Space between space
"I wonder…" Tzeentch mused as he looked at the two spiral galaxies.
"Wonder what?" Q asked.
"I am just forming my next move, I believe it is your turn regardless." The chaos god said.
"Your last choice was fairly entertaining so I'll allow you to take another turn because I'm magnanimous like that." Q replied with a smile.
"I'll ignore that quip… and start my next move." Tzeentch said.
A single light shot from the bottom galaxy upwards to the top. Q glanced at an image he formed himself. He brought his hand up to his face and rubbed his chin as he puzzled over the choice.
"Rather uninspired isn't it?" He asked as he looked at the demon Tzeentch sent to a Federation planet.
"While I'm sure they're likely to end up burning under your Federation fire I would like to see how well my minion does." Tzeentch said with a smile.
Hakton VII
A quiet night had settled over the Federation colony as people started to head to their homes after work or time in the bar. It wasn't like a lot of Federation colonies nearer to earth with their gleaming cities and straightened Starfleet uniforms. Hakton VII was much rougher around the edges. Unlike the core worlds of the Federation Hakton VII still had a lot of problems to iron out.
One of those problems was currently being worked on by Derrak. He had spent most of the day up in the observation tower in the center of New Barossa the largest settlement on the planet. The tower was designed to locate meteors and notify people when they approached. The planet's atmosphere wasn't nearly as strong as Earth's so more spacial debris managed to make it through. When the observation tower wasn't working every day had more risk than necessary
"You get that tower fixed Derrak?" A voice said from below.
The man slid out from under the console and looked down the stairs, "Almost, just have to reapply the couplings and we should be back in business." He said turning around to do just that.
A few seconds later and the console lit up and the beeps and chimes of the detection system filled the tower. With a nod Derrak smiled and started cleaning off his jumpsuit from all the dust it gathered over the day. Pulling out a comb he ran it a few times through his pure white hair clearing out the dirt and grime that had gathered there as well.
As an Efrosian his white hair was a source of pride for him and he worked to keep it clean despite the dirtier nature of the colony. He hadn't grown one of his race's signature white mustaches yet but it was more due to the difficulty he have in keeping it clean out along the border. His hair was enough trouble.
"Hey Derrak I'm getting in some of the data we couldn't receive over the course of the day. Most rocks missed us by a wide margin but the Buller family looks like they had a near miss about an hour ago. Do you mind heading out there and checking in on them?" The man asked.
"Ms. Buller always was the best cook in the colony and they always like company. Sure I'll head over." Derrak replied with a smile as he walked down the stairs.
"Thought you might, enjoy your free meal." The other man said slapping Derrak on the back.
He headed out immediately from the base of the tower. The town of New Barossa was a good sized settlement so he had to hurry to get to the Buller's resident on the outside of the city limits. The city layout was set up in a grid pattern so it was nearly impossible to get lost as long as you knew the general area of where you were heading.
As he passed by houses he admired the architecture of the buildings. Most were made out of cut stone as it was the most abundant resource they had. The dark reds and browns of the stones were complemented by the reflective metal attached to every house in the town. Since there were more meteor strikes here every house had a reinforced ceiling to help prevent any of the rocks from breaking through the top.
As he jogged through the city he eventually came upon a dirt road leading out a ways from the city. The Buller's were farmers and their house was located in the middle of their farmland. Anyone wanting to visit them had to be prepared for a bit of a trip to get to their home. Derrak appeased himself with the thought of their great cooking and began to make his way down the darkened path.
After a few minutes he could see the lights of their home in the distance. He let out a small sigh of relief as he saw both their home and their barn intact and undamaged so it was unlikely the rogue meteor hit anything beyond farmland. What caught his eye was the sign of something dragged from one of the fields into the nearby barn. He couldn't imagine that it was the meteor as anything large enough to have to have been dragged would have leveled the surrounding area.
He shrugged off his confusion and headed up the steps of the house. He knocked twice then waited on the porch. With no response he knocked again wondering if anything was wrong. When he heard the hurried footsteps of someone from the back out the house he let himself relax again as the door opened and Mr. Buller appeared.
"Yes? What… what is it?" He asked in a hurried tone.
"Uh, it's just me Mr. Buller." Derrak said, "We got the observation tower up and running again and I saw something touched down a little ways from here. I came to check up on you."
Mr. Buller looked back and forth behind Derrak for anyone else before slowly closing the door as he replied, "Yes, we're fine. No need to worry, move along now." He said.
"Are you alright Mr. Buller?" Derrak asked as he watched the man nervously twitch.
"Yes yes yes I'm fine, now please I have work I have to do so-" He started before a soft female voice in back could be heard.
"Daddy… maybe… maybe Derrak would like to help us?" The voice asked.
Derrak smiled at the pleasant voice. 's daughter Melody stepped forward behind her dad and whispered in his ear. Derrak noticed her glancing his way every now and then while she apparently tried to convince her father to let him help with whatever they were doing. While they talked he admired the view of the human girl. A few years younger than him she was nevertheless a fair sight to behold. Her curly blond hair went past her shoulders and she had a beautiful body from working the farms each day.
Eventually her father grumbled and headed back into the house nearly speed walking away to get back to whatever work he was doing. The door swung open and Derrak was greeted by Melody in her work clothes. A simple pair of pants and t-shirt designed to be durable and rugged to help with the work in the fields. As she gave him a winning smile Derrak attempted to refocus on the reason he was here.
"So… there… there was a meteor that touched down here. I wanted to check on everything and make sure you're alright." He said, "It seems like nothing was damaged though."
"No, but something did come down!" Melody said, "It's… amazing, you have to see it. Daddy didn't want to share but I know you'll want to see it."
She reached forwards and took his hand in hers. He could feel the warmth of her body in his hand and felt himself blush slightly at her forwardness. Watching her face blush a little as well he could tell she felt it too. He had always like Melody, him and half the colony, and it seemed that she felt the same way too.
"Melody… I…" He began but found his mouth held shut by her soft finger.
"Shhh… I know, I want to show you it. I didn't know before but it told me, showed me things, showed my future… I want you to know too…" She said.
She pulled on his hand and led him into the house. Derrak wasn't sure what was going on. He knew something was wrong but he was on cloud nine just from holding her hand. Somewhere deep within his mind a voice was screaming at him about how she was acting and how she wasn't like this. His reason was drowned out in a sea of euphoria as he followed her out the back door and towards the rear entrance to the barn.
At the edge of the barn she stopped and turned around towards him, "Wait just one moment, I want to make sure it's ready." She said before dashing into the barn.
Derrak was left smiling for several long moments before the euphoria started to wear off and he was left outside, in the dark, near the back of their barn wondering what the hell was going on. Now that he wasn't constantly thinking about Melody he began to wonder what he saw in her eyes. They looked frayed, nervous, and somewhat twitchy. Like a Starfleet cadet that had been up all night studying for his final.
He wasn't able to piece together his thoughts fully when Melody returned. She grasped both his hands and looked him in the eye with an almost frenzied stare. Even the lightheadedness of holding hands with the most attractive girl on the planet couldn't hold back his mind from sending warning signals to him.
"It's alright, it wants to see you!" She said tugging on his hands.
"Melody… what is this." Derrak asked holding himself back.
"Derrak, you want to see this! It's amazing! I swear you'll-" Her excited ramblings were cut short but a completely otherworldly voice that emanated from inside.
"Hush little girl… he must choose to meet me willingly." It said.
Derrak felt his eyes widen at the sound. He didn't know what it was but the voice refused to be labeled by his brain. Every time he thought he could finally describe it something changed about it and it left him just as stumped for a description as before. The only thing he could manage was that it terrified him to his very core. It was then he felt warmth on his hands and managed to focus on Melody holding his hands in hers.
"Derrak… it's OK…" She whispered, "I was scared at first too… but then."
She gave him a gentle tug on his hands and Derrak felt himself being drawn into the barn. Turning around the corner he saw fully the creature that had spoken earlier. Massive wings adorned it's back and connected to a feathery humanoid torso. It's long spindly legs were crossed in front of it as it sat against the wall. It's arms were lanky and ended in a clawed hand. It's head was more like a birds than a humans and it was attached to a long serpent like neck. It's entire body was covered in a robe of a white, dirtied by mud and ash, with embroidered gold trim.
"W-What…" Derrak tried to ask.
"What am I?" It finished for him with it's unnatural voice.
Derrak had seen aliens before. Regarding Melody he was the alien. What stood before him utterly destroyed what he viewed the word alien as. It was so far beyond what he was used to that it's very existence seemed like anathema to his views of the universe. It was upon his second view of the creature that he noticed something about it.
It's robe was tattered, it's wings battered, and from what it looked like it had several injuries that had once been bleeding. He also noticed it's hand moving in a lazy manner. A small wisp of blue flame danced around it as it's fingers moves. Derrak then saw the rest of the Buller family sitting in front of the hand staring up at it with dead eyes completely mesmerized by it.
The creature followed his line of sight and gave what Derrak could only assume was a smile, "I would not worry about them. A simple trick to keep them occupied. I wanted to speak with you." It said.
"What are you…" He asked feeling his thoughts start to organize themselves.
"Something unworldly." It replied.
"That's… not very helpful." Derrak said.
"Any answer would be useless without proper context. You lack that context." It replied.
"Then… what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I was sent here… to guide." It replied.
"Guide?" He said.
"Yes… to guide. I was sent here by my master to show you the way to greatness." It said.
"What does that even mean?" Derrak asked getting somewhat irritated by the lack of straightforward answers.
"I will show you." It said reaching it's other hand towards him and Melody.
In the next second the Starfleet officers vision was filled with the sight of millions upon millions of glowing threads branching outwards from him. He looked down at his chest to see they all converged into his chest. As he followed them out the barn around him vanished and all that was left was the creature before him and Melody at his side.
The threads spiraled outwards from him and vanished off into the distance. Melody had her own threads and as he followed those out from her he saw masses of them connect and weave into his own. She was watching him, her arm around his own, rather than the miraculous thing that was before them. He then realized that this was likely what she wanted to show him.
Reaching a hand up he gently tapped one of the many threads and his vision was filled a second time. Flashes of a life before him flooded into his mind as he saw him leave this planet and head out into the stars. Moments of joy, moments of sadness, and even the sight of him sitting in the captains chair of his own starship. Pulling away at the shock of the visions he tried to shake the mental pictures out of his mind.
"Do you see now…" The creature asked.
"What… was that… me?" He asked.
"A version of you. Were you to follow, it would lead you to where it showed." The creature said.
"Do you see Derrak?" Melody asked, "It can show us our future! We can follow any string we want! We could be any of those things!"
She took his hand in hers and led it to one of the many strings that intertwined with her own. His mind was once again flooded with visions of the future. Both of them standing together as they married, living together in peace on Hakton VII and even of them with grandchildren. The visions flew through his mind including several that made both him and Melody blush at the sight.
"You can predict the future!" He said in awe.
"No." The creature replied flatly, "I can show you where it might lead, but every second that goes by changes the future for you. Like moving a hand across a spider web. You can see the threads but as you move they change and break. I can only show you the thread, not how you move your hand through it."
"Why?" Derrak asked, "Why show us?"
"Because more than anything… my master wants you to believe in his power." The creature said.
Inside Derrak's mind his reason was becoming louder and louder every second, "No… this… something is wrong here." He said taking a step back.
He pulled away from Melody and the visions faded around him. He was back in the barn again and he could see Melody before him, her eyes clouded over with the same energy the creature was manipulating in it's claws. She took a step towards him causing him to back away again.
"Derrak please…" She said.
"No… something is wrong here." He said trying to focus his mind, "You've never acted like this… you've never been this close to me.. you've never…" He looked up at the creature sitting in the barn, "You did this to her! You made her like this!"
The result of Derrak's accusation was immediate as the demon stood up and flared out it's wings. The energy in it's claws took on a dark red hue as it stepped forwards. It was then Derrak realized how dangerous it looked as he fell backwards onto the dirt. It's voice screeched inside his mind and inside his ears as it bore down on him.
"FOOL! I AM NO DAEMONETTE OF SLAANESH! I DO NOT WORK THROUGH DEBAUCHERY AND HEDONISM! I AM A GREATER DAEMON OF TZEENTCH AND…" It screamed before pausing and calming itself, "Forgive me I forget you know not of what I am."
It walked back towards the barn and sat down against the wall again. The energy that had grown dark and sinister returned to it's more peaceful color. Lastly it let it's wings fold back to their resting position. The exertion from standing and unfurling it's wings had taken its toll as several of it's wounds opened up again and were bleeding.
"What I did to the girl was no more malicious than showing her what could be. Her desire to mate with you is of her own volition. Perhaps she saw something in you when she looked at her own fate." The creature said.
Derrak tried to calm himself after what just happened when he felt the soft hands of Melody on his arm, "I'm sorry… I hours looking at those threads. I felt like we had spent our days together for years I was so lost in them. Every one I saw made me happy. I feel like when I look at those futures anything is possible. Even us." She said with a smile.
Her eyes were unclouded by the magics of the creature and Derrak couldn't help but feel his reason drowning in the memory of what the thread showed him. There were so many threads, so many different outcomes, that his curiosity was eating away at him. He wanted to know more, to see more, and as he stood back up, his hand linked with Melody's, he looked at the deamon with resolve in his eyes.
"Show me…" He said.
Weeks later
USS Hood
"What do we know about the situation sir?" The first officer asked as he walked down the corridors with the captain.
"As far as we can tell we've lost contact with the Hakton colonies. Two weeks ago they stopped transmitting communications and the colony went dark. At first we thought it was simply another meteor hitting the relay but after several days of nothing we sent a ship over to them." The captain said.
"Thats when they opened fire?" The first officer asked.
"Thats when they opened fire." The captain replied, "So we're here now outside orbital range of the planet and waiting for those MACO you were supposed to bring."
"Yes… a rather surly bunch at the best of times." The first officer replied, "Apparently they were working with the men of that 'other' Enterprise doing drills and the like when we showed up to collect them."
"I know… I get the MACOs desiring to distinguish themselves from Starfleet but to hold hands with that backstabber leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Well it's a planetary mission that our security forces can't handle so in they go. Let's hope the training they did with the Enterprise troopers is worth their sullied reputation."
"I can't understand why Starfleet even bothers with them." The first officer said, "They're an outdated service branch that really had no place in this universe."
"It gives us a place to put our problematic security officers." The captain said with a chuckle.
New Barossa outskirts.
Nighttime
The forest around New Barossa were very much like the earth forests of the Federations core world. Trees growing upwards and spreading their leaves outwards to form a canopy overhead. Thick bark and sturdy roots grew downwards to absorb rain and nutrients. The only difference was the utter lack of low hanging tree branches and a pitch black bark at the base of the tree. The constant meteor strikes caused forest fires for years and the trees adapted to the constant fire by having burnable branches higher and secreting a wet sap whenever the heat spiked drenching the base of the tree.
This meant there was an abundance of clear areas for the Mako's to beam down into as much of the foliage on the ground would get burned away. Flashes of light and the soft beaming sound and three dozen men were standing in the forest with weapons at the ready. Their night visors were on and had come a long way since the first versions that effectively put a giant glowing spotlight in front of your face for someone to shoot. The group spread out and quickly formed a perimeter while the commanding officers went over their orders one last time.
"Bravo you have your route planned out to the target?" Sergeant Major Yamada asked.
He had been a MACO for almost his entire life. While his family line had been security officers Yamada wanted more than that. It was tough convincing his family to allow him to join. His Japanese parents were very traditional by todays standards and wanted to keep the line of Starfleet security officers honorable. Joining the MACOs in what amounted to a dead end career wasn't honorable enough for them.
"Yes sir, during the debriefing we noticed the the planetary defense phaser grid is a standard Federation design. If that's the case as long as it doesn't fire we'll be able to get into it and shut it down by going through the unused cooling ducts located near the edge of the facility. As long as the Hood keeps it's ass out of the line of fire we'll have that gun shut down by morning." The team leader said.
"Charlie?" Yamada asked.
"With any luck our contact on the planet will be at the meeting point. Other than that it's just getting there to meet him. Even if these guys want to secede from the Federation I don't see them organizing patrols or making a standing militia that's worth two shits." The other commander said.
"Good, once we figure out the source of the radiation at the edge of the city we'll meet back up at the extraction point and figure out what to do after that." Yamada said.
The other commanders saluted and moved off down the hillside with their troopers. Twelve men per squad. MACOs ran their organization contrary to the Federation's at every opportunity. Security officers ran in pairs, Mako's had teams of six or twelve. Starfleet ran into situations guns blazing, Mako's operated primarily through wet work and sabotage. The Federation abhorred Section thirty one, the Mako's worked hand in hand with them.
It was at Section thirty one's prompting that they even agreed to this mission. A separate part of Starfleet they often butted heads when either side needed the other. This often resulted in reluctant, sometimes outright refusal, to work with the other. Section thirty one was crucial in getting the gears moving when the two organizations interests aligned.
"How bad do you think it is?" Yamada said.
"Don't know. The goal is to observe for now." Tychus said as he approached the Sergeant major, "If it is what you're black ops boys said it was this planet is in for some rough shit with the best result."
"What's going to happen if the worst result occurs." Yamada asked.
"Everyone standing here now, dies." Tychus replied.
"That's a bit much don't you think?" Yamada said.
"When dealing with cultist infestation it really isn't. It's only been a few weeks though so we should be OK. It would be bad if an Inquisitor came through with us." Tychus said, "That would almost guarantee this planets burning."
"I studied enough history to know how bad inquisitors can be." Yamada replied, "The others should be far enough away by now, let's move out people."
With that the rest of the troopers began moving down with the two officers towards the gleaming lights of New Barossa.