From Q-Strike:
Though it's from Q, so I'd follow Picard's lead and take it with a large grain of salt.
BTW, glad you enjoyed "The Last Refuge"! And I'm very happy to see that the first two posters caught my Starfleet Academy reference. I was arguably violating the contest's rules by including a novel reference, but I pointed it out to my editor and they left it in (even though I offered an alternative line), so I'll take that as implicit approval.
"Q," Picard asked. "Who are those beings over there?" He gestured toward a quartet of humanoid figures standing silently at the perimeter of the war, looking on with pained expressions upon their faces. Unlike the combatants, they had not assumed the garb of Earth's ancient warriors, wearing instead simple Grecian chitons made of what looked like common wool. Their faces were youthful and unmarked by time. They clasped their hands together before their chests in a meditative pose. Picard was struck by the aura of peace and dignity the beings projected, which reminded him somewhat of the sadly departed Sarak of Vulcan.
"Oh, them," Q said disdainfully. "Those are the Organians. Relative youngsters compared to the Continuum, but still reasonably evolved at this point in galactic history."
The Organians, Picard thought, wide-eyed and astounded. They were semi-mythical beings in his own time, legendary for their historic role in averting a bloody war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire decades before Picard's birth. The Organians had largely kept to themselves since then; Picard had never thought that he might actually see one in person.
Q was considerably less awestruck. "A bunch of upstart, idealistic kids, really. Slackers and layabouts, all of them. Compared to their childish doctrine of pacifism and noninterference, your Prime Directive is practically an incitement to riot."
Picard took Q's assessment of the early Organians with a grain of salt; small wonder Q dismissed a people who practiced the virtues of forbearance and restraint. The Federation of his own time owed a lot to the reluctant peacemaking of these people or their descendants. Still, he could not deny that the Organians of this era seemed content to stay on the sidelines during the Continuum's heated struggle to subdue 0. As he watched the cosmic battle develop, his doppelganger among the Q plucked a steel-tipped lance from the ether and hurled it at 0 himself, who materialized a disk-shaped shield just in time to block the spear. Deflected, the weapon ricocheted toward the assembled Organians, who merely shook their heads sadly at its approach. The spear vanished only seconds before it would have struck the placid spectators, followed a heartbeat later by the Organians themselves. The four figures dissolved into the emptiness of space, having apparently seen enough of the barbaric melee.
"Oh, them," Q said disdainfully. "Those are the Organians. Relative youngsters compared to the Continuum, but still reasonably evolved at this point in galactic history."
The Organians, Picard thought, wide-eyed and astounded. They were semi-mythical beings in his own time, legendary for their historic role in averting a bloody war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire decades before Picard's birth. The Organians had largely kept to themselves since then; Picard had never thought that he might actually see one in person.
Q was considerably less awestruck. "A bunch of upstart, idealistic kids, really. Slackers and layabouts, all of them. Compared to their childish doctrine of pacifism and noninterference, your Prime Directive is practically an incitement to riot."
Picard took Q's assessment of the early Organians with a grain of salt; small wonder Q dismissed a people who practiced the virtues of forbearance and restraint. The Federation of his own time owed a lot to the reluctant peacemaking of these people or their descendants. Still, he could not deny that the Organians of this era seemed content to stay on the sidelines during the Continuum's heated struggle to subdue 0. As he watched the cosmic battle develop, his doppelganger among the Q plucked a steel-tipped lance from the ether and hurled it at 0 himself, who materialized a disk-shaped shield just in time to block the spear. Deflected, the weapon ricocheted toward the assembled Organians, who merely shook their heads sadly at its approach. The spear vanished only seconds before it would have struck the placid spectators, followed a heartbeat later by the Organians themselves. The four figures dissolved into the emptiness of space, having apparently seen enough of the barbaric melee.
Though it's from Q, so I'd follow Picard's lead and take it with a large grain of salt.
BTW, glad you enjoyed "The Last Refuge"! And I'm very happy to see that the first two posters caught my Starfleet Academy reference. I was arguably violating the contest's rules by including a novel reference, but I pointed it out to my editor and they left it in (even though I offered an alternative line), so I'll take that as implicit approval.
