...2369...

...July 4th..

I don't know how long it had been. My eyes reopened again to see Sick Bay with all the equipment, pristine room, and comfortable medical bed. I saw Q2 standing by the bed with a well placed smirk wearing a white kind of attire. The same pair I wore when taking Jean Luc on a trip to his past.

"Q...." I said, with a heavy sigh. "I am not in the mood for your lectures."

"I want you to see something, brother," Q2 said.

I leaned up, feeling remarkably...Okay.

"...Q, what did you do?" I ask.

"Nothing!" Q2 said, shaking his hands. "Come on...You really have to see this."

We were transported to sickbay where people are looking over Jean Luc and so are we. Jean Luc's shirt is stained and he is silent. The group backs off from the unresponsive body. I felt utter terror take over me. I look over toward Q2 feeling a sudden rage taking over me. I wanted to choke him, butcher his body into pieces, and beat him up. Not the exact order, of course.

"This occurred after a heart attack," Q2 said, smoothly. "He's dead because you were not there."

I huffed.

"So?" I asked.

"You don't exist," Q2 said. "This is the only surviving vessel of the federation that hasn't been attacked by the Borgs. They just learned about it five months ago and they have had no contact with Earth, Kronos, Vulcan, and Romulus." I stare at Q2. "The humans and the Q continuum cannot admit it."

"Admit what?" I asked.

Q2 looked over to me.

"Humanity needs you," Q2 said. I felt touched. "Tossing your existence away for Picard is sweet...but...Unneeded."

"Take me back," I said, turning my back to Jean Luc's dead body.

"You taught him a lesson and kept him from dying on that table," Q2 said, now to my side being so persistent in getting his point across. "He was saved by Pulaski last time...But this time; it was YOUR turn!"

"I know," I said.

"You could have snapped your fingers and brought him back," Q2 said.

"And then M would have come," I said. "I did the math before!" I flail my arms. "It would be a never ending time loop!" I turned towards Q2. "This is a fragile timeline Q, and you shouldn't show me the repercussions that I cannot prevent." I sighed. "Either way I end up dead. That's how it usually ends with that timeline."

"What about the Geordi kid?" Q2 asked.

"Stop right there," I said. "He's training and I wouldn't want to bother him!"

"For a thousand years," Q2 said. "You know this kid can time travel as we do."

"I know," I said.

"You know," Q2 said, not-so-much shocked.

"Stop repeating me," I said.

"You have a plan," Q2 said. "Oh goody!"

"No, I do not," I sitting down on the medical bay. "If you respect my wishes then you will not meddle in my mess!"

Q2 frowned.

"You refuse to ask for my help," Q2 said.

"I refuse," I said. "Because I don't need YOUR help!"

"Oh, I am hurt," Q2 said. "You still have a grudge on me for making the continuum turn you human."

"Leave," I said. "Me be."

"Fine," Q2 said.

In a white flash I am back in the USS Twister's sick bay on the table. I prop myself up feeling completely okay. Doctor Vance came over to me with a happy kind of expression on her face that I usually did not see on people about my well being.

"Finally you are awake," Doctor Vance said. "We thought you would never wake up."

I raised a brow.

"How did you go after the Karjizans in warp mode?" I asked.

"We had some help from the Enterprise with that," Doctor Vance said. "Our engineering got a upgrade thanks to La Forge and Data." I lowered my brow. "Why did the Karjizans want you, anyway?"

"I don't know," I lied. "May I go resume my duties?"

"Not a problem with me," Doctor Vance said.

I left sick bay then made my way to Captain Tonya's ready room where she is reading a book. She lowered her book down sitting on a couch and lowered her glasses down to the edge of the nose.

"Commander Dodgers," Captain Tonya said. "I am glad to see you are awake."

"Captain," I said. "They were not a new species."

"Oh, I know," Captain Tonya said.

I stare at Captain Tonya.

"Huh?" I said.

"One of the weapons turned out to be a Romulan weapon and we discovered their very mission was to get you," Captain Tonya explained. "We had one captured. We got enough information that they were mislead our commander was Q. You resemble each other but there is nothing strikingly similar."

"So what happened to their ship?" I asked.

"It was destroyed by their own warp core," Captain Tonya said. "You were lucky to have gotten out when you did."

I smiled.

"Figures," I said.

Captain Tonya got up from the couch.

"Number one," Captain Tonya said. "I have a question."

"Ask away," I said.

"What made you push yourself out of the room they kept you in?" Captain Tonya asked.

"The will to live," I said, without much hesitation.  "I had a opportunity and I took it."

"I am glad you took it," Captain Tonya said. "I am lucky to have you aboard my ship, number one."

At the moment then I realized I did, in fact, earn that title to be called 'number one'.

"I am glad to be aboard," I said. "Captain."

I left the Captain's ready room then sat down into the chair.

All is right in the world.