Q Strikes Again

Posted on Thu Jul 13th, 2023 @ 8:30am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono

Mission: Writing the Q Cards
Location: USS Washington

The bridge was fairly quiet, especially considering all that was going on. The captain had gone down to sickbay after Q had brought Admiral Janeway aboard and whatever was going on was anybody's guess at this point. Jeff was currently overseeing the bridge, and Q had another surprise he wanted to drop into his lap, which he did, literally. As Jeff sat in the command seat, a flash of light occurred and suddenly a young woman in StarFleet uniform appeared in his lap.

To Jeff's credit though he was certainly surprised by having a young woman suddenly drop into his lap. To his credit he didn't drop her. Instead, his hands instinctively went around her waist to keep her from tumbling onto the bridge deck. He then asked, "And just who are you Ensign and where did you come from?"

Kate was dazed for a moment. One second, she was on her rickety old houseboat wearing nothing but socks and editing a biography while not quite believing what this mystery kid was telling her but hoping for the best, and the next moment, she was caressed by tightly fitted, warm, and very comfortable tailored clothing that she loosely recognized from the show that she watched a few years back, only, this clothing felt different and looked slightly different than that of what she saw on the tube. The smell of the lake she lived on and the half-century old houseboat she had chosen to live on was replaced by the scent of purified, cool, circulated oxygen and the heat of the night was replaced by a comfortable temperature. She felt the arms around her and looked up to see the man holding her and smiled with awe at him. The slender, young Asian girl decided on a one of half a dozen options to reply to the man holding her. She realized that she was probably meeting the captain, but also understood that, at the time, the captain was actually the person that was running the simulation, therefore, there were more options. Instead of blundering out of his arms, she gave a polite wave and a sheepish smile.

“I guess Q’s son isn’t an apple that dropped not more than a mild distance from the tree. I’m Kate, the writer of — me! I was in my shabby little home until I came here. He said that — I had a choice of living my life the way it was or branching off into a new reality. I didn’t really believe him…” She looked around at the bridge, specifically, the window that looked out into the vast vacuum that touched everything in the universe and her lips parted slightly in awe. “It’s — good to be wrong.” She turned her head back to the — Andorian? Or the other writer? She thought about how technical the situation was but found it interesting. “This is — unreal, sir.” She looked down at herself as she sat there in his lap. She changed position to face him since she was too close to shake hands. “I read everything before ending up here. Both your writers, and your crew are fantastic. I have a million questions and I don’t even know where to start…” She held her hand out as she straddled him and looked at the color of her uniform… Confused. “Wait… What did Q do… I told him I wanted to be a pilot…” Her dark brown eyes swung back and forth as she recalled the new memories and knowledge she had gotten. “Okay yeah I can fly but… Wait… I’m an — Intelligence Officer, apparently…” Her eyes darted back to look at Jeff, or rather, Shran dh'Klar… “I’m your new intelligence officer also, but I’m also myself, Kate.”

Jeff chuckled at the young woman's apparent confusion but admired her level headedness. "I'm Jeff/Commander Grayson. The captain is in Sickbay at the moment. Welcome to the Washington and Qs son is a carbon copy of his father. Full of mischief among other things." He shook the young lady's hand firmly but not hard. A pleasure to meet you Kate."

From the back of the bridge at a science station an amused chuckle sounded out. "You humans really are so easy to surprise."

As he finished his comment the doors to the turbolift opened and Joe stepped out onto the bridge, his eyes like daggers as he glared at Q. "I just left you in sickbay, and you are already on my bridge making more mischief? What now?" he questioned as he looked around and saw an unfamiliar young Asian woman in a StarFleet uniform straddling Jeff in the command chair.

Q placed his hands up in a mocking fashion as he feigned innocence. Joe made his way over to Jeff and the young woman, "And who might we have here?"

Jeff gently lifted Kate off his lap as he stood. "Captain. May I present Kate. it appears Q transported her here and she is our new Intelligence officer."

"I know nothing!" Kate said as she tugged at her uniform to straighten the kinks out of it and look professional. She smiled slightly at herself in that moment because she realized the reality and significance of the move she performed with her shirt. She smiled a little wider. "Actually, I do know what's going on and despite not knowing what will happen when you guys get sent back, I can tell you that, I'll still be here so, don't kill me with your keyboards one day." She joked but it was a serious request, too.

"An ensign with a sense of humor and knowledge of what is going on. At last Q has done something useful for us" Joe quipped. "Welcome aboard ensign, even if your arrival was a bit avant garde."

"My apologies for that, sir. Under the circumstances, I think it's safe to say that, we've all wanted to try out the captains chair." Kate shrugged her bony shoulders and twisted to look at the bridge and admire where she was. "I literally came here with nothing but - the uniform on. I wasn't allowed to bring anything else so... I don't even have a room. I mean, quarters!" She smiled again as she reminded herself that they weren't called 'rooms' anymore.

She looked to both officers and writers all combined as the same and placed her hands on her hips as she nearly hopped with excitement but she knew she had to keep her knowledge on the down-low as to not catch the ears of the unknowing crew. She whispered, "... What all should we do? Take posts around our characters right away? Explore the 24th century in this story? I mean, I know you've all done this for a while before I got here, so, what do you recommend? This is - amazing..."

"Do your best to play your role, which includes your duties. I am guessing if Q brought you here that you have quarters and belongings." Joe looked at Jeff, "I'm betting she would be assigned T'Plana quarters. Perhaps you could escort her there and confirm that. T'Plana was on deck 2, next door to Julia's quarters as I recall."

Kate looked to Jeff and nodded.
"I read everything from this episode so far but I somehow missed T'Plana. I didn't get a chance to read about previous missions before I got here but that sounds -- ominous." Her smile turned serious as she looked to the both of them for more backstory on T'Plana if she was to be taking her quarters. She walked toward the turbolift assuming that Jeff would fill her in.

"I'll see to it right now sir." Jeff told Joe as he walked to the lift where Kate was waiting. "Shall we?" He asked as the lift door opened to admit them. Stepping in he announced, "Deck two." Before he looked to Kate. "T'Plana was our previous Intelligence officer. She had to leave due to personal illness. She was very good and I know you will be as well. I guess Q junior saw we needed one and selected you to fill the role."


Joe watched as Jeff and Kate exited the bridge and then gave another stern gaze at Q before requesting a status report from Deanna and Ayana. Upon getting the report he sat down and considered all that was happening. It sounded as if Julia and Linds had effectively ended the immediate threat of the virus, but with Q still around, anything was still possible. This Kate was an example, a new young junior officer suddenly thrust into a chaotic situation. Not since the war had he considered such a situation for young officers. All he could do now was wait and see what other surprises Q might have for them.

She scooted to the side to make room for Jeff as the turbolift doors closed. Once on her deck, he led her to her quarters and she looked around to see that everything a was where she would have wanted it to be, which included a blinking message from her parents that were apparently with her in this century. Instead of being shocked that such a thing was done for her, she realized that this was just a branch off reality and that, somewhere, in another time and place, there was a version of her that didn't go missing on 21st Century Earth where her reality was simply fiction on a screen. It made sense that Q would have made things flawless. She smiled to herself - yes, she still had family.

"I guess this is me..." Kate said. She stepped in to let him follow. "Isn't it wild how, despite you know everything from your normal life, you know automatically how to do everything your character knows how to do that we would have taken for granted as technobabble?" She giggled at the thought as she tapped a screen above the replicator as if she had done it a million times before, all while marveling at herself for knowing something she should have never understood as two glasses of water appeared in front of her. "So--- COOL!"

Jeff smiled at Kate's exuberance. "It is certainly that. We know our character's abilities and traits but then we should as we created them." He nodded at the blinking light. "I'm glad your parents are here in this time with you. No one should be alone. It is good to have a people you can turn to for support or advice. You should also know that the Washington is your family as well. You can talk to me, the captain, Callie er Jan who is the chief counselor and plays my wife. Or Shon and Julia who are doctors. Point is you aren't alone."