** If you recognize the setting which Nick dreams of below, well, it's based on the courtroom where Q puts humanity on trial in Star Trek: The Next Generation. If you don't recognize it, that's OK too. Timeless (9a/?) by Elisa P. Black He was now the defendant in a courtroom presided over by the Honorable Amanda Cohen. LaCroix sat in the witness stand, crying. Crocodile tears, he thought sourly as he continued with his out burst. "He's the one who did it! Lucien LaCroix! I saw him!" Cohen rapped her gavel. "Order in the court! Sit down, Mr. Knight!" A restraining hand was laid on his shoulder, gently pushing him into his seat. Natalie, his lawyer, looked at him sadly and whispered, "There's too much evidence against you, Nick. You should plead guilty and take the DA's bargain. Maybe we can get you off on a plea of insanity." He looked about the courtroom, desperate for an ally. Among the spectators were the Schankes', Janette, Miklos, Feliks and other friends, but they all presented a wall of impenetrable accusation. He turned back to LaCroix. "You did this! Tell them! TELL THEM!" LaCroix sobbed, crying blood. "And he keeps accusing me!" "Liar! Tell them!" The gavel was rapped again. "That's enough, Mr. Knight! What do you plead?" "Not guilty, your Honor." Cohen stood, now an immense figure dwarfing all else. "Mr. Knight, the Court of Humanity finds you *guilty*!" The last word rang in his mind. "No! Not guilty! LaCroix did it! I saw him! Not guilty!" A multitude of boos drowned him out. The very dregs of humanity lined the bleachers around him, dull yet full of vicious life. He suddenly found himself staring at a magnificently-dressed LaCroix. His master sat in a hovering chair and swoop down towards him like a bird of prey. LaCroix leaned in confidentially to whisper in his ear. "I already told the soldiers that if you answered with anything other than guilty, then they could kill your friends. Really, must you be so stubborn?" He nodded towards somebody behind Nick and gave him a feral grin. The crowd cheered.