Guardians - Confrontation

Posted on Fri Nov 6th, 2026 @ 6:40am by Patin & Captain Marie Batel
Edited on on Fri Nov 6th, 2026 @ 2:12pm

3,157 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Guardians
Location: B'Hala

Patin was enraged, Marie was torn, and the Prophet seemed compelled to refrain them from interfering. With both Marie and Patin standing between the tome and Faro, the ethereal beings still chose a path of non-confrontation.

"You realise by avoiding one confrontation, you bring upon more" Marie cautioned as Patin reached for the tome again. This time, fingers grazed the leather backing, despite the efforts of the Prophets - who seemed to now underestimate this being they brought into their realm as a guardian and teacher.

"Deal with it now - and it goes away. Deal with it later, and it becomes 10 fold more complicated"

"Confrontation occurs. Confrontation will occur. The path remains, though its course is altered. The Guardians must allow what has been foreseen to become what shall be. The consequences of further interference..."

The Prophets' collective voice faltered as Faro lunged forward, her hand closing around the opposite edge of the ancient tome. For one suspended instant, Patin and Faro stood facing one another across the dais, each gripping the book with a determination that transcended the physical strength of their borrowed forms. The crimson veins beneath the obsidian floor brightened, spreading outward through the concentric inscriptions until the entire chamber seemed illuminated from within.

Patin snarled, tightening her grip as the book began to vibrate between them. “Get your own damn destiny!”

Faro pulled, and Patin pulled back. The book resisted them both, its dark cover rippling beneath their fingers as though something alive were struggling to escape its binding. A deep resonance rolled through the chamber, gathering strength until the polished walls began to tremble. The Prophets flickered, their gossamer forms stretching and contracting as the energy surged through the ancient stonework. Patin felt something reaching through her, searching among memories she had lived, choices she had made, and countless possibilities that had never come to pass.

A brilliant collision of crimson and blue-white energy erupted from the dais, racing across the chamber in an expanding sphere. The air distorted around it, bending the reflections in the volcanic glass until the walls seemed to peel away into an impossible expanse. Patin staggered but refused to release her grip, her boots scraping against the floor as the force threatened to tear her away from the book.

And suddenly, the futures were everywhere. B'hala stood beneath a burning sky, its streets crowded with kneeling Bajorans. Patina, her eyes glowing crimson, raised a hand before a gathering of worshippers while the Wraiths moved like enormous shadows above the city. The image fractured, revealing the same streets bathed in warm sunlight, where children played beneath flowering trees and the ancient temples stood open to the people of Bajor.

Another possibility unfolded alongside them. Rhenora stood upon a hillside overlooking the city, her hair stirred by a gentle breeze as two young girls raced through the grass toward her. Patina was older now, laughing as her younger sister struggled to keep pace. Their happiness lasted only an instant before the hillside darkened, the grass withered, and the two children vanished into a storm of crimson light.

The visions multiplied, overlapping one another until past and future became impossible to distinguish. Starships burned above Bajor. The Celestial Temple shimmered with golden light. The wormhole collapsed into darkness, then blossomed open again. A thousand versions of the same child appeared across the chamber, some laughing, some weeping, some standing alone, and others surrounded by those who loved her.

These possibilities extended beyond Patin and Faro. The images filling the chamber itself, visible to anyone standing within its shifting boundaries. Even the Prophets appeared caught among them, their ethereal forms reflected across futures that seemed to contradict everything they had claimed to know.

Patin stared through the impossible procession, her fingers aching around the book's cover. She could feel Faro's opposing strength through the binding, the two of them holding fast while the universe seemed determined to tear itself into a thousand different answers.

“Marie!” Patin shouted over the growing resonance, turning her head toward her fellow Guardian. “Tell me you're seeing this shit!”

"I see it, but it makes no sense" Marie replied as the cosmic chaos continued to cascade around them. So many futures, so many variations that could easily come to pass, and all based on this moment. She added her strength to Patin's the two combined managed to reef the book from Faro's hands. The cavern erupted around them, rocks showering like rain from above as the floor gave a deep rumble. Something well below was awakening.

"We gotta get out of here. NOW!"

“Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it!” Patin snapped, clutching the ancient tome against her chest as another tremor rolled through the chamber. Her eyes darted toward the ceiling, where great slabs of obsidian were beginning to fracture, sending jagged pieces tumbling toward the floor. For a fleeting moment, the old Resistance fighter calculated the distance to the entrance, the stability of the passageways, and the likelihood of outrunning a collapsing mountain.

Then she remembered what she was. “Oh, for fuck's sake!” she exclaimed, shaking her head at herself. “We're bloody Prophets, Marie! We don't have to run anywhere!”

Patin raised her free hand and snapped her fingers. The space immediately surrounding them shimmered, the falling debris slowing to an almost leisurely descent before hanging motionless in the air. A particularly large fragment of stone hovered inches above her head, prompting her to glance upward with an irritated expression. “Honestly, you'd think I'd remember that by now.”

"Old habits and all the rest" Marie exhaled slowly, calming her racing heart and trying to switch her mind into gear again.

But something was wrong. The Counter book pulsed against her chest, its dark cover growing warm beneath her fingers. With each pulse, the crimson veins running through the cavern brightened, and the deep resonance from beneath the floor grew stronger. Whatever had awakened below was responding to the tome, and Patin could feel the connection stretching far beyond the physical boundaries of B'hala.

She looked down at the book, then toward the Prophets whose ethereal forms remained scattered throughout the chamber. “Right. New problem,” she muttered, her humor fading as she considered the implications. “We can leave whenever we damn well please, but what happens if we take this bastard with us?”

A deep rumbled echoed beneath them, the cavern shaking slightly enough to release dust from it's resting place.

Patin tightened her grip, her eyes narrowing as another pulse traveled through the ancient binding. She could feel possibilities shifting around it, countless futures pressing against one another, each struggling to become something more than a possibility. A thin crimson fissure appeared across the back of her hand. It spread from the point where her fingers touched the book, branching into delicate, jagged lines that resembled cracks forming in porcelain. Beneath them glowed the same malevolent red energy coursing through the chamber. The fissures crept across her wrist and began climbing her forearm, splitting and multiplying as they advanced. Her celestial form flickered, its familiar blue-white luminescence briefly shining through the cracks before being swallowed by the invading crimson. “What the...?” Patin hissed, lifting her arm to examine the spreading corruption.

Patin understood possession well enough. She'd seen what the Wraith had done to Faro, and the thought of that same malevolent influence attempting to worm its way into her own celestial existence filled her with a mixture of disgust and outrage. She glanced toward Marie, the red fractures now crawling up the side of her neck, threatening to reach her face. “Marie, I think I've just pulled the pin on one hell of a grenade.”

" Ahhhh red is bad, red is very bad." Marie replied, reaching for the book and attempting to reef it from Patin's grasp. Patin was the chosen one to protect the Emissary - she must live. If Marie had her way she'd destroy the book, cast it, burn it, tear it to pieces to keep it safe from hurting anyone.

"Hold on Patin" She put the book on the ground, kept a foot on it, and reached for the Bajoran, hoping to add some blue to that red.

Patin doubled over with a strangled cry, her hands clutching at her chest as the crimson fissures flared beneath her skin. The pain was unlike anything she'd experienced in her mortal existence. It reached beyond flesh and bone, clawing at the very essence of what she'd become. Her celestial form flickered violently, the red fractures spreading across her cheek as something ancient and malevolent pressed against her consciousness. “Fuck... me...” she gasped through clenched teeth.

As Marie took hold of Patin, a brilliant blue-white radiance blossomed between them, flowing from Marie's celestial form into Patin's fractured existence. The crimson lines resisted, pulsing angrily as the opposing energies met, but slowly they began to retreat. The fissures along Patin's face faded first, followed by those across her neck and shoulders. Each receding fracture left a faint shimmer of blue in its wake, until the last stubborn tendrils withdrew from her fingertips.

Patin drew a ragged breath, looking up at Marie with something approaching genuine gratitude. “Remind me... to pour you a drink when we're done with this shit.”

The moment of relief lasted barely a heartbeat. Faro, taking advantage of the moment, struck from the side, throwing her entire weight into Marie's unguarded flank. The impact sent the former Starfleet officer sprawling across the obsidian floor, breaking her contact with Patin. Faro followed through with the tackle, using her momentum to roll clear before scrambling toward the abandoned tome. Faro's fingers closed around the book.

The chamber responded. A deafening crack split the air as the obsidian floor buckled upward beneath the dais. Great fractures raced outward, glowing crimson from somewhere impossibly deep below. The concentric Bajoran inscriptions shattered as the stone rose in uneven sections, each accompanied by a tremendous grinding roar. Whatever had awakened beneath B'hala was forcing its way toward the surface.

Patin staggered as the ground heaved, her eyes widening at the sight of the enormous stone slabs beginning to separate. Through the widening fissures came a deep, rhythmic pulsation, accompanied by a dull red glow that intensified with every passing second. The remaining debris suspended above them began to tremble, resisting her earlier manipulation of time. Something beneath the floor was exerting its own influence upon the cavern, and Patin could feel it pushing against her celestial authority.

She turned toward Faro, her expression hardening as the Wraith held the book. “Alright, Witch,” Patin growled, blue-white energy gathering around her fingers. “You've had your fun. Now let's see what you've woken up.”

"Just when you thought we were getting the upper hand" Marie grumbled ad she hauled herself to her feet. "The damned book is NOT for you woman!" She threw a sharp look at Faro and stepped beside Patin, the chasms and stone began to pulse as though it were alive. "Even the rocks agree!"

A fire dragon emerged from the chasm, eyes red like Wraith but devoid of the usual hatred.

"What the..." Marie's voice ended before it began as the creature roared flame, asserting it's authority. A giant claw reached for the tome.

Patin's expression shifted from anger to astonishment as the enormous creature hauled itself from the chasm. Its serpentine neck rose toward the vaulted ceiling, carrying a horned skull easily the size of a small shuttlecraft. Great ridges of jagged stone, ancient as time itself, formed its scales, each fringed with flame like a brick of charcoal buried in a fiery spit. Molten fissures ran between the overlapping plates, glowing with the furious intensity of a forge, while streams of blackened ash drifted from its body and dissolved before touching the ground.

The creature continued to rise, its immense shoulders forcing apart the fractured obsidian as two enormous wings unfurled behind it. Their skeletal framework resembled volcanic glass, sharp and irregular, while the membranes between them shimmered with translucent crimson fire. Through those impossible wings, Patin could glimpse the cavern beyond, distorted as though viewed through the heart of a raging inferno.

Its chest expanded with a deep, grinding resonance, revealing a ribcage filled with swirling red energy rather than flesh or organs. Each breath drew the surrounding flames inward before releasing them through gaps in its scales. A crown of backward-sweeping horns framed its elongated skull, and beneath the heavy ridges of its brow burned two eyes of concentrated crimson light.

Those eyes troubled Patin the most. Within them she recognized the same malignant presence that had attempted to invade her celestial form, an ancient will that regarded the beings before it with the contempt of absolute dominion.

“Well, ain't you a handsome bastard,” Patin muttered, craning her neck to take in the creature's enormous proportions. “Somebody's been feeding the bloody lizards.”

As its great claw extended toward the Counter book, Patin felt the same invasive resonance that had crawled beneath her skin. The dragon's movements carried a deliberate intelligence, its talons curling around the space occupied by the tome with a precision that seemed entirely at odds with its monstrous size.

Patin glanced toward Marie, then back toward Faro and the approaching claw. Blue-white energy gathered around her hands as she considered the implications. Her voice carried an unusual note of caution, “I reckon we've just met the bastard who owns the book.”

"Maybe we should give it back. Safe to say no-one's gonna steal from a dragon." Marie offered, stepping back in relation to the beast's sheer size. "It would be safe from...others"

Patin studied the enormous creature with an expression that bordered on admiration. Her feet shifted slightly apart, knees bending as she instinctively adopted a stance somewhere between preparing to fight and preparing to run.

“Did I ever tell you I rode a dinosaur once?” Patin asked, her eyes never leaving the dragon. She tilted her head, following the movement of its enormous claws. “Gah, I'd love to see what this thing's made of. You know, for scientific purposes.” A mischievous grin tugged at the corner of her mouth, though the blue-white energy gathering around her fingers suggested she hadn't entirely forgotten the danger.

Marie's suggestion however, brought her attention back to the Counter book. “Yeah, well, there's a problem with lettin' it have the book,” she replied, gesturing toward the dragon. “We don't know what will happen. Could be simply taking back what's rightfully his, OR we could be handing the bastard the keys to Bajor.”

She glanced toward the gathering of Celestial Beings, hoping for some indication of what they were witnessing. The Prophets regarded the dragon with an almost scholarly curiosity, their ethereal forms drifting gently above the fractured stone. One of them turned toward Patin, considered her question, and simply shrugged.

Patin blinked. “WHAT?” she exclaimed, throwing her hands outward in disbelief. “What the hell does that mean? You can't just SHRUG!”

The Prophet continued to regard her with the same infuriating serenity.

"I think that means they have no idea what will happen next. The Prophet of Chaos and Boom has produced more chaos than they can deal with" Marie smirked, turning her back on the Prophets and standing next to Patin. "Looks like it's just you and me and a fire breathing dragon. They didn't cover that one in the Starfleet manual"

“Yeah, dragons weren't exactly part of field training in the Resistance either,” Patin replied, her gaze traveling from the creature's enormous talons to the crown of jagged horns towering above them. “Though I reckon I know a thing or two about handling oversized, fire-breathing arseholes.”

A mischievous grin crept across her face as an idea took shape. She extended one hand, curling her fingers as blue-white energy gathered within her palm. With a practiced flick of her wrist, the light stretched into a long, braided cord, its luminous strands twisting around one another until they resembled a shockwhip. The handle settled comfortably into her grip, and she gave it an experimental crack that sent a sharp report echoing through the cavern.

“Now, let's see if this celestial business is good for something besides confusing the hell out of people.” Patin stepped forward, rolling her shoulder as she measured the distance to the dragon's enormous head. The creature's molten scales shifted with every movement, and the crimson fire burning between them cast restless shadows across the shattered obsidian. She waited until its great neck extended toward the Counter book, then snapped her arm forward.

The whip unfurled in a brilliant arc, its luminous length extending far beyond anything its physical appearance should have allowed. Its tip struck the dragon squarely across the snout, releasing a thunderous explosion of blue-white energy that rippled across its jagged scales. “BACK IN YOUR HOLE!” Patin bellowed, cracking the whip again.

The second strike carried more than physical force. Patin reached into the fabric of the moment itself, folding the space between the creature and the chasm until the distance behind it seemed to vanish. The dragon recoiled, its enormous claws gouging trenches through the obsidian as its immense body was driven backward. Its wings flared against the cavern walls, shedding torrents of crimson flame while the stone beneath its weight fractured and collapsed.

The beast answered with a roar that shook the very foundations of B'hala. Its jaws opened, unleashing a torrent of crimson fire that swept across the chamber. Through the flames, an enormous claw lashed sideways toward Marie, its jagged talons tearing through the space where she stood. Patin struggled to maintain some semblance of control against the dragon's furious assault.

Marie danced sideways, ending up in a roll and somehow on her knees. She stayed low, hoping to avoid the creature's anger and find an opening where she could assist Patin. The wisened resistance fighter seemed to have a knack for taking down over confident and over sized beings.


Patin advanced, each crack of the whip sending another concussive wave against the creature's armored chest. Blue-white energy spread across the molten scales, forcing the great beast farther toward the opening from which it had emerged. “That's it! Back to bed ya foul creature!”

With one final sweeping motion, she brought the whip down against the fractured floor before the dragon. A brilliant wall of celestial energy erupted upward, striking the creature with enough force to send its enormous form plunging backward into the chasm. The cavern shuddered as the dragon disappeared beneath the broken stone, its crimson wings folding into the depths amid a torrent of sparks and volcanic ash.

Patin stood at the edge of the opening, breathing heavily out of habit, the luminous whip still crackling in her hand. “Ha!” she exclaimed triumphantly. “And stay down, ya oversized barbecue!”

Then the laughter died in her throat. The Counter book was gone and so was Faro.

TBC

 

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