Taldrenites > Starfleet Command Fan Fiction
Endeavour #2
Captain Sharp:
Part of what I wanted to do with this new Sharp series was revisit old TOS and TNG episode ideas and show how different characters would handle a similar situation. The story I ganked here was from TNG. I'll let yall figure out which'n.
‘God Complex’
Chapter One
Lieutenant Lania was barely able to dodge the blade this time. Her adversary was getting closer and closer to scoring contact. She was running out of tricks, and he was getting his rhythm.
Lania’s overly sensitive olfactory was nearly overwhelmed by the sent of him as he came at her, sweating more and more in an environment that was alien to his physiology. It was far too hot for him, which should have been an advantage to her Vulcan heritage.
He was far too fast for her though. Her flesh stung with the contact as his very next slash passed through her spinning defense. He withdrew his blade before she could snare his arm or weapon. He smirked, the glint in his eyes telling her he knew he had her now.
Lania stepped back from her opponent’s threat range, making this her seventh straight retreat. But she needed the space. Her strength was quickly fading. He was a trained killer and this was his bloodthirsty sport.
He stopped to gloat for a bit, providing Lania the only opportunity she’d yet had in this battle. Before he could advance on her again, she switched to the attack. She ducked low, bursting forward to get beneath his blades. She slashed for his bowels with the blade in her left hand.
Too late, she realized his pause had been a trap. He flicked his right hand blade into her path and caught her weapon between the blade and handle with expert precision, trapping it. With another flick of his wrist and forearm, he disarmed her. Next came a leg-sweep and a twist. Her eyes clenched as they then focussed on the ceiling. His knee came down between her breasts, pinning her and driving half the breath from her lungs. He planted the blunted cutting surface of his weapon to her throat, grinning evilly in victory.
Again.
“You’re going to have to develop your speed, Lania.” He told her. He propelled himself upright from the top of her chest to drive home the lesson.
Lania couldn’t help but glare at Lieutenant Thylis Sehr as he circled round her, picking up both her fallen Ushaan from the gymnasium floor. At least he’d dropped the gloating expression. She could feel her repressed anger leveling off.
The communications officer kipped up and faced her instructor.
“I remain unfamiliar with the weapon.” She told him. Her response sounded defensive, even to her.
Sehr handed her back her Ushaan Tor.
“You made the choice. You could have chosen the lirpa or the I’shaln dagger for all I care.”
“You are readily familiar with Vulcan weaponry.”
“Yes.” Sehr didn’t elaborate. He was known mainly for being the silent, stoic sort, though he would speak at length when needed. Lania didn’t press for more.
“I thought sparring on an even footing would be more beneficial for both of us, thus I chose the Ushaan Tor.”
“The Tor’s simple enough, but it’s intended as a punching implement. It takes time to master.” He turned and led her to the gym’s towel racks. Other crewmen and officers were beginning to filter in, coming off Beta Shift. The lighting in the corridor outside would be dimming to a terrestrial ‘nighttime’ level. “Tomorrow, bring your I’shaln.”
“How do you know I am proficient in the I’shaln?”
The Andorian looked back at her and shrugged. Even his blue antennae seemed to mimic the gesture.
“It seems like you.”
The two took a towel and turned for the shower rooms.
“How long till we reach destination?”
Her left eyebrow arched in curiosity.
“You are the navigator.”
“You’re the Vulcan.”
Her brow remained inclined.
“Seven hours, twenty-three minutes.”
“No seconds?”
“You do not care about the seconds.”
Sehr grunted with his usual smirk. No, he didn’t care.
***
Captain’s Log, Stardate 1040.32.
USS Endeavour has reached System L-372A in search of an illusive sensor signal. While conducting routine mapping duties within the Alpha Majoris Sector, we were scanned at long range by a rather intrusive probe. The sensor signal was only recorded once, but lasted just long enough to triangulate its origin to this star system. I’ve decided to move in to investigate.
“Alright, people. By the numbers. Let’s see what’s here.” Captain Sharp said with a slightly raised voice as he headed across the bridge. He halted behind the helm and navigations consoles and crossed his arms. “Number One, take us through the system center at ahead one-third impulse.”
“Ahead one-third, aye, aye, sir.” Commander Jeremy responded. The longhaired exec and pilot began inputting commands on his board.
“Mister Sehr, begin scanning for starships or space platforms in planetary orbits. Note any blind spots for investigation.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Science officer, begin cataloguing solar bodies. Pick out points of interest. If it gets our attention, it probably got theirs.”
“Aye, captain. Beginning scan.” Replied the young woman sitting at the main sensor station. She flicked back a thick lock of brown hair and leaned in to her primary scope. “General scan reveals seventeen planetary bodies. The outer six seem to be Class D planetoids without atmosphere. No sign of orbital activity, very limited magnetic fields. Planet eleven is within close range, Class J.”
The eleventh world was a big blue swirl of cloud and gas. It possessed a very slight ring of tiny asteroids. Several among the bridge officers paused to give the beautiful sight a glance as it slid slowly past on the main viewer.
“Next closest to us planet number five. Class L, heavy plant life indicated near visible river systems. Planet may be evolving into Class M. Very intricate magnetic sphere… No sign of orbital.”
“Scan origin doesn’t have to be orbital, Commander.” Sharp told her. “Keep an eye out for surface installations.”
“Aye, sir. Continuing scan.”
“Tactical scans show no indication of starships or stellar platforms within range, Captain.” Mister Sehr reported from navigations. “They may be hiding from us.”
“Skittish?” Asked the first officer. “Or getting ready to jump us?”
“No need to imply hostile intent, Number One. It took us the better part of a day to get here. They may have already moved on.”
“Not everyone is interested in sidling up and saying ‘hi’,” commented Lieutenant Lania. She had just stepped in beside the captain and handed him a communiqué from Command. Sharp grinned a bit at her choice of wording and looked the report over with a practiced eye.
“Add that to tomorrow’s briefing retinue, Lieutenant.” He told her.
“Aye, sir.”
Sharp continued to stand unmoving behind the twin pilot stations and watch the main screen. The huge gas giant slid out of view to be replaced by more star-spangled blackness.
“Now reading planet three, Captain.” Lieutenant Andreavich continued from science. “Class M, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, krypton and argon reading in high quantities. Not yet detecting advanced technology. No indications yet of sentient lifeforms.”
“Helm, aim us toward planet three.”
The bearded officer gave a nod, hands gently passing over his station. “Left standard rudder, aye... Steady as she goes.”
The system’s star was now in view, a small looking yellow globe shining away in full fury. Sharp could almost make out the terrestrial world’s shadow between it and Endeavour.
“Now seeing large settlements…” Andreavich went on, “What I think are stone constructions…temples or tombs. No paved roads are evident. Now picking up biosignatures.”
Lieutenant Sehr looked up from his own panel then.
“Second scan of planet three shows no sign of orbiting ships or platforms. No indications of advanced surface installations.”
“Understood, Mister Sehr. Keep watching. Anything further, science officer?”
Lieutenant Commander Andreavich was now stepping from system to system, running every automated scan her station was able to control at once. Nearly every panel showed a graphic or series of measurements.
“I’m recording, Captain. Still no indication of anything advanced enough to have scanned us. Let alone from two-thirds of a light year away.”
“Any traces in the upper atmosphere…something left here by a ship?”
“Scanning.”
As the science officer bent back over her scanner, adjusting her skirt in the process, Sharp resigned himself back to his command chair. The planet under scrutiny was now fully visible, a tiny blue gem in the sunlight. They closed in, causing the spot to grow steadily.
“I see no trace gasses that indicate the presence of a starship, Captain.” Andreavich said. “However…”
Sharp looked over there.
“What, Commander?”
“Erratic gravitons, sir. Nonaligned.”
“Source?”
“Indefinite. They don’t belong to the planet’s gravity well. The reading’s steadily diminishing like you’d expect from an unnatural source, but the origin is…unclear.”
“But you believe them to be unnatural in origin?”
“Aye, Captain. They’re behaving in a manner atypical to any natural phenomenon associated with a planet orbiting a solar body.”
That made the decision for Sharp. Their unidentified contact had likely been here.
“Assume standard orbit, Number One. Begin orbital survey routine. Let’s have us a look.”
Endeavour accelerated her orbital insertion. Commander Jeremy angled the heavy cruiser on her side in relation to the planet, making it seem as though the world wear hanging just above her on the main viewer.
“Standard orbit, Captain. Engines to standby.”
“Very well, Number One.”
“Whoa…”
The captain snapped a look back to his science officer. Andreavich had stiffened at her scope, the shortness of her uniform skirt momentarily forgotten. It rode up as she peered more closely at the subject of her scans.
“Got something, Commander?”
“Major earthquake, Captain. Centered around the largest population center on my scope.” She glanced up at a monitor to her right. “No…correction, sir. It’s an aftershock. The first quake must have been larger than this.”
Sharp swiveled to face her a bit better as she continued scanning.
“I’m running a scan of their tectonic strata…maybe there’s something we can learn here.”
“Don’t forget, science officer. We’re here looking for the source of that scan.”
Andreavich flashed him a small smile.
“Don’t worry, sir. I haven’t forgot.”
***
There's a start. More soon.
--guv
KBF-Frank:
:goodpost: :dance:
Lieutenant_Q:
You have my attention... not sure which TNG one it is... unless its that one with the attack drones...
Captain Sharp:
Sorry, family difficulties have kept me away. For your patience, 2 chapters.
Chapter Two
“The planet corresponds roughly to Level Two on the Federation’s development charts, with striking similarities to Earth’s Mesopotamian or Egyptian cultures of about 1,500 B.C.E.” Commander Andreavich was telling the collected officers in the briefing room. This was the day’s first briefing, and she’d made quite a bit of progress in the intervening hours.
“They’ve centered their largest city about a pyramidal structure which bears close similarities to Myan or Aztec techniques. They’ve developed sailing, agriculture, animal husbandry and show somewhat complex military structuring. Population in the primary area of interest is estimated at about four million. Terrain is dry grasslands, open flatlands and lakes bordering an expansive desert within a couple days travel by foot.
“The inhabitants are standard humanoids, perhaps a bit short by our standards.” Andreavich paused as she projected an image of a male specimen on the tri-corner viewer in the table’s center. The image was taken from their telescopic array and was angled down quite severely. But the man had been caught looking up at the sun, and his face was perfectly framed. He had dark markings under his eyes, grease paint meant to absorb sweat perhaps. Slight creases framed his nose on either cheek. He wore a simple brown tunic, belted at the waist, and laced sandals.
“Handsome fellow.” The exec commented with little humor. Beside him, the chief engineer smirked.
“The inhabitants have established an extremely advanced series of mines in the surrounding hills and mountains. The only paved roads lead to the city directly from these mines and seem to mark their importance. However, the minerals they are mining don’t make any sense.”
This made Captain Sharp’s brows rise high.
“Why’s that, Commander?”
“The minerals either have no use to a culture of their development or are beyond their ability to refine.” The science officer tapped in several waiting keys and showed a list of the minerals she’d catalogued. “They are mining bacinite, which is a very resilient metal, but requires advanced metallurgy to make any use of. Their civilization shows no evidence of such metallurgy, and also no evidence of the use of bacinite. Their weapons are simple bronze and wood. They don’t even use nails.”
“What else is there?”
“They’re mining purgium, sir.”
Everyone at the table showed their shock.
“That required some digging.” Jeremy said.
“And it’s radioactive,” Added Engineer Bornet. “Without lead shielding, their entire civilization’s going to die in a couple years…sooner if it reaches the water table.”
“Well, there’s the thing,” Andreavich paused for effect, looking them all over. “There’s no sign of advanced radiological poisoning.”
“None?” Asked Sharp.
“Absolutely none, sir. No sign of shielding of any sort. Also, no sign of the large stockpiles they would have to have considering the shipments that are obviously heading into the city.”
Sharp drew his mouth into a tight crease as he tapped a hand on the tabletop. “What possible use could a Level Two civilization have for purgium?”
Bornet gave a slight roll of the eye.
“Well, if they have a laser laying around, they can fire off an uncontrolled fusion reaction. Purgium has only one use, Captain. Nuclear reaction. Power cores, weaponry. Nothing else. It doesn’t give off light for primitives to use, they can’t forge it into anything because it’s too brittle and can’t be bonded with any other mineral. Direct contact with the hand will cause first degree burns in a few seconds. I can’t think of a single reason they’d be mining it.”
“Or how they’ve even know is existed in the first place.” Jeremy put in. “Purgium only forms in a planet’s crust and pushes up with tectonic stress. They’d have to mine down an insane distance just to get to it. How’d they even figure that one out?”
“These mines,” Sharp said. “Could these have upset the tectonic forces in the area, started the earth quakes you mentioned yesterday?”
“No, sir. I don’t believe even their deepest mine, at twelve kilometers down, could cause enough stress to have set off the kind of quakes I’ve registered.”
“Could the erratic gravitons have anything to do with it?” Jeremy guessed.
“Possibly, but without identifying the source, it’s hard to say, Number One.”
Sharp was eyeing the screen in the table’s center.
“You said the inhabitants are shipping purgium to their capitol city.”
“Even now, sir. There’s a huge caravan on its way under heavy guard from the northern mine.”
Sharp had a feeling about the clues sitting before him. He gave them his collected officers a meaningful look.
“We’re going to have ourselves a look down there. Number One, you and Mister Bornet will accompany me to the planet surface. We’ll keep out of sight and look from a distance. Commander Andreavich, you’ll be with us, too. We’ll try to figure out some answers. Mister Sehr, you’ll have the conn.”
The gunnery officer gave a nod.
Lieutenant Lania handed the captain a data pad.
“The final item, sir.”
Sharp took the thin plastic device, but didn’t refer to it as he spoke.
“Starfleet Signals Intelligence has intercepted chatter from the Klingon Empire. At least two ships have been dispatched to this area on standard recon and harassment detail. We can expect them in the next couple of weeks, if not sooner. Keep your eyes sharp.”
Sharp’s officers answered him in the affirmative. At his queue they stood up.
“Dismissed, people.”
Minutes later, Sharp was stepping up onto the ship’s transporter pad, snapping his gray field jacket shut over his phaser and gear belt. Beside him, Commander Andreavich was doing the same. She’d changed into a pair of trousers and the regular duty tunic. A regulation dress wasn’t practical for the operation ahead.
Bornet double-checked the transporter coordinates on the main console before handing off operation to his assistant, Lieutenant Imura Kami.
“Just don’t beam me down with a shrub up my tail,” he jibed her as he checked his phaser and took his place on a pad.
“How about a fence post, sir?” Imura said back, a playful glint in her Asian eyes. “Ready to transport, Captain.”
“No fence posts, Lieutenant. Energize.”
The gear beneath the deck hummed to life, its crescendo building till the party faded from view. The beam deposited them on a much warmer plateau, surrounded by rough terrain and hip-high grass. A blue sky shone brightly above, accented with a bright yellow sun. There was hardly a cloud to be seen.
Commander Jeremy and Andreavich both raised their tricorders and took a quick scan. Bornet just stood there, looking displeased.
“Definite radiation signature, high levels, but not concentrated.” The science officer told them. “We’re safe for now.”
“Life signs directly south of us, Captain.” Jeremy said, pointing into the rocky distance. “The caravan vanguard. Seven hundred meters.”
Sharp adjusted his belt. A hot wind whipped over them, ruffling every one’s hair but his own. He kept his own short and trim.
“We’re in for a walk, then.” He told them, starting off in the lead. “Keep it tight. We’ll get a look at them, then follow them to the city. Watch for animal life and guards scouting ahead of the caravan. I want to see them before they see us.”
Lieutenant Sehr tapped out a slow rhythm on the armrest of the command chair, and stared at the main viewer. His mind was methodically going through all the various ways he would hide a starship from the Endeavour in this planet’s orbit. Starfleet had a variety of stealth protocols meant to evade enemy detection. Most of them relied on greater range than what was probably at play here.
The two simplest were also the easiest to guess. First: hiding behind the planet with main power on standby. Second: hanging your vessel above a magnetic pole, a La Grange Point. Both methods, however, depended on your not revealing your existence by, say, scanning a passing ship from a light year away.
Naturally, their first few orbits had been accomplished at high speed to ensure that no one was indeed hid behind this world. Intensive visual scans had thus far shown no evidence of a vessel hidden in the La Grange points.
Unless their quarry turned their ship invisible and somehow masked all its energy emissions, Endeavour should have found them by now. And that, Starfleet R&D assured, was not possible, despite what rumors had abounded since the days of the NX-01.
“Mister Sehr!”
The gunnery officer turned to conn to face the relief science officer.
“Yes, Mister Townsend?”
“I have an energy surge, flowing from orbit to planet…”
“Originating from where?”
“It was too fast to get a lock on, sir. At a guess, I’d say low orbital apogee, two hundred kilometers or so.”
“What type of energy?”
The older ensign turned to his commanding officer.
“I think it was a transport signature, sir.”
This got Sehr out of the command chair and to the science officer’s side. “Ship to shore?”
“Aye, sir.”
“Where’d they beam down to?”
“The capital city.”
“Lania, get me the captain.”
The stone, earth and wood city sprawled out far wider and farther than Captain Sharp would have given it credit. The dusty habitation stretched out across the entire valley between two defensive mountains amid a semi-arid grassy plain. The city was bisected by the long, wide paved road the Starfleet party had been following for the past three hours.
Even now, the vanguard of the caravan before them was just entering the gates of the city. Jonathan hunkered, watching, with the rest of his team. For now, their vantage behind a rough hedgerow was proving adequate against detection.
Sharp’s communicator issued a tiny chime.
“Sharp, go ahead.” He answered.
“Lieutenant Sehr, Captain. Sir, we’ve just detected transporter activity in your general vicinity, touchdown within the city limits.”
Sharp peered forth into the depths of the urban stone before them.
“Have you located the source?”
“Negative as yet, Captain. Signature was short and low level.”
“Like they didn’t want to be found.” Commander Jeremy commented.
“Are you detecting any alien life signs from within the city?” Asked Sharp next.
“Negative. But there is some sort of concentrated energy activity near the city square. From here we read focussed electrons and magnetic fields.”
“Roger that, Endeavour.” Sharp looked up to the high bluffs of the tree covered mountains to either side of the city. “We’re going to make our way to the high ground on the western side. There’s a bluff there that might give us a better view into the city interior. Sharp out.”
Jeremy gave his captain a dubious look.
“We could just beam up there.”
“I’d sure save my damn feet.” Agreed the chief engineer.
“And sit on our haunches till the caravan finally makes it into the city? We’d be sitting ducks for more than an hour. I’d rather keep moving and reconnoiter on the way.”
“Aye, sir.” Said the XO. Neither he nor the engineer looked happy about it. The entire party was sweating freely, and the prospect of an hour’s hike up a 45-degree incline wasn’t going to make them any cooler.
Commander Andreavich took another scan of the area around them and closed down her tricorder. “The way’s clear for now, sir.”
“Let’s go, people.”
Chapter Three
Phaerus B’tall could feel the heavy gaze of his God upon his back in the hot midday sun. The Market of the Sun was filling with people and he felt all too consciously the pressure of looking like a leader before them, and looking subservient to his Lord.
The perch B’tall sat upon was a precarious one. He knew that the length of his rule depended on sating his Master’s thirst for the burning ore they pulled from the earth. Quenching this thirst had become his main concern, putting State and Civil matters into a distant second place. Enemies from outside the kingdom looked toward the mighty Tomen Empire with greedy eyes, making matters all the worse.
The mine masters upheld that this quarter’s yield of ore would surpass that of the last year. Perhaps this would ease their God’s grip on the Tomen people. Maybe he would even assist the Empire in securing their borders against the Phileed when the raids began.
The Phaerus turned from the procession of ore carts that gathered in the square to look once more upon his God. The Great One looked much as any Tomen, Phileed or Alstaan. His flesh shone with a slight inner light, which artists embellished into angelic radiance in the temple paintings. His skin was quite pale when compared to the light brown of the Tomen, and his long braided hair was the color of gold, rather than black. His eyes were large and blue, which made B’tall’s own look dark and squinty. His skin was so smooth, with only the barest V-like crest beneath the flesh of his forehead.
Their God never smelled of sweat, only incense. Indeed, he never sweated. Such things as being bothered by the midday sun were beneath his deity. Their God did not even deign to leave footprints in his wake. One might think him some sort of specter were it not for the dreadful displays of his power.
The Being looked back at B’tall suddenly, flicking his blue eyes upon him with piercing concentration. B’tall felt like swallowing but made himself refrain. He bowed his head a bit in respect.
“What troubles you, my child?”
The Voice was sweet, accented, soft. But so loud. It carried and resonated far father than any man’s should be able. His eyes carried in them a kindly, compassionate look.
“I merely wish that we could speed the procession for you, Great One. Waiting for such things is beneath you.”
“Perhaps,” the Deity admitted. “But I am able to tend to many things at once, be several places while never moving.”
“Wondrous!”
The God’s eyes turned then back to the workers leading voxen-led carts into the Market. “Indeed.”
B’tall decreed to himself that he would not idly look upon the God without good reason again. It had taken all his will not to say something unguarded to him. Should their Lord ever suspect that this mere mortal daydreamed of a day when the Tomen would be free of Him, the Empire would need a new Phaerus.
“We are watched.” The angelic Voice said suddenly.
B’tall looked back on Him then.
“My Lord?”
“Spies from afar.”
“Who would dare!” B’tall readied to summon his personal guard from the barracks. “We will hunt them if you tell us but where!”
“Never mind, child. Let them watch. Mayhap they will learn something.”
The Deity’s eyes were cast upon the East Mount. Phaerus B’tall looked that way as well, wondering who would have the gall to spy on the ore procession. Did they not know what a God was capable of?
Captain Sharp gently lowered the powered binoculars from his eyes. “He’s looking right up at us.” He told his landing party.
“What do you mean?”
Commander Jeremy shut down his tricorder to crawl up close to his commanding officer. The two of them could see nearly the entire city below from this grassy rise, halfway up the eastern mountain. There was a steady breeze at this altitude, but it did little to alleviate the constant sun on one’s back.
“While I watched the alien, he turned and looked right up at me.” Sharp clarified, somewhat amazed. “He might as well have made eye contact.”
“That makes me feel so comfortable.” Bornet grumbled.
“You recognize his species?” Asked Jeremy.
“I’m not sure. Zurian, Praxian, maybe something from the Prai’ell Constellation. I saved some images.”
“I’m still not picking up any sort of life signs from the alien, Captain.” Commander Andreavich said then. She stood a few meters back, out of sight of the town, scanning with her tricorder.
“What are you picking up then, Commander?”
“Concentrated gravitons, electrons and photons, sir.”
“Some kind of sophisticated projection, then.” Offered Bornet.
“Why beam down a projection?” Came from the XO. "And...how...?"
“And why not appear as one of the natives…or as a floating three headed snake for that matter?” Sharp slid back from the rounded precipice and regarded his team. “Whoever this person is, projection or otherwise, he’s exploiting these people.”
Andreavich slapped the top of her tricorder.
“Still no evidence of any real radiation sickness among the populace. He must be either protecting them or inoculating them against the effects.”
“We have to find their ship.”
The landscape took to shuddering beneath them just then. Birds took flight in unison from every direction. Andreavich flopped onto her backside. Rocks tumbled down the cliff face, bounced past the party. Sharp finally lost balance as well and rolled onto his side. Commander Jeremy lay rooted in place, head covered. Bornet, with his stocky frame, was the only one able to retain his stance.
It was some time before the quake began to quell. Captain Sharp’s communicator was chirping before the turbulence began to calm. Dirt flew from it when he flipped open the antenna.
“Sharp here!”
“Sehr, Captain! We’re reading a massive earth quake in your area, do you require beam out?”
“Stand by, Lieutenant!”
“Let’s get the hell out of here, Captain!” Bornet was shouting.
Sharp half dragged himself back to his original lookout point and aimed his binoculars back down at the city. There was chaos there. Stones fell from building tops and wall. People cowered on the ground amid the streets. Animals ran about without control, many tied to ore carts.
Amid all this, the alien god-thing was standing. The look on its face was an irritated one. It looked back up at Sharp and smirked.
“Confirmed, Mister Sehr. Beam us up!”
Phaerus B’tall was on his knees with the first shift beneath his feet. He refused to cry out for he’d seen the God’s pleasure the first time he had. The old man braced his hands widely on the ground to either side, planting himself as stably as possible.
With his eyes wide open despite his fear, B’tall watched the damage occur about his beautiful city. The inner walls shook and wavered like cloth in a washwoman’s hands. The Temple’s fore sanctum caved in. It had suffered serious cracks from the previous tremor. The remainder of the temple, built a hundred years previous by B’tall’s great grandfather, would likely weather this assault well enough, her stones weighing several tons apiece. The homes in the outer quarter would not fair so well. Already, two had fallen in on themselves as he watched.
Through it all, the Phaerus remained silent, his face rigid. Let the city fall about him. He would be unmoved. He would not give their God the satisfaction of watching him scream in futility. The God could only kill him. He would die a man.
His resolution held till he saw the obelisk of his father teeter. B’tall’s eyes went wide as the tall, silver stone monument wobbled, straightened, then turned on its base to begin its downward plunge. The enormous obelisk, the tallest in all the lands, slammed into the ground, killing six beneath it, and breaking into seven sections.
“Why?!!” The word had torn free of the old ruler’s lips before he’d even known it. He turned with stricken eyes upon the God. “My Lord! Why?! Does not our offering please you?! Why tear down our homes upon our heads?!”
The Being looked down at the old man even as the tremor abated. He’d been looking up to the Mount again. His expression was one of sated lust.
“The quantity of your offering is sufficient, child. But not its quality. Your men sacrifice alacrity for swift clumsiness. There is far too much jetsam in the ore. You will address this before my return.”
B’tall could only kneel and blink. He was still reeling over the loss of his monument to his father. How many years it had taken to build and emplace. He would never see its like again in his lifetime. His father’s spirit would despise him for not protecting what was his. B’tall could still see the dust roiling from the obelisk’s fall.
The Phaerus’ mind was still whirling through a thousand rampant thoughts and emotions when he looked back upon the Almighty One. The Deity was smirking. He smirked until he disappeared.
***
There ya go. Any guesses as to which ep of TNG I've ripped off?
--guv
KBF-Frank:
Sorry, family difficulties have kept me away. For your patience, 2 chapters.
i hope, youy family go fine.
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