In Service to Questions

by Mirwalker

Timeline Note: These events take place between ST:TNG episodes "Sarek" and "Ménage à Troi" at the end of Season Three.


Prologue

The cold winds on Bareazi II snap viciously around the peaks of the nameless northern mountains. Gusts up to 250kph whip through the rugged passes and gaping valleys. Temperatures crest near 170 degrees Kelvin, before the wind-chill factor is calculated. Bare rock, itself frozen through, provides little respite from the gale or cold. The remainder of the climate and landscape is equally as uninviting. To most...

From within the mountain, a mind reached out, followed by a mittened hand and then promptly by the plump body to which it was attached. The small figure braced itself against the winds instantly, almost to no avail; and halted on the narrow shelf just clear of the rocky, snow-covered slope.

On the far edge of the ledge, a solitary figure stood silently, its dark cloaks whipping about in the wind. It seemed oblivious to the gales that threatened to drag it from its perch. It ignored also the calls from the other.

That Other inched forward, slowed by his fear of being blown away—literally. Carefully, so as not to upset his own fragile stability, the Other reached out his hand again toward the dark figure's layered cloaks—and was thrown immediately against the same mountainside through which he had just passed.

An insulted and enraged presence immediately screamed in his mind. Raw anger ravaged through his thoughts, overriding and burning through all that was his own. His sight and other senses blurred, despite an instinctive mental effort to maintain himself. He groped to weakly respond as the encroaching gray in his consciousness began to numb the pain.

The dark figure turned in place, facing the Other for the first time. It advanced purposefully and effortlessly, seeming not to suffer from or worry about the winds. As it moved, it allowed the Other to slide slowly down the slope, while it slowly removed its emotions from his fragile mind.

The Other came to rest in a heap at its feet, shivering from cold, fright and pain. The dark figure observed dispassionately as he struggled to gather his thoughts and energies to stand. Feigning a faster recovery than it actually was making, the Other silently grunted indignantly.

From deep in the folds of its dark cloak, the hooded figure cast a coldly condescending glance at the small creature before it. It sneered silently—insulted by the presumption to approach, by the doubts and by the mere presence of the Other. It finally held an arm aloft and pointed out an area of the sky.

Confused and still recovering from the mental onslaught, the Other stared blankly at the shadowy figure towering above him. Finally realizing he was not being threatened or dismissed, but directed, the Other glanced up across the starfield, noting nothing in particular.

Suddenly there was a bright flash in one far corner, just above the horizon. A spray of light poured forth from one of the specks of light, seeming to consume those around it. For a moment it gleamed; and then faded quickly. When it was gone, the pinpoint from which it had originated had also vanished—as if it had never been there.

The Other rose slowly, unsure of exactly what he had just witnessed, but sure that it was not a pleasant thing. He backed away, staggering back into the mountain, leaving the dark one alone with the elements.

As it returned to the brink of the precipice, the dark one stared at the sky, contemplating the recent, distant destruction. It simultaneously caressed a mind far from the icy mountain. New emotions flowed from its mind: joy, anticipation, a sense of ends and beginnings—as well as the primal anger that underlay it all.

Inside the mountain, the Other moaned with anguish as these feelings swept to him; but the dark figure paid no heed. In fact, it laughed aloud—the first sound to break the silence previously disturbed only by the howl of the winds.

Morning was far from coming on Bareazi II. In the still dark sky, a star had died; and under the same lonely heavens the surface conditions redefined freezing: a perfect locale. For the dark figure was quite warm. Inside it burned.