"'He will be cast aside by both gods and mortals, and he will find himself unwelcome in all places.'" Kassia tapped her PADD several times. "'The stripped and dying Q will come and will be sent forth to find the Orb of the Kalim'harr in preparation for the day when the powers of evil will be used for good and the powers of good will be used for evil.'"
Kassia looked up from her PADD at Kitara. Kitara nodded. "Well, it all seems to coincide with what we know of Lt. Commander Kalimar. He was stripped of his Q powers. He was incarcerated by Starfleet. Now, he has the Orb of Kalimar, a weapon of evil, and used it against Sloan and his Orb of Creation. The powers of good used for evil. Does the Book actually say Q?"
"No. It says All-Doer. After reading and comparing the stories to Jovan's records, we basically put two and two together." Kassia paused. "We managed to translate a bit more. 'He will return to the Old World and will find himself surrounded by Dark. His anger will consume him, and the stripped Q will be silenced. He will sleep undisturbed while the World falls into great peril.'" She stopped again. "That's where there's a break. I imagine this implies a new chapter. The book starts to focus more on the child at this point. 'And the Shifters,' we imagine that means Tanzarans, 'will father a daughter who will join with the Q. His energy and her matter will merge. The child will herald the entry of a great Darkness.'"
Kitara was very interested. "And?"
"And, that's all we have. They use another word that is similar to 'entry.' It just doesn't make sense without understanding more of the culture of the people who wrote the Book."
Kitara opened a file on her computer and turned her computer around to show it to Kassia. "This is something you should find interesting."
Kassia sat down across from Kitara's desk and took a look at the file as Kitara spoke.
"Some fifteen years ago, Admiral Picard, when he captained the USS Enterprise-D, went on a mission with a coalition of several different races that involved those you mentioned you used to find the language you've been using to translate the Book. They discovered that a race of beings called the Ancients that lived about the time you said the Book of Light was written."
Kassia looked up, excited. "Do we have any info on the Ancients?"
"Just what Picard was able to bring back. It wasn't much, but you should be able to figure something out."
"Why hasn't this been made public?"
"I imagine that someone at Starfleet Intelligence or Section 31 must have decided it would be detrimental to the many religions in the Federation. Like so many other discoveries, it must have ended up buried in the mound of untold stories. So many discoveries are made daily. It was probably one of those things someone somewhere decided was better forgotten."
Kassia downloaded the information into another PADD. "Thank you so much."
"Anything I can do to help. I'd really like to see this situation reach a clean end."
"So would I." Kassia turned to leave. "So would I."
Location: Tanzaria
Katianna sat across from Jarrod drinking another cup of coffee.
Jarrod looked at her worriedly. "Doesn't coffee make you tense? Shouldn't you try to avoid that?"
Katianna ignored him.
"I could make you tea."
Katianna suddenly glared menacingly at Jarrod.
"All right. No tea."
The door to the small, wooden cabin that had become the group's hideout was suddenly opened allowing a gust of cold air to enter. Troy walked in quickly and slammed the door. He pulled off his large coat and tossed it. "Well, the authorities are taken care of. They're searching for the Pidaera group. With the Tanzaran police after them, they shouldn't be a problem."
Katianna put her coffee down. "Well, let's not cross them off the list just yet."
Jarrod walked up to Troy and away from Katianna's range of hearing. "I'm worried. We have two phasers and nothing else to defend ourselves against what will possibly be a very difficult attack if we are found. Do you--?
Troy smiled. "No worries. Most Tanzarans, including myself, have been extremely paranoid since the Raiders." Troy walked to the end of the living room and pulled what looked like a statuette of Tiadara. The lever opened a trap door to the basement. Troy motioned for Jarrod to follow him.
The two men walked into the dark room. When they were in the center of the basement, Troy pulled a switch that turned on a light in the middle of the room. The light revealed walls that were entirely covered with everything from photon grenades to plasma cannons. Troy motioned across the large basement. "We're well prepared."
Katianna, who had made her way unnoticed into the basement, walked to a plasma rifle. She took it into her hands. "Good." She cocked it. "This will definitely even the odds."
Earthdate: February 7, 2385
Location: Tanzaran Orbit
Two Bajoran vessels moved into orbit around Tanzaria. "Coran," the Bajoran at the helm said, "this is where the supernova's energy seems to be directed."
Coran nodded and looked around the bridge. "The time has come. The Dark is using unorthodox methods, but they do not fool us. We shall destroy this child, and we shall ensure that the Dark does not enter our world."
The other Bajorans cheered in agreement as the two ships entered the atmosphere.
Location: Starbase 901
"Okay," Kassia began, "The Ancients believed that the physical world was not the real world. They saw themselves as trekking through an alien dimension in their travels."
Toren Len nodded. "So, entry into the world could be considered birth."
"Not so much. They saw death as a momentary release, but that it would lead back here. The Ancients believed fervently in metempsychosis."
"Metem--?"
"Reincarnation."
"Right."
<Chapter translation complete. Beginning next chapter.>
Kassia moved to the computer with the translation of the Book of Light. "Let's see what else we have." She opened the file for the new chapter. "'And there was a clash of thunder, and an long-living light will extinguish, releasing the energy of a thousand suns, and it will herald the coming of the Child.'"
Toren Len shook his head. "The Book is repeating itself. We already know about the supernova that has appeared over the skies of Tanzaria. What--?"
Kassia gasped. "Listen! 'But the coming of the Child will be endangered. The Dark will seek this Child, and, when all has culminated, there will be no birth.'" She looked up. "Katianna needs to know about this."
<Chapter translation complete. Beginning next chapter.>
"Hmm. That was fast," commented Len.
Kassia moved to the computer. "This one is about the evil that is to enter the universe." She began to read, "'The Darkness will enter the world during this time. Long asleep, the Prince of Hell shall be born again and will bring forth the Great Adversary. Together they will seek to set the galaxy aflame, and to bring together the Dark Trinity.'"
Len shook his head. "This is not talking about the Child. Why would the Order of the Light try to kill the child if it isn't evil?"
"My guess is that they never figured out how to translate the Book. Their beliefs probably were passed down, without any real understanding of the volume."
"We need to let them know."
"More importantly, we need to prevent there from being 'no birth.' That part really scares me."
Earthdate: February 8, 2385
Location: Tanzaria
Troy drove in his hover car down the small dirt road to the cabin in the middle of the Tanzaran forest. He parked just a few meters from the cabin. Troy stepped out of the car, took down a small suitcase, and began to walk to the cabin.
Then, he heard a noise.
Troy turned around. He saw nothing. He kept walking but turned around again when he heard a second noise. This time, he did not turn around. He just kept walking.
Troy took three more steps. Then, he twisted around and hit the person behind him with his suitcase. He then twisted the suitcase around and knocked out a Bajoran who had snuck up behind him. Troy ran into the cabin.
Katianna and Jarrod sat at a table while Kara Lac swept the cabin. They all looked up, thrown by Troy's slamming of the door. Troy looked around the room and then at Katianna. "Arm yourselves."
They already knew what was happening. Katianna and Jarrod got to their feet and ran for the basement as three Bajorans crashed through the windows brandishing swords. A fourth and fifth Bajoran walked Laurissa down the stairs to the second floor as a sixth and seventh entered through the front door and restrained Troy. They were helpless.
Coran walked into the cabin. "You've run long enough. This is where your story ends."
Katianna growled.
Jarrod pleaded, "You're making a mistake! How can this child be evil?"
Coran shook his head. "The prophecy speaks of an entry of evil into this world. There is only one way to be sure if this is the evil the prophecy speaks of." He lifted a charged weapon at Katianna's belly.
Coran grew dim. "I'm sorry."
He aimed and fired.