A/N: Standard Disclaimer. We don't own Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Doctor Who, or Eureka. Just fans.

Chapter 14

Guinan looked around herself at what looked like Ten Forward, back on Enterprise. She was seated at a table with her kids, Jack, Sam, Mark, and Lexi, as well as Jack O'Neill. Around them were several more Q, including The First, The Commander, Merlin and Che'Ryl, Teal'c, Daniel, Janus, and Jade. She knew what was coming, and wasn't sure what she thought of her brother being present, but she supposed his animosity toward her gave him a vested interest in having her fobbed.

"Before we proceed," Daniel Jackson announced, "Teal'c and I want it known that we both consider Guinan to be like our mother; therefore, we would prefer to sit with her and her children."

The First's look was penetrating as he nodded and intoned, "Very well, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel and Teal'c both stood and moved to Guinan's table. Two more chairs appeared at their approach, and they sat down.

Merlin smiled slightly, and stated, "I doubt that there is anyone in the continuum, who would not consider Guinan to be either family, or a close friend. Further," he continued, "most Q have, in one way or another, dealt with the Borg, and would likely approve of what Guinan has done."

There was silence in the room when Merlin finished. Obviously, he was correct in his assessment, and after several moments, The First held a hand up, and a padd appeared in it. "The formal charges against Meribor, or Guinan, are as follows: One, interfering with the correct order of the timeline, and two, consigning several thousand Borg to oblivion." The padd disappeared from his hand and he levelled his gaze on her. "Do you agree with the charges?"

She simply answered, "Yes."

Janus stood, and faced The First. "How can we object to her consigning all of those Borg to oblivion? Any of us might have done exactly the same thing in her position." He looked around at the assembled Q. None of them seemed inclined to disagree with his statement, so he forged ahead. "As far as 'interfering with the correct order of the timeline', I ask, what is the correct order? Who are we to say?"

"The Guardian of Forever has been created for just that purpose," The First countered.

"You know as well as I," Janus said, "that the Guardian does not tend to communicate clearly."

"He will with Fargo," Jack Carter offered.

"That is true," The First agreed.

"Are we going to air the continuum's dirty laundry to the ascended?" Janus asked.

"In a limited way, the ascended have a connection with the continuum as well," Teal'c observed.

"But they are not Q."

"Some would argue that they are," the big Jaffa answered, "if only slightly."

Janus eyed Teal'c for a time, then asked, "So do you suggest that we ask Zeus what the Guardian has to say?"

"Hardly," Teal'c answered drily. He levelled a warning gaze at Janus. "I should point out that I find your apparent distaste at a 'mere ascended' to be… distasteful."

"Teal'c, I am well aware that you and Daniel are married to ascended," Janus defended himself. "And I never said, 'mere ascended' in reference to anyone. I only asked if we were going to air our dirty laundry to Fargo."

"I do not think that will be necessary," Merlin told his son.

The First nodded thoughtfully, then called, "Qang puqbe'!"

"Yes, First?" came a voice from all around them.

"Does the Guardian speak to you clearly?"

"Guardian's speech is not as clear as it once was, but I can understand. I suspect that with time as fluid as he must find it, being precise is not easy."

Guinan shook her head. "None of this is necessary."

"Meribor," Janus rebuked her, "I know you may find this difficult to believe, but I'm trying to help you."

"Yes, Batai," she answered, using his childhood name, "and I thank you for it. I do find it surprising, but it's a pleasant surprise. However, the reality is that I have to be fobbed. If I'm not, what will happen the next time a Q breaks the rules? Only in the next case, it may not be as gray an issue as this. That Q will expect the same leniency, but perhaps not deserve it." She let her gaze touch everyone in the room. "For the good of the continuum, I must be fobbed."

"Very well, Meribor," The First said solemnly.

He stood and asked, "Who will accompany her?"

A multitude of hands went up, and with the trace of a smile, The First shook his head. "You all know where Guinan is going now. You are there. Even you, Janus."

There was a flash, and Eric Marten entered the room. "Good evening, First. I will volunteer to accompany Meribor."

"You are already present in that time period, Eric."

"You are correct, First, however, shortly after I arrived, you visited me, and recounted this meeting. You explained that I had volunteered, therefore, I did the job. I shall not be there twice."

"An excellent suggestion, Eric," Merlin observed. "I can't think of anyone better suited to take care of my daughter."

"Thank you, Sir," Marten said. "I will endeavor to keep her 'out of trouble'."

"Thank you, Data," Guinan said to Marten, beaming.

"You are most welcome, Guinan," the former android responded.

"Does anyone object to this job being given to Eric Marten?" The First asked the continuum.

There were no objections. "Very well, Eric, the task is entrusted to you."

Marten nodded, then turned and started walking toward the entrance to Ten Forward. With each step, he grew more indistinct, until he faded completely just before the door would have opened.

Merlin and Che'Ryl stood and walked to the table where their daughter and grandchildren were seated. They both embraced Guinan, then, Janus approached his sister, and stood face to face with her. He gazed at her for a moment, then held out his arms for an embrace. He had a questioning look on his face. Slowly, she smiled, and they hugged, then she made the rounds to her children, Daniel, and Teal'c. "I'll see you all there," she told them, then she turned to The Commander and The First. "Goodbye, Great-Great-Grandfather," she said to The Commander.

"Not goodbye, Meribor," he said. "Just, 'I'll see you later.'"

"Peace, and long life, Meribor," The First said as she turned to him.

She held up her hand in the Vulcan Salute and grinned. "Same to you, First."

"I'll see you later, too," she said to Jade.

"Yes," was the reply. "We're going on a tour of the Pegasus Galaxy, later tonight."

"I'll look forward to it," Guinan said as she embraced her granddaughter.

Once she was done saying her goodbyes, she turned back to Merlin. "I'm ready."

Merlin and Che'Ryl stood formally in front of their daughter and raised their hands in front of her face, then Guinan faded from view.

In Iconia Prime…

The First, Merlin, Teal'c, and Jade were the most powerful of all the Q, and they were in the city of Atlantis, where it was docked inside the sphere of Iconia Prime. Merlin had kept his own living quarters in the city that he had once ruled, even though his chancellor's offices were in Camelot, the capital of Iconia Prime.

The group was in his private office, discussing the laws of the Q.

"I do not often give credence to Janus, but his points were valid," The First said.

"Perhaps Janus is growing up," Teal'c suggested.

Merlin said very little. At one time, he would have joined wholeheartedly into the conversation, agreeing with Teal'c, and approving of giving no credence to Janus' speech. Years ago, however, he discovered that the knowledge of his parentage of Janus had changed his outlook. Any criticism of his son, reflected on him as well.

Jade watched her grandfather, and saw the stoic expression on his face. "Gentlemen," she interjected.

That was enough to stop them in their criticisms. They looked at the other two and at the sight of Merlin's face, The First said, "My apologies, Merlin. I did not intend criticism of you."

"Nor did I," Teal'c observed

"I understand," Merlin told them, "however, it occurs to me that when it takes several millennia for a child to reform, it reflects poorly on the parenting ability of his father."

"Not at all, Grandfather," Jade objected. "You used that same parenting ability to raise me, and Uncle Wesley, as well as Aunt Annika."

Teal'c spoke up, "I would point out, Merlin, that if someone is capable of raising a Borg child into a normal human, or Q, he is a formidable parent."

"Thank you, both. Your observations are appreciated."

Before any more could be said, Merlin's communications system beeped for his attention.

"Merlin here," he said.

"We have a situation developing," came the voice of Daniel Jackson, "that may require your attention."

"On our way," Merlin answered.

They flashed into the control room of Camelot and looked around. Daniel strode up to them and explained. "A Borg cube came out of warp just a few minutes ago. They haven't told us resistance is futile or anything yet."

"We're getting a communication from the cube now, Sir" one of the techs in the control room called.

"Let's hear what they have to say," Merlin responded.

Instead of the normal multi-voiced 'we are the Borg', it was a single voice, and the image of the Empress appeared on a screen.

"I would seek an audience with The First of the Q," she stated without preamble.

The First stepped forward and asked, "For what purpose?"

"The Q are slaughtering Borg. I wish to know why."

"The Q do not slaughter Borg," the Vulcan said shaking his head.

"And it is said that Vulcans do not lie, but contrary to generally held belief, it appears that neither statement is true," the Empress said angrily.

"What you choose to believe, Empress, is of no consequence to me," The First said mildly.

She shook her head. "I had thought that you were a man of honor, Spock of Vulcan."

He held her gaze for a time, then said, "I am, Empress. Very well, I will meet with you, however I do not promise that you will be happy with the outcome."

The First disappeared from the control room of Camelot, and reappeared in the middle of a sandy desert. A few feet away from him was the Empress.

"So you bring me here to talk? You don't trust me, do you?" she asked.

"Should I, Empress?

"No, I don't suppose you should. No more than I should trust you." She looked around her at the desert. Off in the hazy distance, the sand curved up, and eventually met with mountains behind the Vulcan. Behind her, she could see a great ocean above the sand. "I see we are inside the sphere. Such a waste of space to have a desert."

"At one time, I was like you. I did not realize the usefulness of beauty, but that is one thing which separates us from you. You think an appreciation of beauty is wasteful, when in reality, it opens the mind and allows one to understand the complexity of nature."

"The Borg understand the complexity of nature, and we respect the beauty of the mathematics which describe it."

"Empress," he said sadly, "reducing nature to the cold calculations which describe it is neither logical, nor a true understanding of its beauty."

"Your statement is not logical," she objected.

"Nevertheless, it is the truth." His expression of sadness suddenly disappeared from his face, and he stepped forward. "Now, we shall make a treaty."

She laughed at that. "What foolishness is this?"

"To refuse would be your last act as Empress of the Borg."

Her laughter stopped, and her eyes blazed. "Are you threatening me, Spock of Vulcan?"

"I have no need to resort to threats, Empress. Promises are infinitely more effective."

"And do I have a say in the terms of this 'treaty'?" she asked, her haughtiness faltering for the first time.

"Most assuredly, Empress. Your say will be, 'Yes'."

"And if I refuse?"

"The Borg will cease to exist."

"Spock, I used to be human, and I remember a term which defines that statement. It has to do with bovine feces."

Spock regarded her for a long moment, then said, "Very well. I will not commit genocide. I will, however give you three, and only three, choices."

Her expression was smug, and she seemed to think she had won.

"The choices are these: You will accept my terms without reservation and remain Empress. If you refuse to accept my terms, you have two other choices. You may cease to exist yourself, or you may be made mortal, with no chance to ascend ever again, and you will be subject to paying for your crimes for the rest of your life."

She was taunting now. "And if I refuse all three?"

"Those are your choices, Doctor. You will choose one, because should you refuse all, I will default to choice number three."

"That is no choice!" she shrieked. "How can there be a choice when you remove them?!"

"If you cannot live with either one or three, you may have two."

"What are the terms of your treaty?"

"The Borg will not commit genocide, nor will they assimilate anyone without that person's agreement. The Borg will, unless seeking peaceful relations with their neighbors, confine their activities to the delta quadrant."

"And?" She was mad, but trying hard to control it.

"Empress, you will find these terms restrictive enough. Do you truly wish for more?"

Galactica…

William Adama walked into what, up until yesterday, had been Guinan's. To his surprise, the room was not empty. Fargo was behind the bar, washing glasses, and putting things away.

Adama walked up to the bar, and sat down at a stool. "Hello, Fargo," he said. He was still not used to the fact that Zeus' name was Douglas Fargo, but was determined to acclimate.

Fargo turned and nodded when he saw the commander. "Admiral," he said.

"Please, Fargo. That's my official title, but I prefer 'commander'."

The ascended man nodded again and turned. As he was putting away glasses, he asked, "So what brings you here?"

"Before Guinan came on board, I didn't know we needed her," Adama remarked, then he confessed, "Now I don't know what we're gonna do without her."

Fargo paused and turned back. "I know how you feel, Sir."

For the first time, Adama seemed to realize what Fargo was doing. "Come on, Fargo, you're not a janitor. You're Zeus. You don't have to do this."

"No, I don't, but I want to do it for Guinan. The strange thing is, I know she won't be coming back here. I know Janet Fraiser, the person that Guinan has become. She's alive in this century too. She's a doctor married to a scientist. Janet's husband, Doctor Rockwell, kinda reminds me of Doctor Baltar - that's Gaius Baltar, not Julius. Anyway, I remember having a chat with her when she first toured GD. That's Global Dynamics, a company I used to be the head of. Janet was one of the two medical doctors on the oversight committee for GD." Fargo was rambling, but Adama just listened. He was intrigued. He found it interesting, knowing what would happen, or had happened, to Guinan.

"So you're telling me she's gonna be ok?" he asked when Fargo stopped for a breath.

"Commander, the thing you've got to understand is, Merlin, The First, The Commander… They all love Guinan. They would never harm her. This fobbing is, for them, simply discipline."

Fargo sighed, came around the bar, and sat down beside Adama. The ascended closed his eyes, and his hands started to glow. In one appeared a bottle of whiskey, and in the other two glasses. Adama's eyes widened. "I didn't know you could do that," he said.

"Yeah," Fargo said, after catching his breath. "It's a lot harder for an ascended than for a Q, and I won't be able to do anything like that again for a while, but it's something we're able to do."

Adama read the label. "Jack Daniel's Ten-nes-see Whiskey?" He took a moment to pronounce Tennessee.

"Right. Tennessee was a state in the nation I was born in. Famous for their whiskey, Davey Crockett, the Smokey Mountains, and country music, although not necessarily in that order." He filled their glasses and held one up. Adama lifted the other and Fargo said, "To Guinan."

"To Guinan," echoed Bill.

Later, at the outer edge of the system…

Three basestars jumped into the system on the outer edge. As soon as they appeared, they began broadcasting a code that Cavil and Adama had agreed on. Adama ordered a fleet of vipers to escort the basestars, one at a time, to a planet that was far away from Jord. The vipers had orders to shoot at the slightest provocation. It was an inflammatory situation, but Adama had warned that he would have the head of anyone who fired without provocation.

The first cylon was in the process of travelling to the uninhabited planet, when two more basestars appeared, this time very close to Jord.

Adama was livid when he saw them, and was on the comlink to Cavil immediately. "Is this a double-cross?"

"I assure you, Adama, I am as much in the dark as you are," the cylon said.

"Commander," Gaeta called, "Cavil's other basestars have moved to intercept! One of them is engaging the newcomers!"

In space, squadrons of raiders erupted from the new arrivals. They swarmed over the ship that had attacked. A moment later, the other one of Cavil's basestars attacked. The raiders began to swarm over it as well, picking targets and firing relentlessly.

"Prometheus!" called Adama over the comlink.

"Already on it," came the voice of Chakotay as the smaller ship streaked away. A small warp jump took them to the battling cylons in less than ten seconds, and as soon as the ship was sublight, it split. Scores of Federation fighters launched as soon as the hangar bay doors were opened, and the dogfights began.

The Federation pilots had never before engaged an enemy that flew through space as naturally as a cylon raider, and it took a bit to adjust. Heading up the squadrons of federation fighters, were Ka'Ra and Ka'Rel. They had done their best to explain to their pilots the attack maneuvers that a raider may employ.

Over the cities on Jord, a sound was heard. People in the Colonial cities ran for cover. They knew what that sound from the sky meant, and they didn't wait around to see what it was. In the other cities, however, it had been too long since the people had thrown off their own oppressors, and they had no idea what the sound was. Perhaps it was another display from their new friends, the Federation? Whatever their thought processes, many stood out in the open, wanting to see what was happening.

Once weapons began raining down on them, they ran, but by then, it was too late. Panic erupted, making sensible actions few and far between. In one case, an open doorway was no more than ten feet from a woman, but she ran down the street instead of heading for cover. Several people stood and watched cylon raiders head down the street, strafing anything in their view. Many lost their lives, and many more were seriously injured.

In New Caprica City, the stargate opened and Federation fighters started swarming through. After three or four minutes of Federation ships, Iconian puddle jumpers started through. The puddle jumpers immediately fanned out into groups of twelve, and headed for different areas of the globe.

Next through the gate were groups of four fighter drones. They flew straight up to join in the destruction of the basestars.

The last ship through the gate, before it closed down, was a death glider. Teal'c had recently found it, a burnt out hulk, on a world where it had lain for three hundred millennia. He used his powers to rebuild it, and refit it. Now, it had weapons as modern as those on the Federation fighters and Iconian starfighters.

On Galactica…

"Sir!" Gaeta called suddenly, "we're receiving a request from General O'Neill. He wants to know a way for his fighter drones to tell the difference between friendlies and non-friendlies!"

It took a second for Adama to realize what he was being asked, but as soon as he did, he shouted, "Contact Cavil and ask for identifiers!"

"I had anticipated this eventuality," Cavil said when Gaeta explained the situation. "My raiders have the ability to broadcast on a Federation subspace frequency, and will be broadcasting their ID there as well as on standard cylon channels. Baltar's will not have that ability."

Gaeta forwarded the information to O'Neill and explained to Adama and Pegasus at the same time.

"Get our Vipers tuned to that frequency," Adama ordered. "We just made peace with these cylons, we don't want to blow them out of the skies."

O'Neill was not in the safety of Iconia Prime. Instead, he was flying a puddle jumper, with his daughter, Lucy, as co-pilot. Sam was coordinating the battle for him from a mantel protected mobile command center, set up just a few feet from the Stargate. Amanda and Jade were flying a puddle jumper, off O'Neill's starboard side. Jack sensed a movement on his port side, and said into his comlink, "Teal'c! How's it handle?"

"It handles well, O'Neill. Exactly as I remember a death glider."

"I would imagine," Jack said, then, "Heads up! Here comes a wave."

They were about to intercept a group of nearly forty raiders. O'Neill prepared mentally for the battle, but the raiders did not attack. Instead, the images of the cylons on their displays showed in green, and they heard, "This is cylon raider two six five seven three. Do not fire. We are friendlies. "

"Well." O'Neill quipped. "Don't fire till you see the red of their blips." To the cylon, he asked, "Where are you going?"

"To help protect the cities."

Another group of cylons was following on the tails of the first wave. O'Neill watched as they came closer. Suddenly, their blips on his screens showed red. "Here we go, boys and girls."

These cylons opened fire, and the squadron O'Neill was leading scattered, picking out targets and firing. A moment later, several small green blips appeared. Through the front windows of the jumper, they looked sort of like miniature cylons, but they were firing mini drones at the enemy ships. One by one, the red blips disappeared.

"Thank you." came the voice of raider two six five seven three.

"You're welcome," Jack said. The irony of having just saved the figurative butts of forty cylon raiders was not lost on him.

By the time O'Neill arrived at the battle in orbit, one of the basestars was in the process of disintegrating. "Whose side is that one on?" Jack asked.

"It is Baltar's, but not his command ship," one of the raiders informed him.

As he watched, one of the arms of the huge vessel disconnected as there was an explosion in it. As the arm spun away, it crashed through a dogfight consisting of several of its own raiders chasing a Federation fighter. There were two more fighters which had just swung in behind the raiders. All of them were destroyed when the spinning arm from the basestar connected with them.

O'Neill, Amanda, and Teal'c flew their ships towards the remaining basestar. "Is Baltar on this ship?" Jack asked, hoping one of the raiders would answer.

"That is not certain, but it is a high probability."

"Wonderful," he said, cloaking his jumper. "Teal'c and Amanda, you stay out here and guard…"

His voice was cut off by a tremendous explosion. "What the..!"

"If Baltar is indeed on that ship," Teal'c observed, "He will be making his way off."

"Yeah," O'Neill exclaimed. "Right to the resurrection ship!"

There was another explosion, and they turned dejectedly toward home.

"Sam," Jack called, "we're ok, but we didn't get Baltar."

"We figured he wouldn't be easy to capture, Jack," came the welcome voice of his wife.

"I know, but I really wanted him." He sat back in his chair and said, "We'll get him another time though."