Dawn was a gray smear on the tree-clad horizon, but promised to be a spectacular fanfare of golds and reds before too many more minutes ticked by. Kimberly Tycho liked to rise in the early hours of the morning to watch the sun come up, and she sat now on the house's eastern porch, gently rocking on a bench swing, legs tucked under her petite frame and wrapped in a comfortable old quilt against the chill of the frosty, dew-laden morning air.
All around the cozy log cabin where she and her husband Garek Loran lived rose the towering, serrated, snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada, but since the cabin sat nestled in a high pass it had unimpeded and spectacular views both east and west; sunrise and sunset. Below the porch, a gravel path wound its way down the mountainside to parts unknown, while closer at hand, a stout axe wedged into a chopping block demarked the place where Garek chopped each day's firewood for the cabin's large stone fireplace. But despite appearances, this idyllic scene was nowhere near California; it was a small pocket of the 'Q' Continuum, custom designed by its two inhabitants, and therefore even better than the real thing since it was perfect.
Kim detected the unmistakable aroma and sound of frying bacon coming from the kitchen and smiled contentedly to herself. Garek had never been an early riser -- in fact, he detested getting up in these wee hours -- but he knew his wife loved these early morning excursions and so did his best to make them as pleasurable for her as he could.
Presently, Kim felt a nudge at her side as a steaming cup of coffee was presented to her by her loving husband. She unwrapped a hand from the depths of the quilt and took it, closing her eyes and savoring the rich aroma as wafts of vapor from the dark brew curled about her pixyish face and dissipated into the pre-dawn. She smiled in silent thanks in Garek's direction as he took his customary place beside her on the bench, pulling a corner of the quilt to partially cover himself.
"Looks like it's going to be another beauty," he commented philosophically, contemplating the imminent sunrise as he sipped his own coffee.
"Yes," agreed Kim, taking a sip from her own cup.
Time passed while the sun crept ever closer to the crest of the horizon and the pair sipped their coffees in silence. Finally though, Garek set his cup on the small end table beside the swing and turned to his wife. "Kim..." he ventured hesitantly.
Kim took another calculated sip of coffee, stalling, and finally replied, sounding overly casual. "Yes?" She hated to be so evasive, but she was pretty sure what was bothering Garek, and she really didn't want to deal with it right now.
Garek leaned closer and pressed onward however. "I've noticed that you're spending a lot more time out here than usual." He fidgeted with his hands a moment, then forged ahead. "Is there something wrong?"
Kim looked down into the depths of her coffee cup seeking an easy answer, but none was to be found in the swirling brown liquid. Garek, of course, picked up immediately on her discomfort. "You're thinking of home and your old friends, aren't you? --homesick."
Kim frowned to herself in mild consternation. Were none of her thoughts sacred? Miffed, she cursed Garek for his insightfulness, but on the other hand, that was one reason why she loved him as much as she did, and her frown relented. "I suppose so," she replied after a long while, still staring into her half-empty coffee mug.
Garek drew a deep breath. The first big hurdle was passed; now for the second. "You've been using your 'Q' powers to look into the future again, haven't you?" he ventured.
This was exactly what Kim didn't want to discuss. She closed her eyes and shook her head in a pointless attempt to vanquish the visions she'd seen, but it was a futile gesture. In her mind's eye, the glorious sunrise on the eastern horizon of their private paradise was shredded to tatters and replaced by a premonition of blood and carnage. A river of sickening, red ichors ran through the center of her nightmare tableau, fed by red rivulets oozing from the bodies of countless slain warriors lying on the scorched ground -- many Mullurans and humans; but most alarmingly, five others she recognized very clearly, having flown with them until recently. Up in the darkened sky above this bloodstained battlefield, Starbase 901 could be seen -- burning, crumbling, encircled and besieged by countless foes.
Kim shuddered violently at that sight to the point she lost control of her coffee mug. It went crashing to the wood decking on the porch, shattering in a thousand ceramic splinters and spewing coffee everywhere, but suddenly Garek was there, enclosing her in his arms, holding her tight, protecting her from all evil. She clung to her husband desperately, burying her head in his shoulder, letting him shield her. She didn't want to see any more. Sometimes being a 'Q' was just too much for a mere human girl.
Garek held Kim in his arms, trying to comfort her as best he could. "It's just a possible future, Kimmie. Not even us 'Q' can tell the future for certain."
Kim came up from Garek's shoulder and wiped her eyes. "We have to help them," she said resolutely.
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