Chapter 10: Galor IV, Daystrom Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Student Cafeteria, 2400
"You look like you spent the night being tossed around in a plasma storm. What happened?"
L'Naan Paris shrugged and took a sip of her orange juice. "I don't really want to talk about it."
Her lab partner Jenari bit into a piece of toast noisily. "I'm famished," she declared, gulping down her own orange juice before she had finished chewing. "Are you going to eat that?"
L'Naan looked down at her breakfast. "No."
Jenari greedily slid her friend's plate toward herself. "I woke up this morning with a huge appetite."
"Jenari, can I ask you something?" L'Naan asked. "I know we haven't known each other for that long, but can we talk about sex for a minute?"
"Happily," she answered with a mouth full of food. "Last night Charys and I were in the middle of doing our homework when we suddenly just – "
"No," L'Naan interrupted. "That's not what I meant." She sighed. "You've – you've had sex with a lot more people than I have. Do you – do you love them all?"
"Not necessarily."
"And does that make them feel used?"
Jenari set down her fork, realizing it was going to be a serious conversation. "I think sometimes people have sex because they care about each other, and sometimes they just do it because it feels good. There's no right or wrong reason, as long as everyone involved has the same intentions. In my experience, it's when someone expects more than someone else that people start getting hurt."
L'Naan contemplated this for a moment, and then she caught Jenari staring intently at her. She rolled her eyes. "I know you want to read me, Jenari, so just go ahead."
"It would make these conversations we have a lot easier," the Betazoid pointed out, closing her eyes. After a moment she opened them. "I sense anxiety. You're worried you've hurt Brez."
"He told me he loves me last night," L'Naan admitted with a sigh.
"And you don't love him." It was a statement, not a question.
"No, I don't," L'Naan admitted aloud for the first time. She happened to glance toward the doorway and caught him approaching their table. "Kahless, here he comes. Pretend we're talking about our lab work." As Brez took a seat next to her with a sweet smile on his face, L'Naan hoped she did a better job of hiding her feelings from the telepath she was sleeping with than she did from her empathic lab partner.
"Good morning," he greeted them both.
"Hi, Brez," Jenari said in a friendly tone. She resumed devouring her breakfasts.
Brez looked down at the padd lying on the table near L'Naan's orange juice. "What are you reading?"
"Data's biography."
Brez shook his head. "We build androids all day, and you want to spend your free time reading about them?" He picked up the padd and studied it for a moment. "Looks a little dry, L'Naan."
She snatched it back from his hands. "Actually, it's riveting," she replied. "You should try reading it some time."
"I did once," he confessed. "But I stopped after three chapters. I thought there would be more about his adventures on the Enterprise, but it just kept going on and on about his quest to become human. I didn't see the appeal."
L'Naan placed the padd on the table, possessively keeping her hands on top of it, and bit her lip.
USS Galileo, En Route to Takara Sector, Observation Lounge
"And it has been the privilege of captains for centuries," Captain Michaels continued. He paused for a breath and turned to the two ensigns in front of him. "I understand you have a few words you'd like to say to each other?"
Miral Paris nodded and turned to Andrew Kim. She took his hands in her own and, voice shaking, said with practice, "Andrew, you have been my best friend since the day you were born – whether that was ten years ago or twenty." Andrew chuckled, and Miral felt herself relax a little. "I never thought I'd fall in love with you, but now I can't imagine how else I could spend the rest of my life other than married to you."
Andrew smiled, warmed by her words. "Miral, you are everything I could have ever hoped for, and being with you has made me a better person. I look forward to sharing my life with my best friend."
L'Naan handed them each the rings she'd been guarding. As Miral put the ring on Andrew's finger, she noticed how his hand trembled. She clasped it, smiling, feeling even more charmed by his nerves. Andrew shifted the smaller ring from his palm to his forefinger and thumb, at which point he dropped it onto the floor. Harry closed his eyes with a slight groan until Libby elbowed him sharply. Tom and B'Elanna exchanged a long look. Andrew, L'Naan, and the Vulcan engineer standing next to her knelt down on the floor to find the ring. Miral just smiled awkwardly at her captain and waited for the moment to pass.
At last Andrew retrieved the ring and righted himself, tugging on his dress uniform to straighten it. He tried to recapture the moment. "Miral Paris, I may always be a complete klutz, but I am a klutz who adores you." He reached for her hand and put the ring on it. Her face hadn't completely softened, so he decided to pull out his showstopper. "Vaj mamuvchuq."
"What did you say?" she asked in surprise.
"Cha' moj wa," he continued with delight as he saw the change in her eyes. She was his.
"Tuq moj cha'," she finished, "my par'Mach'Kai." She looked back at Captain Michaels, signaling that the impromptu Klingon portion of the ceremony had effectively concluded.
"Ensign Miral Paris, Ensign Andrew Kim, with the power vested in me by Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets, I now pronounce you husband and wife," he declared. "Congratulations."
Those who had gathered in the observation lounge applauded as Miral and Andrew shared their first married kiss. After a moment, the couple turned to the crowd, expectation written all over their young faces.
L'Naan was the first to step forward. "Now I don't have to be nice to you," she whispered in Andrew's ear as she hugged him. "Now you're family." He shook his head with a smile as he squeezed her back.
B'Elanna turned to look at Tom, still processing the fact that her baby girl had just become a married woman. Tom responded by taking his hand under her jaw and pulling her in for a kiss of their own. They were interrupted, however, when the captain approached to introduce himself.
"I'm sorry our change in mission altered their wedding plans," Captain Michaels said, shaking B'Elanna's hand. "I hope they're not too disappointed, but I'm glad you were able to get here."
"Actually," B'Elanna told him, "the plans for the ceremony in San Francisco were getting a little out of control. This worked out better." She nodded toward Harry. "Have you met Captain Kim?"
"Captain Kim?" Michaels repeated. "You just took command of the Rhode Island."
"She's still getting some repair work done at Deep Space Four, actually," Harry said as they shook hands. "We pull out as soon as I get there." His hand let go of Michaels' and found its way to Libby's back. "This is my wife, Libby."
"Hi," she said, shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you," the captain said graciously. He gestured to the sea of dress uniforms surrounding her civilian attire. "You look a little out of fashion."
"Oh, trust me," Libby told him. "I'm quite used to being the only non-officer in the room."
"It's going to become your standard way of life now, Libby," B'Elanna reminded her.
"I'll be serving as a civilian scientist on the Rhode Island," she explained to the captain. "Anyway, thank you for marrying my son."
"My pleasure. It's the best part of the job, as I'm sure Captain Kim will discover. Why didn't they want you to marry them?"
"Oh," Harry said, "they wouldn't have liked that at all. That's why we're grateful you were able to accommodate them." He winked at Tom. "I hope my daughter-in-law hasn't been too much trouble."
"Actually," Michaels said, "Ensign Paris is a fine officer. She may be in line for a promotion in the next year."
"Only a year for a promotion to lieutenant j.g.?" Tom said, raising his eyebrows toward Harry. "And she hasn't even been lost in the Delta Quadrant." The newly minted Captain Kim smiled back at him, unfazed.
"I beg your pardon?" Michaels asked.
"It's nothing," B'Elanna assured him. "Just a little inside joke among old friends."
Guest Quarters 16-7A
As L'Naan took off the emerald velvet dress Miral had asked her to wear to the ceremony, there was a flash of light in her guest quarters. A modesty reflex kicked in, and she held the dress over her nearly nude body.
"Charlie!" she said with surprise to the Q who had just materialized. "Why do the Q have an utter talent for appearing when people are naked? And where have you been for the last six months?"
"Six months?"
"It's been six months since the last time I saw you," she explained wearily. Modesty gone, she dropped the dress to the floor and pulled on her pajamas. "You missed the wedding."
"No, I didn't."
"Charlie, there were only about twenty people there. I'm sure I would have seen you."
Charlie snapped and turned into the Vulcan engineer who'd helped her rescue Miral's ring. "Look familiar?"
Trying not to look too thrilled at his return, L'Naan climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her lap. "Why?"
"I told you I'd never been to a wedding before. And I know how much you like Vulcans."
"Probably a good idea that you were in disguise. You might have caused trouble with the captain. What do you want, anyway?"
Charlie flashed himself into pajamas and into bed next to her. To her total annoyance, L'Naan found she wasn't annoyed by his presence, and Charlie knew it. "I wanted to see if you had a made a decision yet."
"About joining the Continuum?" L'Naan frowned. "That was a long time ago, Charlie. I haven't heard from you or seen you since then. I started the Daystrom Institute. I started dating someone."
"Yes, but you don't love him."
"You don't know that," she insisted.
He scoffed. "Brez? The Haliian? You're mildly satisfied that he has cranial protrusions like you, and you find it arousing when he handles a submicron scanner, but that's it." He looked at her closely. "And the sex bores you."
"Charlie!"
"So what are you studying?"
"You know all of that, but you don't even know what I'm studying?" she asked testily.
Charlie shrugged. "We Q know what we want to know."
"I see." L'Naan flipped onto her side, showing her back to him.
Realizing she was upset, Charlie flashed himself on his knees on the other side of the bed, so that his face was near hers. "You're angry."
"Wow, omnipotence comes with mighty powers of observation."
"Why?"
"Because you hurt my feelings." L'Naan awaited a response, but his face was blank. "You made me think we were friends. You made me think I was special. And then you just disappeared. I had to explain to my family why I was still going to the Daystrom Institute instead of, you know, becoming immortal. It was embarrassing."
Charlie put a hand on her cheek for a moment, then turned it over and stroked her face with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I was watching a red giant burn off helium, and then it was time to come here."
"You've been watching a red giant burn off helium for six months?"
"I guess so. I wanted to see it go supernova."
"You can't actually watch that happen," she informed him with a dubious look on her face. "I mean, a red giant could have a lifespan of one million years."
Charlie shrugged. "I'm immortal. What do I care how long it takes?"
L'Naan sat up, taking his hands in her own. "Charlie, you have to remember that time is different for me. When you didn't come back, I thought maybe it was another Q joke at humanity's expense."
"You know it wasn't a joke. The Continuum needs you." He clutched his stomach as it growled loudly. "I think I'm hungry."
"Did you eat anything the entire six months you've been gone?" L'Naan demanded. He shook his head. She threw off the blankets and marched over to the replicator. Remembering how much he had enjoyed their afternoon on Mykonos, she ordered a plate of feta, olives, and figs. "Charlie, you can't just disappear on me," she continued as the food materialized. She held out the plate for him. "I have doubts and insecurities. I'm human."
He accepted the food, looking her in the eyes. "Then maybe we should change that." He snapped, and with a flash of light he was gone. The plate clattered to the floor, and the olives rolled across the gray carpeting.
Private Quarters of Ensign Miral Paris
"I can't believe we just got married," Miral said, wrapping her arms around Andrew's waist.
Andrew placed his hands on each side of her face and gently caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. "Me either," he said. He was vaguely aware that they'd gone back to her quarters – though he wasn't sure how. Slowly, though, he began to perceive the room around him, and he couldn't help himself from declaring, "Miral, honestly! This place is a mess!"
Ordinarily Andrew's complaints about her sloppiness annoyed Miral, but this time she felt far too euphoric. She laughed easily and gestured around the room with a sweep of her arm. "Consider it a wedding present. I thought you'd enjoy cleaning it up for me."
"Is this how you live when you're away from me?" He stooped to collect a rumpled uniform. "It's a good thing you married me. You need me."
"Are you going to be able to pay attention to me, or do I have to wait for you to clean my quarters before I can have you?"
Andrew grinned. "Open the champagne, and I'll have the place neat and tidy before you get finished pouring two glasses."
"Wait, before you do that." Miral opened one of her dresser drawers and pulled out a d'k tahg knife.
"Don't tell me. You're a black widow." He sidled up to her and gave a phony sigh. "I should warn you that I'm Starfleet. I'm not worth any latinum."
"I know I said I didn't want to do any Klingon rituals," Miral said, ignoring his joke, "and I didn't – not in front of everyone. But I thought maybe this one?"
"You know this is a biohazard, right?"
Miral nodded. "And incredibly primitive. And I still want to do it."
"Why the change of heart?"
"L'Naan's been talking about what the Federation means to her," she explained. "And it got me thinking. Your parents, for instance. Your dad comes from Asian ancestry, and your mom Israeli."
"Not really. No one on Earth can claim pure ancestry. Our families have moved around and intermarried for generations."
"I know, but once upon a time, your parents wouldn't have been able to marry. And a little over a hundred years ago, my grandparents couldn't have married – the Empire and the Federation were mortal enemies. And now," she continued, pulling his arms around her, "here we are – a complete hodgepodge of DNA between the two of us. And then you recited Klingon at our wedding."
"You liked that, didn't you?" Andrew said, nuzzling his face to her cheek.
"I really did," she murmured into his ear. She bit his earlobe lightly. "Excellent pronunciation, by the way."
"I taught myself," he said, kissing her neck below the ear.
Miral pulled slightly away from him and took the knife out of its protective sheath. "Anyway, the point is that we spend our lives celebrating how the Federation has brought together all of these different people in peace, but do we lose sight of their individual cultures and traditions? I think I want to do something traditional," she explained, "to remember where I came from – that I'm Klingon – because everyone considers me a hybrid every other day of my life." She ran the blade quickly across her palm, gasping slightly, and then held the knife out to him.
Andrew cut his own hand before he could think twice about it. Then he pressed her bloody palm to his own, their fingers interlaced. "JiH dok."
"Maj dok," she said, leaning forward to kiss him. "Thank you, honey."
After a moment, Miral pulled their hands apart and frowned at her hand. "Okay, this isn't romantic anymore."
"Nope," he agreed, rubbing his own palm, "just sticky and painful."
Miral pulled a personal medkit out of the same dresser drawer. "Dermal regeneration?" She ran the tool over her cut and then did the same for Andrew, holding his hand upward with her fingers. When the wound was healed, she raised his palm to her lips and kissed it lightly. Then they wove their fingers together again and resumed kissing.
"Hey," he reminded her, "you promised I could clean this mess up."
Observation Lounge
"What do you think everyone else is doing?" Harry asked, setting a glass of beer in front of Tom.
Tom gratefully accepted it and drank. "Well, I'd like to think that Miral and Andrew are doing something innocent, like cleaning her quarters, but that's pretty farfetched."
"Cleaning on their wedding night? Come on, Tom."
"B'Elanna nearly shoved me aside to get a look at the new pattern buffers this ship has," Tom continued, "so I'm sure she's still in the transporter room. And L'Naan's probably talking to that guy from school."
"L'Naan has a boyfriend?" Harry asked with mild interest.
Tom shrugged as he took another sip of beer. "Miral encouraged her to start dating, but I think he's a lot more interested than she is. Actually, the last time I saw her excited about someone was…"
"Q," Harry finished. He looked around the nearly empty observation lounge as he took a drink. "Do you think we'll become grandparents any time soon?"
"Let's not rush things, Har."
"You're not getting any younger."
"Neither are you, Captain."
Harry grinned. "Hey, I can still play volleyball with the best of them."
Tom nearly snorted beer out of his nose. "You'd better stick to kal-toh."
Guest Quarters 16-7A
As L'Naan bent down to pick up the food that had spilled on the floor, there was another flash of light, and Charlie reappeared. She rose to her feet, holding the plate in her hand and looking at Charlie inquisitively. Then she sighed. "Charlie, this isn't going to work. You understand time differently because you aren't mortal, but for me – well, it's been a long time, and a lot has happened." She set the plate on the dining table. "Do you remember when I kissed you?"
"Of course I do."
"Well, how did it feel?"
"Nice," he answered quietly.
L'Naan couldn't help smiling. Her flamboyant Q had turned reticent. "Then why did you disappear on me?"
"I told you I was watching a red giant."
"I know, but couldn't you tell that I wanted to see you? That I missed you? I need a better way to communicate with you."
He waved two fingers in front of her face. "There."
"There what?" she asked a little testily. "And stop doing this." She imitated his gesture and a glass of champagne appeared in her hand. "What the hell? Charlie, send it back."
Charlie smiled. "I didn't do it. You did. You must have wanted it."
"What do you mean?" She waved the glass, and it disappeared. "Stop doing that!"
"I'm not doing anything," he insisted. "Calm down and think about it."
L'Naan focused on her hand. It certainly looked and felt the same, but she realized with alarm that Charlie wasn't pulling a joke on her. Just as he'd said, the answers came to her head. "You've given me Q powers."
Charlie nodded slowly. "I talked it over with the Continuum."
"They finally approved of your idea," she said with a rush of understanding. "The last time you talked to me, your father said the Continuum didn't like your plan. You've persuaded them." She looked into his eyes. "You weren't watching a red giant for the last six months. You were pleading your case to the Continuum." He nodded. "Why did it take so long?"
"They can be very difficult when they want to be," he explained. "But finally they sent me back here with their approval."
"And where did you go just now?"
"I asked them if, since they approve of my plan, we could give you powers. They agreed."
"You were gone for two seconds," she said with bewilderment. "This difference we have in the concept of time is really going to get on my nerves."
"Not anymore," he assured her. "Watch. I'll leave, and you try to find me."
L'Naan grabbed his arm before he could flash himself gone again. "I'm not playing stellar hide-and-seek with you." She looked down at where her hand was holding his arm, and then her eyes slowly found their way up to meet his. "More of the Q are dying now. The situation has gotten worse. That's why they approved of giving me powers."
"You're a Q now," Charlie told her carefully, watching her face with anticipation.
L'Naan's eyes widened as she tried to process what had happened. She removed her hand from his arm and looked it. It now held unlimited control of space, time, and matter. The realization terrified her.
