by Dakota

"Captain to the bridge!"

Kathryn leaned up on one elbow wondering what required her attention in the middle of Gamma Shift. She was about ready to open a channel and ask Tuvok what was going on when the red alert klaxon sounded. Kathryn didn't waste time wondering, she moved.

A few minutes later, she hurried out her door pulling on her jacket and collided with Chakotay on his way to the turbolift. He grasped her arms to keep her from falling without breaking his stride and had her moving toward the lift before she realized who he was.

"Any idea what's going on, Captain?"

"No." Kathryn finished pulling on her jacket just before the turbolift doors opened onto the bridge.

"Report!" Kathryn glanced around a seemingly normal bridge. There were no enemy ships on the main screen. The person at tactical seemed to be making routine adjustments and checking ship's systems.

Tuvok stood and turned to face the captain. "We have fallen out of warp, Captain, and are stationary in space with respect to a singularity."

Kathryn sighed. She suspected there was a long story behind that simple statement. "Are we in any immediate danger?"

"No, Captain."

"Stand down red alert."

"Captain, it might be wise to go to yellow alert until we know more about the situation." Chakotay knew that Tuvok would not have called them both to the bridge without cause.

"I concur, Commander."

"Agreed. Yellow alert." The captain yielded to their suggestion. "Care to start at the beginning now, Commander Tuvok?"

"Might I suggest the senior staff meet in the briefing room? I believe you will need the input of several others in order to understand fully what has happened."

"Assemble them in the briefing room, Tuvok." The captain nodded to Chakotay as she headed to the briefing. "Commander, shall we?"

Kathryn was on her second cup of coffee before the senior staff had assembled. B'Elanna was the last to arrive and her ill temper was readily apparent. She glared at Tom as she took her seat.

"Tuvok, why don't you start at the beginning for us all."

"As you wish, Captain." Tuvok glanced at the padd in his hand. "We were cruising at warp 6.7 when we encountered a disturbance that destabilized our warp field. For a short time, Lieutenant Torres was able to maintain the warp field despite a steady increase in the severity of the disturbance.

"I called you and Commander Chakotay to the bridge, Captain, and ordered red alert. About twenty seconds later, the warp field collapsed entirely. Despite the skill of our engineering staff, we were unable to establish a stable warp field.

"Once we were back in normal space, we determined that the source of the disturbance was the singularity I mentioned earlier."

"Why didn't we simply navigate around it?" Chakotay asked the obvious question. Black holes were easily detected.

"This is not a black hole, Commander."

"Then what is it?" The captain wanted answers to what it was, not what it wasn't.

"It most nearly resembles the singularity used by the Hirogen but is far larger. The technology appears to be quite different as are its effects on the surrounding region."

"Why are we holding position near this singularity instead of moving beyond the disturbance?" Chakotay wanted practical answers, not theory.

"During the time that Lieutenant Torres managed to maintain the warp field, we traveled a significant distance. We dropped out of warp within a million miles of the singularity, where the effect of the disturbance is greatest." Tuvok glanced at the chief engineer. "You nearly got us through the disturbance, Lieutenant."

"You mean I was good enough to dig us in deeper but not good enough to get us out the other side." B'Elanna Torres wasn't too pleased with the assessment and turned to glare at the chief helmsman. "That still doesn't explain why we didn't navigate around this thing once we encountered the disturbance."

"It is the technology that contains the singularity that is disturbing subspace, not the singularity. The effect is unlike anything we have encountered. Our sensors were not calibrated to detect it therefore we did not know it was there until we were in it. Now that we know what to look for, we can recalibrate our sensors so they will alert us to the presence of similar phenomenon.

"As for why we are holding position near the singularity, during the time that the lieutenant was able to maintain our warp field, we covered more than one half light year." Tuvok turned his eyes on the captain. "It seemed prudent that we investigate the technology for a possible way to maintain a stable warp field."

The captain nodded. "You're right, Tuvok. A day or two investigating could save us making that journey at sublight speeds." She glanced at the time. "Tuvok, maintain yellow alert until we know more about the technology and the people who developed it. Keep us well away from it for now.

"B'Elanna, Harry, get your departments analyzing the data we have. Tom, I want a thorough analysis of the standard procedures implemented by the helm when our warp field was first affected. We may need to make some changes. If we had changed course we might have been able to move beyond its effect before we lost warp capability.

"Those of you on Gamma Shift get some sleep at the end of your shift and report back to your departments at 13:00. We'll all gather back here at 14:00. Questions?" Kathryn glanced around the table. "Dismissed."

Chakotay remained seated while the others filed out. The captain stood and moved toward the replicator.

"You should get some rest now, too."

"I won't sleep."

"Maybe not, but you can still rest." Chakotay's voice was firm but sympathetic as he walked over to stand next to her. "Let your people do their jobs."

Kathryn sighed and pushed her cup into the recycler before turning to look at Chakotay. "I'm a hands-on type of captain, remember?"

Chakotay smiled and nodded. "I remember. Look, why don't we both take a shower then have an early breakfast? We can download the sensor readings and go over them in your quarters."

"All right."

Kathryn's reward was a smile and an extended arm.

Kathryn and Chakotay were the last to enter the briefing room, having spent the last few hours going over all the sensor readings Voyager had accumulated in the last ten hours. Kathryn sat in her usual chair while Chakotay got them coffee from the replicator before taking his seat.

"Ensign, what do we know about the singularity."

"The singularity itself is very similar to those used by the Hirogen but this one is far more massive, about ten thousand times as massive. The effects of the singularity on surrounding space are being blocked by some kind of containment field. The gravity field generated by the singularity is being completely dissipated but we're not sure how.

"So far, our best guess is that it is being used to generate power but we don't know where that power is going or how it's being transferred. What we do know is that it is also creating the disturbance in subspace that keeps us from maintaining a stable warp field.

"The entire system seems to be automated. It could have been days or centuries since whoever built it was last here."

"Lieutenant?"

"I really have nothing new to report, Captain. We've continued to study the disturbance and are trying to adjust our equipment to maintain a stable warp field, but nothing is working. We don't know enough about the cause of the disturbance to counter its effects."

"If you knew more, would it help you solve our problem?"

"It's possible." B'Elanna Torres did not sound optimistic. "There may not be a solution. The people who created this thing may have left at sublight speeds or developed an entirely different way to travel between the stars."

The captain had reached the same conclusions but had hoped the others would have seen something she had overlooked or thought of something she had not.

"Tuvok, is there any risk to moving closer to the singularity?"

"It appears to be safe, Captain. However, there is still a great deal we do not know about this technology. I would advice caution."

"Noted."

"Captain, since that technology is all that is shielding us from the gravitational effects of the singularity, we should keep Voyager well clear of what would be its even horizon." Chakotay clearly did not trust the technology. The captain looked at her first officer like he was being a mother hen. "It is the equivalent of a black hole, Captain."

Captain Janeway nodded. "All right. Initially we'll keep our distance." She turned to the others. "We'll move in closer to see if we can learn more about the technology and the disturbance in subspace. Dismissed."

Chakotay stopped Tom Paris as he was heading back to the bridge. "Paris, I want you to be ready to move Voyager away from the singularity." Chakotay's voice was pitched to be heard only by the pilot. Their eyes met and the pilot nodded slightly to indicate he understood.

"Giving out orders I might not like, Commander?" Kathryn was behind Chakotay.

"Just reminding Tom to be on his toes." Chakotay smiled at Kathryn.

"You have a problem with moving in closer?"

"No, I'm just making contingency plans in case the situation changes."

"Any other plans I should know about?" Kathryn sounded more amused than upset.

"No." Chakotay motioned her toward the bridge. "Just being a fine first officer."

Kathryn laughed. "Are you ever going to let me forget I said that?" Chakotay's only response was to hold out his hand towards the door and a smile.

The captain took her seat and glanced around the bridge.

"Ok, Tom, move us closer to the singularity – slowly"

"Aye, Captain." Tom acknowledged the order as he moved to carry it out. Slowly the structure near the singularity grew larger on the screen. "Captain, we're approaching what would be the event…." 

"Captain, there's something happening down there." Harry Kim's voice interrupted them.

Chakotay pulled up the readings on the shared console as Tuvok expanded on the information coming in at ops. "We appear to have triggered an automatic defense system, Captain."

"Systems on that structure are shutting down!"

"Get us out of here, Tom!" Kathryn didn't waste any time considering her options before ordering them away from the singularity. "Full impulse!"

The screen changed as Voyager turned but nothing more happened.

"Status!" Chakotay's voice rang out.

"The structure has been pulled into the singularity. I can't get any further readings on it or the singularity."

"Shields and structural integrity holding," Tuvok reported briefly.

"Tom?" Kathryn interrupted the reports from tactical and ops.

"We're at full impulse, Captain, but we're not moving."

"You said we were outside the event horizon."

"We were, Captain, but when the field containing the singularity collapsed we were caught. The impulse engines don't have the speed to break us free at this distance."

"Can we go to warp?"

"No, Captain. The disturbance in subspace is gone but now the gravity is too intense to create a stable warp field. If we can move about ten thousand kilometers away from the singularity, we might be able to go to warp."

"And if we could do that, we wouldn't need to go to warp to escape." Kathryn finished summarizing the situation.

Kathryn looked at Chakotay expecting to see a trace of "I told you so" in his eyes but all she saw was an apology. She nodded to acknowledge that this time neither had been careful enough.

Kathryn looked up from the padd she was studying as Tom and Harry entered the briefing room and sat down. Everyone looked exhausted even though it had only been two days since they had become trapped just outside the event horizon of the quantum singularity.

"B'Elanna, why don't you summarize the situation in engineering for us."

"It's nothing you don't already know." B'Elanna sounded tired and incredibly annoyed. "We couldn't maintain a stable warp field because of that containment field. Now that it is no longer operative we can't maintain a stable warp field because of the intense gravity. The impulse engines running continuously are putting an incredible strain on our power system. We've shut down all the systems we can, including the holodecks and most of our sensor arrays. The only systems we have functioning are inertial dampers, structural integrity, and minimal life support. We've routed all our power to impulse engines and they are currently at 100% but they are merely keeping us in place. We're still trying to come up with a way to establish and maintain a warp field but it's not promising."

"How long before we run out of fuel for the impulse engines?"

"At least a few months, but that's not the problem. The impulse engines were not designed for sustained use like this. The engines themselves get us up to speed and then we let inertia do the work most of the time. They are used primarily to get us moving, to slow us down and to maneuver in normal space. Right now, they're running constantly. If there is even a brief interruption in the power supply to them or if the output drops even slightly, we'll be pulled slowly toward the singularity. I have people monitoring everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen. As an added precaution, we've connected every charged storage cell to the system so they will kick in automatically if there is even a flicker in the power supply to the engines."

Kathryn looked around the table. "Anyone have anything to add?"

No one spoke.

"Any ideas or suggestions?"

"Is there anyway we can use the shuttles to help pull us out?" Tom spoke up and a few faces brightened.

Kathryn looked at B'Elanna. "B'Elanna?"

"Well, it's a good idea but it wouldn't help." B'Elanna was thinking through the idea. "To do any good the shuttle would have to be outside Voyager and moving faster than Voyager. But it can't do that. It would use all its available power to maintain its own position and structural integrity. Then it would need additional power to lock on a tractor beam to tow Voyager." B'Elanna shook her head. "No, it won't work. Sorry, Tom."

"But..." Tom started to speak but was cut off.

"Tom, I told you. It won't work. It's not just a question of power; it's a question of speed and our impulse engines can't get us going fast enough to counter the gravitational pull. We might appear to be stationary but we're moving at full impulse away from that singularity. Our problem is that it's pulling us back at the same speed."

"Which means there is no way a shuttle could escape on its own." Kathryn glanced at Tom to stop his next suggestion. As she turned back to Torres's, she nearly jumped out of her seat as she stared right into the face of Q.

"Kathy, Kathy, Kathy." Q was sprawled on his belly on the table with his chin propped on his hands about three inches from Kathryn's nose. "What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

"Q! I'm in no mood for your games." Kathryn channeled all her frustration into anger and directed it to the being in front of her. "We're busy at the moment."

"Now, is that any way to talk to an old friend?"

"You're not my friend." Kathryn was in no mood to put up with Q's games.

"What if I told you I could rescue your precious ship?"

"Then do it. Otherwise, go away."

"We don't have time for this, Q." Chakotay joined the conversation.

Q studied Chakotay a moment before turning back to Kathryn. "I still don't know what you see in him, Kathy."

Q snapped his fingers and Chakotay was gone and Q was in his chair. "Let's get back to business."

"Where is he?"

"In his quarters, all safe and sound." Q's patronizing tone only served to increase Kathryn's anger. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Do you want my help or not?"

"Yes, but if you're going to help, then do it."

"It's not that simple. The Continuum is being picky again about my interfering with you humans and the messes you get yourselves into. I can't just help you." Q smiled. "Not without some sort of payment."

"What do you want this time." Kathryn remembered Chakotay. "And bring my first officer back in here. Now!"

"Oh, all right." Q snapped his fingers and Chakotay appeared standing on the middle of the table.

Chakotay sighed in exasperation and moved to the edge to jump down. Harry stood to give Chakotay his chair but Chakotay moved towards Q. Kathryn shook her head slightly motioning Chakotay to sit on the other side of her. Tom stood and moved to get another chair farther down the table.

"Are you all right, Chakotay?" Kathryn made sure he was unharmed before turning her attention back to Q.

"I wouldn't hurt him, Kathy." Q smirked at Chakotay. "I know how much you miss your dog so I'm sure you'd miss Chuckles a bit, too."

"What do you want, Q?"

"Oh, nothing major, Kathy." Q smiled arrogantly. "All you have to do is give me something I've never seen or experienced before."

"Is this your idea of a joke?" Kathryn was not amused.

"Not at all, Kathy. I'm quite serious."

"And if we manage to give you something you've never seen or experienced before, what will you do?"

"Why I'll rescue this poor excuse of a ship from its predicament and all your crew." Q stared at Chakotay as if he were some undesirable slime worm. "I'll even save Chuckles for you though why you want him around is beyond me."

"How long do we have?" Kathryn was trying to ignore Q's comments.

"Until your paltry little ship loses the fight with the singularity. I'm in no hurry, Kathy. Take as long as you like."

"Well, you can't stay. If you know what we're planning it won't be something you've never seen or experienced before."

"Ahh, Kathy. Please?"

Kathryn looked at Q. She knew he had the power to move Voyager safely away from the singularity. The question was would he follow through on the agreement? She decided she would rather know where he was than wonder when he would appear without warning.

"You can stay provided you agree not to eavesdrop on anyone and that you enter and leave rooms like the rest of us – through the doors."

"That's so mundane. I suppose you want me to ride that dreadful turbo-thing, too."

"It won't hurt you."

"Can I ride it with you?"

"If we're going the same place at the same time, I see no reason we can't ride together."

"Well, all right."

"Good. Now that that's settled, leave the room so we can get to work."

"Where exactly am I supposed to go?"

"Go to the bridge for now."

"Can I sit in your chair?"

"No!"

The captain was glad that Q stood to leave despite being thwarted. "Do hurry with your plans, Kathy. I may have all eternity to wait for you to fulfill your part of the agreement but your ship's engines won't last that long."

With that Q left the briefing room and frolicked across the bridge to the helm. As the door shut behind him, the captain motioned toward the bridge with her head. Tuvok correctly interpreted her meaning and signaled Ayala at tactical to keep an eye on Q.

Kathryn turned to the others in the room. "Any comments, people?"

"Captain, I don't think we should rely on Q to get us out of this." The chief engineer was clearly not willing to give up her efforts to establish a stable warp field.

"She is right, Captain." Tuvok was an unexpected ally. "If you decide to pursue Q's challenge, it would be prudent for some of us to continue working on a solution from our own resources."

"I agree, Captain." Chakotay added his opinion.

The captain nodded. "What do you think of our chances of meeting his challenge?"

"Providing Q with something he has never seen or experienced will not prove an easy task. But he is clearly capable of moving Voyager out of danger. I believe it prudent to at least make an attempt."

"You could always mate with him, Captain." Tom quipped without thinking.

"That's enough, Lieutenant." Chakotay's voice was sharp.

Kathryn was quick to run interference. "You can deal with him when this is over, Commander. I'm sure the lieutenant spoke without thinking so we'll give him that opportunity." Dealing with Tom's insolence was a luxury for another time. Considering his suggestion was another matter.

Chakotay caught her expression and knew what she was thinking. Before he could comment further, the captain spoke. "Anyone have any other ideas?"

"How about a surprise party?" Harry was hoping to get past Tom's comment rather than actually proposing an idea.

"He's a Q, Harry. He doesn’t even have a birthday." Even a reprimand couldn't faze Tom for long.

"Well, then he's not likely to have ever had a surprise birthday party, is he?" Harry was defending himself from long years of habit not expecting anyone to seriously consider his suggestion.

"Your idea has merit, Ensign." The captain glanced at Tuvok with surprise. That was the third time in only minutes he had volunteered support for ideas proposed by others rather than sit silently listening to the discussion.

They discussed the basic idea for a few minutes before the captain ended the meeting.

"All right. B'Elanna and Harry, get back to work on a way to establish a stable warp field. Tom and Chakotay, get to work on the plans."

"Captain, how soon are we holding this party?" Tom was trying to be practical.

Kathryn glanced at the chronometer. "Let's see. It's 15:00. Shift changes in one hour so the mess hall should be clear by 18:00. Let's say 19:00."

"Four hours? You expect us to plan a party in four hours?"

"Yes." Kathryn stared at Tom. "Do I need to find someone else for the job? I'm sure Neelix would love to help."

"No, ma'am. I'm not sure how we'll manage with no replicators and nothing to eat but emergency rations and whatever is ripe in hydroponics."

"Sounds like you two have your work cut out for you." Kathryn turned to Tuvok. "Commander, you have the bridge. Tell Q I will be out shortly. I seem to be the one who gets to entertain him for the next few hours."

"Aye, Captain."

Chakotay spoke as the others left the briefing room. "I'll catch up with you in a minute, Paris."

Kathryn waited until the door closed. "What is it you wanted, Chakotay?"

"I just wanted to find out how long you plan to stay on the bridge."

"I'm not sure. Why does it matter? This is no time to be telling me I work too many hours."

"I was thinking about when you leave the bridge – on the turbolift – with Q on your heels. I just thought you might appreciate some company."

Kathryn sighed. "I had forgotten that. I'll plan on staying on the bridge or in my ready room until you and Tom are ready. You can come get me to remind me once again that it's time I ate something. We can go to the mess hall and Q will be with us. It's a perfect set up for the surprise."

"Agreed. If we're ready earlier, I'll just move up my arrival time."

"See you in four hours then, Commander."

"Yes, Captain."

Chakotay motioned for the captain to precede him onto the bridge.

Kathryn Janeway let out a sigh of relief when the chime sounded. After nearly four hours of non-stop Q and no coffee, she was almost ready to scream. Almost.

"Come."

The doors whooshed open and Chakotay stepped through. "Still at work, Captain?"

"This is more challenging than I expected, Commander." The expression on her face told Chakotay she did not mean anything faintly resembling a singularity.

"Maybe you need a break. Your shift ended three hours ago. Why don't you join me for dinner?"

"Water and emergency rations?"

 "I heard a rumor that Neelix found some coffee beans in a corner and a way to heat water."

"Really?" The captain's face brightened then fell as she remembered it was most likely part of the plan to surprise Q.

"Come with me and find out." Chakotay held out his arm.

"If this rumor is false, I'll put you on report." The captain took his arm and they walked toward the door. She glanced over her shoulder as the door opened. "You're welcome to join us if you want, Q."

For a moment, the captain was afraid Q was going to remain in the ready room. Her fears were unfounded as Q dashed through the door to catch up. "It's about time you realized I'm better company than Chuckles."

Q's elbow was two centimeters from the captain's nose. Controlling her irritation, she calmly put her hand on Q's forearm and lowered it to a comfortable level. She hoped her grasp on Chakotay's arm didn’t cut off his circulation.

The journey to the mess hall was incessant chatter by Q extolling his virtues and noble deeds over the millennia. Never had the captain been so relieved to see the mess hall doors. She glanced at Chakotay seeking confirmation that all was as planned. He nodded slightly and stood back to allow her to enter ahead of him.

The darkness of the room would have slowed Q but he refused to let go of the captain's arm so had no choice but to enter with her. Suddenly the lights came on.

"Surprise!"

The words echoed from more than forty members of Voyager's crew. Q looked around the room and beamed. "Oh, how nice of you to throw me a party."

Q looked down at Kathryn. "Oh, is this your best effort at providing me with a new experience?" Q grinned smugly and shook his head. "Sorry. Been there, done that. Some minor, now extinct, species off in the Beta Quadrant gave me a party seven or eight millennia ago."

Chakotay touched Kathryn's arm slightly. "It's all right, Captain. We'll think of something else."

"I already have."

"Captain…"

The captain ignored Chakotay. She turned to face Q, took a deep breath, grabbed Q by both ears and pulled his lips down to hers. She kissed him hard, forcing his mouth open.

Suddenly, Q pulled back.

"Yuck!" Q wiped his mouth and stared at Chakotay. "You really want to do that with her? That was disgusting!"

The captain didn't care what Q thought of the kiss. "Was that a new experience?"

"Yes, and thoroughly repulsive."

"Then we've fulfilled our part of the agreement."

"I was supposed to enjoy the experience."

"You never said that. Now, are you going to honor the arrangement?"

Q stared at the captain a moment then snapped his fingers. The captain found herself in her quarters with Q and Chakotay.

"What's this all about, Q?" Chakotay was the first to speak.

"I want something more. I find it hard to believe you actually want her to kiss you like she did me. If you don't find it as revolting as I did, I'll honor my agreement."

The captain was trying to hide a grin. "Do I have to pull his ears?"

"Yes, just like you kissed me. I want to see his reaction."

"What am I? Some kind of guinea pig?" Chakotay protested.

"I don't care what kind of animal you are, Chuckles. If you want my help, you'll do this."

Kathryn looked at Chakotay. "It's your call, Commander."

Chakotay looked at Kathryn. This was not how he wanted to kiss her for the first time. He saw the understanding in her eyes.

Kathryn reached up to run her fingertips along Chakotay's tattoo before gently taking his ears in her fingers. She tugged slightly to move his head down as she stretched to reach his lips with hers. The kiss was slow and gentle as she parted his lips with hers. She felt his hands move to her waist and pull her closer. Her hands moved to the back of his neck as the kiss deepened and she pressed against him.

"You're both disgusting!"

Kathryn forced herself back to the present and Voyager's predicament. "Well, does he look like he found that a revolting experience?"

"No." Q shuddered. "That's so, so… so… human!"

Kathryn made the obvious suggestion. "Why don't you move Voyager out of danger and go back and recover in the Continuum? I'm sure there are several Q who would like to hear about your terrible experience."

Q brightened instantly. "Yes, of course."

Q raised his hand.

"The ship, Q." Kathryn reminded Q as his fingers snapped.

Seconds after he disappeared his voice drifted back to them. "Oh, yes. Toodles."

Kathryn glanced out the window but the stars were motionless. "Janeway to Tuvok."

"Tuvok here, Captain."

"Status."

"We're one point three light years from the singularity. I have shut down impulse engines. As soon as we finish bringing all our other systems on line, I had planned to resume our previous course and speed."

"Very good, Tuvok. Janeway out."

Kathryn looked up at Chakotay. His hands were still on her waist and her left arm was high on his shoulder. 

"Tell me, Chakotay. Are you a good actor or do you disagree with Q's assessment about my kisses?" 

"Well, he claims to be omniscient." Chakotay smiled. "But I'm willing to do more research in an effort to prove him wrong."

Kathryn leaned closer and lifted her head. "Good idea, Chakotay."