C6 FS: Gone

Leila found herself along on the beach again. She was very exhausted form the entire ordeal and fell asleep in a hammock. It was the ending of a beautiful day when she woke for a few seconds and gazed at the brilliant colors in the sky as the sun set. A blanket appeared over her and she slept soundly. She dreamed of Picard and her mother. Could Q really find a way to fix everything or was Picard right that he caused more trouble?

The next morning, she woke to find Q zapping different outfits on then changing it to another. One second he was dressed similar to a Klingon then the waved his hand and he was clothed like a wizard with a tall pointy green hat that slumped at the top. His green cape was accented she noticed by a translucent kind of gold that shined like precious stones.

He turned and seen her, "What would you like to wear today my dear?"

"How about that outfit we seen on that blue guy." Leila did a twirl, as she was clothed in what looked like leather pants and a red cloth shirt. With her small frame and slender body, oh, how she liked the boots to stomp around in.

Q seen her pleasure at the outfit and turned to the magic ball once again that grew in size and landed upon a pedestal. Its resting place on the structure appeared to be a large dragon claw that held the orb in its palm.

"Ok, lets watch what happened after we helped them. By the way, don't worry about your mom and dad. I got some help from a friend. They will be waiting for your return." Q smiled slightly at her happiness of what he had just explained to her.

They sat in kingly chairs as the orb displayed the Enterprise and the happenings inside. Picard entered the bridge as a picture of the Crystalline Entity appeared on the display. Over the course of three hours, the Horta communicated with the entity about not disturbing the galaxy. There were moments after that time when Leila held her breath as the entity tried to attack the Enterprise. In the end, the Horta used an internal communication signal that wounded the entity, thereby reminding it that the Horta could in fact destroy it at will. The task was complete.

"There it turned out ok don't you think?" Q turned to Leila.

"Yes, everything is right now. It is leaving. Now, what happens when all that alien orb stuff happens?" Leila looked back to the large orb they had.

"Oh, the same as before." He waved his ringed hand at the orb and it shimmered to the event where they were transporting the alien object to the Denab system.

Leila giggled as a container of popcorn flashed into being sitting in her lap, and she seen that Q had one for himself.

Once again, she got caught up in what was happening in the crystal orb. Instead of people being wounded in the Briar Patch, the wedding was pleasant and without death. Leila knew that something else was going on when she seen the crew go back to the Enterprise as they had the first time. Surely, they had fixed everything and it was ok now.

She expected Picard to be happy at Chakotay and Seven having just been married, but he looked very solemn. "It's never easy for them is it. What's going on now?"

"Watch and see, I have a few things I have to do. I'll be back tomorrow ok. That should give you time to catch up on what is going on, and rest a little by the ocean." Q flashed out as she nodded at him. She heard his voice, but did not see him as he spoke again, "By the way, your necklace controls the viewing orb." And he was gone, vanishing in a swell of light off to go visit Vash.

Leila tipped the umbrella that covered her and the orb as she leaned forward to hear better. Her necklace glowed slightly and the volume of the conversation increased for her to hear, and she sighed at it working for her.

Picard stood up in front of Riker, Troi, Geordi, Data, Beverly, Wesley, Worf, Shinzon, Clintor, Janeway, Adije, Tuvok and Spock. "All that we know is that they disappeared some time after the reception. Has anyone found out anything else?"

There were several looks of concern as Geordi stood to his feet. "I seen them just as the reception was over when the music ended. They were walking together by the lake at the dam. I waved at them and they waved back, that's it."

Tuvok and Spock raised their eyebrows and spoke in unison, "In what direction were they walking?" Everyone looked at them as they sat across the conference table from each other. If it had been another time, the moment might have been humorous Leila thought.

Geordi paused and looked between them. "They were headed around the east side of the lake toward the new eating area. The ladies were carrying drinks."

Shinzon leaned forward against the table, and Picard noticed that he was exercising self-control. "Did they look stressed as they walked or were they happy?"

Geordi stated, "They looked happy to me. They were walking and laughing."

Worf spoke after a long silence in the group. "As soon as they were discovered missing, I had the exit to the Briar Patch blocked. Every vessel that left was searched three times before it was allowed to proceed."

Troi put her arms on the table. "There was a large number of Betazoids and Vulcans who worked in teams in the search effort in order to detect if anyone knew anything. We came up with nothing."

"So they are still here or the ones who took them got out before we noticed they were missing." Spock commented in a very dry tone to which Tuvok and Janeway acknowledged.

Riker shook his head and looked at Picard. "Where could they be and who would take them?"

"Are we certain that they are not just lost in the forest or something?" Clintor spoke.

Adije brushed her long hair out of her face, as it was apparent to all that she had been crying. "I had everyone on the planet do a search, and Wesley helped with a scan."

"What kind of a scan?" Tuvok asked with his hands folded on the table.

Data spoke up. "Wesley, Geordi, Clintor and myself created a device to scan for their specific gene alteration that Picard has. For that matter, they are in a small group of people who have the gene alteration. We are also working on a hypothesis in which that is the very reason why they have been abducted."

"The gene alteration that I have, each of them has as well." Picard spoke out loud the thought that was formed by Data's words.

"That is correct. We believe that they were targeted for that very reason and anyone else with the same gene will also be at risk." Data concluded.

At that second, Maiden ran into the room stumbling over his own feet.

"Mr. Maiden, good of you to show up to the meeting. Where have you been?" Riker asked his number one officer on the Enterprise.

He was out of breath and leaned on a chair as he spoke in rasps. "Paulera and Ba'el are gone!" He started choking and could not get his breath.

"Yes, we know. That is why we are having this meeting." Picard spoke while looking annoyed at Maiden for interrupting the meeting and having been late.

"No, you don't understand. Allisa is gone too!" He finally leaned forward and used the chair to support his weight.

Shinzon was out of his chair in flash and holding Maiden by his shirt. No one knew he could move so quickly, it was almost defying logic at the speed he moved. "Where is she?" His voice reminded Picard of when they had been doing battle when Shinzon, who is now called Renee Picard, was commander of the Scimitar.

"I went to your house to get her as Picard asked and that is why I am late. I looked everywhere. I even used Data's new scanner to try and find her. She is gone." Maiden started to try and get away from the now crazed Shinzon. "Renee please, let me go."

"Yes, Renee let him go. Worf alert the barricade at the exit of the Briar Patch. We will find them!" Picard straightened his shirt as he stood.

Shinzon released Commander Maiden with a shove. His eyes were bulging slightly and his temper had obviously been put back in check. The steely sound in his voice caused several in the room to shutter as he spoke next. "We will bring the women back and kill those who took them."

A/N: Shinzon, back in action. Please review; I hope you enjoyed the new chapter and thanks for the reviews.