Demons Among The Stars

Part 2

"That is not the kind of development I had anticipated," Deanna confessed, crossing her legs and resting her intertwined fingers on top of her knee. Her tone was carefully neutral, but the light crease on her forehead betrayed her confusion. "Captain, are you absolutely sure that the one you encountered was the real Q? And not just another facet of the vision?"

Jean-Luc let out a sigh, but then nodded. He could understand her perplexity. He had had a few doubts in the hours that had followed his awakening, but eventually he had shaken them off. As unusual as Q's attitude had been, he had kept perceiving the same presence that had permeated all his previous dream and his mind had made a connection the moment when he had seen the entity, realising why it had felt so familiar. Considering how peculiar that particular presence was, he should have really guessed whom it belonged to since the start.

"Yes, Counsellor, I am quite sure. He might have not acted like he usually does, but it was him. We are already sure that there's another presence that had been making contact with me. There are no reasons to assume that this entity would go through the trouble to disguise themselves as someone else, let alone him. Moreover, why I would ever dream about Q, of all people, under any circumstances?" He caught a glimpse of the amused smile that Troi was trying to hide. He raised waved a hand. "On second thought, don't answer that one."

The woman showed him his palms in a gesture of surrender, even if her lips were still twitching. Picard decided not to mention it. After the exhausting night he had had and all the unanswered questions it had left behind, a bit of lightness was more than welcome. Besides, he would have lied if he stated that he didn't see where her amusement was coming from. While the entity was a real-life nightmare to deal, Jean-Luc had come to admit that he was much better than other hostile species and individuals he had encountered during his career and personal life. Such fact, however, didn't make Q less incapable of exasperating him as no one else could. That alone was a reason good enough to explain why his unconscious mind could find itself preoccupied by the other, even when they weren't dealing with him.

"In any case, as I was saying, I'm sure it's him," he resumed, rubbing his forehead. "What I don't understand is the purpose of all this. Q has always had a motive behind his absurd trials and games. He likes to toy with us, I don't deny it, and he not always explains his actions in ways that are fully understandable. But you've seen him, Counsellor. He loves boasting and rubbing in our faces how inferior we are compared to him. And the only times he hasn't come to offer some sort of help or teach one of his "lesson" has been when the Continuum sent him on official business."

Truth be told, the last time he had seen the entity, during the time of humanity's last trial, he had actually stuck his neck on the line for them, even knowing what kind of cost he might have paid for his actions. It was hard to understand how Q's mind worked, and Picard wasn't even sure that he wanted to understand it, but it seemed that, throughout all their past encounters, the willingness to be of some assistance to them had overcome all the other convoluted reasons that had pushed such a powerful being to stick around.

"This time, it's different. I...I can hardly see the meaning of it. Assuming that there is one in the first place." He leant against his chair, crossing his arms on his chest. "Even considering the possibility that this might be some sort of prank...it doesn't feel like one. That time with Vash," he rolled his eyes at the memory of how ridiculous they had all looked in those costumes, "that was some sort of well-staged prank. This...This is serious."

He went quiet for a moment, fingers drumming on the cloth of his uniform. Those dark, empty eyes had haunted him all day, more than anything else. They might have not been the most traumatic part of the nightmare, but they had been what had given him the chills the most.