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The Summoning 3: Continuum
Leana Effrenus
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Earth. Starfleet H.Q.

"Now that the formalities are over with, I'd once again like to welcome Voyager and her crew home and give everyone here their last order for 48 hours, have fun!"

The speeches had been dull and longwinded but this party was looking up, they had 48 hours to get over the lack of sleep! The party rolled on for a few hours in a pleasant manner until a bright light flashed in front of the podium, everyone looked up to see Q with a huge grin on his face.

"Hello everyone, I wont keep you for long, just here to borrow a few friends."

With that he clicked his fingers and six new flashes disappeared,

"Bye!"

He said with a cheeky grin, everyone looked around them and realised that Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Captain Sisko, ??? Kira, Captain Janeway and Commander Chakoty had all disappeared. Silence fell over the room for a moment before all hell broke loose as everyone tried to contact their ship or base to fine out where they had been taken.

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The six officers looked at each other and their surroundings, and wondered what Q was up to this time,

"Well, I wonder what he's up to this time?"

Picard said, echoing the thoughts of all of them, the being in question was not known for his benevolent acts, as much as his annoying, and sometimes dangerous games.

"Ah, you humans really know how to hold a grudge, don't you?"

Q said as he flashed into view,

"Ah well, not to worry, you have bigger problems, I'm he to warn you, we've heard rumours, among the higher beings, that there is a new power emerging in the multiverse, we don't know what it is yet, but it has a few beings on the run apparently, so we thought we'd let you know about it!"

They looked at him in disbelief, his grin making them all worry,

"Really, we heard it was something interdimentional and just knew it was right up your street, besides, when you go against it we can see how powerful it is."

They all glared at him and Sisko growled,

"Yeah, that sounds much more like you, let us risk our necks to save yours."

Q looked over at him imperiously,

"Well, you wouldn't expect us to buy a dog and bark ourselves would you?"

They all continued glaring and shook their heads, as they were considering what to say next and how to get Q to take them home, there was a large shower of blue and black sparks, almost like confetti, and four figures appeared from within them as the Horsemen sparked in to their universe. Everyone turned to look at the three men and a woman who had just arrived, they took in the shoulder length black and red hair, the identical leathers and armament, even the incongruity of a quiver of arrows and no apparent bow. All four stood like statues, feet shoulder width apart and arms crossed over their chests, they looked perfectly balanced and could probably stay that way indefinitely, and they just looked at Q. Q was only mildly interested in them until he noticed their tattoos.

"You can't be, no, no you aren't them, they don't exist, it's impossible, you can't be them."

"But we are."

The Four spoke in one voice, seriously creeping out the Starfleet officers, but not nearly as badly as the words did Q, his eyes flew wide and he looked at them in panic before flashing away. This worried the officers even more, Q was scarred! The Four looked at one another with slight grins then turned to the officers and smiled.

"We were told Q was fun, but nobody mentioned hide and seek."

They cocked their heads as if in concentration and grinned,

"There he is, maybe we can play a different game, this is too easy, but surely he should have taken you home before playing, that's just rude, can we drop you off anywhere?"

The officers stood in stunned silence, thoughts of annihilation running through their minds. The Four grinned even brighter.

"Do not worry, you would know if we meant you harm, or not we suppose."

Sisko couldn't help but ask,

"How do you mean, or not?"

"You would no longer exist."

The Four stated plainly,

"Do you wish to go home?"

The officers looked at one another,

"Yes we do, if you could help it would be greatly appreciated."

Janeway spoke for them all, she had already gone through the whole 'find your way home' thing, and had no desire to repeat the process. The Four grinned at her almost too eager reply and asked,

"Earth, yes?"

At the six nods they closed their eyes and concentrated for a moment, then smiled as they focused once more on the people before them.

"Ah, there it is, shall we go?"

Picard had a worrying thought,

"Excuse me, but didn't Q say you were multi-dimensional?"

They nodded simultaneously,

"Well, if you don't mind my asking, how can you be sure to take us to the correct dimension? Q may have taken us out of our own, we are never quite certain where he may drop us."

They grinned in amusement, and as they spoke they noticed the discomfort on all the faces before them,

"Each dimension has a signature, we merely trace yours, and why do we make you uncomfortably still? We have told you we mean you no harm."

The officers looked at each other until Riker spoke up,

"Your voices are a little like the Borg, we have a little problem with them, and it is rather discomfiting to hear you speak as you do."

The Four raised their eyebrows and spoke together,

"Huh, we are not Borg, we are the Four Horsemen."

Then they spoke separately for the first time,

"I am War."

"I am Death."

"I am Famine."

"I am Pestilence, we did not mean to worry you, we merely wished to meet Q, he sounded like fun."

The sweet voice of the woman and her bright, pixie smile would be enough to put anyone at ease and the officers were no exception but as they thought about the names everyone but Kira became worried.

"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

Whispered Chakotay. Kira looked at him in confusion until he explained,

"It's from the Bible, one off the ancient religious texts from Earth, at the end of the text it described the end of the Earth as we know it, God would send his Angels to purify the planet, and repopulate with the meek what had been spoilt by the domineering and arrogant."

Picard looked at them and recited the passage,

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice of thunder: "Come!" And I saw, and look! A white horse; and the one seated upon it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and to complete his conquest. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say: "Come!" And another came forth, a fiery coloured horse; and to the one seated upon it there
was granted to take peace away from the Earth so that they should slaughter one another; and a great sword was given him. And when he opened the third sea, I heard the third living creature say: "Come!" And I saw, and look! A black horse; and the one seated upon it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice as if in the midst of the four living creatures say: "A quart of wheat for a de'nar'i'us, and three quarts of barley for a de'nar'i'us; and do not harm the olive oil and the wine." And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the forth living creature say: "Come!" And I saw, and look! A pale horse; and the one seated upon it had the name Death. And Ha'des was closely following him. And authority was given them over the forth part of the Earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the Earth."

Kira looked at him in wry disbelief,

"Uh huh, and I'm the Kai, they're just using association, cheep trick but it works, and where are the horses?"

The Four smiled and a low almost sub-sonic whistle was just barely heard before there was a crash like thunder and another, lager, shower of blue and black sparks as the Horsemen called forth their steeds. The creatures certainly weren't your run of the mill, average horse, Picard new horses, and these were not average, even if you discounted the wings. They each stood at eighteen hands, their mane and tails flying long and free, and they went straight to their masters. Behind Death stood a Palomino stallion with white wings, behind Famine, a pure Black stallion with ebony wings, behind Pestilence a pure white mare and with War a mahogany stallion with black mane, tail and wings, and all of them had eyes which flickered with a literal inner fire, even a novice with no sense at all would have known not to approach these animals, unless they had a penchant for suicide. None of the horses had any tack and the officers wondered how the Four would possibly be able to mount such huge horses, they would soon find out.

"It is time we went, you will be missed."

War spoke in his deep lilting voice before they felt the air around them shimmer and saw the inside of the blue/black as the Four sparked them home. They appeared on one of the immaculate lawns of Starfleet Headquarters with the Horsemen and their steeds. Famine looked at them all in consternation,

"You still fear us, after all that we have said, why?"

Riker looked at them and slowly but clearly explained,

"Q is a constant threat to us, and you scare him, if you can defeat him then we don't stand a chance against you."

The Four looked at them, shocked for the first time in a long time and Pestilence spoke.

"We are the emissaries of the Gods, we protect those who can not protect themselves, we are here to see the Continuum, some of their attitudes need adjusting but at least you have Q."

The officers looked more than shocked,

"Q? He does nothing but threaten us every time we meet!"

The Four looked slightly angered,

"He's yer best mate luv, he's saved yer ass's more than you know, and kept the rest of the Continuum off yer backs, you should find a nice present fer 'im pet."

The harsh English voice stunned the officers for a moment, and then they took in what he had said.

"What?"

All six of them spoke at once and Famine replied,

"Yeah, helping you! Nobody appreciates the jester any more, it's not easy fixing your problems with a smile and a joke you know, take my word for it."

The officers heads were spinning, figuratively speaking, with the idea that Q was actually on their side, War spoke again.

"You are among the greatest Champions of your federation, we are here to help any who need us, if you were bad enough to be on our wrong side Q would not be helping you, he knows that you can help save your dimension, of this we are certain. If you need us we will be there, if we are not there you do not need us, you will have the solution at your disposal, do not forget, Q is on your side, do not push him away, you will need him."

With that they called to their horses who had been grazing near by, they lifted their heads and leapt into an instant canter, each Horsemen stood facing the horses slightly to their left, they each raised their right arm and as the horses flew past, caught a hand full of mane and swung up onto their backs, landing lightly without the steeds loosing stride. As soon as they were seated the horses took flight, simultaneously spreading their wings and taking to the sky, they threw back their heads and pawed the air whinnying until the now familiar sparks flashed and they were gone.

The six officers stood in stunned silence as they left, only moving when they were bought out of their stupor by the arrival of half of the party, all asking what had happened, and it was a long time before any of them could answer.


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