and headed for the sonic shower. "Why are you in here then? Did someone send you to get me up?"

The two children exchanged a glance. "No."

"Hmph." Kira slid the shower door shut and began to undress. It was a wonderful feeling, taking a bath after a long, refreshing sleep. "So, why are you here anyway?"

"To help you with your mission," said the blond child.

Mission? Kira stopped and stuck her head out of the shower door. "What mission?"

"Captain Janeway decided that you'd go on the next mission," said Molly O'Brien. "To catch dragons."

"Great," muttered Kira, then paused. Did I hear that right? "Wait. Did you say dragons?"

Molly nodded. "Uh-huh."

Kira slammed the shower door shut. "Dragons don't exist!" It must have slipped my mind, she thought. Well, she did vaguely remember Cassandra saying something about dragons the night before, but she'd passed it off to her being delusional. Or maybe she was delusional right now as well.

"They do," said the blond child. "We saw them on the holoprogram."

"It's a holoprogram," said Kira. "They're not real dragons." The sonic shower blasted at her, aggrandizing her mounting irritation. This is a bad start to a day, thought Kira. She stepped out of the shower as the cycle ended. "You can't get killed on a holodeck."

"We turned the safeties down, and we didn't even come close to being hurt," said Molly innocently. "Besides, Mommy says that holodecks make things like they're real."

"Q probably made them up." The blond child stuck her hand out. "I'm Naomi Wildman, by the way."

Kira shook Naomi's hand. "Hello, Naomi." She remembered now that that was precisely one child on board Voyager. It had to be her.

"We know how to get past the dragons," said Molly. "Quinlan showed us how."

"Quinlan?" asked Kira.

"Our friend," said Naomi. "She wanted to help us."

A holographic character, thought Kira idly. "And how did Quinlan say you had to get past the dragons?"

"With brooms!" said the two children brightly in unison.

"Brooms?" Kira laughed. "A measly broomstick isn't going to help much… the dragon would probably burn it or eat it."

"No," said Molly, "you ride the broomstick. And get past the dragons."

Kira gave her a look like she was crazy. "Riding a broomstick? What do you think I am, a witch?"

"Witches aren't the only people who can ride broomsticks," said Naomi. "Quinlan showed us how. First you have to call for the broom, so you hold your hand out like this-" the girl did a demonstration- "and shout 'Accio broomstick!' Then when it comes flying past you get onto it and kick off. You use your hands to steer it left or right. And it goes faster when you dive and slower when you pull up."

"It's very easy," said Molly persuasively. "Naomi and I could do it."

Kira smiled politely. "Is that something out of a children's book?"

Naomi nodded. "The Harry Potter series, from Earth's twentieth century."

"Thanks," said Kira to the two girls as she headed for the door. "I'll keep that in mind." Dragons and broomsticks- what is the world coming to?

******

A few hours later she was assembled with the other competitors in a large tented dome. Arms crossed tightly, Torres looked unconscionably nervous, scowling up at the white canvas ceiling, then pacing back and forth or scuffing the toe of her boot into the loosely packed dirt floor of the dome. She had taken off her outer jacket of her Starfleet uniform, leaving only the purple tank top and black leggings.

Guinan, in contrast, was her usual calm and composed self, standing tall in her dramatic wide hat and long purple robes. She caught Kira's eye and gave her a wide, dazzling smile that had Kira wishing that she, too, could smile like that. It wasn't just something a visit to the orthodontist could fix; it was just the whole way did it- the flair, the attitude. Still, Kira mused, she might like to try it some day. She could just imagine what the look on Bashir's face would be like: "Doctor, could you give a bigger set of teeth?"

A ten- foot tall version of Q strode into the tent, immediately drawing a hush from the crowd as he towered impassively over them. Kira rolled her eyes at the overstated dramatics, but otherwise said nothing.

"Ah, my little friends, I see that you are all ready to do some hunting today? It was a very exciting blood sport back then in those days, those good old days. But-" he sighed in a wistful manner, "those were the good old days. Dragon hunting, unfortunately, is now outlawed by the recent Protection Clause for Dangerous Endangered Creatures from the SPCC…"

"Which means we can't hunt them today, and thus the match will be cancelled," interjected Torres.

"You wish, my little barbarian lady." Q gave her a simpering grin. "I'm merely changing the aim of the game from dragon slaying to dragon herding."

"Dragon herding," repeated Kira in disbelief.

"Yes. Please don't tell me you don't know what herding is? Surely you Bajorans have some form of sheep as well?" He gave Kira sidelong glance. "If not, you might want to ask your captain for advice. I'm sure she has had a lot of experience herding those silly bleating Starfleet officers around."

At that, Torres' expression darkened, and it was none too happy to start with. "If you're not going to stop insulting me-"

"Oh, why bother being so touchy, my dear?" asked Q, as Torres prepared to reach down to toss her boot at Q's head. "Save your energy for the dragons."

Suddenly remembering the purpose of their Quest, Torres dropped her hand and docilely resumed her pacing, quietly muttering.

"Much better," said Q, and he continued. "There are six dragons in the arena. You will enter from the north entrance, and guide the dragons into the enclosure by the south arena in the shortest possible time. The winning team will be judged firstly on the total amount of time they take to complete the task, and more importantly, the number of team members they have left." He favored them with a false, toothy grin. "Now, come forward and take a number, please."

Great, thought Kira, just great.