Star Trek Hunter
Episode 26: Rain Over Rising Sun
Scene 25: Prepare the Way
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26.25
Prepare the Way
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Philomo woke from the strangest of prophetic dreams. Shiva had appeared in a new form – a bearded form. A new voice. A new direction. And this Shiva appeared not as a hemra, but as a romulan. Philomo knew it was still Shiva because the vision remained as clear in his head as it was in the dream. The words ran anew in his head – as Shiva's words always had:

"You are my high priest. You are the first to see beyond Shiva the Devourer. I am Shiva the Life Bringer. I came to you as Shiva the Devourer to prepare the ending of this world. But our work does not end with the end of this world – it only begins there. Shiva the Devourer is of Saketh and will remain on Saketh. The priests of Shiva the Devourer must not be allowed to defile the new worlds we will build out of the wreck of Saketh."

"As the Devourer, I appeared to you in the guise of a hemra and my familiar who watches over the followers of the Devourer is the dreaded mogu mogo. But you, Philomo, will be protected by the familiars of the Life Bringer. They will herald your appearance as you will herald mine. They will be the guardians of your dreams. They will not allow the followers of the Devourer to thwart your deeds. They will not allow the Devourer to re-enter your dreams. They will not allow the mogu mogo to harm you."

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The next evening, as instructed, Philomo emerged from his tent and called his followers to assembly.

The traveling black salt mining operation had transformed dramatically since the early days with Ru'us. All non-believers, romulan and hemra alike, had been stripped, striped and sent to their deaths on the black sand in the full heat of day. With an influx of believers – both romulan and hemra – the traveling camp had been transformed into a pirate operation, complete with sand schooners, hovermounts and fighter aircraft.

Using this force, Philomo had established his operation as the only source of the coveted black salt. Mining the black salt desert was a job few wanted anyway and there was no real opposition to this wealth being controlled and the salt mines being exclusively operated by the followers of Shiva.

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It was late evening and the black sands had finally cooled enough for Philomo's people to assemble.

Philomo did not have to wait long for silence and stillness among his followers. As high priest, the disciplines he handed down were even more cruel and more harsh than those he had delivered when he was the slavemaster. These people were here to submit to his word – romulan and hemra alike. "Ru'us of the Desert came to you to proclaim Shiva the Devourer, who comes to end this world. Prepare the way for Shiva!"

"Prepare the way for the Devourer!" came the appropriately shouted response.

"And across this world, the word of the Devourer has spread and across this world our people prepare for the end of this world. But I come before you with a new word and a new destiny. The end of this world is not the end of our labors. It is their beginning. We few have been chosen to prepare not for the end of this world, but beyond that, the creation not of a new world, but of three new worlds. The followers of Shiva the Devourer must die with this world, they may not come to the worlds that are to be made. But you are followers of Shiva the Devourer no longer. You are followers of Shiva the Life Bringer! And a new word must come from your mouths: Prepare the way for the Life Bringer!"

Philomo could see the terror in the eyes of his followers. But they were more terrified of the romulan they had known all this time than they were of a god only a few of them had seen once in a dream.

"Prepare the way for the Life Bringer…" the response was more than a little timid and far from unanimous.

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Philomo knew well who his most trusted and devout followers were and he had given them a job to do. He raised his hands: "You are consecrated anew as the people of Shiva the Life Bringer. Tonight, if you remain a follower of the Devourer, your life will be taken from you. Stand before me proud and fearless if you feel the light of the Life Bringer in your heart. Or let fear take you!"

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At those words, Philomo's most devout followers set loose well over a thousand mogu mogo that had been kept in captivity. Hundreds of these large, poisonous snakes slithered eagerly toward the crowd gathered before Philomo. Only a few hundred romulans and hemra stood their ground, terrified, well aware that if any of these snakes attacked them, it would poison them and begin burrowing into their bodies.

Most of the crowd – far more than a thousand – broke ranks and fled in terror. The mogu mogo, even though they had no legs, were able to move very quickly across these black salt sands. Those who ran found that the camp was surrounded by even more of these large, deadly snakes.

Those few hundred who stood their ground watched the first line of snakes coil and leap from the ground to attack them, only to be cut down by highly accurate disrupter pulses from far above. Each pulse that came from the skies hit and destroyed a mogu mogo – often in mid jump. Again and again, those who stood fast were saved by hyper-accurate fire from the skies. These heavenly disruptor beams fell silent after destroying all of the mogu mogo that had threatened what remained of Philomo's congregation. With the celestial disruptors silent, they could more clearly hear the screams of those who had fled as they were attacked, poisoned and their organs consumed alive by mogu mogo.

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Philomo waited nearly fifteen minutes in silence, savoring the screams of torment of those of his followers who did not have the faith and courage to stand with him and their fellow travelers to face the mogu mogo.

"Ru'us of the Desert brought you the mogu mogo and as followers of the Devourer, you dutifully surrendered yourselves to the ravages of the desert snake. On behalf of the Life Bringer, I bring you not a master, but an ally. We are no longer the people of the mogu mogo. We are the people of the nikamsitiri! The people of the skies!"

With that, birds glided down from the evening sky – nearly 500 of them. Each bird was armed with a disruptor attached to its beak. Most of these birds were a little over twice the size of a terrestrial crow – making them about the size of a harpy eagle or a condor. But a few were much larger and the largest of these, almost the size of an ostrich, landed next to Philomo. The enormous bird first bent over and released the disruptor from his beak, setting it on the ground, then picked it up with one foot and secured it in a holster attached to his other leg.

The bird walked up and stood next to Philomo, then turned his head, eyeing the mingled birds, romulans and hemra. He opened his beak and with a loud, oddly deep voice said, "Well met, followers of Shiva, the Bringer of Life! Well met again, High Priest Philomo! Prepare the way for the Life Bringer!"

This time the response was deafening – romulans, hemra and nikamsitiri in unison – "Prepare the way for the Life Bringer!"

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26.25