Chapter 27: Her Saviour, Q

Three days had passed since the Captain had learnt the recent epidemic was due to Q, three days where she had been trying not to let her anger get the best of her. After all, the most important thing was finding a way to save the members of her crew still suffering. The Doctor, being as gifted as he was, had managed to synthesize a depressant which was temporary blocking out the major symptoms of the radiations effects. That had allowed most of the crew to slowly return to normal. Only a few had been unfortunate enough not to benefit from the depressant.

Lieutenant Paris had found the depressant to be an absolute life saver. For the first time in months he was finally able to be rid of his father once and for all. Finally after weeks of living in his own personal hell, he was back to being the Tom Paris his friends all knew and loved.

Near enough bursting onto the Bridge, his grand entrance making the Command Team smile, Ensign Kim quickly made his way over to his station. With what looked like a full cup of coffee in one hand and his other doing its best to straighten his messy hair, he certainly looked rather washed out.

"Sorry I'm late, Captain." he apologised, taking a sip of coffee immediately afterwards.

Smirking as he looked down at the PADD in his hand, Commander Chakotay did his best to keep his amusement in check. It wouldn't look professional for the ship's First Officer to laugh at the ship's Operations Officer.

"Not enough sleep last night?" he questioned the younger man.

"Sleep…?" Ensign Kim ultimately smirked, "What's sleep, Commander?"

A soft chorus of chuckles erupted between the Bridge crew before the Captain turned to look around at the young Ensign doing his best to get into his work.

"Magnus?" was all she simply asked, resulting in the Ensign rubbing his forehead before silently moaning when he realised his supply of coffee was out.

He tried to think of an appropriate response, "Well, he really didn't want to go to sleep last night… or get dressed this morning."

Ensign Kim trailed off, leaving both the Captain and Commander sharing a laugh as the Commander took his seat. However, while the Commander continued reading through his report, the Captain fell into a small, personal silence. It was then where she found herself lightly rubbing her extended stomach. It hurt her to think about the things she wouldn't be able to do with her daughter. All the little moments she would miss out on: feeding, bathing, teaching her how to walk and talk… her little girl wouldn't experience any of those moments; definitely not with her.

Suddenly, the loud noise of Commander Tuvok and Ensign Kim's consoles creating a broken harmony of alarms pulled the Captain from her train of thought. Roughly shaking her head before turning, the Captain found herself looking towards Ensign Kim.

"I'm picking up a vessel." he reported, "It's… Devlin."

The Captain immediately frowned, surely that wasn't right. They'd left Devlin space months ago.

"We are being hailed." Tuvok informed the Bridge crew.

Turning back to face the viewscreen, the Captain didn't bother to stand up. Simple things like that which she used to take for granted weren't the easiest to do for the moment.

"On screen." she ordered.

As soon as the words had left her mouth, the viewscreen activated, the light from the image of their old friend brightly illuminating the Bridge.

"Commander Heblin." the Captain stated, a little confused as to why he was there.

"Voyager! Long time, no see." he smiled, looking between the crew members, "I must say, I've missed you all. I hope you're all well"

The Captain smiled softly. "You're a long way from Devlin space." she stated the obvious, "I take it you didn't come here just to catch up. Is… is there a problem?"

His smile grew before he swiftly shook his head. "Not exactly."

"Oh, just get to it!" a voice somewhere in the background of the visible shot cried.

The Captain's eyes sharply widened when the voice registered and a surge of anger near enough compelled her to push herself up onto her feet. It was something the Commander ultimately mirrored a second later.

Seeing his face suddenly fill the screen, the Captain not only felt her eyes tighten but she was sure every crew member on the Bridge noticed too.

"Q." she hissed.

"Hi Kathy!" the said man exclaimed happily, "I think you forgot someone in Devlin space."

Her tight features quickly fell into a frown. "What the hell are you on about?"

His smile beaming away, Q moved the focus of the viewscreen to the young woman on his left.

Wide eyed, the Captain took a small step forward. "Ensign Hopson?"

The younger woman on the screen sighed. "Captain."

The relief which had flooded through the majority of the Bridge crew was soon lost the moment they saw the Ensign suddenly collapse, expertly caught by the alien Commander. Within no time at all, Q responded by snapping his fingers, which resulted in the three of them from the alien vessel and the Captain and Commander appearing in Sickbay.

No time after they appeared, Commander Heblin and Q lifted Ensign Hopson's limp body onto the bed in the Surgical Bay while the Doctor made his way over. He may not have expected company but his programming made him immediately step up.

"What happened?" he asked, instantly beginning to scan over her body with his tricorder.

"She was injured during an explosion." Q explained.

"I tried to heal her." Commander Heblin continued, "But I'm unfamiliar with her physiology. I wasn't sure what to do."

The Captain sighed, glancing towards the Doctor. "Can you help her?"

Nodding softly, the Doctor smiled as he analysed his readings. Other than severe dehydration, lack of nutrition and a minor blow to the head, there was nothing wrong with her. All her injuries sustained over the past few months looked were than they actually were.

"Easily."

Releasing a breath, the Captain found herself smiling, something which soon dropped when she turned to see Q. He was looking around at all of her crew members in the Bay, the ones whose hallucinations weren't being suppressed by the depressant. There weren't many, in fact there were only three, but they were three too many.

He met her eye, his frown deep. "What happened here?"

The Captain scoffed, feeling her jaw tightening. "Like you don't know." she tried her best not to spit out.

His frown intensified. "Should I know?" he had to ask.

Her tongue pushed against her cheek, her head motioning towards the door.

"Walk with me." she ordered.

The miniature trek from Sickbay, one which was unquestionably silent, ended by the time the pair reached Deck 2. It was there where Q took a risk and decided to speak.

"Kathy, what's all this about?"

Rolling her eyes, the Captain took a moment to make sure she didn't just snap.

"Oh, I don't know Q." she desperately tried not to be sarcastic, "My crew are being poisoned by some sort of Q radiation. Any idea how that's happening?"

Q stopped harshly in his tracks and turned to look at her, the frown deep on his features.

"I know nothing about this." he told her.

She tried her best not to laugh as her eyebrow cocked up.

"Honestly Kathy." he swore, "I promise you."

"Then explain it to me Q. Explain to what the hell is going on!"

Q could only shake his head. "I don't know."

=/\=

Q and the Captain had headed to the Mess Hall where Q was racking his brains – just what was happening to the Voyager crew? He knew for a fact it had got nothing to do with him.

The Captain still wasn't sure whether Q was being truthful with her but for the first time, he seemed to be genuine. She hoped she wasn't just thinking that because that was what she wanted to believe.

He was pacing around the vaguely empty room while the Captain was sat on the sofa nearest to the replicator. She needed to take the weight off her feet for a few moments.

"I seriously don't understand what's happening to you." Q confessed.

The Captain sighed, her eyes following the pacing being.

"Can you stop it?"

He shook his head. "I need to know what's causing it before I can do that."

Her shoulders shrugged softly. "Well, it's a Q signature.".

He met her eye. "And that's why I can't stop it."

Q flopped down onto the sofa next to her and stared out of the window. He'd just about given up.

He turned to look over at the Captain. "I'm sorry I'm no help."

The Captain sighed softly, a small smile gracing her lips as she rubbed her stomach. Q watched her subconscious movement and soon became transfixed on the bump under the dark material.

"How is she?"

The Captain stretched out her back slowly. "Restless." she paused, a silence falling over the pair for a few long moments, "Do you have to take her away?"

Q broke away from her stare. "Kathy, I wish I didn't have to but the Continuum would never allow her to stay here."

She sighed. "But when you originally asked me about it, you talked as though you wanted me to look after her, raise her."

Q looked at her. "I would have taken you to the Continuum." he replied, "I still will if you want."

The Captain's face creased. "And leave Voyager?"

Q shrugged his shoulders. "Chuckles will be a great Captain."

She couldn't argue with that. She had no doubt Chakotay wouldn't make an excellent replacement.

"He may, but I'm not leaving. A Captain doesn't abandon ship!"

Q shrugged his shoulders.

"Besides, humans can't exist in the Continuum. You told me that the first time I met you."

Now it was Q's turn to sigh. "I'd find a way." he assured her, "I'm a Q, I can do anything."

Now that was laughable. He clearly couldn't.

"Apart from find out what's happening to my ship," she pointed out, "Or find a way to let me keep my baby."

Q watched as her head dropped. "Kathy if I could, I would."

"Liar."

The Captain and Q immediately turned to where the voice came from, only to see nobody there.

She frowned. "Who the hell was that?"

Q scoffed and stood up, his jaw tight. He should have known. With a simple snap of his fingers, a young human-looking child appeared about a metre in front of him.

The Captain stood. The child looked to be about twelve years old and was wearing a red Starfleet uniform. Her eyes widened when he looked up at Q and scowled.

"What the hell do you think you've been doing?" screamed Q.

The child sneered. "Having fun." the boy shot back, "Something the Continuum doesn't let me have!"

The tension between the pair rose rapidly.

"That's because you're always terrorising every species you see!"

The Captain had to intervene. It was clear the pair's relationship was weak at best.

"Okay! Okay!" shouted Janeway, stepping forward and holding her hands between the pair, "That's enough!"

She looked between Q and the boy. Both looked undeniably angry but her observations in those few seconds also allowed her to identify the similarities between the pair – same jawline, same nose.

"Captain Janeway, may I introduce my son, Q."

She was surprised at how cold Q's voice was when addressing his son. She would have felt physically sick if her father had ever felt the need to address either her or her sister like that.

The young boy smiled almost cockily at her. It made her eyes widened. Is this how her daughter would grow up and turn out, cocky and rude?

I don't like him, Mommy. He's scaring me.

The Captain rubbed her bump protectively. She couldn't allow the Continuum to corrupt her baby in the same way – it would have made her a failure of a mother.

Q Junior sniggered at her. "Pathetic." he spat, his smirk coming across as evil, "She'll grow up like me, you know? That scares you, doesn't it?"

The Captain stood her ground. She refused to be intimidated by a child.

"Junior!" shouted Q, "That's enough."

Q stepped closer to his embarrassment of a son before noticing the shadow quietly forming behind him. He was glad. For the first time, his people were working with him instead of against him.

"Or what?!" Junior demanded to know. His father's threats were always empty.

Q simply nodded his head, the action sending a strong quiver down Junior's spine.

The child shuddered. "What was that?"

The Captain, also being aware of the shadow which had disappeared the moment Q Junior shivered, felt her eyes move from the child to his father. It was just in time to see him snap his fingers before he met her eye.

"Your crew's okay now. The radiation's gone."

He then turned back to Junior. "As for you, we're going back to the Continuum. Now."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Never!"

Q and the Captain watched as Junior snapped his fingers. However, nothing happened.

Horrified, the child glanced up at his father, his anger evident.

"What did you do?"

Q did his best not to smirk at his now defenceless son.

"The Continuum has temporarily dampened your powers."

Junior's eyes widened in rage. "You can't do that!"

"I just have."

Q grabbed hold of Junior's shoulders and turned around to the Captain. He didn't bother saying another word before the pair disappeared in a flash.

With a sigh, the Captain hit her combadge.

"Janeway to Sickbay. How's the crew, Doctor?"

She could hear the surprise in his voice. "They're… fine, Captain."

She nodded to herself. Good. "What about Ensign Hopson?"

"She's making a good recovery. She'll be up and about in a few hours."

She smiled to herself. That was even better.

=/\=

Four hours had passed since both Q's had disappeared from her ship, four hours since her crew had stopped needing treatment for exposure to the hallucinogenic radiation. She was glad. Finally, things were slowly getting back to normal.

The Captain had decided to go and check up on Ensign Hopson, hence why she had found herself in Sickbay. The Ensign had regained consciousness about three hours before and even though she had now reached the point of insisting she was fine, the Doctor had said she was to remain in Sickbay for the night. Reluctantly, she'd agreed.

The Captain was sat at her bedside. "So, what happened to you, Ensign?"

The young woman sighed, her hand rubbing against her temple as she shuffled through her memories. It was strange for her not to feel the alien indentations in her skin – she gotten use to them. Now she was having to adapt to being herself again.

"After Commander Heblin ejected my escape pod, I made it through the sensitive part of the grid. I was so relieved, but it didn't last long." she started to explain, "About half way though the next section, I was spotted by border control."

The Ensign sat up, her eyes glued to the mattress in front of her. "Somehow, I managed to make it to an asteroid cluster." she turned to meet the Captain's soft eyes, "I stayed hidden for a few days, played hide and seek behind all the asteroids. There was only really one direct confrontation."

"Impressive." praised the Captain.

Adele smiled. "Thank-you." she sighed, shuffling on the bed.

"My luck started to run out when they began sending in probes. I knew it was only a matter of time, but then Q turned up." she continued, "I don't remember much after I blacked out until waking up in Heblin's Sickbay."

The Captain nodded softly. "Sounds like you had quite an adventure, Ensign."

Adele rubbed her head. "You could say that."

With a soft moan, the Captain pushed herself up to her feet, ignoring the protest in her lower back and thighs.

"Well, get some rest, Ensign." she met her eye again with a soft smile, "And welcome back."

"It's good to be back, Captain."