Green light. Black walls. Electronic beeping. Dark, bulky figures moving above him.

That was all Picard understood. The figures were handing things to each other, picking up objects from a nearby table, as if Picard was undergoing some sort of surgery and these were his doctors.

Subconsciously, Picard knew this assumption was false. Pain arched through his body as the figures attached devices to his body. He could feel them attaching things to his organs from a hole in his chest.

No matter how much pain he was in, however, Picard's body never flinched, as he stared into the harsh green light above him. Finally, the figures coup-de-grace in the operation was ready. A device, even more bulky than any of the other ones, was being positioned above his face.

One of the figures lowered the device closer and closer. Slowly, Picard became aware of a thin, long needle protruding from the base of the device.

Closer, closer…

The needle punctured his eye, and all became red light.

Picard lurched up in bed, breathing heavily. His hand scrabbled for his eye, hoping to block the needle, the red light, but he only succeeded in scratching his eye, drawing blood.

He grunted in pain, and lurched out of his bed. He walked out of his private bedroom, into the main living area of the captain's quarters. He staggered semi-blindly to his washroom, turned on the sink, and began rinsing out his eye.

There was little point in this. He hadn't been on an away mission since the Enterprise-E had been commissioned, so there was no chance of dirt being on his fingers when he scratched his eye. Plus, Doctor Crusher could disinfect the wound as easily as she could instantly heal it in the infirmary.

Picard still doused his eye with as much cooling water as possible. Finally, when he had doused the pain a little, he turned off the water and started his breathing exercises.

This was not the first time Picard had had a dream about the Borg in the last few months. They had been steadily increasing in frequency and lucidity, recalling the hell he had been in as Locutus.

The breathing exercises had been taught to him by Counselor Troi. He had immediately gone to her when the dreams started becoming persistent, but he had eventually stopped coming as he became more withdrawn about his time with the Borg.

Picard opened his undamaged eye and looked in the mirror. Behind him in the room proper, Picard could see one of his treasured artifacts… or was it? From this angle, with his vision still off, it looked like a Borg drone.

Chirp!

Picard grabbed the phaser he had recently been holding onto at bedtime, turned around, and shot at the shadow behind him.

A simple piece of alien artwork fell to the ground, damaged with scorch marks, off its pedestal.

"Damn.", muttered Picard. He could repair it, of course, but… it wouldn't be the same.

Chirp!

His combadge erupted with sound again, and Picard angrily tapped it. "Yes, what the hell is it?", Picard half-yelled, still glaring at the ruined piece.

A pause, then Riker's voice came through. "Sir, we're nearing Gregorovitch Station.", said Riker, sounding concerned. "Data reasons it's be another forty-five minutes in Warp before we're at the planet."

"Fine.", said Picard, irritably, stepping over to pick up the artifact to replace it.

"Is… everything all right, captain?", said Riker, still sounding concerned.

Picard, in a moment of irrational anger, reasoned that Troi had probably talked with Riker about the former's therapy sessions. "Yes, I'm all right!", said Picard, raising his voice again.

"I'm going to see Dr. Crusher, then I'll be up to the bridge.", he continued, in a far softer voice.

Another pause, as if Riker wanted to say something further, then the badge chirped into silence again.

Picard sighed, placing the damaged piece of art back on its pedestal, then stared through his one good eye out the window at the inky blackness of space.

XXXXX

Captain's Log. As expected, Dr. Crusher was easily able to repair my damaged eye. The Enterprise-E is still on its maiden mission to Gregorovitch Station, a research facility located on a planet in the fringes of Federation space. The station is run by, of course, Simon Gregorovitch, the leading figure in theories pertaining to parallel universes. Starfleet has grown concerned with Gregorovitch over the few years the facility has been in operation, owing to the lack of any concrete results in Gregorovitch's research into other universes. Thus, the higher-ups have moved up Gregorovitch's scheduled inspection to three years into his assignment, rather than five.

XXXXX

The automatic doors to the bridge opened with its typical woosh, and Picard stepped off the turbolift. As he looked about the bridge, even in his melancholier personality due to the nightmares, Picard couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at his crew's efficiency in ship operations.

Riker was currently seated in the captain's chair as befitting a first officer representing his captain. Data was at the helm, while Lieutenant Hawk (Worf's replacement as Security Officer since the Klingon had been transferred to DS9) was at his own station, each of the two typing in commands to their computer terminals.

Meanwhile, the rest of the bridge crew were performing their duties without error, even the ones relatively new to working on Starfleet's newest flagship.

Once Riker saw Picard, he immediately rose from the captain's chair, allowing Picard to walk up and take his seat. Before he did, however, Picard stopped Riker from sitting with a raised hand, leaving the two most senior officers standing in the middle of the bridge facing one another.

"Number One, I just wanted to… apologize for my shortness earlier.", said Picard, quietly. "I… was under a lot of stress at the moment, and I'm afraid I rather inappropriately took it out on you."

Picard looked into his executive officer's face, and saw no indication that Riker knew what was causing Picard's current high stress levels. He had been damn foolish to think that Troi would have talked to Riker behind his back.

"It's quite all right, sir.", said Riker, smiling; though, Picard still noticed an air of concern for his captain about him. "I think we're all a little stressed we might wreck this Enterprise as badly as the last one."

Both Riker and Picard chuckled a little, while Data turned in his seat to face the pair. "If you are feeling overly stressed, captain, might I recommend a session with Counselor Troi."

Memories of himself reliving his worst memories of helplessness on the Borg cube came flooding back. Recovering to maintain his cool, Picard said, "Thank you, Data, but… I don't think that'll be necessary."

Seating himself beside Riker, Picard, in an attempt to change the subject, said, "I must confess, I know little about these theories of parallel universes of Simon Gregorovitch's than I would like. My forte was always history."

"I've been reading up a little on Gregorovitch's essays.", said Riker, pulling up one such prose on his personal computer. "It's fascinating stuff. Ever since I first read the reports of Captain James Kirk's encounter with the 'mirror universe' during my first year of Starfleet Academy, I've always dreamed of visiting one such universe."

"Be careful what you wish for, my stalwart first mate."

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere. Many of the greener officers on the bridge stopped in shock and puzzlement, but this was a voice most of the senior crew knew all to well. Picard leaped to his feet. "Q, show yourself!", said Picard.

A bright beam of light appeared to Picard's right, and then Q was standing there, in his bright red, Starfleet uniform. "It has been too long, mon capitain.", said Q, his smug, mocking smile dominating his face.

Out of the corner of his eye, Picard saw Lieutenant Hawk draw his phaser, though Picard stopped him just by raising his hand.

"What's your business here, Q?", said Picard, formally but with the air of someone who didn't suffer fools gladly.

"Right to the point, as always, Jean-Luc.", said Q. "I've always admired that about you. Most refreshing when you live in a species as mysterious and evasive as my own."

"Just tell us why you're here, and be done with it.", said Riker, darkly.

"Fine.", said Q, yawning dramatically. "I don't want to catch up anyway. I am here to warn you, anyway."

"Warn us? About what?", said Picard, growing concerned. The last time Q had 'warned' them of a potential danger, they had encountered the Borg.

Q, moving so quickly and stiffly he might as well have levitated to Picard, got nose-to-nose with Picard. "Turn back now. If you value the continued status quo of your universe, I suggest you leave Gregorovitch Station well enough alone."

Q paused a moment to let his warning settle in the room, before loudly saying, "Ta-ta!", and vanished from sight with his blast of light.

The bridge was momentarily silent for a moment, before Riker mused, "What did he mean, the status quo of our universe?"

"I don't know.", muttered Picard, still staring at the point where Q had been.

"Gregorovitch Station is studying the mysteries of parallel universes.", mused Riker, thoughtfully. "Maybe he meant something's going to happen there."

"This Gregorovitch may be up to something he shouldn't.", said Hawk. "I recommend we continue on course to the station."

"That is, if this isn't some elaborate trap on Q's part." Everyone turned to Data, who had turned back around from the helm. "Q may be using some form of reverse psychology to get us to head to the station and cause the destruction of the status quo of our universe. Recommend we stop and report what we know to Starfleet."

"But if we go, we may have a chance of finding out what Gregorovitch is doing and put it a stop to it in time.", countered Riker.

Picard continued to stare at the point where Q previously was. First, his dreams about the Borg were becoming more frequent and vivid. Now, they may be dealing with a problem of potentially universal consequences. Somehow the two problems were linked, but Picard couldn't see how.

"We will continue on to Gregorovtich Station.", Picard commanded, his thoughts still distant. "Whatever's happening there, we need to stop it."

Dutifully, the bridge crew went back to their tasks, the air of some danger about to happen hanging over the room. Picard himself sank into his captain's chair, hoping that he wasn't dooming them all.