Chronicle of the Guardian: Chaos Factor

By THE Xenomorph

I own only the character of Vile, Catlina Flores, the Hybrids and the Scions

Star Trek Voyager is © Paramount

Aliens vs Predator is © Fox

Recall

I stood staring out the window for the next couple of hours. It was a quiet and calm sense of loneliness I thought I had forgotten. I wish I had. What I had failed to notice however, was that I had company. The man spoke as I watched.

"You seem lost..." The man stood up as I peered over my shoulder. He was hairless and tanned with blotched skin and red eyes. "And not in the physical sense."

"You a poet or a priest?" I snorted.

"Another man, once lost." The man smiled. "My name is G'kar." He extended his gloved hand with a smile. "I heard our dear Mr Garibaldi had to pull a weapon on you?"

"Let my temper get the better of me." I continued to stare. "It happens."

"It does indeed." He nodded with a smile. It was almost irritating if not slightly infectious. "You have a reason to be so happy?"

"I just saw hope float our good Captain down to safety." G'kar smiled. "It was quite the sight."

"Seriously?" I arched an eyebrow. "Sheridan ok?"

"He is." G'kar smiled. "And we have hope."

"Against things that can literally hide in shadows?" I sighed. "Even I would be hard pressed to fight something like that."

"But you wouldn't lie down and die, would you?" G'kar said with what seemed a knowing nod and I noticed I hadn't been watching the stars for a while.

"No, you never just give up." I growled. "You fight and you make your enemy bleed for every millimeter, every grain of sand."

"Interesting." His smile vanished. "I think I mistook your moment of wistfulness for something different." He went to leave, but now I was intrigued.

"Whoa..." I said as I easily stood and strode next to him. His eyes lit up in astonishment as he saw my full form. "Easy, I'm not a threat."

"Clearly or we would all be dead by now I assume." Sarcasm laced his voice now and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What did you think you saw?" I asked.

For a moment he seemed to regard me as an intrusion, then the smile returned. "I thought you were another pilgrim finding his path."

I looked down to the walkway as my footsteps fell in line with his. "You're not far off." I sighed. "I keep falling back though."

G'kar merely nodded.

"And what happened before this insanity..." I shook my head. "I don't think I can trust..."

At that he stopped. "Someone betrayed you?"

"Yeah, my captain." I sighed. "She..."

He cut me off. "What she did is immaterial." His face was a stone, but it had my attention. "What matters is how you work with her. I'm guessing he order was damaging to you?"

"I can't trust her..." I sighed.

"Have you considered that she may feel the same way?" G'kar said slowly, as if each word were a drop of water for a man coming in from the desert. "That she mad a choice and she knew the risk but she needed to make it."

"She don't have the best history in making her choices." I snorted with a laugh. "But no I hadn't."

"Humans have a phrase, and I find there is a variation in almost every culture, 'heavy is head that bears the crown'." G'kar said, "Leadership is no right or privilege, it is a burden that not all can bear."

"Six years non-stop, almost seven..." I sighed.

"Pardon?" G'kar asked.

"What do you know about me?" I asked as I sat on my haunches, still keeping nearly eye level with the man.

"I was told you are from another reality, mutated by some accident." G'kar chose to sit in front of me and I began to see him in a different light. He was a man of hard earned wisdom.

"The ship I'm on now was stranded seventy years from home, two crews had to become one in order to survive. Janeway's been running it for nearly seven years without a break." I sighed.

"She must be strong." G'kar nodded.

"And insane, without a doubt. I can't blame her on that though, she has made hard choices. If she's lucky she'll be dishonorably discharged for all the rules she's broken." I leaned against the wall of the hall we were in.

"And if she is imprisoned?" G'kar asked.

I growled. He smiled.

"Loyalty is important to you." He said as he scooted to sit next to me. "You're hurt, I can't even argue whether with or without reason, it doesn't matter. What matters is how you proceed. What matters is that you decide who you trust."

I let my head thud against the hall. "She used me as a weapon. I wouldn't have objected had she just asked, but she..."

"She made another hard choice and you were on the end that felt it." G'kar nodded then noticed my head shake. "She broke a promise."

"She told me the Federation would never use me as a weapon, that she wouldn't let it happen." I gritted in anger. "I believed her."

G'kar stayed silent, but put his hand on my arm a look of understanding passed between us and for the first time since I snapped at her I felt some twinge of regret.

I went to thank the man by he simply smiled and shook his head and we sat there for at least another hour before Mr. Garibaldi finally found us.

"Ah, there you are." He looked at me as if looking for me was the most obvious thing in the world. "Captain said your device seems to be charged."

"Great!" I said with a smile. "It's been a time." I said as I stood up.

"And he'd like you to see Kosh before you leave." Garibaldi's smile widen as mine faltered.

"The guy who said one thing to me and left?" I asked.

"That'd be him, yeah." Garibaldi nodded. "Cryptic guy."

"Cryptic?" I scoffed "I've met vulcans less cryptic than him!"

"Come on I'll show you the way." Garibaldi nodded and I reluctantly followed.

CoTG:CF====CoTG:CF====CoTG:CF==== Chapter 11 =====CoTG:CF====CoTG:CF====CoTG:CF

I found myself escorted directly to Kosh's chambers and Mr. Garibaldi handed me the device shortly after that.

"What you're not joining me?" I aksed.

"Yeah, no." Garibaldi shook his head. "Kosh is more Sheridan or Delenn's speed."

"Great." I grumbled as the door slid open and the bulky form with it's one viewing "eye" stared at me.

"Welcome." The voice echoed from the body.

"Thanks for the invite." I grumbled.

"Your presence was required." The voice was strangely filled with sorrow. I tilted my head. "He requested you understand." He pushed open veiled side room. "Here. Do not move." For a moment I stood and stared, then listened and went behind the curtain. "Be as silent as the Black Death taught you to be."

I took to a crouched stance and waited. I did not have to wait long as the door to Kosh's room slid open and a human walked in. Then several forms filled the room from nowhere. I heard and felt the suited being cry out in my head, but something held in me in place. I could never tell if it was fear or something else, but I sat there listening to this being be murdered and it did nothing but fill me with a rage.

All I could do though was twist the dial as I peered out and saw the face of Kosh's killer. I would remember it and I would be back, I knew it in my bones and my blood. I was here to learn and to remember. For now though, I had to go.

The portal sucked me backwards this time and I found myself quickly staring at a cavernous roof, when a face filled my vision. It was however the furthest thing from my mind as I ran my actions through my head. Did I do the right thing?

I felt something squirm out from under me and the voices of the people around me kept asking questions. I could have answered them if I wanted to, but something in me broke. I had failed to protect another, not even someone I cared about but someone obviously who knew it was coming. I should have stood and fought.

What had I done?