Origins of Chivalry: Chapter 12

[Diana Talon]

"Q? Seriously?" Diana said as she crossed her arms. "And Narla... how much do I want to bet Narla was always a Q and the Narlins just worshipped you as a Goddess?"

[Arthur Talon]

"Relax, I'm not Q you are familiar with. Unlike Q I actually respect individual cultures. But, you are half right about Narla. They already worshipped a being called Elune. Not our doing. You see... he hesitated. Well, maybe it would be easier to show than explain."

He snapped his fingers, and in a flash of light they stood in the middle of a cobblestone paved street. A cart was being drawn by a pair of beaten down Narlins being whipped by a pair of Human riders. "Ms. Talon welcome to London, England circa about 2445." He shrugged, "A London had I not intervened."

[Diana Talon]

"I remember grandma telling me about how bad things got on Earth." Diana said as she watched in disgust. "So... you intervened. Like every other Q." she crossed her arms. "So....what do you want with us?"

[Arthur Talon]

"That's not the same future," Q corrected.

"Then what is this?" Arthur demanded.

Q shrugged, "Humans have legends of elves. Didn't you ever wonder what the origins of them were?"

Arthur shook his head, "No, I never gave it a thought."

"Narlins are elves," Q said connecting the dots. "Your species was unable to cohabitate with other sentient beings. Your ancestors had already wiped out the Neanderthals. This would be Earth's reality if I had not relocated the Narlins. An intellectually stunted and barbaric species. Your people have a saying, 'Necessity is the mother of invention'. You didn't need to invent new technologies because you had Narlins doing your dirty work. As such humans never rose to become the dominant species in the galaxy. In your absence that fell to the Klingons who were unchecked and unmatched only in their cruelty. That is until the Borg, which assimilated the Empire. One by one other civilizations fell. The Romulans, Breen, Cardassians, Tholians, Nassicans, Betazoids. The list goes on."

Q snapped his fingers and they returned to Camelot. "To answer your question my dear," Q said to Diana. "The galaxy is again at a similar crossroads. This time your people are being used as pawns in the war between gods. We Q are not the only omnipotent beings in the universe, and if the Prophet is not stopped this timeline will cease to exist."

[Diana Talon]

"So Tuesday..." Diana said with a slight smirk. "When is the timeline ever not in danger? My mother and father were time travelers. Whole galaxy was lost... like... now. So is this time wanting to happen despite things changing? Although not as if we've not played fast and loose with time and reality. Especially in the Sol Sector."

[Arthur Talon]

"No my dear there is no time travel involved. I cannot do this fo you. It is a task that you must complete, but I can give you the tools you need to defeat to prophet."

A three-dimensional star map appeared, "There's a wormhole here," Q said pointing to a location on the map. "Go there, and it will take you to the Andromeda Galaxy." The distant galaxy expanded, "Avalon is the third planet of this system," Q continued pointing to a star. "There you will find Excalibur, and while you wear the scabbard you cannot die, the blade shall blind your enemies like 30 torches, and you shall be able to rally the righteous to your cause."

[Diana Talon]

"So we go to another galaxy to get a magic sword?" Diana raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I always did like swords."

[Arthur Talon]

Q chuckled, "It's the sword that forged England, and now it will forge a new Human Empire that will last a thousand years." Q shrugged, "You might even meet your ancestor on Avalon."

[Diana Talon]

"And what ancestor would that be?" Diana inquired

[Arthur Talon]

Q smirked, "You shall see. Now, go to Avalon, and make allies with the people you come across." With that Q snapped his fingers and they were back on the bridge of the Pheonix.

"Well, that's the weirdest experience I have ever had," Arthur said looking around.

"What in the actual hell just happened?" Astrid demanded a confused look on her face.