Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!atl-c02.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!peer01.cox.net!cox.net!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!newsread.com!newsstand.newsread.com!POSTED.newshog.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: From: "Nick" MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: NEW TNG "Hard Won: Compulsion" P/Q [PG-13] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Lines: 387 Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 12:55:03 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: newshog.newsread.com 1097931303 209.198.142.218 (Sat, 16 Oct 2004 08:55:03 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 08:55:03 EDT Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:85112 X-Received-Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 05:55:21 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: Hard Won: Compulsion Author: Nick Series: TNG Rating: PG-13 (for one naughty word and a vaguely vulgar reference=20 to m/m sex) Codes: P/Q implied Part: 1/1 Feedback: Yes, please. Here, there and everywhere. (plan9channel7 at witty dot com) Summary: Q treks through the dangerous hinterlands of the Continuum=20 Notes: This will sort of make sense without the other three parts of=20 Hard Won to back it up, I guess, but enter blindly at your own risk.=20 It's my personal conception of the Continuum, and it may or may not=20 jibe with every minute canon detail ever breathed, but there are no=20 major discrepancies to my knowledge.=20 //"Quotes surrounded by forward slashes"// indicate telepathic=20 communication.=20 Disclaimer: Paramount shouldn't have made them so hot if they didn't want them to get played with. I made it up for love, not money. Archive: Wherever, so long as my name stays attached. Also on my website at: http://www.geocities.com/pompadour_slim/pq.html Hard Won: Compulsion Q's journey through the Continuum was a long one. The Continuum=20 itself was made of Q, made Q, was Q -- all of them. The memories,=20 wishes, fantasies and terrors of too many Q to count shot past at=20 immeasurable speed, floated listlessly toward nowhere, sprawled=20 across the ground, were the ground. The landscape was at once stark=20 and teeming, silent and cacophonous.=20 Q crept slowly, quiet to the perceptions of the others. He=20 envisioned a black highway over a white void, pushing the void out=20 to the edge of his influence and crowding away the remnants of other=20 migrations, of other Q. The hinterlands were perilous and=20 infrequently traveled, housing as they did the flotsam and jetsam of=20 all Q consciousness. The Q at the center of the Continuum had done=20 as Q did, had edged out the useless and the dangerous with their=20 collective void, sending it all to decay along the border. Q had=20 crossed the hinterlands before; in fact, most Q had, at one point or=20 another, but always rarely and always with great care. It was the=20 only sure way to approach the Continuum with subtlety, to become=20 gradually aware of first the overall tone and then the specific=20 patterns and frequencies of the Q who gathered there without being=20 similarly sensed. A Q with something to hide trudged in through the=20 hinterlands, but so did a Q with something to protect. Q would brave=20 the unknown hazard of other Q's stray musings, of other Q's painful=20 recollections, of other Q's sadistic delusions, for the chance at=20 forewarning of the Continuum's collective opinion of his recent=20 endeavors. If things went dangerously wrong, he would wish himself=20 out of the Continuum, far away, to some place-time that would not=20 suffer immediate disruption if he were followed. They would feel the=20 energy surge, realize his intentions, but in the end few of them=20 could claim to be above such an act of subterfuge.=20 Q tramped along his black highway on ethereal feet, his form a=20 gaseous cloud that clung into itself and approximated his human=20 embodiment. The once awkward shape comforted him on his journey=20 because it reminded him of the man who enjoyed it. The shape itself=20 had become a memento, as though the man had given it to him, though=20 in a sense the opposite was true. But the man had given him an=20 appreciation for it, and that appreciation was wholly and=20 unalterably dependent on the man himself. Should the man cease to be=20 or cease to enjoy, the form would cease to please, except in=20 memorial. Q knew he would have to alter himself when he neared the=20 concentration of other Q to avoid inciting -- or exacerbating, he=20 reminded himself -- their indignation prematurely, but for the time- place he was what he wished to be and he was comforted by it.=20 Heavy, blue steps of dread carried him on and up, in and over.=20 Infinitesimal sands of energy dusted from Q's edges to sprinkle=20 along the blacktop in his wake, a necessary side effect of traveling=20 through individual segments of time and space at the edge of the=20 Continuum. Without looking back he called them to reunite with him=20 and they obeyed, swallowing themselves into his being in sandy=20 swirls. A glossy black island of rock floated near, perched upon by=20 an ambulatory plant with broad, purple plumes. While the plant's=20 roots clacked and scrabbled at the surface of its miniature planet,=20 pulling it in tiny, aimless near-circles, Q curved his highway to=20 avoid a collision. //How bored did Q have to be to come up with=20 that? I've seen more interesting toys at a 20th Century terran=20 shopping mall.// At the edge of his vast consciousness, Q began to=20 detect a faint chattering, the many voices of many Q, jumbled and=20 indistinct. They moved toward him as he them, one grave pace after=20 the other.=20 //"=85appalling=85"// a Q thought from very far away.=20 //"=85put a stop=85foolishness=85"// thought another Q.=20 //"=85always=85troublemaker=85"// thought a Q with a whiny,nervous=20 frequency.=20 //"We never=85back=85"//=20 As he neared them, Q reined his mind back and back, a bit at a time,=20 to avoid becoming too noticeable amid the din. Far above and in=20 front of him, the landscape was shrouded in the sickly, vibrating=20 green of contention. //So much for flashing in once I made sure they=20 had better things to do than take out their personal problems on me.=20 I wonder if anyone's leaping to my defense.// Stopping his stride, Q=20 concentrated on the voices, unmindful of the energy grains that=20 trickled down the length of his gaseous form to settle on the=20 highway he'd made for himself. He would weaken in tiny increments as=20 he focused his attention elsewhere, but when he was finished he=20 would gather his energy into himself again.=20 //"=85is not =85 place=85 discourage Q=85 pursuingwhatever=85 enriches=85=20 existence."//=20 Q followed the knotted trail of the thinker's thought pattern until=20 he had a glowing image of the Q's consciousness. The frequency was=20 sky blue and rumbling, with rounded peaks and fuzzy, imprecise=20 valleys. //You always were a maverick, Q. I should have known I=20 could count on you to make some sense. But you're too dry; they=20 won't listen.//=20 //"=85most =85our place. Are=85 forgetting=85 Q=85?"//=20 When Q tugged at the new thinker's pattern, the trail tugged back=20 and he let go with a start. //Reflex. I hope.// The gaseous cloud=20 that was Q grayed slowly, losing saturation, but he ignored his own=20 deterioration to listen harder.=20 //"=85forget? What if=85 up like Q?"//=20 //"Yes, what=85then? What=85 comes=85chooses=85 human over=85 Continuum?"//= =20 //"=85 slander!"//=20 //"=85a =85possibility!"//=20 //"Could=85 two=85 more dramatic?"//=20 Q swooned as the voices spun around each other, nipping and whirling=20 at the edge of his consciousness. The white void dimmed and his=20 highway became vague, insubstantial. Swaying, he recalled his=20 sloughed off energy and it returned, eating into him and being eaten=20 until he was whole again. His road and the nothing beyond it=20 sharpened as he regained his mental balance. //*That* was helpful.=20 At least they'll be surprised when I get there. Here's to making an=20 entrance.// A nano-second before Q wished himself out of the=20 hinterlands and into the nexus of the Continuum, a black emptiness=20 swooped in unnoticed from the border and engulfed him.=20 All was blank. All was vacant. There was only Q, and Q himself was=20 nothing. No voices, no frequencies, no energies, only Q, and Q was=20 nothing. There was no mind to panic, no voice to cry out and no=20 memory of there having been either. No wishes, no destinations, no=20 hopes, no possibilities. There was a void, and the void was Q.=20 And then the emptiness passed. Q reeled and his cloud form dispersed=20 in a puff of black panic, only to be drawn together again by the=20 sheer force of Q's desperate will. He shuddered, retching, and=20 energy made kinetic and antagonistic by having been too haphazardly=20 united vomited up and out again. Gropingly he recalled it, longed=20 for it, wished for it, and ate it back into himself. Still=20 tottering, Q righted himself and took a mental inventory. Everything=20 seemed to be in place, if somewhat worse for the wear, but he would=20 have to find a Q to join with soon or risk being permanently=20 weakened. Would any of them to consent to a joining now? Q might, or=20 he could take it by force if necessary. It was a distasteful thought=20 but Q would do what he had to do. He glanced around to make certain=20 that the emptiness had moved on, and was relieved to find that he=20 could not detect it anywhere within his influence. //Whose=20 masochistic fantasy was that? Too kinky, even for me.// Q scoffed,=20 even as he knew. Few things were universal among the Q, but a terror=20 of nothingness, of complete separation from the Continuum and from=20 themselves, was one of them. The small number of Q who had actively=20 sought nothingness through suicide were abominations. Pushing the=20 memory of his sibling's horrifying fantasy from his mind, Q once=20 again prepared to wish himself into the nexus of the Continuum.=20 --=20 "Something has got to be done! It was one thing when he was just=20 toying with the little animal, but now he's... ugh, I can't even=20 bring myself to think about what he's doing. What happens if the=20 human's interests come into conflict with those of the Continuum?=20 Did you think of that?" The Q with a high-pitched, yellow Q-voice=20 flailed his Q self amid the swirling masses of other Q, stripped of=20 all embodiments, existing only as Q. The sickly green of contention=20 had deepened and grown black at the edges as it enveloped the Nexus.=20 "They have," purred the red Q with the languid, pulsing frequency.=20 She radiated calm, and she spread herself slowly across the first Q,=20 settling him into a subtle, rapid vibration. "And I don't think=20 anyone here is eager for a repeat of THAT little episode."=20 "I know *you* aren't, Q. You never were graceful in defeat," Q was=20 drawling even as he finished materializing inside the Nexus. The=20 masses of Q shivered, adjusting their frequencies to compensate for=20 the appearance of the newcomer. Immediately Q could feel the entire=20 attention of the Continuum on him.=20 "Q," the red Q murmured icily, her Q-attention migrating with=20 exaggerated slowness toward Q. //That's right, bitch; pretend you're=20 not shocked to see me.//=20 "Whom were you expecting? The Borg Queen?"=20 "At least she knows how pathetic humans are." The yellow Q trembled=20 his mirthful agreement from under the red Q's energy wings. The=20 masses of other Q trembled kinetically, chattering here and there=20 and taking energy from the conflict into themselves before they=20 breathed it back out again along with their impressions and=20 opinions. Q could tell that most Q agreed with, felt obligated to,=20 or were afraid of Q and Q, but it was a slim majority. Nearly all=20 found his affair with the man disgusting, but few were in genuine=20 agreement with the ringleaders. He wasn't sure yet what the two=20 would demand of him, and so could not begin to tear down their=20 arguments. It seemed judicious to come out as aggressively as he=20 could, though, so he opted for tearing down their character.=20 "As I recall, there as a time when you were absurdly fixated on a=20 human game called=85 oh, what was it? So trivial I can hardly=20 remember. Oh, yes. 'Chess'." There was a collective Q-gasp, and then=20 a few brave titters across the Nexus as the red Q energy seized up=20 and seemed ready to spit red Q-spittle all over her companion. It=20 was nothing they didn't already know, or even anything that she=20 didn't know they knew. In fact, there was little a Q could keep=20 hidden from another during a joining, and, with very few exceptions,=20 each Q in the Continuum had at some point joined with each other Q=20 there. Q's actually saying it out loud, though, and putting it on=20 display, was something else altogether. Humiliating secrets learned=20 in a joining were necessarily 'forgotten' afterwards, with the=20 implicit agreement that each Q had more than enough embarrassing=20 history to have him slobbering with shame well into the next=20 millennium and that a mutual pact of silence made more sense than an=20 all-out mud-sling. The other Q would think him bold for launching=20 the first blow as it made him fair game for reciprocation. He was=20 banking on the fact that most of his shameful secrets had already=20 been discussed and their impact dulled by overuse.=20 "It wasn't the *game* I enjoyed; it was the way their little spirits=20 crunched when they lost repeatedly, no matter how many techniques=20 they studied or how long they went without resting their tiny human=20 brains to practice." The red Q huffed, her frequency rising slightly=20 as she expanded airily. Her companion shivered out from under her=20 and flailed yellowly at the crowd.=20 "We're not here to discuss her past dalliances, Q. We're here to=20 discuss your current=85 infirmity. Really! What do you have to say for yourself? Well?" Q fanned out menacingly and then thought better=20 of it, drawing into himself again.=20 "Infirmity? What are you babbling about?"=20 "You've got to be ill, haven't you? You copulated with him! You let=20 him poke things into your human body and cover you with slime!"=20 There was a mass shudder of mirth and revulsion from the crowd and Q=20 puffed himself up threateningly, ignoring the wincing jolt that shot=20 involuntarily through his Q-energy. He was not ashamed. He was not=20 ashamed.=20 "None of that is any concern of yours, Q. Now run along and go back=20 to planning out your democratic takeover of the Continuum." That had=20 been the wrong thing to say. The masses of Q quivered and shifted=20 apart, with several energies migrating nearer to Q and Q. Q gnawed=20 at himself fretfully, cursing himself for his mistake. Now he had=20 alienated all of the 'social government' morons and they were going=20 to feel the need to assert themselves. What was worse, of those who=20 opposed the idea, none came openly to his aid, not even=20 Q. //Merde,// he found himself thinking, and it both comforted and=20 terrified him.=20 "We think it is our concern, Q," the yellow Q squeaked, emboldened=20 by the broad show of support.=20 "How, exactly?" Q asked more carefully, folding further into himself=20 and unconsciously preparing for the possibility that he might need=20 to attempt a quick getaway. In the same unconscious way, Q and Q,=20 and their supporters, subtlely shifted to surround him.=20 "Think of it as an intervention."=20 "You belong to us, Q, and we belong to you," the red Q purred,=20 confidence back in place as she took up smoothly where her companion=20 left off. "The last time you forgot we made you human to remind=20 you."=20 "Beyond the fact that it's unseemly to an excruciating degree to=20 have a Q debasing himself so abjectly over a human, this particular=20 human represents an unacceptable conflict of interest," drawled a=20 brown Q with a low, whistling Q-voice. Q whirled on him, his energy=20 quivering hotly with controlled aggression.=20 "And who decides what's unacceptable? You? Them? And what is this=20 conflict, anyway? Somehow I really don't see the Federation flagship=20 declaring war on the Continuum." He folded over on himself as he=20 redirected his Q energy at the red Q, the mastermind. "You're going=20 to have to do better, Q."=20 "No," she murmured, the chilly calm of her Q-voice terrifying him;=20 she knew something he didn't. Had the Continuum already made its=20 decision? Was that why no one came to his defense? But what could=20 the decision be? It was all so ridiculous. He was a Q, not some=20 citizen under the jurisdiction of a corrupt mortal government. He=20 was a Q! "*You* are going to have to do better. Beginning with=20 taking a trip back to visit your loverboy and telling him it was all=20 a cruel Q joke and you're going to leave him. Permanently."=20 Miniature explosions of anger and indignation splashed across Q's=20 energy pattern and failed to conceal the fear that crept in from his=20 edges and made him shake and blur.=20 "Or what? You're a Q, I'm a Q, we're all Q here, *Q*. We're the=20 same. You have no authority over me." His frequency boomed, though=20 he couldn't keep some of the fearful tremolo from infecting it, and=20 he came out sounding much more confident than he felt. The red Q=20 slithered, her energy elongating and twining around itself=20 gracefully.=20 "It has been decided; if you refuse to cease all contact with your=20 human pet, we will run time back to before we sent you to him, and=20 eliminate every encounter you ever had with him. We'll see if his=20 fused heart kills him, or if something else gets him first. You=20 really were so vulgar and inappropriate, Q. How many times did you=20 fall all over yourself to save his insignificant human life?" Q's=20 energy blurred and thrashed, tendrils flailing out and leaving=20 splashes of energy as they fell at the edges of other Q energies. He=20 quaked and blackened, buzzing with terror and rage.=20 "You stink of jealousy, Q=85 and spite. There isn't a Q in the=20 Continuum who doesn't know why you're doing this," Q hissed before=20 swirling his energy in the direction of the mass of silent Q. "If=20 you let them do this to me, they'll do it to you, too. Just wait=20 until you have something she doesn't, something she wishes she had=85" Q's speech was already beginning to lose steam as he became=20 more desperate at the lack of response from his audience when the=20 red frequencied Q's stinging laughter interrupted him.=20 "There, you see? Q is already thinking like a human. We're not doing=20 it to you, Q. You're a Q, after all, as you so cleverly pointed out.=20 We're doing it to him=85 or not, if you want to run along and save him by breaking his little clockwork heart. Either way, you'll be=20 rid of him and after a few hundred years you'll stop hating us and=20 everything will be the way it's supposed to be. You might even thank=20 us when it's all over." But they were doing it to him. He would=20 never let them cause the man's death by effectively erasing him from=20 the man's existence, and so the man was in no danger. It was Q who=20 was being deprived of the only thing he'd really cared about in so=20 long he couldn't remember if it had any competition at all, and he=20 had needed it so much when it came along; he had been on the verge=20 of doing strange, dangerous things he really shouldn't do out of=20 boredom and a sort of bitter, angry depression. And now he had no=20 choice. He couldn't oppose them all by himself, and it would take=20 years, maybe decades to assemble any kind of organized resistance=20 from the cowardly, huddling mass. He didn't have to ask whether Q=20 and Q might give him that long to carry out his order. With a=20 violent, anguished shudder, Q made his decision. He would do as they=20 demanded, but he wouldn't give up. He had come this far, been this=20 persistent, been this patient with the man; he was not going to give=20 up now, and especially not to Q. Shuddering again, he expressed his=20 acquiescence in a ripple of resigned hatred. "That's the first step=20 toward recovery," the red Q purred. "Oh, and Q?" Q waited, clenching=20 himself and resisting a strong urge to reach out with his tendrils=20 and throttle her. "You had better make him believe it."=20 [End Compulsion] ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: