There's No Place That Far

Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager, Q, and all things contained therein are the property of Paramount Pictures. No infringement intended. See Chapter One for details.

Epilogue

By Q

Deep in the Alpha Quadrant lies a planet called Earth. Many beings from hundreds of species tourist the little blue and green world. Some come for the wide beaches, for the purple mountains and red deserts. Others come to visit Starfleet Headquarters, home of the Kathryn Janeway Voyager Memorial.

It's a peaceful place, quite beautiful really. Why, the statue of Kathy's ship is nearly 50 feet tall. Of course, so am I when I nip at LadyQ's cosmic punch. That stuff really packs a wallop!

To the North of the statue is the gift gallery where you humanoids purchase endless holoimages of the famous ship and her intrepid crew. How quaint. Though I dare say the one of Chuckles doesn't do him justice. He's far more Neanderthal than he looks.

Even farther north than that, there's a cobble stone path surrounded by rose bushes and maple trees. If you follow it up the hill and past the picnic area, you'll find a small cemetery rich with lilac bushes. It's a quiet place where friends and family go to pay homage to a famous captain and her dedicated crew. Inside you'll find about 150 headstones bearing familiar names such as Lieutenant Joe Carey, Ensign Lindsey Ballard, and Captain Kathryn Janeway. Interspersed throughout those are more familiar names such as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Ensign Pablo Baytart, and Commander Chakotay. There is no segregation of Starfleet and Maquis here. Each stone is bears a medal of honor and the insignia of the United Federation of Planets. Nothing is said of who was a Maquis, and who was Starfleet. No one speaks of traitors or criminals of the Federation. Instead, tears are shed and prayers are uttered for the lost souls of a crew who never stopped exploring, and never stopped trying to make the universe a little better than it was the day before. They speak of honor and devotion, the attributes of which heroes are made.

The graves are empty, of course. But the humans must have somewhere to mourn. They believe that Voyager is nothing more than space dust. The bodies of the beloved crew atomized and floating in space - their souls free to fly among the stars.

Kathy and her crew will never again return to this world, to this life. But they're remembered here. Why, at this very moment a group of Federation school children sits in the planetarium looking at images and hearing stories about the brave and beautiful Kathryn Janeway. The starship captain who never stopped trying to get home, and the remarkable crew who would follow her anywhere. Touching, isn't it? I get all teary-eyed just thinking about it.

I stand among them, a virtual God among mortal men, and watch them worship, watch them mourn the death of an impressive group of humanoids. And as I watch them sob into their flowered hankies, I realize that I alone know the truth. Only I know that the fair Captain Janeway and her comrades are alive and well on a distant planet no so different from this one. And I dare say, I feel satisfied. I hear the wonderful things these humans teach their children, things about love and loyalty, and I know that this is as it should be. They deserve to be remembered this way. My darling Kathy, her beloved ape Chuckles, even that fossil Tuvok. All of them. They deserve this honor, but don't ever tell them I said so. I have a reputation to maintain after all.

Well … the cosmos awaits, so I shall say taa taa. Thank you, Reader, narrow little being that you are, for joining me on the jaunt through time and space. I know it must've been difficult for your tiny cranium to keep up, and you probably need to rest. So, I'll leave you now to your VCR programming and internet surfing.

What's that? Don't go you say? You don't think this should be the end? Oh, I see! You want to know what became of them, of Kathy and the others. Of course you do. How absolutely thoughtless of me.

Very well, never let it be said that I, the omnipotent Q, left my fans unfulfilled. If you sit very still in your chair and quiet your itty-bitty mind, you'll see for yourself. Concentrate. Do you see them?

A planet much like your own, green grass and blue skies…

A small town built by a group of people you know very well. See them? They sit quietly, contentedly, in the small town hall. On the stage at the front of the room, their leader, who most still call Captain, conducts yet another wedding ceremony. Oh don't tell me you showed up without a gift?!?! You people have such atrocious manners.

Where is my gift, you ask? Well, they're sitting in it, of course. No, you dim-witted mortal, not the building. I'm speaking in a much broader sense. I'm talking about the whole enchilada. Home. Oh, you didn't think that planet, so much like Earth, just evolved there naturally did you?

I'm not pretentious enough to claim credit for their flourishing society. I merely provided the canvas. They did all the painting. Poetic, aren't I?

Who'd have guessed that this group of star bound voyagers (pardon the pun) could've pulled it off? Well, I did. That's who. And here it is - their home. They named it simply Solace. And what name could be better for a place like this.

A place where a space-bound group of people finally felt earth beneath their feet. It's a place where kindnesses are common and hatred is all but forgotten.

A place where a hologram and a liberated Borg drone found happiness and fulfillment in one another. Where they discovered that one doesn't have to be human to embrace humanity. And you don't need riches to be wealthy.

A place where a man who once thought he'd spend his life drifting from one tavern to another, and a woman who believed she'd never fit in anywhere, now share their lives and their love with their two children. Beautiful little girls who look just like their mother, ridges and all.

A place where a wise Vulcan man sits under a tree and plays his lute for the town's children. They listen intently as he speaks of a land called Vulcan, where people study the Kolinahr and tame the sehlat.

A place where an Asian man picks wild flowers with the woman he always said was the right twin. Her long dark hair streams out behind her as she chases their laughing toddler through the tall grass. He began this journey as a wide-eyed kid, and he completed it as a levelheaded and compassionate man.

A place where a furry faced Talaxian man watches his wife's belly swell as their child grows within. And the couple watch as their teen-age daughter, her light red hair streaming down her back, leaves for a picnic date by the lake. She laughs like a schoolgirl and talks wistfully about someday marrying him - the Borg boy who they rescued from the collective, and from parents who used him as a weapon instead of loving him as a son. Only he's no longer a boy. In this town, with the guidance of these people, he has become a man.

A place where a polished starship captain and an angry, rebellious warrior found a peace the likes of which they had only dreamed of. Where a woman who thought she was born for no other reason than to command among the stars, is now the leader of a growing world, a wife, and a mother. And the man that stands at her side goes to bed each night holding in his arms the only woman he ever truly loved with all his soul, and the very one he thought he would never have. He watches her soak in the bathtub he built, and relishes in the way her eyes light up when she compares their son's dimples to his, knowing that he loves her more than the waking world.

A place where a group of people from many different races learned that you need not share a name or a bloodline to be a family.

And most of all, a place where a starship crew will continue to develop a society and populate their planet until the day comes when the United Federation of Planets will approve an application for membership from a people with human DNA and hauntingly familiar surnames. Thus enfolding the first Delta Quadrant world into its flock of peace and harmonious co-existence, and uniting a galaxy.

And what of their omnipotent benefactor? Well, I pop in from time to time, of course. Usually while Kathy's in her bath. I mean, someone has to insult Chuckles and provoke Tuvok's ever-climbing eyebrow. But most of all, I just watch from a cosmic distance, making sure the sun continues to rise and set, and the rain continues to fall. Those best qualities of humanity I'm so fond of referring to? They exist in abundance on that little world. And in a cosmic kind of way, I'm happy to have been a part of it.

There, human. I've answered your questions. Now go away and stop pestering me. You're making me blubber. Besides, I have planets to knock out of orbit and suns to implode. I just love the way they look like a shiny cue ball right before they go critical. Say - that reminds me. I haven't paid a visit to Jean Luc in a while.

Now turn off that computer and study an astronomy book or something. I mean, if humans are ever going to make it to space, it's up to you.

And remember - I'm always . . . out there.

All feedback Ladychakotay@yahoo.com the Personal Secretary of Q