Star Trek:

Voyager

The Q & I

Chapter 4

"Where do they keep coming from?" Lieutenant Carey asked to nobody in particular as he threw his empty phaser away and picked up a freshly charged one. He had taken charge of engineering after Lieutenant Torres had vanished. He and about 10 other engineers were hunched in a corner of the upper level of engineering, firing at the strange men that continued entering the room. Carey had not taken the man who entered with a whip and a sword to be a threat. He had lifted his phaser and called security. But the strange man has simply raised his whip and struck one of the young ensigns in the room. He had disintegrated upon impact. Then the man used the sword to hit a control panel. It should have held up to the assault easily, but instead it completely shattered under the force. He had proven to be vulnerable to phaser fire, which seemed to be his only weakness. Unfortunately, he was not alone in his endeavors.



"For every one we destroy, two more take his place!" Kenneth Dalby exclaimed. "If they get near the warp core, we're all toast!"

"Does anybody know what happened?" Carey asked. Nobody had a response for him. Well, that was no good. If he was going to find out what to do, he would have to contact the bridge. He tapped his commbadge. "Carey to Bridge." There was no reply. He tried again. "Carey to Captain Janeway. Please respond"

* * *

"Carey to Captain Janeway. Please respond".

Captain Janeway looked at her commbadge with mild surprise. "It appears Q has decided not to restrict our communications."

"Why would I, dearest Kathryn?" Q asked from his throne.

"Logically," Tuvok stated in his usual, flat tone, "allowing us communication with Voyager would be a tactical disadvantage to you."

"You flatter yourself, Mr. Tuvok." Q said. "Nothing your shipmates do could possible help you now."

In the course of this exchange, Janeway's commbadge had gone unnoticed. It rectified that situation by chirping again. She tapped it to reply. Perhaps she was just nervous, but she was sure she could hear phaser fire in the background. She hoped she was wrong.

"Janeway here. What is the situation, lieutenant?"

"We're defending engineering from attackers. No matter how many of them we take down, they continue coming."

"Hold your ground, lieutenant. Do not allow them to overtake engineering."

"Yes, ma'am. We have also lost lieutenant Torres."

"She's here, with us, on the surface of the planet. All of the senior staff has been transported here."

"How? Our shields were functioning perfectly. How did they..."

"We've had a visit from Q." Janeway said.

"Understood." Carey said. There was no need for further words.

"Do whatever you have to, lieutenant. Do not allow the ship to be overrun. Janeway out."



As soon as Janeway had ended the communication, the prisoners were released from their cells and brought before Q.

"Enough of this, Q." Janeway said. "What do you want from us?"

"I want to make this kingdom a success!" he said. "And I intend to begin by taking your ship. First, my minions will commander your ship. Then it will be displayed in the public square as a trophy, the first of many, to commemorate our first victory in the Great War!"

"War?" Chakotay asked. "What war? All I've seen so far is a one sided massacre. You create warriors to do your bidding and give them weapons that cannot be matched. Where's the war?"

"You're wrong." Q said, "True. I could have conjured up invincible soldiers to do my bidding, but I didn't. Every soldier your crew have massacred is an innocent citizen of this planet who volunteered to join the army of his beloved king."

"You mean..." Janeway asked.

"That's right, Captain. So far, your ship has been responsible or the deaths of about 100 citizens of this backwater planet.

Janeway didn't bother with insulting Q. She just hit her commbadge to be patched onto the ship wide intercom.



"Everyone, hold your fire! The soldiers invading the ship are innocent citizens of the planet. Lay down your weapons and surrender."

"You make things too easy for me, mon capitan." Q said. "The prime directive does make life difficult at times, doesn't it?"

* * *

The starship Voyager descended through the atmosphere of the planet and deployed its landing feet. It twisted around and came to rest on a huge pedestal 5 miles above the highest point in the town. The outer hull plating was suddenly turned to a rich, yellow gold, and a red banner appeared draped over the hull of the ship. It read:

U.S.S Voyager

Captured 392-58-5.7632-15629

Under directive 687Q786