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Sailor Trek: The Next Generation
Epilogue
"Captain's Log, Stardate 45242.5: Commander LaForge has repaired
the ship with his customary efficiency. However, I have decide to forgo
returning to our own universe for the time being. Firstly, on
recommendation of my first officer, it is to take advantage of this
unique opportunity to explore the immediate vicinity of Earth in this
alternate universe. Secondly, and more importantly, it will afford
Serena adequate time to make a sufficient recovery.
"We owe her that much at least."
"First Officer's Personal Log, Stardate 45290.3: Deanna has
informed the Captain that Serena has made enough progress over the last
month that she can return home. Q will return them home sometime
tomorrow and so the ship is now on a return course for Earth.
"I think I'll survive until then..."
The main computer of a Galaxy class starship was not supposed to be
prone to mistakes, but an observer near Ten Forward might have presumed
that it made one this time as the nearby turbolift doors opened and no
one stepped out. Eventually though, Riker emerged from it hesitantly
and cautiously glanced up and down the corridor. Breathing a sigh of
relief, he hefted his trombone case and made his way to the Ten Forward
entrance.
He had only a few steps when, "Hello, Will."
The first officer started slightly before he realized who it was.
"Counselor."
"My, aren't we jumpy," Deanna commented. "In fact, I don't think
I've seen you this nervous since we first met on Betazed."
"It's been a rather... strenuous month."
"Has it?" Troi asked, putting a naive tone in her voice. "I admit
I've been rather busy with Serena, but I haven't noticed anything else out
of the ordinary."
Riker shot her a pained look, which only made her smile broader.
She knew perfectly well what Riker had been talking about and he knew
it. "It's easy for you to joke about. You're not the target of their...
affections."
"I don't believe this," she said with a laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"You!" His expression made her laugh again. "I can't believe that
you, Will Riker, who's had relationships with women all over the
Federation..."
"Deanna!" he protested. "They're half my age!"
"...is frightened by the advances of two teenagers!" she continued.
"You could handle the Borg, the Ferengi, Q... even my mother, but you
can't handle Lita and Mina." She entered the lounge, still chuckling.
After moment, Riker followed her in, "It's nice to know I can count
on your support, Imzadi."
To say the least, it had been an odd month even for the Sailor
Scouts, Darien decided as he approached Serena's quarters. But it had
not been an altogether unpleasant one. In fact, the Enterprise crew had
gone out of their way to make it pleasant, from Riker teaching them to
play Parisi's Squares to Chief O'Brien taking him kayaking on the holodeck
yesterday. He was still sore from the experience, though O'Brien had
fared worse with a separated shoulder. From the way Dr. Crusher was
talking, it wasn't the first time this had happened either. She had made
no bones about the fact that a man who had just become a father should be
more careful.
Of course, what had made it truly pleasant was that Serena was
making good... no, excellent progress. After almost daily sessions with
Counselor Troi, and frequent talks with Captain Picard, she had nearly
fully recovered from this latest ordeal.
He was about to touch the control for the door chime when suddenly
opened. "Darien! Is something wrong?"
He blinked, sure he was going to have to get her to hurry and get
ready. "Nothing, Serena. I'm... just surprised you're ready to go."
"Hey!" she protested. "It's not like I'm late *all* the time you
know!"
"Just most of the time," a voice from behind her said. Mina exited
the room. "But not when someone is here to get her moving."
"Thanks a lot, Mina."
"No prob," the blonde replied, ignoring the icy stare Serena was
giving her. "I'll you two alone for now. If I hurry I still might be
able to catch Will alone in Ten Forward." With that she gave them a wave
and hurried for the turbolift.
"We're leaving today and she still hasn't given up on a romance
with Riker?" Darien asked.
"Nope. Neither's Lita," she answered, eliciting a groan. "Is
there any reason they should?"
He decided that any comment he could make would probably get him
in trouble with her. "Shall we get going?" he asked offering her his
arm. "After all, the guests of honor shouldn't be too late."
Ten Forward was a little more crowded than usual, Picard reflected,
but there was ample reason for that. After all, these eight and rather
unique individuals were leaving the ship in a few hours, after having
had been the ship for quite some time. It was only natural that many
friendships had been formed between them and the crew.
Still there was a slight sense of apprehension in the air, though
maybe that was only his imagination. But that seemed to be the standard
when Q was involved in anything. Fortunately he had limited his...
visits to merely dropping in, usually at rather inconvenient time, and
demanding to know when the Sailor Scouts were going to be ready to be
sent home.
It was a bit of a mystery why he simply hadn't done so on his own.
It wasn't like he needed their approval to do anything. Not that he
usually bothered to ask anyway.
Picard approached the bar and looked at Guinan, who anticipated his
question. "He's nearby," she said, "but not exactly in the immediate
vicinity... not yet anyway."
"The day's still young," the captain observed wryly. "Ah, I see
our guests of honor have arrived." Indeed, at that moment Darien and
Serena had entered the lounge, followed shortly by Dr. Crusher. The
captain noted that young couple was slightly redfaced for some reason,
while Beverly was sporting a slight "I've-got-a-secret" smile. "Doctor."
"Captain," she replied as she strode up to the bar. Behind her,
Serena and Darien met up with three of the other Scouts. Lita was still
absent for some reason.
"Is it a secret, Beverly, or can you share it with the rest of us?"
"What do you mean, Jean-Luc?"
"You look like the cat that swallowed the proverbial canary,"
Picard replied.
She hesitated before answering, "Let's just say that I walked in
on our two lovebirds." Picard raised an eyebrow at this, prompting her
to nudge him softly. "Don't get any ideas, Jean-Luc! They weren't
doing anything more than kissing."
The waiter, Ben, came up to the bar, but Guinan spoke first.
"Don't tell me. One triple hot fudge sundae, right?"
The younger man chuckled. "You're turning into a mind reader,
Guinan."
The bartender shook her head. "No, it's just the same thing
Serena's been ordering every time she's in here."
"Sometime's two or three a night," Ben replied.
"Good Lord," Beverly said, astonished. "How does she do that and
not gain weight?"
"I'm not sure," Ben said, "But whatever her secret is, I bet Deanna
would like to know."
"So would I," the doctor agreed.
Lita took a look at the time and shook her head. That side trip
to sickbay had taken a little longer than she would've liked. "Great,
I'm running late. I'm getting worse than Serena," she muttered while
heading for the door. As always, the door opened automatically when
she approached it and she moved rapidly through it.
Or she would have, if Worf hadn't been standing there, and she
ran right smack into him. Evidently the security chief had just
arrived outside her door.
Fortunately she wasn't going too fast, so all she did was knock the
Klingon backwards a few steps. "I'm sorry! Are you OK, Worf?"
"I am undamaged," He said while straightening out his sash. "I
trust you have fully recovered as well?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean my arm!" Unconsciously she rubbed her left
forearm. It had been injured during a particularly rough episode in
Worf's calisthenics program that morning. Her trip to sickbay was the
main reason she was running late. "Yeah, Dr. Crusher fixed it up, no
problem. But she did give me a hard time about the fact we were running
the program at level five."
"Good," he answered. "May we speak privately?"
Lita frowned. She wanted to get to the party going on in Ten
Forward, but if she learned one thing this past month is that Worf was
not one for making idle requests. If he wanted to talk with her in
private, it must be of some importance to him. Besides, she was curious
about what was in that large case he was carrying. Well, there was only
one way to find out. "Sure," she said and led the way back into her
quarters.
Worf followed her in and placed the case on the table but he didn't
say anything at first. Instead he seemed to fidget as if he wasn't sure
how to begin.She wasn't sure even after being around him for a month (he
was an alien after all) but it seemed to her that Worf was nervous about
something. What was he up to?
"Well, Worf?" she prodded.
Worf began, "As I understand it, Q will be transporting you and the
others back to you own place and time."
"Yeah. It's about time we got back. I mean, I like it here, but we
can't stay forever." She glanced around the room, then glared at the
replicator. "Still, that's not one thing I'll miss! I've barely been
able to practice my cooking skills since we got here!" She gave the
offending device another glare, then looked back to Worf. "Anyway,
what's up? And what's in the case?"
"A gift," he answered. He placed the case on the table and opened
it, taking out a bat'leth. "From one warrior, to another."
She stare at the weapon, unsure what to make of it. "Why?"
"While we are both orphans, as I understand it you have no real
family outside of the Sailor Scouts." At her nod, he continued, "I do
have family, but most of them reside within the Empire... except for my
son, Alexander, who lives with my human parents on Earth."
"I'm not sure where this is going, Worf," Lita said, confusion
showing on her face.
"Allow me to finish. During the fight on the Borg ship, you saved
my life on more than one occasion."
"Well, you did the same for me... and the others too. There were a
lot of drones to fight."
"Yes," the Klingon rumbled, "Since that first battle on the bridge,
I have come to respect the Sailor Scout's skills as warriors... but you
in particular possess a warrior's spirit."
"Thanks, Worf," she said adding a mental 'I think'.
"It is a compliment," he told her, as if reading her mind. "Since
the battle, I have felt that there was a bond between us... as warriors.
And I would like you to accept this bat'leth as a symbol that, even
though we are not blood related, we share a bond as strong as family."
He handed her the Klingon weapon, "Lita, the House of Mogh would be
honored to count you among us as a warrior... and as a sister."
All eyes turned to greet the latecomers. Lita and Worf entered the
lounge, each trying to appear relaxed despite being the center of
attention. "It's about time you guys got here!" Mina said.
"Sorry we're late," Lita tried to explain, placing a large meter
long case on the floor, "It's just that we..."
"I think we can guess what you two were doing," Raye put in,
interrupting her.
Serena looked up sharply at this. "You mean he looks like you old
boyfriend?" Warming up his trombone, Riker caught this statement and
started, causing a couple of very sour notes to emerge from his
instrument. Smiling, he shrugged apologetically to the other band
members.
"I guess this means that Mina has a clear shot at Commander Riker,"
Amy calmly stated. Mina perked up at this thought and looked to the
band, smiling at the first officer who now paled visibly.
Meanwhile both Lita and Worf were offering very vocal denials,
which appeared to be having little effect. "I didn't know you went for
younger women, Worf," Beverly said, getting into the spirit.
"That is not the case, Doctor," he informed her with a glare.
Fortunately the two latecomers were spared further embarrassment by
the timely intervention of Data. "I think it highly unlikely that they
were involved in any sexual activities," the android said.
"Uh, why do you say that?" Raye asked. Beverly could see that they
were showing sudden signs of discomfort at the turn the conversation was
taking. Or at least the overt way the android was willing to discuss it.
Oblivious to this, Data continued, "I have made an extensive study
of the sexual practices of a variety of races, including Klingons. Sex
among Klingons tends to be very... physical in nature, often causing a
variety of injuries to the participants." Seeing the girls turn redder,
Beverly decided to move in before Data could expound any further.
Knowing the android as she did, he could go on for hours. And he did go
on, saying, "Indeed, it is considered a sign of good fortune to fracture
a clavicle on the wedding night. And..."
She took the android by the arm and forcefully steered him to the
bar. "Come on, Data. I'll buy you a drink."
Data frowned, puzzled. "But... I already have a drink, Doctor."
He indicated a nearly full glass.
"Then I'll buy you another."
The band was still playing, which was a tribute to their stamina as
they were well into their third hour... or was it the fourth? Troi
shook her head. No doubt Data could inform how long the party had been
going on down the nearest second, but mere humanoids tend to lose track
of time at events such as this. It was just as well that the strongest
thing served were synthahol based beverages.
Sensing someone approach, she turned to face Raye. "How does he do
it?" she asked, indicating Riker. "Every time there's a break, both
Lita and Mina are occupied by someone talking to them."
"Starfleet officers are trained to have good timing," Deanna said
with a smile. "And I believe he recruited some accomplices, most
notably Geordi and Worf, to help shield him at those times. Why, were
you hoping to see some fireworks?"
"I was just curious," she replied defensively, then added, "Why
didn't he get you to help? After all, I thought you two were... involved
at one point."
"We were. But Will know me better than to ask. I'd just tell him,
'You're a big boy, Will. You can handle yourself against two
teenagers.'" Besides, she found his discomfiture at their advances
amusing.
She picked up a sense of worry from the raven haired scout.
Glancing over, she saw her watching Serena at the bar, where she and
Darien were talking with Captain Picard. "You're still worried about
her."
Raye started. "Yeah. I mean, she seems normal now... for her,
anyway." Deanna raised an eyebrow at the last, but forbode commenting.
She knew that Raye only said that for appearances sake. And she knew
that she knew. "But she's been through a lot."
"True," Troi agreed. "She's made enough progress for her to
continue without my supervision, but it will take a long time for her
to completely put the experience completely behind her. For now, the
best thing to do is let her take it at her own pace. Don't try to force
the issue. If she wants to talk to you about it, she'll say so.
Otherwise, just treat her as you normally would."
Before Raye could reply, Artemis' voice came from beneath a nearby
table. "I don't think you really want that to happen, Counselor."
He *almost* succeeded in dodging Raye's kick.
Mina frowned slightly and glanced across the room. She thought she
had heard Artemis yelp, but all she saw in that general direction was
Raye talking with Troi. Shrugging, she turned her attention back to the
conversation with Geordi.
The engineer was saying "...if she had kept that up, we might have
found out if it's possible to drain a ship's power supply by overusing a
replicator." He looked back at Mina. "Then again, I didn't think it
was possible for someone to almost trigger a core breach just by hitting
a couple of buttons."
"Hey, I said I was sorry!"
"Take it easy," he said with an apologetic laugh in his voice. "I
was just kidding."
"You had better be!" she fumed. Then her mood suddenly changed as
she got a looked at the band. "Oh, Commander Riker's done playing.
Excuse me."
She began to move in his direction, but Data intercepted her first.
"Excuse me, but I am curious. Why are you and Lita so... aggressive in
your pursuit of Commander Riker?"
She gaped at him. "Are you kidding? He's a major hunk, that's
why!"
A puzzled expression formed on Data's face. "Major hunk?"
Geordi chuckled. For all his work at becoming more human, Data
still didn't have a firm grip on slang. "She mean's he's good looking,
Data."
"That's what I said."
"Ah." Data nodded, apparently satisfied. "That does seem to be
the opinion of a majority of women."
Mina froze in her tracks. "Huh?"
"I have observed that Commander Riker seems to enjoy a great deal
of success in matters of a romantic nature."
Now it was Mina's turn to look puzzled. "How could you know
anything about that? I thought you don't have emotions."
"True," Data acknowledged. "I am not capable of feeling emotions
themselves. However, I have had some experience in these areas."
"My experiment in romance took place approximately three months ago.
My previous sexual encounter was four years, three months, seven days,
twelve hours, ten minutes and forty seven seconds ago."
Mina reddened slightly and she spluttered "But... you're just a
machine! How can you...?"
When she didn't finish, Data asked, "How can I what?"
"You know."
"I think she means sex, Data," Geordi interpreted.
"I see. You believe that I am incapable of performing sexually.
However you are mistaken." Shocked, Mina stared, caught in the process
of taking a sip. Oblivious to her discomforture, Data continued on, "I
am fully functional, programmed in a multiple variety of pleasuring
techniques."
Geordi later reflected that it was simply bad luck she had been
looking in his direction at the moment... and that her drink ended up
being sprayed all over him.
Amy looked up from the padd she was studying in the direction of
the choking sounds. After satisfying herself that Mina was OK (and that
Geordi and Data had the situation in hand) she returned her attention
to the padd.
Or rather, she tried to. A hand reached down and snatched it out
of her grasp. Beverly Crusher examined the contents of the screen,
ignoring Amy's cries of protest. "Just as I thought. Though I couldn't
believe it when Lita pointed it out to me." Shaking her head, she sat
down next to the blue haired girl. "Here we are, in the middle of a
party, and you're studying?!?"
"We've been gone for a month. It'll take me a while to catch up."
"And I thought Wesley was bad," Beverly said with a sigh. "From
what I've heard, Amy, you're usually far ahead of your class. Besides,
you've been taking classes here on the Enterprise, so there won't be
that much for you to catch up on. You're awfully young to be this
driven." As soon as she said this, she was struck by a powerful sense
of deja vu. How many times had she found herself in a similar position
with Wesley?
"I have to work hard. You know I'm planning on becoming a doctor
one day."
"Well, I can't say I disapprove of your choice of profession,"
Beverly admitted. "But you should still take time out to relax and
enjoy yourself, especially at this stage of your life. Your only young
once. Besides, I believe you'll find that not much time has passed
when you return home."
Amy looked puzzled. "How can you be sure?"
"Previous experiences with Q. And the first one was one too many."
Beverly glanced around the room, but the entity had yet to make an
appearance. Before she could say anything further to Amy, a loud splash
resounded from the direction of the bar, accompanied by a distinctly
feline yell.
"Artemis!"
A few moments earlier, Geordi was approaching the bar, wiping
at his uniform without much success. "Here, Commander. You look like
you could use this."
He looked up and gratefully accepted the proffered towel. "Thanks,
Reg." He sat down next to the diagnostic engineer and began cleaning
his shirt as best as he could. As he did so, he idly noted that Luna
was lying on the bar next to Barclay, looking very contented as the
engineer scratched her back. "I didn't know you were a cat person."
"Oh, I've always like cats, sir."
"And he knows just where to scratch us, too," Luna put in between
purrs.
Geordi smiled. Leave it to Barclay to be able to get along well
with cats, when not long ago he was barely able to talk with his
crewmates. While he would never be called gregarious, he was much better
than when he first came aboard. And he was a fine engineer. Speaking
of which... "Hey Reg, I've been meaning to ask, how's the repair coming
along on Holodeck Two?"
"Oh, fine, sir. We've replaced almost half the blown isolinear
chips." Barclay frowned and indicated Mina still having an animated
discussion with Data. "Is it true she shorted out the control circuits
by simply trying to alter the program parameters?"
"That's what I've been told."
"I don't understand. That... just can't happen," Barclay
insisted.
"You don't know Mina too well," another voice said. Luna opened
one eye and saw that Artemis had hopped onto the bar.
"I thought you were going to talk with Counselor Troi."
He hesitated a moment, then cast a quick glance where Troi was
still sitting with Raye before answering. "It was getting a little
dangerous over there." The white cat winced slightly as he sat down
next to Luna. "Ah, Commander Riker," he said, acknowledging the
approaching first officer. "Did you decide it was safe to emerge from
the band?"
Riker checked around before answering. Data and Worf were keeping
his would-be suitors busy. "For the moment. Safer than it's been at
the poker table lately."
"Poker?" Luna perked up at this, and she gave the Commander a
disapproving look. "You haven't been playing poker with them, have
you?"
"Not them," Riker reassured her. He pointed to Artemis, who was
now looking quite satisfied with himself. "Him. He's been cleaning
up." He signaled Guinan for a drink.
Luna sat up suddenly and stared at Artemis, shocked. "Artemis!"
"Relax, Luna. It's only a game."
The black cat fumed silently for a moment. "Perhaps it's just as
well Q is sending us back today."
Artemis grimaced. "You had to mention that twit, didn't you."
"I'd be careful what you say about him. Remember what happened
the last time you insulted him?"
"Hah!" Artemis said smugly. "I checked with Data. Spot's not
in heat anymore, and neither are any of the other female cats on this
ship. And I doubt he can come up with anything more original either."
Geordi and Riker both looked doubtful but before either could say
anything, Guinan jumped as if she had been hit with a Klingon pain
stick. She swung her head towards Artemis, "Look out!"
"Huh?" Before the white feline could say anything more, a large
globe of water formed over his head. It impossibly hovered over him
for a second, and a disembodied voice could be heard saying "Oh,
really? Well, chill out, cat."
The water then fell down upon Artemis with a loud splash.
There was a moment of stunned silence as those present gawked at
the sight of the now soggy cat. He stood on the bar, shivering, his
color slowly changing to a pale blue. "THAT'S C C-COLD!!"
Picard eyed the commotion with a concerned expression. Not that
there was much else he could do at the moment. Mina and Guinan were
busy toweling the unfortunate Artemis off, while Beverly and Amy were
checking his physical state with a tricorder and computer, respectively.
"It would appear that Q has made his presence felt."
"Great," Serena muttered. "That creep certainly knows how to ruin
a party."
Picard nodded ruefully. "Agreed. Unfortunately Serena, there's not
much we can do about him. Afterall, it's not as if we can lock an
omnipotent being in the brig."
"Yeah," she agreed. "It doesn't help that he's all powerful too."
Picard briefly considered, then rejected, the idea of telling her
that was what he had said. In it's place he continued, "Still, there
was this one time I was able to put him in his place."
That peaked their curiosity. "Oh?" Darien said. "How so?"
"It was about... oh, nearly two years ago now. Q had appeared on
the bridge as is his wont..." He decided to gloss over the fact that Q
had appeared on the bridge stark naked. "...claiming that his
compatriots in the Q Continuum had stripped him of his powers.
Naturally, we were all reluctant to believe him. Finally he yelled out
'What must I do to convince you people?' Worf gave a very...
appropriate answer." He paused, deliberately stringing the story out.
"What'd he say?" Serena asked.
Picard deepened his voice in a reasonable imitation of his security
chief, "'Die.'." It had the desired effect. Both Serena and Darien
smiled, and she added a small laugh as well. "Well, to make a long
story short, since he apparently had no powers at the time, I decided to
repay him for the trouble he had caused us over the years. I had Worf
throw him in the brig."
"Oh, very droll, Jean-Luc," a disembodied voice said just before
resolving itself into Q.
"Speak of the devil."
Q didn't look amused, which pleased Picard to no end. "Here I go
saving you and your precious ship and how do you repay me? By
besmirching my good name."
"For me to do that Q, you must first *have* a good name," Picard
retorted.
"You cut me to the quick, mon capitaine. And you didn't even have
the curtesy to invite me to the festivities." He gave the captain a
pained look. "Jean-Luc, I'm hurt."
"You'll get over it."
"Yes, I suppose so." The entity scanned over the room, "Well, I
guess I should dress for the occasion."
Picard frowned as Q snapped his fingers. Q had shown up in his
usual garb, a Starfleet uniform with the rank (undeserved, of course) of
captain. As everyone else was in either casual attire or their uniforms,
he wasn't quite sure what to make of Q's comment. But he got a very good
idea once the usual flare around Q faded.
Q had shifted his attire from it's usual mode to a tuxedo and was
wearing a mask. Now that he reflected on it, it was identical to
Darien's outfit in his transformed state, a fact that wasn't lost on
the Sailor Scouts. They were staring at him in wide eyed astonishment,
Serena most of all. Darien had been shocked for a moment, but was now
glaring at Q.
"Tuxedo Q, at your service," he declared taking off his hat and
bowing deeply to Serena. "Shall we dance?"
Darien stepped between them. "I don't think so."
The two of them stared eye to eye for several seconds, the tension
between them palpable. Finally Serena spoke up, "Give it up, Q.
Besides, that outfit looks way better on Darien."
"That's for sure," Lita agreed as she approached with Worf.
"Yes, it is outside my usual motif," Q agreed, shifting back to a
Starfleet uniform. "Yes, that's much better. That tuxedo was just too
stiff for someone of my nature... definitely fits his attitude better."
Before Darien could respond, he added, "Tell me, do you always go into
battle in formal wear?" Darien looked as if he was going to say
something, but Serena took his arm first and pulled him towards the bar,
but not before giving Q an icy glare. "My, she seems none too pleased
with me. Was it something I said?" he asked Picard.
"I would think it has something to do with being assimilated, Q,"
the captain answered.
"Oh really, Jean-Luc! I had nothing to do with it. All I did was
bring them here."
"Yeah, but you didn't exactly warn us about what was to happen
either," Lita accused.
"Do you expect me to lead you by the hand for the entirety of your
existence?" Q retorted. "You humans keep crowing about learning by
discovery, but when it comes down to it, you just want someone to hand
you the answers on a platter."
He was answered by a loud sneeze coming from the vicinity of the
bar. Seeing Mina busy toweling Artemis off, Q sauntered over and
remarked, "Ah, and I see someone dragged in a wet cat."
"Very funny," came Artemis' muffled voice. He poked his head out
from under the towel and scowled at the entity.
Mina levelled an equally intense glower at the entity. "I hope
your satisfied, Q. Artemis could catch his death of cold from this."
"Oh, I'm sure that won't happen," Q blithely reassured her.
"After all, you'll be there to nurse him back to health. Correct?"
"Well, of course," she answered.
Picard and Guinan shared a look, each sure there was something more
to this exchange. Firstly because Q was not in the habit of saying
anything nice about anyone. Secondly, the Sailor Scouts, and to a
lesser extent Darien, were wide eyed in shock.
Artemis' eyes had also grown wide, but his expression was more one
of horror. "I'm doomed," he moaned in a soft voice. Mina snapped her
gaze from Q to the drenched feline.
"Artemis!"
Q smiled, allowing the current emotions roiling in the room to
linger for a moment. "Well, let it never be said I wasn't magnanimous,"
he proclaimed and snapped his fingers. "There you are, Artemis... all
dried off and any physical ailments attended to."
Artemis found himself feeling warm and dry, and he shrugged himself
out from under the towel. "Ah, much better."
"I... wouldn't thank him just yet, Artemis," Mina said.
"Why not?"
She pointed. "Um... your fur?"
Artemis twisted himself as best he could and looked where Mina
pointed, then gasped. His fur looked as if someone had dumped him into
a dryer set on the fluff cycle. "Q!!!" For his part, Q was looking
insufferably smug. More so than usual, that is.
"Is he always this annoying?" Lita asked while the entity was
enjoying himself.
Worf glanced at Q with a look of revulsion. "Yes."
Q put an expression of shock on his face. "How rude of you,
Microbrain! It appears you're just as sour as your prune juice."
Lita looked doubtfully at Worf. "Prune juice?" She transferred the
look to the glass Worf was holding. She had thought that it was some
sort of Klingon beverage.
"A warriors' drink," Worf said defensively.
"Well," Q exclaimed at the sight of Lita and Worf standing together,
"It looks like you two have hit it off. The amazon and the microbrain.
Tell me Worf, am I invited to the wedding?"
Worf glared at Q, refusing to be baited by him. Lita, on the
other hand, was more demonstrative. "Let me zap him again!" She reached
for her transformation pen, but Worf put a restraining arm on her.
"Oh, let go of her, Microbrain. Let her try and 'zap' me with that
pet dragon of hers."
"Much as I'd like to see that happen, I'm afraid it wouldn't do any
good," Riker commented. "He'll just keep popping up, like the proverbial
bad penny."
Q humphed. "I'm afraid you just don't appreciate my value here,
Riker. Without me to spice up your life once in a while, the biggest
thrill in your pitiful existence would be trying to get Microbrain here
to smile." He turned to the Klingon. "What do you say, Worf? One
smile, for little old moi?" Worf's only response was to snarl at Q.
Picard decided it was time to intervene and try to put some
restraints on Q before someone really lost their temper. And if it
turned out to be one of the Scouts, that could cause serious damage in
the lounge. "Q..." he said warningly. "...that's enough."
Q heaved a frustrated sigh. Picard was always trying to curtail
his entertainment. "Oh, very well, mon capitaine. But I'm afraid you
are becoming rather stodgy in your old age." Ignoring the look Picard
was giving him, he continued, "The Q Express is here, everyone! Say
your goodbyes while your able!"
There was a bit of commotion as the Scouts made their farewells to
the Enterprise crew. Finally, Serena came up to Picard. "Thanks,
Captain. For everything." Impulsively, she gave the captain a quick
hug, much to his embarrassment.
Darien settled for shaking his hand. "That goes for me too."
Q appeared behind Picard and whispered conspiratorially in his
ear, "Isn't she a bit young for you, mon capitaine?"
Picard did his best to ignore the impish entity. "My best to you
both. Good luck in whatever adventures lie ahead."
"And what interesting adventures they are, too," Q pronounced.
"What do you mean by that?!?" Lita challenged.
"That, as they say, is for me to know and you to find out." Q
gestured imperiously around the room. "All right, Sailor Scouts, time to
go back home!" They were able to manage a last wave before Q snapped
his fingers and they all vanished from Ten Forward. Continuing with
his showmanship attitude, Q said, "Now, for my next trick..."
"Save it, Q," Picard interrupted. "We'll get home our own way."
"We have entered the Terran system, Captain," said Data. "Our
approach vector should make it difficult for Earth to detect us until we
reach the flux."
Picard nodded as he resumed his seat. The party had broken up only
a few moment after the departure of their guests, and the ship was now
settling back into a more normal routine. Still, there was something
missing now that the Scouts had departed, Picard reflected. It was a
similar to the feeling he would get the few time he had returned to his
ancestral home, the feeling of the empty house. Which was an odd feeling
to have on a ship with over a thousand people on board. "Slow to impulse,
Ensign Ro."
"Are the warp engines ready, Geordi?" asked Riker.
"Yes sir," the engineer reported. "I've got them set to emit a
warp field at the proper frequency the moment we contact the flux. That
ought to send us straight home."
Q looked somewhat piqued. "Waste of time. I could send you home
much faster."
Riker made it a point to ignore Q for now. Maybe if he did it long
enough, he'd go away. No, he couldn't get that lucky. He glanced around
the bridge, then said to the captain, "You know, I'd gotten used to
having them around. Somehow the ship seems emptier." Picard nodded
in agreement.
"You miss your girlfriends already?" Q quipped. "Well, if you're
feeling lonely Riker, I could arrange for them to visit every now and
then." Deanna tried, and didn't entirely succeed, to contain a chuckle
at the look on the first officer's face. He transferred the glare from Q
to her.
"I've notice the same thing," Picard said, trying not to notice
Riker's consternation. "They did have a way of making life...
interesting."
Q got a baffled look on his face. "Aren't we being needlessly
maudlin here?" he observed
The stillness of the temple was disturbed by a ripple of sound and
six tall columns of light, accompanied by two smaller ones, that quickly
resolved themselves into the Scouts, Darien and their feline companions.
They looked around, verifying their location. That is, the humans
looked around. Artemis immediately got to work on smoothing out his
fluffed fur, while Luna helped. To their immense relief, they saw that
they were in the temple courtyard. As promised, Q had sent them home.
"That's a relief," Mina said. She looked around once more. "It
doesn't look like much has changed. I wonder how long we've been gone?"
Amy had already produced her computer and was using it to determine
the local time. "It's the same day as it was when we left," she
announced.
"What?" Raye exclaimed and they crowded around Amy. Their
collective jaws dropped when they saw the screen. "We've only been gone
a couple of MINUTES?!?"
"What the... we were on the Enterprise for over a month!" Lita
asserted.
"I should have guessed. We've already seen that Q can easily
manipulate time and space," Amy said. "It's not that surprising that he
could put us here right after we left."
"Yeah, I guess that's true." Raye looked over to Serena. "But I
bet even Q couldn't make Serena get anywhere on time."
A keen observer could tell that she wasn't really serious by the
gleam in her eyes, that she was only teasing the leader of the Sailor
Scouts. Unfortunately,Serena wasn't feeling particularly observant at
the moment, and she turned from Darien, bristling at this comment. "I
can get anywhere I want on time, Raye! Quit bugging me!"
"HAH! You were late for the meeting we were going to have last
month... er, today! Like always!"
"I was late because I had detention!"
Raye felt her own temper flare, and she instinctively settled into
old habits. "Probably because you were late for school again,
Meatballhead!"
"OOH... stop calling me MEATBALLHEAD, you, you... Pyro!"
Luna sighed as the name calling war raged on. "Well, I see things
are getting back to normal around here."
"You got that right," said Artemis, still working on his fur.
"Thbbbb!!" Both girls stuck out their tongues simultaneously, and
the tongue war was on.
"We're approaching the coordinates of the flux," Ro announced.
"Still no indications that we have been detected," Data added.
Picard nodded. It looked like they would get through this and
cause only minimal disturbance to this Earth. "Reduce speed to one
half impulse, Ensign. Steady as she goes."
The Bajoran ensign nodded and made the necessary adjustments to the
helm to guide the Enterprise forward into the flux. "Warp engines
coming online," Geordi said. "We're moving through the flux. Power
drain is occurring as predicted." As if emphasizing this point, the
bridge lights flickered around them, as did the main viewscreen, during
the transition between the two universes. But the ship soon emerged
from the spatial anomaly and the systems steadied themselves.
"All stop," ordered Riker, once they were clear.
"Helm is answering all stop."
Data did a quick scan of the area. "Sensors confirm that we are
back in our own universe, sir."
"The shipwide drain on all power systems was substantial,but all
systems should be returning to normal shortly," reported Geordi. "The
adjustments I made to the shields protected us from the worst of it."
"Good," said Picard. He glanced over at Riker and gave a quick
nod. It was time to implement the plan they had laid out.
"Mr. Worf, stand by the modified torpedo."
Q looked utterly astonished. "What?"
"We're going to seal the quantum flux," explained Picard.
"Interdimensional anomalies in space and time are very tricky
things to be playing with, Jean-Luc. Especially if you don't fully
understand their nature... which you don't. I wouldn't do this if I
were you."
Picard looked up at Q. "Well, I'm not you."
"All the more reason you should listen to me," he insisted. "What
possessed you to come up with this hare-brained scheme?"
The captain endeavored to explain. "It's necessary, Q. We have
to prevent the possibility of anyone from this universe, such as the
Borg or the Romulans, from interfering in the affairs of that one."
"Noble as always, mon capitaine," Q conceded. "But grossly
misguided. Might I suggest you take some time to think this over?
Say, a century of two so you can bone up on your interdimensional
physics?"
"Thank you for your advice," Picard answered dryly. "But no."
Q threw his hands up in resignation. "Fine, all right, go ahead.
Be a stubborn fool. But don't say I didn't warn you."
"Fire." The torpedo shot out of the aft tube, and soon entered
the flux. There was a brief flare when it detonated.
Data watched the sensor readings. "The flux is sealed, sir."
Pluto started. Something was forming in the timestream, something
that should not be. She was going to have to plan quickly to prevent
the damage to reality from becoming permanent. An idea came quickly to
mind. Yes, perhaps they could be of some help.
She shook her head, her long green tinged hair flowing in the
breezes caused by the gateway. She was going to have to have a long
talk with Q when this was resolved.
Riker looked at Q, "I don't feel any different, Q." There was a
mild gloating tone in his voice.
For his part Q looked deadly serious. "The consequences from this
action will take a while to catch up with you, Riker. And you won't be
the only ones who feel them." He turned to Picard. "You'll regret you
didn't listen to me, mon capitaine... mark my words." With that, he
vanished in his usual manner, but not before muttering "She's not going
to like this."
"She?" Geordi asked. "Who's she?"
Data shook his head. "I do not know." From the looks of it, no
one else had any idea either.
Picard uneasily watched the space where Q had stood a moment
before. "Why do I have the feeling that he's right?" Perhaps he had
dismissed the entity's warning too easily. He quickly shook off his
misgivings. What was done was done. If Q was right, then they would
face the consequences when they revealed themselves. "Ensign, set
course for Starbase 215, Warp Six."
"Course set."
Picard brought his hand forward in that familiar chopping
gesture. "Engage."
END.
Notes:
As before, thanks to Gene Roddenberry and Naoko Takeuchi, for
creating their respective genres.
The threads left hanging aren't a slipup on my part... but a direct
tie-in to the next chapter of the "Sailor Trek Saga", the DS9 story.
There's also a couple of things that will be touched upon in the Voyager
story as well
Hey, I've got to entice you to read them somehow...
Oh, if anyone's wondering, the relationship between Q and Pluto
will be explained a little more there as well.
According to my notes, I started work on the outline of this story
early November '96, about five months after I started work on "Sailor
Trek", though the ideas for it were starting to putter around my head for
a while before that. The basics pretty much stayed the same throughout:
a villain from the Sailor Moon universe, one presumed dead, gets
transported into the Trek universe during the time of TNG and promptly
takes over a Borg ship and causes a lot of trouble for the crew of the
Enterprise D. And the story evolved from there.
If anyone is wondering why I picked Rubeus, well as I said, I
wanted a villain presumed dead in the Sailor Moon universe. And as all
I know is the NA dub, that limits the choices drastically. Jeddite's
return has been done too many times in other fanfics, the other Negaverse
Generals were pretty well killed outright and ditto for Beryl, Al and
Ann just went off to a new home, and the Four Sisters were healed. That
leaves Rubeus, and I believe the explanation I gave for his entry into
the trek universe doesn't violate Sailor Moon continuity too much.
However, I must admit to an error in regards to TNG continuity. I
had thought I picked stardates in between two episodes, but unfortunately
the ones I selected put this story right smack in the middle of the
season 5 two parter, "Unification", which guest starred Leonard Nimoy as
Spock. By the time I caught the error, part 1 (where Amy asks the
computer for the current stardate) had already been out for some time.
So I was pretty much stuck with it. For purposes of TNG continuity,
just consider this story as taking place shortly after the events
depicted in the episode "Disaster" (two episodes prior to "Unification"),
stardates notwithstanding.
Or maybe I should just blame it all on Q. Hmmmm....
Q: Don't even think it, my dear author. Unless you want to spend
some time as a tribble... on the Klingon homeworld!
Next up for the Sailor Trek Saga: Sailor Trek: Deep Space Nine -
"A Sailor Paradox"
It started out as a mission to investigate odd behavior by the wormhole.
Now they're in another universe and faced with an impossible task: save
Earth from being overrun by the forces of the Negaverse.
Look on the bright side, Captain Sisko... at least the Dominion
isn't involved.
Or is it?
Preview Snippet:
Sisko turned to face the unfamiliar voice and stopped short. The
wormhole aliens usually appear to be people he was familiar with, his
coworkers on the station: Kira, Dax, Worf, Odo, Jake... even Quark. But
he was completely unfamiliar with the person he was facing now, though
there was something oddly familiar with her outfit. She was dressed in
a odd version of a sailor outfit: white leotard, miniskirt, bows on the
front and back all dark colored. She was carrying a staff that faintly
resembled a key of some sort.
And her hair... long, dark colored as well, but tinged with green.
Sisko didn't think he would easily forget someone with hair matching
that description. "Who are you?"
Chapter One coming NLT October 13. (I hope)
Planned:
Sailor Trek - Voyager: Fate intertwines the two universe yet again as
the Scouts meet up with the crew of the starship Voyager.
Highlander Moon - The Scouts have an encounter with Duncan MacLeod of
the clan MacLeod.
(
geocities.com/telraven)