Star Trek Hunter
Episode 28: The Covenant
Scene 2: King Prometheus
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28.2
King Prometheus
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"PLEASE STAND BY FOR THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT"
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For several months, the entire Alpha Quadrant and a significant portion of the Beta Quadrant had been embroiled in a war among the three great powers – the United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire. But someone suddenly hit the pause button. Throughout the Alpha Quadrant and the war torn parts of the Beta Quadrant, ships were landing or establishing stable orbits. Rescue missions were allowed to go forward, but all fighting was simply stopped. Even ground forces found themselves unable to initiate combat, even if they were armed only with hand-to-hand weapons.
Smaller civil wars and other wars throughout the Alpha Quadrant were similarly stopped. Electronic weapons stopped working. Projectile weapons and hand-to-hand combat were prevented by the projection of shielding between combatants.
On so-called primitive worlds, the so-called innocents – pre-warp populations who had developed electronic communication but who were as yet unaware of the vast space-bound populations of intelligent beings all around them – were receiving the same message on every radio frequency and every screen. The same message that was on every subspace frequency and every video monitor of any kind throughout the Alpha Quadrant, presented in every local language as needed – the message to stand by for an important announcement.
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Then a silly jingle started – introducing a cartoon. These cartoons were specific to their audiences. People on Earth, Vulcan, QonoS, Saketh and Bajor saw a cartoon figure of a humanoid biped walking. On Andoria and on the viewscreens of the Andorian Imperial Guard ships, these cartoon figures sported antennae. On other viewscreens, the walking figure more closely resembled a bird or had four legs in addition to two arms – depending on the physiology of the predominant viewership. This cartoon figure was accompanied by silly music and a cheerful, comforting voice speaking in the appropriate language depending on the audience that was receiving:
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"Hi there! This is you." A second figure appeared on the screen. "And this is your friend or your neighbor." Dozens more walking figures appeared. "And these are all the people you know who are alive today – your family, your tribe, everyone you know."
Those who were on planets saw the figures grow small and then depicted as standing on a ball. Those in ships saw the figures grow small, then depicted as if they were being viewed through the window of a spaceship. They heard: "And this is your planet. And this is your spaceship. This is your home."
The cartoon planets and spaceships grew small. Far underneath these tiny ships and planets wiggled fat, dark squiggly lines. "And these are gamma waves. Oh no! The gamma waves are getting close to your home! What ever will happen when they get there?"
The cartoons zoomed back in to show planets and spaceships with the dark squiggly lines coming up through them. As soon as the dark squiggly lines touched the walking figures, the cartoon people stiffened, then fell down. "Oh no!" burbled the narrator. "Guess what? Gamma radiation is deadly to all forms of life. So when those nasty gamma waves hit your planet or your ship – your home – everyone will die instantly."
The cartoons then showed a sequence of silly walking figures falling down and bodies piling up. "You will die!" the narrator continued in a chirrupy voice. "Your family will die! Everyone you have ever known will die! All the other life on your world, on your ship, your home, will die too. Oh those terrible, terrible gamma waves! They're going to kill everyone and everything. Not just on your home…"
The cartoon again expanded to show a large number of planets and ships being intersected by dark green squiggly lines. "Not just your world, but every world everywhere in this part of the galaxy. What, oh whatever can we do?"
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The picture changed to a cartoon caricature of a face known in Star Fleet to many as Doctor Robert but to the people who really knew him and had served with him on the U.S.S. Voyager, he was simply "The Doctor."
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"Hello. I am King Prometheus of the borg. A few million years ago, the borg were created to protect life in this galaxy from those pesky gamma waves." The cartoon caricatures of the borg were far less frightening to look at than the actual thing. In cartoon form, they were quite silly and, actually, kind of cute.
"The borg set about creating an enormous machine – a gigantic shield between you and those terrible, terrible gamma waves – Hooray for the borg!" Screens throughout the Federation, the Romulan and Klingon empires and everywhere else in the Alpha Quadrant now depicted cute, silly, heroic cartoon borg drones building a gigantic cartoon machine which in turn was stopping the cartoon gamma waves.
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The picture changed again, to show confused borg wandering away from the machine. "But at some point along the way the borg forgot what they were doing and went off and did something else. They did some mean and scary things that they are not proud of…" The cartoon showed the machine falling apart and gamma waves passing through it. "And the machine, without anyone to take care of it, gradually fell apart and started letting those nasty gamma waves through. Which brings us back to you and all your friends on your ship, your planet, your home, who are going to die the moment those dastardly gamma waves arrive."
The caricature of the Doctor's smiling face returned to the screen. "But I have good news! We have found the borg, reminded them of their original purpose and we have brought them home to repair the Hulk and to save you and your home from those nasty gamma waves. Hooray for the borg!" The cartoon word 'HOORAY!' exploded into confetti and fireworks along with cartoon explosion, popping, and noisemaker sounds.
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"But there is one, teensy little problem…" The caricature of King Prometheus returned to the screen - now a full body view that revealed the Doctor was wearing simple, unadorned black borg armor. "There just aren't enough borg left to do the job. That's where you come in! Over the next year, on your planet or on your ship, you will be given the opportunity to join the borg and help save the lives of everyone you know! Isn't that wonderful? We will establish a lottery and one in every five of those in the prime age category for your species will be brought into the collective. You will learn how to communicate and live as a member of the collective." Gradually, as he was speaking, the caricature of the Doctor resolved into the actual, living image of the former Emergency Medical Hologram for the U.S.S. Voyager.
"After a mere 20 years of service, you will be returned home and as an added bonus, any and all illnesses you may be suffering from will be cured. Furthermore, you will not age during your 20 years of service – so you will return home physically no older than you were when you left.
"This is the covenant I, King Prometheus of the borg, make with you for your service. You will be allowed to keep or leave behind as many of your memories of being borg as you prefer. We also take volunteers of any age, so if you are suffering from an intractable illness, I implore you to volunteer and after your 20 years of service you will be returned to your home, cured! Hooray! You will get to help the borg save the galaxy and in return, your life will be made better too!"
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"The Lottery will begin within the next three months. One in every five of you in the appropriate age category will be called to service, so make your lives ready for a prolonged absence. And now, we have a special message from the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, Greta Leifsdottor!"
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The change to Greta was shocking. Her long, blonde hair was gone. She was now bald, making her forehead and skull ridges – the heritage from her klingon grandfather – much more evident. Her once porcelain skin now had a greenish pallor and tubes were connected to her face and her chest. Her right arm had been replaced with a prosthetic that included a large number of tools. Her left eye had been replaced with some sort of optic device. Her muted silver klingon armor had been replaced with black borg armor. But she still stood tall and proudly held the sword of QeyliS. She stepped forward to stand next to King Prometheus on what was clearly an interior deck of a borg cube. At about 6'8", she towered over the new borg king.
"It would bring the greatest dishonor to the entire Klingon Empire if any klingon were to need to be drafted by a lottery. Here is the greatest enemy of the klingon people – not the Federation. Not the romulans. Not the borg. But this simple brutal force of nature that is coming to kill us all. If you are a true warrior, step forth. We will establish our own lottery. The klingon lottery will not determine who will come with me to fight. The klingon lottery will determine who must stay behind to keep the home fires burning."
"As it has always been with our people – it is an honor to be left behind only if you have been chosen to stay behind. Show me your hearts, my warriors. Show the humans and the romulans, the vulcans and the ferengi what it means to face your greatest fear. Show them what true courage is. Follow me to our greatest destiny so that the others – the human, the bajoran, the cardassian and the romulan can see your courage. Inspire them to face their own fears and volunteer to face this threat at our side, where they belong. I implore you, let so many of our people serve voluntarily that not one klingon will ever need to be drafted into service. This is why the sword of QeyliS has come to me – so that in this hour you, my legendary warriors, will find the true fire in your hearts and come to share this heroic task with me! Victory is our covenant! Qapla'!"
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28.2
