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Sailor Trek: The Next Generation



Chapter 4 - Q's and Answers:

     Silence reigned on the bridge as Worf's news sank in.  Finally 

Jupiter gave voice to her frustration.  "Great!  So Serena is going to 

be in the middle of the crossfire when they attack that thing!"

     Riker took a step closer to Picard.  "We could just about handle 

one Borg ship," he observed quietly.  "How are we supposed to take on 

three of them, close off the quantum flux AND rescue Sailor Moon at the 

same time?"

     Picard didn't reply to Riker's question.  At the moment, he didn't 

have a clue as to what he was going to do.  "Merde," he said quietly.



     The two Borg ships were waiting for them when they dropped out of 

warp.  Picard shuddered inwardly at the sight on the viewscreen.

     As Riker had observed, a single Borg ship had been hard enough to 

handle.  Starfleet had thrown a fleet of forty starships at one at Wolf 

359... and lost thirty nine of them.  It was only by sheer luck that 

the Enterprise had been able to stop them at Earth.

     But three?  This was the stuff that nightmares were made of.

     The two unblemished cubes took flanking positions of Rubeus' ship.  

The three large vessels came to a halt, seemingly staring each other 

down.  "Keep us out of the line of fire, Ensign," he ordered.

     "Aye, sir."

     "The Borg are signalling Rubeus," Worf reported.

     "Let's listen in, Mr. Worf," said Picard.

     The Klingon touched a control, and the Borg signal sounded over the 

speakers.  Picard noted sympathetically that the Scouts shuddered at 

hearing that cold, mechanical voice.  He had a similar reaction when he 

had first heard it, nearly three years previously.

     And he still heard it in his nightmares.

     "We are the Borg.  Your attempt to break with the collective will 

not succeed.  You are to be reassimilated immediately.  Your biological 

and technological distinctiveness will once more be added to our own.  

Failure to comply will result in your destruction.  Resistance is 

futile."

     Silence fell over the bridge as they all awaited Rubeus' reply.  

"I think not."

     Immediately, the two Borg ships began to fire upon the renegade, 

the energy discharge of the Borg weaponry playing out along it's hull.  

Several of their tractor beam weapons could be seen trying to latch 

themselves to the surface of the renegade.

     "Here's where it gets interesting," commented Riker.  Several 

cutting beams lanced out, gouging long swathes in the hull.

     "Why aren't they doing something?" Jupiter asked.  Rubeus' ship 

seemed to ignoring it's attackers, despite the damage it was taking.  

Then it began to glow... faintly at first, then a bright white.  

     "Energy readings are going off the scale," reported Lieutenant 

Ramirez, who had taken Data's place at ops.  The glow became intense, 

causing all on the bridge to shield their eyes from the glare.  When it 

seemed it couldn't get any brighter, a blinding beam of energy came from 

Rubeus' ship and struck a Borg ship dead center.  An even brighter flash 

temporarily overloaded the viewscreen.  When it cleared, all that was 

remained of the Borg ship was an expanding cloud of debris.

     "My God!" Troi said.

     "What the hell was that?" asked Riker.

     Worf checked the sensors.  "They are employing an energy weapon of 

immense power.  Type unknown."  The remaining ship continued to fire, 

but with greater intensity.  "I am reading extensive damage to the outer 

hull of Rubeus' ship, but not enough to disable it."

     "A weapon that could destroy a Borg ship with one blast.  It's 

almost beyond belief," Picard observed in a low voice.  Rubeus' ship 

again began to glow, evidently preparing to fire another blast.  "Picard 

to Data.  Is the modified torpedo ready?"

     "Very nearly, sir.  I estimate another five minutes."

     "We may not have that long, Mr. Data.  Time is of the essence."

     "Understood," came the android's calm reply.

     The light from the screen began building to a blinding intensity 

again.  Outside, the remaining Borg ship started, incredibly, to 

withdraw, only to be seized by a tractor beam from the renegade Borg ship.

     "I don't believe it," Mercury gasped when her analysis of the new 

weapon was complete.  "That energy pulse!" she exclaimed.  "It's from 

the Silver Crystal!  Somehow they've managed to use it as a weapon!"

     "Impossible!" Luna stated firmly.  "They can't be able to use it

while..." her voice trailed off.

     "She's alive Luna," Darien told her, no doubt whatsoever present in 

his voice.  Still, his expression was one of deep concern.  How was 

Rubeus able to use the Silver Crystal as a weapon?  Serena would never 

give it to him, not as long as she lived.  And as long as she lived, he 

would never be able to control it.  So how was he doing it?

     He had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer.

     The screen flared white again, and the other Borg vessel was 

reduced to a cloud of gas and debris.  Moving away from the wreckage, 

the renegade Borg ship began to approach the Enterprise, a white glow 

surrounding it and building in intensity.

     "I think we're in trouble," Venus decidedly understated.

     "Captain," Worf exclaimed, "they're locking weapons on us!"

     "Yep, we're definitely in trouble."

     Picard was about to order evasive maneuvers when Data's voice came 

over the comm system, "Sir, the torpedo is loaded and ready."

     An wild idea came to Picard, as desperation fueled his need.  "Get 

a sensor bearing on the quantum flux," he ordered.

     "Bearing two four seven mark five," Ro answered.  "Distance, one 

hundred thousand kilometers."

     "Set course two four seven, mark five, speed at warp nine.  I want 

us to come out of warp at point blank range to the flux."

     Riker looked at his captain.  "The Picard Maneuver?"

     "A variation of it, Number One," the captain acknowledged.

     Ro nodded.  "Ready, sir."  On the screen, the Borg ship was 

glowing brightly.

     Picard brought his left hand forward. "Stand by torpedo.  Engage."

     An outside observer would have been impressed.  The warp engines 

propelled the ship forward rapidly, so fast it seemed to vanish for a 

brief second.  At the same moment, the Borg ship unleashed it's weapon 

at where the Enterprise had been.  Then, impossibly, it curved, 

following and striking the starship just as it came out of warp.  There 

was a massive burst of light, and the Enterprise was gone.



     "Excellent."  Rubeus watched with satisfaction.  Unlike the Borg 

ships, it seemed that the destruction of the Enterprise hadn't even left 

the smallest bit of debris.  His new weapon had utterly removed it from 

existence.

     Pity. He would have liked to have had a trophy from it, to remind 

himself of his triumph over the Scouts.  Tuxedo Mask's hat, for instance.

     After a few moments more of gloating, he got back to the business 

at hand.  First he had to traverse the quantum flux to his native 

universe.  Then it was on to Crystal Tokyo.

     No one, not even Queen Serenity herself, was going to stand in his 

way this time.



     On some unknown plane of existence, a watching, omnipotent entity 

was chuckling.  Rubeus was such an arrogant fool.  Even Worf had more 

sense than him.



     There was a blinding flash of light on the bridge, followed by the 

deck pitching violently.  Ro and Ramirez clung to their station for dear 

life while the others were tossed about like rag dolls as the artificial 

gravity went wild.  All over the bridge, panels exploded and the lights 

fluctuated, then dimmed to emergency levels.

     Finally, as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

     Picard heard several groans on the darkened bridge, as he picked 

himself off the deck.  He winced at the various bruises he himself had 

received, but tried instead to concentrate on the status of his crew 

first.  "Is everyone alright?"

     "More or less," Mars answered him, holding her left shoulder.  She 

flexed the limb experimentally.  It hurt, but seemed more or less 

functional.  Whatever injury she had, it could wait.

     Mercury activated her visor and began a sweep of the bridge.  On 

her visor, each individual was highlighted in turn and a quick diagnosis 

of their conditions was made.  "Bumps and bruises for the most part, 

though Commander Riker has a broken wrist.  And --"

     Venus' anguished voice interrupted her, "Artemis!"  She carefully 

picked up the white cat.

     "It's... just a broken leg, Mina," he painfully reassured her.  

"Nothing too serious."

     "Fortunately it's a clean beak," Mercury said, doing a detailed 

scan.  "It should heal naturally once it's been set."

     "We can do better than that," Picard answered her.  "Bridge to 

Sickbay."  Silence answered him.  "Bridge to Engineering."  After 

waiting a few moments, "The comm system must be down.  Ensign Ro, head 

for Engineering.  Get me a damage report."

     "Aye, sir," the Bajoran replied, already heading for the Jeffries 

tubes.  Anticipating the captain's next order, Ramirez was already 

breaking out the emergency med kit stored in the forward part of the 

bridge.

     Picard nodded approvingly.  The next step was ascertaining the 

condition of the ship.  It would take Ro a while to make her way to 

Engineering, but fortunately he had an alternative to waiting.  Not that 

he was any position to do anything with the information, but it was 

better than doing nothing.  "Mercury, can you get a detailed scan of the 

rest of the ship?"

     "I think so," she replied and set out to do so.  She reset the focus 

of her scan, looking beyond the bridge and checking out the other parts 

of the ship.

     While she was doing so, Ramirez did what he could to tend to the 

injured.  In short order, he used the bone knitters in the medkit to 

mend Riker's broken wrist and Artemis' leg (after having Worf set the 

injured limb).

     "Your main power is offline, as are the auxiliary systems," Mercury 

reported.  "Life support is drawing off emergency power.  But the 

structure seems intact, and I'm getting life readings all through it."

     "What about the Borg?"

     She shook her head.  "I'm not detecting them."  Then she frowned, 

"As a matter of fact, I'm not detecting anything outside the ship."

     "Mr. Worf, can we get the main viewscreen back online?"

     Worf went over to the ops console and tried to work the controls.  

"Negative, sir.  We only have emergency power available.  All the 

bridge consoles are offline."

     "There's one way we can check what's outside," Riker said, going 

into the conference room.  As the others followed him in, they heard him 

say, "What the hell?"

     The assemblage of Sailor Scouts and Starfleet personnel stared out 

the conference room windows.  Outside they saw not the star speckled 

blackness of space but only a formless, gray haze.  It was as if the 

Enterprise was encompassed in a massive fogbank.

     Venus was the first to find her voice.  "What happened?  Are we 

dead?"

     "I don't feel dead," replied Sailor Mars.

     "Well, then how come we weren't destroyed?" Jupiter asked.  "I 

thought those Borg cubes were supposed to be a lot tougher than this 

ship."

     "Don't look a gift horse in the eye."

     Riker gave Venus an uncertain look, then whispered to Mercury, "Is 

she always doing that?"  Slightly embarrassed, she nodded while Artemis 

sighed.

     Worf brought out a tricorder.  "The tricorder is not registering 

anything outside of the ship.  It is as if the universe outside the 

Enterprise does not exist."

     "I'm not detecting anything either," Mercury put in.  She still 

had her visor deployed and was supplementing it with her computer.  "All 

my space-time readings show zero."

     "Are you saying we're nowhere, Mercury?" asked Tuxedo Mask.

     "An appropriate choice of words" said an invisible voice.  Riker 

groaned, for it was all too familiar to the crew.  Amid a flash of 

light, Q appeared in the conference room, lounging in Picard's usual 

seat at the head of the table.  "Let's just say you're outside the 

normal bounds of space and time.  At least as far as your limited minds 

can understand them."  The Scouts stared at him, unsure who or what he 

was.

     Picard knew exactly who he was dealing with.  "Q.  It's about time 

you showed your face."

     The entity got up and approached the captain, looking somewhat 

aggrieved.  "I would have expected a little more gratitude from you, 

Jean-Luc.  After all, I just saved your precious ship and crew from a 

rather ignominious fate by plucking it out of space and time just before 

it exploded."

     "But not before the ship was badly damaged and many of my crew were 

injured."

     "Oh, posh," Q shrugged it off.  "There's no damage that can't be 

fixed and be rest assured that none of your little trained minions were 

badly hurt."

     "You set up this entire situation, didn't you?" Riker accused.

     The mischievous entity shrugged.  "If by that you mean, did I bring 

Sailor Wailing Moon and her fellow Scouts, along with the caped crusader 

and their talkative feline companions here, then the answer would be 

yes."  He glanced over at the security chief.  "Oh, by the way, has your 

hearing recovered yet, Microbrain?"  Showing remarkable restraint, Worf 

stared stoically at him, his anger only visible in his eyes.  After 

chuckling for a second, Q looked at Picard with a more serious 

expression.  "However, I had nothing to do with Rubeus getting here.  He 

did that strictly on his own."

     "So why'd you bring us here?" demanded Jupiter.

     "I thought that would have been obvious, even to someone of your 

limited intellect," Q quipped.  Jupiter glared at him, and took a 

threatening step in his direction.

     Venus put a restraining hold on her friend.  "Easy, Jupiter.  He's 

just trying to bait you."

      "It's not very difficult either," Q smirked.  "Really Worf, you 

should get to know her better.  She's just perfect for you.  And vice 

versa.  After all, to her every male looks like her old boyfriend."

     That did it.  This creep had definitely crossed the line.  Lita 

gathered up her power, intent on blasting Q into next week.  "JUPITER 

THUNDERCLAP..."

     "Lita, no!" cried out Luna.

     It was like watching an old fashioned gunfight.  The enraged Scout 

stood at one end of the conference table, ready to hurl her attack, 

while Q merely stood there at the other end with a huge grin on his face.

     "ZAP!"

     The disk of electrical energy flew over the table and struck Q dead 

center with the stereotypical sound of an electrical discharge.  Picard 

could swear that he saw a skeleton figure where Q was standing amid the 

storm of electricity.  When it cleared, Q was still standing there 

grinning, his hair comically standing on end.  "Shocking!"  He snapped 

his fingers and his hair resumed its normal state.  He held his hand 

palm upward and a little ball of electricity danced over it.  Tossing it 

idly about as if it were a baseball he asked, "Think you can take the 

same?"

     The captain interposed himself between Jupiter and malicious 

entity.  "Q."

     "Oh, don't worry Picard.  I'm willing to let her vent her 

emotions."  Q made a waving motion with his hand and the lightning ball 

vanished.  Looking at Jupiter, his voice took on a harder edge.  

"This time."

     The tall Scout wasn't about to back down, though.  "Why you..."

     Mars and Venus both moved to restrain their friend.  "Not now, 

Jupiter.  We can't help Sailor Moon if we let this creep zap us," the 

blonde reminded her.

     "Creep?" Q sniffed.  "That's a fine thing coming from someone who 

can't even get a boyfriend."  Venus glared at him, and Mars found 

herself in the somewhat unusual position of trying to calm someone else 

down.  Usually she was the one with the raging temper.

     Artemis leapt onto the table.  "You know, Guinan is absolutely 

right about you.  You're absolutely contemptible, with no redeeming 

features whatsoever."

     The entity must have been feeling decidedly petulant.  "And for a 

small cat, you certainly have a big mouth... not to mention a surly 

attitude.  Maybe this will help you relax," Q said and snapped his 

fingers.  The white cat vanished.

     "ARTEMIS!!" Luna exclaimed.

     Venus barged past Mars (who didn't even try to stop her) and 

stormed up to Q.  "What have you done with him?!?  Bring him back!" 

she demanded, leveling a finger at his face.

     "You know, it's really cute the way your nostrils flare when 

you're angry."

     "Where is he?" Luna demanded.

     "Oh, he's quite safe," he reassured her.  "And he's still on the 

ship, too.  Deck five, room three four seven to be exact."

     Riker looked puzzled.  "Data's quarters?  But why --"

     "Oh, no," Troi interrupted him.  "It's Spot.  She's in heat."

     An uneasy silence descended on the room.  Finally Darien asked, 

"Who's Spot?"

     "She's... Data's cat," Riker answered.  An unrepentant Q smirked 

under their glares, while Luna and Venus each looked mad enough to kill.

     "Bring him back, or I'll --"

     "Or you'll what?  Bind me with that gold chain of yours?"  Q was 

obviously enjoying himself.  "That I'd like to see."

     Picard could see that the situation was rapidly spiraling out of 

control and stepped in before Q pushed the Scouts too far.  "We're 

through playing your games, Q," h said.  "If you came here for a reason, 

I suggest you get to the point.  And bring Artemis back here at once!"

     "Oh, very well," he said with a sigh and snapped his fingers.  A 

slightly disheveled Artemis reappeared on the table.

     Amy tried to get the conversation back on track.  "You brought us 

here to help the Enterprise face Rubeus, didn't you?"

     "Yes!"  He walked over to Mercury, a smile beaming on his face.  

"It's so nice to have someone of high intellect around here."  Glancing at 

Riker and Worf he added, "It makes for a nice change."

     Mercury frowned at him.  She had only been around Q for a few 

minutes, but already she could see why Guinan and the other Enterprise 

crewmembers thought so little of him.  "I'm not sure that's a 

compliment, coming from you."

     An expression of shock crossed his face.  "How rude!  Well, to 

answer your question, yes, that's why I transported the lot of you here.  

I knew that Picard and his merry band really didn't have any chance 

against a group of Borg reinforced by Rubeus' power.  However, I didn't 

count on Sailor Moon being taken prisoner... or on Picard almost letting 

his precious ship get blown to smithereens.  Really, Jean-Luc, that was 

very sloppy of you."

     "Why save us at all, Q?" asked Picard.

     "A weakness on my part, Jean-Luc.  I found that I couldn't bear the 

thought of a universe without Worf to antagonize."  The Klingon officer 

didn't deign to comment.  After all, there was no honor in allowing Q to 

antagonize him.

     "OK, but why bring the ship here?" Tuxedo Masked asked, indicating 

the formless void outside.  "Why didn't you simply protect the ship and 

leave us where we were." 

     "The answer to that, cape boy, is that I could see that you simply 

weren't ready handle Rubeus and his merry band.  You need time to plan, 

to prepare.  So you're getting it, courtesy of little moi.  When you're 

ready, I'll transport you to the sight of the battle."  Picard watched Q 

carefully.  Something about his reply didn't quite ring true, but he 

wasn't about to question it at the moment.  There would be time enough 

for that later.

     "And if the Borg use the Silver Crystal on us again?" asked Troi.

     Q made a dismissive gesture.  "They will try, but it will be 

ineffective."

     "What do you mean by that?" asked Mars.

     "Simple, firebug," Mars glared at that, "If I could protect you once, 

I can do it again.  And again if necessary.  But I'm afraid, aside from 

some helpful tidbits of information, that this is the limit of my aid.  

Others," he glared momentarily at the ceiling, "have placed... 

restrictions on my actions."

     "You're going to help us?" asked a disbelieving Tuxedo Mask.

     "Believe it or not, yes!" Q snapped.  "And here's my first tidbit 

of advice: When the Borg ship emerges from the flux, their power systems 

will be temporarily depleted from the passage.  You won't be under that 

handicap.  It will be possible to beam over, and rescue your beloved.  

Though why you would want to is beyond me."

     Picard ignored Q's sarcastic commentary and focused on the 

essential information he had given them.  "Depleted?"  A possible 

strategy came to mind, and he turned to Riker.  "The main deflector 

dish."

     The first officer looked uncertain.  "It didn't work too well last 

time."

     "But that ship was prepared for it, and at nearly full power as 

well.  This ship will have it's power reserves drained."  If we can 

believe Q, he added silently.  "It may well work this time around.  We 

should have LaForge begin work on it immediately after repairs to ships 

systems are completed."  As if on cue, the main lighting came back on, 

accompanied by the chime of the comm system.

     "LaForge to Captain Picard."

     "Picard here.  What's our status, Commander?"

     "We just got auxiliary power back online, sir, and main power 

should be available soon.  I'm not sure how, but whatever hit us, all 

it did was blow circuit breakers all over the ship.  We've been busy 

resetting them.  That's it, other than some minor hull damage."

     Q smirked.  "I told you so."

     Picard glared momentarily at him.  "Geordi, once you've completed 

that, I want to begin modifying the main deflector dish just as you did 

against the Borg the last time.  Commander Riker will give you the 

details."

     LaForge's voice sounded uncertain.  "Aye, sir."

     "What should we do in the meantime?" asked Venus.

     "You could go shopping on the holodeck," Q suggested, earning him 

a glare from all the Scouts.  Picard briefly raised his eye heavenward.  

It seemed Q was in rare form on this particular visit.  Once again 

Picard wished he would make himself rarer still.  Go away and never 

return, for instance.

     "I hate to say it, but the holodeck might not be such a bad idea.  

We could program a series of simulations," Riker suggested.  "Get them 

used to working with us, and with what they'll see on a Borg ship."

     Picard nodded approvingly.  "A good idea, Number One.  Worf, Data 

and I will work with them, while you plan the tactics for the ship to 

ship part of the confrontation."  He started to walk to the door, 

ignoring the look of surprise on Riker's and Troi's faces.

     "Sir?" Riker asked uncertainly.

     Picard stopped and looked back at the first officer.  "I'll be 

leading the away team, Number One."

     Q beamed with delight.  "Oh, this should be fun."



Next time:  The Scouts prepare to board Rubeus' ship, while Riker sizes

Picard up for a strait jacket.  The final confrontation begins in

"Rescue Mission".