Back to Welcome to Star Trek Realm of the Gods
Season 4 Episode 8
Dark Federation Episode part 2
Pure action plotline, no B plot required
The episode starts with a recap of the previous episode and then launches into the war between the Borg and the Terran Empire. The Borg have gained their freedom from the hacking via ancient race technology inflicted on them by the Terran Empire.
The scene in the command centre is one of utter horror. The officer core is being told that the hacking device is now just a puddle and they order the executions of those who were supervising the hacking device. They turn their attention to the giant holographic map of the galaxy. They are relieved to see the Terran Empire is holding its own against the Borg. They can still win and at least have all the technology of the Borg as a consolation prize.
Things go well for a while. The Terran Empire’s upgrades provided by years of research are working. The Borg can’t adapt to the new weapons. It looks like the Terran forces will drive off the Borg. The collective will cut its losses and retreat, then the Terran forces will upgrade with Borg technology. Not what they had hoped for but still a close version of events to what they wanted. They can still conquer most of the galaxy, just delay taking on the Borg and the ancients until everyone else is under the thumb of the Terran Empire.
Just as it looks like the Borg are ready to cut their losses something nightmarish happens. The Borg call in their entire fleet to wage war against the Terran Empire. The war’s fortunes are reversed. The USS Anracosh’s officer core watch on as Terran Empire forces are destroyed by the Borg Cubes. There will soon be nothing left to defend Terran Empire civilians and they will be easy pickings for Borg forces once the fighting is over. Any Terran Empire technology the Borg assimilate along the way is a bonus.
The officer core debate what to do. Just as they are about to run to somewhere remote, a Borg fleet appears at the absolute edge of their sensor range and it is heading to them at transwarp speed. This time there is nowhere to flee to; they are nowhere near a transwarp conduit. They would never outrun a Borg vessel or get to a location outside the Borg’s sensor range before the Borg fleet gets to them. There is nothing to do now but go down fighting.
The Borg fleet that would have bought about the death of the Terran Emperor arrives in the vicinity of the USS Anracosh. Instead of taking them to raid the Earth High Command, the Borg fleet attacks, disables part of the shield system and countless Borg Drones board the Terran Empire vessel. Because only part of the shield system is gone the Borg can’t just teleport to anywhere on the starship, they have to start off in the secondary hull of the USS Anracosh and fight their way up the vessel.
They are not there to assimilate; the Borg Drones simply shoot dead any crew they come across. It is not a fair fight with many Drones falling in the battle. However, for every Drone that dies two more take its place. The crew find themselves greatly outnumbered and being massacred.
He officer core note something interesting during the fire fights, the Borg are rescuing the Zalkonian doctor and arresting the Drone. Both are teleported off the USS Anracosh. By this time the shields are much weaker as the Borg have hacked the USS Anracosh’s shield system. The scene switches to the inside of the Borg cube where Zalkonians greet the Zalkonian doctor and Preservers, including the Drone’s parents confront the Drone.
The Drone asks how the ancients were able to turn the tide so quickly. The Preservers say that the low level ancients captured by the Borg were a ruse. The Borg never captured any ancients. The information given to the Drone’s superiors on the USS Anracosh was false. It made the officer core think they were winning the war when in fact they were being set up. It finally dawns on the Drone that the Terran Empire never really had a chance against the ancients, even with using the Borg as an anti-ancients weapon. The Drone and the Zalkonian doctor are seen entering different portals of ancient race origin on the Borg cube leading to different destinations. It looks like the Drone is being sent to prison and the Zalkonian doctor is being sent to little Zalkonia on the ancients world seen earlier in the series.
We return to the war on the USS Anracosh. The end of the fire fights are the Borg making their way to the command centre. Here the Borg get into a fire fight with the officer core who are soon gunned down by overwhelming Borg forces. We see the officers get shot one by one in a futile gun battle that kills them off.
The giant hologram of the galaxy in the command centre shows how the Borg are destroying the Terran Empire. It is just like the command centre itself being a scene of carnage with the officer core being killed off one by one. The hologram shows worlds of the Empire being destroyed one by one as the Borg obliterate the Empire. It is obvious that this is the end of the Terran Empire. The Borg show this to the ancients remaining on the Borg cube. They thank the Borg for their work in destroying the Terran Empire saying that they had it coming and thank them for freeing ancients trapped by the Empire. The Borg give an unemotional response of saying it was a good deal for the Borg as they profited from it. The ancients then leave via another portal that leads to little Zalkonia.
Afterwards the Borg find the remains of the hacking device that enslaved them. The collective deduces that the ancients destroyed the device as they promised to do. They also figure out that this is a piece of ancient races technology that the ancient races clique did not want the Borg to have. That explains why the hacking device was liquefied, so the Borg could learn nothing from it. The Borg beam in a bomb to the same room as the remains of device and set a timer. The Borg beam out and we switch to scene where a Borg cube is seen speeding away from an exploding USS Anracosh. The ship is reduced to nothing but expanding gas. The scene cuts to what is described below.
Ending of part 2:
It is revealed that this is a peak into a mirror universe being witnessed by John Doe [the Drone] and his Preserver parents who are visiting him on the starship. They are in the Drone’s cabin. It turns out the Preservers were showing the Drone an alternate reality where a dark version of the federation tried to conquer the ancients. The events happened, just in a different reality.
Drone: “You underestimate the Federation. They’re real smart for where they are as a civilisation; they don’t really need to see this. I think they get the idea not to try anything silly… And another thing too, it’d just hurt more than help, I reckon. Have you ever had a really nasty dream about someone you love hurting you in any way?”
Preserver: “Right, sorry. I know they haven’t done anything. Getting the crew to experience something like that is perhaps a bad idea. Forget about it, they are wise enough to know how dangerous the ancients can be if you jerk them around.”
Drone: “Understandable… One query… why would you show this to me to begin with?”
Preserver: “Because one of you had to see it! Did you see how crazy that was?! You know the true power of the ancients; could that war have gone any differently? Impossible! …I know you’ll probably keep mum on this regardless of what you just saw.”
Drone: “Correct! They would not truly appreciate what you just showed me and some may take it as an insult. But do not think any less of them for that. I would like you to meet the friends I have made onboard. I know they would love to meet some Preservers and I know you would love Niffy, who acts as ship’s A.I. He was going to be the crew’s ancient races expert before I joined up. He would love to meet you.”
Preserver: “We would love to meet your new friends. Let’s go.”
The illusion is turned off the three of them leave the room, entering the corridor as the Drone waves hello to someone walking by and the scene switches to the bar of the USS Anracosh where the Drone’s parents are surrounded by the officer core and the rest of the known crew [i.e. the crew known to the audience]. They are greeting the Preservers as friends and its smiles all around. A large crowd surrounds them; many of the crew want to meet the Preservers in person, whether it is to meet the Drone’s parents or just to meet a Preserver. The scene then fades to black followed by the credit role.
Season 4 Episode 9
The Ancient race called the Imitari
The B plot: Scattered among this episode is the origin story of the Imitari. The A plot is described below but the episode breaks to explain the Imitari’s backstory as required to keep the episode “fresh”. The backstory is also explained below.
The Imitari government unofficially contact the Drone via his personal dial a deity system in his cabin and asked him to recommend contacting the Imitari to the captain of the USS Anracosh. Both the Imitari and the Drone know this is not going to end well.
When the Drone raises the idea at the weekly staff meeting the officer core agree with him, they have delayed an official visit to the Imitari government long enough. The Drone says that the Imitari government unofficially contacted him and he directs them to a backwater area near where the edge of the galaxy meets the Klingon/Federation border. This is the location of the Imitari home world. This world is an abandoned Iconian colony world with lots of Iconian technology which the Imitari use themselves.
The crew of the USS Anracosh realise that the Federation would be shocked at knowing they are going to encounter a race of ascended humans. The Drone notes that the Imitari behave like the humans before the Eugenics Wars. They did not have the cultural shift of the humans who remained on Earth. They behave like modern people or “real humans”. In fact some Imitari see themselves as the true humanity and see non-ascended humans as beings pretending to be human. Although Imitari are very diverse, ask three Imitari their thoughts on a subject and you will get seven different opinions.
These ascended Humans call themselves the Imitari [Latin for to copy writing] and explain their origin story to the crew. They are genetically enhanced humans [Human Augments] who refused to follow Khan Noonien Singh during the Eugenics wars. Instead, they fled Earth using a faulty Iconian wormhole that was visible to the unaided eye and settled on a very remote world once owned by the Iconians near the edge of the galaxy. Iconian wormholes are normally invisible to the naked eye.
Examining the faulty wormhole was one of Khan Noonien Singh’s black projects during the Eugenics wars. The people who became the Imitari learned of the project and a few of them gained control of it. They soon used it to escape Khan Noonien Singh’s control and escape the Eugenics wars.
When the last of the proto-Imitari reached their new home the wormhole collapsed. The ancients were waiting for them and they invited the proto-Imitari into the ancient races clique. The ancients explained to the proto-Imitari that the genetic modifications that were made to them altered how their minds worked and made them think like ancients and they were planning a society with an ancient race social structure, left to their own devices they would have created a society that was like the ancients, thus they qualified for invitation to join the ancient races clique.
The ancients also explained that the faulty Iconian wormhole they travelled through was deliberately left on Earth in an effort to rescue the proto-Imitari. The proto-Imitari themselves were grateful for the rescue but were stunned that it was a deliberate rescue. This left them speechless, but they were too grateful to make an issue of it.
The Ascended Mythbuster was one of the people who escaped Earth via the faulty Iconian wormhole. The other side of wormhole was on a world near the edge of the galaxy. That world used to be an Iconian colony world and had functioning Iconian technology on it. The Human Augments named the world Viridis [Latin for Green] because of how green it is.
The Human Augments renamed themselves the Imitari because they decided that they would copy themselves memories and all rather than reproduce sexually. They had big plans as to how their society would function once they resettled on Viridis but this was cut short when they met the ancients on the other side of the wormhole, who in person invited them into the ancient races clique.
What else has this got to do with the Ascended Mythbuster? He was one of the leaders of the Human Augments who refused be a part of the Eugenics wars. He is largely responsible for designing how Imitari civilisation would function once the proto-Imitari settled on Viridis. He is one of the founding fathers of the Imitari nation. This earns him some respect with the Imitari people. Like all other Imitari he has never come to terms with being rescued by the ancients so they could join the ancient races clique.
In between current events and the invitation to join the ancients a Klingon exploration starship visited Viridis and met the Imitari. It was the usual routine of meeting ancients and putting up the no trespassing signs afterwards. For the record Klingons met the Imitari after the Klingons met regular humans.
Getting to modern times, when Starfleet and the leaders of the Federation find out about the Imitari being ascended human augments they completely freak out that what was once the greatest threat to humanity is now a member of the ancient races clique. The Imitari have to explain that the vast majority of them were not born as Human Augments but are Humans who were rebuilt and prove it by accessing old Earth government records to show the Federation they were once citizens of Earth. The vast majority of Human Augments who followed Khan Noonien Singh were born as Human Augments rather than being upgraded existing Humans.
The officer core of the USS Anracosh are stunned at the meeting between the Imitari and themselves. The Imitari are telling the truth. The Imitari say they have one caveat to signing a friendship treaty between themselves and the Federation. The Imitari want the right to return to Earth to visit their old home world. They give assurances that they will not be moving there, they only want to be tourists. The true home of the Imitari is Viridis.
The crew of the Anracosh ask for a break from the diplomatic meeting for the day. They contact Starfleet command who are still reeling from the knowledge there are ascended human augments in existence. Now those same Human Augments [albeit ascended] are asking to go back to Earth to visit. What’s more, the Imitari have never committed a crime on Earth that the Federation or Earth government can prosecute them for; therefore the Imitari cannot be arrested if they return to Earth. This means they could legally walk around on Earth unhindered.
The Imitari note that they could return to Earth with the help of other ancients and there is nothing the Federation could do about it. However the Imitari say they would rather go about seeing Earth through official channels. They do not want to force the issue; instead they are acting in good faith to show their honesty and sincerity. At least they are trying to do the right thing, that’s something in their favour.
So now there is an impasse, what does Starfleet and the governments involved say to the people of Earth? How would they take the news that not only have many more Human Augments survived, but have found their way into the ancient races clique? Also, these particular Human Augments are actually honest people willing to abide by the rules, and what Earth inhabitant is going to believe that?
The Imitari offer to speak for themselves in a broadcast to Earth, but this is refused with Starfleet taking a more cautious stance and deciding to break the news to Earth in a slower and more palatable way.
This is not good enough for the Imitari, once the friendship treaty is signed; they want to go to Earth immediately – literally while the ink is still wet on the page. They can get to Earth and back to Viridis via Iconian wormhole technology. This means the result is instant. Earth is seconds away via an Iconian wormhole. The Imitari take the initiative and introduce themselves to the people of Earth via Earth’s news services. The Realm of the Gods project is public knowledge, but seeing the Imitari still almost panics many on Earth.
This gives fodder to the anti-Realm of the Gods protest group, who love the idea that they can use the Imitari as a reason to stop diplomacy with the ancients. The protest group immediately organises anti-Realm of the Gods protests on Earth protesting against the right of the Imitari to return to visit Earth. The Imitari don’t like the idea of confronting protesters on Earth and it especially angers the Ascended Mythbuster, who is involved with the negotiations with the Chief Diplomat of the USS Anracosh. It is at this point that it is revealed that the Ascended Mythbuster was one of the founding fathers of the Imitari race.
With pandemonium ensuing on Earth at discovery that the Imitari exist, the crew of the USS Anracosh must contain the situation by showing that they are coming to the rescue and negotiating with the Imitari in a public fashion. The Chief Diplomat and her underlings must publically broadcast their summit with the Imitari leaders and their cohorts. A whole impromptu summit is organised and is publically broadcast. The Imitari want to prove their sincerity, many Earth Humans follow the summit closely, and form their own opinions on the Imitari.
The reaction from Humans on Earth is mixed. They have to acknowledge that a shootout with the ancients is suicide. The ancients hopelessly outgun them. As stated earlier, the Imitari could call on allies in the ancient race community and force the issue, but they are not, and that speaks to their motivations and character.
Once again the anti-Realm of the Gods protest group tries to gain leverage from the existence of the Imitari and succeeds because they have a policy of not attacking the Imitari. If they actually threatened anyone it would hurt their cause so they don’t do it and those who are “aggressive” are chastised by the protest group.
As for the diplomacy with the Imitari, the negotiations reach an agreement that the Imitari can visit Earth with security escorts to prevent anything going wrong once the friendship treaty is formalised, which happens not long after it is signed.
The anti-Realm of the Gods protest group tries to appeal this in court but is denied because they don’t have legal grounds to stop it. Without a legal means to block the Imitari the Federation agree to the Imitari’s demands and the Imitari are allowed to visit Earth with security escorts. It will take some time for Humanity to get used to the idea that the Imitari exist.
The Imitari visiting Earth goes surprisingly well with the Imitari willing to talk to the average citizen in the street and proving their honesty face to face. The story ends showing Humans and Imitari reaching an understanding with each other, even if some doubts and mistrust remain.
Season 4 Episode 10
A faction within a Klingon house willing to become ancients
TuqDaj wIghoSQo’ – means become energy beings or die in Klingon
This is an episode of political intrigue with various parties all having their own political agenda and reasons for being around the Klingon colony world trying to join the ancient races clique.
A faction within a Klingon house announces that it is willing to undergo what it takes to become part of the ancient races clique. The Klingons have seen what is happening on Bajor, Orion and Tellar and want the same for their own species. The faction within the Klingon house is willing to make the sacrifices it takes to become part of the Ancient races clique even if the rest of the Klingon race stays as a younger race.
Due to the Klingons running their own Realm of the Gods project they are very aware of the criteria the ancients have to join the ancient races clique. Having said that the Klingon Empire has requested the USS Anracosh go to the Klingon Empire so they can access the crew for advice.
The faction makes the argument that plenty of Klingons die for the Klingon cause every year in duels, combat, inter and intra house warfare and so on. Therefore they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of having ascended Klingons. They look at the Imitari, who are ascended Humans and the Yertholm, an ascended warrior race as examples that it is possible for Klingons to become part of the ancient races clique.
The Klingon faction announcing their intent to become ascended beings attracts the attention of the ancients and the Yertholm and the Imitari send representatives to the Klingon Empire. The faction, who call themselves tuqDaj wIghoSQo’ [Become energy beings or die] are asking the Klingon Empire to provide them with a disused habitable world to call their own to use as a place where they can find a way to join the ancient races clique.
The ancients sign off on the idea as recruitment of younger races starts at the most in a few centuries anyway. For a being millions of years old a few centuries are a short space of time.
The USS Anracosh is sent to the Klingon Empire to represent the Federation in the matter. The Imitari send the ascended mythbuster as part of their delegation, the Yertholm send their diplomats who previously dealt with the Federation and the Klingons. The Yertholm are keen to see the Klingons undergo an ascension project, in fact the Yertholm are sponsoring the faction of Klingons as part of the ancients allowing the faction to ascend. The Yertholm have a vested interest in the project. They want to prove to the all younger races that a warrior race is perfectly able to join the ancient races clique without having to give up their warrior culture.
The Imitari want to contact the Klingon Empire given the history between Human Augments and Klingons. The USS Anracosh wants to catch up with the Klingon ancient races contact ship and trade notes with them. It turns out that the Klingons were yet to send their Ancient Races Contact Starship to meet the Imitari, so this is their real first diplomatic contact in every sense of the word.
The Klingons have met the Imitari in Imitari space before the Realm of the Gods project was started. It was the usual procedure of the Klingons leaving the area and posting no trespassing signs warning other younger races that they are entering an area occupied by ancients. The Klingons have meet regular Human Augments before, but they are not like the Imitari in terms of outlook and personality and not being ascended beings like the Imitari.
The B plot is the Imitari running an investigation into what has previously happened between the Klingons and Human Augments.
The investigation done by the Imitari is a sombre one. The Imitari are disgusted by the actions of their fellow Human Augments. There is still a lot of bad blood about the past actions of regular Human Augments. The Imitari are apologetic to the Klingons about the dishonourable actions of their long lost Human Augment cousins.
Much to the surprise of the Imitari, the Klingons do not like the apology. They see it as meek and thus a sign of weakness. The Imitari, notably the ascended mythbuster, say that not apologising is a dishonourable act to them. This does not really make the situation any better. The Klingons do however give the information about the historic actions of the Human Augments against the Klingons and the results of such actions, namely the Klingon efforts to make Klingon Augments.
The Klingons then have to ask what the Imitari want with the information. The Imitari say it is purely for record keeping. This leaves the Klingons perplexed. What is the point of getting the information if they are not going to act on it? The Imitari say that they can’t take vengeance or bring the Human Augments who wronged the Klingons to justice because the Human Augments who committed the wrongs are long dead. Klingons point out that they consider justice and vengeance the same thing.
The Klingons then realise something, the Imitari see their Human Augment cousins as the dishonoured dead, meaning that they have to do something to publically recognise the Human Augments as dishonourable. The actions of the Imitari now make sense to the Klingons.
Wrapping up the B plot involves the Klingons admitting that attacking the Imitari or their Human Augment cousins actions would be an act of futility. The Klingons know the Imitari are ascended humans and realise fighting them or any of the ancients has, at worst, dire consequences for the Klingon Empire, or at best a waste of time. This applies even if it means a few good warriors going to Stovokor, the Klingon afterlife paradise.
The worst case scenario could involve being wished out of existence by a Douwd or a Q. This raises the question, is that kind of death a noble death that gets Klingons into Stovokor? The Klingons don’t want to find out the hard way that it isn’t a “ticket to paradise” for the Klingons. Imagine condemning much the Klingon race to the place of the dishonoured dead in the Klingon afterlife. For the Klingon or Klingons responsible that is a level of dishonour on them that is almost incomprehensible to anyone.
Returning to the A pot: The Ancients, Klingons and representatives from the USS Anracosh gather on Kronos – the home world of the Klingons. The Klingon ascension project is discussed and a disused habitable world in the Klingon Empire is selected for the project. It is suddenly revealed as a plot twist that the Klingon Empire is willing to pour a lot of resources into the project as they can see the advantages of having ascended Klingons around, and that the world was chosen some time ago for the purpose the Klingons become energy beings. Klingon high command toyed with the idea when the Klingons started their Realm of the Gods project.
After gathering on Kronos the groups go to the uninhabited world of Desigal in a remote corner of the Klingon Empire nowhere near Federation space. During the journey the Klingons and the Imitari discuss the previous Human Augments that the Klingons encountered. This is simply flashbacks and re-enactments of the Klingon interactions with Human Augments and the fallout thereof. We learn more about the bad blood between regular Human Augments and the Imitari. The Imitari remember why they fled Earth and the conflict they had with the rest of the Human Augments.
After reaching Desigal, the various groups travelling there notice the Klingon Empire is already creating the infrastructure for a planet-side colony and construction is well underway. The moment the ascend or die faction announced that they were willing to join the ancient races Klingon high command realized the opportunity that this represented.
Another plot twist is revealed, the Federation council is considering copying the Klingon idea and having a Federation colony dedicated to joining the ancients in case Tellar, Orion or Bajor soon secede from the Federation in the process of becoming part of ancient races clique. So far the idea has not got past the planning phase, but the Federation wants to monitor the Klingon ascension colony to learn what it is like to have a colony world trying to join the ancient races clique.
The USS Anracosh orbits the world with a large fleet of Klingon starships busy making the orbiting infrastructure and helping deliver the materials needed for a ground based colony. It is an amazing site seeing so much being built so quickly and one starship the USS Anracosh detects in the Klingon fleet is the Klingon version of an ancient races contact starship.
The two starships soon make contact with each other and trade notes about what ancients they have encountered. This is done by exchanging pleasantries and sending each other files on a sub-channel. While this happens the Klingon colony is set up and the colony starships begin arriving, as do some ancient race starships. The ancients will be overseeing this Klingon project, as they are on Bajor, Orion and Tellar.
Out of the blue the ancients want all Klingons going on the ascended Klingon project to undergo mind scans to sense any deceit, hidden agenda or trickery. This does not go down well with the Klingons, and it creates some conflict, but the ancients also say they want the Klingons to understand the dangers of immortality and that they have a lot to learn before joining the ancients, but they are keen students and that counts for a lot. Many of the Klingons quit the tuqDaj wIghoSQo’ project in disgust but enough stay to make it viable and plan to recruit more Klingons from their general public.
In response to the mass resignations the Klingon high council declare the Klingon ascension “above the houses”. This means as something far too important to involve Klingon house politics. The Klingon leadership wants the project to succeed. Therefore any Klingon or person ruled by the Klingons is welcome to join the ascension project [that last caveat is added in case they can’t recruit enough Klingons].
The response is immediate with Klingon houses donating warriors to the project and many in the Klingon Empire volunteering to join. The gates are open so to speak and many want to pass into the ancient races clique. Many Klingons will still reject the mind scan, but plenty of Klingons will be happy to go through it, and that will be more than enough Klingons to make the project a success. The same applies for subject races of the Klingons.
The crew of the USS Anracosh and the Imitari know that their work in the Klingon Empire is done. They have no reason to stay in the Klingon Empire. The Imitari have concluded their investigation and fact finding mission and other ancients are working with the Klingons in their ascending colony. Federation representatives to the Klingon Empire will observe the colony so the USS Anracosh can return to its mission of contacting the ancients. The crew of the USS Anracosh and the Imitari catch up with each other and discuss the events they have experienced in the Klingon Empire. The show ends with the Imitari in their starship and the USS Anracosh leaving Klingon territory.
Season 4 Episode 11
The ascended mythbuster invites the various ancient races contact ships to confer at his laboratory
The ascended mythbuster invites the various ancient race contact starships from various galactic governments to have a conference at his laboratory “region” [see below] where they can trade notes, discuss which ancients they have met and improve their efforts in contacting ancients.
The laboratory refers to a dwarf planet on the outskirts of the Imitari home system. The ascended mythbuster remade the world with an orbiting artificial sun and builds all kinds of scientific endeavours on, in and around the planet. The whole world is one massive laboratory, hence why it is called The Laboratory, nicknamed “the lab”. The place is also home to a wide variety of ancient race beings who work and live there.
When the Drone is informed at a meeting of the core officers that the USS Anracosh is going to the laboratory of the ascended mythbuster he almost faints but quickly recovers. Soon the Drone explains that the lab is known across the ancient races community as the hub of scientific research for the ancient races clique. This is like visiting the Daystrom Institute of the Federation, but at the level of the ancient races. The Drone also starts giggling, but refuses to explain why, the crew at the meeting guess that the Drone is as much amused by the ascended mythbuster’s antics as they are.
Other than that, the officer core crew can’t believe their ears. What kind of scientific advances will they see being done by the ancients? – According to their experience most likely things utterly beyond their comprehension. They also know that if the ancients are involved then all is not as it seems, there has to be a catch. All the object lessons on the USS Anracosh and their interactions with the ancients have proven that there has to be something weird about to go down. Still, this is a golden opportunity beyond understanding and belief so the Captain orders the crew to set course to the ascended mythbuster’s lab.
In a short space of time they hyperwarp into the lab area. It is not what they expected. This is what they find, and it was briefly described above: The lab is a small world [dwarf planet] on the outskirts of the Viridis system – the Imitari’s home system. The world has many space stations of all shapes/sizes/levels of advancement orbiting it. Most notable is a mini-sun orbiting the world and numerous asteroids also orbiting the world. The asteroids are made of pure chemical elements being mined in vast quantities. There is evidence that the asteroids have been artificially made.
Then the crew of the USS Anracosh notice the ancients inhabiting this area. All over the place are ancient race starships and ascended beings themselves are going about their business. The bridge is hailed and they are invited to go to a conference facility on the world itself. They are early and do not see any other ancient race contact starships around. The ascended mythbuster greets the crew like an old friend, and assures them that the other ancient race contact starships will be here shortly.
The diplomatic department makes its way to the conference in shuttles as the first of the other government’s ancient races contact ships appear in system and take orbits around the dwarf planet as well. We see ancient races contact ships from all sorts of governments near the Federation: Cardassian, Gorn, Sheliak, Tholian and many others, including the ancient races contact ships already seen in the series, namely the Klingon and Romulan ancient races contact ships.
We see the scene switch to the B plot:
This is the revelation that the laboratory is one massive man cave full of ancients behaving like dumbasses, like an ancient race version of the Jackass TV show. The ancients we see acknowledge that the younger race delegates are here and do not know the real deal of the laboratory. How should they be informed of the true nature of the laboratory and what that says about the true nature of the ancients?
The ancients, led by the ascended mythbuster, use his extensive connections to the crew of the USS Anracosh to ask them how they should handle telling the non-Federation delegates about who the ancients really are. Many of the younger race governments are new to their Realm of the Gods projects. They do not know who they are dealing with. They will find out sooner or later. The crew of the USS Anracosh say just be up front about it and this leads to the next phase of the B plot – the crew are in on the joke and quietly laugh to themselves and the ancients about the ancients revealing their true nature at the conference.
The conference begins and all sorts of younger races start discussing the details of the ancient race encounters. They trade notes and talk to ancient race beings present. Representatives of governments that are normally hostile to each get along as if their civilisations are the closest of allies. They all trade ideas about contacting the ancients and what progress they have made in their Realm of the Gods projects. They recommend ancients to contact, and leads to follow in the ancient races community. All in all the conference is an amazing experience for all involved with much information exchanged and a lot of help given by the old hands to newcomers running diplomacy with the ancients.
After a while of exchanging information the man of the hour arrives. The ascended mythbuster is greeted with enthusiastic applause. He is the host of the conference and he greets everyone from the podium saying it is wonderful to see the younger races working together and exchanging knowledge. He wants to share knowledge with them as well.
He invites the delegates to have a free range of the laboratory and that all ancient race beings here are approachable and will answer their questions. This is greeted with riotously happy response. The ascended mythbuster waits for the crowd to calm down and gives them a safety warning about ancient race technology saying to follow the instructions of the ancients developing it to the letter.
Before he lets them loose on the facility the ascended mythbuster unveils the new logo of The Laboratory. It is a large banner that says a’ig ol’ bependages [big old appendages] with numerous tentacles, wings, hands claws, hooves, and every other type of limb imaginable as part of its logo. The logo neatly sums up what the lab truly stands for, that being the goofing around of ancients doing stupid stuff to amuse themselves. The Laboratory is a man cave.
The delegates look puzzled then do some forced laughter thinking it is a joke. Then the ascended mythbuster looks puzzled, laughs a little and has a light bulb moment. He says that they must have not figured it out yet – they never got that “the lab” is a dwarf planet sized man cave. Given that the delegates have had previous interactions with the ancients they should have had some clue as to the goofy nature of ancient race beings. The ascended mythbuster is stunned that many of the delegates have not realised that ancient race beings can be very jokey.
The ascended mythbuster confesses that the ancients here are not doing serious scientific research; they are goofing off like a bunch of guys drinking beer and doing some creative hobby in one of their buddy’s garages all the while not taking it seriously at all. The scientific advances are merely a by-product of the creative hobbies the ancients are doing in “the lab”.
Now the delegates are in a state of complete confusion as the diplomatic team from the USS Anracosh goes into hysterical laughter. They know the ancients well enough to know that that the lab can also be a man cave. The two are not mutually exclusive.
The delegates are still not coming to terms with the fact that what they thought would be some equivalent to the Daystrom Institute is in fact a man cave full of ancient race yahoos goofing off and making half-wits of themselves. The people from the USS Anracosh just laugh even harder.
The experiments done by the ancients are shown to just be ancients goofing off and being idiots. It is like watching a mythbusters/jackass style show hammed up for comedy. It is “any excuse for a bad ass explosion or doing a dumbass stunt”.
The ascended mythbuster sees that he is not getting his point across so he arranges a tour around the laboratory showing ancients goofing off and behaving foolishly – becomes a slapstick comedy act for the some of the episode. The delegates are very confused as the USS Anracosh’s delegates are quietly giggling to themselves. The actions of the ancients look like something from a loony tunes cartoon or clown act.
Now that he has shown the true nature of the ancients the ascended mythbuster gets serious for a minute to remind the delegates that if they cannot come to terms with the true nature of the ancients – that is goofing off to cope with being immortal – then they should not be doing diplomacy with the ancients. The ascended mythbuster reminds those he is addressing that immortality is a curse and not a blessing.
Fighting the downside of being an immortal is an eternal battle [pun intended]. Ancients behave like half-wits because it is either act insane or actually go insane and spend the rest of time in a vegetative state. The ancients goof off because they have no choice in the matter – the alternative to acting like a fool is too traumatising to contemplate.
Even worse for the younger races, imagine countless insane dysfunctional ancients rampaging through their civilisations, totally unaware of what they are doing, destroying entire worlds in their path. The ancients behaving like morons are keeping the younger races and the ancient races clique safe. Be thankful the ancients are goofy.
In spite of the impassioned plea the delegates not from the USS Anracosh react with disgust and beam back to their respective starships and leave while lodging complaints with the Imitari government. Some of the delegates think it is some sort of prank in spite of being reminded that they are being told the truth. The ascended mythbuster says that he hates being the one to deliver the message, but it is message that had to be sent and understood by the younger races. The younger race delegates still leave angry and disgusted and feel that the conference was a waste of time.
The last scene: The diplomatic team is back on the USS Anracosh discussing the complaints. The Imitari government’s response was that the conference was not connected to the Imitari government and that the delegates were on private property owned by the ascended mythbuster. The ascended mythbuster gave them enough information to give the impression the place was a man cave and told the truth about the ancients. If the delegates did not understand or accept the message, then that’s on them, not the ascended mythbuster. The episode ends with the crew of the USS Anracosh still finding it funny that the other galactic governments can’t come to terms with the idea of an ancient races man cave and ancients acting like idiots to keep themselves sane.
Season 4 Episode 12
starbase Nexus Point
The crew of the USS Anracosh are ordered to go to a newly built starbase [called starbase Nexus Point] so Federation engineers can examine the USS Anracosh’s wormhole generation technology. In this episode the flaws in making wormholes are highlighted for the audience. Namely that wormholes that are once use only are far easier to make and wormholes can only be made with one entrance near the wormhole generator and one entrance near the desired destination of the wormhole. Making permanent wormholes takes more effort and energy.
The wormhole generator has another quirk: Wormholes can only be made by the device with one end of the wormhole near the device and the other end at an area of space selected by someone using the device. To connect two parts of space not near the wormhole machine two wormholes must be made. Both wormholes lead to the wormhole machine and the area the machine is in acts as a “grand central station”.
The crew know that they will get a frosty reception from the rest of Starfleet, but they will not defy orders. They know what they are in for and the scenes on the starship reflect this. They have bad memories of sabotaged supplies from Starfleet. With unpleasant feelings they enter the region of starbase Nexus Point.
Starfleet does give the cold reception the crew were expecting, and they are denied any form of shore leave. It will be strictly away teams examining the USS Anracosh’s wormhole systems and crew of the USS Anracosh going to and from worksites on the starbase as required. This is agreed to by the crew of the USS Anracosh as it is probably the best deal they are going to get from Starfleet.
The first job is for the crew of the USS Anracosh to examine the wormhole generators on the starbase. They get the usual snubbing but are surprised at the progress the Federation has made in reverse engineering wormhole technology. The starbase’s wormhole generators will only need tweaking to make them work. The starbase’s team [which includes civilian scientists] sent to the USS Anracosh come to the same conclusion after seeing the ancients built wormhole technology on the USS Anracosh.
The B plot is some of the crew from the starbase being enamoured by the USS Anracosh and ask for a tour. This is to prove that not everyone in Starfleet or the Federation’s civilian population is against the Realm of the Gods project, and even support the idea. The Starfleet and civilian teams gets a grand tour of the USS Anracosh. The crew see this as an opportunity to get at least some positive press within the Federation. This is done as a publicity stunt with the “tourists”. The crew of the USS Anracosh act as tour guides taking video and other recordings that will be broadcast on the Federations communications channels. The crew also edit the footage, and this is seen in the B plot as well, so the end product is like an amateur high quality documentary like the ones seen on YouTube. This is shown near the end of the show to round off the B plot.
With the starbase’s wormhole generators up and running it’s time to do field tests. At first probes are sent through temporary wormholes to only a few light years, and then full sized starships. It all seems to go to plan, the device works well, and although it is working since temporary wormholes are created they disappear after each use. Then a permanent wormhole is made as a proof of concept. It can be destroyed and is destroyed after the experiment. This is because it is a proof of concept, once it is proven to work it serves no purpose.
Once all the tests and are done and are successful the Nexus Point station is declared fully operational. The Nexus Point station will be a “Grand central station” starbase that generates large numbers of wormholes. The USS Anracosh was sent to help because it has functioning wormhole technology that were used as a template for the Nexus Point station’s wormhole generators.
The new space station has an official opening ceremony which is marred by the continuing animosity between the crew of the USS Anracosh and the rest of Starfleet. At the ceremony the permanent wormholes are opened to various major Federation solar systems.
To the shock of the USS Anracosh one of the wormholes produces the protest movement that is anti-Realm of the Gods. Starfleet was supposed to keep the movements of the USS Anracosh a secret, and here are the protesters broadcasting that they know the USS Anracosh is here and the protesters are here to have a protest to say that they want the Realm of the Gods stopped.
The USS Anracosh intercepts some radio chatter that some Starfleet vessels in the area and personnel on the Nexus Point station are sending messages of support to the protesters. The captain of the USS Anracosh orders a staff meeting of the officer core to inform them of the chatter between the protesters and Starfleet. She has figured out that if the protesters are here then someone has leaked top secret information from Starfleet.
The first reaction from the officer core at the meeting is “those traitors!” They are betraying Starfleet by exposing its secrets.
“We in the USS Anracosh are the real heroes. We are trying to save the Federation from any potential future threat that could destroy it. Those mongrels are sabotaging Starfleet by giving away top secret information.”
The security chief has to intervene here. She says that there may not be someone betraying Starfleet. The protesters would know about the Nexus Point station, it is public knowledge, and it uses technology given to us by the ancient races. The protesters could have figured out we are here by knowing that we would need to bring the USS Anracosh here to help complete the Nexus Point station.
The security chief makes a good case. The protesters making an appearance could mean they were tipped off by someone. This is blatant ignoring of protocol and leaking classified information. However, it is just as likely they figured out we are here because of the needs in finishing starbase Nexus Point. The question is which theory is right?
The conference is interrupted by the helmsman who states that a large fleet of Federation vessels have arrived and have begun using the wormholes to traverse the Federation. They should go the bridge and see the view screen.
What is seen on the view screen and around the USS Anracosh are large numbers of Federation vessels with a peppering of non-Federation vessels around starbase Nexus Point all travelling to and from and through wormholes all around the starbase. It would be easy to hide your starship in a fleet this big.
Unfortunately that is exactly what the protesters have done with their starship. It is nowhere to be seen but its transponder signal can be detected. It must be close. Then the crew of the USS Anracosh get a shock. The protesters have used the melee of the starships travelling near Nexus point starbase to get near the USS Anracosh.
This point is hammered home when protesters transport in space suits to the vicinity of the USS Anracosh with vandalism supplies. The protesters are putting up anti-Realm of the Gods banners, spraying graffiti and posing for selfies on the outer hull of the USS Anracosh. They are staging a protest on the hull of the USS Anracosh itself.
This obviously infuriates the crew of the USS Anracosh. As soon as the protests on the hull become common knowledge among the crew the entire crew volunteers to go outside and kick the protesters butts. The security chief is suddenly inundated with requests from crew members volunteering to help. The security chief tells the captain that the most disturbing thing is that to get the protesters starship this close to the USS Anracosh would have required Starfleet’s help. That is a concern.
The security chief also informs the captain that the crew has the right to arrest the protesters and take over the protesters ship because the protesters have committed crimes against the USS Anracosh and its crew, but since the protesters are civilians and their starship is civilian they cannot fire on either the starship or the protesters. They can only arrest them and impound the starship.
The captain notes that the USS Anracosh can outgun anything the younger races can throw at it. However, they are dealing with the Federation. In relation to their Starfleet colleagues they can’t so much as make an off colour remark for fear of an insubordination charge. Against civilians [Federation or otherwise] they have even less options.
The captain orders that the protesters be arrested and the protest starship be impounded, however the crew has to be gentle, as much as they would rather pound the protesters to mush and blow up their starship with them in it, the crew of the USS Anracosh must obey the law. They can only arrest and hand over the protesters and their starship to the local authorities, nothing more.
Using the ancients enhanced scanning devices on the USS Anracosh the protesters starship is quickly found. Then the raid to capture the protesters and their starship is soon executed, with the crew of the USS Anracosh showing an amazing level of restraint, as the crew wishes they could execute the protesters. The raiders grit their teeth as they easily take over the starship. The protesters are no match for the commandoes who make up much of the crew of the USS Anracosh. The protesters are outnumbered and more importantly very badly outgunned.
As for the protest on the hull of the USS Anracosh, it goes about the same as the raid on the protesters starship. The protesters are quickly dealt with and their vandalism is quickly cleaned up by crew of the USS Anracosh that are not commandoes. In fact there are two teams from the USS Anracosh on its hull. The arresting team and the clean up team. The clean up team are composed of the non-soldiers on the USS Anracosh, like the caterers and the diplomats.
Some of the crew get sloppy in their police work. They are commandoes, not police officers. They want to rough up the protesters, nothing really damaging, just a few bumps and bruises. A few of the crew rig the scans and turn off their cameras. They inflict some minor damage on the protesters saying that they were resisting arrest. The way the rogue crew members went about it was to hide that they were intimidating the protesters. They were not thinking ahead, they just want revenge. This will come back to haunt them.
The protesters are soon rounded up and captured by the crew. The protesters that were either on the hull or in the protesters starship are imprisoned in the party cargo bay. The crew still want to rip them in half, but have to show restraint until the protesters and their starship can be transported to the Nexus Point starbase.
Outside the USS Anracosh is towing the protesters starship to the Nexus point starbase and we see the starship approach the starbase ready for the transfer. On the bridge the captain hails the starbase informing them they are ready to transport the prisoners and dock the captured starship. The evidence about the protest on the hull of the USS Anracosh has already been transmitted to the starbase. The prisoner transfer can start right away.
The starbase commander says to set the prisoners and the captured starship free. It was a peaceful protest and they have no right to detain the protesters any longer. The starbase commander was reviewing the evidence in real time and noted that cameras were switched off and scans were edited. The starbase will not take the prisoners as the prisoners have to be set free and compensated. The starbase commander notes that the evidence they have sent was tampered with, and thus it is inadmissible in a court of law. In fact the crew who tampered with the evidence should be arrested.
That last remark makes things boil over between Starfleet and the crew of the USS Anracosh. The captain understands her crew wanting to get their own back at what they see as the traitors to the Federation who vandalised the surface of the USS Anracosh. The captain is smart enough to say that she does not have to hand over the offending crew members. She has the right to punish the crew on the USS Anracosh herself, as is her right according to the rules of Starfleet. The commander of starbase Nexus Point agrees and then without warning ends the conversation. Literally “hangs up in her ear”.
The captain turns to the security chief and tells her to find the rogue crew members and bring them to her ready room. She and the security chief give the rogue crew members a “what the hell were you thinking?” speech with no option of back talk. This was their one chance to cripple the anti-Realm of the Gods protest movement and they blew it by wanting to physically cripple the anti-Realm of the Gods protest movement.
The captain goes on to say that now they can do nothing about their current standing with Starfleet and the Federation. They can’t fire on civilians or anything Starfleet. They will have to walk away with their reputation in tatters because they are still seen as a rogue crew who got away with it and the crew in front of her has reinforced that reputation.
As punishment the crew in front of her are going to do the crap work [undesirable jobs] on the USS Anracosh until further notice and be selected for Section 31’s crap missions [missions with a high chance of failure and/or casualties].
“That is all! Get out of my sight! Dismissed!”
With the crew now gone from the ready room the security chief turns to the captain and says that we have to know when to walk away from something. The captain, a bit confused asks for a clarification. The security chief says that the crew, including themselves, have to realise that the vast majority of the Federation will not accept or understand the mission of the USS Anracosh. Everyone onboard will have to come to terms with the fact that many in the Federation hate them and there is nothing they can do about it.
The two note that they have seen the “tourists” on the USS Anracosh, so there are those in the Federation who understand and support the mission of diplomacy with the ancients, but such people are a minority. It was great to have them on the USS Anracosh, and now that they are gone maybe they might help spread positive words about their mission.
The captain then says that the crew they just berated deserved it for their recent actions, but acknowledges that the entire crew will have to get used to the idea that they are the pariahs of the Federation, and may be so permanently. The captain shrugs and says we may as well get back to work. She orders that the USS Anracosh set course for their next mission. We see the USS Anracosh fly into one of the permanent wormholes being generated. On the other side of the wormhole they go to warp speed.
Season 4 Episode 13
The Akezhek – a race of teeth and claws
The USS Anracosh is experiencing some down time and the Captain orders an officer core staff meeting. One of the issues raised is who to contact next among the ancient races. This makes the Drone nervous and everyone wants to know why. The captain tells the Drone to spill it.
The Drone says he knows of an ancient race that has issues with the Federation. This is met with shocked disbelief by the officer core. How could there be an ancient race that has grievances with the Federation that they have not heard of?
The Drone introduces the Akezhek, a reptilian race that is born all teeth and claws, at least until they ascended. The Drone notes that he has friends who are Akezhek and the officer core say they want to meet them. They don’t know much about the Drone’s past and meeting his friends could provide insight into their mysterious guide.
The Captain says for now their mission is to make friendly first contact with the Akezhek. The Drone is hesitant and warns them they will get a frosty response. The best thing is to let him talk to them first and explain the situation – the Federation wants to meet the Akezhek under the Realm of the Gods project.
The Drone makes the call and talks to his Akezhek friends. They also know his parents and know about their plan to introduce him to younger race beings like himself before he ascends. They think his parents made the wrong call and say so but are happy to help the Drone as a favour to a friend. The Akezhek friends of the Drone and will make the necessary enquires to get the Akezhek government to talk to the USS Anracosh.
Due to the down time the crew are doing maintenance on the USS Anracosh and catching up on any unfinished work they need to do. A few days later a starship of unknown design approaches them at hyperwarp speeds. This is clearly an ancient races starship. The Drone identifies the starship as an Akezhek starship.
The Akezhek are the first to hail. The bridge crew get to see the ascended Akezhek and they are as the Drone described – race that is all teeth and claws [claws on their feet and hands].
They say that they are doing this first contact as what they feel is an obligation under the Realm of the Gods project. They have issues with the Federation, but will put them aside for the sake of the rest of the ancient race community. The Captain asks the obvious question: Why are the Akezhek at odds with the Federation? The Akezhek explain it is to do with their history.
One hundred and fifty years ago they had a scientist akin to Einstein, Hawking or Newton. A towering intellect who revolutionised his field of science. He discovered how to turn the Akezhek into energy beings and that got them an invite into the ancient races clique. It turns out the Akezhek were slowing evolving into energy beings and it would have been a few thousand years before the Akezhek would have become energy beings and qualified to join the ancient races clique. What the scientist did was discover this was happening and found a way to speed up the process so it would take under a generation to do.
Had history gone slightly differently the Federation would have discovered the Akezhek in the early TOS era of the Federation. If the exploration starships the Federation had sent out had gone a slightly different route they would have discovered the Akezhek before they joined the ancients. At the time the Akezhek were already a warp capable species occupying a few star systems.
The captain asks why that is a problem. The Akezhek explain that the Federation would have asked the Akezhek to join the Federation and the Akezhek would have faced a horrible choice. The Akezhek are born all teeth and claws. They need their claws to escape the egg they gestate in. Asking them to engineer themselves so the teeth and claws do not develop is effectively genocide against them. The same can be said about the teeth of the Akezhek, the Akezhek need razor sharp teeth to eat the food their bodies can process.
If you ask the Akezhek to re-engineer their race to remove their teeth and claws, weaken their eggs to be easily broken through, and change their metabolism to take a more varied diet then you may as well just create a new race and have the Akezhek go extinct.
The captain says that the Akezhek assumptions were incorrect. The Federation would have accepted them as they were. The Akezhek are still suspicious and the Captain invites them onboard to tour the USS Anracosh and meet Federation citizens face to face so they can learn the truth. The Akezhek although sceptical are willing to go to the USS Anracosh.
Face to face talks are arranged and at the talk the Akezhek explain their culture. Their whole cultural identity is focused around the fact that they born and stay all teeth and claws for their entire lives. They have evolved a culture not unlike the Japanese with honour and etiquette/behavioural norms being the centrepiece of their identity. For example: To “declaw” the Akezhek is to destroy who they are. An Akezhek mauling another Akezhek is considered an atrocity in their culture.
The Akezhek used to wonder if they would have been second class citizens in the Federation because of how naturally heavily armed they were. Now that they are ascended beings, it is a moot point, but it is a moot point that has never been answered. Now that the Akezhek are talking to the Federation answers are finally coming.
At the face to face meeting it is agreed to make the two starships dock together and the Akezhek crew, which is much less in number than the crew of the USS Anracosh, is invited to have the freedom of the USS Anracosh and ask questions of the crew. The chief engineer wants to send a delegation led by him to examine the Akezhek starship and examine Akezhek technology.
Following the chief engineer and the chief scientist examining the Akezhek starship and the aftermath of that event becomes the B plot.
The Akezhek show the chief engineer and his entourage that the Akezhek starship has a fully operational black hole manipulator. They are shown what the device looks like when it is fully functional. They look at a black hole in the machine – an actual stellar black hole. They see it close up, and if you know astronomy you know what a big deal that is. This leads to more debate about the black hole manipulator, and seeing one fully operational adds fuel to the fire about what the crew of the USS Anracosh should do with the incomplete black hole manipulator on the USS Anracosh. The debate on the Anracosh dramatically intensifies as the crew are shown via electronic communications a fully functional black hole manipulator. This becomes a running theme throughout the episode with various crew asking the Akezhek about the black hole manipulator. The Akezhek reminds the crew that the USS Anracosh has files that answer all their black hole manipulator questions.
The B plot is not truly resolved. The result of the B plot is that the different “black hole manipulator” factions in the crew harden their positions. The crew becomes more divided and unwilling change their attitudes to on what to do with the black hole manipulator. There is now a standoff attitude between the crew members of different factions.
The rest of the episode, excluding the B plot scenes, follows various Akezhek around the USS Anracosh asking various questions of the crew of the USS Anracosh. The Akezhek ask if the crew are conscripts, it turns out the Akezhek version of Starfleet was a conscripted force. Once the Akezhek unified under one government the military repurposed itself for space exploration with what was then newly developed warp technology. This only lasted a couple of decades as the secret of becoming energy beings was discovered.
The Akezhek don’t take much interest in learning about the USS Anracosh’s systems, it’s nothing they have not seen before. Instead they ask the same question asked of the bridge crew. The security chief complains about having the Akezhek all over the starship because it is a security risk but the first officer overrides her, saying it is more important to get good relations with the Akezhek than to worry about having them running around onboard.
Meanwhile in the diplomatic negotiations the Akezhek and chief diplomat, with the captain present are negotiating the usual friendship treaty with the Akezhek. This is a slow process as the Akezhek do not trust the Federation, and as stated earlier, they are doing this meeting because they are [or at least feel] obliged to do so under the Realm of the Gods project.
The crew are used to being head kickers, answering questions is not normal for them, but they do a good job and show the Akezhek via their words and accessing Federation records showing the Akezhek that the Federation is what they say it is – an organisation that would have welcomed them as equals.
The captain has to ask the question: If the Federation had discovered the Akezhek and then the Akezhek discovered ascension does that mean the Akezhek could have given the Federation the secrets of ascension? The Akezhek reply that it would not have mattered. The Akezhek have been ascended for a few centuries and know their way around the ancient races clique. The way they see it, the Federation could have approached the ancients at any time and asked for a Realm of the Gods project. If that had happened in the Kirk era more than a few Federation races would already be in the ancient races clique, as ascended beings. The Federation does not need the Akezhek for the secrets of ascension; they have rest of the ancient races clique for that.
The Akezhek personnel and the Federation crew interact on both the USS Anracosh and the Akezhek vessel and as the conversations turn [including the diplomatic talks] the Akezhek realise that the Federation people are telling the truth. The Akezhek would have been welcome with open arms in the Federation and would have been treated as equals. It was just luck that the Federation did not discover them on one of their long range missions. It was also luck that the Akezhek had a great scientist that discovered the secrets of ascension long before their race should have evolved such an ability.
The Akezhek and the crew of the USS Anracosh part of friends with a friendship treaty signed and sealed, and about to be delivered to the Akezhek government by the Akezhek starship that visited the USS Anracosh. The episode ends with the Akezhek starship and the USS Anracosh heading off in near opposite directions with new missions to go to.
Season 4 Episode 14
The black hole manipulator part 1
This episode starts with an argument in the starship’s pub. It is the debate over what to do with the black hole manipulator. It references the fully operational black hole manipulator seen on the Akezhek’s starship seen last episode. Instead of it being a cordial disagreement it nearly degenerates into a brawl, and it is very dangerous situation given that these are the Federation’s head kickers. This crew could break anyone’s limbs without thinking about it.
The B plot is the debate among the crew of whether or not completing the black hole manipulator is the right this to do for a wide variety of reasons ranging from moral to legal to practical and much more.
The moral argument is the precedent it sets for making the black hole manipulator operational. If the Federation creates a device this powerful then others will follow the example and make weapons of mass destruction, the counter argument is that creating weapons of mass destruction is basically what the mission of diplomacy with the ancients is really all about. The crew started the mission with the aim of giving the Federation the firepower needed to fend off extremely powerful enemies like the Borg.
The legal argument is that creating and possessing weapons of mass destruction is illegal under Federation law. However, the USS Anracosh gets an exemption because it is a hybrid Federation/Ancient races vessel. The Federation could never build the USS Anracosh by itself and it is something many orders of magnitude more powerful than anything else the Federation has. By definition the USS Anracosh is a weapon of mass destruction as it is. It may be illegal to make and possess weapons of mass destruction, but they already have a weapon of mass destruction by operating the USS Anracosh.
The practical issues are that botching the addition of a black hole to the black hole manipulator is suicide. One wrong move and the starship would be destroyed and the crew along with it. Then again a lot of regular systems on any given warp capable vessel are deadly if misused or mishandled. For example: Matter/Antimatter reactors, Photon/Quantum torpedoes, anything high radiation related, firearms in the firearms storage room, transporters [teleporters] and list goes on forever. Just being on a starship means dealing with machines that can be fatal to starship and crew. They already deal with deadly devices, all of which will get you equally dead, so what’s the difference?
Another example of a debate for and against completing the black hole manipulator is that if we have access to the ancients why do we need a fully operational black hole manipulator? The ancients can do anything the black hole manipulator can do and a lot more. If we need their help all we have to do is ask. The counter argument is that the ancients want the younger races to fend for themselves rather than become dependent on the ancients. The ancients also would prefer the Federation to complete the black hole manipulator, but gave the Federation the choice to complete it or not.
In this debate the four schools of thought showcase their point of views. Namely complete the device and leave it fully operational, complete the device to study it and disassemble it once it has been studied, those who are on the fence/indifferent to the device, and those who are against completing the device.
The crew have to do this debate in spite of having to follow the orders of completing the black hole manipulator. This again leads to a lot of tension in the crew. They are professional enough to do their jobs but feel that this is an important enough issue that they must let their opinions be known.
The main plot revolves around “the issue” of what to do with the black hole manipulator. “The issue” has always been in the background and now it is coming to a head.
Security is called in and they take sides as well. It ends with the Captain going to the pub furious. She confronts the arguing crew members in the pub, tells them to shut up and confines the crew to quarters and tells the various school of thought leaders [who are mostly high ranking officers] to meet her in the ready room.
At the meeting she has calmed down and admits she has for a long time been thinking about what to do with the black hole manipulator. She is in the faction of those who are ambivalent, but admits she has been tempted to complete the device to see what it can actually do. [This means leaning towards the for light faction, as explained in the show bible part of this documentation under crews opinion of the black hole manipulator]. This again starts an argument, but only among the officers in the ready room. Officers take various sides of the debate. The captain calms everyone down and considers what to do. She pauses for a moment and uses the starship’s public address system to tell the crew to return to their posts and await new orders. She returns her focus to the officers assembled. She informs them that the “for light” faction has won. They will get their wish of completing the device for scientific study and when all the readings are made the black hole manipulator will be dismantled again.
The officer core return to their posts and the Captain starts issuing the relevant orders to capture a black hole to complete the device. They find a black hole and begin the procedures to capture the object. It is a delicate process, but the crew follow the instructions the ancients provided with the black hole manipulator to the letter and the black hole is placed in the machine. They have to be careful and it is a suspenseful time as they very delicately place the black hole into the device. The device itself is designed to capture black holes and can handle bringing the USS Anracosh and the black hole together.
When the black hole finally rests in the black hole manipulator all is quiet. For a minute or so the machine is dormant and then it starts working by itself. The crew are shocked and try to shut it down, but it is running automatically and won’t take commands. The crew finds out that the black hole manipulator is drawing incalculably large amounts of energy from its black hole. The device is fuelling the starship. This has consequences: Machinery on the starship that used to barely work now becomes fully operational. This causes the starship to change. Console readouts across the starship show what is happening. The capabilities it has now make what it was before the black hole manipulator look like a toy, and what the USS Anracosh was without a working black hole manipulator made the most powerful Federation starship look like a toy.
A short time later the black hole manipulator stops fuelling the starship and goes into standby mode. The crew try moving at impulse speed the starship only to find that the black hole manipulator siphons incomprehensively large amounts of energy to help move the mass of the black hole. The crew figure out that the USS Anracosh is using the infinite energy of the black hole to move the black hole, which in this case is about five times the mass of the sun. The crew even discover that the USS Anracosh can go to warp and use the wormhole device with the black hole manipulator fully operational. After testing moving the USS Anracosh the crew understands that the starship can move around a black hole with ease by using the black hole’s infinite energy to move the black hole. The other minor tests are done involving system checks of the starship.
The crew are standing around on the USS Anracosh realising it has become a vessel that has god like abilities, even more so than before. The Chief engineer and his subordinates are ordered to examine all of the starship’s systems, and to draw on the rest of the crew if he is short staffed in his assignment. He led the charge in campaigning not to finish the black hole manipulator, so he feels vindicated that what they just did was the wrong decision. He follows his orders and examines the starship’s systems. He soon has an epiphany about how the USS Anracosh works as he sees that everything onboard is working perfectly. The starship was meant to have the black hole manipulator fully operational, that is why everything works perfectly and the starship now has even more god like abilities.
The chief engineer tries to run the automated repair systems on the starship. Automated repair is normally reserved for menial repair work, things that have to be done on a regular basis but are simple jobs that don’t need much thought to do them. The starship main computer denies the request on the grounds that no system is in need of a serious repair job.
The crew follows the saying “if it sounds too good to be true then it usually is” when it comes to analysing the new abilities of the USS Anracosh. The black hole manipulator has given the starship all the abilities of a black hole. These abilities include altering their forward flow in time, being able to focus the gravity of the black hole to make a tractor beam that can move planets, being an infinite power source and many more capabilities.
The crew recheck that the black hole manipulator does actually do what the ancients say it can do. They run experiments and test the device just as the “for light school of thought” wanted. The device works exactly as it is meant to. The crew can’t believe it and run the test again – with the same result.
Nothing goes wrong on the USS Anracosh, all systems are working perfectly, and it is just that they work at a super powered level. Everything works as it should, but the starship is for want of a better word …different. Reports filter through the ranks and the whole crew learns of the true abilities of the USS Anracosh. The starship is fully operational, but the crew can’t come to terms with that fact. This makes them stand around looking at each all asking the same question: What have we done?
More importantly the crew start fighting each other again because of the differences in what to do with black hole manipulator. Security is called in to stop brawls and riots and this time security does its job instead of joining in the chaos. The episode ends with the crew ready to [figuratively speaking] to cut each other’s throats.
End of part one of two.