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From: karmin.stjean@busilink.com (Karmin Stjean)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: New TNG Story: Qnapped
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 01:01:12 GMT
Message-ID: <9507212034066428@busilink.com>
Organization: BusiLink
Distribution: world
Lines: 135       


                    STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

                              "Q-napped!"


     "Captain Picard," Worf told him, as he arrived on the bridge in
respose to a summons from Riker, who had intercepted a planetary
distress call, "sir, distress signal coming in from a Federation research colony.
They are under attack."
     "On screen."
     Worf brought the image up on the screen. Picard could see the main
research lab shaking, violently, as if bombared by hundreds of enemy
ships.
     "Captain," the head scientist said, "thank God! You've got to stop
it!"
     "Do you know who's attacking you?" Picard asked.
     "No." The scientist replied. He fell as the next shockwave rippled
through the lab.
     "Data?" Picard asked.
     "My sensors do not pick up any indications of vessels near that
area." Data relied. "However, it is possible that the Romulans or another
species with cloaking technology has developed a ship that can fire when

cloaked. I believe the Romulans did come up with such a prototype just prior to the
Khitomer Peace Treaty, however no such ships were ever built because of
that ship's failure during the mission."
     "It would seem, Mr. Data, that someone has built such a ship."
     Another attack. Data tried to trace it back to it's source, but it
seemed to literally come from nowhere. There were no resonance traces,
no ion trails, none of the usual anomalies created by a cloaked vessel.
Instead, there was empty, black space.
     "I cannot find any source for an attack." Data replied.
     "Counselor," Picard asked Troi, "can you sense anything?"
     "No, sir." Deanna replied. "Only the panic on the surface."
     "Captain, the attacks are getting worse. Our lab must not be
destroyed.  If we succeed in this endeavor it could mean that no human being will
ever have to worry about becoming sick or losing a loved one. Think of the
benefits that could mean to humankind! Captain, please, we are not a
weapons manufacturer, we are simply a team of exobiologists trying to do our
job."
     Another strike.
     Q appeared on the bridge.
     "Q," Picard said, caught up in the urgency of the moment "we need
your help. An unknown force is attacking our outpost."
     "Why should I help?" Q asked. His normal tone of biting sarcasm was
replaced with a tone of pure hatred.
     Picard looked at Q in horror. "You." He whispered. "No...I refuse
to believe even you would be so despicable."
     Q turned and looked Picard in the eye. "Any parent," he said, "no
matter how advanced the species, will become feral and aggressive if their
child is in danger."
     "Your...child?" Picard asked, softly.
     Q nodded. "Amanda bore me a son." He said, a tone of pride and love
in his voice. "We were at Amanda's human parents' home at the time he was
born.  Amanda was still weak and I was at the Continuum for a moment telling a
few friends I have there, and when I got back Amanda said that our son had

been kidnapped."
     "Why not simply take him back?" Picard asked. "Why the attack?"
     "The planet the research vessel is on has an atmosphere which
scrambles our powers. The only way we can get the Qling back is to originate an
attack elsewhere."
     "And once the lab is destroyed, how do you plan to go to the planet
and come back?" Picard asked. "If the atmosphere scrambles your powers, as
you claim..."
     Q realized he hadn't thought of that. "Please," he said, to Picard,
"you can't let them experiment on my son."
     Picard recalled the scientist's earlier statements about not having
to worry about disease. He realized they were planning to use DNA from the
Qling in order to create a perfect human.
     "If they give you your son back," he asked Q, "will you break off
the attack?"
     "Yes." Q promised. "I just want my son back. Amanda's heartbroken
and I cannot stand seeing her that way."
     Picard turned to the scientist on the screen. "You have an alien
child in your lab." He told him. "You kidnapped that child."
     "We are only trying to improve life for humankind." The scientist
told Picard.
     "Doctor," Picard told him, "you must give the child back. You have
no idea of the forces you're dealing with. The attacks on your lab are
coming from the baby's father. Please, just give the child back to his parents
and the attacks will end."
     The scientist turned as his assistant, a woman he loved, was killed
by a falling bit of ceiling. Overwrought by grief and hatred of his own, he
went over to the Qling and began to smother him.
     Q saw him and flew into a fit of rage. No longer caring what the
planet's atmosphere would do to him, he rushed to the lab and pulled the
scientist off of his son. He picked up his son and was relieved to find
that the scientist had not killed the child.
     "Q," Picard told him, over the combadge he wore, "we'll beam the
two of you back to the Enterprise. Hang on."
     As it turned, out the atmosphere made it impossible for the
transporters to be used, so Barclay was sent to pick up Q in the shuttlecraft. Once
free of the constraints of the planet, Q was in full possession of his powers
once again. He vanished from the shuttlecraft, reappearing, a moment later,
with his son in his arms.
     "Thank you." He told Picard.