Trial by Q

by Splinter1

One of my "original" stories of my Dragon (Edward Barnes, but was unnamed in 2002). In this story, Edward discovers that he's in love with Seven after a mishap in his quarters. Janeway and Chakotay are temporarily relieved of command by Starfleet as well. Q and q pay a visit to the Voyager and in the process Edward becomes a Q. SERIES DISCONTINUED due to writer's block. *sigh*

3. A visit from Admiral Paris, a promotion ...

Chapter 3

Personal log...Stardate 55010.4 It's been a few days since Q gave me his powers and my lessons with Tuvok to learn how to control them better and more logically. Starfleet still doesn't know about this incident as the Borg haven't been around since the last message I sent. This is a mixed blessing as I don't know when the Borg will appear. It's not that I couldn't find out with my enhanced abilities, I have no desire to find out.

Seven has adapted to the change pretty well considering everything that's happened and we've been spending a lot of spare time together now that we've basically admitted our feelings towards one another. I've pondered removing her implants as well as Gabrielle's, but, Seven would lose her unique talents. Her nanoprobes have saved the ship several times and, I can't forget Neelix owes his life to her nanoprobes repairing his fatal injuries. She would also lose her enhanced database since her cranial implant houses that information. I couldn't transfer it to her brain as the human brain is not designed to absorb that amount of information.

However, I did use my powers to see if Gabrielle could access Seven's implants. It did turn out to be a fluke on their part. After running through Gabrielle's remaining implants, I could see that while I could safely remove about half of them, she'd need the remaining ones for the rest of her life. I had no intention of altering her future with my new powers, but, I could use my powers to enhance her implants as she grew up.

Captain Janeway and Chakotay were glad to return to their posts several days ago and needled Harry on his promotion. Lt. Kim finally planned his little party with Neelix's assistance and he's got it planned for this evening, at 2000 hours. It took longer than he originally planned, with the rapid changes in our situation, but, it's finally scheduled. He's invited the entire crew to it, meaning that a skeleton crew would be running the ship in mini-shifts until the regular crew returned from the party. He's planning on using the Fair Haven simulation as the site of the party, and that would be interesting in itself, I thought. I wonder if he plans on using the characters from the simulation or just the scenery. The problem is that they've achieved limited sentience and would feel left out. For the most part, they've adjusted to the fact that some of their friends are from the stars and not nearby towns. It was scary, though, for a while. I still feel that Janeway got lucky in convincing Sullivan to believe what he would have considered to be an enchantment or spell. I recalled that particular period in Earth's history as it was before I could safely drop my cover. It was one of those long stretches of time when I didn't dare reveal my true self to mankind, but, allowed myself to become a mythological being.

Things around the ship are slowly returning to normal, but, I still have a feeling that something was about to happen that we wouldn't like too much. But, I dreaded the moment when I'd have to make a choice. I recalled my conversation with Will Riker a decade ago about the brief time he was given the power of the Q and promised Picard that he wouldn't use his new powers, even if it meant allowing someone to die or intervening on their behalf to restore their life. I, too, dreaded that choice because I knew that it would happen someday. Riker grieved because he was forced by his word to let someone, a young girl, die. That's when he almost forgot who he really was, until the senior officers on the Enterprise-D refused his gifts. That earned Q a rather nasty dressing down from the other Q and was pivotal in his eventual fall from glory for a while.

I do not know if I could force myself to let a crewmember die when a snap of my fingers would restore them to life in an instant. I do know that if Seven were to die, there was no way I would leave her dead unless she told me to let her die. I do know that if she reaches a ripe old age, I would let her die with dignity and put a word in for her with God to show some mercy.

As for me, I've got an interesting future ahead. I fully expect Q to return to take me on a tour of the universe or to use my powers more often or something. Also, I still need to know if I should actually keep these powers or tell Q that it was fun, but, I no longer want the powers. I'll hold onto them for now since they do enhance my natural abilities.

With my daily personal log finished, I headed over to visit Gabrielle for a while over in Astrometrics with Seven. I wasn't sure, but, I was beginning to think that the trip was going faster than it used to.

Another flash of light appeared and Q fell into step beside me.

"Why are you walking to Astrometrics when you can teleport there?" he asked.

"Because I'm not letting your gift change me, Q. I could see teleporting from Voyager to Earth or some other distant place, but, I'm not wasting your gift on a ½ second teleport to Astrometrics unless it's needed. As I am just going to visit Seven and Gabrielle for a casual visit, there is no need," I replied.

"Well, that's a good reason," he said and continued to walk along side me. He still was insisting on wearing the Starfleet uniform.

"You know, Q," I said, "That uniform really doesn't become you. You've never been to the Academy and earned the right to wear it, much less those Admiral bars."

I waved a finger and Q's attire changed to something more suitable, a set of causal clothes, monogrammed with the letter "Q" on them. He looked down and saw the change.

"Mmmm," he said, "You've been learning how to use your powers. This actually fits me. I think I'll keep it."

"It's better than parading around the ship naked as the day the other Q dumped you into Picard's lap," I replied, "I'm glad that you like it. That's the finest Earth silk ever made."

"I know," he said, "I am Q, remember?" That was like the Borg's usual retort, "We are Borg."

As we walked, the klaxons sounded as the red alert lights came up.

"Red alert," Janeway's voice announced, "All hands to battle stations! Dragon to the Bridge."

I swore and teleported, using the Q teleportation method instead of my usual one.

I appeared and said, "Report, please."

Janeway merely looked at the screen. There were five Borg Cubes in our path.

"Open hailing frequencies," I said. From Kim, "Go ahead, sir."

"Dragon to the Borg. What is happening here?"

Admiral Paris' face appeared instead, he looked angry.

"This is Admiral Paris. What is the meaning of this? We gave express orders that Janeway and Chakotay were to be relieved of duty and detained. Now, I see that both are on the bridge. Explain yourself!"

It was obvious that this was a live hookup.

"Admiral, I believe that it's better if I explained this to you, face to face."

"That's impossible, Admiral, and you know it! I want an answer now, or I will relieve you of duty," he said.

"Nothing's impossible, Admiral. Also, you know that I outrank you, just on seniority alone, so don't ever threaten me again unless you want me to take it really personal."

He had the good sense to blanch a little bit. "What do you mean, nothing's impossible?"

I snapped my fingers and the crew saw Admiral Owen Paris disappear in a flash of light. A few seconds later, he appeared on the bridge.

"Welcome to Voyager," I said, "As I said, nothing's impossible."

"You've got the power of the Q?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yes, I got these a few days ago, actually. If you will follow me into the Ready Room, you will be given your answer, and I want some answers of my own."

He complied and I sat down. "Please, Owen, sit down. I don't bite, you know. Sorry to drag you out here. I had intended to visit personally tomorrow afternoon, but, I see that you've forced the issue.

"I re-instated the captain and first officer, on my personal authority, until such time that I am convinced otherwise. That's all the answer that you will receive, Admiral. I feel that what the Federation is trying to do is wrong and overreaches their authority. We haven't been able to call Starfleet for guidance and orders, much less any missions.

"Even from here, without the Borg relaying your signal, a subspace message would take at least 5.75 years to reach HQ and would probably be so degraded that it would be ignored."

"You want to know why, don't you?" he asked.

"That, and who? Doesn't that person realize that this is an extraordinary circumstance and we must do what we have to in order to get home as well as survival. And, we will get home, under our own power. I'm not going to snap my fingers and drop us into orbit around Earth or any other planet. Admiral, I'm not going to force the Federation into stopping this proceeding or something that violates the tenants we hold dear. When we are finished with our chat, I'll return you home, safe and sound, and with data that confirms that we were doing what we thought was right due to the lack of higher authority."

"Well, the who was Vice-Admiral McHenry of the JAG office," Paris replied, "He's a fairly new appointee who is a 'by-the-book' head of JAG. He felt that Voyager's actions here warranted strict action. With the Borg Alliance, finding Voyager was an easy task for him and he wanted to make an example out of the crew."

"Owen," I replied, "Other ship's captains have bent or even broken the Prime Directive without being forced to step down or submit to this humiliation.

"And, to be honest, since your last communication, the morale of this ship had reached an all time low and reached a near tragic level a few days ago. That, I cannot easily overlook. When you return, please remember to tell this new Admiral that he's got a powerful enemy in the Delta Quadrant. I did not like having to rescue both senior officers from a suicide attempt."

Admiral Paris' face drained of color for a moment before he regained his composure and said, "I'll tell him, Dragon, but, I hope that, for both your sakes, you don't desire revenge or anything stupid.

"But, you said that they both tried to kill themselves? Might I ask why?"

I replied, "That's a fair question, Admiral. These orders from this new guy sent them over the edge. Their life is this ship now. They've known nothing of the Federation and Starfleet for over half this time and, against all odds, including some incidents where this voyage should have been terminated for one reason or another, we've managed to survive. Both figured that if they were to die, things would settle down on board the ship. I probably would have been the captain and Mr. Tuvok, the new XO.

"That's why I reinstated them, Admiral. Once a member of the Q showed some mercy and healed their physical injuries, I knew that the best therapy for their injured mental state was to re-instate them and release them from custody. I'm not going to make excuses or further justify my decision, but, it will stand for the time being.

"As for revenge. You've known me for a long time, Owen. I don't seek actively revenge, I never have unless there was a valid reason for it. I may avenge a wrongful death, but, even then, I don't take much pleasure in it. There have been many times when I've gotten some 'petty revenge' against someone and called the debt settled, even if the wrong greatly outweighed the revenge I might have gotten. That JAG Admiral may have goofed up and my 'revenge' will be making him sweat my reaction/response for a while. It might or might not occur. It might be him facing court-martial or merely getting a swift kick in the pants...or nothing at all. I haven't decided, to be honest."

"You know that you can be stripped of rank for this act, correct?"

"As the Borg would say, 'rank is irrelevant'. I do not mean to place myself above the Federation and I would prefer not to be read that way. This ship comes first and has since we were stranded here. We've strived to uphold everything that we've been taught and merged two separate crews into one cohesive unit. One Starfleet Crew and the other Maquis, some with very little formal Starfleet Academy level training at the time of our stranding. We've overcome that. We've overcome the threat of the Kazon and their various sects. We've defeated the Borg Collective and saved not only the Delta Quadrant, but, the entire Galaxy from Species 8472.

"We didn't get any commendations for those actions except for the official notations in my personal logs and ship's logs.

"If you want to strip me of rank, fine. This crew will still look up to me, no matter what happens, Q powers or not. Regardless, I still view these proceedings as illogical and without sound merit.

"For one, how are you going to present the witnesses against Janeway at courts-martial? You cannot and if you cannot do that, you're denying her the rights provided under our Constitution and Starfleet regulations 143 through 145.3 and other relevant regulations and rulings of the JAG office.

"If we resign our commissions, en masse, you also have a limited case or none at all, especially if we set this ship down somewhere and 'de-commission' her ourselves.

"The choice is really yours, my friend. I don't make threats or anything like that, but, you've got a serious problem. I've got a ton of seniority and it would take a vote by the entire Federation Council to strip me of rank.

"Finally, as I said, that new JAG Admiral has made an enemy as I take this situation personally. And, Q Powers or not, no one needs me as an enemy.

"Admiral, you're here as a guest. I do apologize for dragging you out here and I'll return you when you want to leave. You're not a prisoner. Say the word and you'll be back at your desk, but, you're welcome to stay as long as you like.

"Might I ask a favor, though? As you're probably aware, there's a lot of activity over at HQ concerning your sudden disappearance. If you'd say that you're here as a guest and will return ASAP, that may stop a kidnapping charge against me."

He replied, "You've given me a lot to think about, Dragon. I'd like some time to be alone before I go back, and, maybe interview some members of the crew for character reports, if that's all right.

"And, I appreciate your candor. I'll do that little favor for you since you've given your word that I'm here as a guest and may return at my leisure."

"Well, if you want to talk to the crew, that's up to the Captain, Admiral. You'll have to talk to her first, not I. And, thank you for the favor. That makes us even for my past favors your way. Please let me know when you want to return home." He nodded and rose to leave. I escorted him back to the bridge.

"Mr. Tuvok," I said, "Would you escort our guest to his quarters?"

"Certainly," he said, "How long will the admiral be staying?"

"Until he desires to leave," I replied, "All he's got to do is call me via the intercom and he'll be sent home."

"Thank you," he said and escorted the visiting Admiral to the guest quarters.

"Captain," I said, "He'll want to interview members of the crew. He's curious now to see what this crew thinks of us. It might help if we offered cooperation instead of resistance."

I waited until there was another signal from the Federation, which I would have routed to his VIP quarters. It didn't take long for another relay to be established.

A vice-admiral I had never seen appeared on screen.

"Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?" I asked.

"This is Vice-Admiral McHenry, chief of the JAG office. I demand to know what happened to Admiral Paris!"

"He's here, on Voyager, as our guest, Vice-Admiral. Also, since I seem to be talking to the jack-ass who is causing us a major headache, I want to go on record as opposed to your heavy-handed activities against this crew," I said.

"Who are you to talk to me like that?!"

"You don't recognize me, do you?" I asked. His silence was my answer, "All right. I am merely known as the Dragon. I have had the flag rank of Admiral since before the original Enterprise was launched in the year 2152. I'm not referring to registry number NCC-1701, but, the first ever United Earth Ship Enterprise. This gives me the right to address you as I see fit!" That last was said with a trace of draconic anger behind it. Easy there. No sense in scaring the man any further than he needs to be. He'll know soon enough that I could crush his career, even from this distance, I thought to myself and allowing myself to calm down a bit.

To his credit, though, he didn't seem fazed by my little display of temper. He did come to attention, though. I waved him to resume his seat.

"No sense in being hostile, Vice-Admiral," I said calmly, "I'm just wondering how else you could screw up your career? It's not a threat, Vice-Admiral.

"However, I do not like what you've done thus far. I see you as a major annoyance and negligent in your duties. You are also reckless and impatient. You are reckless because your actions almost cost us our Captain and First Officer to an illogical suicide attempt...that I take personally and will weigh heavily in any future promotion hearings for you. You are impatient because you could have waited until we returned to Federation Space and escorted us home to face any pending actions. We are not dumb here, Vice-Admiral, we know that some of our more drastic actions may be reviewed when we return and explanations required as to why we shouldn't be up to our eyebrows in courts-martial. I would be within my authority to end this proceeding, but, I will not use that authority or impose my will upon you using the power of the Q. But, I will ask, Admiral to Admiral, that you consider postponing any proceedings against this crew until such time as we are able to fully answer them while within the boundaries of UFP Space. You never know, Vice-Admiral, what may happen. A little leeway until we can return home, on our own, goes a long way in getting that flag rank you're obviously working towards.

"Finally, might I recommend talking to some Vulcans on the necessity of logic and patience?"

The import of what I said slowly sank in: If he allowed the matter to drop for a while, he could get a nice flag rank sometime in the future. If he pressed it, he might find future promotions hard to come by or might no longer get promotions. I basically told him that, yes, we would face the music, but, it was at a time of our choosing, not forced on us by an over-eager vice-admiral...who might not have gotten that high had I still been on Earth. He would have been taken under my "wing" and advancement would have been slower, but, earned nonetheless. It was a fair offer seeing how he must have realized that he'd just hit a "brick wall". I was also telling him that I protect my shipmates from threats and his actions might have cost him one opportunity to advance, but, that would be the extent of my "revenge".

"Let me think about it, sir," he said.

"Take your time, Vice-Admiral. I've got nothing but time. I'll direct you to Admiral Paris' quarters, though. I'm sure that you want to verify that he's in perfect health and not held against his will."

"Thank you," he said. I pressed the buttons and he was transferred over.

Captain Janeway looked over at me and said, "You were a little harsh with him."

"Captain," I replied, "He doesn't realize this yet, but, he's lucky I only gave him a mild dressing-down. You've seen crewmembers on board here that were on the receiving end of blistering dressing-downs. I seem to recall giving you one or two as well."

"Don't remind me, sir," she said, "I'm still waiting for the one for trying to kill myself."

"Answer this, Captain," I replied, "Have you given yourself a lecture/dressing down yet?"

"I have," she replied. I nodded, "Consider yourself dressed down by me, then, Captain. Sometimes, I let a person's conscience do my 'dirty work' for me." I smiled and she breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Thank you, sir," she said.

"You're welcome, Kathryn," I said, "But, let's not have any more episodes, shall we? There's nothing that an informal chat can't solve."

"Point taken, sir," she said.

"I'll be in my quarters with Gabrielle," I said. She nodded, "Have fun."

I teleported to my quarters, where Q was waiting.

"Most impressive," he said, "But, why didn't you use the powers we gave you to get them off your back?"

"Q," I replied, "I'm not going to use this gift to force people to comply with my wishes when simple talking will work just as well and the person is aware of their decision. I'm also not going to wave my hand and drop this crew home unless each person really desires it of their own free will. I think that the crew have grown to love being here and exploring this quadrant.

"Do you like exploring this universe, Q?"

"When I was a young Q," he said, "I adored exploring and seeing what sights there were to behold and learning new experiences."

"You see my point, then," I said, "I can drop us home in a few seconds, but, that robs the crew, and myself, the ability to see things for the first time. I'm not like you, Q, I'm used to taking things slow. It doesn't mean that at some point, I won't use your gift to explore the furthest reaches of the universe and see a bunch of things that no human can ever achieve to visit.

"But, I need to be able to do things without too much interference. I'm not used to these powers and I need to learn to control them before I really do something I'd regret."

"The Q don't need to have regrets," he said, "We're above that."

"Are you?" I countered, "I don't think that you are above something as basic as emotions. How many times have you displayed anger or disgust, Q? If a member of the Q is above that, why would you have been hurt when Sisko slugged you? How chagrined where you when Picard read you off several times? Did you even listen or were you too angry at a lowly mortal for being right?"

"That's a low blow," he complained, "Sisko hit me right where it hurts, and Jean-Luc came close several times to being turned into a German Shepherd."

"Like you did with Dr. Crusher, huh?" I said with a smile, remembering the logs filed, "You've proven my point for me, Q. If a Q cannot be physically hurt, that leaves only pride to be hurt. You didn't really expect Sisko to deck you with one punch. You were too cocky and arrogant, and that cost you. You lost face with the other Q, that much I do know."

Q had the decency to blush a little bit. "I hate it when mortals are right," he groused.

"But, I've never been mortal, Q," I pointed out, "Therefore, in at least that respect, I was an equal. Before you object, though, I'm not comparing myself to the Q. I know that even my life has been nothing more than a blink of an eye to you, not even that compared to the existence of my homeworld. I certainly don't plan on being a true equal for a long time."

He laughed, "Again, you've got a good point. I must be going, though, Q is waiting for his tour of the Beta Quadrant and he's like his mother sometimes."

A bolt of lightning struck Q in the rear-end and he yelped in pain before disappearing.

I heard a laugh from the living quarters. Seven had witnessed the whole exchange and found his departure amusing. So did I, actually.

"Hi, Seven," I said with a grin and walking over to her for a hug and kiss, "You're off-duty early. Is something wrong?"

"No," she said, "I finished my duties early and came down here to see how you are adapting."

"Well, I haven't turned Voyager into anything yet, so, I guess that means I'm adapting pretty well."

"That's good," she said, "Everyone's talking about Admiral Paris being here for a visit and that you brought him here. Was that really relevant?"

"At the time, yes, it was highly relevant. It still is as he's got a lot of say with what happens to Janeway. That vice-admiral I talked to seems to be a bit high-strung and over eager to prove himself. Sometimes, Seven, I do wish that the Borg would assimilate some pains in the neck I've known."

"If they are that bad," she said, "They might be unworthy of assimilation. The Collective actually rejected several would-be assimilation victims recently."

She proceeded to fill me in on some convicted murderers that were scheduled for forced assimilation, but, the Borg decided that they couldn't be assimilated without causing some harm to their view of perfection. Seven told me that there were a few instances when a person's individuality would threaten the Collective as a whole and they learned to avoid such encounters after having to terminate several drones who caused disorder among the Borg's idea of order. But, then, I've seen how that order comes in handy.

Seven was a prime example of that since she leans on that imposed sense of order daily. When stripped of the Borg association, even I could see it was useful to Seven and the other ex-drones we've encountered. It does have drawbacks, especially when the children were still here. It took Chakotay and I to convince Seven to loosen up on the order. She still likes being orderly, but, isn't imposing that as strongly on Gabrielle. But, I had a feeling that Gabrielle would learn the Borg way on her own and copy it for herself.

Over the years, I had found that the Borg, while still evil, could be learned from and their ways could benefit mankind without being assimilated. Seven would be an excellent instructor once we got back home. I fully intended to recommend her for a teaching position once we got back.

We sat and talked for at least an hour before Gabrielle woke up from her afternoon nap. Of course, she had filled her diaper, but, I figured that it was a good time to practice a little bit with my new powers. I snapped my fingers and a moment later, she had on...a clown suit.

"Ooops!" I said and tried again, focusing on the task more. Gabrielle returned to her normal clothing and a new diaper.

"Be glad that she didn't mind," Seven said, "I would have been very upset if that had happened to me."

I turned around and felt a major blush forming. "Then, dear," I said, "Don't look in the mirror right now."

"You didn't?!" she said, looking down on herself. Poor Seven, my attempt had literally stripped her clean. I hadn't seen Seven naked until then, thus the cause of my intense embarrassment. I snapped my fingers and a moment later, her cat-suit/uniform was back on.

"I am really sorry, Seven," I said.

She didn't look angry, though, "At least you didn't try to throw me through a bulkhead again." She smiled and I breathed easier. She was most understanding unless someone threw her a major curve ball and then, she had a fiery temper. Giving her alcoholic drinks was also not advisable. Her Borg technology cannot cope with the alcohol, and her Borg order tends to go out the window then, leaving a very hungover Annika in it's place. It normally wasn't fun dealing with Seven as she sobered up. She tended to be more hostile, even with that inhibitor in place. But, I had an idea that alcohol and that now deactivated inhibitor weren't exactly compatible.

But, Seven was forgiving most of the time, and this was one of those times. I had never realized it until that near fatal accident in my quarters, but, looking at things, I realized that I had fallen for Seven well before then. Her imposed, yet maintained, Borg personality and intelligence suit her just fine and is a counter-part to my own. While I keep a cool head in a crisis situation most of the time, I rarely saw instances when she would lash out, but, when she did, the person usually deserved it and she wasn't afraid to let the person know that they deserved a chewing, even if that person was Kathryn Janeway or myself.

Janeway, however, doesn't tolerate it from anyone, not even Seven. She'll listen for a few moments, then, cut the person off. I don't even chew her out that often. It's more of a courtesy thing with me since I technically outrank her. I've only had to chew her out for-real three times in the last eight years, and, when I do, I'm wearing my admiral's bars, not commander's pips. Any other times, and I've sat her down and discussed the situation informally and off-the-record. She really deserved a chewing for the suicide attempt, but, to be honest, I couldn't bring myself to do that. That's why I had told her that her conscience would be enough of a chewing. She's harder on herself than most crewmembers realize.

I still recalled that dark region of space and our encounter with the "Dark Aliens" and the Malon. It was funny seeing Paris refuse an order, then, Harry's refusal, then Seven's blunt "I will not comply." Janeway looked at me and I told her, "Don't look at me, Captain. I'm not complying either, and you can't court-martial me."

But, Janeway did get even with me eventually, but, I didn't hold a grudge. She sent me on an interesting mission to a Class Y planet, to help gather fuel for the ship. Besides, I was the only one on board that didn't exactly need an E-Suit, but, I use them on the Demon Class planets as they would overtax my abilities to the point that I might collapse. I only would go down if there was an emergency. But, now with the Q derived powers, that was no longer a concern and I could, if I wanted, make the fuel we have last forever.

Then, I realized that I could cheat a little bit and make it so that we never had to stop for fuel and I could stock the galley with a lot of fresh fruits and veggies from the Alpha Quadrant. Neelix would get more leeola roots for his personal usage since he liked them more than the rest of the crew would ever like them. I'd talk to the senior staff first, though, and see what they felt.

I did, however, get some fresh coffee and a coffeemaker for Janeway, since her birthday was coming up in a few days, with the best water that a Q could provide. Those were deposited in her quarters, and, sure enough, when her shift ended and I was on the way to the bridge for my stint in the chair, my comm-badge chirped.

"Janeway to Dragon, did you get me this coffee?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I did. It's an early present. Those are, hopefully, the best coffee beans Earth has to offer."

"I'll try them out first thing in the morning. Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, Captain. Dragon out."

Of course, by then, we were moving again, the Borg vessels had moved on to other things that they needed to do, like more assimilation, probably. We were still on course for the fuel stop and a few hours away from it, which would certainly make it part of my shift and probably into the next one. We also had that "wetting down" party for Harry during this time.

I entered the bridge and sat down in the chair.

"Good evening, sir," Tom's relief said.

"Good evening, Ensign Hudson. How are you doing tonight?" I asked.

"Just fine, sir," she said, "I've got an interesting request for you, sir."

"Let me guess. You're interested in going to Mr. Kim's little party, correct?"

"Yes, sir. In fact, the entire bridge shift wants to go, sir," she said.

"How long until we reach our 'fuel stop'?" I asked.

"At current speed, we should arrive at 2230 hours."

"Excellent!" I said, "Slow to Warp 3 and report new time of arrival."

"Our new arrival time is 0217 tomorrow, sir," she replied.

"Set helm to auto navigation mode. Set all other bridge controls to stand-by mode. We're going to a party, folks," I said with a grin. I was looking forward to this party as well. Neelix had told me that he felt the crew needed a morale boosting party and Harry's promotion was a good enough reason if he ever heard of one.

The bridge crew filed out, leaving me alone for a bit. "Computer," I said, "Monitor all ship's functions and sensors. Alert me to any situations that require crew interaction until 2300 hours."

"Acknowledged," the computer said. I left the bridge and headed for the mess hall when Q re-appeared beside me.

"I thought you had to take the kid to see the Beta Quadrant, Q," I said with a grin, "You might as well join us since you're here, but, please, no pranks on the crew. This is a morale boost for them and is sorely needed. I know that I need it as well."

"Since you asked," he replied, "I will join you and 'keep my nose clean'. Q enjoyed his tour, though. He's learning a lot, actually, but, I'm worried about him. The rest of the Q are not sure that he knows all there is to being one of us. He's the first child that we've had, ever, and, sometimes, I am at a loss on how to be a parent."

"Do you discipline him in the ways of the Q?" I prodded, even more curious.

"We've tried," he replied, "Nothing's working well." I raised an eyebrow at that one.

"You're welcome to go through our library computer for information on child-rearing, Q, if you feel a need to gain knowledge," I said, "Also, Q, you cannot be afraid of punishing your child when he does wrong. Place boundaries for him and tell him that if he goes beyond those reasonable boundaries, he will be punished in a suitable manner.

"Like, let's say that he's playing around with some planets that he shouldn't be playing with. What would you do? Or, here's something else. Let's say that he destroys an entire civilization like humanity? What would happen, Q?"

He had to think about it. "Q," I said, "If you have to think about it, the damage will have been done. There are many space-faring people out here and the sudden loss of one for unknown reasons might destabilize a region of space and have long lasting problems. What I would do is quite simple if he broke the rules. He would have to live as one of his victims, and without his powers, for a while. Maybe it might be for a long while, maybe living out a 'natural life' as one of his victims and only being reprieved near what would have been his death. To a Q, that's not very long, but, to a mortal, it's painful at the least and worth the lessons taught.

"Does he know that with the power of a Q, that he has some awesome responsibilities to live up to? Did you teach him what they are? How about taking him on a 'Father-Son working trip' to see how a Q deals with the responsibilities imposed upon him?"

He thought for a moment, "You're right, Dragon Q! When I became a father, that gave me a new outlook on being a Q. I've tried to become more responsible since then. I learned a lot during our civil war, and I haven't forgotten it."

"Q," I replied, "Is your son old enough to fully understand why he was born? Why Captain Janeway is his 'godmother'? I am willing to take the time to teach him, certainly, but, only after the trouble with Starfleet has been settled."

"No need to worry about that," he said, "I stopped in and saw that your words moved that Vice-Admiral like you'd hoped. He's recommending to your Federation President that all the charges be dropped, without prejudice. I think that things will settle down for you."

I wheeled to face Q, "You didn't interfere, did you, Q?"

"Certainly not!" he protested, "He never knew that I was there. I wanted to see why some people feared you despite yourself at times. He seemed somewhat eager to let the matter drop, muttering that he didn't want his career stalled out so soon."

I relaxed visibly, knowing that he told the truth. I was surprised that the man was afraid of my "long reach", but, I wondered why he didn't know that I was also trapped here. Maybe, he thought that he could take that chance anyway.

"All right, Q," I said, "I'll take that responsibility on one condition...that you do things my way and not interfere. Tell your son to report here at 1400 for lessons in 'With great power, there must be great responsibility 101', and that I'm a harsh instructor and not hesitant about meting out fitting punishments for misbehaving. If he gets turned into a slug for a while and without his powers, that's his choice. Agreed?"

"Of course!" he said with a grin, "The Q would be in your debt if you can succeed."

"You can repay that debt by having other members of the Q stop in for a refresher course at their leisure. You will be first, right?" That last was said with a wink, though.

It had the desired effect of making a Q blush with embarrassment...or was it chagrin.

"Fine," he said, "1400 it is."

"Well, I'm off to a party, Q," I said, "You're welcome to attend as long as you don't pull off any of your annoying pranks like turning Seven into something that she'd probably get rather upset about."

"You care for 'Borgy Girl', don't you?" he said. That was a mistake. I wheeled on him and slammed him into the wall. He slid down with a grunt.

"Lesson one, Q," I said, "Don't mess with me when it comes to Seven of Nine. The powers of Q only enhanced my natural abilities, and, I'd hate to have to really teach you a painful lesson."

But, even as I said it, I reached down to give him a hand up. Yes, I was offended by the statement, but, also willing to let it slide after I said my peace. Little did I know that that slam had moved the ship a bit, the computer adjusting course almost immediately, though.

"You pack a wallop!" Q said.

"Of course, Q." I said, "and to answer your question...Yes, I do care for Seven of Nine, very much, as well as the baby. I'm very protective of them as well as this ship. With the Borg Collective available as friends, this ship really can't be beat. We've got an excellent tactical advantage, I do believe."

"We are aware of your arrangement with the Collective," Q said, "We've allowed it to progress as we feel that humanity would benefit from your brokered deal. We do not see it ending anytime within the next few hundred years, at least. Your friends in the Federation are happy with the arrangement since it brings stability to your quadrant. The Collective is happy since they are able to assimilate what they need to better their perfection and give enhancements to the Federation, who, is sharing the fruits of their bounty with the Klingons and Romulans."

"Excellent news, Q!" I said, "I'm surprised that the Federation is willing to share technology with the Klingons and Romulans. It benefits all the cultures nicely."

"The Q are pleased, to say the least," he replied as we reached the holodeck, "We never thought that a peace treaty between the humans and Borg would bring such peace to a whole quadrant. While there are still the various Neutral Zones, even those have started to come down with limited conveys able to pass through without incident."

We entered the room and most of the senior staff was already there. I saw Seven and Gabrielle with the Captain, so I headed that way. Admiral Paris was also there, but, he looked nervous. I had an idea why, though. Tom and Owen were quite estranged, even now, but, I hoped that Harry's little party would break the ice between father and son before Owen requested to be sent back. It might be a while before they saw each other and I crossed my fingers that they would at least talk.

Meanwhile, Q was merely taking in the scene, behaving himself, actually.

I was somewhat surprised at that, though. But, I also knew that he'd probably liven the party up a bit.

Janeway looked over and saw Q standing there and an icy glare came our way before she physically walked over.

"What are you doing here, Q?" she demanded. He replied, "Is that any way to treat an invited guest?" She raised an eyebrow at that bit of news and looked my way.

"I invited him, Captain," I said, "He's promised to behave himself and, so far, he's honored that word. Besides, he's already had a taste of that could happen if he messes with certain members of the crew."

"Is that the thud we felt a few minutes ago?" she asked.

Q nodded, "I'm afraid so, Kathy. Seems your superior officer is a bit touchy when it comes to Seven of Nine and that infant of his."

"Serves you right, then, Q," she said icily, "We were all basically told to protect Gabrielle, but, then, she's a member of my crew and I'm just as protective of the crew as he is. But, I didn't know about Seven being just as protected."

"He touched a nerve, that's all, Captain," I said, "After that little incident in my quarters a few weeks back, I've been a tad over protective. It's one of my 'character flaws', I guess. I've always been that way with people I care about. That's why I'm so protective of this entire crew, not just Seven and Gabrielle.

"By the way, Q. Please remember to call the captain by either her rank, or Kathryn, if she permits it. She's not fond of 'Kathy'."

"It's all right, sir," she said, "I can tolerate it from Q." She was resigned to Q being there at the party and as long as he kept his cool, things would be fine, I thought. He didn't have much of a choice, though. If he stepped out of line, he'd find himself tossed out the nearest airlock and a Q-proof deflector in place. I'd let his son in, out of respect for the Captain and my agreement with the lad's father. It was still odd thinking of Q as a father, though, and would take some getting used to. I couldn't complain, though. I was beginning to enjoy the new powers, more than when I had similar powers several thousand years ago.

Admiral Paris and Tom were talking more and I knew in my heart that they were beginning to mend their fences a bit. Janeway and Chakotay were also chatting and enjoying themselves with the Fair Haven residents. The EMH was playing his minister's role fairly well as he mingled and gave words of spiritual advice to those who wanted some. He looked like he had heard a few confessions as well and had taken to being the ship's "father confessor" as well. Unlike the actual residents of Fair Haven, the Doctor rarely issued a penance for an actual crewmember's sins.

Neelix was making his rounds of the crew and residents with whatever he could come up with for chatting. He had buttonholed Tuvok, as usual. Tuvok, for his part, played the perfect foil for Neelix's jokes at times. Seven and Icheb were talking with Naomi as they waited for the dinner to be served.

Q was also taking the time to study how we relaxed and boosted our sagging morale. He appeared to be keenly interested for a change. He got a look on his face for a moment and snapped his fingers. Then, he looked pleased again. I raised an eyebrow at that.

I walked over to him and asked, "What was that for?" He replied, "Unwelcome visitors were getting too close for comfort. I cloaked Voyager and they should pass us without seeing us. This 'party' is most interesting, I think."

I tapped my comm-badge and said, "Computer, run short range scan and report."

A moment later, "There are five ships of unknown design 15 light years away and approaching at warp 3. They are not scanning for anything. They will pass in 30 minutes."

"Slow to Warp one until they have passed, then, resume original course and speed," I ordered. The ship slowed down to the new speed and Janeway came over.

"Report," she said.

"Nothing to worry about, Captain," I said, "There are some unknown ships heading our way. Q believes that they might be hostile and cloaked the ship. I ordered a temporary slow-down, just in case. The computer said that they should pass us shortly without detecting us at all."

She glared at Q for a moment, then, she shrugged her shoulders and went on her way. She would have been more hostile if I hadn't been around to explain, I think. Given Q's track record with Sisko and Picard, Janeway had enough reason to raise an eyebrow, but, since he started visiting us, he had changed enough that I doubted that any real harm could come to us. The Borg were bad enough when they were in a hostile mood, but, I'd hate to see an entire race getting on the bad side of a Q. It would make assimilation look like a walk in the park, I suspect.

There were no other threats to the ship and, sure enough, about 30 minutes later, the ship automatically resumed it's speed. Q kept us cloaked for a while longer until I told him that the threat was long gone.

Meanwhile, Admiral Paris and Tom were still talking. That in itself, was a good sign. I was tempted to eavesdrop on the chat, but, I figured that it wasn't really worth the hassle if either found out. It was hard, though, given my new abilities.

I noticed that B'Elanna had brought Miral to the party. As the newest baby aboard Voyager, she was getting doted on by a lot of people and would be for a few weeks or until B'Elanna got tired of it. I had yet to see her because my duties aboard the ship had, sadly, gotten in the way. I planned on fixing that problem, though. I owed them a lot of babysitting seeing how either one of them was willing to give me a hand with my own toddler, it was only fair that I return the favors when I could.

I headed over to see the child as Q made his rounds, even entertaining some of the guests with a few minor tricks.

"Hello, sir," she said, "How are you tonight?"

"I'm fine, B'Elanna," I replied, "Also, I'm not exactly 'on-duty' right now, so, I think we can drop the protocol a little bit. How's Miral?"

"She's doing well, Admiral," she said, "She caught a bug a week or so ago, but, the EMH was able to prescribe a cure. Would you like to hold her for a bit?"

"I'd be honored, B'Elanna," I said. She held the baby to me and I took her for a moment. Miral didn't seem to mind the change and looked up at me. I couldn't help but give her a smile.

"She's adorable," I said, "If you need a babysitter, just give me a call. I owe you and Tom quite a few favors for you babysitting for me on short notice."

"We'll remember that, Admiral," she said, "Looks like a friend of yours is heading over." I turned to see Seven of Nine approaching us.

"Good evening," she said to us.

"Hi, Seven," I replied. B'Elanna also greeted Seven as she looked down on Miral and ever so gently traced her human hand over Miral's muted facial ridges. Miral seemed to enjoy the contact and gurgled her happiness.

B'Elanna said, "It's amazing, Admiral."

"What's that?" I asked, curious.

"We've all seen how powerful you really are, even in human form, yet, you hold a newborn with the gentleness of any of us."

"That's because I do have a weak spot for babies, B'Elanna. Yes, I can tear apart a Borg Cube from the inside and not really break a sweat, but, my true strength lies in being gentle when it's needed. As you probably read in my files, I've mentored and raised a lot of children, mainly human obviously and each one knew that they were loved and protected. Even Miral knows by instinct that she's as safe with me as she is with you or Tom. Babies, regardless of species, know when someone intends to do them harm."

Seven said, "When I was a drone, I helped assimilate thousands of children. Yet, this one doesn't flinch anymore than Gabrielle would have."

"You've changed, Seven," I replied, "In the years that you've been with us, you've gone from a scared drone demanding to be returned to the hive to someone that I do love because of her humanity and even caring for the people on board. Your days as a fearsome drone have certainly ended. We all have finally accepted you as a member of the crew and our family. I guess you've been assimilated, dear." The final part was said with a smile. Seven smiled at the joke a bit.

B'Elanna's jaw dropped a centimeter seeing that. "I never thought I'd see you smiling, Seven," she said, "I like it!"

I nodded, "So do I. I see you've been working more on your sense of humor. It suits you, I think."

"Thank you," she said, "May I hold the child?" B'Elanna nodded, so I handed Miral off to Seven. She was in a really good mood and tried to reach up to grab Seven's cranial implant access. Needless to say, little Miral didn't have enough hand-eye coordination to achieve that task. Seven's expression softened, as it usually did holding Gabrielle. Then, I knew that she would be an excellent mother someday. Seven was usually so serious most of the time that no one really knew what her emotions were really like. When she was holding a small child, though, her mask dropped and we could all see her emotions. I figured it was the lingering traces of her original personality trying to assert itself despite the Doctor's assurance that Annika was no longer actually there or at least so deeply buried by the Borg personality and order that a young girl's personality just cannot escape. I was hoping for the latter, though.

Tom and Admiral Paris came over just then and even the Admiral's usually staunch face softened on seeing his grand-daughter for the first time. Seven handed Miral to the Admiral without even being asked.

"Dad," Tom said, "I'd like you to meet Miral Paris, your grand-daughter." The scene was touching and, on an impulse, I snapped my fingers and got a holo-camera.

"Admiral," I said, "I cannot send you back home without a picture to 'hang on your wall'. If you, Tom and B'Elanna would get together, I'd love to take the picture."

"Only if you're in it as well," Tom said, "As Miral's godfather, you should be in the picture as well." I was shocked to find that out.

Seven said, "Dragon, you can pick up your jaw. It would not look dignified to see you with a gaping jaw, would it?" I closed my mouth and handed the camera over to Seven.

"Uh, sir," B'Elanna said, "We'd like Seven to be in the picture as well. Tom and I would be honored if she'd be Miral's godmother." It was Seven's turn to drop a jaw.

I spotted the EMH nearby and called him over, "Doc, would you mind taking a picture for us?"

"I'd be delighted," he said, taking the camera. We all gathered around and a few seconds later, the Doctor had taken the picture. He snapped a few extra shots as well before I said, "You might as well join in the pictures."

That started a whole round of picture taking with various members of the crew. I even talked Q into taking a few shots before getting him to smile for the camera. He had been behaving himself the whole time, which was a minor surprise, and I thought he'd like to take some pictures back home.

After I had gathered enough pictures, I made extra copies for people who wanted some. Admiral Paris got enough spread around his family and to give some to B'Elanna's father. He had confirmed that her mother had died in an accident several months ago, setting the galactic record for ESP. Admiral Paris said that he had informally talked to the senior staff and other members of the crew and said that he was impressed with what he had found. He was also puzzled as to why Vice-Admiral McHenry had decided on such an action in the first place, seeing how we had managed to protect the Federation even from the Delta Quadrant.

He was even surprised to see a member of the Q on board the ship and the same one that had caused Picard so many problems was having a good time without causing any trouble. I gave Admiral Paris copies of the pictures of Q so that he could give them to Captain Picard, with my compliments.

I looked at the chronometer and saw that my time at the party was drawing to a close as was the current bridge crew's turn and they started filtering up to the bridge.

Admiral Paris was sent back home as well, having gathered the information he needed and then beginning to mend things with Tom. I had a good feeling about what I had seen, especially when he held Miral for the first time. He also wished Seven and I luck, which caused Q's eyes to roll a little before I stared him down real quick. He was in no mood, I guess, to taste another not-so-friendly tap. But, then, I figured that he was not having a very good day until he popped in for the party.

Q left as well, after I reminded him of his scheduled appointment with me the next day along with his son. I figured that I had my work cut out for me given the situation with the Q. With some luck, I could teach the youngest Q to use his powers in a responsible manner. It wouldn't be easy with teaching a being who could wipe out entire solar systems with a "sneeze".

Back on the bridge, moral was pretty high, compared to the previous few days. There was a general sense of relief, actually, as the feeling was that the trouble concerning the captain was being resolved. We'd know in a couple of days, at most. The next scheduled datastream and Borg relay were two days away.

We also were only an hour or so away from the fuel stop, so I gathered an away team to brief them on the procedures that we were going to use. I had to ask Tom and Harry to come along, seeing how they had previous experience on a Demon Class world. Seven was going along as well and, during the briefing, she lectured briefly on the need for efficiency as well as speed. That raised an eyebrow with me on the speed issue. Seven is normally calculating in her movements and not one to rush things.

However, she said that the planet we were stopping at had a higher than normal temperature and radiation levels. The Borg had scanned it recently and relayed the information to Seven. That explained her change in demeanor.

I reminded them that if anything happened to their suits or something else goes wrong, that I was to be called immediately, no matter how unimportant it seemed, even if it was a stubbed toe. With the high temperatures and higher radiation, the total amount of time on the surface for a mortal was cut down drastically. We'd have just enough time to gather samples for processing before having to leave. I could stay, of course, given my special nature. That would make it easy to transport the fuel and crystals up to the ship, anyway.

That also meant that I could go down without a suit at all. As a new member of the Q, I supposed that I didn't need air anymore and that the radiation wouldn't matter. My communicator was still needed, however, that would probably adapt on it's own to the harsh environment. I'd have to test it to be safe, I supposed. I knew that since I'd gotten it, that it definitely adapted to my original nature every time I had to use it on an away mission where my Dragon form was required. I had to actually adapt a little bit since it's way of adapting was by shape shifting as well. It "read" my nervous system and picked up the shape change commands and formed another scale on top of one that normally forms. It even adapted to smaller or different forms as well and I had begun to think of it as a natural extension of my own body. It still needed to be activated manually like a standard communicator, but, as some species found out, I have merely have to tap out a special sequence to call for a Borg sphere or cube, whichever was needed.

Except for that one captain I wrote about at the beginning of this part of my story, most other hostile races would stand down when informed that the Borg could be contacted as reinforcements. Sometimes, they needed convincing, but, as soon as they saw the Borg ship dropping out of warp or transwarp, they surrendered. Of course, I got the Borg to leave them alone. Sometimes, it was hard to get the Collective to depart, though. They tended to be stubborn when it came to assimilation. Fortunately, though, sometimes their scans showed that the hostile force, while a threat to us, was not worthy of assimilation, just yet. When that happened, the Borg would simply leave while I told their forces that they got really lucky in that the Borg considered their technology to be unworthy of assimilation and politely, but, firmly told them to beat a warp path for their home before the Collective changed their minds. Then, it worked and we were left alone or grudgingly given permission to cross their space. Of course, we hurried through those areas, complying with their instructions fully. There was little sense in provoking them any more than we really had to.

More often than not, though, we were unmolested. I suspected that our reputation was preceding us into some sectors because Seven had been surprised on several occasions when she was certain that the resident species would take offense or at least object to our passage. Some had offered an objection, but, when informed who we were, they sometimes backed down, but, some didn't. Of course, if we could go around their territory, we preferred to do that instead of a conflict. Other times, we had to talk our way through their space anyway. Others took offense to our "bodyguards", but, that couldn't be helped. We also bent over backwards to prove that we were not gathering information solely to help the Collective with their assimilation schedule. I had given orders that no en route scans be transmitted to the Collective anyway.

While I felt no guilt about calling the Borg for backup when needed, I was not about to permit anyone from the crew to actively assist the Borg in assimilating innocent species. It was a fine line, obviously, as sometimes our calling for assistance did lead to entire civilizations being assimilated at a later date. That sometimes bothered me, but, Seven was kind enough to explain that it was probable that those worlds were targets for assimilation anyway given the nature of their technology. Personally, I felt that offering technology to the Collective from the Federation was more or less "protection money", but, that as long as the Collective was happy and also sharing their booty with the Federation, it balanced out nicely. Therefore, my conscience did not bother me.

As I was thinking, it got to be time to go down to the surface. I walked over to the Delta Flyer and got in. Tom, Harry, Seven and the rest of the landing party were already there.

"Sorry I'm late, folks," I said, "I assume that everyone is prepared for the trip?"

"We're ready, sir," Tom said, "Opening the landing bay doors now."

I nodded, "OK, let's go. Permission to take off is granted." Tom expertly moved the Flyer out of the shuttle bay and we headed for the planet. Even from orbit, we could see just how hostile it was. It certainly wasn't a vacation spot.

As we entered the upper atmosphere, the ride got bumpy and I knew that the landing was going to be tricky, at best, but, we had the best pilot on board taking us in. The ride got really rough as we approached 35,000 feet and Tom said, "Man, this is getting nasty. Scanners are showing that we're heading into a thunderstorm that makes the ones back home look like spring showers. It would be difficult to move around as well."

"Can you take us through it, Tom?" I asked above the buffeting.

"We don't have much choice, sir," he replied, "It's part of an entire cluster 300 kilometers wide. That was the cloud layer that we were seeing. The rain appears to be a sulfuric acid. The adaptive shields should be able to compensate, though."

We had taken the time to copy the Borg's enhancements to the shuttles and Delta Flyer, so, I was breathing a little easier on that score, but, if the rain lasted too long, the shields would begin to weaken, just the same. It certainly prevented anyone from leaving the Flyer unless I tried my Q powers to remove the threat. That, I was not willing to do, mainly because, there were going to be away missions that I was not a part of and I felt that the crew did not need me changing the environment to suit them unless there would be a need to.

Tom was able to flare the Flyer for a fair landing on the surface a few minutes later as the lightning flashed around us and the heavy rains fell. We could see the drops flowing off the shields as well.

"Shields holding at 97%, sir," Harry said. I nodded, "OK, they will firm up on their own, they need to adapt to the constant impacts as well as the temperature and radiation."

Harry replied, "I think they already have. Shields are at 99% now and holding."

"Excellent!" I said, "How long before we must make a decision on waiting out the storm or trying to head back to the ship?"

"If the shields hold, we can stay for up to six hours," the EMH said. I had asked him to come along, as a precaution. His emitter was able to withstand the higher temps and radiation without any changes to it. I was beginning to suspect that the alliance was still going strong when Captain Braxton would be born, so the future enhancements would already be included in the current emitter.

Fortunately, though, the acid rain stopped about two hours later and we were able to leave the Flyer to gather our samples. As we suspected, though, normal communication with Voyager had been terminated due to the conditions. Even my communicator had a difficult time maintaining a connection, but, it was the best we could do, though. At least we could talk to the ship.

Q appeared again and said, "Phew! What an atmosphere for a new Q to be in."

"I know what you're going to say, Q," I replied, "No offense, but, I am sort of busy right now. Gathering these samples of possible fuel is very important and I need to be able to listen for signs of trouble. As you can see, this is an extremely hostile world for us to be in and, Q or not, I can't afford to be distracted.

"Yes, I could make this an easy assignment with a snap of my fingers. But, I refuse to do that. As you know, not every planet is Earthlike and livable. The crew needs to maintain their training for hostile worlds as well as friendly ones. I'm not weakening that training by altering the environment one bit."

"That takes the fun out of it, though," he replied.

I turned to face him and gave him a hard stare. In humans and other species, that usually gets them to back down some. Obviously, it had no effect on Q, though.

"Here's your first lesson in 'Power and Responsibility 101', Q. One does not misuse their powers to create artificial conditions that make lives better for others. It is an abuse of those powers, to be honest. I will not do that. Please depart so I can focus on this mission...or maybe you'd like spending time in the brig of Voyager until I decide to release you?"

"You wouldn't?!" he said in shock.

"If you're not gone in 5 seconds, I most certainly would. If you had done some 'homework', on me, Q, you know that I do not bluff. It's your choice, Q. Think fast."

For about 4 seconds, I thought he was going to call me, but, he disappeared as I was raising my hand to snap my fingers. He'd be pissed off when we met again, but, he needed to know that I do not tolerate unnecessary or irrelevant distractions on a dangerous away mission. If he couldn't understand that, he'd have a major problem.

The rest of the mission went fairly smooth, but, as I suspected, one of the crewmen tripped on a rock and went down. When I heard the call for help, I was there in a flash...literally.

There was a rip in his suit and the computer was saying that he was about to go into oxygen depravation and that the temperature was climbing steadily.

"Relax, Crewman," I said, "I'll take you back to the Flyer." I picked him up easily and teleported, Q-style, to the Flyer.

The EMH, which had stayed behind, ran his medical tricorder over the crewman and said, "He's got third degree burns over 5% of his body and inhaled some of the fumes, causing major lung damage. We need to get him back to the ship quickly if I am to treat his injuries."

"No problem, Doctor," I said, "Can he tolerate a normal teleport, or should I use the Q method?"

"He's already had too much oxygen depravation, your normal teleport would take at least 5 seconds to get us to sickbay. The Q method would get us there in an instant, correct?"

I nodded and pictured sickbay in my memory and snapped my fingers. A quick second later, we were in the sickbay.

"Good work," the EMH said, getting down to business, "I can handle it from here, so you can go back down if you want."

I squeezed the injured man's hand, "You're in good hands, son. Things will turn out just fine. I'll stop by to see you in a couple of hours."

"Thank you, sir," he wheezed.

"Don't talk, crewman," the doctor snapped. "My fault, Doctor," I said.

I teleported back to the surface in my normal fashion. It certainly felt different, though, compared to the method used by a Q.

By then, the rest of the away team had collected their samples and were loading them into the Flyer.

Paris asked, "How's the crewman?"

"He's going to recover," I said, "The Doctor is treating his injuries as we speak." Paris nodded and sighed, "That's good news indeed."

Within a few minutes, the samples were loaded and it looked like it wasn't a moment too soon. The clouds that had held off were starting to close in and I could see what looked like rain falling.

"Let's get going, Tom," I ordered, "It looks like a heavy rain is coming and I do not want us getting caught, shields or not."

"Understood," he said, "Hang on, folks. This might be bumpy for the first few kilometers."

The winds had certainly started to pick up as Tom lifted off. Lightning started to flash around the Flyer and the shields were hit several times, but, adapted quickly. After that, the lightning was actually channeled around the Flyer. The acidic rain was also flowing off the shields, causing a constant, but, minor drain.

But, it only took a few minutes to climb above the storms and reach the upper atmosphere. I tapped my communicator.

"Dragon to Voyager," I said. Nothing but raspy static for a moment, then, the adaptive nature of my communicator kicked in and the static cleared up considerably.

"Can you read me now?" I asked.

"We are barely receiving you, sir," Janeway said through the static, which was clearing as we pulled away from the planet and the communicator adapted.

"We are en route to the shuttle bay," I said, "ETA is five minutes."

"Understood," Janeway replied, "We'll be waiting for you. Janeway out."

By then, we could make out the ship, even though it was still extremely small. That would soon be fixed, though. Or so I thought.

There was a loud clang from the outside of the ship followed by a sudden lurch downward.

"We've struck something, sir," Paris said in a strained voice, "Warp drive and impulse drives are offline, we have thrusters, but, we're caught in the gravity well of the planet. We'll reenter the atmosphere in 2 minutes. Shields are also offline and at our present angle, we'll burn up."

I nodded and hit the communicator again.

"Dragon to Voyager. Mayday! We've been hit by a meteor or something and have lost warp and impulse drives. We have less than two minutes until atmospheric re-entry and burn up."

"We cannot reach you in time, Sir, and the tractor beam as well as transporters can't get a lock. You should teleport out while you can."

I nodded and snapped my fingers. We appeared smack dab in the shuttle bay where we belonged.

"OK," I said, "We're back."

Torres and the other engineers were waiting to off-load the supplies, but, gave Tom a look as she surveyed the damage.

"Warning!" the ship's computer said, "Sensors indicate a plasma leak in the Delta Flyer. One minute until warp core breach!" Damn! I thought. I walked over to the damaged part and waved my hand over it.

"Warp core breach averted!" the computer stated.

Q appeared, "Nice recovery." I glared at him and the crew basically left in a hurry.

"If you had anything to do with that, Q, you will not like my reaction," I said.

He held up a white flag and waved it. "You got me wrong," he protested, "I had nothing to do with that! I'll admit that I was watching, but, I did nothing else."

"You willing to take an oath on that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He raised his right hand and a Bible appeared out of thin air. I held up my hand.

"OK," I said, "I'll take your word for it. If you're willing to swear on a Bible, that's good enough for me." The Bible disappeared and Q relaxed.

"Sorry about that," I said, "I'm just a little on edge."

He shrugged, "Apology accepted. I can see that you're struggling between the way you did things and how a Q would handle it. I know that you used our teleportation to move that injured crewman and that walking database to the ship, but, let the database treat the injuries while you returned to the surface your old way."

"Well," I replied, "His injuries were life threatening and required the sickbay to treat. I will use the Q powers to move injured crewmen or to save lives, but, if the injuries are treatable, the Doctor can handle them. I only step in once the Doctor thinks that my healing touch would stabilize the patient. I am going to continue that practice.

"In case you're wondering why I'm not chewing you for calling the EMH a walking database is because he still considers himself to be one at times and he takes no offense to it."

"You could make him human, you know," Q said.

I nodded, "That is something I realized already, Q. But, while he could be made flesh and blood, he might lose all the knowledge he's gained. We'd also have to install another EMH anyway in case the Doctor was injured or killed. Heck, we can't even back up the Doctor as it is. His matrix is just too large now.

"That's also why I haven't offered to remove Seven's implants. Well, she'd lose what makes her so unique and invaluable to us. Her nanoprobes, for example, have come in handy many times. Her Borg database has loads of information that we need."

"You are certainly different than the rest of us," Q said before disappearing.

The away team had wandered back in as well to finish their task, seeing how the situation has defused itself. I could clean the decks with Q, but, I didn't feel like getting into a fight that would leave the ship in a shambles and me getting a royal chewing from Janeway, Admiral or not.

"Good news," B'Elanna said, "The samples you brought back are high grade and totally pure. With the enhancements to the drive and the added fuel efficiency, we can actually get almost all the way through the Beta Quadrant before having to replace the crystals. Maybe, if enough are brought back, we wouldn't have to worry about that until we got home!"

I nodded, "How much is required to get us home?"

She looked at a datapadd and said, "We'd need 10 tons of crystals to get us home, and 500 kilotons of deuterium to get us there, however, we do not have the space for that much."

I considered it, "What about concentrated, B'Elanna? I could use my Q powers to condense the deuterium to a suitable amount."

She had to think about that for a few moments. "Well," she finally said, "That might work and if the engines did not explode because of it, we could probably do it. What do you think, Seven?"

"The plan is ambitious and the Borg modifications would become more efficient with a higher grade of fuel and a condensed form of fuel would be suitable. The engines would not explode," was her reply. I grinned, knowing that in her own way, she thought it was a great plan.

"Well," B'Elanna said, "I don't see why we can't give it a shot, then." I said, "OK, I'll have to see the deuterium samples we brought back and then take that and duplicate it on a massive scale, then, condense it as much as possible. What's the maximum that can be risked?"

"You should be able to take 500 kilotons and condense it to 250 kilotons without hurting it. If you can do 200 kilotons, that would be better," Seven replied. B'Elanna nodded her consent/agreement.

I pulled the lid off one of the samples and extracted it's contents. I ran a tricorder over it and said, "This is perfect as well. I wonder why there aren't a lot of species fighting over the rights to this planet."

"The neighboring space faring races were assimilated, Dragon," Seven said with a sigh. I understood her guilt. She was forced to probably help assimilate the locals at one point. I gave her a hug which she returned. Of course, I had returned the sample to it's case before hand.

I snapped my fingers and a moment later, "Engineering to Torres."

"Torres here," she replied.

"The fuel cells just registered as full and the deuterium is of a type we've never seen before. It's like it's been condensed."

"I know," she said, "How are the engines faring?"

"Considering the condensed nature of the fuel, they are at 110% efficiency now, where they were at 104% earlier!"

"Any strain on them?" I asked.

"No, Sir," was the reply, "There doesn't seem to be any at all." I nodded, "Excellent news!"

Torres told them to monitor the engines for any signs of strain and let her know the moment anything was amiss. I doubted that they would be.

"Seven," I said, "Could the Collective make use of this more efficient fuel?"

"Yes," she replied, "As you are aware, anything that enhances Borg perfection is rapidly sought out and assimilated if possible. The Collective also knows our status every time that they drop off messages and updates accordingly."

That left a problem. We were bound by the terms of the treaty to share information with the Collective if it was relevant information. But, if we gave them the condensed/compressed fuel, they would be able to increase their assimilation parties considerably.

"You are concerned," Seven said.

"He should be," B'Elanna said, "With his new fuel, we could seal the fate of thousands of humanoid species to assimilation."

I sighed, "She's right, Seven. We cannot withhold this information from the Collective, yet, ethically, we have to in order to preserve the individuality of those species that haven't been studied for assimilation possibility."

I could, of course, restore the fuel to it's natural state and erase the logs of the change, but, we couldn't take advantage of the increased speed. With the enhancement, I suspected that the trip had just been shortened by several months, if not more!

In the meanwhile, I called up to the bridge and ordered that we resume course for Earth at Warp 6. We could feel the engines as they increased power and a definite lurch as we went into warp. It wasn't much, though.

I had a short while to figure out what to do, though, unless the Borg sent a ship early. I didn't expect it, though, given the news that the inquiry was probably going to be called off. Obviously, I didn't know one way or the other and I didn't want to find out by using my newer powers. While I really didn't see anything wrong with using the Q powers to help enhance the drives to get us home quicker, I still was uneasy about cutting the trip short altogether.

I had gotten the feeling over the last few months that the crew had finally come to terms with the overall situation of being stranded in the Delta Quadrant and had learned to actually enjoy the trip home and to study what's here. just the data we're bringing back with us would keep the folks back home busy for decades as well as to figure out what areas of space to possibly avoid. Fortunately, the Borg Alliance was also helping in that respect. Seven had told me that the Collective was actually sending star charts to the Federation of the Delta Quadrant. Seeing how our data has some pretty interesting holes in it from the shortcuts we had taken (or given), it was rather thoughtful of our Borg allies. We certainly couldn't call them "friends", not after Wolf 359 and the massive loss of life that ensued before the Enterprise-D had stopped them. That was the only real time that I feared having to teleport back through time to avoid assimilation, but, I ended up taking the pleasure of pinning the Medal of Honor on Will Riker and crew. Picard received one as well, obviously.

However, that was 30,000 light years away and several years in the past. As my duty shift had finally ended, I went back to my quarters and relieved Gabrielle's baby-sitter.

"Thank you, Lt. Carey, again, for taking the time to watch the kid," I said, "What's your pleasure this time? Holodeck time or replicator rations?"

"I haven't even used the ones you gave me last time, sir," he replied, "But, I could use the holodeck time. There's this girl I've been seeing lately and she's wanting to spend some time in the holodeck."

I raised an eyebrow, "That's good news, Joe. Since you watched Gabrielle for 6 hours, I hereby authorize 6 additional holodeck hours to be used whenever you want.

"Computer, increase Lt Joe Carey's holodeck time by 6 hours."

"Acknowledged," the computer said.

"Thank you, sir!" was his reply. I figured that he'd put the time to good use and I was usually generous when it came to "paying" the babysitters. That's why a lot of the crew wanted the privilege of watching Gabrielle, I suppose. Once in a while, I found an exceptional babysitter, though, and made an official notation in their files. While it might result in some ribbing, it looked good on performance reports and possible promotion, when a slot became available.

Also, by then, the remaining crew of the destroyed Equinox had received several good performance reports and I thought that maybe they could regain their ranks...well, at least ensign ranks. I had talked to Janeway about it before, but, she was still pissed at them for following illegal orders. I couldn't blame her, though. They did violate the Prime Directive and were on the receiving end of some of my most blistering dressing downs. By the time I was done chewing them, they were glad to be formally dealt with by Janeway, who obviously retained the ability to hand out the actual punishments. I fully supported her decision to strip them of rank and told them that they could expect no appeals as their guilt by association and the formal charges was indisputable.

But, also, since then, my temper had cooled down and after informally reviewing their progress while on board, they had earned a second chance. Janeway, however, would be a tough sell, and I decided to wait until she was in a good mood to broach the subject. It helped that I trusted them to watch my adopted child and Seven also trusted them, giving them "acceptable" opinions afterwards. Seven is not one that gives trust to any person she comes across, it certainly has to be earned. That worked in those crewmen's favor in the long run.

Gabrielle was glad to see me and gave me a hug. She didn't care if I was just the Dragon or a member of the Q. I was her daddy and that's what counted the most to me.

"Hi, kiddo," I said, "Did you have fun with Uncle Joe?" She nodded her head, but pulled up her pants leg to reveal a minor scrape.

"Owie," she said. Carey explained, "She skinned herself a little while ago, but, it wasn't too bad. I washed it out right away."

"Why didn't you take her to sickbay?" I asked.

"I felt that it wasn't that bad. She didn't bleed much and didn't even cry when I washed the injury, sir," he replied. I nodded, "Well, next time, please take her to see the EMH when I'm on an away mission. Fortunately, this is superficial so, no harm done. I'll walk her over in a few moments. You're dismissed, with thanks."

He visibly relaxed. He probably thought that he was going to get chewed or something. I couldn't chew him for what was a kid's minor goof. Now, if the injury had been more serious, I would have to re-consider letting him babysit again.

"Well," I said, "Why don't we let the Doctor take a look at that?" She whimpered a little bit.

"Gabrielle," I said, "The Doctor is your friend. He only wants what's best for you. It won't hurt, I promise." She merely kept hugging me.

I walked her to the sickbay and saw the EMH real quick.

"It's just a scrape," he said, handing me a dermal regenerator, "Run this over the scrape for a few seconds and she'll be as good as new." He also produced a small sucker for her, which surprised me.

I turned the regenerator on and slowly ran it over the injury for a few moments. Gabrielle merely watched as the skin healed. I turned the device off and ran a finger over the area.

"I told you it wouldn't hurt," I said smiling. "No hurt," she said, then giggled, "Tickles."

"That's a good girl, Gabrielle," the EMH said, taking a quick look at the area for himself, "Sir, you'll be happy to know that the injured crewman will make a full recovery. I've released him to his quarters and he may return to duty in 72 hours."

I nodded, "That is good news, Doctor. I am glad that he'll make a speedy recovery. I'll stop in and visit later on."

"Man hurt?" said Gabrielle.

"Yes, sweety," I said, "He got a big owie helping Daddy pick up some pretty rocks for the ship. Doctor says that he's going to be OK. You want to come with me to visit him? He'd like to see you, I think."

"Aww," she said, "Want to visit. Daddy make him better?" I chuckled. Gabrielle was always interested in meeting new people and seeing the ship. Then, what she said sank in.

"She catches on quick, doesn't she?" the Doctor said. I nodded before asking Gabrielle, "Gabby, did you mean how I helped you just now or something else?"

"Others," she said simply. Then, I knew. She had seen me applying my healing touch on some other crewmen in the past. I was hoping that she'd forget about that because I didn't want her thinking that she was too different from Seven and I.

"It's her cranial implants," the Doctor said, "They store all the memories for Borg, for the most part. She's learned somehow to access those memories."

"Will that be a problem for her in later life, Doctor?" I asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. Maybe Seven knows," he replied, "The Borg normally don't have infants around, as you know."

"Let's go see Momma," I said to Gabrielle. She smiled and jumped off the biobed, but, I caught her before she landed, "Not so fast," I scolded gently, "You could get hurt doing that. Momma would not be happy."

"You've given up on not calling Seven her mom?" the EMH asked.

"Seven got used to the idea, finally," I said, "We talked about it a few nights ago and she said that it was acceptable to her."

"That's good," the EMH replied after a moment's thought, "Gabrielle does see you as her parents, so, it's natural." I nodded, "Actually, Doc. I like the title 'daddy' more than being called 'Admiral' or 'sir' every time someone opens their mouth. It's a precious title to have, Doc."

He looked lost in thought, "I can see your point." I knew that he was thinking about his holographic daughter and family. Oddly enough, when I heard that the child was dying, I mourned for the Doctor despite the illogic of mourning a hologram's "death". But, even Tuvok offered his condolences to the Doctor with the traditional "I grieve with thee."

"Doctor," I said, "You know how I feel about your daughter. I still think back and mourn her loss on your behalf."

"Thank you," the Doctor said, "I still miss her in a way. I'm grateful that you can display feelings for me since I do not have any real emotions."

"Doc," I said, "I can make you human for a day or so, if you want. It's up to you if you want to fully experience what it's like to have flesh and blood, though."

"What about my enhanced medical database?" he asked.

"Your program would be transferred into the mobile emitter, obviously. You'd be perfectly safe and your program would even be updated to include your memories and experience while human. But, before you decide, take your time and think about it."

"I intend to," the EMH replied, "But, it looks like you've got a sleeping beauty there." Sure enough, Gabrielle had fallen asleep in my arms once again. Given that she was of little weight to me, I wasn't surprised to see that she could sleep soundly while in my arms.

"I think that I should take her back to my quarters, Doc," I said, "I'll see you later."

"All right," the Doctor said and I left sickbay. It only took a few minutes to walk to my quarters and put Gabrielle in her crib. She didn't even stir when I put her down, so I figured that I was going to get some rest of my own. That was going to be interesting, though. Q usually do not sleep, yet, my body felt like it needed to.

I also had to prepare a lesson plan for the Q, and I sat down to develop the introductory lessons. I'd give it a few lessons and see how the Q family responded. I suspected that it would be Father and Son for the first couple of lessons, then, others might become curious and "pop in" for a visit.

The first few lessons didn't take much time to prepare, though, and I transferred them to individual datapadds for the early afternoon meeting. I wasn't going to run it like a class, given that the Q would probably take offense to such a setting.

I decided to lay down and relax, even if I couldn't sleep. Well, I got a surprise when I actually awoke a few hours later. I did not think that I required sleep, but, I figured that my body, after several thousand years of needing regular sleep couldn't break that habit overnight.

Gabrielle was awake and playing quietly in her crib, as she always did when she woke up before I did.

"Hi, Gabrielle," I said cheerfully. She looked up at me and raised her arms. I picked her up and carried her over to her changing table. Three minutes later, she had on a fresh diaper and I got rid of the old one.

It was going on 1100 hours and I had the day off. Of course, I was available at a moment notice, but, for the time being, I altered my clothing to a more casual set and settled down to play with the kid for a while. She really enjoyed it when I took the time to be with her. With my duty schedule, it was sometimes hard to fit in an hour or two of "fun".

The door chimed and I called out, "Come in, it's open." My visitor was Seven, fortunately. Not that I minded other visitors, but, I really enjoyed seeing her.

"Good morning, Seven," I said.

"Good morning, Dragon," she replied and bent over to see the youngster. As always, she became less severe and imposing around Gabrielle, "Good morning, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle gave Seven a hug as reply, which was warmly returned.

"What brings you by, Seven?" I asked.

"I just desired to spend some 'quality time' with you and the child," she replied, "It's been a few days since I was able to visit." I nodded, "I'm always glad to see you. Gabrielle misses you when you're not around." I gave her a kiss on the cheek as well, which she returned happily.

"You're in a good mood, Seven," I noticed.

"I had a pleasant regeneration cycle. I am pleased that the warp engines are operating at an efficient level," she replied.

"I know. Hopefully, things will work out all right. The Borg will be surprised that the engines are operating better than they intended," I said, "but, I am still worried that they will demand to know how we did it. They'll be here tomorrow to drop off any messages and pick up others. I can't hide the truth from them, anymore than I could hide it from you."

"While the Collective will want the information, they can't use it," she replied, "I examined the condensed fuel and it cannot be duplicated easily. The Collective would eventually decide that the information is irrelevant and discard it."

I should have known that. The Collective doesn't really have the patience or desire to look into things thoroughly. That's their biggest weakness, but, when they want something that's already been developed, they are like the highwaymen of old...they'll just take it for themselves. I'm glad that they realized that I was not willing to be assimilated and they couldn't adapt to my brute strength. Yes, my breath weapons were basically useless after a few blasts, but, even their personal shields were little match against my full strength.

Besides, in the previous year, I gave into curiosity and had the EMH extract blood samples from me as well as Seven's nanoprobes. The nanoprobes couldn't attach themselves to the cell lining to assimilate the cell. The same thing occurred with Species 8472. That meant that I couldn't be assimilated. But, what was interesting...the white blood cells that had also been extracted destroyed the nanoprobes. Seven and I were both surprised at that, but, I had to be sure. I asked Seven to try to assimilate me. She reluctantly complied, but, as I thought, while I felt the injection itself, my unique nature and immortality prevented the nanoprobes from carrying out their mission. That proved that I was safe from assimilation. That data was transferred to the Collective and they were obviously disappointed at the time. But, the Queen knew that as long as Voyager was left alone, the Collective had nothing to worry about and their perfection was unharmed.

They did not know that I had become a member of the Q, though. That would mean, though, that if the Collective had decided that the alliance was no longer relevant and moved against the Federation, I'd put the Borg into the darkest parts of intergalactic space on the other side of the Universe where they couldn't harm any other species. They'd have the only stars for literally billions of light years while copies of their parent stars were needed to maintain the overall galactic gravity. Yes, it would doom them eventually, and that would be a suitable vengeance for the lives destroyed or assimilated. I'd hate to do that to the Collective, given their recent track record with not only us, but, back home.

Even Picard had to grudgingly approve of the alliance as it did bring about an end to the war we missed. It was actually interesting in a way. We had started picking fragments of subspace messages from the Federation dating back to the war's early days , but, those were far and few between, given the distance they'd traveled. Seven couldn't begin to makes heads or tails out of some of the messages. We even picked up our own initial messages from eight years ago and they were badly degraded, so we knew that they wouldn't reach the Federation.

"Seven," I said, "How would you like to assist me on a project today?"

"I would probably enjoy that as my duty shift doesn't begin until 1800 hours. What is the project?" she asked.

"Well," I replied, "I was asked to instruct the child of the Q in how to use his immense powers in a responsible manner. His people are quite concerned, yet, his parent's are protecting him for some reason and he's not learned what he should.

"He's scheduled to be here at 1400 hours and I figure that the overall time for today will not take more than two hours. His father may join us as well."

"The same one who gave you your powers?" she asked. I nodded, "Yes, he is. He tends to be a pain most of the time, especially around Captain Picard, but, for some reason, he's taken an affinity to this crew. Maybe he feels sorry for us being stuck way out here and wants to make sure we're safe.

"He'd told me a few days ago that the Q approve of the alliance with your former cousins in the Collective, so I wonder if the Q had pushed the Collective into keeping the agreement. They did agree too fast to the idea, now that I think about it."

"The Collective doesn't need long to reach a decision, Dragon," Seven said, "Why debate a subject when there are several billion drones each merged into the Collective? It was a sound choice on their part and they felt that they owed us for saving them when this crew should of, by rights, abandoned us to the not so tender mercies of Species 8472."

I grinned, knowing that she was right. The Collective never needs to take an hour debating the best course of action when they only needed a few milliseconds to decide. We took a huge risk before Kes left us in helping the Collective defeat 8472. We should have been assimilated afterwards, but, crafty Janeway had a plan to counter them. But, it took the Icheb Virus outbreak for the Collective to realize that we are better off as individuals with our "small minds" that could reach different tactical and medical conclusions.

I handed Seven my lesson plan for the day and she perused it for several moments before commenting, "Efficient, but, it's lacking a 'human touch'".

"I can't tailor a lesson plan like a normal class, Seven," I replied, "We're dealing with beings that, according to the records of the Enterprise-D haven an immense IQ. This is designed to be more of a refresher course than anything else. While the main body of the Q are invited to attend, this is geared towards teaching the youngest member how to be more responsible. I, for one, don't want him accidentally destroying a solar system or entire region of space. The effects would be horrific, to say the least. Either the political balance of a region would be destroyed, or an entire section of the galaxy could slowly spin away from the main body as the gravitational links are severed. If the severed arm were to collide with the main body, the result would be seen in other galaxies, similar to what was seen on Earth in the early part of 2002, when we saw direct evidence of a massive collision that actually left a trail of young, blue stars in a distant galaxy.

"Also, a 'human touch' is not really needed, Seven."

"I see," she replied, "I will assist you."

By then, it was close to 1400 and a flash of light announced the arrival of two Q members, the one who had been visiting and a second one, who I assumed was the son.

"You're early, Gentlemen," I said with a smile, "I appreciate that. It gives us a few minutes to get to know each other.

"I am the Dragon, a being who holds several interesting powers, which I'm sure that you already are aware of, so I will not brag about them. The female next to me is my assistant, Seven of Nine, former Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01, you may call her Seven of Nine or Seven. A word of advice, young Q...Do not make the mistake of provoking her as she will not hesitate to deflate the famous Q ego in a flash."

The elder Q said, "I'd like you to meet my son, Q. He's a young, brash fellow, like I was at his age, but, lacking in some discipline."

I held out my hand to the younger Q, which was taken for a handshake. I nodded and assessed him at the same time. His grip was firm, but, not overpowering. He then took Seven's human hand and kissed that gently.

She wasn't impressed, but, neither did she scowl at him.

"Today's lesson will be a short one and will last a couple of hours. I've taken the liberty of providing datapadds with what we will go over as well as introductory homework, which I expect to be done when due. Please feel free to take them with you at the end of the day's lesson. However, remember that they are property of the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet. Losing them is not advisable, guys.

"You'll find me to be a tough teacher who demands that the students give their all. If you get chewed out, it's business, nothing personal. If you are turned into a Denebian Slime Worm or Gagh, again, it's strictly business. Outside of these instructional settings, I will be available for friendly advice with maybe a life lesson tossed in on the side.

"Other members of your race are welcome to partake in these lessons. All they need do is show up. Shall we begin?"

"I'm ready," said the younger Q. His father nodded.

"Ok," I said, "Just so that I don't get confused here, I need to assign a nickname to you both. The father Q will be known as Q1 and the son will be known as Q2. Fair enough?"

Both nodded. "Great," I said, "Q2, what does it mean to be a Q?"

"It means that the Q have absolute power over everything. We can get what we want by merely thinking it into being. We can rule the universe."

"OK," I said, "That's an interesting answer, but, what about the responsibility that comes with this power? Q1, would you explain that, please."

"While the Q have absolute power, we need to use it in a manner of great responsibility. We cannot use use our powers to annoy or harass other lesser species."

I said, "But, Q1, you've repeatedly done just that in the past, haven't you? Even to the point where the Council felt it necessary to punish you severely for a while, correct? Before you answer, though, I bring this up as an example only, not an indictment of past deeds."

"Yes," he replied, "I'm guilty as charged. The Council did, indeed, strip me of my powers and immortality because I was being a fool and embarrassed them. I was placed on board the Enterprise-D to serve out my sentence, where I was met with hostility and loathing by the entire crew, except for their android, Data. He risked his existence twice, to save me from the vengeance of the Calimarian. I was in his debt."

"Did you ever repay Data?" Seven asked.

"A Q always repays their debts, Seven," Q1 said, "I gave him the gift of laughter for a while. He thought that I was going to make him into a human being, but..."

"You didn't want to curse him with true humanity, right?" I asked, "Relax, Q1, I know the story. There was an insult there, but, we're big enough to shrug that off without taking offense. But, you learned a little bit of the penalty for failing to live up to the responsibility that must come with power."

He nodded, "I will not forget that."

"Father," the younger one said, "We're Q, why should we have to be responsible for our actions?"

"Because, son," he said, "Our actions can affect entire star systems or galaxies, that's why."

"Let me demonstrate," I said. I walked over to the display console and said, "Computer, display figure Dragon Lesson 1 and animate."

The computer displayed a spiral galaxy labeled "Galaxy NCJ-1664". I provided the narration.

"As you can see, you have a typical spiral galaxy, slowly spinning on an axis, each star bound by mutual gravity. As we watch the eons pass, something happens."

An arm of the galaxy separated from the main body after a series of stellar supernovae occurred.

"This is what happened when a Q went on a rampage and destroyed the stars along a key gravity point, killing trillions of intelligent beings in the process. Computer, pick one star with planets near it moments before it supernovas and display in a window as it explodes."

A side window opened to display a planetary system with several planets capable of supporting life. As we watched, the star exploded with little warning. The entire planetary system was wiped out, except for the extreme outer planets. Those were jolted out of their orbits to become rogue planets.

As time passed, the severed "arm" first formed a miniature galaxy.

"As you can see, the baby galaxy is beginning to show signs of rotation as it drifts near the parent galaxy. Little do the rising and falling civilizations know...the baby is on a collision course with the inner part of the larger galaxy. The ones on the far side will be spared the destruction. But, for countless others, their doom is sealed."

The baby galaxy began a slow collision with the parent. Countless stars of all shapes and sizes collided with one another, triggering super massive supernovae in the process. In it's wake, young, blue stars were forming from the remains of the destroyed stars. The baby tore through the parent for several hundred thousand light years until, finally, the baby was assimilated back into the original galaxy, which had lost it's spiral shape and become a hideous teeming mass with little resemblance to a galaxy.

The computer information said that over 70 Trillion humanoid species and civilizations were destroyed in either the collision or wars that had started as a direct or indirect result of the collision as regional balances of power were altered. In the space of five minutes, we watched several million years going by.

"What would happen to a Q who actually did this?" I asked.

Q1 answered, "That's fairly easy. The responsible Q would be punished. He could be banished from this universe, never to return and without hope of pardon or parole. He could be executed for his crime. He could be sentenced to live out a mortal's existence on one of the doomed worlds.

"Sadly, what you have shown us actually happened. One of our members caused such a tragic event during the time with Earth hadn't been formed. You had mentioned to Seven a galaxy that was spotted from Earth, right?"

I nodded and he continued, "What you had seen was the end result of that former Q's actions. The council records showed that the Q was forever banished from this universe. He's in another universe that has aged to the point that it is in the final stage of a 'Big Crunch'. Already, it's a fraction of the size it was when he was banished there. Within a million or so years, that universe will be contracted to the size of an Earth grapefruit, in two million to 2.5 million, it will be contracted to the size of an Earth ping-pong ball, where it will remain, totally stable for eternity."

Q2 blanched, as did Seven and I. "Harsh penalty," she said. I nodded, "Yes, but, I would have to agree with this council. This Q had caused unimaginable death and destruction. That Q got what he deserved and while sad, he will be paying for his crimes.

"The bottom line here, is that the Q in question forgot his responsibilities, and the results were horrendous. While a Q obviously in a powerful being, it is important that the Q look after the mortals. I spent most of my life helping mortals, even knowing that they would eventually grow old and die."

I continued on with the lessons for about 30 more minutes and then called a halt to the proceedings. To Q2, I assigned a few small tasks while the older Q would supervise the projects, yet, not interfere. I also assigned them to take place in intergalactic space where, if anything were to go wrong, the risk of mortals being harmed was virtually nil. Q1 would monitor his son's progress through the lessons, but, I was evaluating the both of them.

"OK, Q," I said, "barring any red alerts or anything else that requires my attention, I expect you both to return in one earth week, same time. With all assignments done, obviously. Those will be turned over to Seven of Nine upon completion. You will receive 'extra credit', if they are turned in at least two earth days before the next meeting. You both will be quizzed in one month's time, with a final exam at the end of the course. Other quizzes will be factored in on an as needed basis and without warning. Please inform your fellow citizens that if they wish to join, they have until next week to decide.

"Again, feel free to take the datapadds with you. Do not lose them in a supernova or otherwise let them come to harm, please. Class is dismissed, guys. Thanks for coming by."

Both Qs looked at their respective datapadds and examined their assignments. I'd given them some easy things to do that wouldn't take long. My problem was actually assigning them stuff that they wouldn't see as an insult. Fortunately, I had assigned alternative work for both to do, which, if they went ahead and did those as well as the primary assignments, I'd give added credit. Seven would have her work cut out for her, but, I was testing her informally. If she could teach the Q successfully, I'd make a notation to have her assigned to the Academy as the first recovered Borg instructor. With some luck, I could get an actual drone or two to be guest speakers for the Collective, but, I wasn't ready to test the Alliance that much just yet.

The younger Q left with his assignments while the older one stayed.

"Something I can do for you, Q?" I asked.

"You've made an impression on the kid," he replied, "I'm grateful, for the time being. Hopefully, these lessons will sink in. If they don't, the council might have to take more drastic measures that neither of us would like."

I nodded, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to try to teach your son, Q. He'll walk away from this a better higher being. Over the next few lessons, I'm going to have various crewmembers stopping in to be guest teachers. Seven is my full-time assistant since it takes a lot to tick her off." The latter I said as I placed an arm around her.

"Oh," I continued, "Have you ever seen me giving someone a royal chewing out?" Q nodded, "I kept tabs on you for many decades, actually. I've seen you reduce captains to near tears at times." I laughed, "I bet you did! There were some memorable ones, I'll say that. I recall giving a fairly brash ensign a dressing down and be became a strong captain due to that."

"Ahh, Jean-Luc," Q said, "Yeah, I heard that lecture you gave him. No wonder he feels free to dress me down when he wants to."

"Well, my point is that, if you think mine are bad," I said, "Don't cross Seven either. I've been on the wrong end of a few blistering comments myself."

"Only because you earned them, love," she replied. I squeezed her for a moment, "I know, Seven, that's why I let you have your say. If I goof up, I expect to be told, protocol or not. I've never chewed someone for presuming to tell me off."

"Au Contraire," Q said, "You've bitten off several stinging replies and somehow, delayed a few people's careers because you took what they said personally."

I glared, "Maybe because they crossed a fine line or didn't know when to back down, Q. I'm not above breaking someone's career when they said what they had to say, but, continued to 'beat the dead horse' for months afterward. Yes, I make mistakes and if someone wants to say something about it, they can, but, don't pester me about it afterwards."

By then, it was getting close to Beta Shift and I had the Captain's Chair for the duration. Gabrielle's babysitter was due at any moment, but, I had an idea.

I pulled Seven aside and asked, "How would you feel if Q2 watched Gabrielle at some point. It doesn't have to be now, but, if he can handle the tiny responsibility of taking care of Gabrielle for a shift or two, that will mean that he can handle much larger responsibilities."

"Taking care of Gabrielle is not a tiny responsibility," Seven objected, "But, your plan has merit and I think it will succeed."

"I know that taking care of the kid is no small responsibility to us, Seven, but, to a Q, it's tiny," I said, "And, thank you for your approval. We'll try him out next week, if that's OK." She nodded, "That's acceptable, but, if he allows her to be damaged..."

"I'll be taking a number as you'll dress him down faster than an assimilation, right?"

"You know me too well," she said with a small grin.

"Q," I said, "I got a proposal for you. How do you think your son would handle a tiny taste of responsibility?"

"He'd probably enjoy watching your br...eh, child." I glared at him again, "Be glad that you changed what you were about to call Gabrielle."

He held his hands up, but, I grinned to show that no offense was taken as none was intended. "My back still twinges when I think of that slam you dished out last night," he said.

"I didn't clobber you that hard, relatively speaking," I said. Seven said, "Just hard enough to throw us one tenth of a degree off course."

"I could have thrown Q through the ship, though," I said with a grin. Seven merely frowned, "I'm still somewhat recovering from that accident a while ago."

"Annika," I said, reverting to her human name for a moment, "I deeply regret hurting you that way. If I could erase it from history, I would." I caressed her cheek and she smiled. "It's all right," she said, "If you erased that from history, we wouldn't be together, would we?"

Q cleared his throat, "Well, I need to be going anyway. Until next week." He left in his usual flash of light as Seven and I sat down.

"You're too good for me, Seven," I said, "But, I love you just the same."

"I know," she said. The communicator beeped.

"Janeway to the Dragon. Report to the bridge, please."

"I'm on my way," I said. Seven and I both headed for the bridge and a few minutes later, we stepped out and, on the viewscreen, was a small Borg sphere. They were a little bit early, but, that was OK.

"Time to get the mail?" I asked.

"We think so," Janeway said, but, they haven't answered our hail. I raised an eyebrow and hit my code.

"Dragon to Borg ship. State your intentions," I said.

"We are the Borg. Prepare to assimilate recent messages from the Alpha Quadrant and we will relay any messages to the Alpha Quadrant," their collective voice said. I nodded and sighed with relief.

"Mr. Kim," Janeway said, "Begin transfer of the recent letters home."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said. A few moments later he said, "Transfer complete."

"The Collective will return in 14 days for further relays," the Borg stated and the little ship left via transwarp.

"It looks like Mr. Neelix will be busy, Captain," Harry said, "There are a lot of messages this time around."

"Well," I said, "Let's not keep the crew waiting, Mr. Kim. I know that I'm expecting some form of letter from Starfleet regarding the admiral's visit here."

"Yes, sir," he said, "In fact, it looks like that was the first one in the stack. Shall I transfer it to a padd for you?"

"Make it so," I said. Janeway merely smiled at in Picardian reference. A moment later, he handed me the letter and I asked if I could borrow the ready room. Permission was granted and Seven and I went in to read the letter(s).

Stardate: 55013.4

From: Admiral Paris, Starfleet HQ

To: The Dragon

RE: Results of Fleet inquiry into conduct of the Voyager crew.

My friend,

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that all charges and specifications have been dropped against Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. We have even expunged your recent reprimand given the unusual circumstances.

This was done without prejudice and there is still the possibility of future inquiries upon your return home, but, for now, you may rest easier. We have reprimanded Vice-Admiral McHenry for his actions against your captain and crew. A copy is attached for your consideration.

Tell my son and daughter-in-law that their pictures were warmly received by my family as well as B'Elanna father, who sends you his deepest gratitude.

Godspeed home, Admiral.

Admiral Paris.

"Impressive," Seven said. I nodded and smiled, "Let's give the Captain the good news, shall we?"

"Seven to Janeway. Please report to your ready room. Please bring Commander Chakotay as well."

A few seconds later, both officers entered the room. By then, I had altered my uniform to admiral, which both noticed immediately and stiffened to attention.

I sighed, "At ease, folks. I have here a letter from Admiral Paris. I've got some good news for both of you. The inquiry has been officially dropped, effective immediately. You're both off the hook." I handed Janeway the padd so she could confirm it for herself. I could almost see the added stress finally bleeding off as she visibly relaxed. She really smiled for the first time in days. Chakotay was also happy to read the message.

"Thank you for telling us, Admiral," Janeway said, "I am relieved to see that someone came to their senses, finally."

"Captain," I said, "Don't count those chickens yet. When we return home, we'll still have to face some hard questions."

I retrieved the padd from Janeway and looked over the reprimand against McHenry. It was a career staller, unfortunately. I entered a few side comments after dismissing the two senior officers for relay during the next datastream. Those would also be entered into his file that, while not erasing the splotch on his record, would be favorable enough to partially counter the rather interesting "dressing down" he'd received.

I also switched hats back to Commander as well. Seven was actively watching like she usually does. The rapport between the two of us had grown closer since the accident and she was learning how I operate as well.

We eventually returned to my quarters to see Gabrielle and her sitter waiting for us. Gabrielle looked like she'd had a problem of some sort.

She looked at me and reached over to be held. As contact was made, my enhanced powers kicked in and I saw something that I thought would never happen on board this ship.

"Seven," I asked, "Would you take Gabrielle for a walk? I'd like to talk to the sitter, alone. I'll call you when I'm finished." Seven nodded, but, there was concern on her face.

"Ensign," I said, "Come inside." I was having a difficult time holding my anger back.

As soon as the door closed, I wheeled on the hapless crewman.

"Did you think for one second that I wouldn't find out, Ensign Smith?"

"Find what out, sir?" he asked.

"Do not lie to me, Ensign! Seven and I had made a pact that never would that child be spanked or otherwise abused. As soon as Gabrielle made contact with me, I knew the truth. I'm going to let you explain your actions and if you so much as hide one little detail, you will quickly find out how angry I can get."

He quickly paled, seeing that I had switched back to full admiral. He didn't say anything.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and said, "Don't you have any explanation, Ensign? Any excuse at all?" He shook his head.

"You are relieved of duty, then. You will confine yourself to your quarters until such time as I see fit to recommend a punishment to the Captain. You are hereby prohibited from being my child's sitter again. Consider yourself on report.

"And, if I ever hear of you assaulting a member of this crew again, you will be stripped of rank and confined to the brig! She is a defenseless child, Ensign. How dare you presume to punish her without my or Seven's authorization?"

I subjected the man to the verbal keelhauling of his career and by the time I was done chewing him several minutes later, the door chimed and Seven entered. I'd never seen her so angry as she handed the child to me. The ensign was already scared out of his wits, but, he saw the look on the normally impassive drone's face and knew right then and there that he'd better wish for assimilation.

She then laid into the man like I'd never seen her do before and before she was done, she had him backed against the wall and her assimilation tubes were fully extended. I had to carefully pull her back. "Easy, Annika," I said, "It's not worth it. He's already on report and confined to his quarters. He'll never babysit on board this ship again. We need to let Chakotay or the captain handle this according to protocol. But, to be honest, if he even touches a member of this crew in anger again, I'll send him to the Collective myself." That got the crewman shaking badly and he said, "Please...don't let me be assimilated. I'm sorry that I lost my temper with your daughter. I'll stay as far away from her as possible." It sounded sincere.

"You're dismissed, Ensign. Confine yourself to quarters until informed otherwise. Get out of our sight!" He left so fast that the door almost didn't open in time. Seven then started crying softly and I hugged her and Gabrielle.

"Did you access her implants?" I asked Seven. She nodded, "He abused Gabrielle."

"I know, Seven," I said, "My powers must have accessed her implants as well. I just gave that man the dressing down he deserved, but, you certainly out-do me when it comes to a dressing down. We both need to put it in the report for the Captain and Chakotay. As much as I'd like to dole out the sentence/punishment, it's best to let a neutral person handle it, and this is what Chakotay and Janeway have to deal with, mainly Chakotay, though."

`We spent the next hour calming down and writing the report before sending it off. It was handled quickly, though. A few hours later, we were summoned to the Captain's ready room. She had the ensign escorted by security as well.

Janeway said coldly, "Ensign. Is this report true?" He nodded. "Do you have anything to say before I pass sentence?" He shook his head no.

"You have been charged with child abuse and assaulting a member of this crew. Based on the evidence, I find you guilty as charged. You are hereby stripped of rank and sentenced to 10 days in the brig. You will then be on probation for five years or until we reach Earth, whichever comes first." She removed his pip and handed it to me. He was escorted to the brig by Tuvok. "Is that a suitable sentence, sir?" she asked afterward.

"More than suitable, Captain," I said. Seven nodded while holding Gabrielle. Gabrielle was still somewhat shaken by the whole day, but, our love for the little girl would smooth over any lingering pain. Janeway asked if she could hold Gabrielle and Seven, of course, handed the kid over to "Aunt Kathryn".

Almost immediately, Gabrielle hugged her and said, "Thank you, Aunt Kathy." Janeway melted for a moment and hugged her back, "You're welcome, Gabrielle. I'm sorry you had to be put through this, though. That bad man will not hurt you again."

"Bad man give me owie," Gabrielle said. Seven looked impassive again, but, her emotions were raging. I didn't need my powers to see that, though. I squeezed her cybernetic hand in support before retrieving Gabrielle. Janeway dismissed us and we went back to my quarters for a while.

"We're going to screen more carefully, Seven," I said, "This was a situation waiting to happen, I think. Everyone was so willing to babysit that we trusted everyone. No more. There are some people that we will trust right away, but, others will be screened. With my enhanced powers, that's not a problem.

"I'm sorry, though, that this happened. It shouldn't have and I should have been more in tune with what's happening with the kid."

Gabrielle merely hugged me, in her own way, I think she was saying that she didn't bear any grudge as we walked to sickbay. I wanted the Doctor to take a look and make sure that she was all right. Seven was calming down as well and already her impassive features had come back, so, I knew that she'd be OK

The stop in sickbay only lasted for a few minutes as the EMH did a quick scan and found no lasting harm was done to Gabrielle, but, he probably would have a few words to say to the passenger sitting in the brig.

Heck, I figured that he'd have a rough time after he got out of the brig. I knew that Ensign Wildman would probably tell the guy to stay away from Naomi as well. I still couldn't believe that someone on board would do that to Gabrielle, knowing full well that they'd kiss their career advancement good-bye. As far as I was concerned, that former ensign would never get a rank above Ensign if I had anything to say about it.

However, his demotion created a second ensign slot to be filled and I had some members of the Equinox crew in mind for promotion. They'd served a long enough sentence, I figured.

By then, though, we'd gone back to our quarters and Gabrielle was acting tired, so, Seven took a turn feeding her while I drafted a request for the captain to consider. I was basically requesting that two former senior staff of the Equinox be returned to the rank of ensign. I could order Janeway to do so, but, we had a long standing agreement where I'd stay out of those decisions except to recommend. If she did not want to, I wouldn't force her to.

An hour or so later, Gabrielle was sleeping, my request was done and Seven and I settled in for the night. She actually asked to sleep over instead of regeneration and I certainly told her that she didn't have to ask my permission. I replicated some sleepwear for her, just in case.

I transmitted my request to the captain's "in box". Also, the Captain had agreed to a private request and I was able to take the night off instead of doing the Beta Shift, which I would do the next night. She had realized that I needed to spend time with Gabrielle and Seven.

Janeway always looked out for the welfare of her crew, which I appreciated, but, she was also a strict captain, and, since we'd been stranded here, she'd learned to handle ship's matters without any real guidance from Starfleet. I had originally come on board as an observer, nothing more, only to be dragged along with the ship to the Delta Quadrant and many thousands of light years out of range of my teleportation abilities. I'm basically limited to interplanetary teleports...or was until Q showed up, but, at the time, I was just as stuck.

Seven and I had a long talk that night before she went off to bed She had actually started getting used to the notion of sleeping instead of regeneration. However, she was still somewhat upset at what happened to Gabrielle, but, the time I spent holding her actually improved her mood considerably. I spent the rest of the evening laying down and pondering what I wanted to do. The trouble that started it all had been concluded. Q was behaving himself rather well and I was beginning to consider holding onto my new powers. While Q might be puzzled why I'd choose to remain here when I could leave at any time, I couldn't bring myself to just pack my bags and head home. It didn't mean that I couldn't leave for a day or two, but, I'm only leave long enough to let the families and friends of those we left behind know how we were doing.

Again, my body surprised me by actually falling asleep and I awoke the next morning to the sound of Gabrielle screaming. Seven had already been awakened and was trying to calm Gabrielle, who just couldn't be comforted.

I walked/ran over and placed my hand on her. It turned out that the poor kid had suffered a nightmare triggered by the events of the day before.

"Let me take her, Seven," I said calmly, "She'll be all right in a few minutes." I took Gabrielle and started the long process of calming her down without using my powers except in a passive way.

"It's OK, Gabrielle," I said soothingly, "You had a bad dream, that's all. They can be scary, but, they aren't real." She started to calm down a little bit as I walked around the cabin, but, I was concerned. She'd never had nightmares before, so, she was bound to be scared.

I ended up sitting down in my rocker and gently rocking her for a while as Seven watched with a look of anger on her face. She had figured out the cause of Gabrielle's distress and looked like she was going to head for the brig to personally assimilate the crewman. Gabrielle cried herself to sleep and I carefully put her back into her crib.

"She'll be fine," I said to Seven, "I do not want you going to the brig while you're angry. I can't stop you, but, I will ask you not to. We can go down there later on, though."

"You're afraid that I'd assimilate him, aren't you?" she asked heatedly.

"No, I'm not, Annika," I said, "He made a career killing mistake. There's no way that he can ever get above an enlisted rank. You think that Lt Kim spent a long time as an ensign, it will not even compare to how long this guy will stay at ensign. If we're stuck here for another 30 years, he'll certainly be the fleet's oldest and longest serving ensign. Assimilating him really doesn't solve anything, does it? Are you willing to forgo nearly five years of regaining your humanity, just to punish him?" That took some of her anger away, but, my intentional use of her human name was to remind her that she wasn't Borg anymore. She still might have the implants forced upon her and, yes, I'd remove them in an instant if she asked, but, she was more human now than she'd been since she was six.

"That doesn't stop me from wanting to, though," she countered.

I smiled at her, "I know, dear. I was sorely tempted to send him to a Borg vessel myself. But, it wouldn't have taught him anything, would it? The 'lesson' would be lost on him when he was assimilated. However, there's nothing to stop me from giving him a few nightmares along the lines of assimilation." I chuckled at the idea.

"That's a good idea, but, what does that mean for your example to the Q?" I heard from behind me. Q had silently appeared and without his usual flash of light.

"I wouldn't do it, Q," I replied, "You've got a point there, actually. But, if you want to use my idea on that guy, he's all yours." He grinned somewhat evilly at the prospect.

"I'm kind of impressed, again," he said, "I've punished a lot of 'lesser beings' for less, yet, you are interested in at least some mercy."

"I'm not being that merciful, Q," I said, "I have no plans of forgiving the injury to my daughter. I can overlook the physical injury, but, Gabrielle's been emotionally injured. That, I can't easily overlook. Would you overlook it if another member of the Q had intentionally harmed your son? Don't you think we'd have seen the supernova or something if you have let go of anger worthy of a Q?" He didn't answer right away.

After a few moments, he said, "I see your point, I think. We've always wondered why humans and others care so much for your offspring. But, Gabrielle is not even yours by blood."

"No, she's not, Q," Seven said, "But, she's the closest thing I'll ever have to a child." Then, I knew and my heart sank like a stone. Seven couldn't bear children unless I removed her Borg implants and nanoprobes completely. The nanoprobes would seek out and destroy the embryo almost immediately.

I turned to her and said, "I'm sorry, Annika. I never realized that you can't have children of your own." I reached over to her and gave her a hug.

"I've known all along, Dragon," she said, "Since Borg do not reproduce, my reproductive organs were removed except for..." I nodded, recalling the time she demanded that Harry remove his uniform for sex. Poor Harry, though! He must have blushed twenty shades of red as he back-pedaled away from Seven's demand. A tear slipped down her cheek and I brushed it away.

Q, much to his credit, didn't say anything snide for once. He said, "I'm touched. You know that you could correct the problem..." He didn't say anything more because, I guess he knew that the idea, while a nice thought, would probably be rejected.

Seven said, "I'm used to the thought that I can't ever have my own children. Gabrielle's a precious gift to me. I'm glad that the Dragon and I are going to raise her. Please, don't interfere." Q shook his head, "I wouldn't dream of interfering unless I was asked to. You have the word of a Q, my lady, and I've never gone back on it."

"I know," I said, "Even Captain Picard noted that you took great pains to stay off the Enterprise-D after you lost a wager. Picard still hates you, but, has a very reluctant respect for you. So does Captain Janeway now.

"Just as important, Q, I have a lot of respect for you and your kind. While Picard and others do not care for a Q, it doesn't mean that I have to share those opinions. I'll accept your word, Q, that you will not interfere in our daughter's life, unless it's asked for. She needs to lead her own life, but, I don't think we'd mind the once in a while visit from you after our lessons are completed. What's your opinion, Seven?" I had to include her in the discussion, obviously.

"I don't mind the friendly visits," she replied, "just as long as they don't interfere with her natural development. If she gets into trouble in her later years, she deals with them on her own, like we all do."

Q nodded, "I gave my word already. I would like to observe once in a while. The human way of child raising is interesting, to say the least."

"Humans have had a lot of time to learn, Q," I said, "As I stated before, you're welcome to look over any of our information in that respect as well as other species. If you know of any others from your travels, we'll trade information." He snapped his fingers and said, "I added the information of several thousand species' to your computer and copied your Federation's various methods to the continuum. It will make for interesting case studies."

"One more thing, Q, and that is a favor. If you or your friends visit those time periods, don't screw up history, please. I was there for a lot of that, especially the harder times, so, I would sense any alterations in the timeline."

"Moi??" he asked, somewhat aggrieved that I'd say that.

I replied in French, "Yes, you. Observe and not interfere, please." He nodded his agreement and disappeared before we could say anything else.

"Just how many languages do you speak?" Seven asked.

"Most of the Earth languages, even some 'dead languages' or those that have adapted over time. I also know Vulcan, some Klingonese and other Federation languages. I would say upwards of 500 languages. I would suspect that you are just as fluent in different languages, given the species assimilated."

"Not really," she replied, "The Borg found native languages to be irrelevant. Once someone was assimilated, they spoke in the Borg language, but, the Borg can collectively use other languages." I raised an eyebrow.

"Well," I said, "It really comes in handy to be multi-lingual. Many times, my knowing a language made for easier discussions. I can also absorb a working knowledge of languages after about a week of solo study, or, if there in an interpreter nearby, I can pick up the language in a few hours. Sometimes, the Universal Translator just wasn't able to pick up a language before I could, thus saving the early Federation a lot of hassle."

Seven shook her head and smiled, "I can imagine. The Borg assimilated the history of the Federation from the Enterprise, and I studied the files before I was disconnected from the Collective. It said that you were responsible for several diplomatic breakthroughs before the actual founding of the Federation and was instrumental in convincing several allied planets to join the Federation."

Just then, Gabrielle woke up and I went over to see if she was all right. Fortunately, she was just fine and only needed a diaper change and some breakfast. I changed the diaper, which was filled, while Seven got something for her to eat. She'd begun to graduate to handling her own food, but, Seven insisted that some foods still needed to be hand-fed to her. I snapped my fingers to get rid of the diaper and I figured that dumping it into a nearby star would do nicely. Considering that it would vaporize instantly was a big concern as I still wondered that the ship did with "used diapers", but, I really didn't want to know.

Gabrielle was still acting a little subdued, but, that was to be expected. She'd recover in a few days. The computer said, "Admiral, you have received a reply from Captain Janeway regarding your recent message."

"Read it," I said.

"To the Admiral: I have received your message regarding the Equinox crew and have granted your request. While I am concerned that they may not have spend enough time under sentence, Chakotay concurs with your opinion. I have promoted two members to the rank of ensign, effective at 1400 tomorrow. You may present them with their rank pips. Signed, Kathryn Janeway, Commanding Voyager. There is a list of the crewmen attached."

"Understood. Please transfer the entire message to a data-padd." There was a chirp that denoted compliance and I picked up the message. She'd given ranks to the former senior officers.

I walked over to the replicator and ordered two new pips. I decided that I would call them to my quarters and give them the news. Seven agreed to witness the ceremony.

"Seven," I said, "you've been with our collective for five years now. Have you ever given thought to going through the Academy or taking the entrance exam?"

"Not really," she said, "I am content to not have an actual rank. But, if you want, I can take the exam." I nodded.

"If you are content, then, I won't really push for you to take it. However, you may have to take it eventually as I would want you to consider becoming an instructor at the Academy. Your knowledge of Astrometrics is worthy of a separate course. Starfleet regulations require that you have a rank before you may become an instructor, but, there are exceptions for civilian instructors that the head of the Academy would have to approve. Not even I can waive that."

"I will take it under consideration." That meant that she liked the idea and would actually think about it.

I left written orders for those two crewmen to report to my quarters at 1330 hours, just before their shifts started. I invited Janeway and Chakotay to attend, but, stressed that it was an invite only, not an order.

Well, shortly before the appointed time, the two crewmen arrived, followed by Janeway and Chakotay, which surprised me. I knew that Janeway still harbored a grudge, both on a professional and personal level. I smiled inwardly, though.

I began my spiel: "Welcome to my quarters, gentlemen. I have taken note of your on-board activities since you were demoted out of your ranks.

"Before you worry that you're here for another chewing, you should know that when I have to do that, I do it on a one-to-one basis, not in front of others.

"As I said, I've been watching you pretty carefully since you came on board and found that your work on this ship has been excellent.

"Seven, would you approach, please."

"Certainly, Admiral," she said with two boxes and handed one to each.

"After consulting with Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, it has been decided that, since there were two slots that opened up in the officers area to officially let you two off the hook.

"It is my pleasure to grant you the rank of ensign, with all the rights and privileges therein. Keep up the good work."

They opened their boxes and removed their rank pips. Janeway approached and placed the pips back where they belonged.

"It's time that I forgave your actions under your previous captain," she said, "You've earned your pips back and, with some luck, the other crewmembers of yours will also regain their pips. Congrats."

Chakotay said, "I have been pleased with how you both have redeemed yourselves in our eyes."

Seven then said, "Your work has been acceptable and efficient since your arrival." I raised my eyebrows, "Gentlemen...You've been given much higher praise than we can provide. Dismissed."

Well, both men thanked us for the opportunity to regain their ranks and left, probably still in shock at the surprise we had delivered to them. Seven left to attend to her duties and, after a babysitter had arrived to take care of Gabrielle, I, too, left to do my normal bridge shift. Janeway had decided to take the day off and I owed her a shift anyway from the other night when she let me handle Gabrielle's mental state as well as Seven's.

The shift as well as the next few weeks went by pretty quickly and without any major incidents