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Only Following Orders
This could go a very dark direction, but I think i'm going to subvert expectations on it a bit.
The Enterprise encounters a technologically advanced world, but upon trying to make contact, they are met with confusion by the inhabitants. The presence of the Enterprise crew on the planet seems to be causing distress to the population, but it's unclear why. It becomes a bit more apparent as the crew attempts to make contact the worlds leadership, only to discover that anyone they speak to can't seem to understand what the question is.
They keep getting a response similar to "We follow orders", but when asked who gives those orders, they just get another, "We follow orders?"
The crew investigate further to discover that the world once had a rigid caste system, with a ruling class commanding over a labor class. In planetary archives, Data finds that the ruling class had believed the world was in immediate peril from an asteroid collision. They fled the planet, leaving the working class behind as their available starships could only accomodate the ruling population.
The fate of those who fled remained unknown, they never returned, but the crisis never happened. They miscalculated the trajectory and the asteroid narrowly missed the planet. It had been a century since that event, the labor class continued to work their jobs, now generationally as they had not been given new orders. The very idea of making their own decisions was alien to these people, despite being otherwise free to do so without the ruling class to stop them.
Captain Picard tries to make the workers understand that they do not need to toil away at mundane jobs that aren't even producing much, but the workers don't really understand. Data makes a suggestion that given the lack of leadership, Captain Picard could claim to be in command, and order the work to stop. Picard wrestlers with the ethics of that, and while assuming the command role and ordering the people to think for themselves would likely be better for them, he doesn't feel that the Prime Directive would allow him to interfere as such. Picard feels the people of the world need to make the decision to stop following their now ancient orders on their own.
The Enterprise leaves, vowing to occasionally check on the world.
After the crew beam out, a worker leaves his post to investigate. When questioned by another worker as to why he left his post, the worker responds "Why not?" Some other workers stop their work, their faces a mix of shock and anger as they lay down their tools and approach the man who left his post... menacingly.
Next Episode:
C'est la vie
