CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

THE BEST LAID PLANS

The confusion that swept across Uhura's face quickly melted into a wide smile, one hand cupping her ear piece and the other hiding her grin. She turned to her captain, forcing her face to remain temperate.

"Captain, we're receiving a transmission."

Captain Kirk clutched his armrests, intently staring into the threatening, swirling lights of the growing wormhole. He turned to Uhura, annoyed with Voyager's interruption of his melancholy. "What do they want? Is something wrong?"

"I think you'll want to see this for yourself, Captain."

Kirk nodded sharply and turned back to the viewscreen, his irritation instantly vaporizing as the image of Captain Janeway and the commander flashed onto the screen. His heart swelled at the sight of them. His bridge could hear the applause coming from hers, and he laughed unexpectedly – a mixture of satisfaction and amusement dashing through him. This was a much better scene than the unnerving sight of the wormhole they were about to be sucked into… again.

"Keptin…" Chekov started, tilting his head at the image on the screen. "Vhat eez happening?"

"I believe we're witnessing a public declaration, Mr. Chekov," Kirk smiled. He hit the communications button on his armrest. "Bones, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"I certainly am! Guess what time it is, Jim?"

"What time, doctor?"

"1600 hours on the dot. Tell Spock he's not getting a single credit from our winnings!"

Kirk looked over at his first officer and laughed again as the Vulcan raised his eyebrows.

"Am I to understand that you and Dr. McCoy placed a bet on the personal lives of Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay?"

"It's not like it sounds, Spock…"

Spock nodded. "Fascinating. I shall remember that the next time I am made aware of a 'pool' based upon your," Spock cocked his head, "biological drives."

The grin on Kirk's face faded instantly. Chekov and Sulu exchanged a bemused look in front of him.

"Mr. Chekov? Mr. Sulu? Is there something you'd… like to share?"

"No, sir," Sulu replied, looking down.

"Mmhmmm," Kirk said, chuckling to himself, resigning that there was nothing he could do about it anyway. He looked back at the screen – the command team had only slightly changed positions, and continued to put on quite the show. Kirk watched them for a minute, his whole being captivated by their display. A single, poetically tragic thought coursed through his mind: And they all lived happily ever after.

The relaxation that had washed over him was replaced just as rapidly with unease, however, and he straightened abruptly; something was amiss. This was taking too long.

"Mr. Sulu, put the vortex back on the screen."

Sulu let out a small, disappointed sigh and switched back to the viewscreen. The image was frozen – the purple lights of the vortex were there, but they had stopped swirling.

Kirk stood up and looked at Spock, whose head was already buried in his scanner. "Mr. Spock? What's happening? Which is frozen, the viewscreen or the vortex?"

"Space itself seems to be frozen, Captain," he replied squarely, as if this was a commonplace occurrence. "The particles of space and time have come to a halt."

"How is that possible? Switch back to Voyager's link, Mr. Sulu."

Sulu complied and the familiar romantic climax flashed back onto the screen. "They're not frozen," Kirk said, an odd mixture of dread and elation churning within him. Perhaps this meant they'd find another way home, and get to remain in this timeline. Of course, there was also the possibility that they would all… cease to exist. It wasn't a risk he was excited about taking. "Hail them."

"Not so fast," a voice bellowed.

Kirk spun around, searching for the source of the voice. The security detail on the bridge sprung to life, hands on their phasers.

"Over here, Captain," the voice called.

Kirk turned back towards the viewscreen, now filled a giant head. He was male and appeared to be human, a few years older than Kirk. He was wearing a golden Starfleet uniform, and Kirk's muscles loosened slightly; they must have returned to the Alpha Quadrant.

But… he remembered Voyager. He remembered everything.

Alarm erupted within him, but he didn't want to repeat his mistakes with Janeway; he didn't want to start blindly accusing Starfleet officers of being Klingon spies. He took a deep breath and smiled at the man. "I'm Captain James Kirk, of the starship Enterprise."

"James T. Kirk?" another voice exclaimed, off screen. The second voice sounded much younger than the man on the screen. "You didn't tell me it was going to be James T. Kirk!"

The man on the screen rolled his eyes. "I shouldn't have to tell you anything, you should already know."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. But I am now."

Kirk tugged at his uniform and forced himself to keep smiling. The man on the screen, if his insignia was an accurate indication, was a captain. He didn't seem to be acting like one, but Kirk would give him the benefit of the doubt. For now. "Where are we?" he asked. "And who are you?"

"You haven't moved," the man replied simply. "And I'm… a friend."

Kirk immediately crossed his arms across his chest, then just as quickly let them fall to his sides. He leveled his voice, "We can always use more friends, but I'm afraid I'm going to need more information than that."

The man chuckled. "Oh, you're in no position to be making demands, Captain." He snapped his fingers and the viewscreen went black.

The very same moment, in a flash of light, he appeared on the bridge, accompanied by a younger man – alien – who bore a striking resemblance to the first. The younger man also wore a Starfleet uniform, and was decorated with captain's insignia on his cuffs.

The security team sprung forward, drawing their weapons but Kirk held up a hand, stopping them, and looked at the visitors calmly. "Who are you? And what do you want?"

"Captain Kirk, it's a pleasure." The man extended his hand. "I find it hard to believe we haven't met before."

…

Chakotay held onto her like an anchor in turbulent waters. She was the lighthouse in his storm; the fire in his desolate, icy tundra; the river in his dry, barren desert. A dozen metaphors flashed through his head, each of them painfully true. He was keenly aware that this reality would dissolve at any moment – which, at the back of his mind, he thought might actually be a blessing; too much of this rampant, unchecked joy and Chakotay was genuinely fearful that his heart might explode out of his chest.

He wanted to say "I told you so," but she refused to let his lips part from hers long enough to form words. The entire ship was behind them, cheering their support; as they had always been – he had been right, she had been wrong. If he was younger, that realization might have brought him anger, indignation, resentment; he wouldn't have been able to move past the years she had thrown away for absolutely no reason whatsoever. But that other person… that man he was and, thanks to her, would never be again, was far away from the bridge today. All he felt was ecstasy, and the tingling warmth that flowed between them. It was palpable, like if he let his hand part from her he could reach out and touch the love that was burning from within them, the smoke from their fire spreading rapidly around their bodies, consuming the bridge, the deck, the ship, the universe.

The crew was clapping still, though he could barely hear it over the sound of his pounding heart. How long had they been clapping? A minute, two? Five?

A shadow of a thought flickered in his mind, though he tried to shoo it away; when had Tuvok declared them to have but one minute left of this life? When had the applause started? How many times had their lips parted to draw in oxygen? If his heart was a ticking bomb, how many seconds did he have left?

Time had seemed to stop – suspended around them like a frozen holoprogram.

But you couldn't arrest time by sheer force of will; it stopped for no one.

A bucket of ice water crashed over him and in a moment of disconcerting, heartbreaking clarity, he pulled away from her – crushed by the look of unrestrained longing in her eyes that he was terrified he might never see again.

"Something's wrong," he whispered through heavy breaths.

He watched as the unrestrained longing in her eyes vanished with startling haste. She took a step back and looked down, giving her head a small shake, as if drying herself off. When she looked up, Kathryn had been replaced with Captain Janeway – the transformation had taken but a second, and as the applause continued to echo around them, he realized no one saw it but him.

…

Kirk stared at the hand that was extended to him, feeling the battle raging within him. Then with unflappable authority, he reached out and shook it confidently. "Are you related to the Squire of Gothos?"

"What?" asked the alien, taken aback.

Kirk had only met one being with the power that this one seemed to control – the power to manipulate the particles of space and time, and it was a being he had hoped never to meet again. "Trelane? The Squire of Gothos?"

The man narrowed his eyes. "Trelane… I don't wish to discuss that vermin. I'm here to focus on your problems, not mine."

"And what problems are those, may I ask?" asked Kirk, pensively.

The being jammed his finger at the viewscreen. "You were about to fly yourselves into that vortex and ruin everything!"

"It's imperative we get back home, to our own time-frame, or else we… may cease to exist."

"Oh?"

Kirk swallowed and explained to the beings the unfortunate chain of events that would ensue should they be left here: his future (Voyager's past) would be altered and Voyager probably would never have existed. If Voyager never existed, the Enterprise would have been crushed in the collapse of the first wormhole. If the Enterprise was destroyed… well, all hell would break loose. It was a wicked time travel paradox and almost made Kirk see the logic behind this so-called "Temporal Prime Directive."

The younger alien rolled his eyes as Kirk finished. "That's not you talking, Jimbo. That's Kathy."

"Quite right, son," the other one responded. "Shall we?"

Kirk was vaguely aware of the sounds of protest his officers made as the alien waved his hand with a flourish, and with another blast of bright, white light they were on the bridge of Voyager. Instantly, he was fully aware of the scene around them. The captain and commander were looking at each other, rather sadly, as the applause continued to echo around the room. At the unexpected entrance, they pulled further away from each other, their deathbed confessions of love coming to a grinding halt.

Both aliens spoke at once, clamoring over each other. "I knew it!" the older alien exclaimed. "I knew you were in love with him!"

"Aunt Kathy!" said the younger man excitedly, speaking over the first. "Did you miss me?"

"Q…" the captain breathed immediately, glaring at the elder. "What do you think you're doing?"

Q waved his hand dismissively. "Trying to keep you from mucking everything up."

Captain Kirk drew back as the words slowly registered. "Aunt Kathy?Do you know these beings?"

Kathryn raised her hand to her forehead and sighed. "Unfortunately, yes." She looked at the invaders. "I did miss you, Q, but this is no time for your games. Release whatever… hold you have over the vortex; we need to send the Enterprise home. Now."

Q ignored her and took a vacant seat, bringing his feet up to rest on someone's station. "The Continuum is in need of your assistance."

Kathryn sighed. "What else is new? Do you want to try and mate with me again?"

Kirk watched as Chakotay shifted uncomfortably next to her, then his gaze wandered back to the alien called Q – were they both called Q? – realizing in no uncertain terms the level of familiarity this captain shared with this Trelane-esque nuisance. He felt himself slipping into anger; anger at the circumstances that brought them here, the circumstances that would send them back, the general lack of control it all resulted in. Never before had he relinquished all his power – not to another captain, certainly not to the hand of fate. The tension inside of him was building, all of it directed at this godlike being called "Q" who was sitting smugly, his shoes disrespectfully parked atop a navigational console.

"You're going to defeat the Kazon and defend Bilstreeca," said Q. The look of surprise that washed over the room was evident; it was clearly not his usual kind of request.

Captain Janeway simply crossed her arms and stared at the alien, as if a being of that kind of power would wither and fold under the intensity of her gaze. The tone of his voice as he gave them an order was the final straw; Kirk found himself unable to relinquish control any longer. Before anyone could protest, he stalked towards the alien, grabbing him by his collar and yanking him up from the seat. An initial look of surprise clouded Q's features, but it quickly faded into amusement – which added fuel to Kirk's rage. He slammed the alien against the wall, his fists tightening around the fabric of his golden 23rd century uniform.

"You… don't get to give us orders," he said through clenched teeth. "I demand you release us!"

Both Q burst into a fit of laughter. Kirk responded the only way he could when diplomacy failed – with a swift upper-cut.

The alien's head flew back for a brief moment but he was, of course, unaffected. "Now why have I spent so many years trying to get a rise out of Picard? You're much more fun," he smiled. "Hopefully we'll have more time to play later. But as of right now, I have actual business to discuss with Kathy. So… good-bye, Captain."

Yet another flash of white light and Kirk was once again transported against his will – this time with every other member of the bridge, except for the captain.

…

Teerik's eyes grew wide and he looked over at his wife. "Do you…"

Leeka smiled and nodded. "Yes. I have never experienced that before."

"Me neither," he responded, looking off into the distance.

"What is it?" asked Naomi, peering over the kadis-kot board.

Neelix, who took over the babysitting duties when Nurse Chapel… disappeared, had set them up in the corner of the mess hall to play the game while he nervously paced about, staring out the windows and into space; waiting to be thrust backwards seven days into his past. He had paused to express his excitement as the image of Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay kissing appeared on the communications panel in the mess hall, but he then quickly resumed his nervous pacing. The children found his jitteriness a source of profound amusement.

Leeka met Naomi's eyes. "The universe had intervened," she responded.

The half-Ktarian was yet again puzzled by these children and their odd choice of words. They almost sounded like Seven of Nine. "Intervened in what?"

"Our demise," Leeka said simply. "Your captain would never have been able to defeat the Kazons without help from the Resistance. She was sending herself on a suicide mission. And, in the end, neither Voyager or Bilstreeca would have survived."

Naomi tilted her head and considered this information. "How do you know?"

The Bilstreecan's brow furrowed in thought. "I just… know."

Naomi readily accepted this answer; these children seemed to have at least some kind of perceptive ability beyond what she was capable of. "Well, that means that the captain and commander can finally have their happily ever after, right?"

Leeka looked at Teerik, who responded instead. "I do not understand."

She sighed and contemplated starting from the beginning… but the truth was, she couldn't remember the beginning. Their love story began before she was even born. In Naomi's mind, Captain Janeway and Chakotay had always been in love. The knowledge was as standard as the knowledge that Voyager's ultimate goal was to return to the Alpha Quadrant, even if no one talked about it.

"Will they be together now? Like... like husband and wife?"

Teerik looked off into the stars, as if searching them for the answer to Naomi's question. He looked back at her and shook his head. "I don't know."

…

"What did you do with my crew?" Janeway demanded furiously. She headed over to Harry's station – regardless of Q's answer, she'd find them and bring them back.

He followed her and sighed. "Relax, Kathy. They're in cargo bay two. You and I just need to talk… without those distractions."

Janeway remained silent until she had pulled up each missing crewmember's lifesign. Q was telling the truth… for once. They were all in cargo bay two with, she assumed, her godson – as he had disappeared in the same explosion of light. She sincerely hoped Captain Kirk wouldn't try another stunt of violence and test Q Junior's patience. She wanted to communicate with him that – and it genuinely pained her to admit it even to herself – that Q wasn't the bad guy, though he certainly enjoyed walking that line. And with him it was a very, very thin line. But was he malevolent? No. Juvenile? Incredibly.

Perhaps Chakotay would be able to convince Kirk of that, although a part of her was unsure if Chakotay would even agree.

Chakotay.

The instant his name entered her mind, she felt an icy grip clutch at her heart and her whole body went cold. She fought to regain her previous composure; from the instant the troublesome Q, and an irate Captain Kirk, had appeared on her bridge she had been all-Starfleet. But with an unexpected rush, the emotions attached to her personal problems hit her like a freight train… or, rather, with the intensity of a forced plasma beam. She gripped the edges of the console and steadied her breath. They needed to send the Enterprise through the conduit.

Q's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Kathy…?"

She looked up from the console and met Q's eyes, forcing her voice to remain even. She tried a tactic she knew would be futile: compromise. "We are going to fight the Kazons, Q. After the Enterprise returns to the Alpha Quadrant, we'll be right back where we started; in their path. If you'd just release your hold over… the universe, we'd be engaged in battle in just a few hours."

Q shook his head. "You wouldn't survive. What's keeping your ship from being detected?"

Kathryn pursed her lips. "A device given to us by the Resistance. We may not have the upper-hand anymore, but…"

"Don't fool yourself into thinking you'd be any kind of a match against them. With the technology they have…" Q trailed off, waving his hand and breaking eye-contact with her. "They would take you out before you even knew what had happened."

"We need to send the Enterprise home," she repeated. She closed the distance between them and looked him in the eye. "Now."

Q frowned and snapped his fingers, his eyes never breaking from hers. "There. No more wormhole. And we're all still alive, aren't we?"

Janeway drew back sharply and looked at the viewscreen; filled with nothing but stars. Endless stars, the verteron emanations had vanished. Her stomach tightened and she fought to stay composed. She rapidly ran a scan through all available sensors, but nothing came up. According to the sensors, there had never been a wormhole there, at all – there should have been remnant traces of the verteron particles, some kind of evidence of a tear in the fabric of space. There was nothing.

Her breath caught in her throat and she laid her hands flat on the cold metal in front of her – steadying her trembling hands. She wasn't really surprised to still be alive; as mad as Q was she doubted he would have willingly sentenced them all to death. Instead, the countless decisions that had been made because of their trust – her trust – in this foiled inevitability flashed through her mind. How much knowledge did the crew of the Enterprise have about their futures, about the future of the Federation? How could they possibly forget what they've learned? She had no neuralyzer to point at the crew to flash away their memories. And what was she going to do about Chakotay? Oh Chakotay, she thought with a grimace. The entire ship saw us.

She couldn't even blame Tom Paris; in his shoes she wasn't sure if she wouldn't have done the exact same thing.

She looked back at Q, her trepidation turning to rage burning in her eyes. "What did you do?" she seethed, her voice dangerously low.

He ignored her and paced the room. "The Continuum is requesting your service. Is there any higher honor?"

"I can think of many."

"You have no excuse now – just return to Bilstreeca and stop the Kazons from taking over."

"Tell me what this is really about," she demanded.

Q let out an exaggerated sigh. "All right. It began as an… experiment. About a thousand years ago, a star went supernova and consumed a planet in a neighboring galaxy."

"A neighboring galaxy?" she said, straining to understand how the death of a planet in a different galaxy could have any relevancy to their predicament now.

He waved her off. "Distance is meaningless to an omnipotent being, you know this. The planet was very advanced. Much more advanced than any in your Federation. They knew the star would supernova, and they evacuated the planet and set course to find another habitable one, bringing with them their immense stores of technology. They found a planet to settle on, but quickly discovered the planet was home to a unique virus that wiped them out completely… leaving nothing but their abandoned technology."

Kathryn nodded along, afraid of where this was going. "So…?"

"So, we thought it would be an interesting social experiment to drop the advanced technology off on a primitive species, and see what happened."

Kathryn's eyes widened in horror; that was exactly where she feared the story would lead. "Leerig told Kirk and Chakotay that the technology was given to them by their god. They think you're their god," she said with disgust. "That's a terrible thing to do to a civilization." She shook her head and walked away from him. "Even for you."

"I didn't say I was proud of it! But now, here we are! I can't have the destruction of their planet on my conscience, Kathy, you have to help us."

"You have a conscience?"

"Yes, I do. And I don't want to see their unnecessary deaths. Especially at the hands of the Kazon."

"So… you expect us to step in and clean up your mess?"

Q shrugged and nodded. "What else are you underdeveloped, minor bipedal species good for?"

"No, Q," she breathed. "Because of you, the Bilstreecans have no way of taking care of themselves. You go and clean up your own mess."

"You have no one to blame but yourself, Captain. You thrust your Federation ideals upon us, and they've spread throughout the whole Continuum! We've adopted your Prime Directive! We cannot muddle into the lives of Bilstreeca, using our infinite powers to solve their problems."

"You created their problems. Can't you simply… reverse your actions?"

"Sure. But that would change this timeline entirely. How do you know the new timeline wouldn't be worse?"

She buried her face in her hands. "What about the Enterprise?"

He shrugged again. "We'll figure it out," he said with nonchalance.

"And what about…" she trailed off, unwilling to invite Q into her personal problems.

"What about… you and Chakotay?" he asked.

Her head snapped up at his directness. "What do you know about that?"

He rolled his eyes. "We arrived just in time to catch the last few moments of your… display. I didn't know you had it in you. Almost makes me think your refusal to procreate with me was my loss, not yours." He grinned. "Almost."

She stared off into the distance, allowing herself a rare moment of inner contemplation before she let the new crisis consume her. She had no idea what this meant. She had made… promises to him; promises she was now unable to keep. What would that do to them? If it had been difficult to move past New Earth... it might be impossible to move past this.

…

Kirk stared at Chakotay while he paced the room in silence, watching as a parade of emotions marched across his face – the one waving the biggest banner was fear. The instant Q had foiled the inevitable reset, the silver lining in Kirk's mind was the opportunity for Janeway and Chakotay. If nothing else, if they were unable to save Bilstreeca from the Kazons, if Kirk and the Enterprise were stuck out here for another thirty years, at least the captain and commander could be together.

But something in Chakotay's eyes told him that he felt differently.

As soon as the bridge crew had appeared in the cargo bay, Kirk had lunged at the younger alien – determined to inflict some kind of pain. He was quickly stopped by Janeway's officers; who assured him that his actions were in vain. Considering the levity of the situation, the officers seemed reasonably tranquil. None of them were exuding the heat of conflict like Chakotay was, which led Kirk to one theory:

The only thing on the commander's mind was Kathryn Janeway.

He searched his mind for some words to offer as comfort, but he was feeling uncharacteristically inarticulate. Kirk didn't want to offer up empty platitudes; he wanted to offer real assurance, real advice. He wished Dr. McCoy was here; he'd know exactly what to say.

As soon as Kirk stood to make his way over to the first officer – deciding that some words were better than none at all – the young alien approached him instead. "Q Junior" the crew had been calling him.

"Captain Kirk?"

Hesitantly, he tore his eyes away from Chakotay, who was looking worse and worse by the nanosecond. "Yes?"

"We need to talk."

…

"Should we go after him?" asked Sulu.

Chekov sighed. "I don'd know vhat vee could possibly do for him."

Uhura's hand floated over her communications console, not wanting to initiate a hail without authorization – but no order was coming. "Mr. Spock?" she asked finally. "Do you want me to hail Voyager?"

Spock drew his hands behind his back. "No, Lieutenant. I am sure the captain is dealing with larger issues than answering our questions."

"So, we just wait?"

"We wait."

The turbolift doors opened to McCoy, a look of humorous resignation plastered on his face. "Well. They took Jim again?"

"It would appear so," Spock replied.

"Are we going to do anything?"

"Not yet," said Spock, moving to take his seat in the captain's chair.

McCoy chuckled. "And the wormhole?"

"It has disappeared."

"Do we know why?"

"Negative, doctor."

"Scotty to the bridge," came the engineer's voice over the intercom. "Did they take the Cap'n again?"

"Yes, Scotty," replied McCoy calmly. "We should re-name the story: Kirk's Kidnapping."

"And the wormhole?"

"Vanished. I guess we're stuck out here."

"Well, I saw that comin'. Scotty out."

A/N: So, most of you probably saw that coming. BUUUT, um, this story is 100% self-indulgence and next to the TOS trio, Janeway, and Chakotay… he's my favorite character. So I had to. Now if I could only find some way to work in Ambassador Troi from TNG. And Odo from DS9. Hmmm... :) And for anyone who didn't know what the #$% I was talking about – Trelane was the original Q. He wasn't nearly as fun as our Q, though.