“Ship is on course 229 mark 6,
ahead warp factor 6. ETA to the Norpin Colony is two days, six hours and twenty three
minutes, give or take a few. Engineering reports there was an imbalance in
the warp field that could have resulted in a wormhole before the end of Beta
Shift had it not been discovered, but the problem was corrected with regular
maintenance. Science division reports
they need to recalibrate the lateral sensor array at the next feasible
opportunity, so if you drop out of warp for more than an hour, inform Commander
Wallace that his department has permission to perform the calibration. Do you have any questions, Commander?”
Commander Tom
Paris shook his head no as he considered everything Captain K’danz
had told him. He looked around the
bridge of the Sovereign-class starship USS
Dauntless, where various members of the crew were also performing watch
turnover, then looked back at his commanding officer.
“No questions,
Captain. I’m ready to relieve you.”
“I’m ready to be
relieved,” K’danz replied.
“I relieve you.”
“I stand
relieved,” K’danz concluded, stepping away from the
center seat to allow
“Yes, ma’am,”
Pairs replied as he settled into the command chair, crossing his legs as he
watched the warp streaks pass on the main viewer. K’danz nodded to
herself, then headed toward the nearby turbolift to commence her post-watch tour of the ship.
She started, as
always, in main engineering, where her husband, Dar, was in the process of
turning his own watch over to his assistant chief engineer, Amanda
Windsor. As she waited to speak to him, K’danz suddenly sensed the feeling she was being watched. She quickly turned around, only to see two
crewmen working at one of the engineering control consoles along the
bulkhead. As she stared at them, one of the
two turned and looked in her direction, nodding in a friendly manner before
returning to his work. K’danz, confused, tried to shake away the feeling and,
after reminding Dar of their plans for later in the evening, resumed her tour.
However, no
matter where she went, she was still unable to shake the feeling that she was
being followed. She even tried pausing in
the corridor for several minutes, but no one unexpected came along behind
her. And even though she changed her
typical path through the starship, using the turbolifts
to backtrack upon herself, she could not get away from the dread she felt that
something was wrong, someone was watching her, somebody was following her.
Finally she
reached the Marine Barracks, the last stop on her post-watch tour, where she
received a status report from Marine Captain Michael Drake. Still unable to shake the strange feeling,
she quickly headed back to the bridge and her ready room, where she wanted to
catch up on some official reports before she was supposed to meet Dar in the holodeck, where Chief of Ops Setton
To’Lock Arbelo had arranged
for a demonstration of skatball, a sport that he used
to play with his shipmates in the late 23rd century that had faded
into obscurity by the time he and the Arcturus crew
had emerged in the late 24th century more than fifteen years
earlier.
The turbolift opened on the bridge and K’danz
stepped out, acknowledging
The doors had
just closed when she saw the dark-haired man sitting behind her desk, a smile
on his face but a look of potential evil in his eyes. K’danz groaned as
she recognized him.
“It’s about time
you got here,” Q said, his tone one
of annoyance. “I don’t have all day, you
know.”
“What do you
want, Q?” K’danz
asked, stepping over to her desk and glaring at the unwelcome intruder.
Q smiled again, though the emotion in his
eyes never changed, as he said, “Ahh, the typically
friendly Klingon salutation. Your husband is rubbing off on you. I only wish to offer you my congratulations.” He lifted his right hand to brush at the four
pips on his own Starfleet uniform collar as he continued. “It’s about time you sat down in the seat
that was being offered you. I was
beginning to think you were related to Riker.
It only took him fifteen years to accept a command of his own, never wanting
to step out of the shadow of the famous Jean-Luc Picard.”
“Well, thank you,
Q.
I really appreciate your concern,” K’danz
replied, her voice tinged with sarcasm. “Now
if you’ll excuse me, I have to get some work done before I…”
“Ah, ah,” Q scolded, waving a finger at K’danz. “Offering
you my congratulations is not the only reason I’m here. I could have simply sent you a space-gram or
subspace communication or whatever it is you mortals do to pat each other on
the back.”
“Then why are you
here, Q?” K’danz
asked with a sigh, realizing she would probably not be getting her work done
tonight.
“Because,” Q said with a dramatic flair, his eyes
widening as he stood up and leaned right in K’danz’s
face. “I don’t believe you’re where you
belong.”
Space,
the Final Frontier…
These
are the voyages of the starship Dauntless!
Star
Trek: Dauntless
“Expe-Q-tations” By PJK
Based upon story suggestions
by Carrie Jacobs
“Alright, Q, I’ll bite. Where is it I belong?” The captain’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“I’ve known you
since you were a little child, Carrie.
We used to have such good times together,” Q remarked as he stepped out from behind K’danz’s
desk.
“I remember. Most of it. But at the time I thought you were nothing
more than my imaginary friend,” K’danz admitted,
stepping around the desk in the opposite direction, keeping it between herself
and the omnipotent being. “At least you
were fun back then.”
“And you were
very creative back then,” Q
said. “It was one of the things that
drew me to you when I started my study of humanity. I really expected you would tap into that
creativity as you matured, perhaps become one of humanity’s greatest writers,
and provide the Continuum with a doorway to better understanding of the human
race. But instead, you turned out like
this.” He gestured at the uniform K’danz wore, his face an expression of disgust.
“Really?” she
replied. “Well if present company had
lived up to my expectations, you would have simply remained my childhood
imaginary friend and long since faded from memory. I guess we were both disappointed.”
“You’re wasting
your talents here. Gallivanting around
the galaxy instead of exploring the recesses of the human psyche,” Q said, romanticizing the road not
traveled. “Have you ever wondered where
you would be right now if you had followed your other choices? What would be your expectations?”
“Well, I never
really thought about it,” K’danz replied,
unconsciously finding herself intrigued in spite of herself. “Once I was old enough all I really wanted to
do was attend the Academy and…”
“But what if you
had applied to a science academy or a regular university instead of
Starfleet? Or, having entered
“That would be
ridiculous, trying to consider the ramifications of every choice I have ever
made!” K’danz scolded. “And besides, I’m comfortable with the
choices I have made in my life. I’m
happily married to a wonderful husband.
I have many close friends and family among my crew. And I’m honored and privileged to be
commander of the Dauntless, one of
the most prestigious vessels in the Federation.”
“But isn’t there
something in you, something way, way in the back of your mind, that wonders… is
simply curious… about how different your life might be? Just an eensy
weensy nagging sensation?” Q
kept nitpicking at K’danz.
“Everyone wonders
at some point how their life would be different if they hade made some other
simple choice, but I don’t let it nag at me. “
“But you do
wonder?” Q asked, leaning toward K’danz with an expression of utter curiosity.
“Of course.”
Immediately Q’s face brightened, as if he suddenly
had a brilliant idea.
“Wait!” K’danz warned, instinctively knowing what was coming. “I’m not all that interested in finding out
what could have…”
“I am,” Q remarked as he snapped his fingers. The last thing K’danz
could see was a bright flash of light.
*
* * *
K’danz suddenly found herself sitting behind a wooden desk with
a computer monitor on top of it in front of a large window overlooking the
outdoors. Looking out the window she
could see the shoreline of a mist-shrouded lake beneath a grey, overcast sky on
what appeared to be a class-M planet.
She looked around, surprised to find herself in what looked like an old
log cabin. The house was cluttered and
dirty, padds covering most of the furniture around
the room. She picked up the top one from
a nearby pile and activated it, finding a half-finished manuscript. Curious, she activated several others, which
likewise contained incomplete novels, stories and articles. Returning the padds
to their pile, she activated the computer, hoping to find out where she was and
why Q had sent her here.
“Computer,
biographical information on K’danz,” she inquired.
The computer
system beeped acknowledgement before answering, “There is no such person listed
in the databanks.”
K’danz was confused until, after looking around the small
cabin again and noticing the single small bed across the room, she thought of
something.
“Computer,
describe the owner of this cabin.”
Again the
computer beeped, then began reciting the information
that had been requested.
“This cabin is
owned by Carrie Karandanz, born in April 2348 in
“Computer, pause.” K’danz sat there
thinking for a moment. Obviously, from
both what Q had said to her back
aboard the Dauntless and the piles of
literature surrounding her, in this life she was a writer and not a Starfleet
officer. And from the fact she was still
going by her maiden name, unmarried as well.
“Computer, what novels have I written?”
“There have been six
novels, twenty five short stories and one hundred and fifty three articles
written by Carrie Karandanz.” K’danz was
surprised and pleased to learn that in this version of reality she had become a
successful writer, until the computer continued. “None have ever been officially published.”
“None
published? Then how do I support myself?”
“You are a
part-time teacher of Federation Standard at the
“
“You currently
reside in the
“Computer, pause.” She then looked around the cabin again,
saying, “Very funny, Q. In order to not be a part of Starfleet I
become an unpublished aspiring writer?
This is the future you had picked out for me?” However, Q
neither answered nor appeared.
Several hours
later, after running out of options trying to figure out what to do, where to
go or who to contact to try and get her real life back, since it appeared Q was not going to return her to the Dauntless, she cleared off a section of
the old couch that sat in the middle of the living room covered with still more
padds and sat down and started reading some of her
own writing. After a while it became
obvious to her why nothing she had written had been published. Her plots, which started well, quickly took
off on divergent tangents that confused even herself. Nothing fit together properly. Characters appeared and disappeared without
explanation. Problems were solved
without solution. Frankly, the stories
were boring.
“And I’m a
literature teacher?” she asked herself in disbelief before the computer on the
desk indicated an incoming message. She
returned to the desk and pressed the button below the monitor.
“‘Ello, Ms. Karandanz,” said a
young man on the monitor in a heavy French accent. “I’m zorry to bozzer you, but zere was
something in ze homework assignment you gave ze class that I do not understand.”
“What is it?” K’danz asked, hoping perhaps it was something simple.
“In chaptair three of Zukohv’s last
novel, his main character experiences a zenzation
like an out of body experience. You zaid during class zat this was ze author’s was of explaining the fundamental shift in ze character’s point of view since his fazair’s
death. What did you mean by zat, since his fazair is still
alive in chaptair five?”
“Um… I’m sorry, I’m not
feeling too well today. What book is
that?”
“Dreams of my
Dog, by Vladimir Zukohv,” the boy replied, looking
confused. “You just assigned it yestairday.”
The monitor
beeped, indicating another incoming communiqué.
Secretly, K’danz was relieved.
“I’m sorry, I have another call coming in. Come see me before class tomorrow.”
“But our next
class isn’t unteel next Tuesday, Ms. Karandanz. Ze term papair is due next
Tuesday.”
“Come see me
before class. Bye,” she quickly said
before pressing the button that switched to the next call. “Yes?”
“Ms. Karandanz, what are you doing at home?” a pretty college
age woman asked.
Getting more
confused, K’danz asked, “Where am I supposed to be?”
“Don’t you
remember? You were supposed to monitor
the poetry session this afternoon! This
is 20% of my final grade this semester!”
“Um.. I’m sorry, …um…”
“Candice. Candice Flowers,” the student said with a
tone of annoyance. “You know, if you can’t even remember your star pupil’s name…”
“I’m sorry,
Candice. I haven’t been feeling well
today, and I guess it’s made me a little forgetful.”
The conversation
was interrupted by the sound of the bell at the front door. K’danz glanced back
at the door, again relieved by the interruption, before saying, “I don’t think
I can make it today. I’ll try and
reschedule this with you…”
“I have no time
to reschedule!” Candice almost screamed.
“You know what my class load is like!
I have little enough time as it…”
K’danz shut off the monitor, cutting Candice off in
mid-sentence, as the doorbell rang a second time. Dreading that it may be more of her unknown
students, she yelled out, “Coming!” Then
quickly crossed the room and opened the door.
To her surprise,
the man standing there was wearing what looked like a 20th century
“Q!
It’s about time you got here!” K’danz
hollered. “Do you know what I have been
going through?”
“Sign here
please,” Q said, presenting K’danz with a clipboard signature sheet, then handing her
another padd. “I’m
afraid it’s another rejection notice.”
He then began reading off the notice on the padd
from memory. “Dear Submitter, We
appreciate the time and effort you have put into submitting your manuscript to
our publication. However, we regret to
inform you that blah, blah, blah.” Q then made a point of looking around
the cabin, his lips making a subtle ‘tsk, tsk’ noise as he did.
“You have no idea how disappointed I am in you. I had such high hopes! I thought with my guidance in your youth, you
would have reached the zenith of your career by now, your place in the literary
circle of the elite.” He picked up a
nearby padd and started reading the story it
contained, his facial expression turning sour.
“I guess not,” he droned.
“Well, I suppose
you now agree that my choice to give up literature and enter Starfleet was the
correct one?” K’danz remarked with a tone of victory
in her voice. “Now take me back to my
ship, Q.”
“I’ll grant that
you have succeeded in Starfleet much better than you would have in the literary
world. But is command of a starship
where you really belong? Your so-called first, best destiny? After all, until recently even you yourself
didn’t believe it was.”
“Wait a second, Q.
No more games. Just take me back
to my…”
“Yes,” Q said.
“Definitely somewhere in Starfleet. You want to go back to your ship? Then let’s.”
And he then quickly raised his hand and snapped his fingers before K’danz could react.
*
* * *
The deck shook
beneath K’danz’s feet and she grabbed the console in
front of her. A quick glance reassured
her that she was back in a Starfleet uniform.
It took her a moment to realize that the stripe on the cuffs of her
sleeves were gold instead of red.
Finally looking around she realized she was not aboard the Dauntless, but standing behind the
horseshoe-shaped tactical console of a Galaxy-class starship bridge. Her attention was drawn by another shudder of
the deck and sparks flying out of one of the rear consoles behind her. Her eyes wide, she reached up to her collar
and felt only three pips attached there.
“Mister K’danz!”
Looking forward
again, she noticed the man sitting in the captain’s seat, a human she did not
recognize, looking back over his shoulder at her, his expression angry.
“I said fire all
weapons, Mister K’danz!” the captain shouted.
Fortunately
familiar with the layout of the Galaxy-class tactical console from her service
aboard the USS Sarek many years prior, she was able
to ascertain that the photon torpedoes were armed and locked on target. Pressing the launch control, a full volley of
torpedoes was sent toward what she could see on the main viewer was the lead
ship of three Kairn battlecruisers.
The torpedoes
struck their target, but did little damage.
Like her first encounter with the Kairn five
years earlier, the battlecruisers were built to take
extreme punishment. She armed the ship’s
phaser banks, awaiting the inevitable order to fire
them, as she tried to load several quantum torpedoes into the tubes. To her regret, the starship was not equipped
with either the quantum variety or the trilithium
torpedoes she had helped develop before the final battle against the Kairn three years before.
“I expect this
would have been the wrong choice too,” said a voice from behind K’danz. She looked
over her shoulder to see Q dressed as
the starship’s chief engineer standing at the aft engineering console as sparks
erupted from the panel.
“What
happened? Why are we fighting the Kairn again? And losing!”
“What would you
expect to have happened, Carrie my dear, when you chose to turn down Peter’s
offer of a promotion back aboard the Dauntless?”
“I... I turned him down?” she said in disbelief.
“In this reality,
while you found the offer of becoming first officer tempting, you were unsure
of your ability in a position of greater responsibility. You remained as Assistant Head of Solar
System Security for another two years.
Your next assignment brought you here, aboard the USS Challenger NCC-71099, as chief of security just as the Kairn-Federation war turned hot.”
“But why are we
at war with the Kairn?” K’danz
asked, still confused. “We defeated the Kairn invasion force in sector 425 and drove them back
beyond their original border three years ago!”
“No you didn’t,” Q replied with a smirk. “Because you stayed on Earth when our friend
Peter resumed command of the Dauntless,
you weren’t there to rescue him when the Kairn
kidnapped him and tortured him for intelligence on Starfleet’s
disposition. As a result, more than a
dozen Federation sectors fell under the onslaught. You weren’t present for first contact with
the Morain, so Starfleet never gained an advantage
over the Kairn weaponry. And when Starfleet tried to push back, open
war was declared and Starfleet, still weak from the Dominion War, was
decimated. And the Kairn
have pushed ever further into Federation territory until now, when they are almost
on top of Earth’s very doorstep.”
“Mister K’danz, fire phasers at the lead
ship!”
K’danz reacted automatically to the captain’s barked order,
firing the energy weapons against the Kairn, again
with little result. The three Kairn vessels fired back, their weapons striking the
Challenger. Alarms announcing hull
breeches all over the ship blared on both K’danz’s
tactical console and Q’s engineering
station.
“
“Captain, their
weapons are targeting the bridge!”
K’danz could see another missile launching from one of the
tubes on the lead Kairn battlecruiser,
but before it could reach the Challenger and kill everyone on the bridge, Q snapped his fingers once again.
* * * *
It took a moment
for K’danz’s eyes to adjust from the brightness of a
starship bridge to the darkness of night.
As she finally began to see clearly, she realized she was sitting inside
a vehicle traveling through rain, the raindrops beating heavily on the front
windshield before being cleared away by a wiper. She looked to her left, expecting to see Q driving the vehicle, and was shocked
to realize that the man driving the vehicle was wearing a police uniform, the
dark blue shirt and pants covered by body armor with a patch on his right
shoulder reading ‘Colonial Security – Lamemda II.’ Half expecting to see her own hands cuffed,
she was surprised again to realize she too was wearing the same uniform,
especially after remembering she had heard numerous times of the rampant
corruption associated with this particular planet, due in no small part to the
colony world’s proximity to both the former Cardassian
DMZ and Ferengi space, to the point of advising
Captain Koester on several occasions that the Dauntless should avoid any port calls at the colony lest the crew
find themselves accused of crimes they did not commit just so the police could
be bribed to release them.
The vehicle,
which K’danz had realized was a hovercar
from the smoothness of its ride over the pockmarked roads and the hum as it
touched down, stopped in front of what appeared to be a small grocery store in what
in her opinion was not the best of neighborhoods. The driver, which K’danz
assumed was her partner in this reality that Q had created, stepped out of the car and into the store. K’danz watched,
aghast, as he shook down the owner for protection money, and felt a deep
disgust in herself for not doing anything about it,
even after he returned to the car with a package of alcoholic beverages.
“Want one?” the
officer asked, thrusting the package toward her.
“No,” K’danz replied, trying to hold back an opinionated remark.
“No, you never
do, do you?” the other officer said as he opened one of the containers and took
a gulp from it. “Some day you’re going
to realize how things work here and get with the system. Most of the guys are already wondering too
much about you. You know what happens to
honest people on Lamemda, don’t you?”
Before either K’danz could remark or her partner could offer an answer, a
call came in on the dash-mounted radio recalling all local units to the
precinct house.
“Must be
something big going on, for the Chief to be calling us all in,” the other
officer remarked before spinning the hovercar on its
axis and accelerating back toward their headquarters.
Several minutes
later, all the officers were gathered in a bright conference room inside the
Colonial Security Headquarters building.
The Chief of Police, a portly Tellarite
wearing the same uniform as the rest of his officers, minus the body armor but
with two stars on each collar point, stepped up onto a small stage at one end
of the room.
“I have just been
informed,” the Chief started without preamble, “that our colony will soon be
visited by a Federation starship wanting to take R&R and
replenishment. This gives us an
excellent opportunity to present our world as the tourist attraction we all
know it can be.” The chief let the irony
of his statement sink in. “Maintain the
peace however you feel necessary. Make
sure the shop owners have nothing to complain about. Mainly, I just wanted to make sure you all
know that the crew of the visiting starship are to be
treated as special guests… as usual.”
K’danz turned to her partner who, in spite of her revulsion
at his actions while out on patrol, she felt best not losing track of under the
circumstances and stuck near, and asked, “What does the Chief mean, treat them
as special guests as usual?”
K’danz’s partner looked at her like she had grown a horn
out of her forehead, his distrust evident in his expression, before answering, “I
would think by now you would know how we treat Starfleet crews when they visit. Whenever possible, bust them on any
trumped-up charge you can think of that’ll get them to pay the bribe we need to
release them before the ship departs.
But then again, I keep forgetting why we all call you Squeaky.”
“Because I actually take a shower after each shift?” K’danz asked, already feeling her anger and disgust rising.
The other officer
laughed, as if K’danz had been kidding, then looked at her sharply as he said, “No. It’s because you have such a squeaky clean
reputation. You make the rest of us
nervous. And there is only one of two
ways that this can be resolved. Either
you come around to our way of thinking and realize you’re stuck here on this
horrible little planet just like the rest of us, or some day you’re going to
find yourself in a terrible ‘accident,’ which would be a shame since we’re
short-handed as it is.” From the way her
so-called partner had emphasized the word accident, K’danz
knew if anything happened to her it probably would not be one. She tried to smile at her partner as she decided
she would report the force’s rampant corruption to whatever Federation
officials would listen when the Starfleet ship arrived. She was startled when she suddenly felt a
heavy hand land on her shoulder from behind.
“Officer Stevens, how are you and your partner doing tonight,” the
Chief asked as he stepped around K’danz, eyeing her.
“Well,
Chief. The proceeds from Dogtown are up this week.
And with a Fed starship pulling in, we might be able to double our
yearly take in just a few days,” K’danz’s partner
remarked. “Do we know what ship it
is? I’d prefer one of those big ships of
the line over some dinky science vessel.
Last time we got one of those Nova-class ships in, we barely made any
money over what we put out for food and stuff for the crew we had locked up.”
“You needn’t
worry, Stevens. I hear it’s one of those
big Sovereign-class ships. The Dauntless, I believe,” the Chief
replied, much to K’danz’s shock. The Tellarite
noticed her sudden change of demeanor. “Something
wrong, Officer?”
“No. Nothing wrong,” K’danz
replied. “I just… I knew people who
served on that ship.”
“It’s been how
many years since you left Starfleet, Officer?
You got out right after the Sarek returned
from the Gamma Quadrant, did you not? I
doubt you have many friends still among the Starfleet,” the Chief remarked
before turning and ambling away.
“Just remember,
even if you do have friends on that ship, it’s me and our department that are
watching your back. Treat them like any
other visiting Starfleet crew,” Officer Stevens said. “Exploit them.”
*
* * *
Several hours
later, as the sun rose in the southeast, K’danz made
sure she was present when the first away team from the Dauntless beamed down. As
the transporter beams coalesced into the forms of several men, she was shocked
to realize she recognized all of them. It
took all of her willpower to keep from rushing forward and hugging the man in
the lead as they stepped forward to introduce themselves to the colonial
Governor and Security Chief.
“
“Welcome to Lamemda II. I’m
Governor Devale.
This is our Head of Security, Chief Tazzmuz,”
the governor said, introducing the police chief. “We have looked forward to hosting a Starfleet
vessel for quite some time.”
“Well, I hope you
can help us find what we need. Mister
Winters has a list of all the supplies we need.
And with your permission, Governor, I would like to start beaming down
liberty parties.”
The governor
shared a look with Chief Tazzmuz before looking back
at the captain and saying, “I’m sure your crew are well disciplined,
Captain. Of course you can let them beam
down immediately.”
Koester turned to
look at his first officer and said, “You heard the man, Exec.
“Aye, Skipper,”
Commander Fry responded before tapping his combadge. “Fry to Dauntless.”
“Dauntless. Go ahead, Commander,” came
the reply.
“
“Aye, aye,
Commander,” came Chief Kyman’s enthusiastic reply. “Dauntless, out.”
As the first
groups from the Dauntless started
materializing in the town’s main square, Koester and his officers headed into
town, Winters to arrange for the supplies their ship was low on, while the
captain, Fry and McIntyre headed toward what would be considered tourist
recreation areas, mainly bars and restaurants along the main thoroughfare. K’danz decided to
tag along with this group, following at a discreet distance with her partner.
“Any reason you
decided to follow these guys?” Officer Stevens asked, genuinely curious. “Have a feeling they won’t be able to keep themselves out of trouble?”
He looked at her as if expecting her true motive was to inform the
Starfleet crew about the planet’s corruption.
“I recognize
them,” K’danz replied truthfully. “Though I doubt they would
recognize me. It’s… It’s been too long, I suppose.”
As she said this,
McIntyre looked back toward the following officers, scowling slightly as if
suspecting the rumors he had heard about this planet were true and that the two
security personnel were planning on setting them up. He whispered into the captain’s ear, prompting
Koester to look back over his shoulder as well, his expression annoyed.
The three
Starfleet officers stopped in front of various pubs, discussing their relative
appeal and then moving on before stopping near the next. They had passed four such establishments when
they passed by what appeared to be a destitute citizens, dressed in tattered
clothes, who held out his hand toward the three Starfleet officers.
“Spare a credit
or two?” he asked in what seemed to K’danz a familiar
voice.
“I’m sorry, we aren’t
carrying any credits on us,” Captain Koester replied, patting the sides of his
pants to indicate the uniforms had no pockets.
But the homeless man refused to take no for an answer.
“Come on, you can
spare something, can’t you? Anything!” The man
stood up and got right into Koester’s face, still demanding help. “You don’t know what it’s like trying to live
on this diety-forsaken planet. The Governor is corrupt. The Security Chief is in his pocket. If you aren’t working for the two of them,
you aren’t working!” The man started
beating his hands on Koester’s chest, prompting Fry and McIntyre to try and
restrain him.
“Hey, two birds
with one stone,” Stevens said with a grin.
“Come on!” He then rushed toward
the altercation, gesturing for K’danz to follow,
which she did, intent on helping the Dauntless crew get away from the assault.
“You’re all under
arrest!” Stevens said to all four men. “We
look down on street brawls in this colony.”
“But… What?” Fry
sputtered. “We weren’t fighting. We were just trying to restrain this man
from…”
“So you admit to
false imprisonment too, huh? Fine,”
Stevens replied as he started cuffing Commander Fry and then indicated for K’danz to do the same with the others.
“But they didn’t
do anything!” K’danz protested. “You saw what happened!”
“Chief’s rules
are if there are any street fights, we take ‘em all
in and let the judge sort it all out.
You know the rules.”
K’danz looked over at Koester’s face, hoping for a moment
that there would be a glimmer of recognition there, but saw only distrust, as
if the captain suspected he were being set up. “I’m sorry,” K’danz
said as she pulled out one set of handcuffs and arrested the Starfleet
officer. “I’m sure this will get all
cleared up once we get back to the precinct.”
Almost
immediately, two hovercars arrived with additional
officers, evidently called by Stevens, and two prisoners were loaded into the
back seat of each car, quickly driven off to the station house. Stevens and K’danz
quickly followed in their own car.
Once back at the
precinct, all four prisoners were processed, finger prints and retina scans
entered into the system for all but one.
“Chief!” one of
the precinct officers yelled out. “I’m
having a problem scanning this one!”
K’danz noticed the booking officer was having a problem
with the homeless man that had caused the whole ruckus to begin with. She walked over to see if there was anything
she could do to help, since she felt if anyone among those arrested deserved some
kind of punishment it was this man.
“What’s wrong?”
she asked the booking officer.
“I’m not getting
a good scan of his retina pattern. It’s
like it changes after every scan.”
“Let me see,” K’danz said, turning the man to face her and almost letting
out a yelp of surprise when she recognized Q’s
face. Calming herself down, she said to
the booking officer, “Help Stevens out with his paperwork. I’ll take care of this guy.”
Once they were
alone, Q could not help but give off
a slight giggle, amused by K’danz’s discomfort at
having to arrest her friends.
“It’s more than
that,” K’danz admitted. “I just never considered the fact I
might… I might run into him.” K’danz fought back the
tears that were threatening to emerge.
K’danz looked over to where her three Starfleet officers
sat on a bench, their hands still cuffed behind their backs as Stevens and the
booking officer entered their information into the precinct computer. Q
followed her gaze to look directly at Captain Koester.
“Surprised to see
him again?” he asked.
“In a way, yes,” K’danz admitted, her voice cracking slightly as she
swallowed her emotions. “While I was
excited to hear the Dauntless was going to make port here, it didn’t really
occur to me that Peter might still be alive in this reality. What changes were made in this timeline?”
“You left
Starfleet after your initial tour aboard the Sarek,” Q said.
“I kind of
figured that from what the Chief and Stevens said to me earlier,” K’danz affirmed.
“After leaving
Starfleet you decided to continue a career in law enforcement. A combination of timing and luck, all bad, brought
you to Lamemda, where you attained your goal of
joining the security force of what you later found to be the most corrupt
police department and colonial government in the Alpha Quadrant.” Q
paused, enjoying the expression on K’danz’s face as
she started to realize her life and career had come to a dead end in this
reality. “There are a few honest cops,
like yourself,” Q
admitted. “But they are far outnumbered by
those that have taken the opportunity to fill their own pockets like greedy Ferengi.” Q studied K’danz
as she continued to gaze back at Captain Koester. “Obviously this was a very poor choice too,
so shall we move on?”
“What if I want
to stay?” K’danz asked, her voice a whisper.
“Say again?” Q asked, unsure if what he heard was
really what he heard.
“What if I want
to remain in this reality?”
“You’re joking,
right?” Q scoffed. “Why would you want to do that? I would think the dead-end teaching job would
have been a better choice than this?”
“I’d be willing
to stay here if it means he’s still alive.”
She nodded in the direction of the three Starfleet officers.
“What?!?” Q asked
with disbelief. “You realize that if you
choose this reality, it means you would never have met your husband, dim-witted
clod though he is. That you would never
rise above the rank of patrol officer unless you are willing to corrupt your
values and live a life even I believe is beneath you. And there is little I consider beneath
humans.”
K’danz finally turned and looked at Q again. Her eyes flared
briefly as she said, “I thought the entire purpose of this excursion was to
highlight to me how the choices we make affect our lives?” Q half-nodded, as if his plan were not so simplistic. “Well maybe I just want this to be another
choice I make. One worth making if it
means Captain Koester would live, to still be there for his daughter and
everyone else who cares about him.”
“You don’t seem
to comprehend how little difference a choice like that would make in the lives
and deaths of other mortals,” Q
replied rather vaguely. K’danz found herself getting angry at Q.
“And what kind of
difference would it have made if I had chosen to ignore your offer of
friendship and so-called guidance when I was a young child? Maybe then my life would have turned out even
better that it actually had?” she provoked.
Now it was Q’s turn to become
angry. The omnipotent being’s eyes
flashed his rage. Then, to K’danz’s surprise, he quickly appeared to calm.
“I have once
again underestimated the limits of the human memory in that mass of neurons you
call a brain.” And without another word,
snapped his fingers.
*
* * *
K’danz suddenly found herself outdoors on a bright, sunny
day. Again, it took some time for her
eyes to adjust to the light, but when they had she immediately knew where she
was. The town in
As she neared the
riverbank, K’danz started hearing the voice of a
young girl over the sound of the flowing water.
Moving closer, she saw it was a little girl who looked about six years
old with strawberry blonde hair. K’danz’s mouth dropped open as she immediately recognized
her younger self.
The young Carrie
was sitting near the edge of the river, writing in what appeared to be a
journal and talking to herself. K’danz smiled as
memories started flooding back to her, happy memories of childhood. That happiness turned sour when she realized
the young Carrie was not talking to herself, but to her ‘Imaginary Friend,’ Q.
K’danz debated with herself about whether she should walk
over to the little girl and try and convince her that maintaining her
friendship with the ‘imaginary’ being would prove to be pointless, even
dangerous, the Starfleet officer in her wondering if it would be a violation of
the Temporal Prime Directive when, to her horror, the earth beneath the young
Carrie gave way, spilling her into the fast-moving waters. The little girl, unable to swim, started to
scream as her head went under water. A
witness to the event, who had been crossing one of the bridges downstream but
realized the water was too shallow to safely jump into from that height, pulled
out a communicator and called authorities for help. K’danz, in a near
panic, simply followed her younger self down stream along the riverbank, unable
to do anything to help because she had never in her life learned how to swim,
watching herself drown.
As she watched,
the young Carrie disappeared beneath the surface. K’danz considered
jumping in and attempting a rescue even though she knew she would likely drown
as well, figuring if she died as a child it would not make much difference
anyway, until she noticed the little girl’s head appear above the water
again. Watching in amazement, it looked
like someone or something was dragging the half-drowned girl toward shore, then
up onto the grass-covered bank. Seconds
later the man from the bridge and an emergency medical crew arrived on the
scene, the paramedics quickly starting emergency breathing. Several seconds later, the young Carrie
coughed out a mouthful of dirty water and started breathing on her own.
Close to tears, K’danz moved away and collapsed on the grass behind a tree
out of sight from the near-tragic scene.
Suddenly Q, dripping wet,
appeared in front of her in a flash of light.
His expression was neither angry, sad nor joyous
as he looked at K’danz before sitting down and
leaning back against the tree next to her.
“I barely
remember that day,” K’danz admitted. “I always thought it had simply been a dream.” She looked at Q with amazement. “You saved
me?”
“We all have choices
to make,” Q admitted. “Expectations to live up
to. Where would I be in my study
of humanity if I had simply let you die?
We can only hope to make the best choice possible for ourselves.” He then looked directly at her and smiled
broadly before snapping his fingers once again.
*
* * *
K’danz suddenly found herself sitting in the chair behind
the desk in her ready room. For a brief
moment after realizing she was back aboard the Dauntless she let the emotions of the last several hours flood over
her, several tears dripping down her cheeks before she regained control and,
with a sniffle, wiped them away with the back of her hands.
“K’danz to the bridge. What is ship’s status?” she asked after
tapping her combadge, wondering if anyone had noticed
her absence in the hours she was gone.
“Ship’s status
hasn’t changed since you passed through less than a minute ago, Captain,”
Commander Tom Paris replied, his voice sounding inquisitive. “Why?
Has something happened?”
K’danz looked over at the antique ship’s chronometer hanging
on the opposite bulkhead and was surprised to realize it had only been thirty
seconds since she had entered the ready room.
“No. Nothing has happened,” K’danz
quickly replied. “Thank you, Tom.”
Still recovering
from her emotional ordeal, not the first in her many encounters with the being Starfleet
referred to as Q, and likely not the
last, she pressed the button on her desktop monitor to start working on the
reports she had come into the ready room to complete. Her eyebrows knit in puzzlement when the
first report she called up was finished.
She moved on to the next report and again found it complete, right down
to the signature. Again and again, K’danz called up fuel consumption, consumable and efficiency
reports, and each time found the reports signed, sealed and delivered.
Finally,
realizing she had extra time on her hands, she called up one last screen on her
monitor. Smiling to herself, she made
one more choice for the day.
A moment later, K’danz stepped back out on the bridge, heading toward the
closest turbolift.
“If you need me,
I’ll be down in Holodeck 3, Tom,” she informed her
first officer.
“Aye, Ma’am,”
“Captain!” Lt Commander Setton Arbelo, who had been sitting at the mission ops station on
the port side of the bridge entering data into the library computer before
heading off to his skatsball demonstration, exclaimed
as he looked over toward K’danz. “The demo is being held in Holodeck 2, not Holodeck 3.”
“I know, Monster,”
K’danz said, pausing by the master situations monitor
and looking at her Chief of Ops. “I’m
afraid I won’t be able to make it today.
Something has come up.”
Arbelo nodded, and though he was disappointed he did not
show it as K’danz entered the turbolift.
Several minutes
later, dressed in a robe and slippers covering a bathing suit, K’danz entered the holodeck which
had been programmed as an Olympic-size pool.
Hanging on the closest side of the pool was a holographic human swimming
instructor who looked remarkably like the 21st century swimming
champ Michael Phelps.
“Welcome,
Captain,” the hologram greeted. “Will
this be your first swimming lesson?”
“Yes,” K’danz confirmed with a half-smile as she removed her robe
and slipped into the shallow end of the pool.
“But hopefully not my last.”
The End
Return to 2385.
Return to Stories Archive.