*Flashback*

            “Tommy!” A boys voice called.

            Tommy Paris looked down from the strange tree he was climbing. His bestest friend stood at the base of another tree, study something on the ground. “Yeah?” He asked, wondering why Billy was calling him.

            “Come see what I found.” With a put upon sigh Tommy climbed down the tree. He was 8 years old. 2 whole years older than his friend, so he often became exasperated with the younger boy’s childish pursuits. His mother had taken him on this vacation as a surprise while Daddy was on An Important Mission For Starfleet. His daddy went on a lot of those. He and Billy were enjoying the absolute freedom of their vacation, and in true little boy fashion, were running wild.

            “What is it?” He asked as he reached his friend.

             The dark skinned boy knelt. “It’s an egg. Some kind of bird I think. But I think it’s mommy forgot about it.”

            Tommy smiled, he should have known, Billy was soft hearted, Mommy said he’d grow up to be a great doctor or something’. He decided to humor him. After all, they were bestest friends. So he knelt and explained to his friend, “If she isn’t taking care of it that means it’s not going to hatch.”

            “But what if something happened to her and she can’t come back?” Carefully he picked up the egg and offered it to his friend. “Here, you take it. You’re a bird too, if it hatches it won’t be lonely.”

            Tommy looked at his friend in surprise, “I’m not a bird.”

            “Yes you are.”

            “What makes you say that?”

            “You fly, birds fly, you’re a bird.” Billy explained with the logic of a six year old.

            Tommy studied the egg, it was very pretty, when the sunlight reflected on it it became rainbow colored. Deciding to keep it he tucked it away in a pocket.

**Unbeknownst to our young hero......**

            In a shadowed room a group of cloaked figures were gathered together. “The Egg has chosen.” The tallest rasped.

            “Yes, wisely so.” another added.

            “But an offworlder. This was not foretold.” pointed out a third.

            “The Egg knows. We must trust it’s judgement.” The first said decisively.

The figures nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Tom Paris shook his head as he studied the egg his friend, sorry *bestest* friend had given him all those years ago. It was the last time he had seen Billy in person. His father had not approved of him, his father was a trader, not Starfleet. He’d heard later from a friend that Billy had become a Buddhist priest. Somehow he hadn’t been surprised. Smiling as he basked in the afterglow of a happy memory from his tumultuous childhood he noticed something odd. He’d thought the egg was the size of a raven’s egg. Instead it was slightly larger than a chicken’s egg. He chuckled. Silly him. The egg should seem smaller than when he first got it. Not bigger. It was just that he hadn’t looked at it in a while. Caressing the cool shell he slipped it carefully back in the box he kept it in. He was on duty soon.

**Unbeknownst to our no longer quite so young hero**

            In a shadowy room a group of cloaked figures stand together. “The time is coming.” One of them rasped.

            “The Egg is Awakening.” another agreed.

            “How long before the Hatching?” asked the youngest.

            “Not long, not long, the heart of the Guardian is strong. Very strong. The One Who Will Be Many will be strong as well.”

            “The Prophecy is coming to past at last. The Egg has chosen it’s Guardian well. Very well.”