. . . 2330 . ..

. . . Colo . . .

"Quarty, WHERE IN HEAVENS NAME ARE YOU?"

"I am just getting off the Cipallon vessel Weakner--"

"T'fara is delivering in the hospital on this planet!"

"SINCE WHEN DID T'FARA COME TO COLO?"

"The Tiger is in orbit for a new crew member and she happened to be visiting and her water broke."

What I didn't tell John-Luc was that I was in a Vulcan Vessel called the T'cheb headed back to Colo.

"I am on my way," I said. "See you in two hours. Quarty out."

The Vulcans and the Colonians had some difficulties getting along in space including a new planet discovered close by, I don't absolutely know why but the Vulcans called dibs on it first and this enraged the Colonians. So I was sent on a very secretive mission to end that tension by speaking to the Vulcan council regarding this blasted move. I spoke in their reasoning: logic. Logic was my weapon.

It was very easy.

It went like this:

"Why are you here?" Came one council member.

Vulcans disapproved of the Q continuum for reasons that I will not tell.

"I am here to speak on the behalf of Colo," I said. "And Planet 8947.38 isn't in your perimeters. Logically you should relinquish it to Colo so it can be colonized as Colo 2 and develop on its own rate . . .Without help."

"But why?" The third council member asked. 

"Do you want a war with a planet that has twenty-five thousand Klingons, five thousand Cippallons, fifteen thousand Jaffa, twenty thousand humans, six thousand Vulcans, ten thousand Bajorans, and a whole lot of other races that I do not want to list out?" I asked.

"That is a lie." The first council member said.

"I stopped lying a long time ago," I said. "And that is no lie. There is thirty-three million mixed races on Colo. They are all going to leave one day and today isn't one of those days. If you take the recently discovered planet that could mean a good deal to population control then whenever there is famine your little thousand Vulcans will be blamed and there will be a deep rooted hated for you too. Because that will make a whole lot of mixed races have to pack up and leave searching for a new home. We all know how long that takes to find a new home!"

"Logically, you are lying because that number is staggering." The forth council member said.

I sighed.

"Fine," I said. "Don't call for me when Jaffa and Klingons start attacking."

I turned away then started wheeling my way out of the room without listening to their conversation. Who knew Vulcans could gossip in such low whispers? John-Luc has a fine whisper I can tell apart from others. It is so recognizable and sticking out. Only I could follow that sound for some reason. I still do not know why. 

"How many Klingons do you have again?" One council member raised their voice.

I stopped short.

"Twenty-five thousand six hundred eighty nine." I said.

I went into the Turbo Lift after exiting my temporary quarters. I noticed a change about the corridor shortly after entering. It changed colors before my eyes. And in walked a wet Wesley wearing a soaked sweatshirt. I stared at the young boy almost unable to say a word as he made the command to a specific deck.

"Wesley?" I finally said, as the doors closed.

Wesley turned toward me.

"Uh, hello!" Wesley said. "Fell into a pond. Have we met before?"

I held my hand out with a smile.

"Ambassador Quarty of Colo," I said. "You may call me Ambassador Q, Wes."

Wesley shook my hand.

"Glad to meet you, Ambassador!" Wesley said, then we stopped shaking hands. "I have heard of what you did."

"Don't remind me," I said. "Today I am going to become a grandfather again."

"Congratulations!" Wesley said.

"Thank you." I said.

"So when did you get aboard the Enterprise?" Wesley asked.

I smiled, lifting up my glasses back to where they should be.

"Awhile ago," I said. "I am visiting Captain Picard to comment on how well his crew is. His crew is gold."

"My mom would be proud to hear of that," Wesley said. "But we just got the whole crew together."

"Kid, you got a great life ahead of you with a lot of promises," I said. "Don't waste them." I had to force myself from not commenting on his late father. "And best of all. . .Enjoying being a member aboard the Enterprise."

The doors opened

"Wow," Wesley said. "I'll take note of that."

"Tell your mother that her friend Q will be boarding the Transport room in two years." I said.

If he remembers, that is.

"I will." Wesley said.

Wesley went out of the turbo lift now completely dry.

"Goodbye, Wesley!" I shouted, with a wave.

Wesley shot back a smile with a small wave.

"See you later, Ambassador Q!" Wesley said, then he took a turn to the left and vanished before my eyes.

The scene changed back into the darker late corridor.

"Shuttle bay." I said.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

.  . . Brief scene .  .  . 

.  . . Crusher kitchen  .  .

"And then this old guy got my attention," Wesley said. "He acted like he knew me."

Beverly took a bite out of her salad.

"Uh huh." Beverly said.

"And he claimed to be Ambassador Quarty of the Colo planet!" Wesley said.

Beverly stop chewing then swallowed what bite she had.

"What wait?" Beverly said, stopping her fork on her lettuce.

"Ambassador Quarty looked exactly like his picture." Wesley said.

"Wesley, I would have known if he was brought aboard this ship." Beverly said.

"And he told me to call him Ambassador Q," Wesley said. "He called the entire crew 'golden' like he was nostalgic. I mean I get that he is old and forgetful but that is so weird. He went on some mumbo jumbo about following my heart and something about your friend Q appearing in the transporter in two years time."

"Wesley," Beverly said. "What else did he say?"

"He was just becoming a grandfather, again." Wesley said.

"That is strange," Beverly said.  "He hasn't become a grandfather for a third time since . . . 2330."

"Tell me about it," Wesley said, taking another bite out of his salad. "It was so . . ."  He shook his head with his eyes briefly closed.  "I feel like he was alluding to the guy who appeared on the bridge you told me about."

"As if." Beverly said.

"I know, I just can't wrap my head around it." Wesley said.

"Maybe you are not meant to understand it." Beverly said.

"Perhaps," Wesley said. "And I asked Data about the probability of Ambassador Q being Q."

"And the answer is zero." Beverly said, jokingly.

Wesley shook his head.

"No, not that." Wesley said.

Beverly raised a brow.

"Then what was it?" Beverly asked.

"Fifty-seven point nine percent chance."  Wesley said.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

. . .2330. .

I wheeled my way to shuttle bay. I couldn't believe I came across Wesley Crusher. I seriously could not believe it but the interaction had gone. Perhaps . . . Perhaps Wesley will figure it out upon the return of the Enterprise and the story that Data has to tell like many other bridge officers of my vanishing act with three judges. I came with armed tools to the shuttle prepared to make a emergency spatial rift for Colo.

I opened the engine and made some minor adjustments.

I decided to hack into the Federation computer and change my entire profile. I made a white lie about who I was and my identity. I made myself a real person by getting rid of the previous icky file revealing who I was. My dark past. If Star Fleet knew who I was right away in 2364 then Jean-Luc would know what to do with me in the beginning. I put the original file into a deep dirty classified file entitled Pegasaus. I grinned at the trick. I simply had it my career made some enemies and I developed a cancerious infection that was taken care of by The Doctor.

A Doctor aboard the USS Garden Shovel.

Brilliant joke.

I put the tools into a compartment and started up the shuttle.

"I am coming, John-Luc." I said.

I flew out of the shuttle bay then launched into the spatial rift. I saw history graze by me, really. I saw cows grazing on fields. Barbarians learning to attack the much larger animals using rocks or spears. I saw the barbarians flee at the sight of alien beings who then grew disgusted then fled into their space craft and flew into space. The Vlectorians, the praying Mantis people, had a strange custom to terrorize humanity and abduct them,test them, then return them. And sometimes they never returned the humans to the right planet. The Vulcans had a fit about that part.

They never ended with good terms.

I also saw humanity developing and Kahless fighting his brother.

"Stop right there." Came a voice I only knew on Deep Space Nine.

I almost couldn't move at first.

I turned around to see my surroundings had changed to a white scenery. There was Benjamin Sisko with a phaser aimed at my direction, then he lowered the phaser with a shocked look on his face. He had aged quite well from the last time I saw him. The first words out of his mouth were, "Ambassador Quarty? You should be dead."

"Hello, Sisko." I said.

Sisko raised a eyebrow.

"Do I know you?" Sisko said.

"I know you," I said. "Let me pass."

"No,I won't let a dead guy go through my spatial rift."  Sisko said.

"That is yours?" I asked.

"Yes." Sisko said.

"Uh huh, I didn't see your name on it." I said.

The phaser vanished.

"Q?. . ."

"Why yes, new celestial temple resident, you just intercepted me on my emergency flight to Colo!"

"You are so old from the last time I saw you on the Enterprise. The original Enterprise."

"I never met you there."

"I was there."

"My visit was short and brief, how can I have met you on the Enterprise?"

"I was there."

I rubbed my forehead.

"Oh?" I said. "What about my unexpected companion?"

"I met with him too." Sisko said.

"Come on, were you a red shirt?" I asked.

"Yes." Sisko said.

"I am not even going to ask." I said, with a sigh.

"How has life been for you?" Sisko asked.

"Like hell," I said. "Avoiding Jean-Luc is the most difficult thing in my life right now."

"He has ways of appearing when you least expect him."

"A lot like me in my younger days."

"Hey, you are never always going to be that old."

"I look back at the past at who I had been before and there are many things I am ashamed of. I look back at the past under the good light at what I have done, Captain Sisko, or is that your current rank if you are still in Star Fleet?"

"Sisko will do." Sisko said.

I cleared my throat.

"How much pain do you feel seeing your family wither away before your eyes?" I asked.

"Beyond what a typical man should feel." Sisko said.

I sighed.

"That's the problem with being omnipotent," I said. "All your mortal friends die."

"So let me get this straight, you don't always like being a Q?" Sisko said.

"It is a pain in the ass," I admitted. "Much as I. . ." I lowered my head. "Like it. . . " I turned my head toward Sisko. "I have helped numerous civilizations, elevate them up than what they had been before, and humanity is no exception. Humanity is one of my best plucks I have ever come across."

"I understand," Sisko said. "You feel left behind."

"Yes sirrey," I said. "But if. . . if. . if only I could extend their lives."

"But that would be painful for them too," Sisko said. "Watching their loved ones die and they don't die."

I sighed.

"Good point." I said.

It would be a endless cycle.

"I always thought you liked being a pain in the ass but maybe it was just your omnipotent status that made us rivals."  Sisko said.

"We are still rivals, Captain Sisko, not even close to being friends." I said.

The last part came out as a whisper.

"So this entire time you've been building a life separated from your real identity,hacked into the federation internet, and then changed your entire background down to a speck," Sisko said. "I don't know about you but that sounds a lot like a man who hates himself."

"The man you knew was some-one else." I said.

"Q, I recognized you by a simple snarky comment and you are still the same man!" Sisko said.

Boy, that burned a nerve.

"I AM NOT ALL POWERFUL LIKE YOU, SISKO!" I shouted back at him in rage.

"Prove to me you are a changed man and only then will I allow you passage." Sisko said, folding his arms.

I frowned.

"I can't do that," I said. "I am not a Q anymore."

"Hold onto that thought for a moment." Sisko said.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

My scenery changed before my eyes. Gray, cozy, and a red ball headed my direction that had bounced off the wall. I caught the ball with one hand hearing the mutters of 'Picard to Enterprise, do you read me? Picard to Enterprise!' that sounded panicked and worried. I sat down at the edge of the seat.

I could sense this was a splinter timeline.

"No use,Picard." I said

"Q, take me back to my ship." Jean-Luc said.

"Call me 'Quarty', please." I said.

Jean-Luc turned his head toward my direction.

"A name?" Jean-Luc said.

I smiled.

"Why yes, I have finally chosen a name." I said.

Jean-Luc grew a concerned look.

"Are you ill?"

"Why of course not!"

"In the brief visits I have known you, you have referred to yourself as Q and introduced yourself as Q."

"A Q, Picard."

"And now you are suddenly calling yourself 'Quarty'."

I materialized in the seat beside Jean-Luc.

"I changed my mind," I said. "I take back my request to be aboard your ship. I have a question for you." I put my hands together. "If you had knowledge spanning thousands of years and power to do what I do. . . Would you introduce a threat to save everyone so others can be prepared for it after the initial meeting?"

"Q--"

"Quarty, please."

"Quarty, that is . . . Not my place to decide."

"I need an opinion because I will be breaking the greatest rule of the continuum."

"And that is?"

"I can't say right now," I said. "But I am willing to ask if you would take the risk to save the Federation and countless other species."

"I would go ahead." Jean-Luc said.

I sighed.

"Guess I should transport you back to your ship," I said. I was honestly scared. I hadn't done this kind of meeting with Jean-Luc before in this kind of fashion. What he is so scared of?, I heard Jean-Luc's thoughts. I smiled. "Nothing scares me,Captain Picard."

I snapped my fingers returning the shuttle to shuttle bay and Jean-Luc to the turbo lift. But me? I transported myself to Ten Forward and poured myself a glass of vodka right by the great view of space. I sent the Enterprise wheeling toward the right spinning in circles. I causally took a drink of vodka.

"YOU!" I heard Guninan.

I looked over to see the woman headed my direction or at least attempting by grabbing onto the nearest empty table. I wasn't in the mood to fight back. I changed my uniform to civilian dressware. I did like green contrasting against the gray. Green is one of my favorite colors with the first being gray. The Enterprise came to a stop.

"Get out of my bar,Q." Guinan demanded.

I looked up toward Guinan

"Bite me," I said. "And the name is Quarty. I would appreciate that."

"You think you can send us flying into god knows what part of the universe?" Guinan asked. "You can't do that."

"We are in the Delta Quadrant, Miss Guinan!" I said. "This choice was NOT easy for me," I pointed over my shoulder letting go of the vodka. "It is humanity's turn to give a shot against the Borgs."

I decided not to help this time around.

I did enough helping for the Federation and I should only appear when I am most needed.

"The Borg can not be defeated, Q!" Guinan reminded me.

I held my temple.

"'The Borg can not be defeated'," I mocked her. "That's what they said about the Q."

Guinan raised her eyebrows.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Don't pull that stunt on me."

"It is not a stunt, it is the truth and if you can't handle the truth then treat it as a lie!"

"You are a liar, Q, and you always have been. In fact you will always be a liar."

I lowered my head feeling hurt inside.

"My emotions do not govern me, my emotions do not govern me," I muttered to myself, feeling my hands bend into fists. I cleared my throat feeling my fingers press against the palm of my hand tightly. "But they can." I turned my head toward Guinan. "I am concealing my anger from hurting you. I am giving you that respect."

Getting respect from me is not entirely easy.

I snapped my fingers and I vanished from her presence.

Perhaps being human for so long I have become vulnerable to emotions and feelings. This just topped the cake. In private I cried. Being a Q means you have to disregard such statements from inferior beings like a grain of salt and nothing more but anger of the lower planed beings. Even as a Q again in a different timeline I couldn't just shrug it off. It hurt me inside.

Guinan could have dumped the vodka on my head.

But what stopped her?

A crowd.

"We really need Q's help." I heard Jean-Luc's thoughts.

I looked on the screen to see they were getting a good chunk of their decks being taken.

"Not yet." I tell myself.

I transported my vodka into my hands and resume drinking,

I sensed my role was being filled by Guinan.

Completely detaching myself from the line of events. I emptied the glass then snapped it back to where it had been before. It was exactly then that on the screen I saw the same glass appear in a white flash in the middle of the bridge. Jean-Luc stared at puzzled in the first second then he demanded the glass cup to get off his bridge thinking the cup was me.

Second time in a row I have laughed at Jean-Luc.

With a thought I returned the glass to Ten Forward.

But instead it landed in Jean-Luc's ready room on the table.

I grew annoyed.

'Cup to ten forward, cup to ten forward, do you read me?' I thought.

Silence.

"Damn it." I said, irritated.

I leaned back and contemplated what I should do after getting back to John-Luc. Warm and bubbly thoughts cluttered my mind. I had a smile leaning back in the seat. In 2330, John-Luc did a mind meld with me to put the dark past and the feelings connected to Jessie into a box similar to the one I put a sound in. Now, whenever I saw T'fara those feelings did not come to. It was almost like it never happened.

"Hello, Q!" Travid's voice came to. "Or should I call you Quarty?"

I looked over my shoulder in fear.

Where was he in his timeline?

"Travid . . ." I said, frozen in fear.

"I saw you staring at the screen right at the old guy's direction so I put two and two together," Travid explained. "I saw you walk out with the Vulcan guy. His name isn't Pocirld, isn't it? You are married to him. Now where the hell am I?"

I stood up.

"Travid,go back."

"No."

"Travid, if you want Makenzie to live don't go further."

"What are you talking about? Makenzie is right behind me. He agreed to come with me and explore what the fabric of time has to share."

I took a step back afraid, very afraid, feeling all his Q and unnatural Continuum power.

"Stay. . . Stay away from me!" I said, feeling my back hit the television set.

"Why are you so scared of me?" Travid asked, approaching me generally confused.

I couldn't take the chance that one touch could corrupt me or make me a single conscience.

"You have a unnatural power," I said. "One that is not supposed to have been made. The answer to your question? You are in the continuum waiting plane. Where we watch in different pockets of the universe of various timelines to our choosing." He came closer to me. "Just one touch is corruptible."

"Such as you?"

"Don't you touch me, young man. I have worked hard to become who I am today!"

"Being a old man is hard work and becoming young again is hard work, too?"

I knew better.

"I am not going back down that road." I said.

Travid smiled.

"Maybe I should touch you and you can teach me how to harness this power." Travid said.

"Even if I were corrupted; I would never teach someone who cheated," I said. "You got in the wrong way,kid, you didn't plug in pi."

Travid frowned.

"3.14."

"Yes."

"That is a illogical way of coming in."

"No,it is very logical. Those who are very logical can enter and you are not one of them!"

Travid reached his arm out toward me but right then appearedd a lingering fog taking on the shape of a human hand. I recognized that color. It was the purple mass I came across so many years ago. I watched his color change from purple to dark gray. I could hear his last thoughts that were powerful channling a single message coming from the screen that had become mute to my ears during this conversation.

"Quarty, I am sorry!" It was a direct message from Guinan.

I exchanged a hand of sorrow toward those last pure and innocent thoughts.

And hand of thanks.

"No!" Travid shouted.

I saw Makenzie appear five feet away.

"Bye-bye." I said.

I vanished and reappeared on the Enterprise on the bridge to the words of, "Quarty, we need your help!" that were coming out of Jean-Luc's mouth. I had a soft and small smile at the words I never do get tired of hearing. It brightened my day really. I saw Guinan by the turbo lift.

"That is the best thing I ever heard from you," I said. "Hold on."

I snapped my fingers sending them back to the Alpha Quadrant.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The scenery turned to white and I saw Sisko appear.

"Not bad." Sisko said.

"Not bad?" I repeated. "I nearly got corrupted!"

"You are still the same man, and you refuse to accept that, Quarty." Sisko said. "Even though you try not to be the one who everyone considers a liar, a trickster, and a threat . . . You are otherwise unable to shake it off. You can't change. That is who you are."

"Who I am earned me a lot of enemies," I said. "Do you see this old hand of mine and these scars that have turned into wrinkles?" I pointed to my face that had since healed those scars two decades ago. My left hand wasn't so . . . Admirable. "Do you hear my voice? Do you see the ageness? The youth? The bass? The unmistakenable tempo you would recognize without a doubt? NOW TELL ME I AM STILL THE SAME MAN!"

Sisko did not flinch a bit at my reply.

"You have the appearance of a old man, but that does not mean you have changed." Sisko said.

I frowned.

"Let's take a look into the past and lets see if you are wrong again." I said.

"Name it." Sisko said.

"Take back the night rally of '95." I said.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

.  . . Take back the night rally.  .  .

 . . . 2295 .  . .September 5th . .

I wanted  to be the last one to share their story. Most of the domestic abuse victims were young woman and one of them was very old. They talked about how they were treated unfairly, how their life was messed up, how the authorities pretended they heard nothing, how one officer rolled their eye at a report (Mind you this was a Jaffa reporting the disturbance), and why they chickened out on not attending trial.

Colo had trials selected by a group of peers like the older version of Earth had.

Jury members.

I had jury duty in 2290.

Being Senator does not mean you are exempt from jury duty. Trials were carried out fairly; we had regulated prisons and had programs that convinced those wrong do-ers not to do their offense again. I was instrumental in urging the release of some convicts who had learned their lesson. We even have community service in place for the teenagers who screw up royally damaging their parents cars or something pretty bad.

"And that's my story." Jessica finished, and then she broke out into tears.

She was the last.

I slowly started clapping shortly after the victim's friend hugged her.

"I don't see anything different about that." Sisko said.

"SSSSSHHHH!" I warned Sisko.

Soon after many other people stood up and clapped for Jessica. John-Luc was with T'fara that night on another planet to be there for our granddaughter's arrival. He was so excited and delighted. He never had been a grandparent before in the other universe. I could not go as I had duties to fulfill on Colo and these events happened on different days of the year in the months they occurred in.

Colo had its fair share of not-so-perfectness.

When Jessica was close enough to me I then decided to do something I normally never did with women. I gave her a sincere hug and said, "Your courage is remarkable." It was a short lived one as I got a reply, "Thank you." It was heartwarming to be the one who joined what many could call the alien version of 'safe harbor' on Colo. I joined back in 2267. I loved Colo because of the mixed races. I once met a Klingon who had two heads. A conjoined twin Cippallon. A mute Vulcan capable of speaking in telepathy. Two Betazoid's who were alike (And best friends) in appearance but not biologically related and left a trail of 'happiness' behind where-ever they went. Those two left Colo but I never forgot them. Never have.

I wheeled my way to the stage and turned on levitation mode.

John-Luc had insisted to me that I share my story.

It was the one way to move on and begin forgiving Alian for her deeds and not have a tarnished image on women because I never got over that . . . disturbing event. I pulled down the microphone staring at the tables of people. I had to do it. I helped many of the victims. Now I have to share my story.

"A couple years ago . . ." I said. "I was . . Abducted. . ." My voice started to crack. "By a woman. A woman accelerated in time. She was from Scalos." I shuddered. "In the time I knew her. . . Which was 2 days in regular time but a week to me. She. . ." I closed my eyes feeling so disturbed. "She used me. Her race was dying out. Her race's men were sterile. She didn't ask me to help her become pregnant. She used me. She injected me with some kind of paralyziation dose that prevented me from moving and speaking. She used me to become pregnant without my consent. Now . .. I . . . I try to move on but these days giving women my trust is not that easy. If . . .If the young one. . . turns out to become a Proto-Q then some-one else will have to raise her. I can't do it. Day by day I struggle with forgiving this woman. Day by day I come to the solution of no forgiveness."

I closed my eyes then reopened them with a shaky breath.

"I was a young man back then and I still have not recovered," I said. "It was hard coming to telling my story tonight but my husband convinced me . . .It is part of my recovery. A gradual one."

I wheeled my way off the stage to where I came to a crowd of people standing.

Now, I am not the one who gets hugs often from total strangers.

But this one night I did.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sisko watched the memory end, horrified.

"I. . . I . . . I didn't realize you were raped." Sisko said.

"It is best you never see that day." I said, in a low voice.

"Quarty, you are trembling." Sisko said.

I grabbed my left hand trying to compel it to being still. Did no good. I was still trembling. Watching myself give that speech just reminded me how shattered I was and how I still am because of what happened in the past. The past is not the future. I am still working on trusting women again. Alian's infliction to me will not stop me from regaining what I lost because of her.

I sighed.

"I am in control of my emotions." I said.

"Quarty."

"Yes?"

"The splinter timeline you made for yourself changed your other-self in so many ways."

"Hahahaa, really?"

Sisko nodded.

"I will show you two flashes of your splinter self." Sisko said.

"Keyword being show?" I asked.

"Yes, just showing you on the screen." Sisko said.

I turned myself around to see a very large and wide screen.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

It was so odd. I could feel everything my splinter self was feeling at the moment the screen begun playing. There was a dark and big ready room that was partially lit. The year was 2379, I knew that because it was in his thoughts. My Splinter self's thoughts. For some reason we had a connection. So whenever he speaks, it won't be in italic. Whenever I speak outside it will be in italics.

There sat seventy-four year old Jean-Luc in a dark uniform drinking earl gray tea.

"Hello, Quarty." Jean-Luc said.

Jean-Luc the cup expecting a flash but only the door opened.

"I . . Just wanted to share a visit before I beam down."

"Beam . . down?" Jean-Luc said, puzzled and confused.

I nodded.

"Why yes, you heard me." I said.

Jean-Luc lowered his tea.

"Quarty, please sit down." Jean-Luc said.

I sat into the nearest chair and this time I didn't have one leg over another.

"Yes?"

"I know you better than I ever have in the past few years and your cleaning up act," Jean-Luc said. "I can tell when there is something on your mind. You try not to show but I can see it in your eyes."

I laughed it off.

"Me?" I said. "Being sad? As if."

"I wasn't saying that," Jean-Luc said. "You do not beam down. You appear wherever you want."

My smile faded.

"I quit the continuum." I said, in a low voice.

"That is unlike you." Jean-Luc said.

I sighed.

"Ever since that day. . . Since the Borg. . . I have a strong feeling telling me I shouldn't be doing this and that. But instead spending it at home. I used to think the continuum as my home built of many planes, conscience, and levels of the universes. But lately . . . I can't find the heart to live on as a immortal. I feel . . . detached. Empty. So, its not final, not yet at least. This is my last voyage, Picard, and I am intending to spend it finding my home. What feels like home. I feel like. . . Whenever I visit the continuum that it is just a false sense of home. False sense of comfort."

"Quarty . . ." Jean-Luc said.

"All I have left is materializing, Picard," I honestly felt depressed but otherwise determined to find what is . . Home. "And I have a one way mission. You live on and I'll probably die because of some mistake I did." I had a short laugh. "You'll probably live until it is 2600!"

"Quarty," Jean-Luc said. "Are you really sure about this? Living as a human?"

"I have integrated myself into the life of a human for the past month." I said. "I am a visitor to the Enterprise."

There was a pause.

"So if we come across a abnormality; whose doing would it be?" Jean-Luc asked.

I snickered.

"Not mine, apparently," I said. "Not all of us snap our fingers to get things done. We use thoughts, Jean-Luc." I get up off the chair. "I will be beaming back down to Earth, Captain," I stood up then held my hand out. "And I wish you a stress free voyage of Q's."

Jean-Luc took my hand and shook it.

"Good luck to you." Jean-Luc said.

So I spent a good deal of my time as a Q turning my life around and feeling lost.

How chippy.

"Thank you." I said, after our hand shake ended.

I turned around then headed toward the door.

Right as I came to the door . . . Jean-Luc stood up from his chair.

"Quarty." Jean-Luc said.

I turned away from the door.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Have you ever entered into Star Fleet before?" Jean-Luc said.

I narrowed my eyes toward the man.

"No," I said. "And I do not intend to."

"What about experience in commanding?" Jean-Luc asked. "Do you know everything about Star Fleet regulations?"

"I never really gave a go at commanding," I said. "And of course I do. I know EVERYTHING about Star Fleet inside and out. It is one of my studies I took before visiting the Enterprise in the beginning."

Jean-luc walked around his desk.

"My first officer has gone missing."

"Liar."

"No, it is the truth and the only truth I have. We lost him back at another planet."

My eyes widened.

"No, no,no, you are not thinking what I think you are thinking!"

"While you find what is home to you, could you be my first officer?"

I stared at Jean-Luc taking in the gravity  of the question. 

Riker is currently the Captain of the USS Titan. It has been five months since Data's death (aka his great sacrifice to protect his dear Captain Picard) for what remained of the Enterprise crew. Worf is back at Deep Space Nine. Beverly is the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Enterprise. Geordi is aboard another ship called the USS Challenger being the commander of the ship.

"You are asking a former Q to be your first officer," I said. "Picard. . . I am not sure to be happy or concerned."

"Finding a replacement would take longer." Jean-Luc said.

I raised a brow.

"You could always find a fine human or other alien related person to fill that role."  I said.

"I have checked and you are my last choice." Jean-Luc said.

I sighed.

"So you just suddenly decided to ask me?" I asked. "Before I walk right out of the door?"

"Facing seeing one of the last people I knew from my ship leaving: yes." Jean-Luc said.

I step forward.

"Did you just admit to missing me?" I asked.

"Yes," Jean-Luc said. "I did."

I blinked.

"Never in a million years would I consider hearing you say that." I said.

"And?" Jean-Luc said.

"I accept," I said. "In the time you'll have me, in maybe . . . two years there will be a bright young fellow who works to ensure his Captain's safety rather than his own." I looked to the bright side of things. "And all of that waiting, well more like helping me, will have paid off for you, Captain."

Jean-Luc smiled.

"I bet ten." Jean-Luc said.

The scene changed to a while later. It was in 2393. Facing the night sky where there were stars right up ahead. The tacticle and security officer was a man named Clewis Clark,who looked very human rather than Klingon. He had Klingon heritage and he was proud of it, like really, really proud of it. The second officer who took the helm was Elizabeth Brooke. The navigator? That was Lane Webster.

"Quarty," I heard Jean-Luc's voice. "What does it feel like when you materialize to close distance?"

"It feels like every atom, every molecule, every part of my body is going somewhere else," I said. "The white flash is water vapor being exploded. In a tiny sense. It propells us right toward our destination. Our brain is capable of many things including the water-light explosion effect."

I had my arms behind my head.

For some reason I felt ill.

"Interesting," Jean-Luc said, leaning forward then faced my direction. He then asked in a lowered voice, "Is it helping at all?"

"This planet's plant life is preventing the Q-Virus from getting any further," I said. "I have the flu. Exactly what I told you before I got--" I sneezed into my elbow. "The Q-Virus." I wiped off what mucus had been on my face. "The Q-virus does not give mercy to those who had been Q's before. It is quite rare,as I said before, for a Q to contract it these days."

"I feel bad for not being aware of it at the start." Jean-Luc said.

"I wanted to be sure," I said. "Before this planet was considered."

I leaned forward putting my hands on the grass.

"You could have told me." Jean-Luc said.

"That I am dying and the only way to stop it was visit Klaos 3?" I asked. "No. I wouldn't do that to you. You found out through the tests and not that this virus can change at will to be transferred to other people; you are not the subject to a world wide quarantine."

"But you said this illness does not have will." Jean-Luc said.

"You know what I meant." I said.

"I know what you are doing," Jean-Luc said. "You are trying to make me relieve you of your duty so I can leave you here!"

I grabbed his holoprogram by the shoulders.

"There is no cure for the Q-virus!" I told Jean-Luc. "This planet wouldn't exist if there was a cure."

Jean-Luc appeared to be hurt, as I let go of his shoulders.

"I refuse to believe there is not a cure for you, Quarty!" Jean-Luc said. "If I have to find the most advanced medical civilization in the quadrant then I will do that and you are a fine first officer."

"Who happens to be unable to age." I added.

To make myself feel more human I had taken the form of transport by shuttle and transporter.

"I am not using this holoprogram to say my farewells,Number One." Jean-Luc said.

I sighed.

"Captain . . ." I said. "You can't find this planet again. You won't. Trust me."

"I have the best ship--"

"In the quadrant but you won't have me. I can speak to the other Q regarding passage here! I was the one who allowed you to get here!" I told him. I stood up. "Look. . . We all have to move on. Maybe this is where I was supposed to be in the first place."

"NOT TRUE!" I shouted from behind the screen. "DO YOU NOT FEEL THIS ISN'T RIGHT?"

"Ssssh." Sisko said.

"I refuse to accept that, Number One." Jean-Luc said.

"The Q have a special form of protection around this planet and only those who had been or are a Q can go through it," I said. "Miss Brooke would make a fine first officer. I have already resigned. No Q can cure this. It is not curable. Period."

"Quarty . . . You do realize--"

"I know. I wasn't in Star Fleet in the first place but I have officially resigned by telling you it." I had a sigh. "End holoprogram."

"Quarty--" Jean-Luc said.

I got up from the grass then looked up at the sky seeing the one figure of the Enterprise in the dark sky. I wasn't in Star Fleet uniform. I was in a attire that the natives wore which were the typical attire that is any type of clothes: pants, shirt, boxers, and so on. I put my hands in my pocket seeing a star move in the sky out of orbit.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"Why. did. you. show. me. that?" I asked.

The screen had turned to black.

"Just to show you not everything ends perfectly." Sisko said.

I sighed.

"No," I said. "Why?"

"What?" Sisko asked.

"Why show Picard cares when I get stranded on a planet that feels nothing like home?" I asked. "Home is where you feel like you belong and where you feel comfortable. The last part was a lie. A deceptive image. It doesn't end like that. You just gave me a fake sense of an ending."

"You got me there." Sisko said, holding his hands up in defeat.

"Show me the ending." I demanded.

The screen played again.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"Quarty," I heard Jean-Luc's voice. "What does it feel like when you materialize to close distance?"

"It feels like every atom, every molecule, every part of my body is going somewhere else," I said. "The white flash is water vapor being exploded. In a tiny sense. It propells us right toward our destination. Our brain is capable of many things including the water-light explosion effect."

I had my arms behind my head.

For some reason I felt ill.

"Interesting," Jean-Luc said, leaning forward then faced my direction. He then asked in a lowered voice. "How is the flu?"

I smiled.

"Sick as ever." I said.

Jean-Luc had a snort.

"I almost feel sorry for infecting you with my virus."  Jean-Luc said.

"Don't be," I said, taking my arms off behind my head then leaned forward. "I was the one who insisted!"

"The deadliest virus in the known quadrant is concealed by this planet's plant life thanks to our participation," Jean-Luc said. "At least we have a cure in progress."

John-Luc leaned forward.

"Poor apple tree." I said.

"The tree died with a great purpose," Jean-Luc said. "Our best scientists are on it."

"Namely Doctor Crusher." I said.

"Does this feel like home to you?" Jean-Luc jokingly asked.

"No," I said.

I sneezed into my elbow.

"Bless you." Jean-Luc said.

"Thank you." I said.

I wiped off the mucus from my face.

I spent thirteen years as a member of the USS Enterprise 1701-E. Thirteen long enjoyable years. It was interesting to come across B-4 a fully functioning android with Data's looks. Data was very gone. There was only a completely new person related to him by parts rather than blood. He was in cybernetics awhile ago studying nanobots. His matrix was repaired by a unusually eccentric fellow capable of repairing Soong type androids. 

B-4 was interested in cybernetics, very much.

Like Data, he wanted to be sure he was operating correctly and did regular diagnostics on himself.

"Do you ever think Data put his memories into B-4?" I asked.

"He tried helping B-4 before by giving his memories," Jean-Luc said, softly.  "To help him improve. Oh Data would be so happy to see his brother finally got what he experienced."

"He probably is, out there," I said. "Well . . .He is, technically."

"Quarty, what are you saying?" Jean-Luc asked.

"He developed a soul, Jean-Luc," I said. "He made a ground breaking achievement. Thirteen years ago while on the bridge I had  nice chat with Brookes regarding fish intelligence." I had a short laugh. "Then she randomly started talking about the algorithm Theorem of intergalatic websites commenting how slow and incorrect they were. For a moment there she stared through my soul. I had told her that someone should fix the problem."

"What she do then?" Jeam-Luc asked.

"She told me, 'Why thank you, Q. I  have been wondering who to tell. Who should I tell?'" I  quoted.

"Data  .  . ." Jean-Luc asked.

"I told her whoever coded and created it," I said. "Data is always there watching out for his friends and if you think he isn't there  . . ." There was an image of B-4 coming to the screen on our side of the view. B-4's eyes were on the screen. He saw something off in the programming of a robot fly.  He frowned, probably finding this unacceptable, then put his fingers to the keyboard and his fingers flew. "Then you are wrong. B-4 can probably hear him when everyone can't see Data. It also justify why B-4 randomly talks to himself out loud like someone is there."

"B-4 told me it was to relieve stress." Jean-Luc said.

I laughed.

"So not true." I said.

In the side image that comes to life we see one of the bars go up, and only B-4 could say, "Brother, I just fixed that!" then the bar went down.

"Why do you think he is doing?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Messing with his brother," I said. "Souls are capable of mischief as ghosts."

The other image vanished to our eyes.

"Why they are," Jean-Luc agreed. "I expect you to give me grief."

"In your dreams, human." I said.

"How do I handle B-4 and his brother?"

"Treat them as quarrelling brothers," I said. "They are no different than children as you'll see."

"Beverly to Picard," Came Beverly's voice.  "We have the cure."

"I told you it would take twenty-three days,Captain." I said.

"That was just a wild guess," Jean-Luc said. "Beam it down, Doctor."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

. . . 2330 . ..

"That was .  .  ." Sisko said. "Better than I expected."

"That felt a lot like a movie scene," I said. I looked  over to the dark man. "I have a grandchild coming into this world, Captain Sisko, and I won't miss it for the world or your play movies that prove I am a changed man!"

I wheeled toward the light  frankly annoyed.

"Wait!" Sisko shouted. "You are going to make  a--"

My shuttle flew out of the spatial rift doing flips. My wheelchair had been bound to the floor using the force of relative gravity. I felt success. I ESCAPED SISKO'S SPATIAL RIFT! Woohooo! Yes, go me, go me,go me! I am so excited for making such a doubtful move. It took some consideration, courage, and encouragement from thinking how long was I not going to see my grandchild. I found that I was close by to the planet Colo.

I checked the time.

One hour and forty six minutes had passed.

Note to self: Get directions from John-Luc to the hospital.