"Oww!" Harry Kim exclaimed after banging the back of his head
while trying to extricate himself from under the regeneration
alcove in Seven of Nine's new quarters.

"Are you damaged, Harry?" Seven asked, kneeling by him.

"No, I'll be OK," Kim said, touching the injured area lightly
with his fingertips. "I'll have to remember to be more careful in
the future."

"I am still uncertain as to the necessity of occupying these
quarters," Seven said.

"I told you, Seven," Kim said, "if you really want to know what
it's like to be human, it helps to live like one. You can't do
that from a cargo bay."

"There are one hundred ninety-seven crewmembers aboard this
vessel," Seven said. "Voyager was designed to accomodate one 
hundred fifty. Would it not have been logical for these quarters
to have been occupied by someone else, while I remained in Cargo
Bay Two?"

"These used to be B'Elanna's quarters," Kim said. "Now that she's
moved in with Tom, it's true that they could have been used as you
suggested, but the captain agrees with me on this one."

"One could question if you had any complicity in Lieutenant
Torres' change of accomodations."

"Seven," Kim said, "one thing I know is certain, is there's no way
B'Elanna would move out of her quarters just so that you could
have them. I had nothing to do with it."

Seven arched the eyebrow over her unenhanced eye, then returned to
the task of attaching the alcove to the bulkhead next to the bed.

* * *

Stardate 213415.7

A few days later, Naomi Wildman ran down the corridor, laughing.
Quentin came charging after her.  He was a normal-looking boy,
with dark brown hair and crystal blue eyes.

Everyone on Voyager thought Quentin wasn't real.  They kept
calling him her "imaginary" friend.  As far as Naomi could tell,
there was nothing imaginary about him.

"Catch me if you can," she taunted.  In response, Quentin leaped
forward, unconsciously putting all his effort into the dive.

As he tackled her, there was a tremendous surge of energy.  The
ship shook, the lights flickered, and the stars in the window
ground to a halt.

"Uh, oh," Quentin said.

* * *

"What the hell just happened?" Janeway demanded as she strode
onto the bridge from her ready room.

"There was a massive energy surge," Kim said,  "We still have
primary power, but the warp field collapsed and the engines are
offline."

Janeway turned to the Tactical station.  Lieutenant Commander
Everett Dyson, one of the survivors they'd rescued from the
wreckage of the Starship Challenger and former shipmate of
Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, had assumed the position of vice
chief of Security and was now on bridge duty.

"Could that have been some kind of weapon?" Janeway asked.

"I'm not reading any other ships," Dyson responded, "but I
wouldn't discount the possibility.  I recommend we go to yellow
alert until we know more."

"Do it," Janeway said.  The alert klaxon sounded and the
bridge lighting darkened.

* * *

"What happened?" Naomi asked, looking out the window.

"Uh, I think I did that," Quentin said.

Naomi turned, confused.  Before she could say anything, a young
blond woman appeared next to Quentin in a flash of light.

* * *

"Captain," Torres' voice said from the comm system, "I don't see
any reason why the warp drive stopped working.  By all rights, it
should still be working!"

"Keep looking, B'Elanna," Janeway said, "maybe you missed
something."

"Aye, Captain," Torres responded, unsuccessfully trying to hide
her annoyance at the slight -- intentional or not -- to her
engineering skills, and the channel went dead.

Janeway stood from her chair on the Bridge, threw her arms up and
said, "Can anyone tell me what the hell happened?"

There was a flash of light and Naomi, Quentin and the blond woman
appeared on the bridge to Janeway's left.

"I think I can," the blond woman said.

Dyson had his phaser to bear and pressed a button on his control
panel, alerting a security team.  "Don't move," he warned.

"I don't think that'll be necessary," the woman said, and with a
flick of her wrist, Dyson's phaser disappeared.

"You're a Q," Janeway observed.

"That's right," the woman answered.  "I was born and raised on
Earth.  My parents were Q, but they were killed by the Continuum
when I was young."

"Then that must make you Amanda Rogers," Janeway said.  "What
brings you to Voyager, and what happened to my ship?"

"Me," Quentin said sheepishly.

"And who are you?" Janeway asked.

"He's Quentin!" Naomi supplied eagerly.

A security team, led by Tuvok, stepped out of the turbolift,
their phasers at the ready.

"Everything's under control," Janeway said, turning to the
newcomers.  Turning back to Amanda, she said, "Now, about my
ship..."

There was another flash, and Q and his mate appeared on the
Bridge to Janeway's right.

"Q!"  Janeway exclaimed.  Tuvok's team once again brought their
phasers to bear.

"Now, Kathy, is this any way to treat an old friend?" Q asked,
indicating the security detail.

"As for you young man," Q said to Quentin, "you've got a lot of
explaining to do."

"Q," Amanda interrupted, "don't start trying to act like a
concerned parent."

"What act?" Q asked with mock indignance.

"You know as well as I do that you let this child run wild across
the universe.  Did you know he's already caused six supernovae?"

"Ah," Q said wistfully, "following in his old man's footsteps
already."

"The only one who's been keeping an eye on him is me!  You threw
the Continuum into an uproar, had a kid and left him to fend for
himself!"

"Let me get this straight," Janeway interrupted, "Quentin is your
son?"

"My," Q said dryly, "aren't we slow today, Kathy."

"We want our son, Amanda," the female Q said.

"Take him," Amanda said.  "I'm sick of playing an intergalactic
babysitter."

Quentin walked over to stand with his parents, his head hanging
on his shoulders.

Amanda looked at Janeway, "Now, about your warp drive, I have a
solution to all your problems."

"What are you planning, Amanda?" Q asked.  "Do you seriously
intend to just wave your arm and take them home?"

"In fact," Amanda said, "that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Oh, this'll be good," Q said, sitting in Janeway's chair.

Amanda waved her arm and there was a flash of light.

Within moments, Torres' voice came over the comm system,
"Captain, I don't know what happened, but the warp drive is back
online."

Janeway hardly noticed, her gaze fixed on the viewscreen.
"We're home," she said, as she watched Earth slowly rotate on the
screen, seen from their position in standard orbit.

"O-open a channel," Janeway said.

"Channel open," Dyson acknowledged.

"Starfleet Command, this is the Starship Voyager," Janeway said.
"We've just entered Earth orbit.  Please confirm."

"Acknowledged, Voyager," came the reply.  "We have you on our
screens.  Welcome home."

A cheer rose on the Bridge.  Janeway turned to Dyson. "Replay
that on ship's speakers," she ordered.

"Aye, captain," Dyson said. He pressed a few buttons, and within
moments, one could almost hear the cheers coming from throughout
the rest of the ship.

"Command," Janeway continued, "be advised we currently have four
Q on our bridge."

"Acknowledged, Voyager.  Initiating system-wide red alert."

The screen changed to the aging face of Admiral Owen Paris.
"Voyager," he said, "it's good to see you again.  Tom," he said,
upon noticing his son at the helm, "I'm glad to see you're all
right."

"Never better, Dad," Paris replied.

"Admiral," Janeway said, "we're about to transmit recent data we've
acquired from our experiences in the Delta Quadrant.  Command
may be very interested in it."

"Acknowledged.  Proceed when ready." Star  charts, technological
data, information on new races and civilizations and a multitude
of other discoveries were transmitted into the computers at
Starfleet Headquarters, to be transferred later for archival at
Memory Alpha.

"Admiral," Janeway said,  "would you like to beam aboard?  I'm
sure we could arrange a small family reunion for you."

"Of course, Voyager.  I'll make arrangements to beam aboard in
thirty minutes."  Admiral Paris closed the channel and his image
disappeared from the viewscreen.

* * *

"Mom, Dad!" Kim said, the excitement of the situation audible in
his voice. "It's so great to see you again! It's been so long! I
was afraid I wouldn't see you again."

"Harry," Kim's father, John, said, "we knew we'd see you again.
We just didn't think it would be so soon."

"We have someone here who'd like to see you," Kim's mother, Mary,
said. On that cue, Libby Lattimore stepped into range of the
viewer.

"Hi, Harry," Libby said. "How have you been? When are we going to
meet this new girlfriend of yours?"

"Pretty good," Kim said. "She should be here any second now."
As if on cue, the chime to Kim's quarters sounded. "Come in," he
said. Seven stepped into the room.

"You wished to see me, Harry," Seven said.

"Yeah," Kim said. "Come here, please, so they can see you in the
monitor." Seven stepped into view, and the three on the Earth side
of the message blinked simultaneously. "Mom, Dad, Libby, this is
Seven of Nine."

"Harry's said so much about you in his letters," John said. "He
thinks quite highly of you."

"We were a bit concerned at first," Mary said, "because he said
that you were Borg, but he said that once we got to know you, we'd
agree with him how special you are."

"Thank you," Seven said. "I... appreciate it. You are Libby,
Harry's former mate, correct?"

Libby blushed. "Uh, yeah," she said. "I guess you could call me
that."

"Harry said," Seven began, "that we would become good friends,
once we had the opportunity to meet. I look forward to our
forthcoming interaction."

"Uh, yeah," Libby said, surprised by Seven's choice of wording.
"Me, too."

* * *

Janeway, Chakotay and Paris stood in the transporter room, with
Torres operating the controls.  The panel beeped and an indicator
blinked, announcing Admiral Paris' request for beamup.

Torres activated the transporter, and Admiral Paris appeared on
the pad.  He stepped down and embraced his son.

"I've missed you, Tom.  When I thought you'd died in the Badlands,
I realized what I'd missed out on while you were growing up.
I'm sorry."

"It's OK, Dad," Paris responded.  "I'm alive, and I'm here now.
That's all that really matters."

Admiral Paris looked over to Torres, who was still behind the
controls of the transporter. "You must be B'Elanna," the elder
Paris said. "Tom's told me about you in his letters. It's a
pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Torres said.

"You have no idea the stir it caused when we got your original
message five years ago, captain," Admiral Paris said, turning to
Janeway.  "The fact that you were not only alive, but in the Delta
Quadrant was phenomenal, but the fact that you had integrated the
Maquis that you were sent to capture into your crew caused more
than a few ripples."

"I saw no other alternative, Admiral.  We were both stuck out
there and the only way we would have a chance of making it back
was to cooperate towards a common goal.  With their ship
destroyed, it seemed only logical to incorporate them into the
crew." With a flash of light, Q appeared before them. "Q," she
said, "haven't you left yet?"

"Kathy, I allowed Amanda to take you home, but I didn't say how
long that homecoming would last." There was another flash of light.

"Captain," Dyson's voice came from the comm system.  "We-we're
back in the Delta Quadrant.  Right where we were when the warp
drive failed."

* * *

Janeway, Chakotay, Torres, and the Parises stepped onto the bridge
from the turbolift.  All four Qs were still aboard, and Q himself
was sitting in the captain's chair.

"Q," Janeway said, "get the hell out of my chair."

"Kathy, you wound me," Q said, clutching his chest.

"Not yet I haven't," she growled.

"I demand you return us to Earth," Admiral Paris commanded.

"You're in no position to demand anything," Q said, standing so he
could tower over the smaller man.

"Q!" Amanda exclaimed.  "I sent them home before.  I can do it
again."

With a flash of light, another Q appeared behind Amanda. "But thXöú


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