Stand and Wait, Part 3

Date: 04/01/2003
From: ThomasMalthus

Images swirled into view. The Professor, Wade, Rembrandt. Smiling, happy, laughing. They were joking about some humorous difference between the world they were on and their home earth or talking about how the Professor told off some "blistering idiot". It was how it was meant to be, how it would always be to the mind of Quinn Mallory. He couldn't accept the Professor as a dead man on a God-forsaken planet that had been destroyed by a pulsar, any more than he could get his mind around Wade being tortured and raped daily in a Kromagg breeding camp. So his subconscious mind created dreams that brought him back to that time. His dreams would make it last forever.
Only the invasion of Rembrandt shaking him could jar him from the pleasant delusions of his dreams. "Hey, man, you ok?" Rembrandt asked, genuine concern showing in his voice. Quinn emerged from the stupor of sleep and reality came crashing in.

"It was the same dream, Remmy. Where it's still just you me, the Professor and Wade, off on the adventure of a lifetime."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Q-Ball, I've been having them, too. More often than usual. That's why I asked Maggie and Colin to stay in a separate room tonight. There's just something about this that I'm not ready to share with them."

"Don't get me wrong, Rembrandt, I wouldn't give up knowing that Colin's my brother for anything," 'That isn't true, is it, Mallory?' his mind threw at him, but he quickly dismissed it. "But in some ways I think you, Wade and the Professor are more like family than anyone I've ever known."

Rembrandt sighed. "I feel the same way. I never was that close to my relatives back home, but the kinship I felt with the three, well, there's just something special about it."

"We were so close to each other. Everything that happened, all the things that we did together, it bonded us. We only had each other to depend on." Now it was Quinn's turn to sigh. "Nothing's the same anymore. The Professor died. Wade..." his voice trailed off, but Rembrandt gave him a supportive look that said he didn't have to say anymore. "Our world, lost to the Kromaggs. And the world we're looking for, even though it's supposed to be my home, it really isn't, not here." He pointed to his heart. "I feel like we've lost everything to sliding." He stopped himself. "I know sliding meant a lot of sacrifice for Maggie and Colin, too, but at least they had a choice about sliding. That's something you never had."

Rembrandt smiled, but not without a hint of sadness in his eyes. How could he not be sad about killing his best friend? As he drove the axe into Quinn's midsection...

Oh, wait. This isn't the right story. Here it is:

Part 3
“Read through it again,” an especially irritated Kromagg officer demanded of his subordinate. The high ranking Kromagg leaders had been forced to relocate to the lobby by their new human overlords. “There has to be something in there that gives us a way out of this.”

“There’s nothing,” the junior officer insisted as his eyes pored over every word in the document appointing the four humans to the position of SubConsul. “Molaudian makes his intentions perfectly clear.”

His superior growled loudly. “The little yellow meddler! If only we hadn’t tried to assassinate him, he never would have tricked us into making him the leader of the Grand Alliance. Or perhaps if only we had succeeded…”

“It does little good for us to think like that now,” another of the members of the Kromagg officer corps weighed in. “We must deal with the situation in front of us, and not waste time focusing on what might have been.”

“I do not see the problem,” the former Commander of the Kromagg facility said dismissively. “They are but four humans. What possible damage could they do?”

***
Rembrandt, Wade, Quinn and the Professor sat at the table that dominated what used to be the offices of the Kromagg high command. It was now their War Room. “Well, guys, where should we begin?” Remmy asked.

Wade stood, took one look at the Magg trappings that the room still possessed and started tearing things down. Eventually the room was bare of everything except the table and the chairs they sat in. “That’s a good start, don’t you think?”

Maximilian Arturo wasn’t much impressed with Wade’s theatrics, but he understood her need for the gesture nonetheless. “We need to contact Molaudian. I don’t feel right about taking orders from someone we’ve never met, no matter how legitimate his credentials seem.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about this,” Quinn agreed. “Running a Kromagg army base? Is this something we should really be concerning ourselves with? I thought you’d be home with your families by now.”

“It doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen any time soon,” Rembrandt reported somberly. “Well, Arturo and I never had any family ties here in the first place. But Wade’s folks seem to have relocated since the Kromaggs invaded. The city’s under lockdown, so I don’t think anybody’s going to be leaving anytime soon..”

Wade decided to elaborate on that last point. “Apparently, the Maggs weren’t exaggerating about the human resistance. They’ve gotten bolder since the treaty. Rumor has it that they’re planning a major offensive and soon.” She paused for a moment for effect. “And I for one think it’s about damn time.”

Rembrandt didn’t want to be the bad guy in this situation, but he had little choice. “Wade, we’ve been over this. We’re not going to be able to beat Lesion without the Kromaggs.”

“And how exactly is one worse than the other?” Wade demanded. “We’ve been dancing around this for a while, but nobody’s had the courage to come out and say it. The Kromaggs took our home from us, Remmy. Are you telling me we’re just going to forget about that and ally ourselves with them for some supposed greater good?”

Rembrandt raised his eyebrows and considered the point. It was hard for him to dispute Wade on this. So Professor Arturo stepped in instead. “Look at us, Miss Welles. Who are we? Four weary travelers who were unprepared for the journey of a lifetime. We’ve done some good, to be sure, but there were always elements of luck, ingenuity and superior knowledge that contributed to our successes. Now we have returned home and find the situation here not to our liking, so we are tempted to fall back on old habits. Right the wrong. Stand up to the big threat. Only now we have no advantage; nor do we have a ticket out if things go wrong. We are but four ordinary people among many. If we have one small contribution to give to the war against Lesion, then we have played our part. But we cannot hope to best both Lesion and the Kromaggs in one fell swoop. We must pick and choose our battles as best we can, because they will decide our lives.” He exhaled deeply. “This is our home, like it or not. It’s time to settle in.”

“Wow,” a clearly impressed Quinn remarked. “I was just going to say maybe we should contact these human resistance guys and have some kind of a conference, but I think the Professor’s rousing speech might have made it a moot point.”

“No, I think you have something there,” Rembrandt said encouragingly. “I can probably arrange a meeting between myself and the leader of these freedom fighters. That’s assuming they even want to talk.”

“And that they won’t just reject any proposal coming from a Kromagg mouthpiece outright,” Wade grumbled.

“We have an opportunity here, people,” Rembrandt said with sudden enthusiasm. “The Maggs are taking orders from us now. We don’t know how long this situation is gonna last, so we’ve got to make what we do count.”

“‘If this be treason, make the most of it’,” Arturo mused.

“What do you want us to do?” Wade asked, casually acknowledging Rembrandt’s role as temporary leader of the group.

***
Wade Welles leaned back smoothly in a swivel chair that was entirely too big for her petite frame. She took great pleasure at looking down her nose at her latest victim. Wade smiled wickedly as she leaned over her desk to address him. “So…you used to be in charge here, huh?”

The Kromagg commander, whose name was Kraznok (not that Wade cared), squirmed visibly. He gestured to the holographic pictures of him and his family that still adorned his old office which Wade had commandeered. “I would think that should be painfully obvious.”

“Right,” Wade replied as though humoring him. “But as you can see that position’s been filled.” Remmy had given her the job of making personnel assignments. It was supposed to keep the Kromaggs off balance and lessen the chance of betrayal or subversion. Wade also found it a fun way to pass the time. “So the question is: what else can you do? What other role can you play in the Grand Alliance war effort?”

The elder Kromagg in front of her was growing increasingly antsy. He was only stopped from flying into a murderous rage by the desk separating them and the knowledge that he could be punished if he did so, unfair as that was. He glared at her menacingly. Wade smiled back at him entirely too nicely. “I notice you’ve been ogling my eyes. It’s not that I mind, of course. I was in a Kromagg breeder camp for over a year, I’m used to it. But it does give me an idea.”

Kraznok wiped sweat from his brow. “And what would that be, exactly?”

“I’m just thinking, a gourmet eye eye like yours is going to waste in a military uniform,” Wade said slyly. “Have you ever thought about becoming a chef?”

“A…a chef?” he stammered incredulously. “That is not fitting duty for a veteran soldier of my standing.”

“Yeah, I read your war record,” she told him coolly. “Gathering up women and children in pens and shooting them? There’s not much glory in that.” She pushed the file across the desk in his direction. “Your hat and apron should be outside your door by the end of the day.” He rose quickly and made himself scarce without saying a word. However it didn’t take a mind reader to figure out what he was thinking.

Wade took the items from his desk and threw them into a drawer. A satisfied smile crossed her face for the first time in ages. “I love this job.”

***
Quinn was a little dubious as to what exactly he was supposed to say to the Mekkan diplomat to whom the sliders had entrusted their friendship and their lives. He had never really gotten much of a chance to speak with him, so he didn’t know him that well. And what he did know confused him a little. “Should I address him as Consul or Mr. Molaudian?” Quinn wondered aloud to himself, as none of the Kromaggs he was ordering around were about to give him an appropriate response. Actually, most of them were scrambling to get the device he was going to use to contact their non-human benefactor up and running. “What’s the hold up? Are we having technical difficulties?”

“This device is the pinnacle of Kromagg communications technology,” one of the engineers snapped at him. “Or it was a few years ago. Sir,” he added, remembering his rank. “It should be ready for transmission right about… now.”

Quinn didn’t really understand what was going on in front of him but the large screen flickered to life with a glow that seemed otherworldly. Eventually a small yellow-brownish creature took form in front of his eyes. “Yep. The picture is definitely better,” Quinn noted with enthusiasm.

“This is Trimala Arkalesh. State your business with First Consul Molaudian.”

Quinn had been told not to deal with any more middlemen. He assumed that applied to other species as well. “Tell the First Consul that Quinn Mallory wants to speak with him.”

Arkalesh inhaled sharply. “The Quinn Mallory of Kromagg folklore? Destroyer of worlds, champion of humanity?”

The Maggs around him gave him uncomfortably hostile looks. “Yes, that one. Just tell him I want to talk, OK?” The Larnani gave one last chagrined look to Quinn, then turned away from the screen for a moment. When he returned, he did not look happy.

“Molaudian wishes to inform you that he is rather busy right now, and will return your call as soon as possible,” Arkalesh reported woodenly. “Do you wish to leave him a message?”

“Yeah,” Quinn answered honestly. “I don’t like talking to secretaries.” Quinn closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. He wasn’t sure how mixed up in this Grand Alliance/Lesion War thing he wanted to get, but it seemed important to the others. If they couldn’t get in touch with Molaudian soon, they’d be on their own here. And they certainly needed all the friends they could get.

***
Rembrandt paced impatiently as he waited for this rebel commander to show himself. He had asked Rey to set up the tête-à-tête, but now regretted it somewhat; he would have liked to have known who he was going to be talking to before meeting them in person. He was going to have a hard enough time selling them on his position without the anonymity factor in play. Nonetheless, what was done was done. Remmy would simply have to make do with the situation at hand. He continued to pace as he went over the points of discussion in his head. It was going to be hard to convince this human freedom fighter to work with the Kromaggs.

Mostly because it was hard to convince himself. Remmy was nervous. He hadn’t been able to ease Wade’s fears about working with the Maggs, because he had them so strongly himself. Still, it was what he had to do; what all of them had to do. Whoever he was meeting today would have to be made to understand that.

The door to the little shanty that was their pre-arranged meeting place swung open and armed members of the resistance burst through, searching for traps and hidden weapons. He had been prepared for a good measure of distrust, but it was still unsettling to have his fellow human beings suspicious of his motives. After the guards were satisfied that there was no obvious threat, most of them cleared out. Some stayed to protect their commander. It wasn’t long before said leader walked into the room.

A stunned Rembrandt could only gawk. The woman in charge stood before him, equally surprised. It was Maggie Beckett.

ThomasMalthus

Hmmm ...

Date: 04/01/2003
From: The_Seer

BT was fooled.

******

So that first part really was an April Fools' joke? Wow! It was kind of hard to ascertain. After all, we all know how often during Season 4 we saw Quinn show emotions with regards to how much he missed both the Professor and Wade. And we all know how the Kromaggs had programmed Rembrant to kill Quinn after that "magg" Peck nixed the more sensible idea of Colin as a spy so between that and his long-standing resentment of "Q-Ball" had been very believable. :)

Anyhow, I thought the REAL April Fools joke was the return of Maggie Beckett (uh, no pun intended) at the end of this chapter but I guess that one is the real deal (or is it?).

Hmmm

Date: 04/04/2003
From: MrDude

BT hates jokes.

The start was great. Then it all went wrong when you said "As he drove the axe into Quinn's midsection... "

SICK-SICK-SICK!! Go and post your crap elsewhere.

Mr Dude.

Mmmm ...

Date: 04/04/2003
From: Blinker

Reply screen....ew, Beginning Text!

I can only hope the Buffy finale is this good. And I say "only" because I've renounced all hope that the Buffy finale will star Jermaches Molaudian.

Seer, the April Fool's segment was adapted from the beginning of one of TM's earliest stories, "Gilded Mirror":

http://slidersweb.net/otherworlds/fics/gilded.htm

If you haven't read it yet, you really, really, really... really should.

- Blinker 7:-P
http://slidersweb.net/blinker

"Now we have returned home and find the situation here not to our liking, so we are tempted to fall back on old habits. Right the wrong. Stand up to the big threat..."

Wade cut into his tirade. "The term is big *bad*, professor."

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