Wow, Chapter 7 already?
Chibi-T: What do you mean, "already"? It took you forever! What happened to the whole "frequent updates" thing?
Hey, at least the gap between chapters wasn't quite as big this time. At least, I think so…
Chibi-T: Har har. Now, can you just do the disclaimer and get on with it? I'm sick of waiting.
Fine, fine. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Star Trek, or any of the show's characters. All I own is this story.
Chibi-T: And so, without further ado, here's…
Chapter 7
"Really, Seto! You should learn to control that temper of yours. It's quite unbecoming for a Starfleet officer."
"Don't give me that! Just tell me why you're here!" I shouted.
"Why, I came to see you, Seto!" Q smirked, and it occurred to me that he somehow knew my name.
Of course he does. He's a hologram in MY holodeck, I reassured myself.
"Get off this ship, right now." I spoke the words calmly and coolly, but through gritted teeth.
"Oh? You really think you're in any position to give me orders?" Q waved his hand, and an armchair appeared beside me. "Sit," he commanded.
"I don't think so."
"Oh, but I think so." He snapped his fingers, and before I knew it, I was in the chair.
"Listen, Q," I began. I stood up again, only to be slammed back down. I decided to give up on trying to stay on my feet and consented to sitting. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, and I don't really care either. Just don't interfere with my mission."
"Your mission? Quite full of ourselves, aren't we?"
"Maybe, but I assure you that my confidence in myself is well-placed." I couldn't help but mumble under my breath, "Besides, what do you know? You're not real."
He heard me. His smug expression shifted into a look of confusion for a moment, but the smirk quickly returned.
"Not real?" he said, drawing his face close to mine. "You still think you're in your silly little holodeck, don't you?"
My eyes widened. "What… do you mean? This isn't real. None of it is. You're just a stupid hologram! You're nothing but a machine-projected image, designed to simulate life."
"Your arrogance knows no limits, does it, Seto?" Q drew forward until our noses were only an inch apart. I pulled back slightly, but I held Q's gaze. Truthfully, I was a bit unnerved. What did he mean? He knew about my holodeck…?
I tried to pull myself together. "Oh? I could say the same thing about you."
All he did was grin. "Heh. Your poor brother. I hope Mokuba doesn't turn out this way. Speaking of which, I hear he's been taken captive by the Romulans. And where were you at the time, hm? Did your arrogance prevent you from"
I lost it. Before I knew what I was doing, I punched Q square in the jaw, knocking him backwards. I leapt to my feet.
"Don't you dare mention my little brother again, or so help me, I'll kill you."
"Oh my. Second time one of you cheeky officers has hit me. What ever happened to officers like Picard? Picard never would have sunk so low. Ah, well. You'll be that much more fun to antagonize." He stood up. "Now, Seto, let's see. I believe a lesson in humility is in order. Hmm, where to send you, where to send you?" He looked at me quizzically, cocking his head to one side. "Ah! I know!" He snapped his fingers, and his usual imitation red and black captain's uniform was replaced with a yellow top and black pants, with the tell-tale Starfleet insignia comm badge on the chest. I looked down and saw my own gold and black uniform had become a simple red top with black slacks.
"This is…" I began. Q cut me off.
"Should I send the whole crew….? No, I don't think so. Just those that….matter."
"No, Q, you can't"
"Please, Seto. Don't tell an omnipotent, all-powerful being what he can and can't do. So…Sayonara!"
Q snapped his fingers, and in an instant he was gone.
And, of course, so was I.
I found myself standing in what appeared to be someone's quarters an instant later. But it did not take a genius to figure out I was no longer aboard the Millennium.
I heard the door slide open behind me, and was too shocked to move.
"What are you doing in my quarters?" A voice, familiarly flat and emotionless, questioned me from the doorway.
I thought my heart would stop.
Slowly, I pivoted, only to come face-to-face with a pair of sharp eyebrows and equally pointy ears.
"Spock…" I gasped. He looked at me without a trace of emotion on his face, but I quickly realized I had made a mistake. "Mr. Spock, sir… I…" I stammered. I realized I sounded nowhere near my usual self, but…this was Spock.
"What are you doing in my quarters, Ensign?" Spock asked, raising an eyebrow.
I swallowed. Q really had transported me back to the original Enterprise. I didn't want to cause a disturbance and end up in a holding cell, so I swallowed my pride and began to...fabricate.
"I'm terribly sorry, Sir. Seems I took a wrong turn."
"How did you get in? An ensign should not have been able to override the lock."
Shoot. I thought fast. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm… not a bad engineer, if I do say so myself. I'm new, and I thought they were my quarters, and I…. well, I kind of broke in. I'm very sorry. I promise, it won't happen again."
"Hmm. I see." I could tell Spock was suspicious. After a pause, he said, "Very well. What is your name, Ensign?"
It suddenly dawned on me that he was referring to me as "Ensign". I looked down, and sure enough, my collar told me I was an ensign. SheeshI thought. If Q was going to send me here, he could have at least let me keep my rank.
I tried to answer with confidence. "My name is Seto Kaiba, sir. I just transferred here."
"You do realize that I must report you to the Captain, do you not? We cannot have you breaking and entering on this ship. Is that understood?"
"Of course."
"Good. Now, Ensign, would you like me to escort you to your quarters?"
"To tell you the truth, sir, I don't believe I have any quarters."
"Then we shall find some for you. Now, if you will"
"Yes, sir. I'll be leaving now."
"I will have someone prepare some quarters for you."
"Thank you, sir."
I ducked out of the room and ran as fast as I could down the corridor, evoking strange looks from the other officers. I stopped after a minute, pausing to lean against a wall and think. I was angry about my inferiority act. I was so used to being the superior one, the person always on top. Acting like I did… I had no idea I was capable of it. It irritated me, but at the same time, I was a little excited. I mean, Spock! How incredible was that? Of course, being found in his quarters like that, I had already raised suspicion, and no doubt I would be put under investigation.
"Seto!"
I looked up, only to see Yugi running toward me.
"Seto, what is this? What happened? We were on the Millennium, then the Romulans attacked, and..."
I was so startled that I didn't even notice his use of my first name. Reality came crashing down at that moment. What had I been thinking? Here I was, light-years away from my destination, in a completely different time, no less, and I was thinking about Spock and beating myself up over my inferiority act. What about Mokuba?
"It was…Q." I said, listlessly.
"Q? What the heck is Q?"
"Q… He's a member of a race of omnipotent, powerful beings who…Well, Jean Luc Picard, Captain of the Starship Enterprise has had several run-ins with this particular Q, and so has Sisco."
"Q… Oh, yes, I remember! I attended a briefing on him… So what has he done to us?"
My old annoyance with my "superior officer" returned. "Obviously," I spat, "he's moved us."
"Yes, but to where?"
"Don't you recognize Captain Kirk's ship? We're on the Enterprise!"
"The Enterprise?" Yugi gasped, wide-eyed. He seemed to instantly forget my sarcasm. "Kirk's ship? He's a legend! I can't believe this!"
"Captain," I said in mock respect, "aren't you forgetting the mission at hand? We're light-years away from our destination. We aren't even in the same timeline as our destination. I think we'd better focus on finding a way out before you rush for autographs." I spoke condescendingly, so much so that I felt a bit guilty. After all, I had experienced the same reaction when I realized where I was.
Yugi's expression hardened, causing my guilt to vanish. We were at odds once more.
"I know, Kaiba. But there isn't much we can do at the moment. Do you know if anyone else from the crew ended up here?"
I thought back to my encounter with Q on the Millennium. He had mentioned something about sending those that "matter" with me. My stomach churned. Could that have meant that he sent all of Yugi's friends? All the people I despised? No, it couldn't be true. But, knowing Q, it probably was.
"Oh please, no." I said, without thinking.
"No what?" Yugi asked. "Kaiba. Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Captain!" Joey's voice called to us from down the hall. He was running toward us, dragging Tristan behind him. "Captain, you won't believe this!"
"I know, Commander, I "
"I saw Captain James T. Kirk! He spoke to us! It was so amazing!" Joey cried. Tristan nodded in agreement.
"Commander, Lieutenant, this is no time for"
"YOU IDIOT!" I shouted, losing my temper yet again. "Can't you see that we have more pressing concerns at the moment? Have you absolutely no sense of priority in addition to your obvious lack of brains?"
"At least I have the respect of my fellow officers, unlike you! You just can't handle following any of the rules or submitting to authority, can you? Maybe if you had come with us in the first place. Mokuba wouldn't have been taken hostage, and we wouldn't be here!"
"Why you son of a "
"Stop it, both of you!" Yugi commanded, in a way that was so captain-like that we both fell silent. "You're acting like a pair of drunken Klingons in a bar fight. Now, we may no longer be on my ship, but as far as I'm concerned, I am still your commanding officer. We have a mission to complete back on the Millennium, and to complete that mission we need to get out of here. I'll have no more of this pointing-fingers business. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir." Joey said, bowing his head.
I nodded, but I continued to glare at Joey contemptuously.
"So, how did we get here, anyway?" Tristan asked, breaking the silence.
"Let's go find somewhere to sit down, and we'll have Kaiba tell you all that. To be honest, I'd like to hear the whole story, myself." He turned to face me. "Is that all right with you?"
"Yeah."
"Good. We're headed to the mess hall, then." Yugi looked around, slightly bewildered. "I'm not all that familiar with the older model starships. Does anyone know where the mess hall is?"
"We do," said Joey, pointing to Tristan and then to himself. "We passed it on our way over here."
"Well then, Commander, Lieutenant lead the way."
We all seated ourselves around a table. A waitress in a very short skirt approached us almost as soon as we were situated.
"What'll it be?" she asked.
"Two synthehols," Joey declared, ordering Tristan's drink as well.
"Coffee for me," Yugi said. He looked as if he could use some coffee, too.
"And you?" the waitress asked, looking at me.
"Tarkailian tea."
As the waitress walked away, Joey lowered his head and whispered, "Hey, do you suppose we could get a hold of some Romulan ale? I read that Dr. McCoy use to sneak it onto this ship all the time."
"What?" Tristan yelped. Joey shushed him quickly, raising his head slightly to see if anyone was looking. After he was satisfied that no one was glancing over at us, he brought his head down again. Tristan did the same and spoke again, this time also in a whisper. "You're kidding! Where's the infirmary? You stall him, and I'll grab it!"
Yugi chuckled. "C'mon, you two. Priorities, remember."
"Yeah, stupid," Tristan said, bopping Joey lightly on the head. "Duty first, drunk later."
"You sure you two aren't Klingons?" Yugi asked, smiling.
"Ahem." I cleared my throat loudly, ceasing the activity at the table. "Sorry to interrupt, but I believe what I have to say comes first."
"You're right. Alright you two, it's time to listen."
The three listened silently to my story, for the most part. Joey needed some things clarified, and Tristan interjected with things like "No way!" and "What?" occasionally. I tried to be as specific as possible, but I left out a few things, like when I told Q he was just a hologram, and the way he replied to that sentiment.
After I had finished, there was silence for a moment. Then Yugi spoke.
"So do you have any idea why Q came to us? Or why he sent us here?"
"No. But I believe it has something to do with me." I said shakily.
"What could he possibly want from you? He's an omnipotent being. I'm sure he wasn't looking for you to repair a transporter or build weapons or anything. So what's he after?"
"I don't know."
"Well, it's obvious what we have to do. We have to find Q." Joey said.
For once, I agreed with him.
To Be Continued…
Hallelujah! Spock, Kirk, Bones, Scotty… The cast of the original series has finally made an appearance! Oh, what fun!
Chibi-T: Oh, please. Where's Tea? What happened to Q? You idiot. You've given all of your readers a pathetic, unsatisfying conclusion to this chapter. You should be ashamed.
Shut up. I can't give all this stuff away in one chapter! Although, you're sort of right… However, I'm working my way towards a more complex plot, so please bear with me, everyone!
Chibi-T: Reviewer responses are in order.
Ah, yes.
To Oni Tenchie: You're very welcome! returns glomp And never fear, there will be more Q!
To Oort: I know! Q is just so awesome… I hope I portrayed him well, and if not, I have the next few chapters to get him right… Thanks so much for reviewing!
To Dragon-Knight4: You're absolutely right. Thanks so much for the advice, it is very much appreciated. And thank you also for the compliment! I hope you liked this chapter!
To Yami-Tenchi13: Well, here's your update! It took me forever, I know… Speaking of which, when are you going to update Sesshoumaru's Beloved? Update it soon, please! As for your question, when will Bakura come in, indeed? Well, I think that if he does come in, he'll have quite an unusual role, to say the least.
To Unrealistic: Thanks! Although Q did give Kaiba his new uniform, it's not quite a costume. But in the interest of earning some brownie points, I'm still toying with the weird costumes idea. I bet I can think of something…heh heh…