SEASON 2: EPISODE 02

Q, TIME AND AGAIN: Part Five

  Beep.

  The loud sound caused Masters to sit up in shock.  His eye darted around the room as he felt disoriented.  Sweat dripped into his eyes stinging them.  Masters picked up on pillow and threw it across the room in anger.

  Beep.  “Captain?”

  “I’ll be there soon, Commander,” said Masters.  “I want the command staff to meet in the observation lounge when I get up there.”

  “Yes, sir,” said a confused Core.  “Shall I inform them of what the meeting is about?”

  “No.  I’ll do that when I get there.  Masters, out.”

  As he got ready his mind raced with what was happening.

  “Maybe because you’ve been a bad boy, Jono.”

  Masters spun around.  He was caught by surprise; he didn’t expect anyone to be in his room especially when he was getting dressed, though luckily he had already put his pants on.

  “Oh, please.  Stop been so childish.  I’ve seen what you have.”

  Masters realised he had pulled his shirt up to cover his exposed upper torso.  He relaxed; it was the same person from before.

  “With your powers you’d think you would have progressed above petty voyeurism,” said Masters.

  The man smiled at Masters.  “With powers like mine, you can’t avoid such things.”

  Masters rolled his eyes, turned away and continued to get dressed and ready for duty.

  He heard a sound of shock.  “Aren’t you going to ask who I am?  Or why I’m here?  Come on Jono, this is no fun if you don’t play the game!”

  He furiously turned around and angrily pointed at the man.  “I don’t consider this a game.  People are dying you weird, space-time freak!  And don’t call my Jono, I’m Captain Masters to you.”

  The man let out a sarcastic laugh.  “Sorry, Captain Masters.”  He paused and a look of deadly seriousness came to his face.  “But you are right, this isn’t a game.  It is very serious.”

  “At least we agree with each other.  Now, who are you and why are you here?”

  The man clasped his hands together.  “Finally.  I am Q, you might have heard of me and the great things I have done for your Federation.”

  The name Masters definitely did recognise.  He had read about Q from the various Starfleet classified files once he had become a captain.

  “I’ve heard of you, none of it good.”

  Q looked at if Masters had hurt his feeling, though he doubted it and didn’t really care.  “How can you say such things?  I saved your species and your Federation, twice.”

  “Twice?”

  “Yes, I introduced you to the Borg and I assisted Picard with the anti-time anomaly.”

  “You helped by introducing us to the Borg?  The Borg have destroyed several of our colonies and tens of thousands of lives!  Thanks to your introduction the Borg have tried to assimilate Earth twice!” cried Masters in disbelief.  He couldn’t believe the audacity of Q.

  “Yes, but you stopped them both times.  If I had not shown you the Borg and what they are capable of they would have succeeded the first time.  If you didn’t know what they were and were capable of when they did finally come you would have tried diplomacy with them and they would have waltzed to Earth and assimilated it before you could muster a force to stop them or even understand them.  It also woke you up about the possibilities of new threats that you couldn’t deal with.”

  “Then the anti-time incident.  If you hadn’t been playing with Picard’s mind he would have never created it in the future for it to threaten the past.”

  “You’re assuming that Picard didn’t create the anomaly without my input initially due to his development of Irumodic Syndrome in the future and that my involvement was secondary to help repair the problem he created.  Though I doubt you would believe anything I say, unless it meets your narrow view of the universe.  However, that is not why I am here.  I am here because of your unique situation.”

  The powerful being took a seat on the arm of one of the room’s couch.

  “What’s happening to me?” asked Masters.

  “You tell me, you’d had a few days to explore the possibilities.”

  Masters realised that Q wasn’t going to give him any freebies.  He had nothing to lose by talking to Q.  “Nothing like this is recorded to have happened before.  The closest is when the Enterprise-D was in a temporal casualty loop, but that happened in the Typhon expanse, which is light-years away.  Plus none of the crew remembered, though they got the feeling of déjà vu.  In this case I’m the only one to remember what has happened or what is going to happen and no one seems to be getting a sense of déjà vu.  I think that the nebula might be the cause of this.”

  “In what way?” said Q, he sounded to be genuinely interested in his hypothesis.

  “The discharge might have disrupted our sub-space alignment or covered us with temporal particles…”

  “You’re reaching for straws, Captain,” interrupted Q.

  “Do you have any better ideas, Q?” snapped back Masters.

  “Shouldn’t you worry more about the warp cores exploding then getting out of the time loop?”

  “The nebula has to be the cause!  The discharge must do something…it has to be the answer to everything that’s happened.”

  Q quietly nodded and promptly disappeared.  Masters waited to see if Q would reappear and when it became apparent he wasn’t he finished getting ready and hurried out of his room.  On his way out he nearly ran into Crewman Laris and Ensign Nairn in the corridor.  His interaction with Q had put him off balance.

  “Sorry, sir,” apologised Laris.

  Masters nodded and hurried on.

  “So do you think Q has anything to do with this?” asked Terri Letac.

  She was concerned that the apparently omnipotent being was showing interest in the ship.  Q, no matter his intentions, had caused nothing less then havoc to every ship and crew he came in contact with.  Plus according to the captain the Swiftfire would be destroyed by the end of the day, so things did not bode well for the Swiftfire.

  “All he seems to do is enjoy watching us suffer,” replied the Captain.

  “Now, now, my dear Captain.  That isn’t true.”

  Letac nearly jumped out of her seat in fright.  Q had suddenly just appeared in a seat next to her.  He was in an older style Starfleet uniform.  It was the uniform that was widely in use until just prior to the start of the Dominion War.  Surprisingly though Q chose to wear Captain’s pips.

  “I no more enjoy watching you suffer as much as you would enjoy watching a little kitten or any other lesser life form suffer in a situation they do not understand,” continued Q.

  The captain looked furious at Q’s interruption.

  “Calm down, Captain.  You might burst a vein.”

  “Look Q if you don’t have anything productive to add could you just f…”

  “Captain,” said Q shocked.  “I’m a friend, is that anyway to talk to a friend?”

  “Q, I don’t like you!  You are not my friend, you’re a nuisance!”

  Q didn’t seem fazed by the captain’s outburst.  “As your friend I can tell you that I think your idea is wrong and won’t change anything.”

  The captain looked surprised at Q’s statement.  He went to reply but it appeared that words were failing him.  So Letac stepped in.

  “Can you tell us why, sir?”

  Q faced Letac and gave her a wide, friendly smile.  “Sir!  I like you, young lady.  May I ask your name?”

  “I…I’m Lieutenant Terri Letac,” stammered the Lieutenant.  She was surprised at her embarrassment at the question, but it wasn’t everyday a near god-like creature seems to take interest in you.

  “Well, Terri it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Q took the Lieutenant’s right hand and lightly kissed the back of her hand causing the Lieutenant to blush.

  “Q!  Would you please not do that,” ordered the Captain.

  Q let go of Letac’s hand and he turned to face the Captain.  “I’m just being polite, Captain.  A skill you seem to need to hone more.”

  The captain slammed his palms on the table.  “Look Q, if this isn’t going to work tell us why?”

  “I said, ‘I don’t think it will work’, not that it definitely won’t.”

  Masters scoffed at Q’s answer.  “Q, you disappoint me!  I’ve read so much about your considerable powers and I know you can see what is going on and what will happen.”

  “Uncertain.  Always in motion the future is.  Mmmmmm,” said Q.  He smiled expectedly as though he had made a joke but it appeared that no one had understood it, Letac certainly didn’t.  Maybe it was just funny that a near omnipotent being had just spoken a sentence back to front and in a strange voice that would be akin to a frail old man.  “Wow, tough room.”

  “What are you talking about, Q?” asked Masters throwing his arms up in confusion.

  “I think Q is trying to say, he can’t see everything that is going to happen.  With each choice we make we can alter the future, so what Q sees now might not happen because we change one little facet of events leading up to the climax.”

  “You are a marvellous young woman, Terri.  Look how easily she understands and grasps the situation.  You should be thankful that you have such a perceptive officer as Lieutenant Letac.”

  Despite herself she couldn’t help but blush.

  The captain appeared to have calmed down slightly.  “So avoiding the nebula might work if we follow your logic, Q.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we do that.  Commander, instruct Ensign Cole to plot a course well around the nebula.  Commander Celcho, keep a close eye on the warp cores.  Everyone else, back to their duties.  As for you Q, either be productive or leave.”

  Q appeared to be offended.  “Well, if you’re going to be like that captain, I’ll see you this morning.”  Q just disappeared.

  Letac sliced her hand slowly through where Q had just been just to make sure he was really gone.  She then realised what a silly notion it was to think that Q would really be gone.  A being with such power would never really be gone.

  “Dismissed.”

  Letac’s attention came back to the present and she quickly got up and returned to duty, slightly off balance from her meeting with Q