Oh, No, Not Another Mutiny!
Disclaimer: This is the fiction where ownership doesn't matter. Yup, it doesn't matter, kind of like intelligence on a sitcom.
Spoilers: Equinox Part 2 (The Clementine bit)
AN: Please, no whining from Chakotay fans. I'm just trying to keep everyone in character, and that means that some people may be mean to other characters. This does not necessarily reflect the feelings of the fanfc writer. (Then again, it just might. Just kidding, I like Chakotay just fine, just not with 7.) Also, I told you the pairings for the story from the very beginning, so I don't want to get any unintelligible flames for putting the wrong people together. Constructive criticism only, please. I assure you, Chakotay/7 'shippers that I have been told many times that I am (pick one): the dumbest creature to have ever crawled out from under a rock. the spawn of Satan. what's wrong with America today, or the ever popular @**%^&ing !#@$%$$@%head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And no complaining about Q and Janeway, either. It's a JOKE.
Another A.N. this one more pointless than the last: Isn't Kathy (or Cathy) just the most beautiful name? Not that I'm pressuring you, but that just happens to be the name of my perfect. gorgeous, wonderful cat, so the answer to this question is: yes. If anyone says no, I will add a sex scene for Doc and Seven, so you just better answer right! ;)
Yet ANOTHER A.N: There is a surprise 'ship in this fic and I'M NOT TELLING!!!!! Plubth! But this one won't offend anybody (I think). I got the idea for these two from watching 'The Haunting of Deck 12'.
Chapter 6: Desperately Seeking Junior
Chakotay, like everyone else found his phaser missing. Fortunately for him, he had realized this before he went to the Captain's ready room. He had arranged it so that the two of them would be alone (not like that!). He didn't want any other Starfleets interfering. He had discovered ahead of time that his phaser was nowhere to be found. he would have to engage the captain by hand. He could get the phaser away from her. She was a gullible Starfleet, and she never killed anything if she could help it. She would invariably have the phaser set to stun. He would be fine.
"Chakotay." Her voice dripped with poison. "I see you haven't been able to get a phaser, either. I guess we'll just have to do this by our wits." Thinking fast. The replicater wouldn't make a phaser. But plenty of things could be used as weapons, even if they weren't. Knowing she could take advantage of that, she said the first thing that came to mind when she thought of a replicater. "Coffee, black!" She reached for the mug and was about to splash it in his face when a snap of the fingers stopped all movement all over the ship. The coffee paused in midair.
"Oh, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy. As much as I would love to see you kill Chakotay; he is, after all, the contender for your heart." He looked at her in that strange Q way of his, somewhere between true affection and his cat's drive to catch the mouse eternally out of reach. "On the other hand, I don't think you would be very happy with me if I let you do that, so I suppose I should interfere. What have you gotten yourself into now, Kathy?" He snapped his fingers again, and simultaneously, the coffee and mug were gone, and time was back to normal.
"Q? What are you doing here? And why did you take away the coffee? I was using it to stop that Maquis."
"That Maquis?" Q questioned. "I don't understand. I was under the impression that you got along just fine." There was obvious annoyance in his voice. "Although I must admit, I like this better."
"Just fine?" the Captain boomed. "He's trying to take over my ship!"
"Oh, Kathy, that's absurd." he told her.
"No, she's right. This will be a Maquis ship!" Chakotay yelled. There was nothing in his voice but hate.
"Over my dead body!" The Captain raged back. "Fine with me, Starfleet." "Stop it, you imbecilic mortals!" He stopped short, turning back to the Captain. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kathy, dear, I didn't mean it." Back to Chakotay, he stuck out his tongue. The two lunged at each other again. Q snapped his fingers and they were both instantly restrained. Chakotay sat on a hard wooden chair bound in a straight jacket, while Janeway sat on a plush leather couch with her hands down at her side tied with light scarves to the legs of the sofa. Chakotay glared. "What? I'm biased. I admit that." But please, stop trying to kill each other. Like so many that you have, that would be a bad idea.." He pointed accusingly at Chakotay. "Especially for you.." Back to Janeway. "I wouldn't blame you one bit." His face became serious again. "But we need to figure out what is wrong with the two of you. Do all the Starfleets and Maquis hate each other right now? Are they all at battle?"
"Of course, you idiot!" Chakotay informed him "This is a mutiny."
*************************************
On the other side of the ship, Harry's shadow was approaching. She was, technically, trained to be a soldier, so as Seven had stated before the commercial break, she was quite capable of killing someone if she had to.
Then again, she was a bloody coward. She had panicked when she found that she had no phaser. First, she thought she had lost it. She tended to do that sometimes. But then she'd talked to a Maquis friend, found out that her phaser was missing, too. She'd been hoping Chakotay would call the whole thing off. She didn't like it from the beginning. Sure, she hated the Starfleets, but couldn't they just get their free ride home, and then start fighting Starfleet again. It was just too risky on the ship. But Chakotay hadn't called it off. And she was loyal, although a little bit off. (She would be a Hufflepuff if she went to Hogwarts. Hufflepuff rules! But that's off the topic.)
"So, Crewman. You're the one who came for me." Harry didn't sound particularly upset. Actually, he was relived. He had been afraid he wouldn't be able to fight off anyone else. Sure, he was a good soldier, but frankly, he just wasn't very skilled in hand to hand combat.
Besides, he got kind of scared. But Crewman Jorr, he could handle.
But she was quick, anyway. "Oof." Before Harry knew what hit him, she had tackled him, just about the only tactic for fighting she knew besides using her phaser. She had completely caught him off-guard. Jorr was quicker, but Harry was stronger, and managed to flip her over, before she could completely squish him. He held her down to the ground. He barely registered similar battles going on around him They froze.
***************************************************
He snapped his fingers again. "Well, I had better put a stop to that. I've grown quite fond of this crew, silly little beings that the are, and I wouldn't want them to hurt themselves."
"What did you do?" Chakotay wondered.
"The rest of the crew is suspended in time. Meanwhile, we're going to find out what's going on here."
"What are you doing here, Q?" the Captain wanted to know.
"I came looking for Junior. I thought he might have come to visit.
"I haven't seen him, now will you go away so I can take back my ship?" The Captain was as furious as Q had seen her since he had snapped her into a negligee.
"I assure you, Kathy dear, that your ship is in no danger. I don't know what is going on here, but your crew is not going to destroy itself."
"I think I can explain." With a snap, there was another . . . um . . .person(?) in the room.
"Junior! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you. You are in big trouble, young man."
"Relax, Dad, I've been in this nebula the whole time. And you should be grateful that I have. If I hadn't been here to interfere, the crew might have all killed each other. I took their weapons." He pondered this for a minute. Except for two people who apparently had some decorative ancient weaponry." Captain Janeway looked puzzled. He clarified. "You know, the idiot pair in Deck 9, Section 12 ;P. Nearly killed each other, but one of them got her senses back, and the other one's restrained." Everyone is safe, Dad, thanks to me."
Q scowled. "Okay, you're not in trouble. . .. this time. But only because you saved Kathy and the rest of these fools." Junior looked thrilled with himself. "Now, do you know what's going on here? Why are they acting like this?"
"It's something about this nebula we're in. I've seen some of the residents. They hated me. See, this nebula has some kind of strange power over mortals brains. I don't know exactly what it is, but the natives love it. They use it against people traveling through. They couldn't do anything to me, and that really ticked them off." He thought for a moment. "We could just let them pass through the nebula, keeping them from hurting each other until they're out, but it's a long trip. There would definitely be difficulties. I suggest taking them to sickbay and finding out how we can snap them out of it. I've seen that the Doctor isn't affected by it, so he'll help us. And I know that one member of the crew has already broken the spell. There's no reason the others can't, too."
"Agreed." Q snapped them to sickbay.
*****************************
"What are you doing here?" The Doctor was obviously perturbed.
"Saving your crew. In case you haven't noticed, they're a little dysfunctional right now. More than usual, I mean." He looked around the room. "Helmboy. All tied up I see." Tom glared, as did B'Elanna.
"Oh, I see," Q stated. "Going kinky. Tried that. I was really somewhat disappointed. The whole bondage thing is over hyped. Frankly, I found it boring."
":Eeeeeew, Dad! Don't tell me that."
"Shut up, Q, and help us get everyone back to normal." This was B'Elanna, who was, by now, furious, and definitely not amused by his humor.
"Pushy, pushy. I'll help you. What exactly seems to be the trouble?"
The Doctor, perturbed as he was, told him what they had learned about the nebula.. "Apparently, it disrupts the normal brain functioning, puts individuals into a delta brain wave state, one of extreme suggestibility."
"Oh, yackity, shmackity. It wiped your brains. It didn't have a lot of work to do. Anyway, according to Junior, the natives of this area plant suggestions in travelers' brains to make them fight each other."
"Why would they want to do that?" Neelix wondered.
Junior fielded this one. "That's simple, they're mean. They like to see people get all screwed up They think it's funny. Can you image anyone doing anything so silly as that?"
The answer was simultaneous. "Yes!" Q huffed.
Junior suddenly became sidetracked. He turned to Seven. "Hey, Pretty."
She raised an eyebrow in that Sevenish way. "If I understand the Doctor correctly, the proper response to this situation is, 'Shove off, Scumbag.'" There was no trace of emotion in her voice. The Doctor beamed.
"What's her problem?"
The Doctor took his arm, took him to a nearby examination table, and flopped him onto it. "I assure you, Junior, the problem is with you." He smiled sardonically. A strange look crossed over Seven's face which only the cameraman noticed. It was not unlike the look of an individual who briefly saw a specter of something feathery and web -footed on the top of an individual.
"Well, can't you snap these creatures into oblivion or something?" B'Elanna wanted to know.
"Of course not. That would be violating the Prime Directive, right Kathy dear?" A more serious look crossed his face. "In all honesty, I'm not trying to be cruel; it's just like the times I refused to send you home. I know you can do it on your own. Kind of like why Hannibal Lecter never just told Clarice who the murderer was. Confidence boost."
Tom perked up. "Are we talking about ancient horror movies?"
"Shut up, Tom." B'Ela was still holding the foam scrubber so he obeyed. Through his missing memories, he somehow knew that he had to listen to her, or else.
"Besides," Q continued. "This should really be funny. I'll give you a fifteen minute head start: everyone else on the ship will remain frozen till then. Have fun." He snapped himself and Junior away, leaving the sofa and the straightjacket.
"Will you take this thing off, Doctor?"
"Will you promise not to try to kill the Captain or Lieutenant Paris?"
"Of course not, this is a war!"
"Then you stay in the straightjacket. If Q won't help us, we'll have to do this on our own. Obviously, the Captain and first mate won't be much help, so I think, at least for now, the four of us are going to have to manage for ourselves."
"What about Tom?" B'Elanna wanted to know.
"You stay here: try to get him to remember. Maybe he'll listen to you."
She looked at the Doctor blankly. "He never listens to me."
"Um, well, good luck." He turned back to the others. "Fifteen minutes isn't going to be enough to straighten this out. We'll need to buy some more time. I suggest we pump an anesthetic through the air vents to knock them out for an additional hour or so while we figure out a way to bring their brain waves back into the beta state."
"But won't it take time for us to make up a gas and distribute it through the ship?" Neelix wondered.
"Yes, but we should be able to get it done within the next ten minutes. Seven, if you'll assist me?"
"Certainly, Doctor."
"What can I do?" Neelix wanted to know.
The Doctor really didn't have an answer to that one, so he made one up. "Talk to the Captain and Commander Chakotay. See if you can talk some sense into them."
He grinned. "The morale officer is on the job."
Seven and the Doctor headed to the medical lab in the center of the room. Seven seemed anxious. "Doctor," she said, staring intently at the screen in front of her. "When Junior insulted me, I sensed something in you."
Suddenly, the anxiety was contagious. "Hmm, I don't like people to treat my . . . friends like that."
"You forget, Doctor, you cannot lie to me. I posses your level of sensory abilities, if not greater. Your temperature rose point five degrees, the level of blood in your face increased significantly, as did your blood pressure."
"So?"
"Doctor, you have taught me the symptoms of many emotions. You are clearly suffering from acute jealousy."
"Am not!"
"You have developed romantic feelings for me." It was not a question. She stopped him before he could manage to talk himself into a hole. "There is no need to be self conscious, Doctor. Embarrassment is irrelevant. I feel no discomfort for this revelation." She almost smiled. "I really should have known, only amorous feelings could restore a deleted ethical subroutine with nothing more than a vocal sub processor - perfect though it may be."
The Doctor laughed slightly at the joke no one else on the ship would have understood, let alone found funny. It was their own language, and no one else was allowed in. No one else would want in. "True. Had you not started in on 'You Are My Sunshine', I might never have recovered." He huffed. "And I was not off-key." ****************************************
Tom struggled to get out of his restraints. B'Elanna was approaching the place where he sat, and he just knew she was going to try to kill him. He had to get away.
But the look on her face wasn't angry or violent at all. He saw some annoyance, and even a little sadness. She sat down on the examining table next to him. "I'll tell you the truth . . . Paris." Geeze, that's weird. "I couldn't care less about this mutiny. I think it's a stupid idea. She was having a hard time speaking so many things that were wrong to her. "I mean, if Janeway is dumb enough to just let us have free range of the ship and get a ride right back to the Delta Quadrant, who cares about a few idiot Starfleet regs? We've got it easy, why change that?" She sighed. "Anyway, I'm not feeling particularly violent today."
"You seemed pretty violent when you had that bat'leth."
"I've had a change of heart," she said softly. "Besides, I was taught by the best instructor in the delta quadrant." She looked to him for any sign of recognition. None. "He's a full human, too. Surprising, isn't it?"
"I guess so."
B'Elanna rolled her eyes. This was going to be impossible. He was completely blank. She would have to be a little more vicious. "Where did you learn how to fight with one of those?"
"I don't really remember. I think it was a holodeck program."
Okay, he got that one right. Try again.
"Why did you want to? Most humans think it's barbaric."
"I like it. I like a lot of Klingon stuff."
Now we were getting somewhere. "Why?"
"Don't know,:" was his only reply. "Why do you care?"
She shrugged, getting really frustrated. "It's interesting, that's all." She wasn't getting through to him at all. "You don't trust me, but I don't want to hurt you, and I'll prove it."
She undid the straps, making sure that the knife was still firmly in her grasp. Just in case
"You've still got the knife," he pointed out. She nodded a little - threw it behind her.
He laughed, a bitter sound. "You're bold, Maquis, I'll give you that." She hated that he addressed her that way.
. Time for the big guns. She was sitting to his right. "What's that?" She traced an arc, a scar across his jawbone. She liked that scar. "Looks like you got a pretty bad cut. Didn't get treated for a while " She spoke absently, as if it didn't really matter She laughed a little. "Funny, it looks almost like a bite. How in the world did you get that?"
"I don't remember it." He seemed puzzled. "A bite? I must have gotten it from some kind of wild animal."
B'Elanna was seething. He couldn't even remember that. Okay, she decided. That was it. No more Lieutenant Nice Person. "Pretty ring." She pointed to his wedding band with her left hand, hers clearly visible. "Where did you get it?"
Apparently, this question didn't bode well for him. She was starting to break down his delusional schema, and his defenses were up. "Someplace called Sacari, I think. I don't remember! Why do you want to find out everything about me? Are you pumping me for information?"
"I don't see how asking where you got your jewelry is really pertinent to a mutiny."
He seemed to realize that it was indeed a pretty stupid question, tactically, but that didn't stop him from coming up with an excuse. A really pathetic excuse. "You could be trying to wear me down. Make me nice and comfortable so you can interrogate me, and I wouldn't notice."
She slipped. "You're not that stupid, Tom." (A.N.: not true) He seemed taken aback by this comment and her tone of voice, serious and kind, but persisted with his pathetic excuses.
"Maybe you think it's some kind of communication device. It's not. I'll prove it," he said, mimicking her, or perhaps mocking her. He took it off and threw it across the room. It landed right beside the knife.
B'Ela jumped up immediately. "Hey!" she shouted. "Don't do that!" He didn't understand. She ran to retrieve it, and saw the knife. Last resort.
***************************************************
"Done," Seven informed the Doctor. "Should I release the toxin now?"
The Doctor nodded seriously. "Go ahead." It was only six minutes since Q had stopped time. They were ahead of schedule. Good. "That should give us another hour to find out how to fix this thing."
"Any plans, Doctor?"
He thought about that for a moment. "The aliens in this sector use the delta brain waves caused by the nebula to make harmful suggestions to the people who pass through. I see no reason we can't put healthier suggestions into their minds, suggestions that would nullify those made by the locals."
Seven caught on quickly. "Convince them that the Maquis and Starfleet are friends."
"Exactly." The Doctor looked smug. "I think I can pull off a little mass hypnosis."
"If hypnosis is droning in monotone, I am certain you will have no trouble." Her voice was completely serious, but on her face was the smile that none but the Doctor could ever detect.
*************************************************
"Hello, Captain, Commander!" Neelix was, surprise, surprise, perky.
"Neelix, untie me right now, that's an order!"
He winced a little, as he tended to do when he was regretful. "I'm sorry Captain, but you know I can't do that. I'm afraid you might hurt each other." His voice was soft and somewhat therapeutic. "You don't want to hurt anyone."
The captain looked at him with uncharacteristically cold, dark, almost evil eyes. "But I do. And I'm sorry."
Tom perked up, ignoring the fact that that strange Maquis was rifling around, looking for that silly ring. "Are we talking about ancient horror movies again?"
The Doctor and B'Elanna spoke simultaneously this time. "Shut up, Tom!"
"Oh, come on, Captain, don't you remember Naomi's birthday party? She turned seven. The entire ship was there." He beamed with pride. "I made my famous Patian grumba cake with Talupa frosting." Remember the crew convinced you to do a duet?" He winked. "Granted, we all conspired to get a little synthahol into you, but we got you, eventually." He poked Chakotay jovially. "You got right up there and sang 'I'm My Own Grandpa'." He laughed heartily. "Now those were good times. Don't tell me you don't remember." He shook his head sadly. "Too bad. We had so much fun that night. Now, why do you think you're enemies?"
"Because s/he's a Starfleet/Maquis!" Their answers were slurred together. They pointed accusingly.
Neelix spread his arms in a gesture of mild frustration. "So what? Sure, you're Maquis. Sure, you're Starfleet. But you're also people! You're friends! Don't you remember?"
"What I remember is that she came here to attack us!"
"And it was my job to stop them!"
"Come on now. The alpha quadrant is light years away. The war is over." He turned to Captain Janeway. "You are the greatest advocate for peace that I've ever met. I know you don't really want to kill anyone just for a difference of opinion. You relish other points of view."
"Not when they're wrong," she said pointedly.
He backed up, his face expressing the pragmatics of one talking to an unhappy child. "Now that's not the Captain Janeway that I know and love." He knelt down by the sofa and pointed at her to emphasize a point. "You believe in second chances. I know you do, because that's why I'm here. And I'm not about to let my friend make a mistake like this. I know you, and I know that friendship and peace are the two most important things to you. And I know you will eventually realize that."
"And you." He turned to Chakotay. "Are a very reasonable man. You're always settling disputes, and you're one of the most fair people that I know. Now how fair is it to turn against someone who has put her faith in you the way that Captain Janeway has?" He turned back so he was looking to both of them "I know it's still in you. Go inside yourselves. Look around. I know you'll find it."
********************************************************
Questions to be answered:
What is B'Elanna going to do with that knife?
Why do the aliens look like cotton candy?
Will Doc and Seven please speak English?
Why ARE we talking about ancient horror movies?
Where is this going? (No, I mean it. I don't know.)
First one who can tell me what Sacari is gets a chocolate chip cookie with mackedamia nuts!
Disclaimer: This is the fiction where ownership doesn't matter. Yup, it doesn't matter, kind of like intelligence on a sitcom.
Spoilers: Equinox Part 2 (The Clementine bit)
AN: Please, no whining from Chakotay fans. I'm just trying to keep everyone in character, and that means that some people may be mean to other characters. This does not necessarily reflect the feelings of the fanfc writer. (Then again, it just might. Just kidding, I like Chakotay just fine, just not with 7.) Also, I told you the pairings for the story from the very beginning, so I don't want to get any unintelligible flames for putting the wrong people together. Constructive criticism only, please. I assure you, Chakotay/7 'shippers that I have been told many times that I am (pick one): the dumbest creature to have ever crawled out from under a rock. the spawn of Satan. what's wrong with America today, or the ever popular @**%^&ing !#@$%$$@%head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And no complaining about Q and Janeway, either. It's a JOKE.
Another A.N. this one more pointless than the last: Isn't Kathy (or Cathy) just the most beautiful name? Not that I'm pressuring you, but that just happens to be the name of my perfect. gorgeous, wonderful cat, so the answer to this question is: yes. If anyone says no, I will add a sex scene for Doc and Seven, so you just better answer right! ;)
Yet ANOTHER A.N: There is a surprise 'ship in this fic and I'M NOT TELLING!!!!! Plubth! But this one won't offend anybody (I think). I got the idea for these two from watching 'The Haunting of Deck 12'.
Chapter 6: Desperately Seeking Junior
Chakotay, like everyone else found his phaser missing. Fortunately for him, he had realized this before he went to the Captain's ready room. He had arranged it so that the two of them would be alone (not like that!). He didn't want any other Starfleets interfering. He had discovered ahead of time that his phaser was nowhere to be found. he would have to engage the captain by hand. He could get the phaser away from her. She was a gullible Starfleet, and she never killed anything if she could help it. She would invariably have the phaser set to stun. He would be fine.
"Chakotay." Her voice dripped with poison. "I see you haven't been able to get a phaser, either. I guess we'll just have to do this by our wits." Thinking fast. The replicater wouldn't make a phaser. But plenty of things could be used as weapons, even if they weren't. Knowing she could take advantage of that, she said the first thing that came to mind when she thought of a replicater. "Coffee, black!" She reached for the mug and was about to splash it in his face when a snap of the fingers stopped all movement all over the ship. The coffee paused in midair.
"Oh, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy. As much as I would love to see you kill Chakotay; he is, after all, the contender for your heart." He looked at her in that strange Q way of his, somewhere between true affection and his cat's drive to catch the mouse eternally out of reach. "On the other hand, I don't think you would be very happy with me if I let you do that, so I suppose I should interfere. What have you gotten yourself into now, Kathy?" He snapped his fingers again, and simultaneously, the coffee and mug were gone, and time was back to normal.
"Q? What are you doing here? And why did you take away the coffee? I was using it to stop that Maquis."
"That Maquis?" Q questioned. "I don't understand. I was under the impression that you got along just fine." There was obvious annoyance in his voice. "Although I must admit, I like this better."
"Just fine?" the Captain boomed. "He's trying to take over my ship!"
"Oh, Kathy, that's absurd." he told her.
"No, she's right. This will be a Maquis ship!" Chakotay yelled. There was nothing in his voice but hate.
"Over my dead body!" The Captain raged back. "Fine with me, Starfleet." "Stop it, you imbecilic mortals!" He stopped short, turning back to the Captain. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kathy, dear, I didn't mean it." Back to Chakotay, he stuck out his tongue. The two lunged at each other again. Q snapped his fingers and they were both instantly restrained. Chakotay sat on a hard wooden chair bound in a straight jacket, while Janeway sat on a plush leather couch with her hands down at her side tied with light scarves to the legs of the sofa. Chakotay glared. "What? I'm biased. I admit that." But please, stop trying to kill each other. Like so many that you have, that would be a bad idea.." He pointed accusingly at Chakotay. "Especially for you.." Back to Janeway. "I wouldn't blame you one bit." His face became serious again. "But we need to figure out what is wrong with the two of you. Do all the Starfleets and Maquis hate each other right now? Are they all at battle?"
"Of course, you idiot!" Chakotay informed him "This is a mutiny."
*************************************
On the other side of the ship, Harry's shadow was approaching. She was, technically, trained to be a soldier, so as Seven had stated before the commercial break, she was quite capable of killing someone if she had to.
Then again, she was a bloody coward. She had panicked when she found that she had no phaser. First, she thought she had lost it. She tended to do that sometimes. But then she'd talked to a Maquis friend, found out that her phaser was missing, too. She'd been hoping Chakotay would call the whole thing off. She didn't like it from the beginning. Sure, she hated the Starfleets, but couldn't they just get their free ride home, and then start fighting Starfleet again. It was just too risky on the ship. But Chakotay hadn't called it off. And she was loyal, although a little bit off. (She would be a Hufflepuff if she went to Hogwarts. Hufflepuff rules! But that's off the topic.)
"So, Crewman. You're the one who came for me." Harry didn't sound particularly upset. Actually, he was relived. He had been afraid he wouldn't be able to fight off anyone else. Sure, he was a good soldier, but frankly, he just wasn't very skilled in hand to hand combat.
Besides, he got kind of scared. But Crewman Jorr, he could handle.
But she was quick, anyway. "Oof." Before Harry knew what hit him, she had tackled him, just about the only tactic for fighting she knew besides using her phaser. She had completely caught him off-guard. Jorr was quicker, but Harry was stronger, and managed to flip her over, before she could completely squish him. He held her down to the ground. He barely registered similar battles going on around him They froze.
***************************************************
He snapped his fingers again. "Well, I had better put a stop to that. I've grown quite fond of this crew, silly little beings that the are, and I wouldn't want them to hurt themselves."
"What did you do?" Chakotay wondered.
"The rest of the crew is suspended in time. Meanwhile, we're going to find out what's going on here."
"What are you doing here, Q?" the Captain wanted to know.
"I came looking for Junior. I thought he might have come to visit.
"I haven't seen him, now will you go away so I can take back my ship?" The Captain was as furious as Q had seen her since he had snapped her into a negligee.
"I assure you, Kathy dear, that your ship is in no danger. I don't know what is going on here, but your crew is not going to destroy itself."
"I think I can explain." With a snap, there was another . . . um . . .person(?) in the room.
"Junior! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you. You are in big trouble, young man."
"Relax, Dad, I've been in this nebula the whole time. And you should be grateful that I have. If I hadn't been here to interfere, the crew might have all killed each other. I took their weapons." He pondered this for a minute. Except for two people who apparently had some decorative ancient weaponry." Captain Janeway looked puzzled. He clarified. "You know, the idiot pair in Deck 9, Section 12 ;P. Nearly killed each other, but one of them got her senses back, and the other one's restrained." Everyone is safe, Dad, thanks to me."
Q scowled. "Okay, you're not in trouble. . .. this time. But only because you saved Kathy and the rest of these fools." Junior looked thrilled with himself. "Now, do you know what's going on here? Why are they acting like this?"
"It's something about this nebula we're in. I've seen some of the residents. They hated me. See, this nebula has some kind of strange power over mortals brains. I don't know exactly what it is, but the natives love it. They use it against people traveling through. They couldn't do anything to me, and that really ticked them off." He thought for a moment. "We could just let them pass through the nebula, keeping them from hurting each other until they're out, but it's a long trip. There would definitely be difficulties. I suggest taking them to sickbay and finding out how we can snap them out of it. I've seen that the Doctor isn't affected by it, so he'll help us. And I know that one member of the crew has already broken the spell. There's no reason the others can't, too."
"Agreed." Q snapped them to sickbay.
*****************************
"What are you doing here?" The Doctor was obviously perturbed.
"Saving your crew. In case you haven't noticed, they're a little dysfunctional right now. More than usual, I mean." He looked around the room. "Helmboy. All tied up I see." Tom glared, as did B'Elanna.
"Oh, I see," Q stated. "Going kinky. Tried that. I was really somewhat disappointed. The whole bondage thing is over hyped. Frankly, I found it boring."
":Eeeeeew, Dad! Don't tell me that."
"Shut up, Q, and help us get everyone back to normal." This was B'Elanna, who was, by now, furious, and definitely not amused by his humor.
"Pushy, pushy. I'll help you. What exactly seems to be the trouble?"
The Doctor, perturbed as he was, told him what they had learned about the nebula.. "Apparently, it disrupts the normal brain functioning, puts individuals into a delta brain wave state, one of extreme suggestibility."
"Oh, yackity, shmackity. It wiped your brains. It didn't have a lot of work to do. Anyway, according to Junior, the natives of this area plant suggestions in travelers' brains to make them fight each other."
"Why would they want to do that?" Neelix wondered.
Junior fielded this one. "That's simple, they're mean. They like to see people get all screwed up They think it's funny. Can you image anyone doing anything so silly as that?"
The answer was simultaneous. "Yes!" Q huffed.
Junior suddenly became sidetracked. He turned to Seven. "Hey, Pretty."
She raised an eyebrow in that Sevenish way. "If I understand the Doctor correctly, the proper response to this situation is, 'Shove off, Scumbag.'" There was no trace of emotion in her voice. The Doctor beamed.
"What's her problem?"
The Doctor took his arm, took him to a nearby examination table, and flopped him onto it. "I assure you, Junior, the problem is with you." He smiled sardonically. A strange look crossed over Seven's face which only the cameraman noticed. It was not unlike the look of an individual who briefly saw a specter of something feathery and web -footed on the top of an individual.
"Well, can't you snap these creatures into oblivion or something?" B'Elanna wanted to know.
"Of course not. That would be violating the Prime Directive, right Kathy dear?" A more serious look crossed his face. "In all honesty, I'm not trying to be cruel; it's just like the times I refused to send you home. I know you can do it on your own. Kind of like why Hannibal Lecter never just told Clarice who the murderer was. Confidence boost."
Tom perked up. "Are we talking about ancient horror movies?"
"Shut up, Tom." B'Ela was still holding the foam scrubber so he obeyed. Through his missing memories, he somehow knew that he had to listen to her, or else.
"Besides," Q continued. "This should really be funny. I'll give you a fifteen minute head start: everyone else on the ship will remain frozen till then. Have fun." He snapped himself and Junior away, leaving the sofa and the straightjacket.
"Will you take this thing off, Doctor?"
"Will you promise not to try to kill the Captain or Lieutenant Paris?"
"Of course not, this is a war!"
"Then you stay in the straightjacket. If Q won't help us, we'll have to do this on our own. Obviously, the Captain and first mate won't be much help, so I think, at least for now, the four of us are going to have to manage for ourselves."
"What about Tom?" B'Elanna wanted to know.
"You stay here: try to get him to remember. Maybe he'll listen to you."
She looked at the Doctor blankly. "He never listens to me."
"Um, well, good luck." He turned back to the others. "Fifteen minutes isn't going to be enough to straighten this out. We'll need to buy some more time. I suggest we pump an anesthetic through the air vents to knock them out for an additional hour or so while we figure out a way to bring their brain waves back into the beta state."
"But won't it take time for us to make up a gas and distribute it through the ship?" Neelix wondered.
"Yes, but we should be able to get it done within the next ten minutes. Seven, if you'll assist me?"
"Certainly, Doctor."
"What can I do?" Neelix wanted to know.
The Doctor really didn't have an answer to that one, so he made one up. "Talk to the Captain and Commander Chakotay. See if you can talk some sense into them."
He grinned. "The morale officer is on the job."
Seven and the Doctor headed to the medical lab in the center of the room. Seven seemed anxious. "Doctor," she said, staring intently at the screen in front of her. "When Junior insulted me, I sensed something in you."
Suddenly, the anxiety was contagious. "Hmm, I don't like people to treat my . . . friends like that."
"You forget, Doctor, you cannot lie to me. I posses your level of sensory abilities, if not greater. Your temperature rose point five degrees, the level of blood in your face increased significantly, as did your blood pressure."
"So?"
"Doctor, you have taught me the symptoms of many emotions. You are clearly suffering from acute jealousy."
"Am not!"
"You have developed romantic feelings for me." It was not a question. She stopped him before he could manage to talk himself into a hole. "There is no need to be self conscious, Doctor. Embarrassment is irrelevant. I feel no discomfort for this revelation." She almost smiled. "I really should have known, only amorous feelings could restore a deleted ethical subroutine with nothing more than a vocal sub processor - perfect though it may be."
The Doctor laughed slightly at the joke no one else on the ship would have understood, let alone found funny. It was their own language, and no one else was allowed in. No one else would want in. "True. Had you not started in on 'You Are My Sunshine', I might never have recovered." He huffed. "And I was not off-key." ****************************************
Tom struggled to get out of his restraints. B'Elanna was approaching the place where he sat, and he just knew she was going to try to kill him. He had to get away.
But the look on her face wasn't angry or violent at all. He saw some annoyance, and even a little sadness. She sat down on the examining table next to him. "I'll tell you the truth . . . Paris." Geeze, that's weird. "I couldn't care less about this mutiny. I think it's a stupid idea. She was having a hard time speaking so many things that were wrong to her. "I mean, if Janeway is dumb enough to just let us have free range of the ship and get a ride right back to the Delta Quadrant, who cares about a few idiot Starfleet regs? We've got it easy, why change that?" She sighed. "Anyway, I'm not feeling particularly violent today."
"You seemed pretty violent when you had that bat'leth."
"I've had a change of heart," she said softly. "Besides, I was taught by the best instructor in the delta quadrant." She looked to him for any sign of recognition. None. "He's a full human, too. Surprising, isn't it?"
"I guess so."
B'Elanna rolled her eyes. This was going to be impossible. He was completely blank. She would have to be a little more vicious. "Where did you learn how to fight with one of those?"
"I don't really remember. I think it was a holodeck program."
Okay, he got that one right. Try again.
"Why did you want to? Most humans think it's barbaric."
"I like it. I like a lot of Klingon stuff."
Now we were getting somewhere. "Why?"
"Don't know,:" was his only reply. "Why do you care?"
She shrugged, getting really frustrated. "It's interesting, that's all." She wasn't getting through to him at all. "You don't trust me, but I don't want to hurt you, and I'll prove it."
She undid the straps, making sure that the knife was still firmly in her grasp. Just in case
"You've still got the knife," he pointed out. She nodded a little - threw it behind her.
He laughed, a bitter sound. "You're bold, Maquis, I'll give you that." She hated that he addressed her that way.
. Time for the big guns. She was sitting to his right. "What's that?" She traced an arc, a scar across his jawbone. She liked that scar. "Looks like you got a pretty bad cut. Didn't get treated for a while " She spoke absently, as if it didn't really matter She laughed a little. "Funny, it looks almost like a bite. How in the world did you get that?"
"I don't remember it." He seemed puzzled. "A bite? I must have gotten it from some kind of wild animal."
B'Elanna was seething. He couldn't even remember that. Okay, she decided. That was it. No more Lieutenant Nice Person. "Pretty ring." She pointed to his wedding band with her left hand, hers clearly visible. "Where did you get it?"
Apparently, this question didn't bode well for him. She was starting to break down his delusional schema, and his defenses were up. "Someplace called Sacari, I think. I don't remember! Why do you want to find out everything about me? Are you pumping me for information?"
"I don't see how asking where you got your jewelry is really pertinent to a mutiny."
He seemed to realize that it was indeed a pretty stupid question, tactically, but that didn't stop him from coming up with an excuse. A really pathetic excuse. "You could be trying to wear me down. Make me nice and comfortable so you can interrogate me, and I wouldn't notice."
She slipped. "You're not that stupid, Tom." (A.N.: not true) He seemed taken aback by this comment and her tone of voice, serious and kind, but persisted with his pathetic excuses.
"Maybe you think it's some kind of communication device. It's not. I'll prove it," he said, mimicking her, or perhaps mocking her. He took it off and threw it across the room. It landed right beside the knife.
B'Ela jumped up immediately. "Hey!" she shouted. "Don't do that!" He didn't understand. She ran to retrieve it, and saw the knife. Last resort.
***************************************************
"Done," Seven informed the Doctor. "Should I release the toxin now?"
The Doctor nodded seriously. "Go ahead." It was only six minutes since Q had stopped time. They were ahead of schedule. Good. "That should give us another hour to find out how to fix this thing."
"Any plans, Doctor?"
He thought about that for a moment. "The aliens in this sector use the delta brain waves caused by the nebula to make harmful suggestions to the people who pass through. I see no reason we can't put healthier suggestions into their minds, suggestions that would nullify those made by the locals."
Seven caught on quickly. "Convince them that the Maquis and Starfleet are friends."
"Exactly." The Doctor looked smug. "I think I can pull off a little mass hypnosis."
"If hypnosis is droning in monotone, I am certain you will have no trouble." Her voice was completely serious, but on her face was the smile that none but the Doctor could ever detect.
*************************************************
"Hello, Captain, Commander!" Neelix was, surprise, surprise, perky.
"Neelix, untie me right now, that's an order!"
He winced a little, as he tended to do when he was regretful. "I'm sorry Captain, but you know I can't do that. I'm afraid you might hurt each other." His voice was soft and somewhat therapeutic. "You don't want to hurt anyone."
The captain looked at him with uncharacteristically cold, dark, almost evil eyes. "But I do. And I'm sorry."
Tom perked up, ignoring the fact that that strange Maquis was rifling around, looking for that silly ring. "Are we talking about ancient horror movies again?"
The Doctor and B'Elanna spoke simultaneously this time. "Shut up, Tom!"
"Oh, come on, Captain, don't you remember Naomi's birthday party? She turned seven. The entire ship was there." He beamed with pride. "I made my famous Patian grumba cake with Talupa frosting." Remember the crew convinced you to do a duet?" He winked. "Granted, we all conspired to get a little synthahol into you, but we got you, eventually." He poked Chakotay jovially. "You got right up there and sang 'I'm My Own Grandpa'." He laughed heartily. "Now those were good times. Don't tell me you don't remember." He shook his head sadly. "Too bad. We had so much fun that night. Now, why do you think you're enemies?"
"Because s/he's a Starfleet/Maquis!" Their answers were slurred together. They pointed accusingly.
Neelix spread his arms in a gesture of mild frustration. "So what? Sure, you're Maquis. Sure, you're Starfleet. But you're also people! You're friends! Don't you remember?"
"What I remember is that she came here to attack us!"
"And it was my job to stop them!"
"Come on now. The alpha quadrant is light years away. The war is over." He turned to Captain Janeway. "You are the greatest advocate for peace that I've ever met. I know you don't really want to kill anyone just for a difference of opinion. You relish other points of view."
"Not when they're wrong," she said pointedly.
He backed up, his face expressing the pragmatics of one talking to an unhappy child. "Now that's not the Captain Janeway that I know and love." He knelt down by the sofa and pointed at her to emphasize a point. "You believe in second chances. I know you do, because that's why I'm here. And I'm not about to let my friend make a mistake like this. I know you, and I know that friendship and peace are the two most important things to you. And I know you will eventually realize that."
"And you." He turned to Chakotay. "Are a very reasonable man. You're always settling disputes, and you're one of the most fair people that I know. Now how fair is it to turn against someone who has put her faith in you the way that Captain Janeway has?" He turned back so he was looking to both of them "I know it's still in you. Go inside yourselves. Look around. I know you'll find it."
********************************************************
Questions to be answered:
What is B'Elanna going to do with that knife?
Why do the aliens look like cotton candy?
Will Doc and Seven please speak English?
Why ARE we talking about ancient horror movies?
Where is this going? (No, I mean it. I don't know.)
First one who can tell me what Sacari is gets a chocolate chip cookie with mackedamia nuts!