Arbiter of Life

The Arbiters of Life were ancient comets, housing enormous alien structures, worshiped by the Shepherd species. The Shepherds believed that the Arbiters have brought life to planets across the galaxy since before the present stars were ignited, and held it their sacred charge to protect them. Furthermore, they believed that the courses of the Arbiters were divinely preordained, and considered any interference with them to be an act of war.

In 2259, a Shepherd ship confronted the USS Enterprise when the Federation starship attempted to prevent M'hanit, one of the few surviving Arbiters, from impacting Persephone III. The Shepherd captain regarded the potential destruction of all life on the planet and M'hanit itself to be an expression of "his" will, and would brook no counterargument from Captain Christopher Pike. Though the Shepherd ship was too powerful to defeat, the Enterprise crew devised a way to covertly alter M'hanit's trajectory using the shuttlecraft Galileo. Since the comet appeared to have diverted on its own, the Shepherds accepted that to be M'hanit's will as well. (SNW: "Children of the Comet")