The progress on the transporter was coming along perfectly, Teth observed over the progress as Q went off to check up on Kathryn. She hadn't been taking any of this very well and he wouldn't expect her to. She had every right to be upset about this situation. Hell, he was upset about the situation but Teth had given him hope and he wanted to pass that hope on to her. Walking into sickbay Q saw Kathryn laid out on a biobed, it sent a chill along his back seeing her there. He liked to think she wasn't in critical condition, in fact she wasn't but the baby was. The doctor feared any minute the rest of the body even with it's 'life support' would shut down. Kathryn's own body could only supplement so much for so long before major organs shut down. "I gave her a sedative to calm her down and help her sleep. I wanted to make sure I could keep the baby's functions monitored. So far they both seem relatively alright, if you can call being brain dead a relatively alright."
"Can you wake her up?" Q asked walking a little closer to the biobed. He kept his voice down in case she was still awake. If she needed rest, if she needed to sleep through the worst hours of this then he would let her.
"She's awake. You might be able to help her right now more than I can."
Q nodded and made his way to her side pulling over on chair from the corner so he could sit beside her. Brushing an auburn lock from her face he smiled down at her. "Hi." Q spoke softly as she opened her eyes up, he could tell she had been crying again, trying to deal with the possibility that they might never get a chance to hold their child, watch her grow up. If he could help it that outcome was never going to happen. "Teth is making progress, It won't be long before we can go down to transporter room one and get our daughter back." Reaching out he grabbed Kathryn's hand and held it tight in his own. "So Jean Luc is out of the question, been thinking of anything else?"
"No, I'm not certain I want to. If I give her a name it will be harder to lose her."
What grim words, Q couldn't let her think that way. "We won't lose her. We are going to get her back and she is going to want a name." At the very least, if she did die, if this was her last day then Q wanted her to die with a name. He didn't think she would, but he couldn't send a baby off in one of those small caskets just calling her Q or nameless Janeway. "Phoebe after your sister. Or Kathryn after you, we can call her Kat. Think of it then we will have a Kat and a dog." Leaning over he kissed her on the forehead catching the briefest smile light up her eyes for just a moment. "I know you can't hear me now Kat but you mean a great deal to me. If you could just be as stubborn as your mother then you will be hard to kill, don't let something so little as brain death stop you."
"Amelia." Kathryn finally spoke up. "Before when you suggested Quincy I thought of Amelia after Amelia Earhart. The first female pilot on earth. As a girl I always looked up to her and out here in the Delta Quadrant I had the chance to meet her. When I was young Amelia meant so much to me, I wanted to grow up to be just like her, a brave explorer going where no one had gone before. She vanished on earth long ago, assumed to be dead but when I found her here I knew she wasn't dead. Even now she has survived, a living legend. Maybe if, if we thought our daughter was gone she might be like Earhart. She might prove us all wrong."
"Amelia." Q mimicked with a little smile. "I really like that name, Amelia Q Janeway." He kissed her again. "She is going to prove us wrong and you know why? Because she Amelia Janeway, daughter of Captain Kathryn Janeway and Q. She's part Q, part human, the best qualities from both of us and none of our flaws. She's a fighter and she comes from hardy stock. We are both difficult to kill, I expect no less from her and in six months time we are going to welcome her to Voyager and teach her everything there is to know. She will be the brightest, bravest, best, Starfleet won't know what to do with itself when they face off with her."
"Q." The voice rang over sickbays com systems. "If you are still in sickbay please alert the EMH and the captain to come to transporter room one. We are ready to start the separation process." Teth's voice had a hint of excitement to it.
"Come on Kathy, time to get Amelia back." The doctor came to help the captain up. He would need to stay with them to help monitor her before and after the separation in hopes the baby's brainwaves came back. How this process would work was still unclear, he knew separation of the two entities would be a good start but how would the baby's consciousness get back? Luck, fate, nature?
It was a slow walk as Kathy showed obvious signs of her sedation, still dragging her feet while they moved towards the transporter room. Once inside Teth met them with a smile that was starting to look a little more like their Amelia's smile now. "You will need to erect a level ten forceful around the transporter until we are separated. Afterwards you may lower it and I'll help the child reintegrate with her physical form." Walking away from the pair Teth stood on top the platform and looked over at Torres with a nod of his head. While the engineer started the process the ship lurched and shuttered making Teth fall over from his spot. He lifted his head again, eyes wide with fear as he pressed his fingers against his com badge. "Bridge to transporter room one. He's back, we have to run. Go to warp nine." Q felt himself instantly grab Janeway's hand and hold it tight. as the ship shook again.
"An energy pulse shut down the warp core again." Paris's voice rang from the other side.
Teth got up walking forward and pausing a moment. "Start the process now, we need to hurry. He's come back for the baby. Without her neural network in place he will take over the body. I can't let this happen again." Torres went to work starting up the transporter beam again but another wave knocked out the power.
"I'm losing power to the controls."
"Reroute power from the shield to the transporter. I'll try to compensate myself so no one gets hurt." Another wave hit the ship again making it shake harder.
"I can't, he's knocking out all the systems."
Q looked over at Teth, the look on his face as if the whole world was falling down around him. As if he had seen this happen once before and he was reliving the moment. In his mind Teth was there again watching the sky turn black, the screams of his son in his mind. Black eyes narrowed as Teth turned his back to Q. "There is another way." He put his hands together. "Paris, I'm going to push the ship." He paused. "After I get us clear from here I'm going to let your daughter live. So long as we are together she will die, if one of us dies however the other is free. The remaining entity will absorb the extra energy patterns into their own and go on as they were before."
Q interrupted him. "But you'll, you'll be gone."
Teth gave a little smile. "If I have to die to right the wrongs of my past, to undo all my mistakes then it's the price I am willing to pay. For my son, for your daughter." He looked up. "It's your battle now Q. Don't make the same mistakes I did." He turned to face the Captain again. "Captain Janeway, remember the shadows." He turned back pressing his hands against the side of the room, the ship glowing as it had before, rather than the shield that had enveloped the ship before however the light powered down into the warp core pushing the ship forward at alarming rate. It moved through space like ice on glass for only a few seconds, a loud clap breaking it and slowing it to a near dead stop as Teth fell back from the wall and landed on his back. Gasping the body broke down into spirals of blue and gold light, fingers melting away into nothingness, flesh melting away from a smooth ivory skeletal structure. The glue wisps of light floated about like ash before turning a brilliant amber shade and flitting together like bugs drawn in by a light. As the body dissolved away the amber orb grew in size, no larger than perhaps a golf ball.
It circles the room at first seeming unintelligent before changing directions, looking for something. Pausing in it's path it spiraled down towards the group of humans gathered near the transporter control panel and flicked it's glow upon their faces. Almost with a playful nature it moved forward and back passing each person, first Torres without pause, passing the doctor with a small loop, almost a sign of confusion, then to Q with a long pause as if studying him. Once it noticed Janeway however it's behavior changed. It twinkled with a series of bright flashes that brought a smile to her face, almost as if the being of pure energy was trying to speak with her. It hovered just long enough to Janeway to reach out and nearly touch it, her hand moving through the light source but making it tingle. Shinning brighter it ran into her palm sending a glow along her arm. She jumped, more startled than hurt before looking back at Q. "Is she?"
The doctor pulled out his medical tricorder scanning over Janeway. "No radiation, no trace evidence of an energy signature..." He paused over her abdomen and let out a sign. "Well, I'm reading brain activity from the ba...Amelia." Janeway followed him with a sigh of her own. "Very healthy average brain activity you would expect actually."
"That's good new right?" Q asked.
"Yes and no, she use to have a lot more brain activity before, he had warned us this might leave her unable to project herself anymore or possible memory lose from before this moment."
"She won't remember us?" Kathryn seemed a little disappointed.
"She might not remember any moment from before now. It's difficult to say."
"I can live with that." Q answered. "She doesn't need to remember before, it's what she will remember later that's important. She won't really forget us Kathryn after all we are her parents. We will be spending our lifetime with her. She's going to figure out who we are quickly."
"Captain to the bridge, you might want to come take a look at this." Chakotay's voice rang over the com. Taking Q's hand in her own she smiled at him again, her blue eyes shifting up to his.
"Would you like to come with me Q?"
"Most certainly." Together they went up to the bridge looking up at the view screen at more unfamiliar stars.
"Captain, the energy we came across earlier is no longer in any of our scans. I think we got away." Chakotay smiled looking over at Captain Janeway, Q's arm wrapped around her. His eyes shifted nervously before looking away. Q acted like he never noticed but he could see the way Chakotay looked at her and it made him uncomfortable now more than ever. As a Q he had powers beyond human imagination. Now he was mortal and for the first time someone could actually be his competition. He didn't more or react to make it anymore known that Janeway was his because in reality she wasn't. He couldn't own her as a Q and he certainly couldn't own her now but he did care about her. "Is our youngest crew mate alright?" He asked. He was lucky the baby hadn't died or Chakotay might have been the one going out an airlock. Then again if she had Janeway wouldn't have come to the bridge.
Janeway rested a hand over her belly with a little smile. "She's not brain dead, that's the best we can hope for."
"What do you suggest we do now captain?"
Janeway smiled back at her crew on the bridge. "Set a course towards home."
