**** Morgan ****

It was nice to feel safe, instead of fearing for my life, but it sure got boring very quickly! I sat about my quarters, using the computer to find out as much as I could about our Romulan friends. Unfortunately, the tiny amount I could find out didn't look too good.

I had decided that it would be best for me to lay low for a while. Firstly, I didn't want my presence on the ship to become too well known - especially around Starfleet in general. Secondly, I had heard a few rumours that Nu'Daq was going through some tough times. He was not an easy person to be around when his temper was up. I had also heard that a Cardassian was on board. I couldn't help smiling at that story. While I personally didn't find Cardassians all that threatening, it must have created some interesting situations on a ship full of Bajorans and Klingons. Maybe I should get out more. Watching the Cardassian trying to interact with the rest of the crew might be amusing.

Just as the boredom was really starting to sink in, and I was considering a trip to Ten Forward (half the ships in Starfleet call their bar that. Don't they have any imagination?), the ship suddenly started shaking. I lept up from my seat and was about to ask the computer what was happening when I got a call.

"Nu'Daq to Morgan."

I couldn't help grinning to myself. It must be the Romulans again. At last! Something to do!!

"Morgan here." I replied.

"I need you to come to the bridge and brief me on what you found out about the Romulans. Now! Nu'Daq out."

I made my way to the bridge. I was not looking forward to telling Nu'Daq what I had found out....

**** Jadzia Dax ****

"Crud."

Jadzia twisted around in her seat as Lieutant Janor's odd comment. Jadzia tried not to smile at Janor's youthful enthusiasm. "Crud" was not a term heard often on Starfleet vessels.

"What is the problem, lieutenant?" Jadzia asked.

"I'm picking up some spatial distortions," Janor said pensively.

"What kind?" Dax was already out of her chair and rounding up the back of the Bridge to Janor's side.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Nu'Daq erupt onto the Bridge, his face set in a typical angry
expression. Jadzia made a mental note to make sure that Nu'Daq scheduled some time with Counselor Katja.

Whatever was eating at this guy needed to be taken care of.

"Hmm... by the chroniton dispersion and the wave pattern, it looks like..." Janor bit her lip. "It
isn't just space, Commander, it's also time."

"Space and time?" Jadzia frowned. "Are you saying we're caught in some kind of bubble?"

"Something like that," Janor said. "It looks like there are tiny ripple effects that not only distort
the fabric of space but also displace chronitons, which means our reference of time is probably off by a
few milliseconds."

"So every time one of these ripples hits, we lose more time?" Jadzia asked, looking over the readings on
Janor's console.

"It looks like that way," Janor said. "And also, we're losing actual space."

"So the bubble is closing in on us?"

"Something like that."

Jadzia sighed, "Computer, run a database analysis. Compare the current readings to find another occurance
of this type of situation."

The Bridge was silent and then the computer beeped its results. Jadzia looked down just as Janor did.

"Well," Janor said. "I did not expect *that*."

"The last known instance of this phenomenon occured to the NCC1205," Jadzia looked over the Bridge and down
at Worf. "The Enterprise. Worf, does this sound familiar to you?"

Worf got up from his chair and looked at everyone grimly, "Yes. Q."

***** Xenia Rafko ****

The one thing I did not miss during my one year leave of absence from Starfleet was the red alert klaxon
going off in my ears. I rose from my desk and went out into sickbay. Minor injuries were pouring in - most of them handled by my very capable medical staff.

"What's going on?" I asked to no one in particular. A petite Terran nurse paused long enough to say, "Didn't
you feel the shudder?"

"No," I admitted. The nurse - her name was Madelyn O'Hara - looked at me oddly.

"It was quite noticeable," she said in a cautious tone.

"I'm sure," I said. Already my stomach felt very queasy and I needed to take my medications - which
were back in my quarters - and I also very much wanted to talk to Nu'Daq.

"I'll be back," I told Madelyn. "I just need to take care of some things. If Lieutenant Janor stops by for
her check-up, let her know I'll be right back."

Out in the corridors, the klaxons were very loud. I ducked into a hallway and tapped my communicator,

"Computer, location of Lieutenant Nu'Daq."

"Lieutenant Nu'Daq is on the Bridge."

I sighed. No need to bother him with my hysterics. I walked down the corridor, feeling very queasy and
dizzy. What was going on? I passed an ensign who was looking very pale himself. A second later, I heard a
thud and I turned around; the ensign was flat on his back. I went back to look at him. His face was very white,
his skin clammy with prespiration, and when I opened his eyes, his eyes rolled back into his head. A second
later, he opened his eyes.

"Are you all right?" I asked. "You fainted."

"I just got dizzy all of a sudden," he said in a low voice. I helped him to his feet.

"Let's get you to sickbay."

As I walked the ensign back to sickbay, I noticed more and more people looking ill. I handed the ensign over
to Madelyn's capable care and then I went back out to see what was going on. The corridor blurred in front of me and I thought that I saw a Cardassian walking with a Bajoran but I couldn't be sure because their outline were fuzzy and
I thought I saw Ensign Arsinoe running past me, but again I wasn't sure. The ship lurched again, and the three or four of us in
the corridor all lost our balance and tumbled to the floor. And over the comm system, someone was laughing
manically.

**** Veena Pari ****

Veena smiled at the Ensign's comment that she assumed was directed towards her. She moved herself more towards him and looked him in the eyes. For some reason she was happy at that moment. Leget lurched over and put his arm on
the young Bajoran's shoulder. The suddenly the ship rocked and Pari almost lost her footing.

"What was that?!" Veena said,quite a bit startled as she turned to look at Leget. The Cardassian just shook his head, showing his was just as baffled as she was.

"I believe we should make our way to the bridge, Veena." Leget said, calmly as he turned his body towards the direction of the nearest turbolift. Pari nodded her head and followed close behing the man as he headed towards the lift.

Just as she had expected, red alert had been signaled. Her eyes widened with the sound of the klaxons. She bit her lip...one of the few things she hated was not knowing what was going on. The turbo lift finally stopped and opened, revealing the bridge. Leget stepped out, and trailing him close was Veena.

"What's going on?" The two, almost at the same time, shouted.

**** Emallia Janor ****

"Well," Janor said. "I did not expect *that*."

"The last known instance of this phenomenon occured to the NCC1205," Jadzia looked over the Bridge and down
at Worf. "The Enterprise. Worf, does this sound familiar to you?"

Worf got up from his chair and looked at everyone grimly, "Yes. Q."

Q. This was interesting. I had read about the phenomenon that Q's can create to make a big entrance, but I had never read anything like this before.

"There's only one problem. All Q's like to make an entrance, but they're never a dangerous entrance, just a little annoyinng and bothersome. This disturbance could be disasterous if it isn't fixed with in the next 12 to 20 hours."

"I hear a problem up ahead." said Jadzia.

"You better believe it and this is a big one. A distortion like this that rests in time and space has never even been seen before. To fix one even the tenth of a size takes months, if not years to be done properly."

Jadzia seemed to be on to what I was talking about.

"Well, should we try to find the Q?"

"What kind of chance do we have of even convincing it to show itself? The Q aren't the most generous things in the galaxy," I said.

*Oh will you people please stop wearing out my name! It's quite troublesome.*

The bridge became silent faster that I had ever heard before.

"Q?" I called as I rose, slowly, to my feet. Another distrotion wave shoke the ship and I almost fell over. Good thing Jadzia was beside me.

"Yes?" She called as she appeared.

"Ummm, if you could be so kind, would you, could you, please stop the
time/space distortions?" I asked.

"What makes you think that I'm causing them?" she asked as she walked around
the bridge.

"Only you would get pleasure from something like this." Worf boomed.

"Ahhhhhh, wrong again Woof." she said as she zapped herself out of the way when he went after her.

"I believe your CMO knows who's responsible. Why don't you go and ask her before making such quick decisions?" she asked as she sat down in the captain's chair. "Hmmmmmm, I think I like Kathryn's better," she said to herself.

"Okay, wait. This is going nowhere."

She cut me off, "Ahhh, such a smart young lady."

"Okay, so Comander Rafko knows who's causing this, but, your here too so that means that you have to have something to do with all of this. The Q don't just show up to be helpful and watch. They have to have a part in things, so what's your part in all of this?" I asked as I made my way over the the captain's chair.

"Ahhh, that, my spotted friend, is for me to know, and you to wonder about," she said as she disappeared. The ship shuddered again, and I fell, hitting my head on the side of a console. The last thinng I saw was her throw a small
device towards me. There was also a small voice in my head.

"Here are some of the answers."

**** Nu'Daq ****

"Q", Nu'Daq thought. "A race of non-corporal life forms residing in a separate part of the multi-dimensional universe called the Q-continuum. Equipped with superior powers to manipulate time and space, regarded as omnipotent by some, as Gods by others."

The intelligence reports regarding the Q-race, which Nu'Daq had learned of in Klingon Intelligence, came to him
once again. Q. This meant trouble. Suddenly Q appeared. It was a female Q. Nu'Daq wondered. He had heard no
tidings of gender within the Q. He made a mental note to add that to his notes on the Q species.

Nu'Daq reviewed the situation. His scanners showed a severe space-time distortion dead ahead. It was the cause of the shakings of the ship. The distortion was very large, they would probably not be able to close it, before it had grown beyond repair. Hopefully some of these human science officers were as good as they thought....

From the conversation between Q, Commander Dax and Lieutenant Janor it seemed like Q actually was not responsible for the distortion. But you could never trust a Q. Her presence indicated, that she did have some kind of interest in this happening. However, Q had said, that Xenia played a role in this. Xenia? Why her? Anxiety caught up with Nu'Daq. He had looked forward to a more peaceful and quiet time with Xenia, but now this. But how? Why? The questions kept forming in his head.

Suddenly the ship was caught in another distortion wave, and it shook heavily. Nu'Daq saw Janor fall over and hit her head on a console. At the same time Q threw a small object to her, before she vanished. It looked like a small data recorder. Uhhh, if only Nu'Daq could get his hands on that. Well, it had to be another time. The commander and the captain had gathered
around Janor, she looked unconscious. Better get the Doc up here. Nu'Daq activated his communicator.

"Nu'Daq to Rafko. Medical emergency on the bridge."

He heard Xenia's voice: "I'm on my way. Rafko out".

It was only a short conversation, but still Nu'Daq had heard something in her voice. She
sounded.... differently... Perhaps it was just the excitement of the red alert, but still.... There was something.... Nu'Daq made another mental note to ask her about it. Later.

**** Rafko ****

The ship stopped lurching and I thanked the Prophets for inertial dampers. I swallowed hard to keep my breakfast where it belonged - in my stomach. Around me, others were getting to their feet, most of them visibly confused by the disturbance. A couple looked like I felt - green and queasy. Of course, I had been feeling nauseous even before the disturbance, whether it was from the fact that I hadn't taken my medications today or Gavin's rather disturbing proposal, I couldn't say.
I helped a young ensign to his feet.

"Sickbay," I told him. "I'll help you there."

We had gone half the distance to sickbay when Nu'Daq's gruff voice came over the com, "Nu'Daq to Rafko. Medical emergency on the Bridge."

At the sound of his voice, my stomach turned over at least twenty times in rapid succession. I knew that I couldn't keep things from him anymore, but I didn't want to see his face when I told him.

"Rafko here," I said. "I'm on my way."

I called for a nurse to come and get the ensign and then I lurched my way to the Bridge, occasionally pausing. My head was spinning now and I really thought I would explode. From the looks of people around me, I knew they felt the same.

When I got to the Bridge, I noticed a crowd of people. Nu'Daq, curiously, was standing apart from everyone else.

"What's going on?" I asked briskly.

"A female Q has injured Lieutenant Janor," Captain Worf said. I looked down at the prone figure of Emallia Janor. I guess I was going to get a chance to examine that phaser wound a lot sooner than scheduled.

I whipped out my tricorder, "Looks like a simple head wound. Let's get her to sickbay. Should make a full recovery."

"At least it's not serious," the first officer said in a tone of relief. "You will keep me posted."

"Of course," I said.

"Q said you knew what was causing this," Nu'Daq said, his voice strangely distant. I looked at him, wondering at the unspoken
accusation.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," I said honestly. "I've never had the pleasure of meeting a Q before, so I have no idea what he could mean."

"Have you ever seen this before?" Dax pointed out to some readings on a console. I leaned forward. Oh yes, I had seen this before.

"Looks familiar?" Dax pressed.

"Yes, it's a transporter signature," I said reluctantly. "The type of transport that displaces space in order to reduce time."

"What does that mean?" Nu'Daq asked.

"Conventional transporting means that you travel from point A to point B. The distance is fixed and hence the time allotted for the transport is fixed. But, if you reduce the distance, you reduce the time needed to travel."

"So in other words, you're compressing space?"

"Exactly. You reduce space and that decreases the amount of travel and because you're dealing with a reduced spatial harmonic, you can increase the velocity of transporting. It's actually a very precise form of travel," I leaned back against the wall, wanting very much to be somewhere else.

"It doesn't sound very... pleasant," Dax said and I could tell she had already figured it out.

"Basically, when you travel using this transport, you are also effectively compressing tissue at the cellular level. When you come out of the travel, your cells expand, sometimes so quickly, they burst. If you do this enough, your cellular membrances lose their elasticity and deterioriate, thus upsetting the electrolytic balance," I said. "Do it enough, you'll eventually kill yourself."

"Who uses this kind of transport?" Nu'Daq asked, his voice very far away.

"The Cardassians," I said. "Experimentally, of course, but never wide- spread. They killed most of their test subjects, you see."

My eyes drifted over to Tenjou, who was sitting at the helm; I could see her shoulders visibly tense.

"Who is using the transporter now?" Nu'Dqa nodded.

"That's easy," I said. "Gavin. I knew him... some time ago. He, um, I think he has a transporter of this kind."

"So what is he doing with it here? A mass transport?" Dax asked.

"Looks like that," I frowned. "At least one hundred individuals, I would think from the amount of disruption to space and time."

"Where are they going?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe you ought to ask the Q."

Dax shot me a look, a silent statement saying that she didn't especially care for my statement.

"I should get to sickbay," I said. I looked back down at Janor who was now resting comfortably on a hovering biobed. "I'll keep you informed on her condition."

"I will accompany you," Nu'Daq said. The captain nodded his permission and before I knew it, we were in the turbolift with an
unconcious Janor. I noted the small data recorder in Nu'Daq's hand.

"I've got to sit down," I said. Nu'Daq just stared down at me. "Space sickness," I said. "Gets me everytime."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

**** Nu'Daq ****

Nu'Daq was silent. He felt numb inside. As if his entire inside, his heart and soul, had been ripped out and replaced with a hole. He was just sitting there in Xenia's quarters. He could feel her eyes looking at his back, but he couldn't muster the will to turn towards her and talk to her. His legs and arms were heavy, his body motionless. He could hear his breath, but that was all. Everything else was silent. It even seemed like the normal regular humming of the ship was gone. In his hand was the data recorder Q had thrown to Lt. Janor, but he had lost every interest in it and everything else.

They had escorted Lt. Janor to the sickbay. She had still been unconscious, but the capable nurses in sickbay had taken care of her. After that Nu'Daq had escorted Xenia back to her quarters. She hadn't looked well and had mumbled something about her daily injection.

As they entered her quarters, she had asked him to sit down. She had something to tell him, something serious. Nu'Daq had not been worried, they had been through a lot and he couldn't imagine anything that could surprise him. He had been wrong, oh so wrong.

Xenia had told him everything. The whole truth. How the Cardassians had used her for their experiments on folded-space transport when she was a child, experiments that were the cause of her illness. An illness that continued to spread throughout her body, despite her desperate daily struggle to keep the illness at bay.

Later she had escaped and joined the Bajoran resistance, where she met Gavin. They fought together during the Cardassian occupation, but she had left Gavin for dead during a confrontation with the Cardassians. He had however survived and now held in his hands the folded-space transport device. The same device that seemed to be responsible for the distortion in
front of the Valjean. If this had been the end of the story, it would not have shattered the soul of Nu'Daq. But alas, it wasn't. Gavin had seeked out Xenia, telling her he had found a way to cure Xenia's illness. He had suggested a trade: The cure
for a night with her. This had made Nu'Daq angry, angry at Gavin. But if only the story had ended there, it would be no problem. But no.

Nu'Daq had asked Xenia, how she would respond to his proposal. She told him, that she would reject Gavins proposal. But Nu'Daq could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice, and her hesitation made him sure. She had - if only for a moment - considered accepting Gavin's proposal. At that moment Nu'Daq could feel a hand reaching into his body and tearing out his heart.

He had been sitting there for 15 minutes, his mind and soul empty, his mouth silent, his body lifeless. Xenia just looked at him, not knowing what to say.

Nu'Daq was slowly awakened from his numb state of mind by the sharp corners of the data recorder piercing into his hand. He heard Xenia's voice.

"Please Nu'Daq. Say something. You just can't sit there....."

He turned towards her. She looked at him, sadness was in her eyes. He still didn't know what to say, what to think, what to do.
His mind wandered back to the life lessons taught to him by his father, when he was still a child. One particular sentence came to mind: "A pure heart will always choose the right path". Nu'Daq searched his heart for advice.

And there was only one thing to do.

Nu'Daq got up, went over to Xenia and took her in his arms. "We can handle this, Xenia. Together. You and I. We can handle this."

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