Chapter 15: Sleeping Aliens

Without thinking, the Captain grabbed for her robe and flipped it expertly around her body.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Q's face sported a deep frown as he stepped forward.

"Well Kathy, I'm very disappointed." he stated matter-of-factly.

The Commander felt his arms slowly cross over his chest. He could deal with being interrupted, it happened rather more often than he cared to admit. He just couldn't deal with the individual responsible for interrupting them.

"And why's that?" his tone was dangerously flat, something easily was picked up by the Captain.

"Well Chuckles, I don't believe I gave you permission to be the father of OUR child." Q stated, pointing between himself and the Captain.

The Commander sniggered. "And I don't believe I gave you permission to come aboard OUR ship." the Commander copied Q's tactic much to the annoyance of the omnipotent being, "So it looks like we're both disappointed."

Q sneered at the Commander before turning to the Captain.

"Look, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, Kathy," Q changed the subject, "But the Continuum would never allow a Q, half or otherwise, to exist outside the Continuum."

The Captain felt her entire body tighten in anger. He had a nerve.

All the tension Chakotay had managed to relieve with his masterful hands only moments ago had returned with a vengeance and she was close to screaming. She couldn't believe his audacity. First he impregnated her without consent and now he was saying she couldn't raise her own baby.

She stepped forward, her anger radiating from her.

"Get. Out."

Her tone was harsh and hard, enough to even make the Commander shudder. He wasn't even the one she was directing it towards.

"Kathy…" Q tried to objected.

"Now!"

Q sighed. "I'm sorry, Kathy. I just thought you ought to know the Continuum position on this."

He disappeared in a flash, his visit being short and sweet.

The Captain just felt her eyes roll. She couldn't work out if she wanted to scream or cry. One thing was for certain, she wasn't going to allow her baby to be taken away without a fight.

=/\=

Something was wrong.

The ship felt oddly quiet and dark, nothing like normal, and she couldn't find anybody, not even Chakotay. She wasn't really sure what was going on, all she knew was that she wandering. A sigh escaped her lips as she met a dead end, the corridors around her all looking the same. She didn't know where she was.

Suddenly, it felt as though everything was spinning. So fast. Too fast. Her breathing hitched as an eerie mist began to surround her, envelop her, drown her. The corridors disappeared and she felt nauseated. Actually, she wanted to be sick more than ever.

"Kathryn… Kathryn, where are you?"

The voice was familiar and enough to help her regain her bearings. Just in time.

Somehow, she followed the sound of the voice until she reached what turned out to be the Mess Hall. The mist thinned out as she entered the empty room, at least she believed it was empty.

Through the darkened space, she could see a figure. It was stood in the furthest corner staring out of the viewpoint. Literally staring into space.

She felt herself tremble. She couldn't make out who it was, and she didn't like it. It didn't feel right. First the first time ever, she felt uncomfortable on her own ship.

"Chakotay?"

The figure didn't move; it just remained fixed on the spot. She slowly approached, her eyes struggling to make anything out due to the lack of light.

"Computer, lights."

Despite her clear order, nothing happened. It baffled her for a moment, her apprehension growing further as she once again looked towards the stationary figure. It hadn't moved a muscle.

"Chakotay?" she asked again.

"Yes, Captain?"

The reply, definitely Chakotay, didn't come from the direction she expected. It actually made her jump. Her head snapped around, falling on him as he came from the back of the galley.

Then who was…?

She immediately turned back to look at the figure in the corner. It still hadn't moved.

"Everything alright, Captain?" Chakotay asked.

Her eyes never left the unknown figure. "Who's that?"

Chakotay chuckled, ultimately making her turn to face him. The smirk on his face was one she'd never seen before and knew she'd never forget. It actually frightened her.

"Don't you recognise him?" he sounded amused as he took her arm and guided her closer.

"No…"

Sighing almost dramatically, Chakotay laughed once again. Together they walked and stopped only metres away from the figure.

"Computer, lights!" he ordered.

The room suddenly lit up to expose Q standing in the corner. It immediately made her eyes widen – what was he doing on-board?

Usually she'd have said something, and she was about to, until she saw his smile. It was menacing. A sudden feeling of dread swept through her body and her hands fell to her stomach. That action made her eyes widen just that little bit more. There was no bump.

Her eyes fell down, confirming her awful suspicions. There was absolutely no sign of her baby.

"Is everything alright, Captain?" the Commander asked.

Looking up, the Captain was violently startled when her eyes not only fell upon Chakotay but an alien too. A rather vicious looking one.

She gasped sharply. With sharp ridges on his forehead and down the front of his neck, his action of scrutinising her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. Who was he?

Quickly turning back to look at Q, she felt the air leave her lungs when him holding a new-born baby – her baby.

"I told you this is how it would be."

Her eyes shot open and she jolted up harshly in the bed, a gasp escaping her lips as her hands tightened around the covers. She'd had nightmares before but none quite like that.

Immediately, she looked down. She was massively relieved to see her bump still there.

The Captain flopped back down on her pillow, her hand coming up to brush the hair off her face. With how hard her heart was beating, there was no way she'd be getting back to sleep anytime soon. To be honest, she didn't particularly want to. That was one nightmare she was sure she'd struggle to forget.

=/\=

The Captain exited her ready room that morning, images from her nightmare still swimming around in her mind. Saying she was feeling a little unsettled was a massive understatement. She met the Commander's eye as she approached, his gentle smile making her feel just a little safer. She was rather glad to see him.

He'd been on duty for a couple hours, something she'd been grateful for. She didn't know how she would have explained her awakening to him had he been there. She sighed and glanced around the room. The Bridge seemed oddly empty.

"Seem to be a little shorthanded today." she commented, sitting down in her chair.

"Tom and Harry are both late." the Commander stated, "I was going to give them another five minutes but I'll call them now if you'd like."

The Captain shook her head tiredly. "No, that's alright." she sighed, "I'm a little late myself, aren't I?"

The Commander smiled, focusing on the console between them for a moment.

"I wasn't going to mention it." his smirk was evident to her, "But that's what you get got burning the midnight oil."

She looked offended but her smile couldn't remain hidden for long.

"I was not burning the midnight oil!" she felt compelled to argue, "I went to bed rather early, thank-you very much."

Now the Commander was smirking. "Really?" he looked at her pointedly, "Because I went to bed at 2200 and you were still buried in… whatever it was you were buried in."

The Captain rolled her eyes. And his point had started out so well.

"For your information, I was only half an hour later than you." he saw her break away from him, "But then I had a nightmare and could not get back to sleep."

The Captain rubbed her head while the Commander's eyebrows rose up his face.

"I had a bad dream last night too."

Her head rolled back. "You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."

"Sorry I'm late, Captain."

Tom Paris' apology as he entered the Bridge caught the attention of both the Captain and Commander. With coffee in his hand and awfully pale skin, he looked almost as tired as they both felt.

Turning back to the Commander as Tom took his seat, the Captain sighed.

"Well?"

Her hands came to rest upon her stomach as he began his story. Again, she just had to make sure her bump was really there.

=/\=

After learning that the aliens in their dreams seemed to have visited everyone, it didn't take long for a knot to grow in the Captain's stomach. It only tightened further when the ship was boarded by their new friends and taken over. Now thanks to them, the entire crew found themselves confined to Cargo Bay 2 under armed guard.

The first job on the agenda was to find a way out and regain control of the ship. Easier said than done.

"We'll have to create a diversion." Tuvok put forward.

The senior officers were all gathered around quietly discussing how to proceed. It was hard to do so while still remaining inconspicuous.

The Captain sighed. "Any ideas?"

They all remained still. What they all had to remember was that the aliens were armed and they weren't. If anything went wrong, they'd be putting the entire crew in danger. They couldn't let that happen.

It was Seven who stepped forward and put a plan into immediate action.

Swiftly walking over to an unsuspecting Ensign Kim, she forcefully grabbed his uniform at the chest and threw him ungracefully to the floor. Needless to say, Harry was not the only one startled by her plan.

"What the hell are you doing?" he cried, confused yet somewhat quiet.

"Creating a diversion." Seven whispered roughly.

She forcefully pulled him off the floor and raised her voice.

"Ensign Kim! It is your fault we have been captured!"

All of the crew members around who weren't aware of Seven's aim of creating a diversion were noticeably shocked, especially when she progressed and struck Ensign Kim across the face. Their gasps of shock would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so dire, especially since the Captain was aware that she didn't actually hit him.

"I suggest you fight back." Seven whispered to Harry through her teeth.

Suddenly aware of what she was doing, he began to fight back, duplicating her deception and doing his best to make it look convincing. The Captain didn't have time to act upon her surprise that the pair of them were very good actors – retaking the ship was all she had time to consider.

It didn't take long before other crew members began to join in thinking they were helping break up an actual fight, and as had been the intent, the aliens began to intervene. The Captain was glad, now they had the opportunity to set their plan into motion.

Unfortunately, the entire situation turned out to be much more that what they initially believed. While Lieutenant Torres and the Commander were trying to escape the Cargo Bay, the Commander had seen the Earth's moon, his signal which indicated he was still dreaming.

That was when it all grew complicated.

It wasn't long before they became aware that they were all dreaming, existing and interacting in a state Seven called 'a collective unconscious.'

The biggest test of all had been when the Captain decided to remain in Engineering when a warp core explosion occurred. It hadn't made sense to her that it had failed to eject.

She walked out moments later without a scratch, strange considering she should have been dead. They all should have. The ship shouldn't have survived.

"Either I've become impervious to antimatter explosions, or we're still dreaming."

The look on Tuvok's face was priceless as she met them in the corridor. It wasn't that he was shocked – he was Vulcan, he didn't experience shock, but it screamed astonishment. Astonishment at her reckless behaviour. It was more than enough to amuse her.

"A warp core explosion should have destroyed the ship." B'Elanna stated.

The Captain nodded in agreement. "If I were awake, or if any of this were real which it obviously isn't." she paused, turning to the two officers, "Things just weren't adding up. Chakotay's disappearance, the warp core failing to eject… and as Chakotay said, lucid dreaming is about taking control, so I took a chance."

"Surely there must have been a less extreme method of testing your assumptions." Tuvok stated, "As Captain, and as an expectant mother, you shouldn't be taking chances with your life."

The Captain couldn't help but smile a little. "I'm touched by your concern, Tuvok."

It was then that B'Elanna sighed. "Now that we know this is a dream, what do we do?"

The Captain sighed harshly. That was a damn good question.