Soton@aol.com 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.