Well, I wonder what will happen in this chapter?

Q: I don't know, ask Miral

Miral: What, you're omniscient, you moron.

Q: Oh, right.

"Miral?" B'Elana called. She had been told about Miral's strange, open-mouthed stare at the mysterious stranger who had disappeared from the Mess Hall, and she had a feeling she knew who the stranger was, or at least what it was. "Miral?" she called again, "Are you here?" She walked into the Hall and past the tables and counter to where a team was scanning the spot where he had left. "Was Miral here?"

The Ensign she was talking to turned his head and pointed to a table ten metres away.

B'Elana looked at the table where Miral was sitting and sipping tea. She looked slightly shaken but not hurt. She sat down opposite her and looked at her daughters smooth tan skin. "Are you all right?"

Miral looked up at the familiar glow of her mother. She nodded as if to say 'yes'.

"What did you see?"

"He was bright. Very bright." she said, slowly stirring her tea so that the mint leaves floated up to the top. "I'd never seen anything like it before. It was so..." she struggled to find the right word, "heavenly, magical, fantastic. It was amazing."

"Do you know what it was?"

Miral shook her head.

"It was a continuum dweller, I think."

"A 'Q'?" Miral had read and listened to all the old Voyager crew's stories about their adventures with the continuum.

"It could be, we don't know." B'Elanna stood and turned to walk away, but then she turned back and said very quietly, "Be careful, Miral, it's not to be trusted."

"Understood." Miral said as her mother strode back to the team searching the floor.

It was several hours later as Miral walked down the hall to her quarters. She was absentmindedly reading off a pad she carried in her hand as the doors swooshed open in front of her. She looked walked over to the small, glass table in the corner and set the pad down. She looked at her bed and, with a suitable amount of shock, realized the bright orange and purple being was lying on her bed.

"Hello." he said, sitting up. "Aren't you pretty."

Miral was quite taken aback. "Er, yes, thank you." she muttered. "Are you from the continuum?"

"Indeed I am." He snapped his fingers once more and the air in the room glowed red for a minute before condensing into some flower like form. "For you." he said as he walked over and handed her the lilies.

"Um." She had decided it would be best to take him to the Captain. "Could you come with me, please?"

He laughed a hearty laugh. "Certainly, Miral."

She wondered how he knew her name but did not question it, he was coming with her, that was enough.

"Oh, come on." he said, "I'm omniscient, remember? I can see anything I want."

"Your Mother is the captain, no?" They were walking down the corridor toward the nearest turbo lift that could take them all the way to the top. Miral walked in front with a sour expression of duty on her face, Q walked behind her with a clever smirk on his face.

"Yes." answered Miral rather coldly as she pressed open the lift doors.

Q laughed suddenly. "I knew your mother quite well." he laughed again, "B'Elanna Torres, or was it Paris? She was quite good looking, for a half breed."

Miral suddenly took an inkling and punched him in the midriff. She had expected it to hurt him but instead, searing pain jolted along her knuckles.

"Oh, Miral." he chided, "I'm hurt." Then he laughed, "Well, not really. It seems my tremendous physique is no match for your hands, are you all right?"

She laughed vaguely, she was very angry at him: first, for the 'half breed' comment he had made, and second, for the way he had spoken to her as if she were some delirious infant. She wondered, 'Could I? It would certainly put him in his place. He is just energy like anything else.' She set her mind to work on his fluorescing energy but found it difficult, far too difficult for she ended up on the floor as the doors opened onto the Bridge.

Well, l'aimez-vous? [did you like it] for those 'non-frogs' out there. We're going to find Miral focussing her mind a little more and hating Q a little less in later chapters. R&R. Cheers.