Captain’s Ready Room

Tib sighed. He had problems, and he needed solutions. But to get those solutions, he also needed more data. He was beginning to understand why his brother Danny was so zealous about constantly chewing through information until he found what he needed. His little brother was like a bulldog that way. He went after what he needed and didn’t let go once he had it.

He had Lt. Vossk scanning for anything out of the ordinary to either give credence to the Great Nest, truly being some kind of greater energy being or anything close to what the prophet had proposed. It wouldn’t be the first time something of it’s like had been discovered by Starfleet, and he didn’t want to write off or dismiss it out of hand. While he preferred the seeing is believing method, he didn’t want to discount the possibility it actually existed.

He was reviewing many of the reports and rosters that required his signatures when his desktop terminal chimed. Answering the page he was pleased to find it was Lt. Vossk.

“Sir, I’ve got something. Not sure what it is or how it fits. Especially given current circumstances, but it was enough of a deviation from baseline that it merited letting you know.”

“Well don’t tease me Vossk, let’s have it.”

“Of course, sir. I’ve noted a number of odd subspace fluctuations on the planet’s surface. Initially, I was curious if it was just coincidental with the subsequent subspace blackout we’ve been progressively observing. But I focused the sensor pods in and did a tighter bandwidth assessment that Lt. Rain has reviewed. These readings are anamolous for this system.”

“Meaning?”

“Non native. Whatever it is, it is either artificial in nature, or being created or influenced by something other than natural flora or fauna.”

“What else can you tell me?”

“The field is localized, and behaves very similarly to the neural connective fields that the Borg use.”

Tiberius leaned back and chewed on that mentally. He played at his beard thoughtfully while the silence ticked by second by second.

“How similar?”

“There’s only a .5% variance in the bandwidth of the field. The odds of this being anything other than it are so minutely low as to be unworthy of calculation.”

“That’s as close to a I don’t need to go any further because I’m certain of this as I’ll get from you, huh?”

“Indeed, sir.”

“Understood. Where on the surface is this field localized?”

“Directly in the center of the colony, sir.”

“Right where a certain prophet keeps his place of worship?”

“That is a reasonable hypothesis, sir.”

“How close are you able to determine where the field is being projected from?”

“Within 10 meters from here, sir. But I could get closer to it on the ground now that we know what we’re looking for.”

“Excellent. Prep a team and find it and shut it down. I’ll go and head off the Prophet. Keep him off your backs while you neutralize the borg tech. Rain out.”

He waited thirty seconds before tapping his commbadge again.

“Captain Rain to Lt. Rain.”

He waited a moment, and his brother didn’t respond. He counted off an extra thirty seconds and paged his brother again.

“Danny, it’s Tib. I need you to focus for a second.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“Listen, Vossk is worried we might be losing access to subspace. Some kind blackout. Signals aren’t coming or going, and there were potentially issues with warp field stability as well. I need you to chew on this-When we are done-and figure out everything you can about it. Oh, and it might be a good idea to blow the dust off that quantum drive design you were working on for Daystrom. But focus on the subspace issue first. Drive second. Got me?”

“I got you.”

“Excellent. Get to it Danno. Tib out.”

He cut the channel and cast a long look out the aft window of the conference room. The planet below greeted him with wide azure skies and sparse white clouds dotting verdant continents rimmed by sprawling oceans. Framing it was the standard grey hull of Starfleet design, flanked by the blue glow of the warp nacelles. Sure was a damn good sight to see. It made him wonder if vista like this were what kept his old man in the game so long.

He sighed, peeling himself away to carry on his work. Striding through the bridge, he saw that Vossk’s station had its backup seat operating the science console. Jel’kan was at his post managing assignments for the team to go down to the surface to assist Vossk. Commander Kael gave him a nod from the Captain’s chair. More and more she growing into the role. Perhaps she’d be given her own posting soon?

He strode into the lift and ordered Deck 5 as the doors hissed closed. He folded his arms and leaned against the back of the car as it whooshed through the shaft before finally drawing to a halt. Life in the corridor was business as usual. Word about the subspace issue apparently hadn’t spread this far yet.

The chief in Transporter room 1 gave him a polite nod. “Sir, we just sent Lt. Vossk and his team down. Are you ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s punch it.”

A moment later, he was on the surface of the colony under its warm sun. A soft summer breeze teased at his hair as he glanced around. He had one purpose for being here. Finding the prophet and keeping him busy so his men could do their jobs unobstructed. It didn’t take long as a small crowd had begun to gather like rain clouds on the horizon. Tib strode over, wearing his most pleasant smile.

“Prophet. Good, just the man I was looking for.”

“Spare me your frivolity, Captain. I know you have our lost child, and I demand she be returned.”

“Child?” Tib said as genuine confusion rippled through him.

“I think there are some wires crossed here. We don’t have anyone children aboard the ship. Least of all from your colony.”

“Don’t play coy with me Captain, Evira is no longer on the surface, and her voice is but a faint whisper to the Great Nest.”

“You know, I’m glad you brought that up, because I’m a curious guy and I had some questions about this Great Nest.”

Tib pulled a chair up from an outdoor table nearby. The metal legs grinding loudly against the concrete walkway. He drew it out deliberately. Was he being a jerk about it? Probably. But this guy represented something he detested. An abuse of authority and power.

“You see, I’ve been giving it some thought, and I had some questions about this Great Nest. Like how did you become its prophet? Was it always here? Why here?”

The first several questions shot by the Prophet so fast he could only fumble at the last.

“Why here?” He repeated.

“Yeah! Why here? I mean, it’s a pleasant world, don’t get me wrong? But it seems like if you’re looking for worshippers, a small backwater world colony just into its first few decades might not be the best place to start? I mean, you’ve got several worlds in spitting distance with easily two or three times the populations. Imagine all that wasted worship potential. And why you? Were just the first person it happened upon? Surely you’re not that lucky.”

“I see what you’re trying to do here, Captain, but I won’t allow you to falter my faith.”

“Oh no, by all means, keep your faith. We’re all for that in the Federation. Believe what you want. Part of its founding principles, really. Diversity. No see, what I’m having a hard time with is how you found some discarded borg tech and decided to use it to hijack the colony masquerading as a prophet to some mystical god.”

“Are you accusing me of being a false prophet?”

Tib kept up his jovial smile. But there was no joy in his eyes. From his peripheral vision he could see the science team and its escorts running scans and progressively closing in on where the prophet’s device was housed. They needed just a bit longer then.

“Worse. I’m accusing you of using these people for little more than petty control. It’s beneath you, really. I’m betting you were just charismatic enough that people paid attention, but you lacked anything of substance to keep it. And somehow. Someway, you came across something that would change it all for you. You found a way to control other people, and lead their thoughts with your own. Your own personal hive. With you as it’s twisted king.”

Vossk and his team pointed excitedly to a door behind the prophet and his small crowd. Many of the onlookers were starting to take on dark expressions as they cast sidelong glances at the Prophet. Tib kept his smile up, though there wasn’t a need for it anymore. The snowball had been cast, and was already rampaging its way downslope.

“Who are you to come to our house casting aspersions?”

“Well, actually, I’m kinda glad you asked. You see, I’m Captain Tiberius Rain. And I have all the authority to come here casting aspersions since you’ve been manipulating these poor people against their will. Some might even call what you’ve done a violation of the mind that many of them may never heal from.”

A moment later, as the prophet stammered for a response, his expression hardened and everyone around them stiffened before turning to look solely at him. A thousand blank eyes with the angry focus of man.

“Uh oh,” Tib said with a half chuckle. Maybe he’d timed that a little too poorly. He stood up and backed away slowly as many of the colonists slowly walked towards him. His stomach rolled at just how like borg they moved. The unwavering, steady gait. The focused yet vacant expression. The harmony.

Seeing that gave him chills. Then? There was an imperceptible ripple in the crowd before everyone began blinking as though waking from a dream mid stride. Tib exhaled softly releasing the tension and held breath he’d been carrying for several steps.

”It would appear you no longer hold domain over your congregation, prophet. Perhaps now you would like to conclude this in private?”

Corvus scowled. He looked like he was going to bolt and make a run for the hills. To the man’s credit though he stuck it out.

”Do as you will.”

An angry mob had begun to gather at the fringes. The air smelled of betrayal and righteous wrath. Tib frowned. He gestured for his men to collect the device and gather to beam out. Then he gave the transporter chief a headcount including the prophet of who was returning. He was glad transporters still worked at least. Imagine how tedious it would be having to shuttle everywhere too?

He murdered and buried that thought in the backyard of his mind. Best to not humor that kind of nonsense. No one had time for that.

“Bring us home chief.”

The world dissolved from view before resolving into the transporter room 1 pad.

”Get that to a secured vault. He comes with me.”

Tib gestured to the two security officers to assist him in escorting the prophet to the bridge. It was time for a real come to Jesus moment.