Lt Jovenan – What does a god smell like?
Jovenan
((Chez Adea, Dekoa, Betazed))
The others seemed like they had found something. Jovenan stood up away from the computer terminal and joined them to the bookcase they were studying.
Adea: There’s something carved on the back of this bookcase… I don’t remember that… Did you find anything?
Sadar: Response
Carving something to the back of a bookcase was an unusual method of communication, though Jovenan couldn’t see any purpose in doing so. It would have been left for someone to find, and the writer had no control over who would read it first, friend or foe. While Genkos and Doctor Sadar were working on the case, Jovenan reported her findings.
Jovenan: The news aren’t exactly detailed military reports, but it seems that for whatever reason, the Romulans didn’t join the Alliance in time for the First Battle of Chin’toka, turning it from victory to defeat.
Adea: So did something stop them from joining, or were they just late?
Jovenan shrugged. Whatever it was, it was not in the news reports that made it to the occupied Betazed. In their timeline, many of the documents were sealed as well, but the official story they were told in the history lessons was that the Romulans suspected the Dominion might turn against them. Whatever was different here, it had changed events well after that single battle.
Sadar: Response
Jovenan: I guess the ships that later liberated Betazed got called to enforce the core worlds and the holdings near Bajor. ::tilts head looking at what the others had found:: What’s that?
Genkos had removed the last shelf and moved back to read the carved text. Jovenan walked to join him, looking at the case right from ahead so that the carving became legible.
“Right on time?”
Adea: Oh balls.
Her eyes were full of worry when she turned to look at Genkos. That phrase clearly had a meaning to him, and considering the nature of their current situation, Jovenan could guess what it was about. She didn’t like the prospect.
Jovenan: Is that… from them?
Sadar: Response
Elain: What is it?
Hearing the bright, shrill voice of the child coming from somewhere else in the room, Jovenan turned to see Tevet, carrying the toolbox, just in time for her hearing be dominated by another, louder noise. Seemingly without a source or cause, it took Jovenan some time to recognize it; an old, analogue clock ticking at each count of a second, a sound she hadn’t heard often. She doubted there was such a device anywhere in this house, and the fact that the sound got louder at any second confirmed that. Tevet tried protecting her ears early on, and Jovenan hoped the noise would seize before it could damage their hearing.
And it did.
As suddenly and unexpectedly as it had started, the noise stopped as if the pendulum of the clock had been caught midair by a hand. And, metaphorically, that might have been the case. Looking out of the window, Jovenan could see that all motion had been halted, even a gust of wind stood still like it had been carved of glass by a sculptor.
Adea: CloQ.
The single word dragged Jovenan from the unnatural view outside. Turning to Genkos, she saw another person, wearing a familiar uniform but with face she had never soon so close. A face she would have hoped she had never seen.
CloQ: Well, hello there.
Staring at the being, deceptively humanoid, Jovenan felt both fearful and, oddly, defiant. The Q were one of the most powerful things in the multiverse, more destructive than a swarm of supernovae, more frightening than the war that raged outside. They could erase her from existence or damn them to aeons of suffering. But when your opponent could win any fight with a single snap of fingers, did it really matter what you were doing?
Jovenan: You’re the one who sent us here?
Sadar: Response
Jovenan heard Tevet walking to them, and saw the little girl next to her, looking up at CloQ.
Elain: Why did you take Genkos, Jovial and Sadder here?
Normally, Jovenan would have smiled at Tevet’s mispronunciation of their names, but the nigh omnipotent entity being addressed like that made her worry for Tevet. If Jovenan recognized the seed of defiance within her, it was more than a sprout within Tevet, and Jovenan hoped it wasn’t too much for the small child.
But, it was also a valid question that needed answering.
Jovenan: Is this supposed to be some sort of a game?
CloQ/Adea/Sadar: Response
Elain: I don’t think you’re tough. I think you’re a stupid bully and you smell.
Those words shocked Jovenan. It was one thing being defiant, and another insulting anyone, especially someone who was arguably a god. Pure concern about Tevet took over Jovenan, draining her of most of the defiance she had towards CloQ.
Jovenan: That’s, um, not exactly how we would put that.
CloQ/Adea/Sadar/Elain: Response
Jovenan she tried to gently shove Tevet behind her, being a humanoid shield between the girl and the Q. She was well aware she could do little to stop CloQ, but at least she could prevent Tevet from assaulting them. Tevet was strong-willed in any timeline, and being a child in a warzone had made her worse. She clearly wasn’t old enough to have been taught how to behave.
Jovenan: You did bring us to her, you must have known she was like that. She even threatened us with a knife! You must have had some purpose in doing so.
CloQ/Adea/Sadar/Elain: Response
TAG/TBC
----
Lieutenant Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11