Star Trek: Voyager and the Descendants of Q

Blackness stretched out endlessly with countless white dots breaking up the darkness. Voyager was moving at impulse currently, giving the warp core a break as it was the graveyard shift. I sat in the captain's chair while staring out the viewscreen, my mind mostly empty with Echo regenerating. There was nothing pressing at the moment, and I was not in the mood to read, so I was in a light meditative state as I toyed with my Wind Domain.

I am not sure when I first sensed it, as the feeling was so weak, but 'something' was calling out to me. When I finally did take notice of it, it was already too late, though I did not know it yet.

"All stop," I ordered. "Use the long-range sensors in parallel with the mana-sensors to search ahead on our course."

The ensign at the Conn station did as I instructed along with the crewman at Operations without hesitation.

"Strange... I detected something with the mana-sensors, but now, it's gone," the crewman said. "No, wait, now there is something else at thirty-six mark eighty... and it's gone."

I teleported myself on the other side of the railing, not next to him as to not spook him, then stepped closer to the console so that I could look too, just in time for another mass of mana to appear. It was in yet another different direction and only lasted a moment. Although this 'burst' of mana was detected by the sensors, they could not make heads-or-tails of the composition of the mana. Three more times it appeared and disappeared in an instant, every time from a different location, but one thing was in common, it was moving closer... and the 'call' was getting stronger.

"Jewels, reverse course, warp one!" I said with unease. "Bridge to Captain Janeway. Sorry to wake you, but I think we have a problem."

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Janeway replied, tiredness in her voice.

The console chimed, marking another 'burst', and it was even closer than before the ensign jumped to warp.

"Change heading by fifty-five mark twenty and increase to maximum warp."

"What is it, Captain?" the crewman asked.

"I'm not sure, and I don't want to find out," I replied... though I did have an idea.

There was one particular episode that I had been worried about, especially after what happened with the Omega episode. If Omega was the Borg Holy Grail of Order, then a unique space anomaly would be the manifestation of Chaos, the aptly named Chaotic Space. Voyager was nearly destroyed by the destructive nature of the region, but Chakotay, due to a 'crazy' gene as he called it, managed to make contact with the aliens native to the space and save the ship. If this was the beginning of the episode, especially with the 'call' that I was sensing, I knew that this would not be as easy as it was in the show.

"Rebecca to Katye," I said, tapping my badge.

It took her a few moments to reply, but thankfully, she did. "I'm here."

"Do you sense anything?" I asked in Trigedasleng.

"No," she replied after a minute of silence.

"Wake up Echo. I'm putting Voyager into yellow alert," I said.

"Understood. I'll make sure that the Fae Dragon is ready to fly."

Janeway walked off the turbo lift in time to hear Katye's last sentence, so she gave me a look.

"Record any burst of mana that the sensors detect and try to extrapolate the travel path," I instructed to the crewman at Operations then looked to Janeway.

She seemed to understand my unsaid request and gave me a nod then headed to her Ready Room. I followed right behind her and entered the room while she went straight to the replicator to order a cup of coffee, and I stayed by her desk.

"Something's going on?" Janeway asked after her first sip of coffee.

"I wouldn't wake you up for something simple. I've told you that my power is rooted in Chaos... I had a single vision of the future of a danger that could relate to this, which Voyager could have saved itself from with Chakotay's help. I started sensing something from ten light-years away, and I am fairly sure that I have become a magnet for it. I've stopped, reversed course, and even changed course at higher speeds, yet it seems to be closing in on us... and my best guess is that it's Chaotic Space, a strange space phenomenon that has trapped countless vessels, even a Borg cube, and it has the ability to move," I explained.

Janeway did not hesitate and tapped her comm badge, saying, "All Senior Officers to the Bridge. Yellow alert."

I could not help but smile lightly at her actions as it showed just how much she trusted me. I barely explained the dangers, yet a simple warning was enough for her to take the threat seriously.

"Will you be affected by this... 'Chaotic Space'?" she asked after a sip of her coffee.

"I'm not sure, honestly. My powers stem from Chaos, so I would imagine there will be some effect to me, the space anomaly, or both," I replied.

"Have Katye join us on the Bridge. I know she has a deep understanding of your group's powers."

I chuckled, "Yes, she does know more than myself about these kinds of things and would be the best person to restrain me if something goes wrong. I would also recommend that we have Raven join as well. The Borg have dealt with Chaotic Space before, so she has their information still in her mind, and she could assist Katye with handling me if needed."

"Agreed, now let's see if that 'thing' is still following us," Janeway said, motioning towards the door to the Bridge.

I paged both Katye and Raven as we returned to the Bridge. We walked straight to Operations and found that the strange mana bursts were still following us, slowly closing the distance. While it was difficult for the computer to calculate when it would reach us, the window that it created was from an hour to thirty hours. The Senior Officers trickled in one by one, including Katye and Raven.

{I'm pretty sure we are about to start 'The Fight' episode, so Chaotic Space. I sensed something in the distance, calling to me, that the sensors can't make sense of, and it's closing in on the ship.} I sent to Katye and Raven telepathically.

{You're going to leave the ship!} Katye accused.

I shot her a smirk and retorted, {And you have to keep Voyager on course, away from me. Your trial was Omega, and this is mine. If I do fail, I refuse to corrupt you all with my Chaos… it's a fate worse than death in my eyes. Keep Voyager moving away as fast as possible and make sure that they know to avoid the region around me unless I succeed. Echo needs to be watched in case I do fail and be separated from me immediately. I love you all, fiercely, and make sure to tell L'Naan for me.}

Before Katye or Raven could reply, I summoned my exo-suit and teleported myself off of Voyager, causing me to tumble due to the ship's wake.

[You better come back.] Echo said through our connection. 

[That's the plan.] I reported. 

I used my suit's thrusters to stabilize myself then allowed my body to float in space. I sighed, knowing that I needed to relax and focus my mind, but the nagging reminder of the trial coming my way made it hard. Out of habit, I pulled myself into a meditative pose and entered a shallow meditation.

I pulled in mana to top off my reserves while maintaining ten minds, three drawing in mana while the six others built mental walls around the mind connected to Echo and the last paid attention to the world around me.

There was a flash of white light, and Sancu appeared before me. "It's good to see that your heart is still the same. Leaving Voyager, and your group, guaranteed the safety of all of them."

My instincts told me that there was more to this than a 'simple' test, so I asked, "What happens if I fail this test… truly?"

"Your Ego will be wiped and Istar uses his Soul, and his Pantheon's Souls, to reinforce the seal that Dystina placed on your True Soul, which would release it into the Sea of Rebirth. Katye, Raven, Echo, and L'Naan will be released into the Endless Firmament as they are right now. When I created this avatar in Istar's Inner Realm, he was in our stronghold, but 'I' have been living here for a hundred million years as his ultimate judge for Katye's and your training, so there is no telling where he is now. We were on the verge of war because there was no way to seal off the 'black hole' that your past-self created, so factions willingly entered the Chaos Zone that resulted from your actions. Chaos was tilting the balance of power and far too many people are willing to give in to easy power, despite the corruption it brings," he said with rare seriousness.

"If it's that dangerous, why are you constantly having me risk my life?!?" I snapped.

"Oh, your death won't have the same outcome," he replied cheerfully. "Istar has decided that it is time for you to attempt to fuse with a Shard of Chaos that he recovered after Dystina first sealed away your True Soul."

"Why now?" I asked.

"Master did not enlighten me as to his reasoning, he only gave me the instructions to bring you to the Shard. Are you ready?"

I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down as best as I could, then nodded my head. There was a flash of white light, and I was no longer floating in space. 'Where' I found myself next was not a place easy to describe.

Featureless white spread out in every direction except for directly in front of me. 'What' was in front of me was nothing that I could see as complex emerald-green runes hung in the air around something like a cocoon, but I could sense it; I could sense Pure Chaos from deep within the magical barriers.

"I'm not sure if it's good that you can sense it, or if it is an effect of Dystina's seal weakening," a familiar voice commented from my side.

"Is that why you had me brought here?" I asked, glancing at Tori.

"No... I had you brought here because I need to leave for the battlefield if you manage to succeed. The other Novas that don't wield Chaos have finally come to an agreement to combat the Chaos Faction. They would be able to detect the aura of this unbound Shard within my Inner Realm and assume that I am acting as a double agent. Only when it is bound to a person will its aura be suppressed, just like Katye's Shards of the Arcana, though most will be able to sense the Chaos within your aura, outside of my protection, of course."

"I'm pretty sure that anyone who is a Demi-God or above could detect it even without the trinket," I remarked with annoyance.

"True. You may want to take a page from Echo's playbook and learn a little about concealing your aura in the future," he chuckled.

"That is, if I still have one after this. I'm ready. What do I do?"

"I've modified the barriers so that you can walk through them freely. Obviously, I haven't bonded with any Chaos Shards, so I'm not sure what you will experience... and yes, you can just kill yourself and leave this burden to your next reincarnation, but I will erase them all with only Katye being reborn alongside you within my Realms. The decision is yours, Rebecca, but we both know what you will choose," he answered then vanished as if he had never been there.

I stared at the green runes for a long time, memories playing through my mind. It was not just Katye, Raven, Echo, L'Naan, and the rest that I was risking, but also Tori and his Pantheon, beings that had lived for billions, trillions of years. Chaos had engulfed the Endless Firmament because of the ascension of my True Soul and the actions of my past-self, and a piece of that Chaos was in front of me. Bond with it and keep my mind intact, or be sealed away at Tori's, and his pantheon's, sacrifice and throw my loved ones into a world where their strength was considered bottom of the barrel, not even worth more consideration than killing an ant. 

I took a deep breath and stepped forward...