Chakotay stood when he heard the ready room door open. A genuine smile in place, he turned to greet his captain. Her timing was impeccable. Something of interest had just popped up on scanners, and he was eager to share the data with her.

However, Kathryn Janeway looked a mess. Her hair was in disarray. Her face ashen. Chakotay quickly dropped his smile. "Captain?" he asked. Adrenaline rushed and he made toward her.

But at the sound of his voice, her blue eyes widened in an expression that Chakotay could recognize only as fear. What had happened? She looked small as she cowered against a bulkhead and transferred command to him in a shaky voice. Then she was gone, fleeing long before he could stop her.

Chakotay looked a moment at the door that had closed behind her, trying to process what had just happened. Baffled, he turned to the rest of the bridge. Tuvok met his eyes with a concerned expression but offered no analysis. Harry, wide-eyed, shrugged. Tom's brows were furrowed, and his mind seemed to be far away.

Chakotay cleared his throat. He'd give her a minute. "Harry, anything more you can tell me about the phenomenon that's appeared?"

"Uh, yes, Commander." And the shift went on almost as if nothing had happened.

After everything was running smoothly, and he'd exhausted Harry of everything he knew about the recent scans, Chakotay excused himself and gave Tuvok control of the bridge. Then he took the turbolift down to Deck 3.

The turbolift came to an unexpected stop between decks with a jolt that almost toppled Chakotay. With a sigh, he raised a hand to his combadge.

"Chakotay to Engineering."

"Oh, they can't hear you."

"Kathryn?" Chakotay whipped his head in the direction of her voice. She was lying on the floor and holding both hands over a bleeding wound on her abdomen. But she certainly hadn't been there when he'd entered the turbolift. He immediately dropped to his knees beside her. "What happened? How did you get here?"

Janeway let out a laugh that turned into a cough which resulted in flecks of blood showering her uniform.

"Chakotay to sickbay! Emergency transport!"

"I said they can't hear you."

Chakotay finally noticed the smirk on the captain's face. There was no sense of urgency, no grimace of pain, despite the blood continuing to seep between her fingers and the color of her face continuing to drain. And most importantly, the expression was wrong. Kathryn smirked as much with her eyebrows as she did with her mouth. But this woman had hardly moved an eyebrow yet. It looked so real, heart wrenchingly real, but he knew it was fake, an illusion of some sort. A good copy, but not a perfect one. Although it went against all his instincts, he backed away from Janeway's form.

"What's happening here? Where's Kathryn?"

"Oh, I'm fine," the form said, sitting up. "Just checking to see how you'd react. You didn't disappoint. Bravo."

"Answer me!" Chakotay had to try very hard not to fixate on the bloody mess revealed when the figure removed her hands from her torso.

"You're no fun, Commander," the figure said with a pout. The blood in the corners of her mouth rather ruined the effect.

"Well," the false Janeway said after Chakotay offered no retort. "Your precious Kathryn is in danger, and you're the only one who can save her."

"This isn't a game! I don't have time for melodrama!" Chakotay growled.

The pseudo-Janeway lifted a bloody hand to her forehead dramatically and sighed. "You wound me, Chuckles."

Chuckles?

"Q?"

Janeway's form dissolved to reveal the infuriating man.

"What have you done to the captain?" The pieces were finally coming together.

"Must you always assume I've 'done something?'" Q asked, throwing his arms up. "We merely had a chat."

"What do you want, Q?" Chakotay had to focus on keeping his breathing even.

"Let's get one thing straight. And this is very important," Q said, standing up and looking Chakotay in the eye. "You will not tell your beautiful woman warrior about what we are about to discuss. Is that clear, Chuckles?"

Chakotay's face flushed, but his ire remained intact. "Why?"

"I don't think you could stomach the consequences if you don't."

The image of Kathryn bleeding profusely from the stomach surfaced vividly in Chakotay's mind. "Alright. What do you want?"

"Something's going to happen in the next day or so. Our madam captain will be faced with quite the dilemma." Q said it all so casually, as if this were the weather. Chakotay wanted to throttle him.

"What are you going to do to her?"

Q placed an offended hand on his chest. "Me? I assure you, she'll be doing this to herself." He flashed a wicked smile. "As I was saying, Kathy will be in quite a state, and when the moment's right, and believe me, you'll know when it's right, you will offer your life to ease her suffering."

"What?" Utter disbelief.

"Ask her to kill you," Q repeated in a patronizing tone.

"How would that help?"

"Your inferior mind couldn't possibly comprehend. Will you do it?"

Chakotay struggled to respond. None of this made any sense.

Q added extra incentive. "Her blood will be on your hands if you don't."

What choice did he have? Q had him trapped into a corner. Even though he didn't understand, there was one thing he knew. He would die to save Kathryn any day.

"I'll do it."

"Splendid." The turbolift began to move again.

As the doors opened to let Chakotay out, Q said, "Don't forget, Commander. Or her blood." He flicked his fingers in Chakotay's direction, and a small amount of crimson splattered his face and neck.

Chakotay detoured to his quarters to get cleaned up, but his destination hadn't changed. He needed to see Kathryn. He was definitely shaken by the encounter with Q, but he was sure he'd be alright if he could just see her.

When she answered her door, she looked every inch Captain Janeway. Not a hair out of place. Firm and confident. All except her eyes. There was a sadness there that didn't belong with her captain ensemble.

"Kathryn, are you alright?" He wanted to hold her, to make sure it was really her. Of course, he controlled the impulse. But, oh spirits, her eyes. He'd seen pain in them before. Almost too many times to count. Her eyes were the most honest part of her.

"Perfectly fine, Chakotay."

Definitely the most honest part.

He couldn't resist the desire to at least touch her somehow. But she was obviously opposed to the idea. The way she pulled out of his reach without hesitation was telling. Whatever Q had said to her must have had something to do with him.

"Be honest, please."

"I'm fine. It was just a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" He didn't believe that for a second.

She made a face and shrugged. "I fell asleep in my ready room and had a bad dream. It was vivid and disturbing, and I let it get the better of me," she said without batting an eye. "I'm sure you understand why I'm not too keen to discuss it."

Chakotay took hold of her arms before she could react. Luckily, she didn't pull away. In a low voice—though a gentle one; he wasn't trying to intimidate her—he said, "We both know there's something you're not telling me. Please tell me what to do to help you, Kathryn."

She turned her face away. Chakotay was alarmed to notice she was trying to gain control of her emotions. This wasn't like her.

It didn't take her long to replace her captain's mask. "I need to be on the bridge, Commander. Please remove your hands from me and let me pass."

Oh. So now it was "Commander." His better judgment told him to comply immediately, but his instincts told him not to let her go. He compromised by releasing her but standing resolutely in place.

"Do I need to make that an order?"

"Kathryn." But what could he say? Q had probably restricted her from sharing her experience just as he had with him. Still, he wanted to be near her.

"Get out of my way."

That was a tone for intimidating ensigns. It didn't scare him, but the fact she was using it on him was worrisome. He stepped away and let her go.

Chakotay hoped B'Elanna was succeeding where he had failed. She and the captain had been in the ready room for quite some time. There seemed a good chance that Kathryn was opening up at least a little bit to a fellow woman.

The hope was dashed when B'Elanna entered the bridge with a scowl. "I tried, you guys," she announced. "But we—"

"Shhh!" Chakotay interrupted.

All on the bridge looked at him quizzically. He ignored them and strode past B'Elanna to the ready room door. There was only silence on the other side. But he could've sworn he'd heard something. A mix between a shout and a cry.

He rang.

No answer.

He rang again.

No answer.

A third time.

Nothing.

"Tuvok, we need to get inside that room," Chakotay commanded. "Something is definitely wrong."

It only took a few minutes to get through the door. But when they charged into the room, phasers raised, it was empty. There was no sign of the captain. No sign of Q.

"Computer, locate Captain Janeway!"

"Captain Janeway is not on board."

Chakotay turned to Tuvok. "This is Q's work. There's a chance they're still on the ship somewhere." Of course there was also a chance that they were thousands of light years away on some godforsaken asteroid. "Red alert. Have all hands searching. We need to find the captain."

Tuvok looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "I believe you are overreacting, Commander. Q has never done the captain direct harm. They will be back."

Chakotay glanced at all the other crewmembers around him. They seemed to agree with Tuvok. But they didn't know what he did. They hadn't seen Kathryn bleeding openly in the turbolift.

"Fine," he shouted. "Harry, with me. The rest of you can do what you want." It wasn't like him to raise his voice like this against his crewmates, but the rules changed when his captain was in danger. He led Harry away in a quiet rage.

The obvious place to start was Janeway's quarters. But if she wasn't there… Well, it was a big ship. He could only hope Tuvok was right and no harm would come to her.

Standard security overrides didn't open the captain's door. Chakotay took that as a good sign. He set Harry to work on trying to unlock the door through the computer system while he tried to pull open the door manually.

He was about ready to go retrieve a phaser rifle to blast the door open when suddenly he lost his balance. He was so dizzy. And everything was going black.