Tom sat in his room, watching the classic television set B'Elanna had
given him as a present, and laughed softly at the hilarious antics of the
animated character running about on the screen before him.
He picked at a half-full bowl of buttered popcorn, occasionally tossing a few pieces into his mouth, and savouring their sweet flavour.
He gave a slight sigh, wondering when B'Elanna would finish her shift and come home, so they could go to bed. He hated sleeping in that huge bed all by himself. it just didn't feel right. it felt lonely somehow.
"Mind if I join you?" came a tentative voice to the left of the couch, and he started slightly, turning his blue eyes in the direction of the unexpected noise.
To his surprise, there was the young Q, standing nervously, fingers knotting together over and over again. Tom raised a single eyebrow, and, a little hesitantly, said, "Sure."
Q perched himself gently on the edge of the arm of the couch, and watched the screen, cocking his head at what was going on, even as Tom laughed again.
The concept of a novelty mallet was amusing to Tom, and maybe that was lost on the alien life form.
He decided he should clarify what it was he was watching.
"It's a cartoon. They were all the rage in the twentieth century back on Earth. kids loved 'em, and so did adults for that matter. It helps me calm down after a stressful day."
Q lifted his head slightly in acknowledgement, seemingly transfixed at something so simple and meagre as a cartoon. "Oh," was his only response. The boy was fascinated.
Tom smiled at the Q's reaction. "I can't believe you've never seen or heard of a cartoon before."
Q looked to him this time, his attention drawn away from the animation, even as a coyote was struck with the novelty mallet. "What do you mean? Just because I'm omnipotent, it doesn't mean I've seen it all."
Tom held up a hand. "I didn't mean to cause any offence. I just thought." he trailed off, not quite sure where his sentence had been headed.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm just a little. distracted right now, I guess," Q apologised, and it genuinely seemed as though his mind was centred on something more important.
"Anything I can help with? I've been told I'm a good listener," Tom offered with a friendly smile.
Q shook his head gently from side to side, and he didn't respond. His eyes had turned back to the cartoon, and the coyote exploding drew a slight smile from the boy, almost unnoticeable.
Tom knew something was up, but he didn't quite know what.
* * *
"Death?!" Janeway exclaimed, even as Q was pacing the room. "Isn't that a little extreme? I thought punishment for crimes was eternity imprisonment inside of a comet."
Q nodded vigorously. "Yes, it normally is, but with something this dire, the Continuum has decided more drastic measures must be taken to ensure the boy won't do it again." Q turned to Janeway. "I don't think your teachings are going to help this time, Kathy."
Stop calling me that, she thought impatiently. "You're going to let them execute your own son?"
Q sighed, rather noticeably. "Well, even with my influence in the Continuum, I don't think I can help Junior this time. There's no evidence to say he's innocent."
"What about a father's faith in his son?" Janeway offered, and she realised she sounded a little presumptuous. Maybe that was too much to expect from Q to believe in his son.
Q scoffed quietly. "There's strong evidence against Junior. evidence that the Continuum has decided is enough to seal the boy's fate I'm afraid. His poor mother is in a mess. I think she's on the verge of disowning him again."
That infuriating woman, Janeway thought for a moment, and then said quietly, "So, the Continuum didn't wave the rule about eternal custody after all."
"No, I'm afraid Junior was lying to you on that one, Kathy."
Maybe Q wasn't so innocent after all. if he could lie about something like that, he could lie about other things, right? Couldn't he?
"He got away from me on Garvios VI. He'd slipped away before I even realised. The boy has all of those cosmic nooks and crannies stored firmly in his mind. I couldn't find him anywhere," Q told her, "and then I thought 'wait, where would he go in a crisis? To Aunt Kathy of course!'. and that led me here. I haven't seen the boy in two months." Q looked saddened by this latest dilemma.
Janeway sighed sadly, and looked around her room. She wondered if Q could actually do any damage here. on Voyager. Was her crew in jeopardy whilst the youth was aboard?
"What was this strong evidence you mentioned?" she asked. She might as well see it for herself; make her own mind up over all of this.
Q directed her attention to a nearby viewscreen, and she could clearly see Q -the younger version- standing on one of Hykarias' three moons, smiling broadly.
"This was from the other Q, the witness?" Janeway inquired, and he nodded in verification.
"He watched from a nearby crater."
As Janeway watched, Q clicked his fingers, and the planet started to degrade all over again. and as the witness had claimed. he laughed in enjoyment at the inhabitants' suffering.
"That's enough," Janeway mumbled, and Q complied swiftly.
"Now, Kathy, if you see him, you will let me know. I'll be back in a few hours to check on you, see if Junior's turned up." Q prepared to snap his fingers and make an exit, simply waiting for Janeway's nod.
He didn't have to wait long, and soon after her acknowledgement, he was gone.
* * *
He had decided he couldn't hide anymore, or sit and watch cartoons, and he was about to make his way to Aunt Kathy's quarters, when he heard an announcement over the comm.
"Q, could you come to my quarters please?"
She didn't sound happy.
With a small whimper, he snapped his fingers, and found himself in the Captain's quarters, which were dimly lit. Soft classical music filled the air.
"Aunt Kathy, did you want something?" he asked quietly, his arms linked loosely behind his back. He swallowed dryly.
She had her back to him, and one hand was rested defiantly on her feminine hip, the other up near her mouth, possibly covering her eyes.
He hoped she had a headache, and simply wanted him to get rid of it for her. but that was doubtful. He guessed his father had paid her a visit.
"I know why you're here, Q." Her voice was low, authorative, exactly like that of a parent. the mother he had never had.
He was dreading this.
"You do?" he squeaked, and cleared his throat quietly afterwards.
She turned to him then, and there was such a distinct look of sheer disappointment marring her beautiful features, that it made Q want to break down and cry.
He kept his composure. just barely, but cringed slightly under her assertive glare.
"Hykarias Prime," was all she said, and she said it rather angrily, and mournfully too.
Yep, good old dad's been here, his subconscious whined, as he lowered his head.
He looked back up, as his arms dropped to his sides.
"Why?" she demanded of him quietly, stepping right up to him.
He couldn't bear to look her in the eye. "Aunt Kathy."
"You call me Captain," she told him, and he felt his eyes swell with tears.
He blinked them back, and simply said, "Captain, I swear. I didn't do it."
She glared at him, commanding eye contact, as she hissed, "You expect me to believe you after the proof I've seen?"
He decided he had to stick up for himself; it was either that or the hangman's noose for him. "I've been framed, honest. I wouldn't do that. I don't." he hesitated, "I can't ever remember being there, not since I was a lot younger."
Janeway turned away, and started to pace slowly, back and forth, again and again.
His voice caught as he said, "You have to believe me, Au- Captain."
"Do I?" she asked of him sternly, her head snapping in his direction. "Why is that? Because I have your word? The last time you were here, Q, your word didn't stand for a whole lot. You put my crew in danger!"
"I didn't mean any harm!" he retorted, a little too loudly, and he almost choked on the lump in his throat.
There wasn't any sign of her believing him. He might as well go and tie the knot on that noose himself.
She shook her head. "I've seen the evidence, Q, and there isn't anything that sides with you on this one. I'm going to have to hand you over to your father."
"No," he pleaded, and he couldn't stop the first tear that rolled down his cheek, even as he wiped it away hurriedly, and stepped towards the Captain, "please. they'll kill me. I swear. I wasn't there." his voice trailed off, and he sniffled quietly, trying to hide it as he turned his head downwards to avoid Janeway seeing the tears.
Janeway stepped close to him, and put her hand gently under his chin, and pushed his head softly upwards again, and she looked genuinely sympathetic.
The look on her face ended his macho façade, as he choked on the tears, and just let them tumble from his eyes. He closed them tightly, and started to sob, even as he felt her arms pull him into an embrace. He let his head sink to her shoulder.
His knees felt weak, but he forced himself to stay upright. It was enough of a disgrace to have someone see him cry. him, an omnipotent alien being. A Q.
"Ssh," she eased, her hand rubbing his back softly up and down in a soothing rythmic motion that succeeded in slowing his sobs.
With a forced sigh to try and cease them all together, Q listened as the Captain said, "I didn't think you could do something like that, but I just had to see your reaction. I'm sorry. I should have known you weren't capable."
He hugged her tightly then, and didn't want to ever let go.
She believed him.
* * *
Janeway was at a loss for what to do. She had somewhat of a crisis on her hands. a choice between the father and the son.
Well, that's not a hard choice on its own, she told herself quickly, but then concluded that she had to consider all the facts in this dilemma. She couldn't just side with either of the Q's. there were consequences.
She sighed.
Consequences. the bane of her journey. Everywhere she went, their actions caused numerous, sometimes devastating consequences. There had been many a time that difficult, sometimes gut-wrenching decisions had had to be made, ones that affected life. even on a global scale in some circumstances.
And she had avoided being selfish, to this point anyway. They were so much closer to home due to luck and good deeds. There had been many an opportunity to simply cheat, and glide on home.
Wormholes, cosmic catapults, bribes, 'Think Tanks'! Where did it all come into the equation? If, indeed, there was one for this epic journey.
She groaned, massaging her temples. She tossed the book aside, not having read a single syllable since Q had left her quarters to rest. The poor boy was in a terrible mess.
But how could this have happened? Who would have gone to such lengths to frame a Q? And why this one? Who would have done it? And how?
Too many questions, she informed herself, not enough answers.
She imagined the answer to this conundrum was buried deep in time, and somewhere along the line, the solution was to be found, locked away somewhere.
But that solution was the key to one boy's continuation of life. Even if he was omnipotent. immortal, Q could be harmed, even killed by his own people!
Barbaric, she grumbled inside, and stood, taking it upon herself to pace like a caged, or confused animal.
Kathryn couldn't come to grips with the fact that the boy's own father was in on the hunt. Surely, after all of Q's progress, the parent should be supportive, and look at everything from all angles, not just the one they presented him with, for crying out loud.
She had thought Q had more initiative than that. Look at the mess he had gotten himself, and her into, four years ago. He had started a civil war.
Janeway groaned again, slumping down onto her bed, after having found herself suddenly in the vicinity of it. A good night's sleep seemed like a good idea right now.
She knew when she woke up though, the problems would re-present themselves, and worry her anew.
* * *
Janeway had only been asleep five minutes, when she felt something appear at the end of her bed.
She awoke with a start, and glared when she made out the unmistakable features of the adult Q, the father.
He was sitting, staring at the far end of the room, his back to Janeway. That confused her in itself.
"Q. what are you doing here? In the middle of the night, for that matter?" Janeway moaned, sitting up in her covers.
He glanced back momentarily with a small noise, one that showed he might not even have realised where he actually was, and said, "Oh, I'm back to check on you. and Junior."
Should she lie? Could she lie to a Q?
"I know what you're going to say. the way you hesitated gave it away, Kathy. I know you too well, you forget." Q paused, his shoulders slumping.
Janeway frowned.
"I know he's here, Katherine."
He had called her Katherine. Maybe he was more affected by this than she had first thought. She had gotten the distinct impression that he couldn't care less.
Perhaps she had been wrong about other things too.
Janeway felt the saddened expression sweep like a dark cloud over her face, covering all.
What was she going to do?
* * *
Seven of Nine stood in Astrometrics, working hard on some deep space scans that had her puzzled.
It was irritating, and she couldn't quite work out what the problem was.
Before her mind could settle firmly on the problem, she saw, more than heard the appearance of a being behind her.
She turned calmly, and found herself looking, one eyebrow raised, at the young Q.
He had appeared, perched on the edge of the console, swinging his legs slowly back and forth underneath the workstation, much like Naomi Wildman when she visited sickbay for a routine check-up.
She tilted her head slightly to one side, linking her hands loosely behind her back.
Q did not move. He simply sat, his face glum, his eyes focused on a nonexistent point somewhere towards the edge of the room, low to the ground, his hands knotted on his lap, legs still swinging.
"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice calm as ever.
This time, he reacted, looking up at her, his eyes distant, unfocused, as though he were not looking at her, but straight through her. He looked back down again. "No."
"If you intend to try and embarrass me again-"
He cut her off, "No, no, nothing like that. I just wanted to. sit."
She narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion, and let out a small sigh. "Very well." She turned back to her work, tapping panels to try and scan the area ahead of them more affectively. It did not seem any easier now than when she had originally been trying. Her small, and unintended break, had not helped much.
Seven could feel his eyes on her, and she looked down discreetly, to check whether or not the boy had attempted to amuse himself, as he had the first time he 'visited' Voyager.
Everything was as it should be.
His lack of mischief was a little unsettling to Seven, and she wondered whether or not he was planning something for later. something far more spectacular than when he had previously been aboard.
She glanced back tentatively, and still, to her surprise, he sat almost completely still, obviously deep in thought.
"Is there something troubling you?" she inquired, her back still facing the boy, even as she spoke. Perhaps B'Elanna Torres would have called her rude, but Q did not seem to mind.
"No," he mumbled, and it seemed as though his concentration was elsewhere.
She turned to him then, and said, "For three years, I have studied human behaviour, and yours seems to tell me you are withholding something."
He smiled wanly. "I'm not human."
"You represent yourself as human," Seven pointed out, attempting to make her point.
He shrugged, or something very similar to a shrug made his shoulders rise and fall again.
"Over this period of time, I have learned that humans can hide information quite well. you cannot."
He looked to her, and one of his eyebrows was slightly raised. "You're saying you can tell I'm lying?" He smiled that forced smile again, slightly lopsided.
She nodded once. "Yes, I am. I believe you are lying to me to keep from telling me something extremely personal, and possibly upsetting."
He laughed quietly, nervously.
That sealed it. the boy, omnipotent or not, was lying to her. But was she going to be able to get anything from him?
She heard him sigh, and then, as she looked towards him, with a short smile at her, he disappeared in a flash.
* * *
Q stood from the edge of the bed, and turned to face Captain Janeway. She couldn't lie to him. he knew her too well; he could see it in her eyes. She was too righteous to lie properly. Janeway couldn't lie like he could.
He denied himself a smile, in light of the circumstances, and said, "So, Kathy, where is he? Where are you hiding him?"
She swung her legs gracefully from beneath the Starfleet issue sheets, and stood herself, replying, "I'm not hiding him, Q. I wouldn't hide your own son from you."
Janeway's head turned towards the direction of the living room as a slight noise caught her attention, and Q recognised the noise without even having to think about its origin.
"Aunt Kathy?" called a voice, reasonably quiet, young and masculine. "Aunt Kathy, are you in here?"
The boy walked into the doorway, and halted immediately, a look of sheer panic crossing his youthful face, and his jaw dropped open slightly, as though he were going to speak, but words failed him. His brown eyes turned swiftly to Janeway.
"Don't panic, Q," Janeway said, edging close to the youth, but he backed away, into the living room once again.
Q followed Janeway, who tried again to near the child.
He shook his head, running into the back of an armchair, and groping his way around it.
Q could see now that the boy's hands were shaking. He was terrified.
"Q, stand still, let me explain," Janeway pleaded gently, her voice soft and soothing.
"No," Junior told her sternly, and he locked gazes with his father for a moment.
Q saw tears shining in them, and he found himself slightly ashamed. Had his child taken it upon himself to cry now?
Junior found he was backed into a corner, his father and 'godmother' surrounding him, one staring at him authoratively, the other's eyes filled with sympathy and kindness.
Q rolled his eyes, and ordered, "Come here, Junior. You've got nothing to be afraid of."
After a moment, Junior said, "You're lying. You're going to take me back to the Continuum, and they're going to-"
"Have you killed?" Q offered, and then nodded once. "Yes. They are."
"Q!" Janeway exclaimed, and walked a step closer to the boy, who no longer had room to back away.
As humans said, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Q, I'm not going to hurt you," Janeway insisted, reaching out a hand for the boy to take. but he resisted.
"Oh for goodness sake, if you're innocent, as you claim, then you don't have a thing to worry about," Q grumbled loudly, growing impatient.
"You know that's not true," Junior retorted. He was as confident as he had once been again, and Q found that promising, but also a little disheartening. Old behaviour like this could mean that Junior had reverted to his old ways once more.
Q sighed, annoyed with his son's human behaviour, and reached out to grab the boy by the arm.
With a flash, Junior had disappeared, finally turning to his powers once again to get himself away from his father. Q had wondered how long that was going to take.
"Now look what you've done," Janeway scolded. "Can't you even try to be sympathetic? The boy's terrified of you, and all you can do is order him around, and grab for him. You're even more selfish than I thought."
"What do you mean, Kathy?"
"You want to get this whole mess cleared up, so you don't have to deal with him anymore. Plus, if he's not around anymore, than the other members of the Q Continuum will stop relying on you to take responsibility. You think that if you rid yourself of your own child, then others will probably like you more, because they won't have to choose!" Janeway had obviously reached a limit, and Q was on the receiving end of that breaking point.
He didn't have time for any of this human feelings nonsense. He had a criminal to catch.
* * *
Q breathed heavily as he looked around himself at where he had appeared, and found he was on the bridge, during the night shift.
That quiet Ensign, Harry Kim was sitting in the Captain's chair, and the rest of the senior staff was nowhere to be seen, off in bed.
He envied them, with their reasonably simple lives, and human values, being much more facile than that of the Q's.
Ensign Kim stood from the chair, and reached to tap his commbadge, probably either to alert Janeway, or security.
Q didn't want him to do either, so he clicked his fingers, and the crew suddenly realised that their commbadges had completely vanished, nowhere to be seen.
As Kim opened his mouth to order the computer to alert someone, Q snapped, "Don't. please."
Kim's brow furrowed, and he cocked his head in confusion.
"What are you doing here?" Kim asked.
Before Q could answer, a flash averted his gaze to his left, where a rather angry father, and persistent Aunt Kathy stood.
Janeway was wearing her red Starfleet uniform now, complete with four golden pips, representing her authority.
His father stepped forward, and from the look on his face, he had had enough of chasing the boy. "That's enough, Junior, you can't hide from me anymore."
"Just try and stop me," Q said in a small voice, and moved to click his fingers.
His father beat him to it, and as the younger of the two clicked his fingers, nothing happened. Slowly, his hand went completely numb, almost impossible to move, bolts of tingling pain shooting up and down his arm.
"What are you doing?" Janeway demanded, seeing the slight look of pain on Q's face, as he held his hand, confusion overwhelming him. He had never experienced pain before, and it was unpleasant. He didn't wish to feel it again.
"Oh, you didn't like that?" his father teased, and continued, "Well, if you don't want it to happen again, I suggest you stop playing games, and come back to the Continuum with me."
"No!" Q yelled defiantly, standing to his full height, and glaring straight into his father's dark eyes.
His father stared directly back at him.
Janeway stepped in the middle of them, and loudly said, "Stop this, now!"
Ensign Kim took a step back from the conflict, afraid to get caught up in the crossfire.
Q felt the tingling sensation flow from his hand, and diminish completely. Perhaps his father had lost concentration on his son, and instead had transferred that onto Janeway.
This gave the youth a chance for escape. But where could he go where his damned father couldn't find him as easily?
Resisting the urge to smile a cunning smile, he took hold of Janeway's hand suddenly, and snapped his fingers.
* * *
"What happened? Where did they go?" Q demanded, whirling to Harry Kim, who jumped back like a startled rabbit.
"I. I don't know. He must've taken her somewhere," Harry fumbled, shrugging.
"Well tell someone, and stop stating the obvious. I know he took her somewhere, I want to know where," Q yelled.
Kim rolled his eyes at the superior behaviour of the stubborn being, and calmly asked, "Would you mind returning my commbadge so I can call the Commander?"
"Oh, that damn child," Q grumbled, and snapped his fingers, returning the commbadges on all of the deprived crewmembers.
Immediately, Harry tapped the badge, and in his best 'situation' voice, said, "Bridge to Commander Chakotay."
After a moment, he heard Chakotay's tired response, "Chakotay here. What is it, Harry?"
Kim sighed. "The Q child has disappeared."
"Well, isn't that good news?" Chakotay wondered.
"He's taken Captain Janeway with him."
* * *
Kathryn spun on her heels to look around at her unfamiliar surroundings, and saw trees, and old buildings. Very old buildings. So old in fact, that they were all wooden, and came complete with balconies, and signs such as 'Saloon'.
She spun back around, realising that a long dress was swirling around her legs, petticoat and all, and she saw a young Q, dressed in his gender's equivalent for the time period.
He wore boots, complete with spurs, trouser with dust-covers, a plain shirt with a leather waistcoat, and a hat pushed off the top of his head, hanging down his back on a thin rope.
"Q," she began, "where are we?"
It was then that she noticed the holsters at his hips. six-shooters.
She saw him swallow, and she knew then exactly where they were.
A shot ring filled the air, and Q started violently, grabbing a firm hold of Janeway's wrist, and tugging her fast across the open dusty street.
Another shot sounded, and struck the wood wall in front of Q, and he skidded to a halt. Glancing to his right, the boy spotted a head poking out from behind a barrel, and his eyes went wide.
Janeway recognised the man. rather, she recognised the Q. it was the official from the civil war, looking no different from before. Except that now, she saw the shine of a Sheriff's badge as it caught the light.
"C'mon!" Q yelled, and he continued his sprint across the way, dragging her along behind him. They came to a sudden halt behind a building.
"We're in the Continuum?" she said through clenched teeth.
"Sorry," Q apologised, breathing rapidly, back flat against the planks of wood the building was built from, "I couldn't think of anywhere else to hide. My father shouldn't be able to find us so easily here."
"Us?" Kathryn snapped, and immediately composed herself. She wasn't going to do anyone any good by losing her temper. "What do you mean 'us'? Your father has no quarrel with me." Then she added, "Plus, I don't think hiding in the Continuum is the best course of action for you right now. Remember, they think you destroyed Hykarias Prime."
Q drew his gun, staring at it, obviously having never seen a weapon like it before, saying, "But I didn't."
"They don't know that!" she hissed.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," Q told her, and jumped visibly as another shot cracked loudly against the wood at the mouth of the opening.
"Q!" that same southern accent called, from that same member of the Continuum. "We know you're hiding in there. You may as well come out, and we'll get this over with. You're just delaying the inevitable, boy."
Q rolled his eyes. Clearly, he hated being referred to as 'boy'. Who wouldn't?
"I didn't do it!" he called, checking to see if the gun was loaded, almost spilling the bullets all over the floor. "I was framed!"
Kathryn heard laughter, and it was her turn to roll her eyes. Where just about all Q this stubborn?
She knew the youth was innocent. she had seen his real reaction to the accusation, a display of emotion and shock she had never before seen in a member of his race.
"What do we do?" Janeway asked of Q quietly, relying on his expertise in his own environment.
He looked at her, and he had that same look of bewilderment on his face. "I have no idea. I guess we fight?" He held up the gun.
"No, you can resolve this peacefully. I'll help you. You don't need any bloodshed."
Q raised an eyebrow at her response. "They want to kill me!" He cringed as he realised how loud his voice had erupted, and bit his bottom lip, resting his head back against the building behind him.
Oh dear, he has no idea what he's doing, Janeway resolved, letting out a small whimper, even as another bullet slammed full force into the wood, splintering it into a thousand small shards.
* * *
Q didn't really know how to rectify the situation. everything was a mess. He felt like calling himself a complete idiot for bringing himself -and Aunt Kathy- to the Continuum in the first place.
Why had he done that? Every Q in the place had to know he was here now, and just about every Q was out to get him anyway. It wouldn't take long for him to be discovered.
He made a small pathetic noise, and stared at the revolver weapon he held in his right hand firmly. so tight his knuckles had turned white.
He loosed up on his grip, and cast a tentative glance at the Captain, who was busy staring to the opening in the alley.
Before he could say anything, a large form appeared, suddenly, abruptly. Q started violently, even as the horse and rider pushed their way into the alley. The figure upon the steed held a gun of his own, and had it pointed in their direction
The animal's eyes were wide with fright, and it hopped on its forelegs, hooves pounding the ground, dust flying into the air.
"Q!" Janeway exclaimed, clearly understanding the intent of the rider, "Run!"
He scrambled from the ground, fumbling to put the gun back in its holster, just managing to, even as the horse reared up behind him.
Q, in a desperate attempt to escape the animal, jumped, and rolled behind some discarded logs to the side.
The horse's hooves slammed back down into the dirt, and he swallowed dryly. The horse, being created by a Q for purposes of the Continuum, could probably do him some damage. if he understood the way this all worked.
Immortal my ass!
He scrabbled his way out on hands and knees from behind the logs, just to appear in front of the large horse again, even as it reared up in surprise once more.
It let out a loud whinny of terror, legs high above Q's head.
He cowered, covering his head with his arms.
He felt a forceful tug on his shirtsleeve, and was yanked from underneath the animal just before it would have crushed his skull.
He panted in shock, and, with wide eyes, ran with the Captain out into the opening once again, in a desperate attempt to flee the pursuer.
Gunshots filled the air, and ricocheted off every surface available nearby.
As they reached the middle of the road, a reverberant shot, louder than the others, rang out.
Q gave a loud shout of pain, and fell to the floor, eyes clamped shut. He cried out again, clutching his leg.
"Q!" Janeway yelled, coming to his side.
The horse galloped over, and almost came right over them, before sliding to a fumbled halt at their side, rearing up and whinnying again. The rider on top pointed the weapon on the boy, then on Janeway, then back to Q.
He looked up through a haze of pain and shock at the rider, as perspiration beaded his forehead. The pain was so intense, and so unfamiliar. It was terrible, and he swore he couldn't feel his leg anymore.
The rider turned, and spurred his horse away from them suddenly, galloping back over to where the other members of the Continuum had taken it upon themselves to set up camp. outside of a Saloon.
Q gave another cry as Janeway pressed on the wound. He drew his hand away, and stared in disbelief at the presence of dark, thick, red blood, covering his palm and fingers. It seemed to numb the pain in his leg for a moment, before he heard a strange sound, bringing him crashing back to reality, and the pain.
There were hundreds of loud noises, and shouts, gunshots. but not at them anymore. They were going back and forth over them.
Q diverted his clouded gaze over to behind them, and surprisingly enough, saw what had to be a dozen mounted figures, charging in their direction, weapons drawn and firing.
The horses hurtled full pelt towards them, and as they drew dangerously close, Janeway herself covered Q. She shielded his body with her own, holding him close.
He screwed his eyes up tight, afraid to open them to the strange events and loud noises and chaos. which he had once so faithfully enjoyed.
He heard the thudding as the hooves trampled the ground around them, and then came to a halt. There were loud whoops and cheers, and gunshots fired randomly into the sky.
He opened his eyes, as the Captain drew her body off of his. They were completely encircled by horses and riders, firing their guns into the air to divert attention from the defenceless figures in between them.
"Come on," came a voice from their side.
Q looked up into the face of another member of his race, who held out a hand for him to take.
He grabbed it, and hauled himself painfully off of the ground, favouring his right leg. He gave a muffled cry, one he tried to stop short. He had never felt pain so intense. he had only ever felt the sensation when his father had stopped him from using his powers back on Voyager, and that small amount had been enough.
Janeway supported him as they moved, over to where someone, hopping on their toes, was clutching the reins of a horse, a large black animal, which eyed them curiously, and snorted once.
As they reached the animal, the shots continuing to fire loudly, cracking and exploding non-stop, Q was helped up into the saddle of the creature, which snorted again. Janeway climbed up onto its back also, behind the injured Q, holding him tightly, and gripping the reins firmly.
The two that had helped them mounted their own steeds, and with a few more yells and shouts, and, of course, more shots fired, they rode off again, Q and Janeway amongst them.
Q had to fight to keep his eyes open, nearly blacking out through the throbbing agony every few seconds. He felt the reassuring grip on his clothing from Aunt Kathy, which kept him from collapsing off of the back of the galloping animal. It faithfully followed the others of its species.
Janeway directed the charging animal, and held Q close, to keep him safe.
He breathed heavily, the shock of the events altering his perception on what was going on around him.
They had left the town, and were running off to what seemed like nowhere.
After what seemed like hours of fighting blackness, and clinging madly to the saddle pommel, they stopped.
Janeway slid from off the horse, as two members of the Continuum jogged up to help her.
She reached up to grab Q, even as he started to fall, the darkness enveloping him completely. He remembered nothing further.
* * *
Kathryn just managed to grab the boy, along with two other Q, even as the youth fell completely from the horse's back. Luckily, they had been prepared for just such an event, and had managed to avoid him crashing to the ground, which, no doubt, would have proved counterproductive.
"What happened?" one of them asked, his hat firmly on his head, even after riding that hard and that fast. He had light eyes, and, poking out from under the hat was equally light hair, golden in appearance. The blue eyes regarded her earnestly, and he seemed genuinely concerned.
"He was shot, by his own people," she grumbled, helping them carry the unconscious youngster to a tent. They lay him on blankets inside, and the other man left.
She watched him go, and asked, "Who are you? Why did you help us? I thought everyone was after Q, not out to help him."
The Q tilted his head this way and that for a moment, before replying, "Well, not all of us believe what we've seen. The evidence doesn't quite fit, ma'am."
There was that title again. Did they detect she was a woman of high stature in her culture, or where they just being polite?
"I know what you mean. I personally witnessed the reconstruction of this boy's life, from the ground up. He is an upstanding member of your race now, even more so than his father."
The Q smiled wanly. "So, you're Janeway."
"You know me?"
He nodded, inspecting the gunshot wound on Q's left upper leg. Blood oozed from it, and he grabbed a cloth.
Janeway took the cloth gently from his grasp, and took it upon herself to clean the wound personally. She was responsible for the boy now.
"He was supposed to bring peace to your kind. not chaos. Why are you fighting again?"
The Q sighed. "It's all this business with the destruction of Hykarias Prime. Half. well, most of them believe the boy did do it, simply because they've been told he did."
Janeway shook her head in disgust, dipping the stained cloth in a nearby handy bowl of water, and continued to clean the wound.
"And the rest of us think it's a set up. Someone wants him out of the way," the Q said.
Janeway's eyes darted in his direction. "What do you mean? Why would someone want him," she gestured to the unconscious figure, "out of the way? He never did anything to hurt anyone."
"Maybe not, ma'am," he responded, "but certain members of the Continuum feel threatened by Q. He was the first child born into our Continuum. That makes him unique." He paused, studying the boy's progress. He frowned. "He's brought change with him into our world. Things are different. and there are people here who don't like change, ma'am."
"Stop calling me ma'am," she grumbled quietly, stroking a stray lock of black hair from the boy's forehead, feeling his temperature at the same time. It was a little too high for her liking. He was burning up.
"Sorry," he mumbled in apology, and knocked the hat from off of his head.
"What do I call you, if I may ask? Or do you want me to call you Q, because it could get very confusing, very fast around here," Janeway inquired, nodding towards the youth.
There was that smile again, edging on charming, but carrying that unmistakable mischief all Q carried with them wherever they went. "You can call me. Quentin."
She smiled herself. "Always with the Q's."
"Well, I'm trying to be consistent, ma-, Captain."
"Call me Kathryn," she corrected politely, glancing down at Q as he rested.
They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the panting breaths of the inured boy as he slept.
Janeway was the one to break that silence, unable to simply sit and listen to him suffer. "We should dress the wound."
She moved to tear the underskirt of her long dress, but Quentin stopped her, reaching over to the other side of the tent, and coming back with bandages.
"Thank you," she said quietly, and set about bandaging Q's wound.
* * *
Chakotay paced the bridge, glaring occasionally at Q, as he stood simply with his arms crossed grumpily over his broad chest. He looked annoyed, deeply, but Chakotay felt this was because his crafty offspring had outsmarted him, and this fact irritated the hell out of the parent.
Chakotay granted himself a brief smile, before saying, "Why don't you go after them?"
Q huffed for a moment, and then grumbled, "I can't seem to return to the Continuum at the moment."
"Why not?" Chakotay asked, and then he remembered the previous Q Continuum conundrum. "Ah, this is exactly the same predicament as when your mate came aboard. She couldn't return to the Continuum either. Are your people at war again?"
Q sighed loudly, impatiently. "Not that I know of. There is this awful business with the destruction of Hykarias Prime."
Some of the crew looked up from their stations, and Q seemed to notice that not all of the crew -including senior officers- had been informed of this tragedy.
"Yes, well, anyway, there is a collection of Q who believe my son is innocent, and was framed." He laughed at the idea. "A Q being framed. it's propsterous."
"Really? How so?" Chakotay inquired.
"Because a Q simply wouldn't lower himself to that human state of mind. Why would a Q want to frame another anyway, especially my son? He's supposed to inspire peace and compassion." Q began to pace now, in the place of Chakotay, who stood still by the Captain's chair, watching the omnipotent being.
"Commander," came the voice of Harry Kim, back up at his Ops station.
"What is it, Harry?" Chakotay asked, looking up at the young Ensign.
The young Ensign glanced back at him, and tilted his head, as if in disbelief. "You're not going to believe this, but we've got a star about to go supernova five hundred kilometres off our starboard bow."
Chakotay knew what this meant. especially if the Q were involved, which was inevitable.
He glared at Q, and sat in the Captain's chair. "Helm, back us off to a safe distance, I don't want to be on the receiving end of that shockwave. The last experience wasn't so enjoyable, as I recall." Another glare at Q.
Q rolled his eyes, in what he seemed to think was a subtle action.
Q took it upon himself to sit comfortably in Chakotay's normal chair, to which the Commander didn't exactly seem keen on, but could probably do nothing to prevent.
The members of the Continuum could be so stubborn.
* * *
Janeway sat on a thick warm blanket in the tent, her gentle green eyes fixed permanently on the injured boy.
She was worried about him, even though Quentin -as he had titled himself- had insisted he would be fine. Now that they had cleaned the wound, dressed it, and the bleeding had ceased, Q was out of the woods, so to speak.
There was a quiet whinny from outside of the tent, and Janeway sighed a gentle sigh of exhaustion. She wished to rest, but with the events falling into place as they were, she didn't think she wanted to risk it.
Falling asleep in the Continuum didn't exactly fit into her perspective of a wise thing to do, considering there was a battle going on. slowly.
Each side were taking slow digs at the other, and every now and then, she heard a distant gunshot.
It made her worry, and she exhaled restlessly. She wished to help, but the last time she had tried to do that, it had almost ended in her execution, as well as Q's. the father Q that is.
She didn't know whether to blame the father for all of this or not. It was the father's fault the boy had sought to escape from Voyager in the first place. If he hadn't come along, then Q would probably have been perfectly happy to stay aboard, and help them out a little here and there.
Janeway would have quite liked the youth's company on the journey. He proved a refreshing distraction from the regulation day of Starfleet duty.
Just as she was thinking, there came a low groan from the sleeping figure on the floor.
On top of the thick blanket, his hand twitched, and then moved. His eyes blinked open slowly, as though he had just woken from a pleasant dream.
Did Q dream?
She moved over, wrapped tightly in her blanket, chilled to the brink of shivering. She touched his arm gently.
He looked to her with half-closed eyes, and quietly asked, "Aunt Kathy?"
"Yes, Q, it's me," she reassured him.
He sighed, and reached up, rubbing his eyes. When he removed his hand, his eyes were fully open, and he was eyeing her curiously.
"What happened? I remember escaping. but then nothing else," Q muttered, attempting to sit.
Janeway eased him back down, and replied, "We arrived at this camp, and you lost consciousness. We had to catch you as you fell off the horse."
He smiled. "Typical. Well, I've never ridden a horse before."
"Did you enjoy your first time?"
"Maybe under better circumstances," he said with a wan smile. He moved, cringing slightly at the obvious stinging in his leg.
He propped himself up on his elbows, and lifted one side of the blanket to look at his injury. The bandage was doing a good job of keeping it covered, and Janeway had changed it not so long ago after it had soaked up a considerable amount of blood. Now, it was merely stained. There was a patch in the middle, but nothing too impressive.
"It doesn't hurt so much now," he told her, leaving the blanket off. Clearly, he was a little overheated.
She had managed to lower his body temperature using a damp cloth as he slept. Now he simply had to concentrate on resting that leg until it healed.
She smiled at his bravery in the face of diversity, and patted him gently on his right leg to let him know she was there for him.
He smiled back, and nodded once to show he understood.
He picked at a half-full bowl of buttered popcorn, occasionally tossing a few pieces into his mouth, and savouring their sweet flavour.
He gave a slight sigh, wondering when B'Elanna would finish her shift and come home, so they could go to bed. He hated sleeping in that huge bed all by himself. it just didn't feel right. it felt lonely somehow.
"Mind if I join you?" came a tentative voice to the left of the couch, and he started slightly, turning his blue eyes in the direction of the unexpected noise.
To his surprise, there was the young Q, standing nervously, fingers knotting together over and over again. Tom raised a single eyebrow, and, a little hesitantly, said, "Sure."
Q perched himself gently on the edge of the arm of the couch, and watched the screen, cocking his head at what was going on, even as Tom laughed again.
The concept of a novelty mallet was amusing to Tom, and maybe that was lost on the alien life form.
He decided he should clarify what it was he was watching.
"It's a cartoon. They were all the rage in the twentieth century back on Earth. kids loved 'em, and so did adults for that matter. It helps me calm down after a stressful day."
Q lifted his head slightly in acknowledgement, seemingly transfixed at something so simple and meagre as a cartoon. "Oh," was his only response. The boy was fascinated.
Tom smiled at the Q's reaction. "I can't believe you've never seen or heard of a cartoon before."
Q looked to him this time, his attention drawn away from the animation, even as a coyote was struck with the novelty mallet. "What do you mean? Just because I'm omnipotent, it doesn't mean I've seen it all."
Tom held up a hand. "I didn't mean to cause any offence. I just thought." he trailed off, not quite sure where his sentence had been headed.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm just a little. distracted right now, I guess," Q apologised, and it genuinely seemed as though his mind was centred on something more important.
"Anything I can help with? I've been told I'm a good listener," Tom offered with a friendly smile.
Q shook his head gently from side to side, and he didn't respond. His eyes had turned back to the cartoon, and the coyote exploding drew a slight smile from the boy, almost unnoticeable.
Tom knew something was up, but he didn't quite know what.
* * *
"Death?!" Janeway exclaimed, even as Q was pacing the room. "Isn't that a little extreme? I thought punishment for crimes was eternity imprisonment inside of a comet."
Q nodded vigorously. "Yes, it normally is, but with something this dire, the Continuum has decided more drastic measures must be taken to ensure the boy won't do it again." Q turned to Janeway. "I don't think your teachings are going to help this time, Kathy."
Stop calling me that, she thought impatiently. "You're going to let them execute your own son?"
Q sighed, rather noticeably. "Well, even with my influence in the Continuum, I don't think I can help Junior this time. There's no evidence to say he's innocent."
"What about a father's faith in his son?" Janeway offered, and she realised she sounded a little presumptuous. Maybe that was too much to expect from Q to believe in his son.
Q scoffed quietly. "There's strong evidence against Junior. evidence that the Continuum has decided is enough to seal the boy's fate I'm afraid. His poor mother is in a mess. I think she's on the verge of disowning him again."
That infuriating woman, Janeway thought for a moment, and then said quietly, "So, the Continuum didn't wave the rule about eternal custody after all."
"No, I'm afraid Junior was lying to you on that one, Kathy."
Maybe Q wasn't so innocent after all. if he could lie about something like that, he could lie about other things, right? Couldn't he?
"He got away from me on Garvios VI. He'd slipped away before I even realised. The boy has all of those cosmic nooks and crannies stored firmly in his mind. I couldn't find him anywhere," Q told her, "and then I thought 'wait, where would he go in a crisis? To Aunt Kathy of course!'. and that led me here. I haven't seen the boy in two months." Q looked saddened by this latest dilemma.
Janeway sighed sadly, and looked around her room. She wondered if Q could actually do any damage here. on Voyager. Was her crew in jeopardy whilst the youth was aboard?
"What was this strong evidence you mentioned?" she asked. She might as well see it for herself; make her own mind up over all of this.
Q directed her attention to a nearby viewscreen, and she could clearly see Q -the younger version- standing on one of Hykarias' three moons, smiling broadly.
"This was from the other Q, the witness?" Janeway inquired, and he nodded in verification.
"He watched from a nearby crater."
As Janeway watched, Q clicked his fingers, and the planet started to degrade all over again. and as the witness had claimed. he laughed in enjoyment at the inhabitants' suffering.
"That's enough," Janeway mumbled, and Q complied swiftly.
"Now, Kathy, if you see him, you will let me know. I'll be back in a few hours to check on you, see if Junior's turned up." Q prepared to snap his fingers and make an exit, simply waiting for Janeway's nod.
He didn't have to wait long, and soon after her acknowledgement, he was gone.
* * *
He had decided he couldn't hide anymore, or sit and watch cartoons, and he was about to make his way to Aunt Kathy's quarters, when he heard an announcement over the comm.
"Q, could you come to my quarters please?"
She didn't sound happy.
With a small whimper, he snapped his fingers, and found himself in the Captain's quarters, which were dimly lit. Soft classical music filled the air.
"Aunt Kathy, did you want something?" he asked quietly, his arms linked loosely behind his back. He swallowed dryly.
She had her back to him, and one hand was rested defiantly on her feminine hip, the other up near her mouth, possibly covering her eyes.
He hoped she had a headache, and simply wanted him to get rid of it for her. but that was doubtful. He guessed his father had paid her a visit.
"I know why you're here, Q." Her voice was low, authorative, exactly like that of a parent. the mother he had never had.
He was dreading this.
"You do?" he squeaked, and cleared his throat quietly afterwards.
She turned to him then, and there was such a distinct look of sheer disappointment marring her beautiful features, that it made Q want to break down and cry.
He kept his composure. just barely, but cringed slightly under her assertive glare.
"Hykarias Prime," was all she said, and she said it rather angrily, and mournfully too.
Yep, good old dad's been here, his subconscious whined, as he lowered his head.
He looked back up, as his arms dropped to his sides.
"Why?" she demanded of him quietly, stepping right up to him.
He couldn't bear to look her in the eye. "Aunt Kathy."
"You call me Captain," she told him, and he felt his eyes swell with tears.
He blinked them back, and simply said, "Captain, I swear. I didn't do it."
She glared at him, commanding eye contact, as she hissed, "You expect me to believe you after the proof I've seen?"
He decided he had to stick up for himself; it was either that or the hangman's noose for him. "I've been framed, honest. I wouldn't do that. I don't." he hesitated, "I can't ever remember being there, not since I was a lot younger."
Janeway turned away, and started to pace slowly, back and forth, again and again.
His voice caught as he said, "You have to believe me, Au- Captain."
"Do I?" she asked of him sternly, her head snapping in his direction. "Why is that? Because I have your word? The last time you were here, Q, your word didn't stand for a whole lot. You put my crew in danger!"
"I didn't mean any harm!" he retorted, a little too loudly, and he almost choked on the lump in his throat.
There wasn't any sign of her believing him. He might as well go and tie the knot on that noose himself.
She shook her head. "I've seen the evidence, Q, and there isn't anything that sides with you on this one. I'm going to have to hand you over to your father."
"No," he pleaded, and he couldn't stop the first tear that rolled down his cheek, even as he wiped it away hurriedly, and stepped towards the Captain, "please. they'll kill me. I swear. I wasn't there." his voice trailed off, and he sniffled quietly, trying to hide it as he turned his head downwards to avoid Janeway seeing the tears.
Janeway stepped close to him, and put her hand gently under his chin, and pushed his head softly upwards again, and she looked genuinely sympathetic.
The look on her face ended his macho façade, as he choked on the tears, and just let them tumble from his eyes. He closed them tightly, and started to sob, even as he felt her arms pull him into an embrace. He let his head sink to her shoulder.
His knees felt weak, but he forced himself to stay upright. It was enough of a disgrace to have someone see him cry. him, an omnipotent alien being. A Q.
"Ssh," she eased, her hand rubbing his back softly up and down in a soothing rythmic motion that succeeded in slowing his sobs.
With a forced sigh to try and cease them all together, Q listened as the Captain said, "I didn't think you could do something like that, but I just had to see your reaction. I'm sorry. I should have known you weren't capable."
He hugged her tightly then, and didn't want to ever let go.
She believed him.
* * *
Janeway was at a loss for what to do. She had somewhat of a crisis on her hands. a choice between the father and the son.
Well, that's not a hard choice on its own, she told herself quickly, but then concluded that she had to consider all the facts in this dilemma. She couldn't just side with either of the Q's. there were consequences.
She sighed.
Consequences. the bane of her journey. Everywhere she went, their actions caused numerous, sometimes devastating consequences. There had been many a time that difficult, sometimes gut-wrenching decisions had had to be made, ones that affected life. even on a global scale in some circumstances.
And she had avoided being selfish, to this point anyway. They were so much closer to home due to luck and good deeds. There had been many an opportunity to simply cheat, and glide on home.
Wormholes, cosmic catapults, bribes, 'Think Tanks'! Where did it all come into the equation? If, indeed, there was one for this epic journey.
She groaned, massaging her temples. She tossed the book aside, not having read a single syllable since Q had left her quarters to rest. The poor boy was in a terrible mess.
But how could this have happened? Who would have gone to such lengths to frame a Q? And why this one? Who would have done it? And how?
Too many questions, she informed herself, not enough answers.
She imagined the answer to this conundrum was buried deep in time, and somewhere along the line, the solution was to be found, locked away somewhere.
But that solution was the key to one boy's continuation of life. Even if he was omnipotent. immortal, Q could be harmed, even killed by his own people!
Barbaric, she grumbled inside, and stood, taking it upon herself to pace like a caged, or confused animal.
Kathryn couldn't come to grips with the fact that the boy's own father was in on the hunt. Surely, after all of Q's progress, the parent should be supportive, and look at everything from all angles, not just the one they presented him with, for crying out loud.
She had thought Q had more initiative than that. Look at the mess he had gotten himself, and her into, four years ago. He had started a civil war.
Janeway groaned again, slumping down onto her bed, after having found herself suddenly in the vicinity of it. A good night's sleep seemed like a good idea right now.
She knew when she woke up though, the problems would re-present themselves, and worry her anew.
* * *
Janeway had only been asleep five minutes, when she felt something appear at the end of her bed.
She awoke with a start, and glared when she made out the unmistakable features of the adult Q, the father.
He was sitting, staring at the far end of the room, his back to Janeway. That confused her in itself.
"Q. what are you doing here? In the middle of the night, for that matter?" Janeway moaned, sitting up in her covers.
He glanced back momentarily with a small noise, one that showed he might not even have realised where he actually was, and said, "Oh, I'm back to check on you. and Junior."
Should she lie? Could she lie to a Q?
"I know what you're going to say. the way you hesitated gave it away, Kathy. I know you too well, you forget." Q paused, his shoulders slumping.
Janeway frowned.
"I know he's here, Katherine."
He had called her Katherine. Maybe he was more affected by this than she had first thought. She had gotten the distinct impression that he couldn't care less.
Perhaps she had been wrong about other things too.
Janeway felt the saddened expression sweep like a dark cloud over her face, covering all.
What was she going to do?
* * *
Seven of Nine stood in Astrometrics, working hard on some deep space scans that had her puzzled.
It was irritating, and she couldn't quite work out what the problem was.
Before her mind could settle firmly on the problem, she saw, more than heard the appearance of a being behind her.
She turned calmly, and found herself looking, one eyebrow raised, at the young Q.
He had appeared, perched on the edge of the console, swinging his legs slowly back and forth underneath the workstation, much like Naomi Wildman when she visited sickbay for a routine check-up.
She tilted her head slightly to one side, linking her hands loosely behind her back.
Q did not move. He simply sat, his face glum, his eyes focused on a nonexistent point somewhere towards the edge of the room, low to the ground, his hands knotted on his lap, legs still swinging.
"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice calm as ever.
This time, he reacted, looking up at her, his eyes distant, unfocused, as though he were not looking at her, but straight through her. He looked back down again. "No."
"If you intend to try and embarrass me again-"
He cut her off, "No, no, nothing like that. I just wanted to. sit."
She narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion, and let out a small sigh. "Very well." She turned back to her work, tapping panels to try and scan the area ahead of them more affectively. It did not seem any easier now than when she had originally been trying. Her small, and unintended break, had not helped much.
Seven could feel his eyes on her, and she looked down discreetly, to check whether or not the boy had attempted to amuse himself, as he had the first time he 'visited' Voyager.
Everything was as it should be.
His lack of mischief was a little unsettling to Seven, and she wondered whether or not he was planning something for later. something far more spectacular than when he had previously been aboard.
She glanced back tentatively, and still, to her surprise, he sat almost completely still, obviously deep in thought.
"Is there something troubling you?" she inquired, her back still facing the boy, even as she spoke. Perhaps B'Elanna Torres would have called her rude, but Q did not seem to mind.
"No," he mumbled, and it seemed as though his concentration was elsewhere.
She turned to him then, and said, "For three years, I have studied human behaviour, and yours seems to tell me you are withholding something."
He smiled wanly. "I'm not human."
"You represent yourself as human," Seven pointed out, attempting to make her point.
He shrugged, or something very similar to a shrug made his shoulders rise and fall again.
"Over this period of time, I have learned that humans can hide information quite well. you cannot."
He looked to her, and one of his eyebrows was slightly raised. "You're saying you can tell I'm lying?" He smiled that forced smile again, slightly lopsided.
She nodded once. "Yes, I am. I believe you are lying to me to keep from telling me something extremely personal, and possibly upsetting."
He laughed quietly, nervously.
That sealed it. the boy, omnipotent or not, was lying to her. But was she going to be able to get anything from him?
She heard him sigh, and then, as she looked towards him, with a short smile at her, he disappeared in a flash.
* * *
Q stood from the edge of the bed, and turned to face Captain Janeway. She couldn't lie to him. he knew her too well; he could see it in her eyes. She was too righteous to lie properly. Janeway couldn't lie like he could.
He denied himself a smile, in light of the circumstances, and said, "So, Kathy, where is he? Where are you hiding him?"
She swung her legs gracefully from beneath the Starfleet issue sheets, and stood herself, replying, "I'm not hiding him, Q. I wouldn't hide your own son from you."
Janeway's head turned towards the direction of the living room as a slight noise caught her attention, and Q recognised the noise without even having to think about its origin.
"Aunt Kathy?" called a voice, reasonably quiet, young and masculine. "Aunt Kathy, are you in here?"
The boy walked into the doorway, and halted immediately, a look of sheer panic crossing his youthful face, and his jaw dropped open slightly, as though he were going to speak, but words failed him. His brown eyes turned swiftly to Janeway.
"Don't panic, Q," Janeway said, edging close to the youth, but he backed away, into the living room once again.
Q followed Janeway, who tried again to near the child.
He shook his head, running into the back of an armchair, and groping his way around it.
Q could see now that the boy's hands were shaking. He was terrified.
"Q, stand still, let me explain," Janeway pleaded gently, her voice soft and soothing.
"No," Junior told her sternly, and he locked gazes with his father for a moment.
Q saw tears shining in them, and he found himself slightly ashamed. Had his child taken it upon himself to cry now?
Junior found he was backed into a corner, his father and 'godmother' surrounding him, one staring at him authoratively, the other's eyes filled with sympathy and kindness.
Q rolled his eyes, and ordered, "Come here, Junior. You've got nothing to be afraid of."
After a moment, Junior said, "You're lying. You're going to take me back to the Continuum, and they're going to-"
"Have you killed?" Q offered, and then nodded once. "Yes. They are."
"Q!" Janeway exclaimed, and walked a step closer to the boy, who no longer had room to back away.
As humans said, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Q, I'm not going to hurt you," Janeway insisted, reaching out a hand for the boy to take. but he resisted.
"Oh for goodness sake, if you're innocent, as you claim, then you don't have a thing to worry about," Q grumbled loudly, growing impatient.
"You know that's not true," Junior retorted. He was as confident as he had once been again, and Q found that promising, but also a little disheartening. Old behaviour like this could mean that Junior had reverted to his old ways once more.
Q sighed, annoyed with his son's human behaviour, and reached out to grab the boy by the arm.
With a flash, Junior had disappeared, finally turning to his powers once again to get himself away from his father. Q had wondered how long that was going to take.
"Now look what you've done," Janeway scolded. "Can't you even try to be sympathetic? The boy's terrified of you, and all you can do is order him around, and grab for him. You're even more selfish than I thought."
"What do you mean, Kathy?"
"You want to get this whole mess cleared up, so you don't have to deal with him anymore. Plus, if he's not around anymore, than the other members of the Q Continuum will stop relying on you to take responsibility. You think that if you rid yourself of your own child, then others will probably like you more, because they won't have to choose!" Janeway had obviously reached a limit, and Q was on the receiving end of that breaking point.
He didn't have time for any of this human feelings nonsense. He had a criminal to catch.
* * *
Q breathed heavily as he looked around himself at where he had appeared, and found he was on the bridge, during the night shift.
That quiet Ensign, Harry Kim was sitting in the Captain's chair, and the rest of the senior staff was nowhere to be seen, off in bed.
He envied them, with their reasonably simple lives, and human values, being much more facile than that of the Q's.
Ensign Kim stood from the chair, and reached to tap his commbadge, probably either to alert Janeway, or security.
Q didn't want him to do either, so he clicked his fingers, and the crew suddenly realised that their commbadges had completely vanished, nowhere to be seen.
As Kim opened his mouth to order the computer to alert someone, Q snapped, "Don't. please."
Kim's brow furrowed, and he cocked his head in confusion.
"What are you doing here?" Kim asked.
Before Q could answer, a flash averted his gaze to his left, where a rather angry father, and persistent Aunt Kathy stood.
Janeway was wearing her red Starfleet uniform now, complete with four golden pips, representing her authority.
His father stepped forward, and from the look on his face, he had had enough of chasing the boy. "That's enough, Junior, you can't hide from me anymore."
"Just try and stop me," Q said in a small voice, and moved to click his fingers.
His father beat him to it, and as the younger of the two clicked his fingers, nothing happened. Slowly, his hand went completely numb, almost impossible to move, bolts of tingling pain shooting up and down his arm.
"What are you doing?" Janeway demanded, seeing the slight look of pain on Q's face, as he held his hand, confusion overwhelming him. He had never experienced pain before, and it was unpleasant. He didn't wish to feel it again.
"Oh, you didn't like that?" his father teased, and continued, "Well, if you don't want it to happen again, I suggest you stop playing games, and come back to the Continuum with me."
"No!" Q yelled defiantly, standing to his full height, and glaring straight into his father's dark eyes.
His father stared directly back at him.
Janeway stepped in the middle of them, and loudly said, "Stop this, now!"
Ensign Kim took a step back from the conflict, afraid to get caught up in the crossfire.
Q felt the tingling sensation flow from his hand, and diminish completely. Perhaps his father had lost concentration on his son, and instead had transferred that onto Janeway.
This gave the youth a chance for escape. But where could he go where his damned father couldn't find him as easily?
Resisting the urge to smile a cunning smile, he took hold of Janeway's hand suddenly, and snapped his fingers.
* * *
"What happened? Where did they go?" Q demanded, whirling to Harry Kim, who jumped back like a startled rabbit.
"I. I don't know. He must've taken her somewhere," Harry fumbled, shrugging.
"Well tell someone, and stop stating the obvious. I know he took her somewhere, I want to know where," Q yelled.
Kim rolled his eyes at the superior behaviour of the stubborn being, and calmly asked, "Would you mind returning my commbadge so I can call the Commander?"
"Oh, that damn child," Q grumbled, and snapped his fingers, returning the commbadges on all of the deprived crewmembers.
Immediately, Harry tapped the badge, and in his best 'situation' voice, said, "Bridge to Commander Chakotay."
After a moment, he heard Chakotay's tired response, "Chakotay here. What is it, Harry?"
Kim sighed. "The Q child has disappeared."
"Well, isn't that good news?" Chakotay wondered.
"He's taken Captain Janeway with him."
* * *
Kathryn spun on her heels to look around at her unfamiliar surroundings, and saw trees, and old buildings. Very old buildings. So old in fact, that they were all wooden, and came complete with balconies, and signs such as 'Saloon'.
She spun back around, realising that a long dress was swirling around her legs, petticoat and all, and she saw a young Q, dressed in his gender's equivalent for the time period.
He wore boots, complete with spurs, trouser with dust-covers, a plain shirt with a leather waistcoat, and a hat pushed off the top of his head, hanging down his back on a thin rope.
"Q," she began, "where are we?"
It was then that she noticed the holsters at his hips. six-shooters.
She saw him swallow, and she knew then exactly where they were.
A shot ring filled the air, and Q started violently, grabbing a firm hold of Janeway's wrist, and tugging her fast across the open dusty street.
Another shot sounded, and struck the wood wall in front of Q, and he skidded to a halt. Glancing to his right, the boy spotted a head poking out from behind a barrel, and his eyes went wide.
Janeway recognised the man. rather, she recognised the Q. it was the official from the civil war, looking no different from before. Except that now, she saw the shine of a Sheriff's badge as it caught the light.
"C'mon!" Q yelled, and he continued his sprint across the way, dragging her along behind him. They came to a sudden halt behind a building.
"We're in the Continuum?" she said through clenched teeth.
"Sorry," Q apologised, breathing rapidly, back flat against the planks of wood the building was built from, "I couldn't think of anywhere else to hide. My father shouldn't be able to find us so easily here."
"Us?" Kathryn snapped, and immediately composed herself. She wasn't going to do anyone any good by losing her temper. "What do you mean 'us'? Your father has no quarrel with me." Then she added, "Plus, I don't think hiding in the Continuum is the best course of action for you right now. Remember, they think you destroyed Hykarias Prime."
Q drew his gun, staring at it, obviously having never seen a weapon like it before, saying, "But I didn't."
"They don't know that!" she hissed.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," Q told her, and jumped visibly as another shot cracked loudly against the wood at the mouth of the opening.
"Q!" that same southern accent called, from that same member of the Continuum. "We know you're hiding in there. You may as well come out, and we'll get this over with. You're just delaying the inevitable, boy."
Q rolled his eyes. Clearly, he hated being referred to as 'boy'. Who wouldn't?
"I didn't do it!" he called, checking to see if the gun was loaded, almost spilling the bullets all over the floor. "I was framed!"
Kathryn heard laughter, and it was her turn to roll her eyes. Where just about all Q this stubborn?
She knew the youth was innocent. she had seen his real reaction to the accusation, a display of emotion and shock she had never before seen in a member of his race.
"What do we do?" Janeway asked of Q quietly, relying on his expertise in his own environment.
He looked at her, and he had that same look of bewilderment on his face. "I have no idea. I guess we fight?" He held up the gun.
"No, you can resolve this peacefully. I'll help you. You don't need any bloodshed."
Q raised an eyebrow at her response. "They want to kill me!" He cringed as he realised how loud his voice had erupted, and bit his bottom lip, resting his head back against the building behind him.
Oh dear, he has no idea what he's doing, Janeway resolved, letting out a small whimper, even as another bullet slammed full force into the wood, splintering it into a thousand small shards.
* * *
Q didn't really know how to rectify the situation. everything was a mess. He felt like calling himself a complete idiot for bringing himself -and Aunt Kathy- to the Continuum in the first place.
Why had he done that? Every Q in the place had to know he was here now, and just about every Q was out to get him anyway. It wouldn't take long for him to be discovered.
He made a small pathetic noise, and stared at the revolver weapon he held in his right hand firmly. so tight his knuckles had turned white.
He loosed up on his grip, and cast a tentative glance at the Captain, who was busy staring to the opening in the alley.
Before he could say anything, a large form appeared, suddenly, abruptly. Q started violently, even as the horse and rider pushed their way into the alley. The figure upon the steed held a gun of his own, and had it pointed in their direction
The animal's eyes were wide with fright, and it hopped on its forelegs, hooves pounding the ground, dust flying into the air.
"Q!" Janeway exclaimed, clearly understanding the intent of the rider, "Run!"
He scrambled from the ground, fumbling to put the gun back in its holster, just managing to, even as the horse reared up behind him.
Q, in a desperate attempt to escape the animal, jumped, and rolled behind some discarded logs to the side.
The horse's hooves slammed back down into the dirt, and he swallowed dryly. The horse, being created by a Q for purposes of the Continuum, could probably do him some damage. if he understood the way this all worked.
Immortal my ass!
He scrabbled his way out on hands and knees from behind the logs, just to appear in front of the large horse again, even as it reared up in surprise once more.
It let out a loud whinny of terror, legs high above Q's head.
He cowered, covering his head with his arms.
He felt a forceful tug on his shirtsleeve, and was yanked from underneath the animal just before it would have crushed his skull.
He panted in shock, and, with wide eyes, ran with the Captain out into the opening once again, in a desperate attempt to flee the pursuer.
Gunshots filled the air, and ricocheted off every surface available nearby.
As they reached the middle of the road, a reverberant shot, louder than the others, rang out.
Q gave a loud shout of pain, and fell to the floor, eyes clamped shut. He cried out again, clutching his leg.
"Q!" Janeway yelled, coming to his side.
The horse galloped over, and almost came right over them, before sliding to a fumbled halt at their side, rearing up and whinnying again. The rider on top pointed the weapon on the boy, then on Janeway, then back to Q.
He looked up through a haze of pain and shock at the rider, as perspiration beaded his forehead. The pain was so intense, and so unfamiliar. It was terrible, and he swore he couldn't feel his leg anymore.
The rider turned, and spurred his horse away from them suddenly, galloping back over to where the other members of the Continuum had taken it upon themselves to set up camp. outside of a Saloon.
Q gave another cry as Janeway pressed on the wound. He drew his hand away, and stared in disbelief at the presence of dark, thick, red blood, covering his palm and fingers. It seemed to numb the pain in his leg for a moment, before he heard a strange sound, bringing him crashing back to reality, and the pain.
There were hundreds of loud noises, and shouts, gunshots. but not at them anymore. They were going back and forth over them.
Q diverted his clouded gaze over to behind them, and surprisingly enough, saw what had to be a dozen mounted figures, charging in their direction, weapons drawn and firing.
The horses hurtled full pelt towards them, and as they drew dangerously close, Janeway herself covered Q. She shielded his body with her own, holding him close.
He screwed his eyes up tight, afraid to open them to the strange events and loud noises and chaos. which he had once so faithfully enjoyed.
He heard the thudding as the hooves trampled the ground around them, and then came to a halt. There were loud whoops and cheers, and gunshots fired randomly into the sky.
He opened his eyes, as the Captain drew her body off of his. They were completely encircled by horses and riders, firing their guns into the air to divert attention from the defenceless figures in between them.
"Come on," came a voice from their side.
Q looked up into the face of another member of his race, who held out a hand for him to take.
He grabbed it, and hauled himself painfully off of the ground, favouring his right leg. He gave a muffled cry, one he tried to stop short. He had never felt pain so intense. he had only ever felt the sensation when his father had stopped him from using his powers back on Voyager, and that small amount had been enough.
Janeway supported him as they moved, over to where someone, hopping on their toes, was clutching the reins of a horse, a large black animal, which eyed them curiously, and snorted once.
As they reached the animal, the shots continuing to fire loudly, cracking and exploding non-stop, Q was helped up into the saddle of the creature, which snorted again. Janeway climbed up onto its back also, behind the injured Q, holding him tightly, and gripping the reins firmly.
The two that had helped them mounted their own steeds, and with a few more yells and shouts, and, of course, more shots fired, they rode off again, Q and Janeway amongst them.
Q had to fight to keep his eyes open, nearly blacking out through the throbbing agony every few seconds. He felt the reassuring grip on his clothing from Aunt Kathy, which kept him from collapsing off of the back of the galloping animal. It faithfully followed the others of its species.
Janeway directed the charging animal, and held Q close, to keep him safe.
He breathed heavily, the shock of the events altering his perception on what was going on around him.
They had left the town, and were running off to what seemed like nowhere.
After what seemed like hours of fighting blackness, and clinging madly to the saddle pommel, they stopped.
Janeway slid from off the horse, as two members of the Continuum jogged up to help her.
She reached up to grab Q, even as he started to fall, the darkness enveloping him completely. He remembered nothing further.
* * *
Kathryn just managed to grab the boy, along with two other Q, even as the youth fell completely from the horse's back. Luckily, they had been prepared for just such an event, and had managed to avoid him crashing to the ground, which, no doubt, would have proved counterproductive.
"What happened?" one of them asked, his hat firmly on his head, even after riding that hard and that fast. He had light eyes, and, poking out from under the hat was equally light hair, golden in appearance. The blue eyes regarded her earnestly, and he seemed genuinely concerned.
"He was shot, by his own people," she grumbled, helping them carry the unconscious youngster to a tent. They lay him on blankets inside, and the other man left.
She watched him go, and asked, "Who are you? Why did you help us? I thought everyone was after Q, not out to help him."
The Q tilted his head this way and that for a moment, before replying, "Well, not all of us believe what we've seen. The evidence doesn't quite fit, ma'am."
There was that title again. Did they detect she was a woman of high stature in her culture, or where they just being polite?
"I know what you mean. I personally witnessed the reconstruction of this boy's life, from the ground up. He is an upstanding member of your race now, even more so than his father."
The Q smiled wanly. "So, you're Janeway."
"You know me?"
He nodded, inspecting the gunshot wound on Q's left upper leg. Blood oozed from it, and he grabbed a cloth.
Janeway took the cloth gently from his grasp, and took it upon herself to clean the wound personally. She was responsible for the boy now.
"He was supposed to bring peace to your kind. not chaos. Why are you fighting again?"
The Q sighed. "It's all this business with the destruction of Hykarias Prime. Half. well, most of them believe the boy did do it, simply because they've been told he did."
Janeway shook her head in disgust, dipping the stained cloth in a nearby handy bowl of water, and continued to clean the wound.
"And the rest of us think it's a set up. Someone wants him out of the way," the Q said.
Janeway's eyes darted in his direction. "What do you mean? Why would someone want him," she gestured to the unconscious figure, "out of the way? He never did anything to hurt anyone."
"Maybe not, ma'am," he responded, "but certain members of the Continuum feel threatened by Q. He was the first child born into our Continuum. That makes him unique." He paused, studying the boy's progress. He frowned. "He's brought change with him into our world. Things are different. and there are people here who don't like change, ma'am."
"Stop calling me ma'am," she grumbled quietly, stroking a stray lock of black hair from the boy's forehead, feeling his temperature at the same time. It was a little too high for her liking. He was burning up.
"Sorry," he mumbled in apology, and knocked the hat from off of his head.
"What do I call you, if I may ask? Or do you want me to call you Q, because it could get very confusing, very fast around here," Janeway inquired, nodding towards the youth.
There was that smile again, edging on charming, but carrying that unmistakable mischief all Q carried with them wherever they went. "You can call me. Quentin."
She smiled herself. "Always with the Q's."
"Well, I'm trying to be consistent, ma-, Captain."
"Call me Kathryn," she corrected politely, glancing down at Q as he rested.
They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the panting breaths of the inured boy as he slept.
Janeway was the one to break that silence, unable to simply sit and listen to him suffer. "We should dress the wound."
She moved to tear the underskirt of her long dress, but Quentin stopped her, reaching over to the other side of the tent, and coming back with bandages.
"Thank you," she said quietly, and set about bandaging Q's wound.
* * *
Chakotay paced the bridge, glaring occasionally at Q, as he stood simply with his arms crossed grumpily over his broad chest. He looked annoyed, deeply, but Chakotay felt this was because his crafty offspring had outsmarted him, and this fact irritated the hell out of the parent.
Chakotay granted himself a brief smile, before saying, "Why don't you go after them?"
Q huffed for a moment, and then grumbled, "I can't seem to return to the Continuum at the moment."
"Why not?" Chakotay asked, and then he remembered the previous Q Continuum conundrum. "Ah, this is exactly the same predicament as when your mate came aboard. She couldn't return to the Continuum either. Are your people at war again?"
Q sighed loudly, impatiently. "Not that I know of. There is this awful business with the destruction of Hykarias Prime."
Some of the crew looked up from their stations, and Q seemed to notice that not all of the crew -including senior officers- had been informed of this tragedy.
"Yes, well, anyway, there is a collection of Q who believe my son is innocent, and was framed." He laughed at the idea. "A Q being framed. it's propsterous."
"Really? How so?" Chakotay inquired.
"Because a Q simply wouldn't lower himself to that human state of mind. Why would a Q want to frame another anyway, especially my son? He's supposed to inspire peace and compassion." Q began to pace now, in the place of Chakotay, who stood still by the Captain's chair, watching the omnipotent being.
"Commander," came the voice of Harry Kim, back up at his Ops station.
"What is it, Harry?" Chakotay asked, looking up at the young Ensign.
The young Ensign glanced back at him, and tilted his head, as if in disbelief. "You're not going to believe this, but we've got a star about to go supernova five hundred kilometres off our starboard bow."
Chakotay knew what this meant. especially if the Q were involved, which was inevitable.
He glared at Q, and sat in the Captain's chair. "Helm, back us off to a safe distance, I don't want to be on the receiving end of that shockwave. The last experience wasn't so enjoyable, as I recall." Another glare at Q.
Q rolled his eyes, in what he seemed to think was a subtle action.
Q took it upon himself to sit comfortably in Chakotay's normal chair, to which the Commander didn't exactly seem keen on, but could probably do nothing to prevent.
The members of the Continuum could be so stubborn.
* * *
Janeway sat on a thick warm blanket in the tent, her gentle green eyes fixed permanently on the injured boy.
She was worried about him, even though Quentin -as he had titled himself- had insisted he would be fine. Now that they had cleaned the wound, dressed it, and the bleeding had ceased, Q was out of the woods, so to speak.
There was a quiet whinny from outside of the tent, and Janeway sighed a gentle sigh of exhaustion. She wished to rest, but with the events falling into place as they were, she didn't think she wanted to risk it.
Falling asleep in the Continuum didn't exactly fit into her perspective of a wise thing to do, considering there was a battle going on. slowly.
Each side were taking slow digs at the other, and every now and then, she heard a distant gunshot.
It made her worry, and she exhaled restlessly. She wished to help, but the last time she had tried to do that, it had almost ended in her execution, as well as Q's. the father Q that is.
She didn't know whether to blame the father for all of this or not. It was the father's fault the boy had sought to escape from Voyager in the first place. If he hadn't come along, then Q would probably have been perfectly happy to stay aboard, and help them out a little here and there.
Janeway would have quite liked the youth's company on the journey. He proved a refreshing distraction from the regulation day of Starfleet duty.
Just as she was thinking, there came a low groan from the sleeping figure on the floor.
On top of the thick blanket, his hand twitched, and then moved. His eyes blinked open slowly, as though he had just woken from a pleasant dream.
Did Q dream?
She moved over, wrapped tightly in her blanket, chilled to the brink of shivering. She touched his arm gently.
He looked to her with half-closed eyes, and quietly asked, "Aunt Kathy?"
"Yes, Q, it's me," she reassured him.
He sighed, and reached up, rubbing his eyes. When he removed his hand, his eyes were fully open, and he was eyeing her curiously.
"What happened? I remember escaping. but then nothing else," Q muttered, attempting to sit.
Janeway eased him back down, and replied, "We arrived at this camp, and you lost consciousness. We had to catch you as you fell off the horse."
He smiled. "Typical. Well, I've never ridden a horse before."
"Did you enjoy your first time?"
"Maybe under better circumstances," he said with a wan smile. He moved, cringing slightly at the obvious stinging in his leg.
He propped himself up on his elbows, and lifted one side of the blanket to look at his injury. The bandage was doing a good job of keeping it covered, and Janeway had changed it not so long ago after it had soaked up a considerable amount of blood. Now, it was merely stained. There was a patch in the middle, but nothing too impressive.
"It doesn't hurt so much now," he told her, leaving the blanket off. Clearly, he was a little overheated.
She had managed to lower his body temperature using a damp cloth as he slept. Now he simply had to concentrate on resting that leg until it healed.
She smiled at his bravery in the face of diversity, and patted him gently on his right leg to let him know she was there for him.
He smiled back, and nodded once to show he understood.