Star Trek: Fortitude
Season Four, Episode Three - “Mind Over Matter”
By Jack D. Elmlinger
PROLOGUE
One relay… Another… crossover.. So precise… and so tricky…
He was working with a technology that wasn’t made for this world. It had never been seen before by his species, nor even comprehended before. Somehow, according to his scans, this gigantic green prism could reach out and touch countless other people… Perhaps every single person on his planet. What power, what magnificence… what glory!
With his mind distracted, he let the screwdriver slip an inch out of his claw.
The relay sparked.
“Rendana!,” he howled. “Narata rendana…”
His other claw quickly leaped into action, bringing in another tool. It moved it to rectify the damage, moving with a precision and grace that few of his species possessed. It made him special, he told himself. It made him worthy. It made him the only person who could repair this green prism, get it working… and harness its power…
There! Damage repaired. The relay hummed again.
It only took a few more tweaks before the prism towering above him began to glow. The few scorch marks on its otherwise smooth surface were eclipsed by the raw energy flowing inside of it. The ugly black circuits and workings bolted around it juxtaposed the beauty of the moment. With a satisfied smile that was completely in awe of the achievement that he had just undertaken, the alien responsible took a step backwards.
Vazai,” he whispered. “Vazai… Vazai!
Soon, yes, everybody would understand. Soon they would follow.
Soon they would be chanting for Vazai.
How right it was.
ACT ONE
Captain’s Log, Stardate 51647.9;
Encountering a world that is incredibly similar to Earth, Fortitude has successfully made First Contact with a race known as the Oxeeni, and therefore, we have made a new friend out here. Accepting their gracious hospitality, I have given my crew the chance to explore the Oxeeni homeworld. It only goes to show that we deserve a little rest and relaxation from time to time…
The levels of excitement had mounted with each passing day. The Intrepid-class starship had propelled them through the parts of the Beta Quadrant already marked on the map at maximum warp, let the regulations be damned. The Eastleans, the Korleenaq system, and Heowei Prime had all been smartly bypassed after their previous encounters. His crew had been anxious and eager to get moving once more, their thirst for the unknown driving their actions.
Then, three days ago, it happened! Fortitude had hit unexplored space once again. Three days and already another First Contact!
Ewan Llewellyn let the grin that he had been wrestling with break free. He was all alone in the turbolift after all. What was the harm?
Currently, there were almost sixty of his people on the surface of Oxeeni. He had already been down there twice, meeting with world leaders from the three separate continents. It was an intriguing setup down there. While the planet had yet to unify under one government, the act of space travel was an undertaking shared by representatives from all over. It wasn’t like they were at war or anything.
Far from it, Ewan thought.
He had only heard lavish praise come from each leader about the other continents. It would seem that the near future held the possibility of a union for them. What an exciting time to be Oxeeni.
Valerie Archer’s away team was reporting a cracking marketplace on the second continent that was ‘to be seen to be believed, or so she had claimed. Ewan chuckled to himself, thinking it was just another excuse for his First Officer to spend some time with her Captain. It was funny but, without it actually being said, they seemed to be engaging in a series of dates… except they weren’t.
Ah, who cared? It was all good.
The turbolift arrived on Deck Four, just outside of Transporter Room One. Ewan made the transition eagerly.
“Good morning, Chief,” he greeted the transporter technician warmly.
“Uh, good morning, sir,” the chief replied, taken aback by his good mood.
“At ease,” Ewan smiled, winking at the younger officer. “Go on, and energize.”
With a shimmer and a swirl of blue energy, a single humanoid form began to materialize on the transporter pad. It took a few moments for any recognition to be made but when the facial features started to appear, the Captain frowned with concern. This was highly unusual. What was she doing in the transporter?
After beaming had completed, Katherine Pulaski stepped forward.
“Doctor? You transported?”
“Yes. is there a problem?”
“No, no problem. Although what happened to the shuttlecraft down on Oxeeni?”
“Shuttlecraft?,” Pulaski repeated slowly. “Oh, the shuttlecraft! Somebody else will bring that back to the ship. Another crew member… I made arrangements.”
“Okay,” Ewan nodded, his good mood still intact, if a little shaken. “Does this mean that you’re finally over your technophobia?”
“I’m sorry,” Pulaski said, blanking on the question. “Excuse me.”
She left… simply left the transporter room.
Ewan felt his frown intensify. Katherine Pulaski could be blunt, but just plain rude?
Something was wrong.
* * * *
Sickbay was deserted. No medical emergencies today. So much the better.
She was on autopilot. Her surroundings registered as familiar. It was obvious why she would come here to a familiar place but the comfort of that familiarity hardly mattered today. It took a moment to access the memory of what to do next. That moment was annoying but unavoidable. She hoped that whoever that was back in the transporter room hadn’t suspected anything. Whoever that… Oh, the Captain! What was his name? Ewan Llewellyn… that was it. She would remember it quickly next time.
Onwards with her task. What happened next?
Oh, yes.
“Computer, seal the doors. Authorization: Pulaski-Delta-Seven-Delta.”
“Doors sealed.”
Excellent. Now she could proceed…
* * * *
It was only an hour before the Captain returned to Fortitude.
Valerie had protested when he had met her and immediately promised to cut the shopping trip short. When he explained his exchange with Pulaski in the transporter room, she had understood. There was no actual evidence to go storming in with a bunch of questions. She hadn’t broken any rules or done anything against regulations. Despite her well-documented technophobia, her use of the transporter was hardly enough evidence to warrant an investigation. Leaving things for an hour and then going back as concerned friends, it was the right call. It was the diplomatic call.
Arriving back in his Ready Room, Llewellyn was preparing to leave right away again and track down the good Doctor. Archer hovered for a moment, letting the Captain check up on ship’s business, light as it was, upon his return.
Suddenly, the Welshman noticed his desktop monitor flash. “I’ve got a message,” he noted. “It isn’t private. Take a seat, Valerie.”
As she did, Ewan played the message.
Katherine Pulaski appeared on the monitor screen.
“Captain Llewellyn,” she said in calm and even tones,” I have had an experience down on the surface of Oxeeni that had affected me deeply. I believe that I have found my spiritual calling. To this end, I am resigned as Chief Medical Officer of Fortitude and from my Starfleet commission. I am returning to the surface to better serve the creator of the universe, the all-powerful Vazai. This action is well within my rights as a Federation citizen and I ask you to respect those rights. That is all.”
“I’m sorry,” Valerie gasped,” but what was that?”
“Exactly what it sounded like,” Ewan said, shaking his head with the creeping feeling of being gutted by a Klingon overwhelming his body. “She just quit.”
“That’s… that’s…”
“You’re right, Valerie. That’s not Katherine Pulaski.”
ACT TWO
It wasn’t needed anymore. It would only be a reminder of her former life. That was forbidden.
Walking away from her discarded combadge, Pulaski headed away from the village that had ended her Starfleet career and began her new existence as a loyal servant of Vazai. The more that she thought about it, the more that it made sense. With each passing step outside of the village boundary and towards the rolling foothills of the second continent’s mountain ranges, she felt her newfound faith grow. It quashed out any shred of doubt in her mind.
The entrance was up ahead. She wasted no time in entering.
He was there, waiting for her.
The claws were only frightening to the less-enlightened interstellar visitors to Oxeeni, to those who made judgments based on appearance, and to those with primitive instincts. Evolved from the sea, the Oxeeni were essentially humanoid shellfish, powerful, with almost unbreakable yellow exoskeletons covering a fleshy interior maintained by a complex balance of water and salts. The closest thing that Pulaski could call to memory was a pair of Antedean delegates… no, terrorists… that she had once observed aboard the Enterprise. That memory, along with many others, were now fading as she locked eyes with her new spiritual leader.
“Welcome, Pulaski,” he greeted her softly. “I trust that you left everything in order?”
“Exactly as the teachings dictate, Leader,” she replied in a low drone.
“Wonderful. Come… we have new followers to meet.”
* * * *
“Come in,” Ewan called out.
The door to his Ready Room slid open to reveal Lieutenant Arden Vuro. At his commanding officer’s request, the Bolian entered and waited for him to finish working on one of the numerous PADDs strewn across his desktop. When the moment came, Ewan rose to his feet and led his helmsman over to the comfortable sofa beneath the panoramic window, beneath the spinning beauty of Oxeeni and the depths of unknown space.
“I wanted to ask you a few questions about your faith, Lieutenant,” he began to ask slowly, trying his best to be diplomatic,” if you don’t object, of course.”
“Not at all, Captain,” Arden smiled in his usual accommodating way.
“You’re the only member of my senior staff with any strong religious conviction. Well, you were until today. Doctor Pulaski had resigned her Starfleet commission and traveled down to the surface based on a new faith that she has discovered. Since I’m not a religious man, I wanted to try and understand the concept of faith before I decide whether or not to go after her.”
“Captain,” a shocked Vuro emphasized,” that’s entirely unlike the Doctor!”
“I know, but damn it, she’s within her rights!”
“Could she be some kind of imposter? Could she have been taken over or…?”
“She used the transporter to return from Oxeeni earlier,” Llewellyn said, shaking his head,” and I ran her transporter trace through the main computer. She is Katherine Pulaski. There’s no question about that, and if she had truly found her God, I am in no position to beam down and demand some answers. So, please, Arden, as a man of faith, do you believe that this kind of behavior is possible?”
Vuro took a deep breath. Tilting his bald, blue-skinned head toward the stars above him, he considered the question with great care.
Time had changed.
No longer was father a tool of governments or political organizations.
Ever since races like Humans and Bolians had achieved warp flight, people had begun to realize that the heavens weren’t filled with fluffy white clouds and angels. Despite new and diverse religions compensating for scientific advancement, there was simply too much evidence on one side of the argument to blankly ignore. He had to start from the beginning and he had to explain why some people still believed in a higher power.
“Captain, have you heard about the Q Continuum?”
“I have been extensively briefed and warned to instigate a Red Alert if we should ever encounter one of their members,” Ewan revealed to him,” so yes, I guess I have.”
“They have an incredible power,” Vuro pointed out to him. “It’s a power beyond humanoid comprehension. They can travel to different dimensions, to different universes, and it’s all at the wave of a hand or a finger snap. When the Q have proven to be a mischievous, almost devil-like example of this power, they still prove that power exists. The power to create worlds… and to create life…”
“... and if it rested in the hands of a being with a higher conscience…”
“... they would be seen as divine,” Vuro concluded, appreciating the fact that the vocal assistance from the Captain meant that he understood where he was going with his explanation. “Sir, the First Church of Bolaris IX offers acceptance, tolerance, and guidance. While these elements are wrapped up in stories from thousands of years ago, they are still elements worthy of devotion and praise. My faith isn’t blind, nor it is ignorant of certain truths.”
Ewan sighed. “So, in other words, you believe that Pulaski could have found her calling?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“I don’t understand. You just said…”
“Captain, I told you about my concept of faith. Religion is a personal thing and different for everybody involved. I know Doctor Pulaski. She is not a religious person, nor is she given to making rash decisions. This is entirely not within her nature, sir. Something is deeply wrong with this situation and you must save her from whatever is happening.”
Llewellyn was about to thank his helmsman for his honesty when a voice interrupted him.
“Bridge to Captain Llewellyn,” the panicked tones of Ensign Jason Armstrong called out into the Ready Room. “Sir, you’d better get out here!”
Beckoning for Vuro to follow him, he stepped out onto the Bridge in seconds.
“Where's the fire, Ensign?”
“I was running scans of the area that Doctor Pulaski beamed down to,” the young operations officer reported, the terror in his eyes peering out from underneath his blonde fringe. “Sir, I’ve detected an energy signal coming from the mountain region to the northwest of the village. You have to see this to believe it.”
“Put it on the main viewer,” Llewellyn ordered, turning to face it.
The terror was justified, and Ewan couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Oh my…,” he whispered in denial. “The Borg!”
ACT THREE
Captain’s Log, supplemental;
While searching for the AWOL Doctor Pulaski on the surface of Oxeeni, we have detected an energy signal coming from what appears to be Borg technology. A more detailed scan has revealed that the Borg device is emitting a low-level neurological disruption field, operating on a similar frequency to the carrier waves that link drones and their ships to the Hive Mind. Given the proximity to Pulaski’s last known position, I have no choice but to draw a connection and beam down with an away team…
“I would still feel better if you took Brodie with you,” Valerie Archer said.
She was watching her Captain mount the transporter pad as she was pleading with him to bulk up his away team. Turning around once in position and shaking his head, Llewellyn felt safe enough with Lieutenant Arden Vuro and Lieutenant Commander Sollik flanking him, for they were the logical choices. Whatever this Borg technology turned out to be, it would need an engineer’s touch, and while Sollik got to work, he needed the diplomacy and understanding of Vuro to try and rescue Doctor Pulaski from whatever trap had ensnared her.
No, beaming down with a security team would be wrong.
“Sensors didn’t detect any drones, Valerie,” Ewan said, dismissing her caution. “I’m willing to bet that whatever is down there was stolen or even accidentally picked up. Whatever that thing is generating, it has Pulaski and it could be potentially interfering with the six other lifeforms that we detected down there. I won’t shoot the place up just yet.”
“I’ll have the transporter keep an emergency lock on all of you,” confirmed the First Officer.
“Thanks, and don’t worry. We’re coming back from this.
“I know you are. Good luck, Ewan.”
* * * *
They were his test subjects.
Katherine Pulaski had been the first. This offworlder had proven that the machine’s power stretched beyond the three continents of Oxeeni. The more time that she spent in suggested meditation, the less of her life that she remembered and the more devoted she had become. The others, natives and villagers, some of them from important social positions and one even from another religious background… they were the beginning. The five people that he had collected so far would soon multiply. With each passing hour, the range of the green prism increased. Soon it would reach the outskirts of the village and soon the five Oxeeni would before fifty… then five hundred… and then, who knew?
He clicked his claws together with glee.
Before him, the five Oxeeni and Pulaski were kneeled around a fire. All of them were murmuring the teachings of Vazai that had been programmed into the green prism. They were all at his command.
“Nobody move!”
Wheeling around at the intrusion, the cult leader felt his facial tentacles flex with a fit of furious anger. Who dared to burst into his sanctuary? Who dared to interrupt their meditation? Who dared to bring weapons into his holy place?
Three of the intruders stepped forward. One of them was blue-skinned and the other one was covered in green scales. The final one… was fleshy and pink, just like Pulaski. Just like Pulaski, they all wore gray-shouldered uniform jackets over various colors of undergarments.
They were her shipmates! Curse them!
“My name is Captain Ewan Llewellyn of the Federation Starship Fortitude,” the fleshy one spoke, his Universal Translator morphing his Federation Standard words into Oxeeni. “You have one of my crew members here. It seems that you’re using stolen technology to influence her thoughts, along with the thoughts of everyone else.”
That was a point. They should be affected by the prism….
“How are you shielding your minds?,” the cult leader snapped at them.
By this point, Pulaski and the others had risen to their feet. With their meditation interrupted, all of them stood behind the cult leader, glowing in the hue of the fire.
Ewan recognized the Doctor and when he took a step towards her, there was no reaction. She wasn’t herself and not even the appearance of an old colleague, an old friend, was enough to break through the low-level telepathy being produced by the Borg technology.
“Sollik,” he whispered to the Suliban to his right,” where is it?”
“Approximately one meter behind that wall, Captain,” the Chief Engineer pointed out to him.
“A holographic shield,” Vuro mused.
“Indeed. Relatively sophisticated, given the surroundings.”
“You want to know,” Ewan continued speaking, addressing the cult leader once again,” how are we shielding our minds? Well, I’ll show you.”
Drawing his phaser, he fired at the wall. The holographic rock flickered and disappeared.
There it rested… the green prism.
It was the vinculum from a Borg cube.
“You have no right!,” the enraged cult leader blurted out.
“No, sir,” Llewellyn countered him. “You have no right to use this technology in the first place, and you have no right to use it to brainwash innocent people into… whatever this little gathering of yours is. A new religion, an army, I don’t know. All I know is that you are breaking your own planet’s laws and mine. You’re finished.”
Behind their so-called leader, Pulaski and the others turned towards the vinculum. They blinked hard, perceiving the device for what it was. This newcomer spoke of brainwashing… low-level telepathy… of illegality…
Suddenly, their minds cleared like a tidal wave.
“Captain,” Pulaski frowned,” what’s going on?”
“It’s good to have you back, Doctor.”
The cult leader was snapping his claws, incredulous at his defeat. “How are you able to resist?!,” he shrieked at the Starfleet officers.
“Like all magic tricks,” Llewellyn told him,” once you know the secret of how it’s done, it fails to impress a crowd. Sollik, if you wouldn’t mind doing the honors? That thing is giving me a niggling little headache.”
Getting a clear line of sight, Sollik drew his own phaser and fired. The vinculum exploded in a shower of sparks. The green prism ceased to glow.
Pulaski moved to join her fellow crew members. “Thank you, Captain. It’s a little hazy… but it’s all coming back to me.”
“It’s just another case of mind over matter, Doctor,” Ewan said, smiling. “I formally deny your request to resign your Starfleet commission and recommend that you return to your Sickbay for a full checkup on the double. Sollik will join you. Arden and I are going to take these innocent Oxeeni back to the village and make sure that they’re home safe.”
With an arm of assistance, the Suliban took the doctor away from the cavern.
As she left, a thought occurred to her. “I hope I can remember where I parked my shuttle…”
That only left the cult leader himself.
“What… what will become of me?,” he stammered, terrified of reprisals.
“You’ve still got your faith,” Ewan told him blankly while keeping a level head. “Be thankful that you haven’t lost more. It’s people like you who destroy the concept of religion. There are those, like my helmsman here, who understand what religion is for. Moral guidance, lessons in virtue and tolerance… not cults forcing blind adherence or a tool to brainwash unsuspecting innocents into following your rules. It is there to comfort and console, not dominate and dictate. Above all, it is freedom and choice. You corrupt the very thing that you seek to preserve… the very thing that you hold dear.
Disgusted the Captain turned away.
“Come on, Arden. Let’s get these people home.”
The cult leader was left behind in the cavern.
Behind him, the fire died away.
Defeated, he stood alone.
EPILOGUE
He found her enjoying a steaming bowl of chicken soup.
“Taking your own medicine, Doctor?”
Smiling broadly, Katherine Pulaski motioned for Ewan Llewellyn to sit down opposite her at the mess hall table. Pausing in her self-prescribed therapy, she shared a moment of quiet reflection with the Captain. For almost a minute, not a word was spoken between them. They just used that moment to think and to organize their thoughts. The topic of conversation was, after all, a weighty one.
“It was strange,” Pulaski finally began saying. “I can remember it all now. At first, it was confusing, having the vinculum’s hold broken but now, when I think back, it was strange.”
“Did you actually believe in the teachings of Vazai?”
“Yes… I believe I did…”
“Well, then, I have to apologize. After speaking to Arden, I understand how a person’s faith, artificially induced or naturally discovered, can be as vital as a limb. If, by destroying the vinculum, I caused you any emotional distress…”
“Please, Captain. You did the right thing.”
“Did I?”
Pulaski frowned, not quite understanding what her superior officer meant.
“He was never supposed to have that Borg technology. Our long-range scans detected the remains of a small Cube on a nearby moon. He probably picked those remains clean, long ago. It could explain the holographic wall too… and I suppose that the upside was that he didn’t implant Borg technology into your bodies. Otherwise, the vinculum’s hold over you would have been much stronger…”
“Then why do you doubt yourself?,” Pulaski inquired, picking her spoon back up.
“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. Religion is a tricky subject, Doctor.”
“You don’t have to tell me, Captain. I believed in Vazai. The loss of that belief is something that I have to learn to deal with on my own. But I’ll make it because regardless of religion or faith, I’m still Human.”
Ewan nodded, a lopsided smile of understanding on his face.
That was something that he could grasp.
The End.