A/N: We don't own the franchises contained herein.

Please review!

Remember to vote in the poll - Should the Doctor be someone from a different universe, or just be the Doctor?

Chapter 17

Pegasus was orbiting Jord, keeping a close eye out for either Borg vessels, or as was more likely, Cylons. Colorado Springs, with Walter in command, had sat down in a large lake near New Caprica City, and people of all ages, from all over the planet, were visiting and receiving tours.

In Pegasus' CIC, Lee Adama and Boomer were watching from the chart table as Kara commanded a simulated battle .

In her viper, Kara was leading a squadron through the middle of the melee, so they could get behind the 'cylons' and box them in. She was about to spin her ship around when the sunlight bathing her starboard side disappeared. "What the frak?" she exclaimed as a new signal appeared on her screens. She squinted at it, then called out, "Hey Lee! Galactica's back!"

"I see that, Serina," her husband responded. "You wanna continue getting your butt kicked, or come on home?"

Savagely, she spun her ship, lined up with a target and fired. In rapid succession, she destroyed four of the targets, then began a run through the heart of the battle, she and her squadron picking off 'cylons' with deadly precision. "Who's getting their butt kicked?" she demanded through her radio.

On Kataan…

Kaimin entered his home, accompanied by Meribor and Batai. They had just witnessed the launch of a probe that was journeying into the universe to find a compatible person to feed Kaimin's memories to. What he didn't say to his children was that he knew who the probe would eventually find, because it was a much younger version of himself. He remembered now, that he had allowed himself to be fobbed in the interest of fairness. He was still trying to decide whether he should tell his children who and what they were, when a knock sounded at the door.

Kaimin opened the door, and saw his friend, the administrator, accompanied by his wife. They had become very good friends with Kaimin and Eline after Batai died.

"I'm sorry," Kaimin began, "This really isn't a good…" He stopped and gazed at his friend as he realized who he really was. "Daniel." He glanced at the administrator's wife and she grinned from ear to ear.

"Hi, Jean Luc," Vala said, waving her fingers at him.

"Vala," Kaimin said smiling.

He turned and looked at his confused children, but his gaze didn't stay on them for more than a moment. Standing against the wall, behind Meribor and Batai, was Eline. His mouth dropped open and he took a faltering step towards her. He had seen her earlier, right after the probe launched. Now, he stepped toward her and held out his hands.

She took his hands and smiled. "Back on Enterprise, after your experience with the probe, I always wondered about that woman you were married to for so many years during your time as Kaimin. I was secretly jealous of her."

"I hope that having this opportunity to meet her has allayed any of those feelings," he said, completely straight faced.

"I think so," she answered, hugging him tightly.

Finally, it was too much for Meribor. "What is going on here?" she demanded.

Her father stepped back from the embrace and somehow, he didn't appear old and frail anymore. "I'm just getting even with you and Batai for knowing about the probe and not telling me anything about it."

Meribor shook her head and stepped up to her mother. "How are you here?"

Daniel stepped to her side and eased her to a chair, while urging Batai to sit down also. "Your parents are not quite what they seem," he began.

"I can see that, Administrator," she stated firmly, looking at her father who was supposed to be old, yet now appeared to be no more than forty. He didn't even look old enough to be her father! Then, there was her mother, who had been dead for several years.

"This is going to take some time to explain, isn't it?" Jackson asked rhetorically.

"You can do it, Daniel," Vala said beaming. "I have faith in you."

Galactica…

"So what have they done to her?" Lee asked his father as he finished his dessert. They were seated in Bill's cabin.

"Upgraded her engines, armor, weapons. The list is extremely long. The best, however, is our repair time."

"What do you mean?"

"Repairing anything is simply a matter of dematerializing the old component and rematerializing a new one in its place."

Lee was impressed. He remembered how long it had taken to repair Pegasus after the encounter with the Borg cube. "How confident are you in the upgrades?" he asked.

"Confident enough that after Pegasus is done, I want to send the museum relics to be refitted as well," Bill told him.

"Father, I think we should repair Triton if we can."

"I agree. I'll talk to O'Neill about it tonight. Meanwhile, you're scheduled for some time at Iconia Prime. Zeus is waiting for you there."

On Kataan…

It was five years previously that Kaimin had remembered his life as Picard. He knew he could leave Kataan at any time. His self imposed exile there was over. In truth, he left quite often, to spend time with Beverly, but he didn't want to leave permanently, as he was enjoying watching Meribor and Batai as they found their places as Q. He also had another grandson, Kamie, with whom he enjoyed spending time. He knew that the planet would not last much longer, and was heartbroken to know that the wonderful people populating it would not survive, including his son-in-law, Dannick.

This particular evening, he was spending time with family and friends. Daniel and Vala were coming over, and his daughter had agreed to make dinner. Her family and Batai would also be joining them.

After a stew, cooked the way Eline used to make it for Kaimin, everyone sat down outside and listened while Batai played a flute composition he had been working on. It was a tribute to life on Kataan, and started rather lively, but near the end, became haunting. When he finished, he looked around at everyone. The mood was quite somber, and Vala had tears running down her cheeks. So did Kaimin.

"I'm sorry," the young man said. "I didn't mean to spoil the mood."

"It's beautiful, Batai," Meribor told her brother.

A few minutes later, Dannick excused himself to take Kamie home. "I'll be along in a little while, Dannick," Meribor told him. "I just want to clean up Father's kitchen."

"That's alright," Kaimin said. "I'm not too feeble to clean up. You run along. I'll handle it."

"I can help, Father," Batai offered.

"Actually, Batai, I'm planning to go for a walk first. Don't worry about the mess."

"Very well, then. I'll be heading home too."

Kaimin watched his children go then turned to Daniel and Vala. "This is hard."

Vala looked at her husband and said, "Daniel, I can't bear this. Can we leave?"

"This reminds me so much of those last days on Earth," Jackson said quietly. "This isn't my home, but it's no easier."

"It has been your home for almost forty years, Daniel," Picard corrected him. "To see it destroyed is horrible."

"Are you going to stay?" Daniel asked his friend.

"I am having difficulty deciding," Picard confessed. "Part of me wants to leave now, but the stronger part says that I need to see it through."

Daniel turned to Vala. "If you want to leave, I can send you to Iconia Prime, but I have to stay. People will be looking for leadership tomorrow, and I have to be here." He turned to Picard. "Do you think it would be allowable for me to be present in each of my cities tomorrow? So I can provide the needed leadership in the last moments."

Picard smiled. "I do not believe any of the Q will begrudge you for offering leadership when it is needed."

Vala took a deep breath and let it out forcefully. "I'll stay with you, Daniel." Then, she turned to Picard. "I still wish we could save these people. The universe is about to lose something of incomprehensible value in them."

Picard nodded, but found he couldn't face her. It took a moment for him to finally find his voice, and when he did, all he could muster was a short whisper. "I know."

Jord…

One week after Pegasus left for the alpha quadrant, it was back, having been upgraded in the same way Galactica was. O'Neill spoke to the rest of the battlestar commanders in the conference room off of the control center of Colorado Springs.

"First off, I want to tell you that we are going to repair Triton," he began. "Unfortunately, Olympus is damaged enough that it isn't worth fixing."

"Couldn't the Q repair it?" Doctor Graystone asked.

"And end up fobbed?" Lee Adama asked, by way of explanation.

"I see the problem," Graystone conceded.

"Your ship will be next, Doctor," O'Neill told the scientist. "I want to make those museum relics a surprise to Julius Baltar. If he comes calling, and you know he will, I want him to be shocked by what Dionysia can do."

"The power output of our reactor can't meet the requirements of your replication technology," Graystone argued.

"That's why we're going to change out your reactor," Jack explained. "Look, Graystone. I don't have the answers to every question you want to ask. The fact is, Zeus, who designed the battlestars to begin with, has a few tricks up his sleeve. He's got it all worked out, and is ready for Dionysia. Okay?"

Graystone didn't argue any more, and the rest of the briefing went fairly smoothly. When they were finished, O'Neill gave the jump coordinates to the operations officer of Dionysia, and the museum battlestar jumped away.

Then, Eli towed Triton into orbit of Jord, and the task of removing the remains of her crew was begun.

Kataan…

Kaimin walked outside just before the sun rose, and made his way to the hillside on the outskirts of the city, to stand where he could see the sunrise. As expected, a few minutes before the star would peek over the horizon, the sunrise flared, then turned an angry, blood red color.

When the sun rose above the horizon, it appeared twice its normal diameter, and bathed the town in the same red glare. As he watched, the star seemed to grow steadily.

Daniel and Vala stepped to Kaimin's side and watched with him. No one said anything for several minutes, until Daniel broke the silence.

"That's awful," he said in a dull voice.

The star was now three times its normal diameter, and Vala observed, "It looks like it's coming to get us."

They heard a cry of fear behind them, and Daniel turned to Kaimin. "I'll see you later. I've got to exercise that leadership now."

Kaimin nodded ruefully, "I suppose saying 'Go carefully' doesn't make much sense now."

"Not really," Daniel said, glancing back at the growing red beast in the sky, "but I appreciate the sentiment anyway." Then he turned and started hurrying back into town, Vala by his side.

"Hello, Jean Luc." Picard turned at the familiar voice and saw his wife. "None of the townspeople can see me, so let's not carry on any animated conversations, or people will think you've gone mad."

"The whole world has gone mad, Beverly." As he gazed at her, he saw her mouth tremble, and tears start to flow.

The light was becoming dimmer as the explosion of the star's atmosphere expanded outward. One could hope that it would dissipate entirely by the time it reached the planet, but the Q standing on the hill outside the city knew better. It would still have enough energy when it hit to destroy all remaining life on Kataan. The heat would raise the temperature of the atmosphere to levels incompatible with life and the shockwave would remove all the evidence, on the side of the planet facing the star, that it had ever existed.

Picard and Beverly turned away from the coming destruction, and headed back into town. Either one of them had the power to stop what was going to happen, but they knew that their laws forbade it. The consequences would be too great.

They went to their home and entered. There was no need to pack anything. When the nova took Picard's life, he would immediately return to the continuum, and anything he wished to keep, he would draw with him.

Jord…

Onboard Dionysia, Daniel Greystone watched as Galactica and Pegasus, along with Colorado Springs and the city's entourage, picked up speed and left orbit of Jord. A few minutes later, and they would jump to a new set of coordinates.

When the ships heading to the gamma quadrant were out of sight, Graystone ordered that the O'Neill be contacted. "Dionysia reporting for duty, Sir," he told Thor. He was not a military man. In fact, he was far from it. He was a scientist whose closest association with the military was through the cylons he had designed as soldiers. Through the exodus of the surviving colonials, however, he had been forced to learn more about his ship than simply how it worked. He had learned how to use it. He was not a strategist, as Adama and Cain were, but he would follow orders with deadly precision.

"Hello Doctor Graystone. Please take your place on the fringes of the system. Since Dionysia has been upgraded, you have the most advanced battlestar remaining here. Eli will use the Daniel Jackson to guard the other side of the system."

Graystone nodded his acceptance of Thor's orders and then said, "I suggest we augment our fighter complements with raiders."

Thor raised an eyebrow at that suggestion, then said, "I am not certain how your viper pilots would react to having functional raiders in their hangers."

Graystone stepped forward and insisted, "You know as well as I that these raiders are truly on our side."

"You are correct, Doctor. I know that they have no ulterior motives, however, colonial warriors will be much harder to convince."

"Can't you order it?" Graystone asked.

Thor shook his head, with a small smile on his lips. "Doctor, can you imagine how warriors would react if that were my first command after taking over the protection of Jord? I would be facing a mutiny very quickly." He shook his head and stated, "While I understand your reasoning, Daniel, I cannot do that. What I will do instead, is have Cavil place his basestars evenly between your battlestars. That way, if we need a fleet of raiders, they can arrive anywhere very quickly."

Graystone nodded. He understood Thor's hesitancy, but he found the necessity for the Asgard's caution frustrating. "That sounds like an equitable solution, Thor."

Thor disconnected from Graystone, and contacted Triton. O'Neill had towed the battlestar to Iconia Prime with Colorado Springs, then returned to Jord to prepare for his trip to the gamma quadrant. Helena Cain was now the commander of Triton. While the battlestar was refitted, she had spent a considerable amount of time in a different part of the sphere with her mother. When she returned to the spacedock, it became common knowledge that several years had passed for her, but she wouldn't say how many.

Helena jumped to Jord with Triton two days before the trip to the gamma quadrant was undertaken. She had asked her father to please not leave before she returned, as she wanted to see her parents off.

"Commander Cain," Thor said to her, "I would like you to take position north of the star. I will take position south, and the rest of the fleet will guard the planet on site."

"Very well, Thor," she said and signed off. He sighed. She still wasn't a very friendly person, but she wasn't arguing every order someone gave her either.

Kataan…

The star dominated the sky now. It was a deep red, churning mass, and details could be seen on the apparent surface.

Initially, the people had panicked, but soon, logic took over, and they realized that there was no place to run. There was no looting, as that wasn't their way. Many had simply sat down and watched the sky. Others congregated in the town square and visited with their friends and relatives one last time.

Kaimin left his house, sat down on the hillside, and looked up. "Hello, Jean Luc." He turned his head at the voice. It was the crazy doctor who had visited when Batai was a baby.

Picard knew who he was now, and asked, "Shouldn't you be leaving?"

The doctor wasn't dressed in normal Kataan attire. He was wearing an old style Earth sports jacket, blue dress shirt, and a ridiculous burgundy colored bow tie. He sat down on the ground beside Picard and looked up at the sky too. "That's quite the sight, isn't it?" he asked.

Picard looked back to the sky for a moment, then at the doctor. "You are not Q. Can you save these people?"

The doctor looked at Picard and shook his head sadly. "This is a fixed point in time. You know that as well as I do, Picard."

"Fixed points can be changed."

"Not really. Do you remember Adelaide Brooke?"

Picard closed his eyes for a moment and let his mind take in the doctor's past, then opened them, and held the doctor's gaze. "I see."

"I tried to save her, Picard. I figured that since I was a Time Lord, time had to obey me, and I tried to save her. I took her to Earth in the TARDIS, rather than allowing her to be killed." A tear ran down his cheek at the memories. "All that I succeeded in doing was changing the location of her death. No more."

"If she hadn't committed suicide, it would have been different," the Q told him.

"She had to commit suicide, Picard, because she was a fixed point in time." He gestured around at the planet. "I could try to change this, but these people would only die in a different way."

Slowly, Picard nodded in understanding. He had never felt so defeated. Not even when he became Locutus of Borg. Then, he knew that there was a chance that Riker would rescue him, but for Kataan, there wasn't one. He understood why the doctor had tried to save Adelaide Brooke, but he also knew that there was nothing anyone could have done to save her. Time had to be the way it was, and the Guardian would see to it that fixed points were never changed.

The doctor sat and watched for some time, then stood. Picard looked at him again, and held out his hand. "Doctor," he said as they shook hands.

"Jean Luc," the doctor said, then he turned and walked towards a blue police call box that was standing, ridiculously and completely conspicuously, on the hillside. He opened the door and stepped in, but before he shut the door, he looked up at the sky again, tears streaming down his face because of a wrong he wasn't allowed to right. Then, when he had seen enough, he shut the door and, accompanied by groaning sounds, the TARDIS faded from view.

Kaimin's family joined him on the hillside a few minutes later, and together, they waited for the end that they knew couldn't be avoided.