She strolled briskly down the corridor, working her way towards the holodeck, cup of coffee in hand. It was the thing most often seen by the crew, and the only known thing to be able to deflect her search for it was the Borg. Maybe even the occasional holodeck mishap could deter her. Otherwise, it was common knowledge among the crew to not be between her and that cup in the early morning hours. But for some reason, she had this desire to visit the beachfront this morning, she'd had the strangest dream about it last night, and since she had time....
"Bridge to Captain Janeway."
Ah, yes, nothing could bring the morning down like Tuvok. For some reason, she just knew this wouldn't be good. It was something in his voice. At least she had her coffee first. "Janeway here."
"Captain, sensors are picking up an anomaly off of our port bow. However, I can not penetrate it with our scanners, they do not register anything at all."
"Then how do we know it's there?"
"It was sighted visually by several crewmembers in the mess deck, and reported to the bridge. We have it on visual, but sensors can not detect it. I would estimate its range at approximately 1,000 kilometers, but I cannot be any more accurate than that."
"Keep scanning. Contact Seven, have her use the astrometrics sensors to try to penetrate it. Sound yellow alert, and raise the shields, just in case."
"Acknowledged. Tuvok out."
Well, so much for the beach.
---
If he had known and understood the phrase, Thor would have certainly agreed with it. This was simply NOT his day. Actually, by Tau'ri terms, more like a week had passed, but still, it fit. He had lost several ships to the Replicators, and if he was correct in his tactical projections, the new home world of his people would soon be at risk. All in all, not much to make the Asgard happy.
And now, to start his new day off on the wrong foot, Thor's ship had been dragged from hyperspace on his trip back home, but his sensors couldn't tell him why. Most distressing, indeed. He might have simply ignored it and moved on, but there was little that could force one of the Asgard battle cruisers from hyperspace like that, and if this was a new threat to their race, he needed to know about it now.
His hands adjusted another control, and suddenly his monitors came to life. "Interesting, he thought. The constants of subspace are different, that's why...."
And just as quickly, something totally unexpected happened.
---
"Captain, I believe I have solved the problem."
"Go ahead, Seven."
"According to the astrometrics sensors, we are seeing a rift between dimensions. It would appear that the constants that define subspace on the other side of the portal differ from our own. That is why our sensors could not see it, they could not penetrate to an area where the laws of physics differ so."
"Any risk to us?"
"Unknown. I would advise a safe distance from the anomaly, until we can study...."
And all hell broke loose on board Voyager.
---
"Q! What have you done?"
"Ah, Q, so good to see you. How has Q been lately, I haven't seen him in a while? Pull up a chair, you're missing the show."
"This is no time for games, Q! Just what do you think you are doing?"
"A test. It's been too long since Kathy and her little band of lost sheep have had a good test. And besides, if I'm right, not only will they learn a little something that will be of great use to them later, but they may even be able to help us out now with that little problem we got involved in over there. Relax, Q, this should be fun!"
"Q, you know this is a mistake! The Ascended...."
"Oh, posh. They can't interfere, remember? Besides, it's for their own good too, remember their good pals and ours, the Ori? And what the Ori don't know....will hopefully hurt them."
"You play a dangerous game, Q. If this goes badly, we will ensure that EVERYONE knows who is at fault. The Q Continuum will NOT be party to your childish and immature pranks when they destroy the fragile balance that exists. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes, doom and gloom. Don't you know any other songs? That one is getting SO outdated, even for a Q."
"You've been warned, Q. We'll be watching."And with that, the other Q was gone.
With a shrug, Q sat back in his chair, and said, "Oh, well, in for a penny...."
---
"Captain, we're being pulled in!"
"Full reverse! Red Alert! Engineering, I need everything and I need it now!"
"We're working on it, Captain! I can't seem to form a warp field, everything is totally out of whack down here!"
Ensign Kim, franticly stabbing at his console, called out the grim news. "Captain, full reverse seems to have no effect! We'll enter the anomaly in 5.....4.....3.."
"All hands, brace for impact! Tuvok, emergency power to shields and structural integrity! Hold on, everone!"
"...1....Contact!"