As the great door into the throne room creaked open wide, Anzyl the Sage, Neil the Warrior, Tey'un the Archer, and Kayuli the Mage were greeted by a swirling vortex of violet smoke and magenta energy engulfing the throne.
"I am the great Phantasma!" declared a voice from the tempest, otherworldly and powerful.
Anzyl squinted deep into the vortex. "There's someone sitting on the throne!"
Tey'un held his bow and nocked an arrow, "That answers the 'What happened to the great Phantasma?' part of the program."
"So we battle… that?" Neil questioned, eyeing the tornado of energy. "And then the program ends?"
"In theory, but we were also supposed to have a dragon accompany us," Kayuli confirmed, "and battle the witch of the woods, not the Queen of the Spider people or Lt. Cmdr Data…"
"...Guys... look up…" Anzyl gasped, directing their attention to the ceiling. High above them in the throne room, portals of twisting distortions revealed tops of skyscrapers, boughs of galleon ships, snapping sharks, and every other possible random object the program could generate hovered above them.
"Interesting…" Tey'un observed the swirling holo creations. "This seems to be the epicenter of our holodeck problems."
"Then we have our answer!" Neil declared, tightening his grip on his mace like a professional baseball player.
"Agreed!" Anzyl said, readying his nouliths.
"We need to penetrate that barrier first,"
Kayuli advised, holding his staff at the ready.
"I have a shot," Tey'un stated, bowstring taut and ready to fire. "Ready when you are."
Anzyl nodded, prepared for battle.
Tey'un let his arrow fly, but as it soared towards the vortex of immense energy, it twisted and morphed into a delicate butterfly, fluttering away harmlessly, never reaching its intended target.
"HAHAHAH!!" A booming voice resonated from within the vortex, echoing with sinister laughter. "You dare to use my own powers against me!?" The swirling energy gradually subsided, revealing the imposing figure of Phantasma seated on his throne. He appeared as a middle-aged man clad in ornate robes befitting a mystical wizard, a formidable staff held firmly in his grasp as he exuded an aura of power and authority.
"Barclay?" Anzyl queried with confusion, recognizing the man from historical records as someone more attuned to the holographic realm than reality. "Reginald Barclay?"
"Well...almost... his duplicate," Barclay chuckled, revealing his true identity. "Well done, Captain. I'm impressed you recognized the individual I was modeled after. In truth, Reg always preferred the holographic world over reality. In his later years, before dementia claimed him, he transferred much of his core memory and consciousness into me, the Great Wizard Phantasma, so that he could live on forever within the confines of the holodeck," Barclay explained with pride.
"Cheating death by transferring consciousness to a hologram program..." Anzyl muttered, "Sounds like something Reginald Barclay would do."
"Regardless of your origins," Kayuli declared, brandishing his staff, "You're still the final obstacle we must overcome to close this program." With a determined gesture, he raised his staff high, causing it to pulsate with fiery plasma energy.
As he swung the staff, it erupted in a dazzling display of... bubbles.
Anzyl remained resolute, unleashing his nouliths, which instead of emitting high-energy beams, sprayed out streams of whimsical, multi-colored silly string.
Neil, eyeing his mace, found it transformed into a comically oversized blow-up toy hammer.
"Bwahahahaha!!!" Barclay roared with laughter as the room filled with harmless bubbles. "Don't you idiots see?" he boastfully questioned, his hands wafting in the air with pomp and arrogance. "I control everything in here. I AM everything! I am the computer. I am the holodeck," the holoprogram proclaimed, staring Anzyl dead in the eyes, "I am the Nexus." He grinned with satisfaction and prowess. "You… live here, under my good graces and at my will…" He continued with his arrogant realization, "I... am… Your… God!" His face filled with a sense of superiority.
Not liking what he was seeing at all, but also realizing that this was beyond the normal purview of a Starfleet Captain, Anzyl asked, "Any suggestions on taking down a holographic power-hungry god program?"
"We would need to do something outside the typical holographic battle," Kayuli suggested. "Anything we do in here only adds fuel to his powers."
"If he said he is the Nexus computer…" Tey'un thought aloud, "then we overload the computer's network…" He then turned to Kayuli. "We need to trigger an Eywa Ngeyn spxin…"
"That might work, brother," Kayuli nodded.
"What's an… Eywa ngyen?" Anzyl inquired, confused at the untranslated words.
"It's a sickness on my planet when someone is overloaded with too information from Eywa," Kayuli explained. "Too much information at once causes the neural queue to overload, and the recipient passes out."
"Like a hard reset due to an information overload," Tey'un added.
"So, how do we get Mr. Barclay over there to experience Eywa Ngey…" Anzyl struggled to ask.
"It's 'Eywa Ngeyn Spxin,'" Tey'un corrected, his voice resolute. "To do so, we need to ask the computer, via the holodeck systems, to process ridiculously taxing mundane tasks, overloading the computer's processing power." Tey'un's instructions were cleared up as he demonstrated the technique. "Like this," he continued, looking up, addressing the ship's computer directly. "Computer, this is Chief Engineer Tey'un," he announced, his tone authoritative. "This is a Top-Priority request: Run a level 4 Diagnostic on all replicators on the ship, from food replicators to industrial replicators and borg nanite replicators. Analyze all matter conversion rates for optimal output for all possible replications, and order your findings from least frequently requested to most requested."
"Working," the ship's computer responded through the holodeck speakers.
Barclay, with a hint of worry on his face, stood up. "Hey!" he exclaimed.
On board his brother's thought train, Kayuli spoke up, "Computer, this is Science Officer Kayuli," the mage declared, his voice carrying an air of authority. "This is also a Top-Priority request: Run a full spectral and elemental analysis of all particles found in the Nekrit Expanse. Compare them to all known elemental materials found in planets, moons, comets, and asteroids in the mapped Milky Way galaxy, and list them in stardate order of discovery, from earliest to most current."
"Working..." the computer's response sounded slightly strained.
"What are you doing?" Phantasma cried out, stepping out of his throne, "Stop that!" Barclay conjured a fireball, but it was sizzling and glitching in and out of holographic reality, unable to hurl it at his intruders.
Even Kayuli's holographic neural link began to overload, his physical Tulkun body still in the cetacean observations. "Welp, that's my cue to disconnect," Kayuli announced. "Best of luck to you gents," he added as his character fizzled out.
"Computer, this is First Officer Neil O'Reilly." He stood up straight and spoke with authority, "Execute with First Officer processing priority: conduct an analysis on the personnel profiles of all members of the crew and civilians aboard the USS Nexus," he instructed. "Then, map out all known family trees and compare them to all recorded historical data. Correlate any links or ties to determine if anyone onboard is related to historical figures."
The computer's response came in strained, glitchy tones, "Wor…KinG…" it struggled.
"Sto…ohhhhhpp," added Barclay, his voice heavily digitized and distorted, as the holographic program around the room began to sizzle and flicker due to the excessive demands for processing power.
With an evil grin, witnessing their plan taking effect, the Captain chimed in, "Computer, this is the Captain. Requesting Captain priority processing," he began. "I am organizing a dinner party. Research and analyze all known recipes from the databases of all the factions aboard the Nexus. Compare them for nutritional content, including caloric, protein, carbohydrate, and sugar levels. Plan out a seven-course dinner with optimal health benefits. Modify these recipes to accommodate gluten, dairy, and sugar-free diets without altering the flavors and textures," Anzyl requested, exchanging a glance with Neil, who noticed the Captain's mischievous smile.
"Wooouurrr….ki…ki….kiii…kingg….." struggled the computer, its voice barely decipherable amidst the strain.
"St..ooohhhp…. I…..I….. I… Co..coma…commmannnnnddd…" cried Barkley, standing on his throne, his image digitally strained and glitching, flickering in and out of holographic reality.
Tey'un shook his head. "It's not enough. We need to strain the computer more," he stated, eyeing the still-functioning, but heavily strained holodeck program.
The captain, drawing from his extensive experience, sought to devise the most analytical and taxing request. "The most taxing... taxing... Taxes!" He snapped his fingers. "Computer, this is the Captain requesting top priority processing," a devilish grin spreading across his face. "Analyze all tax laws of every galactic government on record. Compare and analyze the wording, vocabulary, and terminology with those of other known government tax laws. List them from the most impactful to the least impactful on the galactic agricultural society as a whole."
The strain on the computer was palpable, its voice faltering mid-word. "Wooor... woorr... woorr..."
"Nooooo....ooooo!" Barclay cried out, the surroundings distorting so severely they were barely recognizable. "Staaahhh...."
Then, with a sudden and soft 'Pewm,' the holodeck shut off, plunging into pitch-black void as the Nexus computer mainframe finally collapsed from overprocessing.
The entire ship shut down; all 75 decks were plunged into black darkness as the vessel drifted in the pink expanse of the Nekrit Expanse.
Anzyl, Neil, and Tey'un stood there in the pitch-black darkness, unable to see anything around them.
"Well..." Anzyl asked, his voice echoing in the darkness. "Did we do it?" He scanned the void, searching for any sign of change.
"I guess so," Neil replied, also lost in the abyss.
"Okay, Stitch... any second now," Tey'un started counting down in his head.
Then, the hum of power turning back on and the lights flickered to life, revealing an empty and blank holodeck. The three were standing in their casual workout clothes, their holographic fantasy clothing and weapons no longer present.
Exhaling in relief, "Finally!" Neil sighed, rushing towards the exit. "I need to go so badly!" he exclaimed, bolting out of the room.
Anzyl turned to Tey'un. "Well done, Chief," he said, patting the 19-year-old Chief Engineer on his shoulder. "You saved the ship once again. It was your quick thinking that saved the day once again."
Bowing softly and still avoiding eye contact, Tey'un responded, "Thank you. I am glad that worked and... and it's over," his Asperger's showing its signs again as reality came back to them both.
Anzyl turned to head out, then paused and turned back to Tey'un. "Oh, um, before we go," Anzyl began, "Look up what a 'Holographic Tech Cube' is, and store the entire Barclay program inside it and ship it off to the Daystrom Institute please." the Captain instructed. "It worked for Moriarty; it can work for Reginald Barclay. The last thing the Nexus needs is a godlike holodeck program running around its computer network." With that, he turned around and headed towards the exit. "And then take some time and fix this ship! Until we leave the expanse, I want only five of the six holodecks active a day, with a rotation of THUROUGH cleaning and debugging the sixth. I don't want any more holographic Final Frontier Fantasies messing up my ship again!"
"Yes, Sir!" Tey'un nodded in compliance, his face eager to get back to work, resolute and determined to do his best.