In the conference room, many things happened at the same time. The ferengi tried to get closer to Dee, but the security stood on their way. Worf took out his phaser and, not sure where to aim, at the ferengi or (though if he would think logically, that didn't make any sense) at Q, he also placed himself before the ferengi. Picard took a deep breath.
"Q." He stated more to himself. There was a hint of resignation in his voice. In fact, he expected this since Troi revealed him the nature of Dee.
Only commander Riker paid attention to Deanna, who also moved herself closer to both Q, leaned against the wall and didn't take her eyes away from them. In the meantime, Q, still holding Dee in his embrace, spoke to her with a sharp, patronizing tone.
"Deeyoress! How could you disappear like that! Do you realize all the troubles you are in? You have broken all possible rules! I don't even want to think what they will say in the Continuum!"
"Nert… Nert…" Dee didn't seem to hear his words. She clung to him tighter instead and started to cry louder.
"And what am I supposed to do with you now? There, there," he sighed theatrically, stroked her hair and straightened up, facing Picard.
"Excuse moi, Jean-Luc. I haven't planned a visit this time. I am taking her back to the Continuum. But first…" his face stiffed and made an expression which they remembered from the Farpoint Station. A cruelty mixed with revulsion and hatred. But this time it was meant for the ferengi. Q put his one arm around Dee's waist and stretched out the other, towards the ferengi leader, or specifically, his right hand with the colorful rings. To everybody's surprise, Mog, who so far seemed to be unsure of himself and a little overwhelmed by the security intervention, now smiled at Q in somewhat disturbing way.
"I was hoping you do that. Now I am sure."
"No!" Guinan jumped forward as he was speaking, but a second too late.
Five beams of energy shoot from the five rings and hit the both of Q. They spread around them and formed a cocoon shaped force field, locking them inside. Dee screamed with pain and lost the consciousness. Q kept on holding her tight with one arm, and still tried to use his power with the other hand. His face tensed from a great effort and slowly changed in an expression of shock, because the force field was still holding and visibly weakening him. Eventually Dee slipped down to the floor and he kneeled, trying to break the cocoon with both hands. His face reddened from rage.
"Disgusting creatures! You think you can win with me?" He laughed hysterically, still fighting with the force field.
"Nobody moves!" The other two ferengi gestured at Picard and the security.
"What do you want?"
"These two. That would be all, captain." Mog bowed before him.
"You don't have the right..." Picard started, but suddenly Mog fell unconscious on the floor. Deanna, who was standing behind all the time and nobody paid attention to her, managed to reach her own phaser and shoot before anybody reacted. The security did the rest and the three ferengi ended up lying on the floor.
"Take the rings, quickly!" Guinan ordered. Commander Data got to Mog first and removed the rings, looking at them curiously. They were still glowing and pulsating, each of them in different color. Red, green, orange, yellow and a light beige. "Destroy them, now!"
"Guinan..." Picard opposed, but she didn't let him speak. "Captain, please, trust me."
„Alright." He nodded at Data. The android set his phaser for the maximum level. The rings vanished in the red flare. At the same moment, the force field surrounding both Q disappeared as well.
"Captain…" Deanna kneeled next to unconscious Dee and looked at the other Q, sitting on the floor and looking somewhat slimmer and with much longer hair. "The rings had changed Q's physical appearance." She added and grabbed Q by the shoulders right on time.
"Dr Crusher, come to the conference room…"
Half an hour later captain Picard, commander Riker, counselor Troi and lieutenant Worf sat again in the conference room and stared at Guinan with anticipation.
"Guinan, what is going on here? You seem to understand the situation much more than we do. No more mysteries." They all could hear the tiredness in Picards's voice.
"Captain, I am not proud of what you are about to hear." She started and glanced at Deanna, who was watching her suspiciously. "The thing that immobilized Q before is called the gems of Der. It is a pure evil. I would have never thought I would see them in my life again."
"What did the ferengi want from Q? And how on earth could they defeat them?"
Guinan sighed.
"It is a long story. What they wanted from these two particular Q, was their Dis. To explain you the nature of Dis, I have to go back to a definition of energy of the life form that is far beyond human. Dis is a vibration, a special kind of energy. It is rare, the most unique energy in the universe. Powerful in its original form. However, when imprisoned in a physical, another words, material body, it becomes fragile.
It is in the human nature to divide the life forms according to their gender. But in fact, this division goes beyond the physical level. Why the stereotypes about the male aggression, their instincts to hunt, to possess, are so popular? Because this is the nature of male energy: to spread into, to penetrate the female energy. You may think it is the instinct of procreation. Yes, that too. But this is not all. The nature of the pure male energy demands merging with female. We call this male energy "Der". The word "male" is also not fully correct here. We have much more expressions in our language. Der is inside of every male. Pure Der however, like an animal, a primitive male, desires Dis, like a flower desires the sunlight. Dis is its greatest object of desire, lust and hunt. All the women, in whose nature is to desire men, are not enough for men who have too much of Der inside. It brings them out of balance. In your language, it would be like too much aggression in a man. Such men feel that only Dis would fulfill their lust.
Dis is a mystery. Dis is a light form from the beginning of the universe. Dis is the Source. Dis is the purest pre-energy of the universe. When Der penetrates Dis, Dis dies. Its vibration immediately changes, it loses its original structure and it does not absorb the changes - Dis disappears. When Dis lives inside a physical, incarnated being, she has the instinct of avoiding Der. And if she is raped - she dies.
A long time ago, my race used to be very violent. A group of Al-Aurians possessed the knowledge of Dis and Der, and they learned how to lock Der in stones. For hundreds thousands of years, they had been working on the structure of certain crystals. They were programmed to tie up Dis. To lock it into matter. And you just have seen how it worked. It weakens the entity with Dis and forces her to become material. Physical. They dreamed of controlling Dis. To break the will of such an entity, so it wouldn't die and let them penetrate the Dis. But they couldn't do it. Every woman with Dis dies in the moment of rape and the energy escapes before the penetration. So, they looked for the way to keep her alive. They believed penetrating Dis was an unknown, ultimate ecstasy and they became obsessed about it. Legends about the gems of Der grew over the centuries, although the stones got lost in countless wars. Eventually they became something like a Saint Grail on the Earth, and the myths of their great powers became more and more unbelievable. But the stones were real. Many of them were found and destroyed by Q. There are many Dis among the Q. We need to find out how these gems got to ferengi. It is a very cruel weapon. Dis can appear everywhere in the universe. If you study the history of your own planet you will find stories of women who died protecting their virginity. It is very likely that some of them were Dis. Dis make a woman instinctively feel that the sexual intercourse with a man would destroy her. This instinct works the same in every Dis, no matter if she is a human or even a Q.
Picard was listening to this with fascination and hundreds of questions were forming in his head.
"And you knew about them from the beginning? About Q having this... energy, Dis?"
"Yes," Guinan continued silently. "I have recognized Dis in Dee, I also knew about Nert. That one can hide it really well, don't you think? Dis doesn't change the personality, unfortunately. I know what you are about to ask, Jean-Luc. But I couldn't tell you before. Our history with Q is complicated. And under something that you could call a prime directive, too. We do not go in each other's way, whatever happens. Especially when there are so few of my species left." Picard nodded.
"I have a question." Data raised his hand. Everybody looked at him.
"You have mentioned that Dis is the pre-energy of the universe. I wonder why it is male energy that destroys it?"
"I am no geneticist, Data, and we are entering the area of myths and legends more than science. But, according to my knowledge of Dis, the energy that determines the masculine gender, from one side means evolution. From the other however, it radically changes the structure of female energy. Dis does not change, does not evolve. Those changes simply kill her. There are many who believe it is a natural order and Dis is supposed to die. But Dis means something more than pure, virgin energy. Dis is a connection to the Source. It goes beyond the beginning of the universe. Dis makes an incarnated being remember that she is something more than a physical body. In the past, Dis would pull a human woman towards religion, spirituality. Dis can give a woman healing powers, a higher consciousness and sensitivity. Many great female healers or artists, or spiritual leaders, were Dis. There are many, including me, who believe that being a Dis is a highest state of purity. Because when someone is born with Dis inside, she becomes a Dis. When it comes to Q… well, I think you may want to ask Dee to tell you more. I don't believe you could learn much from Nert.
"Me neither." Picard agreed.
"This is unbelievable." Riker added. „Q in female form, Q using names... They have never used names before."
„I was surprised myself. Q don't need to use names when contacting each other. They can just focus on the energy of the other Q, their communication works on a different level. But they do have names. They are just very private because they describe a true nature of a Q. For example, the name Deeyoress means "a spiral beam curling up".
"Do you know what means "Nert"?" Picard couldn't hide his curiosity anymore.
"Yes. The name reveals the current appearance of this Q. "Ner" means a man, it refers to the physical illusion, "appearing as a man" would be precise. The letter "t" at the end reveals the female, the Dis energy hidden under this illusion. The gems of Der forced Nert to reveal the true form, because, of course, a female body is more natural for a Dis. So, Nert is the only Dis I know who likes to appear as a male. Of course, it is all different beyond the physical level. The true form of a Q is a pure, bright light. But most of the Q don't like to appear as they really are. You know the best."
"Captain," Deanna interrupted suddenly. "Request permission to leave the room."
"Is something wrong, counselor?" Picard rose his eyebrow.
"I... I want to check on Q," She hesitated and everybody looked at her surprised. But Picard nodded.
"Granted. In fact, I want to go to."
"So do I." Riker also stood up.
"Guinan, we are not done yet." Picard said at the door. Guinan nodded.
"Shouldn't we inform the admiral of the last happenings?"
Picard refrained a sigh.
"We cannot go around it, commander. I am surprised that he wasn't accompanying us on this meeting. I also don't know, what on earth should we do with our prisoners."
"We could send them away with an arrest warning if they appear in the federation sector again.
"Just like that? Let them go? They should at least have a trial."
"On what grounds? They don't belong to the Federation. Neither do Q. I can already hear the admiral reciting the Prime Directive."
"You've got a point, Number One. Well, let us at least wait till morning and see what happens."