Thank you so much for your reviews and support so far! Oh, I'm not going to put this under a cross-over section because after this chapter it's going to be just from the Star Trek perspective. Thank you for being patient with me as I bounce around from one time line to another—also as I take freaking forever to update. Hope you enjoy this bit of ADD-ness.
Those aren't angels singing...
"What gives you the right to try to stop it? We took a vow long ago to stay out of their affairs."
Shit…I'm not dead.
"This coming from you of all Ancients? Miss Let-me-take-the-child-of-the-enemy-and-raise-him-t o-be-good?"
Not only am I not dead, but I get to wake up to a confusing argument. Just peachy.
"That is different from what you've been doing with her. You've been torturing her Q, dragging her around after you, forcing her to live multiple lives, always exposing her to danger, and all this while she has a child, who should not exist!"
Now don't start talking about my son that way bitch, or whoever you are. When will I start being able to move again? Any day now would be nice. I'd like to punch this lady in the throat…once I can move.
"I've been training her for this moment, and you've been no help whatsoever Oma. Our people have been under attack and you've only focused on helping the one string of reality while the rest of us have been fighting for all strings. Her son is proof of not only her link to the Continuum but also of the hope for a better Continuum. We thought all was lost, that none could be born within the Continuum that were not Q already, that'd we'd have to depend upon ascension for new blood, but look at him? He's thriving and she's still living. All the realities are linked Oma, they are all important enough to be saved."
There, my hands can move. Who the hell is Oma? What on earth is Q talking about? Where the hell am I? Why do I feel like I actually have no body and my twitching "hands" are only an imagined sensation?
"That would be because you don't have a corporeal body unless you choose to create one Brenna." Q's voice was bored and I "jerked" in response. "Yes, we can 'hear' your thoughts. You'd be able to communicate like a 'normal' person if you wanted to."
It took me a moment before I managed to do the non-corporeal equivalent to clearing my throat, "What's going on Q? What happened? Where's James?"
"You're friend is safely back aboard his ship where he belongs." Oma, the woman I'd wanted to throttle-and who had probably been privy to that desire now that I thought about it—spoke up before Q could answer. "He and his crew no longer know of your existence and all is as it should be."
If I'd had a stomach it would've churned at her words. As is, even in non-corporeal form, I felt as if the world around me had shifted and fallen into darkness. Mac…he didn't know me now? I'd only just come to terms with moving past James and onto Mac, begun to warm up to the idea of Mac as a step-father to my son, and accepted the fact that it was perfectly normal for me to move on beyond my past and into the hope of the present. I didn't know how much time passed between anguish and rage but one moment I was mourning the loss of yet another loved one and the next I was wishing I'd had corporeal hands to wring around this bitch's neck.
"You may not want to squeeze too tightly; she is your great-great-great, and many more greats, grandmother after all." Q chuckled at my shock. "Don't tell me you were wishing that I was your ancestor?" He was assuming wrong but I couldn't find the words to fight him at the moment, "Oh how sweet Brenna. Well, if it smooths over the disappointment, you'll be happy to know that at one point in time your grandmother and I were a thing."
The woman sucked in a sharp breath, "We were no such thing Q." I felt more than saw her turn her attention from Q to me. "He is correct, however, in that you are my descendant."
Confused? Yes I am. Pissed? Oh hell yes I am. Know what to say or do next? Nope.
"You were talking about Caiden, about a link or something?" I latched onto the parts of the earlier argument that I could remember clearly, trying to keep my mind occupied well away from reality—which is that I don't have a human body, for all I know I'm a floating, glowing, goo-ball, the man I love doesn't know I exist anymore, and the once all-powerful beings of the universe are now being killed off like Clue characters.
"Supposedly, Ancients can only become Ancients, or Q as you have become more acquainted with, by ascension. This is a slow, and if I may say so, boring process that involves lots of yoga postures, meditation, chants, and touchy, bittersweet mumbo jumbo. Also supposedly, a non-ascended person from one string of reality should not be able to exist in not only one but dozens of different realities and retain not only their sanity but also the essence of their soul, or whatever you call that thing inside you that makes you you. And again supposedly, this same non-ascended person should not be able to successfully copulate with another non-ascended person from a different reality."
Q's words, for as convoluted as they were, were making things more clear to me. He had taken me, a descendent of an ascended Ancient-whatever the hell that meant-and had conducted a grand experiment on me. He was proving a point to the rest of the Continuum, or whoever cared to listen/watch, and I was his proof. Where I thought he was just getting his rocks off on torturing me and putting me through difficult times, he was actually trying to see if I'd finally snap and show that he was indeed wrong or right. And as for Caiden…he'd manipulated me into a situation where he knew I would succumb to temptation and Caiden had been the result. My son and I were nothing more than pawns in a game Q had been playing. My son's existence had been a gamble, my sanity one as well.
Again, one moment I was wallowing in self-pity as things clarified and I realized I wasn't nearly as central or in control of my own story as I'd thought, the next I wanted nothing more than to help Q's enemies destroy him.
"What were you trying to prove Q? I'm not about to appeal to your humanity, as it is clear to me more than ever before that you are not capable of feeling anything that does not benefit you."
"Well my dear, now dead, girl," if I'd had lungs they would've frozen at his words, "I was proving that this space between Q and humans, between Ancients and humans, need not be. That humans don't need to ascend before they can connect across time and space. That humans don't need to ascend before they become worth our time or interest," He'd turned his attention to Oma at that part before returning it to me, "You may not believe me when I say that I was doing all this for the benefit and not the detriment of humanity. The Q and Ancients may be the target right now, dear Brenna, but once we're gone, nothing will stop the tide that will inevitably come and wash over your galaxy, destroying all realities one and the same."
A chill spread through whatever the hell I was and I knew that what he was saying was right. Yes, he'd been a class A bastard with how he'd gone about proving his point but at least the point had been proven and now...
"So who's really attacking? Now that you've proven you're point, what's going to happen?"
Oma shifted her "substance," and I knew what she was about to say would suck, "They were once like we are-"
"Annoying, know-it-alls who push and prod others into positions that better serve you?" I couldn't stop myself and I knew I'd made Q happy with my comment.
"They are called the Ori now." She continued as if I'd never spoken. "They are destroyers of galaxies. They feed off of this destruction and while this will inevitably lead to their own destruction, until all galaxies and realities are destroyed, they will not stop."
"So that means…what?"
"That means, darling Brenna, that we are going to launch an attack on multiple planes of existence, fully engage them across the board, so that we can truly repel them. Again that is where you and Caiden come in handy."
"Why?" I really didn't like the idea of involving Caiden but he was already involved in some fashion and I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop it.
"Because you two can pass through realities in much the same way we can but you have the added advantage of not being fully ascended. The Ori will not suspect or detect either of you as they would us."
"What are you going to have us do?"
"Caiden will work with Oma, it's about time the lad got to know his grandma anyway, and you'll work with me. They'll rouse the SG teams to the battle cry while we rustle up the starship captains. We'll converge at Farscape, near the Babylon system, and there we will create a tear between the realities. The starship captains and SG teams will do what they do best, kick bad guy ass, and the Ori will be cast out of the galaxy."
He lost me at some of the more detailed parts but it sounded like a basic, cock-eyedly optimistic plan that would lead to either a heroic victory or devastating defeat, only we didn't have Hollywood ensuring our survival.
"That doesn't answer what the hell I'm actually supposed to do. You've described a foolhardy plan but haven't mentioned how we're actually going to commence with it."
Oma shifted closer and I felt something akin to pride shiver through me coming from her, "Perhaps you are more connected to me after all."
"Why? Because I also think that Q's an egotistical maniac who's likely either going to plan out the survival or destruction of our existence?" I would've sighed but again, non-corporeal, so didn't need to, "But seriously Q, what am I going to be doing?"
If he'd had hands I know he would've clapped them together in glee, "I think it's time for a little reunion don't you agree?"
I felt a shiver of dread mixed with hope flow through my "ball" of non-coporealness at the mental image of what sort of reunion he had in mind. Most likely an awkward, not easy to believe, likely to end in violence one—not unlike my old family reunions actually.