Chapter 4 - And Of Another Kind
"Because true omnipotence does not exist, Jack McCall."
Mei-Wan and Jack spun around to a new voice. This one belonged to a strange five and a half foot tall bluish-white fur covered creature that stood at the forward end of the Ready Room looking out at the stars. It turned about and stared at them both with its piercing eyes.
"Who?" Mei-Wan started.
Jack looked over at the being as it walked toward them. "It's one of the Vedala."
Mei-Wan's eyes watched the creature's every movement. This was a rare opportunity for her. This creature's kind had existed when the Ancient Progenitors wandered the stars.
The Vedala stopped and looked at Jack. "And since the Q were so insistent on knowing the name of the one you speak to, you may call me Kalastia."
"You saw everything that happened?" Jack asked.
"There is little we do not see. The Q think they can hide from us. We allow them that delusion."
Jack smiled. He liked that. He had reached his limit with the Q and their "superiority." Though, he wasn't sure trading it for the Vedala's brand was much better. One group of super-beings at a time, he thought.
"What did you mean true omnipotence doesn't exist?" Mei-Wan asked.
Jack frowned. "Mei, I don't think..."
"No, Jack McCall. We should allow the curious to ask their questions... up to a point," the Vedala responded.
The creature looked warmly at Mei-Wan. "True omnipotence would involve the ability to direct every particle everywhere. Unfortunately the Universe appears to have denied that opportunity to everyone. Thus no one can be truly omnipotent."
"But the Q make that claim and do appear quite powerful," Mei-Wan said.
"More for their own protection than anything else. Fortunately they don't believe it themselves or they would have already been dealt with," Kalastia said. "It has kept many species from standing up to them. However, the few that have are avoided by the Q. They do not try the patience of the Organians or the Metrons... or the Vedala."
Jack nodded. "So, are you here to make sure I didn't tell them anything important?"
"No, we heard and saw everything that happened in the Q Continuum. I wished to make certain they had not tampered with you--- with who you are," the Vedala said as it observed Jack closely.
Mei-Wan turned to her husband. "Is he okay?"
"Yes, he is as he was before they took him--- troubled by the past and fearful of the future."
Jack frowned. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"There was no judgment involved and no insult intended. I simply state the facts as they are."
"That could be said about all humans--- all beings."
The Vedala looked directly at Mei-Wan. "Not about you."
"What?" Mei-Wan asked, but certainly not expecting or wanting an answer.
Jack stepped forward to keep Mei-Wan from the probing of the Vedala. "The Q seemed to think the Vedala were keeping things from them."
"Of course we are," Kalastia said.
"They wanted to know what your interest in Hel'yra was," Jack said.
"They know about Hel'yra, or at least some of them should remember it. That isn't what they really wanted from you. There is so much shrouded even from our gaze and the Q are afraid about that which we do not know."
"I don't understand. Why won't they just ask you?"
"They don't trust us," the Vedala said. "The Q are quite intuitive. When they have reason to fear, all beings should take heed."
"You've lied to them in the past, haven't you?" Mei-Wan asked.
The creature turned to her. "Perhaps."
"And I suppose if I asked you for information about the Ancient Progenitors you might be less than honest with me as well."
"There are some truths better left unspoken."
Mei-Wan took a deep breath. She had always hated when someone didn't tell her the truth. She hated it when her father kept the truth of her mother's condition from her. She hated it when Jack wouldn't tell her how he felt. And she hated not knowing about the Ancient Progenitors. Mei-Wan thought all humanoids everywhere had a right to know about those they came from.
"There are no truths that should remain hidden," Mei-Wan stated.
The Vedala looked at her in silence for several seconds. "Your curiosity knows no bounds, no rules, and has no regard for the consequences of the discoveries you make."
"I'm dedicated to the truth--- to things as they are."
"Your arrogance is astounding," Kalastia said. "And do you wish to know the truth behind the dispute you are having with Jack McCall?"
Mei-Wan took a step back, but the Vedala took two forward and looked directly into her eyes.
"I see all your memories as clearly as you see the walls of this room," it told her. "That truth would expose a lie you have told yourself for some time. Is that the truth you speak of?"
A strange fear gripped Mei-Wan. She suddenly felt the weight of the power possessed by the being before her.
Jack stepped between them. "That's enough! Leave her alone!"
The Vedala stepped away. "Beware that one, Jack McCall. She holds more than your life in her control. She holds your existence as well."
"Is that why all you 'superior' beings come by? Does seeing us frightened make you feel powerful?" Jack demanded.
Kalastia turned back to him with a sad expression on its face. "No. We all have much to be frightened of. Take care you do nothing to turn that fear into a reality."
The Vedala looked at Jack's wife. "And take care you do nothing to turn reality into ashes when you go to Hel'yra, Mei-Wan McCall."
The next moment the creature was gone.
"You know," Jack started. "I really wish the Q and Vedala would call before they came by for a visit."
Mei-Wan stared blankly at Jack. Fear filled her eyes. "I should go."
"Mei, wait."
"No, I have things to do," she said. "I'm sorry about earlier."
Before Jack could say anything more, his wife was already headed down the stairs out of his Ready Room.
***
Lee McGuire stood at the entrance to Melissa Vargas' quarters just as the door opened.
"Well, Mr. McGuire, you're making a habit of this."
"What? Me?" Lee asked with a grin.
Melissa smiled and waved him inside.
Lee entered to find the lights dimmed and soft music playing.
"Who's making a habit of things, Melissa?"
He watched her sit in a couch, taking special notice of how the soft clothes she wore clung to the curves of her body.
"So, am I still to be punished with another evening of talking and nothing more?" he asked as he sat down next to her.
"Is talking to me such a bad thing?"
"No, not at all. I'm just wondering if I've performed enough contrition yet."
Melissa grinned. "Let's see, the lights are low, music is playing, and if I'm right, you can't keep your eyes off of me."
Lee nodded and took a deep breath. "I think you summed it up."
"So, if I were to allow nothing but talk to take place between us tonight you'd be thoroughly frustrated by the end of it." she said with an uplifted Vulcan eyebrow.
"So, torture is the plan for the evening."
She leaned nearer to him. "And if it was?" she asked softly.
He looked her supple body over once again and let out a long breath. "Then I guess I'll suffer through it."
She smiled wide. "Right answer."
Melissa pushed him down onto the couch and kissed him with a passion she'd been saving for weeks.
Lee looked into her eyes as their lips parted. "With torture like this, who needs pleasure?"
She kissed him again.
***
Mei-Wan let her nightgown fall down past her shoulders onto her body. She was more than physically tired this night. She felt as if something had drained her will to live. She suspected that something was the Vedala she encountered earlier in the day. Mei-Wan had the very firm impression the creature didn't like her at all.
She walked out into the living area of her and Jack's quarters realizing in less than a week she'd no longer live in this place, this ship--- his life.
Mei-Wan slumped down in the couch and closed her eyes. Why was it so hard for her to leave? Why when all of her dreams were about to be fulfilled did she still want to stay?
She reached over to find the book she had been reading the last several days, "Parzival", the book Timothy Blackwell had mentioned just before they left Kel-j'na. She stared at the worn old cover wondering why she could never seem to finish it.
But something else caught her eye. Down on the floor next to the couch.
Mei-Wan leaned down and picked it up. It was a shirt--- Jack's shirt.
She smiled and held it tight in her hands and drew it close to her. Mei-Wan took in the feel of it and the smell. Jack's smell.
A thousand memories flooded into her mind all at once--- the feel of his skin against hers when they made love, the way his eyes looked into her own, the thumping rhythm of his heart beating in his chest. The one memory that overrode the others was how safe and warm she felt in his embrace.
Mei-Wan let the shirt fall into her lap and wondered as she looked at it.
Is it because he makes me feel safe? Is that what I'm afraid of losing? Is that all there really is between us anymore? Is that all there ever was?
The door opening pulled Mei-Wan out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw Jack enter. She quickly tossed the shirt aside.
"I didn't expect you back so soon," she said.
Jack wondered why she had been holding his shirt and why she was in such a hurry to get rid of it. Probably mad at me for not putting it where it belongs, he thought.
"I didn't expect to be back either," he said as he quickly walked to his desk area and shuffled through several PADDs.
She turned around and leaned over the couch to look at him. "Jack, I think we need to talk about earlier today."
He stopped a moment. "I do too, Mei. I'm worried about what the Vedala said to you."
"No, I mean before all that. We need to talk about us."
He collected the PADDs he need in his hands. "Mei, what do you want me to say? I had a sex life before I met you. I can't go back and change it. The past is done and over with."
"I know that," she said. "I think we should talk about the next year."
He frowned, not so much in anger at her, but anger at himself and what he wanted to hide from her eyes. "What is there to talk about? We won't be together. I've... "
His words trailed off and Mei-Wan could see the pain in his face.
"Jack... " she started, but stopped. She was afraid to ask what was hurting him so much. She was afraid she wouldn't like the answer.
Jack McCall looked down at the PADDs in his hands. "Look, I've got a meeting with this 'person' from the Corps of Engineers. These jack-asses have been jerking us around for more than a week and I'm trying to get some straight answers out of them. I should be back in a couple of hours, okay?"
Mei-Wan stared at him, unsure what to say. She responded only with a quick nod and then a moment later he was gone.
She rolled over and laid her head back over the arm rest of the couch trying to cry, but the tears wouldn't come anymore.
Mei-Wan closed her eyes. She knew she wouldn't see him until the next day. One more week... that was all they had. At least she hoped they did.
