Back to Welcome to Star Trek Realm of the Gods
Season 2 Episode 8
Romulan episode supernova suppression part 2
This episode is the second of two massive middle fingers to new trek
This episode incompatible with new trek
Note:
An experiment done by the Romulans has gone horribly wrong and destabilised the Hobus star. The Romulans know it will go supernova within a decade but can’t fix the problem themselves. Now that the ancients are approachable the Romulans have gotten help from the ancients to fix the unstable star for them. For the record the Hobus star is three light years away from the Romulus itself, outside the gravity of the star planet Romulus orbits.
The episode starts with a recap of the previous episode, including the falling out between the ancients and the Romulans and the suppression of the Romulan supernova and the reason the ancients saved the Romulan empire.
The scene changes to a diplomatic conference between the ancients and the Romulans with the Federation [the diplomatic team from the USS Anracosh] acting as a third party referee between the two groups. It is part diplomatic meeting and part inquiry into the events that happened during the suppression of the Romulan supernova.
In a way this is like a courtroom drama episode of star trek
The ancients furious at the Romulans for their duplicitous acts during the Romulan Realm of the Gods project. It is revealed that some ancients even walked out on the supernova suppression project upon learning about how the Romulans have really conducted themselves around the ancients.
[In part the scenes in this episode are flashbacks showing ancients learning of Romulans spying on them and leaving the supernova suppression project before it was complete, and the fallout of that.]
The walkout was not really a setback as the anti-supernova technology was nearly completed. The remaining ancients, although angry with the Romulans were willing to stop the supernova, although some of the ancients say that they shouldn’t.
It is revealed in the inquiry that it was up to the crew of the USS Anracosh to convince the ancients to help the Romulans. The argument is that the supernova will hurt and kill countless civilians who have no say in the actions of their government and that the civil populace should not be punished for the actions of a government it can’t control. Most of the ancients agree and some who were about to walk out change their minds.
During the enquiry the Federation delegates ask the ancients why the Romulans spying on the ancients was not common knowledge in the ancient races community. The answer is simple. The Romulan neutral zone is crawling with ancients, as are many other areas in the local region of the galaxy. Many ancients literally live “next door” to the Romulans. It would only take one ancient who is either powerful through natural ability like the Q or the Dauwd, or a lesser ancient with ancient race technology to destroy the Romulan Empire. The ancients say that is the ancients were coming to get revenge on the Romulans would do more damage than the supernova if it had been allowed to happen. Therefore the information about Romulans spying on the ancients was suppressed.
The real threat to the Romulans is not the ancient races community itself but any rogue ancient who thinks the Romulans need to be punished for their treachery in running their Realm of the Gods project. The ancients then drop the bombshell, these diplomatic negotiations are effectively the Romulan race being put on trial by the ancients. Justice must be seen to be done in order to prevent any rogue ancient breaking rank and attacking the Romulans.
This freaks the Romulan delegation out. They had no idea that the stakes were so high. This also freaks out the leaders of the Romulan Empire. The Romulans ask for more time to prepare a legal defence. The Ascended Mythbuster warns that there is no time. A rogue ancient attack could happen at any time. The Romulans must prove their sincerity immediately to prevent a rogue ancient attack.
The Romulan delegation is now in a state of utter panic. The ancients are something they cannot defend against. If the Romulans don’t prove to the ancient race community that they can be trusted then it would mean the end of the Romulan Empire. All it takes is one rogue ancient willing to destroy them. These are the risks involved in this episode.
Ironically it is the ancient races delegation that calms the Romulans. The Ascended Mythbuster suggests that the first thing they could do is remove the spying equipment from the Romulan Ancient Races Contact Ship and transfer their intelligence operatives aboard the same starship to other duties. The ancients say [and mean] they don’t care if the operatives stay on the starship or not. All the Romulans have to do is stop using the starship to spy on the ancient races community.
The removal is spying technology is done. At first the captain of the Romulan Ancient Races Contact Ship is hesitant, but the orders are confirmed by the Romulan high command. The technology is tossed away immediately and the intelligence operatives are also transferred to other duties.
The ancients are partly placated, but there are more demands and the Romulans worry that this could be a long list of demands they have to conform to. At this point the Federation delegates express the same qualms as the Romulans saying the ancients should not go too far in forcing the hands of the Romulans. The Federation asks what more actions the ancients want the Romulans to take.
The ancients say not as much as they think. The Ascended Mythbuster says that the Romulans are getting off so lightly because they have only recently started their Realm of the Gods project. The Romulans have not accomplished much in the short time they have been active in diplomacy with the ancients. If the Romulans had stolen a lot more and made a lot more progress in spying on the ancients then this would not be an inquiry. There would be no negotiations, the ancients would simply take revenge and the punishment would be rather horrific.
Once again the Romulans freak out and this time the Federation delegates have to calm them. The ancients get back warning the Romulans. The demands of the ancients are really simple, no more spying onthe ancients. Whatever listening bugs, hidden cameras or whatever that have been put in place are already disabled. The Romulans must also return stolen technology and confirm that the ancients have not missed shutting down any eavesdropping equipment
However, there is one final demand from the ancients, the Romulans cannot keep the Black Hole Manipulator technology and other technologies used to suppress the supernova. Originally some the ancients were going to make a gift of these devices to the Romulans. Now that those same ancients know that the Romulans were being insincere with them those gifts will not be given. The ancient say that the Romulans got off lightly.
Once again the Romulan delegation is in a dark mood. The Romulans had really hoped that they would get their hands on Black Hole Manipulator technology and the super shields used in the suppression of the supernova would have been a great bonus as well, but at least the ancients are not seeking revenge, and that is at least something.
The ancients however are very happy with the outcome and the Romulans are still welcome with open arms in the ancient race community, all they have to do is not spy on or rob the ancients ever again. The ancients encourage the Romulans to keep going with the Realm of the Gods project.
The Ascended Mythbuster tries to lighten the mood by telling the Romulans that they and their Vulcan brethren are not invited to join the ancients for exactly the opposite reasons. The Romulan government could never be trusted not to abuse ancient race technology and the Vulcans are too benevolent to join the ancients. The Vulcans would make younger races dependant on the ancients, and that is frowned on in the ancient races community. The Ascended Mythbuster says that Vulcans and Romulans are almost the same race, and it is seen as a novelty to the ancients that two very closely related groups are not invited into the ranks of the ancients for the exact opposite reasons.
With that the inquiry/diplomatic conference is ended by the ancients. They thank the Federation and Romulans for attending and end it with a handshake saying that there are no hard feelings from the ancients. If the Romulans can prove their sincerity by running an honest Realm of the Gods project then all is forgiven.
The final scenes are a return to the USS Anracosh for debriefing. The debriefing is lead by the Drone. The drone reminds the Federation diplomatic delegation that the ancients took great offence because the ancients are being absolutely sincere in their dealings with the younger races. Being deceptive is not only dumb but unnecessary.
The ancients would have given the Romulans what they wanted [i.e. black hole manipulator technology and super shields] if they had been honest. Being deceptive was never needed in the first place. Granted the enemies of the Romulans would have ancient race technology as well, but that is to be expected as more and more galactic governments are running their own Realm of the Gods projects.
The Drone reminds the crew that dealing with ancients can be very dangerous if you jerk them around, but as long as you play by the rules the ancients set out the rewards of diplomacy with the ancients can be amazing. The crew of the USS Anracosh continue their mission, now having to process just how dangerous the ancients can be if they don’t like you.
Season 2 Episode 9
Dormant Ancients episode
The ancient race featured in this episode are the T’kon
The B plot: The B plot involves the procedures around a member of the crew dying, namely the “paperwork”, the funeral and its arrangements. They have to contact Section 31 for a replacement crew member. Starfleet will not give them new crew to replace any that are lost/quit/retire/whatever because of the bad blood between Starfleet and the USS Anracosh’s crew, and this is shown in the episode. The dead crew member is replaced by a Section 31 agent who has had basic training in working on a starship. He will need further training, and that is provided by neural education technology, which the Bajoran doctor introduces him to.
The B plot shows the funeral, the contacting of Section 31, the recruitment of a new crew member and induction of a new crew member with the first officer showing the new crewman around the USS Anracosh. It is like an introduction to what a rank and file crewman of the USS Anracosh goes through. The Section 31 agent is a young man with very little experience and it shows. For example the first officer has to tell him about the hatred from the rest of Starfleet towards the crew of the USS Anracosh.
The story starts with a meeting where very much against the advice of the Drone, the crew of the USS Anracosh try to make contact with an ancient race that has largely gone dormant. Dormant means going inert with only a tiny amount of an ancients’consciousness aware of its surroundings. This is almost the ancient race equivalent of committing suicide because the ancients going dormant can’t cope with being immortal. Any ancient in this situation is in a very bad mental state and could become a threat. The crew of the USS Anracosh is warned by the drone to leave dormant ancients alone.
However, these particular ancients could answer a lot of questions about the archaeological sites and artefacts they have left behind millennia ago. Many mysteries could be solved if these ancient could be made to talk.
So the captain makes the call to contact the dormant ancients. The drone protests, and confines himself to his quarters. The captain proceeds to the location of the dormant ancients and then she and the crew tries to wake one of them up.
This is a disaster, the away team is attacked and receives some serious injuries. The phaser weapons the away team have prove to have only a limited effect on the dormant ancient that is now awake. The away team retreats as reinforcements are sent in to cover them. One of the reinforcements is killed by the revived ancient. The reinforcements are similarly injured and all are beamed out of the area into the infirmary. There the Zalkonian and Bajoran doctors are waiting for them, and so is the drone with a lecture about I told you so.
As the away team and the reinforcements are being treated, and after the drone is told to leave the infirmary, it is announced over the intercom system that the dormant ancient has launched itself into orbit and is attacking the USS Anracosh.
What we see next is the bridge and the bridge crew announcing in stunned disbelief that the blows and energy the dormant ancient is throwing at them should be causing them to fly across the room. They should be on the floor with a few shattered limbs at least. The tactical officer [security chief] notes that the shields are only reduced by what should qualify as a rounding error in measuring the shield’s strength. The bridge crew note that if they were on a regular Federation vessel the dormant ancients firepower would have vaporised it by now. This astonishes the entire crew, and a crowd begins to form at the bridge. Everything gets a bit too cramped, and the information from the shield readout gets transmitted across the starship, granting everyone on board “tickets to the show”. The crew is stunned at how the USS Anracosh is not even wobbling slightly from the attacks of the dormant ancient.
The dormant ancient then tries boarding the USS Anracosh, and some unknown automated internal defence systems stuns it, and teleports it to the starships brig, directly to a prison cell room. All the prison cells are enhanced with ancient races technology.
A staff meeting is called in the infirmary as many of the officer core have been wounded. The drone hijacks the meeting saying that if they had listened to him they would not have been attacked in the first place. If they had consulted him instead of dismissing his advice he would have told them how to locate the few ancients of the dormant ancient race who had not gone dormant. They could have asked them all the questions they wanted to. The drone, now being taken seriously recommends that they contact the race via the dial a deity system. The drone then asks them that if he is not going to be taken seriously and be treated as a valuable resource then what is he doing serving on the USS Anracosh?
The core officers, now completely humiliated by the drone, agree to the drone’s plan and the drone contacts the non-dormant ancients of the dormant ancient race. In the conversation the non-dormants ask which ancient they revived. The USS Anracosh sends video made of the away teams mission and the non-dormants say they know who they revived and will send a team to deal with the revived dormant ancient.
The drone receives a reprimand for his behaviour, but not a permanent mark on his record because in spite of the drone’s insolent behaviour he is correct, they should have listened to him.
The non-dormants arrive and send a team to handle the now revived ancient. This does not go well, as one of the team breaks down as she sees the revived ancient. She informs the crew that this is her husband. At one point in time they were as close as two people can be, but he could not cope with being immortal, had a mental break down and went dormant.
“He had always loved… flying. Of course, you have complete and total control over it all, but he would play by nature’s rules. He’d catch a thermal in the wind and he’d be ecstatic. One of the last things he told me in passing was that he felt like doing it again. Those were probably some of the last, more complex thoughts he was able to put together before he… made himself comfortable. He’s flying now, I think.”
This show then explains the pitfalls of immortality, how for many it is a death sentence. We see the how and why of the dangers of being immortal. The debate evolves to that about euthanasia and should the ancients have the right to destroy themselves utterly. Going dormant is curable but leaves the ancient going through the whole process of breaking down again, getting cured and it becomes a vicious circle. Analogues in the debate to euthanasia.
The dormant ancient is returned to his slumber as the chief diplomat negotiates with the non-dormants. For once the talks do not go well as the non-dormants are upset at the actions of the USS Anracosh. The non-dormants note that given how few of their race survived immortality they can’t do much for the Federation anyway. The crew are left at the end of the episode empty handed and have to cope with a failed mission, however they have learned a valuable lesson and will change their ways in their future endeavours, and longer term the whole Federation will have to change to the ways of the ancients as well.
Season 2 Episode 10
The crew of the USS Anracosh go to visit the Edo ancients
Several ancient races want to meet the crew of the USS Anracosh summit style. This is unusual as normally the ancient races meet the USS Anracosh one by one. The drone notes that they could spend the rest of eternity meeting the ancients of the universe and never meet a tiny fraction of them all, but the realm of the gods project is only meant for them to meet the ancients in the local region, i.e. the Milky Way galaxy, in nearby galaxies and at local access points to other dimensions.
The venue is even more surprising, it is being held at the semi-phased space station owned by the Edo ancients. Because of this the crew make reference to the previous mission here run by the USS Enterprise under Picard and their misfortunes dealing with the locals.
When the USS Anracosh arrives the ancient race enhanced sensors detect the Edo space station with ease, unlike the problems the USS Enterprise faced with detecting the space station.
Using ancient race technology on the USS Anracosh they are able to dock with the space station. Upon arriving onboard they are invited to a tour lead by ascended beings and the drone. The drone reveals that he once lived on the Edo space station for a while a few of years ago. During the tour the crew are shown what happens to the inhabitants of planet Edo. The drone and the Edo ancients show how some ancients reproduce by creating non-ascended versions of themselves and then ascending them when they have matured. When the Edo ancients refer to the planetary inhabitants of Edo as their children that is actually an accurate depiction of the relationship between the two groups.
The drone reveals that he will be ascended when he gets mature enough. The planet Edo inhabitants are taken from the planet to be ascended and join the Edo ascended beings on the space station. It is also revealed that the ascended Edo beings had a big role in the drone’s creation before he was adopted by a preserver couple. The drone was born/created on the Edo space station by a conglomerate of ancients working together, including the ascended mythbuster. In a way the ascended mythbuster qualifies as the drone’s uncle.
The crew is disgusted by the ancients at the summit and the drone. Creating people just to turn them into ancients sounds revolting to the Federation. It goes against the values the Federation stands for. The drone states that this how many ancient races reproduce, and if they can’t handle it why should the ancients ally with them? He then goes into a tirade about the Federation putting up with embezzling Ferengi, Cardassian torturers, criminal Orions and murderous Klingons as a few of many examples of what the Federation turns a blind eye to. If the Federation is perfectly OK with them, why can’t they put up with ancients breeding people just to ascend them? This puts the drone at odds with the security chief, who sees the drone as denigrating the Federation by his comments. The drone sees what he is saying as statements of fact.
“You put up with embezzling Ferengi, Cardasian torturers, criminal Orions and murderous Klingons as a few of many examples of what the Federation turns a blind eye to. What’s one more? The Federation ignores many flaws their neighbours have. It looks like such a double standard to a proto ancient like myself. Besides that, as I see it the ancients are not abusing their non-ascended cousins but in fact offer the same gift they have themselves. You should thank the ancients for what they are doing.”
It gets personal as the security chief reminds the drone that had the Borg accepted the ancients offer he would be assimilated into the Borg collective by now. The drone accepts this, but says it is a noble fate as if the Borg had accepted the ancients idea of the Borg making their own drones he would have helped save countless trillions from assimilation. Also, how many elderly or terminally ill people in the younger races who face death would risk being ascended and take their chances at trying to survive the dangers of immortality?
The ancients reproduce by ascending younger race versions of themselves because many ancients do not survive the pitfalls of being immortal. There are some ancient races that could face extinction or have a very small population if they did not replenish their numbers by reproducing as the drone and the Edo ancients have shown them, however it is the individual ancient races decision as to if they want to reproduce via ascending younger race versions of themselves.
The security chief gives him credit on those various points but says that making people just to ascend them without a choice is not much better than the Borg assimilation. The drone realises most of the crew agree with the security chief and the drone seriously thinks about leaving the USS Anracosh. He could easily ask the Edo ancients to take him in and contact his parents so he can return to preserver culture.
After the diplomatic teams weighs in on the debate they are shunted to a summit area so the ancients who reproduce by making unascended versions of their races can negotiate a friendship treaty with the Federation.
The debate continues as the A plot for the episode and reaches this conclusion: Almost all on both sides realise that both sides are correct. The Federation does ignore bad parts of the major cultures they ally with and creating people and harvesting them to turn them into ancients is wrong at a certain level. They acknowledge that the drone is very valuable to the crew. He could quit the starship but he had proven himself as an asset. Things return to near normal as the drone is no longer fully embraced by the crew and the drone makes contingency plans to leave if he becomes truly unhappy. He is not as enthused as he used to be to serve on the USS Anracosh, but is not upset enough to quit his posting on the vessel.
The B plot follows the Drone, the crew’s bad reaction to his opinions and his reassessment of being on the USS Anracosh. He reminds them that it is time for the Federation to adapt to a new way of life if they want the ancients to help them and take them seriously. For a time it becomes a will he/won’t he quit the USS Anracosh situation. The drone seriously debates whether or not to leave the USS Anracosh, but ultimately decides to stay.
As for the diplomatic team, they get the friendship treaty but ask is it worth it as they acknowledge that the Federation and themselves find growing and harvesting people to become ancients is repulsive to them, and that is stated in the friendship treaty with the Edo ancients and the Edo ancients allies. The Federation is going to have learn they are a small fish in a big pond when it comes to dealing with the ancients. Instead of the Federation forcing lesser cultures to adapt to the values of the Federation having a containment policy with near peer civilisations to themselves, the Federation now has to deal with the ancients doing to them what they have done to other cultures.
In the epilogue to this episode this is all pointed out. The crew of the USS Anracosh started the Realm of the Gods project as a rogue operation because the Federation could not accept dealing with a far superior culture or far superior individual god like beings. The problem is that most of the Federation can’t handle that fact. One thing the Dominion war did not do was teach the Federation that they are not the best at everything.
This is where the ancients have stepped in. The Federation’s Realm of the Gods project doubles an object lesson that the Federation has be able to take what it dishes out. The crew of the USS Anracosh concludes that no culture or civilisation is perfect, and the Federation is no exception to that rule. That is one of the lessons the ancients want to Federation to learn.
Season 2 Episode 11
The Voth from Voyager get invited into the Ancient races clique
The Crew of the USS Anracosh are ordered to the Gamma Quadrant [this time using the wormhole device built into the USS Anracosh] to meet the Voth, who were introduced in Voyager. The Voth, a reptilian looking race that was taken from Earth many millions of years ago before they were sentient, are being invited into the ancient races clique.
Two big events happened to the Voth since the Voyager crossed their path:
1] They have found conclusive archaeological evidence on their home world [the world their non-sentient ancestors were placed on] that their race was transported from Earth eons ago and that they were not sentient when they were transported to their new planet. This news has shaken them politically, but it has not really harmed them.
2] They have successfully discovered the secrets of ascension through scientific means. A handful of Voth have become non-corporeal, and the whole race is going to slowly phase in becoming non-corporeal. This has attracted the attention of the ancients, and the ancients have issued an invitation to the Voth to join the ancient races clique.
The crew of the USS Anracosh are sent to the current Voth home world to witness the Voth joining the ancient races. When USS Anracosh reaches its destination they set up a diplomatic conference with the Voth and they exchange details with the Voth about their encounter with the USS Voyager a few years ago. The Voth ask about the USS Anracosh and are told about the Realm of the Gods project.
More information is exchanged and the Voth scan the humans of the crew without their consent. This leads to some friction, but the Voth had to do it to see that humans are their “long lost cousins”. The Voth are given a tour of the USS Anracosh and this is a great way for the audience to see some of the parts of the starship that they have not seen before and are important to the series story arc, such as technology related to the black hole manipulator.
The Voth also have a great interest in meeting humans, to actually see the race that evolved on the same world they did. The Drone is asked by the chief diplomat of the USS Anracosh why the predecessors of the Voth were transported to the Gamma quadrant. The Drone warns them that they may not like the answer because it is another case of a race learning the reason it exists will not end well.
The Drone says that the preservers transferred the Voth to the Gamma quadrant so humanity could come into existence. This was done at the behest of an ancient race heavily into time travel who saw a future with humanity is much better than a future without humanity. They for want of a better word, “sponsored” the preservers to send the pre-Voth to their new home world.
The Drone is asked why the time travelling ancients did not transfer the proto-Voth themselves. The Drone gives a big reveal: The ancients tend to specialise. An ancient won’t go to all the massive effort to build a time machine or some other super-technology when another ancient already has it. They will approach the ancient that has the super technology and borrow it. The Drone reveals that this is the standard practice between ancients. The time travelling ancients do not have the infrastructure to transfer the ancestors of the Voth to their Gamma quadrant homeworld. This is why they approached the preservers. The preservers have all the facilities to move populations, so they moved the Voth rather than the time travellers doing it themselves.
The Drone notes that the ancients sometimes do a technology exchange so the ancients asking for help can do things for themselves, but since this was a once off request the preservers did the work on behalf of the time travellers.
The crew of the Anracosh has learned something new about the ancients. Particularly in finding out that the ancients had an indirect role in the creation of humanity. This makes them angry with the Drone, why is he withholding information? The counters that he knows so much about the ancients that he does not know where to start in revealing what he knows. This only makes things worse. He is ordered report to the officer core to answer why he is holding back information.
This is the B plot:
The Captain and the First officer are not happy with the Drone when they meet him in the ready room. They are sick of having him give knowledge of the ancients in drips and drabs. He has always been secretive and thought he was holding back for some reason that might be in their interests, but their patience has run out. They previously cut the drone some slack because he was socially awkward and was willing to answer questions about the ancients when asked, but no more, now they want him to be totally honest with them.
They want him to be much more forthcoming with his knowledge of the ancients. The Drone says he does not know where to start. The Melkot [starship A.I.] interjects and offers to help the Drone as the Melkot would know what kind of information the Federation would want to know.
The Captain and the First officer agree to this and order the Drone to start making reports about all he knows of the ancients and the Melkot will guide him. The Drone agrees and apologises. He is still finding his feet and admits he needs help, he does not know what is really required of him. His ancient race parents put him on the starship as a form of “tough love” to get him to mature.
We return to see what is happening with the Voth. An armada of ancient race super starships and other ancient race vessels and ascended beings are arriving via wormholes into the Voth home system. They are here to bring the Voth up to the level of the ancients. The captain notes that this could be happening to the Vulcans if only the Vulcans would be willing to change their ways. They also notice many of the ancient race vessels from ancient races they have never encountered and have to ask the drone why he never told them about the ancient races they see helping the Voth join the ancients. The drone says they could spend the rest of time meeting ancients from across the universe and never meet anything but a very tiny fraction of all the ancients in the cosmos.
The crew of the USS Anracosh witness the Voth joining the ancient races clique and engage in diplomacy with the Voth with the usual friendship treaty and help via the dial a deity system. The Voth are much easier to deal with than in Voyager and now that they are joining the ancients they have been advised on how the ancient races clique works and are willing to change their ways to match the expectations of the ancients.
There are ancient races vessels and beings in orbit of the Voth home world. They are helping prepare the Voth for intergration into the ancient races community. One starship that is of unknown design hails the USS Anracosh and the ancients onboard introduce themselves as the Vop, not the Voth, and apologise for the similar sounding name.They give the crew of the USS Anracosh some co-ordinates and ask if they can be the next ancients visited by the USS Anracosh and its diplomatic team. The crew agree, and promise to see them next week when their schedule permits.
The story ends with the Drone entering the Melkot’s office and they start working together on writing reports about all the knowledge the Drone has about the ancients. The Melkot asks the Drone if he is weirded out with the Melkot’s appearance. The Drone replies that he has seen much weirder things than the Melkot, they then get down to work making the reports about the ancients. They start talking as friends and it is noted in casual conversation during this scene that the Ferengi were created as a practical joke.
“Hmm. The Ferengi… What a sordid assortment of characters they are.”
“A laugh? That was laughter? That was the first time I’ve ever seen you do that in person… What’s their story, they do anything funny?”
“Oh, more than you’d think, my tendrilled friend. But I suppose that’s another story for another day… I suppose we should get started then, shouldn’t we?”
Season 2 Episode 12
The Vop – one of the oldest of the ancients
Note: The reason I want this episode is so when there is DVD cover art or other forms of promotional art featuring the crew you can have the same face in the background as the foreground.
What passes for a B plot are all the interactions between the Vop and the crew of the USS Anracosh. The Vop interact with the crew of the USS Anracosh at all levels. These may be the same ancients as was encountered by Captain Archer’s Enterprise. These ancients had a starship of their own. They may be another faction of the same race.
This is a more absurdist, comedic episode while still being quite important to the entirety of the show. This does not mean it’s able to be “written off” as bread and circuses. A big part of this episode is the whiplash and the balance between existentialism and absurdist humour.
A flashback of the Vop inviting the crew of the USS Anracosh is shown. The scene switches to a meeting where the drone says that the Vop are a race as old as time itself. The captain orders the crew to fly to the co-ordinates the Vop gave them and does a Captain Picard impersonation saying “Make it so”. The crew arrives at a remote world and detects ancient race technology in the area. They soon see balls of light approach the starship but the drone tells them not to react, these are the Vop, a very ancient race among the ancients.
The balls of light enter the alcove and ask permission to board the starship via the ancients provided translation device. This is quickly granted by the captain. The balls of light go into the main part of the Starship and immediately copy the forms of the crew they meet. The ancients explain that they are so old that long forgotten what it is like to be corporeal beings. They apologise for impersonating the crew, but say that this is the only way they can communicate face to face with a younger race.
The crew initially consent to being impersonated and the Vop talking to them directly with the need for ancient races enhanced translation devices. At the time the crew did not realise what a mistake that was. They assumed when consenting to being impersonated that the doppelgangers would be exact instead of bizarre acting look a likes of the crew.
At the conference room where the diplomatic work is being done the between the ancients and USS Anracosh’s diplomats. The diplomatic team is facing off copies of themselves vis a vis across the conference table. This looks really weird, the Vop can’t really copy the mortal beings very well. They have weird facial expressions and cannot move their bodies correctly. Their bizarre facial expressions and way out body movements are off putting and freak the crew out.
The drone is present at the diplomatic talks and he is trying to smooth things over explaining that the Vop are as old as time itself and have forgotten what it is to have a physical body. This is the drone’s role throughout the episode, he is trying albeit in a futile effort to act as a liaison between the Vop and crew of the USS Anracosh. The Vop’s behaviour is nothing new to the drone. He has seen ancients like the Vop before and knows their limits. The drone is so used to it he has trouble understanding why his crewmates can’t cope with the eccentricities of the Vop. Both the Vop and the drone are doing their best, but that is still not enough to ease the concerns of the drone’s crewmates.
The conflict is that the Vop are trying to relate to the crew and instead of it working it is being counterproductive. In trying to reach the crew at their own level they have put up a barrier to communication rather than enhanced it. The crew cannot relate to the Vop in their second rate knock off humanoid forms.
At the diplomatic meeting one of the odd things the Vop do is weird attempts at smiling, these are both goofy and frightening at the same time, think Dexter’s crazy grin in the Dexter T.V. show’s promotional material. It’s like somebody who has never smiled being taught how to smile and is trying to smile for the first time and completely failing at it. The Vop ask if the smiling is done properly to which the crew say no. More attempts at smiling are made with the same dismal results. The same is done for body movement. The Vop ask if they are moving correctly, but the answer from the crew is a massive no.
The Vop reveal they are the ancients that asked the preservers to move the Voth. In fact the name Voth is a corruption of Vop. The preservers arranged that the Voth would call themselves Voth as a “salute” to the Vop. The Voth were moved so humanity could evolve on Earth. If the Voth had stayed on Earth Humans would never have existed. Humans in the crew are stunned to discover this fact. This means they are nothing special and the ancients had influence on human development just like ancient raaces influence on any other younger race. This causes an existential crisis to add to the one they are experiencing, namely having a starship of doppelgangers.
The Vop note that the Voth were equally stunned when they were recently told of the Vop’s existence, how the Voth got their names and what the Vop did for the Voth millions of years ago. The Vop don’t get how shocking this information is to those who receive it. The Vop have been ancients for such a long time that this kind of news means nothing to them.
Apart from that the two sides do have problems talking to each other due to a lack of common culture and other social and frame of reference understandings. This one of the reasons why the elder race took the form of the crew, as a way to bridge the gap between the two groups, but that was a total failure in terms of the desired results. The drone still tries to get the two sides to understand each other, but it is a lost cause.
As for the rest of the starship pandemonium is breaking out as the crew have to get used to their being doppelgangers of themselves all over the USS Anracosh. This isn’t the evil doppelganger trope, these doppelgangers are friends, and the doppelgangers are easy to differentiate from the real person counterparts.
The place looks like a convention of identical twins, but one of each twin has severe body movement problems. This is especially true for the tour group of the ancients being given a tour of the USS Anracosh. It’s confusing in the USS Anracosh’s pub as people keep addressing the ancients rather than the actual crew members and have to be re-directed to the real crew. This leads to all sorts of comedic shenanigans; we’re dealing with a race who’ve been around for so long they’ve completely lost touch with what it means to be mortal; to be corporeal.
You’re walking around going about your daily business and down the hall you see a friend approach your Vop counterpart thinking it’s you. They don’t really do “you” justice, mind you. Movement, emoting, speech modulation? All long forgotten arts. Some of them crawl, others backwards crab walk. Some yell, some croak, others whisper. Most of them have gained a fleeting idea “on the job” how to appear amicable to the crew, however.
“I have corroborated with many of my people who have communicated with you in this form, and we have ascertained that the smile is the most forthcoming of all the facial configurations! This is correct, yes?”
“…Yeah… Yeah, it is…”
Because things get really weird between the ancients and the humans of the crew when it is public knowledge that these are the ancients who had an indirect hand in creating humanity the drone realises that this will not end well. He redoubles his efforts to get the crew and the Vop to get along. The drone knows that the Vop are genuine about having good relations with the Federation, it’s just the Vop have made the mistake of trying to meet the younger races on their own level and failing at completely.
“Don’t you see, now? Were it not for us evacuating the Voth, you would never have blossomed into the species you are now! And my, how you’ve grown… Truly, such a beautiful species.”
This is said by a Vop who speaks very strangely, still with an unnatural smile. While he says this, he wells up and a single tear falls down his grotesquely contorted face. This is incredibly disturbing, and one of the scarier moments in the show.
This relates to the Voth being moved off Earth so Humanity could evolve. How does it feel to discover you are nothing special and nothing separates you from other younger races? Humanity, you are just one of many with no exceptional traits that make you “superior” to anyone. You are all equal in the eyes of the ancients.
That is one of the core conflicts of the episodes, humans on the USS Anracosh having an existential crisis in discovering their evolution was influenced by the ancients. Humans thought they were special among the younger races and now have to face the truth. They are just another younger race with nothing unique about them.
“What? Humans, you think you’re special among the younger races? Well you’re not. You preach equality and can’t stand it when you’re proven to not be superior or unique?”
Things get very trippy with doppelgangers and with the tension over the ancients role in the creation of humanity. Things get to boiling point and the situation is diffused when the drone solves the problem by asking to Vop to abandon their efforts to impersonate the crew of the USS Anracosh.
At this point the diplomatic talks break down. The chief diplomat contacts the drone to ask for help in negotiating with the Vop and the drone tells the diplomat what he is doing in trying to convince the Vop to go back to being balls of energy. The chief diplomat realises the drone is right. Negotiating with the Vop as humanoids in form is going nowhere. The chief diplomat joins the drone in his efforts to convince the Vop that their impersonation efforts were a bad idea.
The Vop can’t see that what the drone and the chief diplomat are saying is true. The efforts to impersonate the crew so the Vop and the crew can more easily relate to each other have failed and the Vop do not see it. The crew are not reacting to the humanoid forms as the Vop expected, but the Vop are clueless as they have not been corporeal in eons.
The drone and the chief diplomat have to do some real convincing to show the Vop that their efforts to meet the crew halfway are a mistake. They have to have the crew confirm what they saying is true. The chief diplomat and the rest of the crew are impressed by this, the drone is showing his true ability to be a bridge between the ancients and the younger races. The drone proves he is a valuable member of the crew for the mission of contacting and dealing with the ancient races.
The drone and the diplomat then go around the USS Anracosh and talk to Vop and the crew. The drone talks to the Vop and chief diplomat talks to the crew. Both have parallel missions, the drone and some of the Vop convincing the rest of the Vop to go back to being energy beings and the chief diplomat and her entourage crew telling the rest of the crew to calm down, the Vop don’t mean to mock them or be a problem, the Vop don’t know any better and thought impersonating the crew would helpful when in fact it isn’t.
The chief diplomat realises that convincing the crew to calm down is a waste of time and talks to the Vop. The chief diplomat says that the diplomatic negotiations, tours of the USS Anracosh and talking to the crew in general would go much more smoothly if they reverted to their true forms. The chief diplomat says that the Vop should notice how the negotiations on all fronts are not working. The Vop realise the chief diplomat is right.
After proving to the Vop that impersonating the crew was an error the Vop return to their energy ball forms and the diplomatic talks continue via ancient race translation devices on the USS Anracosh.
With things calmed down somewhat the diplomatic talks are relaunched. While the talks are finalised the drone goes around the starship trying to calm the crew down and explaining that this is what dealing with the ancients is like. Get used to it or go home. They wanted help from the ancients to protect the Federation. If they are willing to put their lives on the line for the Federation why can’t they put up with a bit of weirdness to protect the Federation? The crew know that the drone is right and simply have to agree with him.
Once the diplomatic talks are over with friendship treaty signed the Vop leave the USS Anracosh. Things return to normal and the crew continues with its mission. The philosophical problems with these ancients having a hand in indirectly creating humanity is something their superiors can deal with. This could be a big issue to the rest of humanity, but the drone says that he has seen enough of the ancients to realise this is normal fare for the ancient races clique.
The existential crisis the humans onboard comes to an end. The crew of the USS Anracosh are somewhat used to the ways of the ancients. Encountering the Vop has reinforced that the ancients are not like the younger races. The Captain addresses the crew saying they should learn from encountering the Vop. The ancients are a vast group of beings that are god like beings or on the way to being god like beings [puns intended]. As the Vop themselves pointed out, if they can’t cope with the ways of the ancients it is time to give up, go home and forget about the galaxy. The captain reminds them that this is not what those who serve on the USS Anracosh want.
The end scene reflects this paragraph:
The drone reminds the crew that they have to get used to the ancients being anything but what the younger races expect them to be. The drone says the ancients have much to offer and the price they have to pay is putting up with the ancients being a strange bunch. The drone says that if they want to run with the ancients they have to adapt to the ways of the ancients. The crew have to put the effort in to do so, and the drone gets assurances from the crew via the core officers that they are taking his advice seriously, they will adapt because it is the Federation’s future at stake. This must work or the Federation could face of an enemy they can’t defeat. This is why the crew started the mission and why they must succeed. The mission must work or the Federation will not be able to fight off any potential superior foe.
Season 2 Episode 13
Ferengi Episode
The Grand Negus need not be Rom, but I used the name here for convenience
Now that the Ferengi’s application to join the Federation is being drafted the USS Anracosh goes to Ferenginar and receives a visit from Grand Negus Rom who is the leader of the Ferengi, and his chief minister, who is a Ferengi female called Meelaar. Their government insists that if the Federation wants them to apply for membership the USS Anracosh must visit Ferenginar. They refuse to state why they want to see the USS Anracosh.
The Grand Negus and his chief minister are shown that the latest Federation replicator technology that is installed on the USS Anracosh. He confesses that he has seen this technology before. The previous Grand Negus was shown ultra advanced replicators when they were recently developed and Rom was shown them some time afterward. Because the replicators can synthesise materials that previous replicator technology cannot, such as valuable materials like gold pressed latinum [money], Rom says that in a couple of years his people’s capitalistic way of life will become obsolete. He will have to tell the vast majority of the Ferengi that they are not just out of a job but out of a career.
Some things like land, transport [except for teleportation] and other “unreplicatable” things will still need to be paid for by money, but it won’t be enough to make a viable economy that all Ferengi can participate in. Therefore his people must have a new way of life so they can have a future. Technology has rendered the Ferengi’s capitalist culture obsolete. Rom is following history rather than leading it. This is why Rom wants his people to join the Federation. He says that the crew may as well spend whatever gold pressed latinum [money] they have now; in five years it will be worthless for all but a few types of purchases.
It is noted at this point of the episode that land prices collapsed when teleportation technology was invented. Anyone could live anywhere they wanted, so there was and is no need to buy land close to where someone needs to be. This means prime real estate competes with land anywhere that costs next to nothing.
As part of the diplomatic efforts high ranking Ferengi, including the chief minister are touring the USS Anracosh. The Ferengi are fascinated by the ancient race technology. The tour is being given by the officer core. The security chief wonders why the Ferengi are not trying anything devious and they discover that knowledge about ultra advanced replicators is common knowledge to the Ferengi big wigs.
They know there is no point keeping their greedy capitalistic ways. If they did steal from the USS Anracosh there would be nobody to sell the stolen goods too as most other known governments are commencing their own Realm of the Gods projects. They say that there is no point having the Ferengi start their own Realm of the Gods project when the Ferengi are about to join the Federation. There is also no point being conniving anymore, that way of life is becoming obsolete.
The Ferengi big wigs admit that there will be Ferengi that will not adapt to the new ways, but they will be on the margins of society or move off world in the hope they can keep the old culture alive. These malcontents will be left to their fate. The vast majority of Ferengi know that the old ways don’t work anymore. One of the officer core says it is impressive that in one generation that the Ferengi have gone from forcing their women to be nude and mostly homebound to having a woman who second only to the Grand Negus.
The B plot
The chief minister gives a very surprising response, saying that there are two sides to every story and that she wants to show them something. The Drone and the Chief diplomat are not invited, they will go with Grand Negus Rom for diplomatic talks. For the record, the Zalkonian doctor is left on the USS Anracosh staffing the starship’s medical bay. The rest of the officer core will need environmental suits for their journey. This leaves the officer core puzzled. Are they going to an unfinished space station? A science research facility in space? A nuclear site with high radiation? They ask the chief minister where they are going to which she says they are going to her home town. This leaves them very confused? Why do they need environmental suits to visit the surface of the planet Ferenginar?
The Ferengi minister says they are about to find out and then it hits the officer core like a lightning bolt. She does not have an environmental suit. They are all wearing one on the transporter pad and she is not. Why?!?! She says she does not need one. They transporters energise and the officer core find themselves in a Ferengi town on Ferenginar’s equator.
On the surface there is nothing unusual going on, just many Joe and Josephine Ferengis going about their business. They are quite surprised to see aliens among them, but see the chief minister, know who she is and put two and two together. It’s some government business thing the chief minister is involved in. The crew note that the Ferengi are wearing very light clothes that suit an equatorial tropical environment.
The officer core are now utterly confused and bewildered. What is so unusual about a small city that requires environmental suits? Some of the officer core try to take off the environmental suits and the suits safety features kick in. The suits self lock and won’t allow themselves to be removed from the wearer. The chief minister says check their suits analysis readouts. This is where the officer core get the shock and the audience gets the reveal.
The suits warn that they are in an area with dangerously high levels of humidity. Enough humidity to kill the average sentient, and yet there are Ferengi around them going about their business without a problem. They can live in this environment with ease.
The chief minister goes into a tirade.
“Ferenginar has SUPER tropical environments with enough humidity to kill most sentients. The Ferengi evolved here and so are adapted to super humid environments. In these environments once clothes get wet from whatever source, sweat, rain or whatever, clothes literally start rotting on your body. Letting female Ferengi go naked was actually doing them a favour. It is actually a privilege to be nude in a super tropical region of Ferenginar. If you don’t have clothes on you don’t have to worry about gross grotty mould literally growing on your skin and risking skin related health problems and other illnesses as well. I pre-planned your visit to my home town. Normally the women here would be nude because as I just said clothes rot off your body in this environment. “
The officer core are just standing there confused as if they don’t understand the point the chief minister is trying to get across. The chief minister is having real problems trying to keep her temper in check.
“What part of LETHAL in lethal humidity do you not understand? If you Humans took off your helmets you would die and the Vulcan present would die very quickly. Are you shocked that a female Ferengi would prefer nudity? Do you know anything about climates where it never snows? Humans, have you never studied your own history? Wet bulb events in the mid to late twenty-first century that resulted in extreme humidity on parts of Earth’s surface? It takes a minute to look it up on your computers. I have to explain this to you? As officer core in Starfleet you have to be the best of the best. Super tropical environments are why Ferenginar has never been invaded. An occupying army would have to wear space suits all the time while fighting a guerrilla war. It would be a logistics nightmare for the invaders.”
The chief minister calms down and asks for forgiveness from the officer core. She understands that this is totally outside the experience of the crew in front of her. Many of them have never been outside a temperate climate before joining Starfleet.
The chief minister invites them to explore her home town and talk to the locals. One of the more interesting things the officer core encounters are clothed Ferengi women complaining about having to wear clothes. The female Ferengi repeat what the chief minister says as they were not present for her tirade. They say that in the ultra humid warm tropical climate that it is the norm for Ferenginar that clothes practically rot on your body. Letting Ferengi females go naked is doing them a favour. Having said that the Ferengi women have no intention of stripping in front of their guests. The do however go on to say that the Ferengi big ears are an adaptation that help them regulate body temperature in an ultra humid environment.
The officer core don’t know what to say to the Ferengi females, except that most of the Federation intelligent species did not originate from tropical environments or from worlds that have the “ultra tropical” climate of Ferenginar. Therefore knowing about how clothes react to ultra tropical environments is beyond their knowledge. They also note that no Ferengi is trying to sell them stuff. These Ferengi know that the time of ultra capitalism is coming to an end and are adapting to the new norm. This is because of the chief minister being a local. Most Ferengi have not heard the news.
The officer core talk to locals who overheard the tirade. They agree that that Ferenginar having regions with super tropical environments with the super humidity of such environments makes Ferenginar world difficult to conquer. Any invading army would have to wear environmental suits in areas the Ferengi can live comfortably, and they would have to have special vehicles and buildings that filter out ultra humidity. This is one of the reasons Ferenginar has never been conquered. Occupying armies would face real difficulties because they cannot go into certain regions of the world with environmental suits, vehicles and buildings. There would be serious logistical problems and combat would be very difficult because of the aforementioned issues. Also just smashing the helmets of the invader’s space suits could result in killing them. This would make the job of the Ferengi resistance much easier.
We return to Grand Negus Rom and some of his underlings and their negotiations with the diplomatic team of the USS Anracosh.
In an unusual move Rom orders all the other Ferengi to leave the room and the floor the conference is on. Everyone is surprised at this move, and Rom says any Ferengi not complying will be fired from their position. Rom also reminds them of the sound insulation in the building they are in. Listening in will not be an option.
With the room cleared of Rom’s underlings Rom raises with the diplomatic team that he has learned from the secret USS Anracosh reports [which the Federation gave him access to] that the Preservers created the Ferengi as a practical joke. Rom pauses and confronts the Drone. Rom asks the drone directly if the contents of the reports are the truth, to which the drone says a straightforward yes. Rom shudders and confesses he has declared that his race being a practical joke is being kept top secret information. Rom feels that the Ferengi could not cope with knowing that their race is a practical joke. Only a few Ferengi at the top of Ferenginar’s government are aware of the joke nature of the Ferengi.
Every crooked business deal, every shady bribe, every greedy and corrupt thing the Ferengi have ever done, and even their oversized ears, was just one massive millennia upon millennia spanning practical joke. Rom goes on to say that he can’t bring himself to tell his race the truth and he has ordered the information to be kept top secret for the foreseeable future. The Drone says that a race finding out why it was created never ends well. This makes all those present in the ready room shudder just as Rom did. Plenty of the Federation personnel present know from their time in dealing with the ancients that the ancients could and mostly would have had a hand in the invention of their species.
Rom uses a communication device to call back his underlings into the room. This time they bring the chief minister and the officer core who travelled with the chief minister, the officers are now not wearing their environmental suits. The chief minister sees everyone shuddering and puts two and two together. She says “So it’s the truth, Ferengi are a practical joke.” to which Rom knowingly nods. Rom adds that he wanted to break the news to his underlings personally rather than through his chief minister’s outburst. All the Ferengi present understand their race is a practical joke, and react accordingly.
Rom takes charge and says let’s not have this day being a total loss. He says bring out the Federation treaties the Ferengi government is meant to sign. Signing the treaties is the first stage of the Ferengi Alliance joining the Federation. The treaties are bought to the negotiation table with the usual fanfare. As much as it is a happy ending with the Ferengi starting their journey to Federation membership, there is still the dark undertone of all the Ferengi present now having to live with the knowledge that their race is a practical joke made by the ancients.
Season 2 Episode 14
Distress call and Omega part 1
Title: The omega distress call part 1
USS Anracosh responds to a standard distress call
The crew of the USS Anracosh has just completed a diplomatic mission with an ancient race and are about to head out of the ancient race’s system when they receive a distress call. It is of Federation origin. The crews training kicks in and they immediately change course to give aid to those who sent the call.
Much to the surprise of the crew when they hail the endangered Federation starship they are told they are not welcome. Even though the starship they are rescuing could be destroyed at any moment they crew on the starship refuse to be helped. The bridge crew of the USS Anracosh respond that beggars can’t be choosers. The crew in distress needs the help from the USS Anracosh. If help does not arrive soon their starship could be doomed.
The crew in danger says they will just use their lifeboats and leave their starship to its fate and hang up on the bridge crew of the USS Anracosh. The Captain of the USS Anracosh orders that her starship goes to help the crew in need and she then calls a meeting of her officer core in her ready room.
She explains that they are about to rescue a crew that hates them. The officer core has a mixed reaction. Some say they should respect the other crew’s wishes. Others note that it is their legal obligation to help. Some note that the distressed crew are not in any real danger if they evacuate to their lifeboats.
The Captain points out her reasoning. They are still Starfleet officers even if the rest of Starfleet hates them. This is a chance to prove to at least one other Starfleet crew that the crew of the USS Anracosh are not renegades but have always had the best interests of the Federation at heart. Therefore the USS Anracosh is going to help the crew in distress. The rescue mission is being done as a way to restore the reputation of the crew of the USS Anracosh and because the distressed crew need rescuing.
The next scene is the USS Anracosh arriving at the rescue site, arriving via hyperwarp – using the ancient races enhanced warp drive. The damaged Federation starship has already been evacuated with lifeboats scattered around the area. The USS Anracosh begins its rescue efforts only to find that some of the lifeboats actually try to move away from the Starship. The occupants of the lifeboats refuse to be rescued by the USS Anracosh.
Other lifeboats with wounded or civilians onboard agree to be rescued. This is not as good as it sounds as when those being rescued are bought onboard they are hostile to the crew of the USS Anracosh. One young naive ensign from the rescued crew picks a fight with an older member of the USS Anracosh forgetting that the rank and file crew of the USS Anracosh are drawn from the ranks of the Federation’s head kickers. The young ensign is decked in one hit. This makes the other rescued crew more wary of the crew of the USS Anracosh.
Given the hostility of the rescued crew the officer core of the USS Anracosh detain them in the “party” cargo bay. It is there that the rescue teams on the USS Anracosh see a few members of the rescued crew that they recognise. These individuals were people who fought alongside them in the Dominion war and a few of them was approached to join the crew of the USS Anracosh when it was a rogue mission but the rescued crew members refused to turn rogue and kept quiet about it.
This is a pivotal point. When the rescuing crew calls out their former comrades in arms pandemonium breaks out. The rescued crew turns on the ex-comrades of the crew of the USS Anracosh. The situation almost degenerates into a brawl and more security teams are called to stop the unrest. Considering the fighting ability of those involved this is a very serious situation. Therefore once the necessary aid is given the rescued crew are locked in the party cargo hold. The rescued crew are told they are free to escape but are told escape to where? They are on the USS Anracosh. Then they are informed that the USS Anracosh is hyper warping to the nearest Starbase. This will be a journey of a few minutes.
At the Starbase the crew of the USS Anracosh is given the same frosty reception as the rescued crew gave them. Before the bridge crew can explain the situation of rescuing a crew and needing somewhere to take them the Starbase command crew hang up on them.
The bridge crew say to themselves “stuff it” and use the ancient race enhanced transporters to teleport the rescued crew through the shields of the starbase. The shields of the Starbase are on maximum and the station is on red alert. This means nothing when it comes to the ancients enhanced technology of the USS Anracosh. The rescued crew is teleported and gets mistaken for a large boarding party sent over from the USS Anracosh. This again almost degenerates into a brawl until the rescued crew confirms they are not the crew of the USS Anracosh.
While this was happening the USS Anracosh has already left the area to go to its next mission. The Captain calls another meeting to apologise to the officer core. She realises her mistake and says they need to do something about being able to respond to distress calls without being attacked.
The obvious response comes from one of the officers – why bother responding to distress calls if they are going to be attacked. This is counter argued by pointing out that responding to distress calls is a legal obligation, and that the distress call would more than likely be a life or death situation. They do not want to leave someone for dead if they can be rescued.
The Captain orders the officer core has to come up with ideas for being able to mount a rescue without being attacked. The Captain however does agree that if the USS Anracosh is not needed to save lives they won’t bother rescuing someone who does not want them. They will in future give distressed crews the option of refusing help from them if the situation is not dire.
The B plot
The officer core get to work brain storming on how to execute a rescue without being assaulted for being the crew of the USS Anracosh. The next few scenes are of crew and officer core coming up with solutions to creating a rescue plan that will not involve being attacked. The chief scientist suggests faking being a different starship by using ancient race enhanced hologram technology to disguise the USS Anracosh and to change their uniforms to the regular uniform as opposed to the lime green uniform of shame Starfleet has issued them. The crew get to work on the chief scientist’s idea and this leads into the B plot: Several kilos of Omega found on the USS Anracosh.
To arrange for the starship’s hologram emitters to extend beyond the starship some modifications have to be made and some internal walls have to be knocked down. It will mean sacrificing a storage room but that is not a drama because the contents of the storage room can be relocated elsewhere on the starship. It is noted that they have experimented with and used ancient races enhanced holographic systems when they turned the USS Anracosh into one colossal holodeck six months ago.
Nobody has bothered to yet fully explore the storage areas of the starship yet so it comes as an utter surprise when after opening a box in the storage room alarms go off all over the USS Anracosh with an omega symbol being displayed on screens across the starship.
The Captain, who is in her ready room has files about Omega appear on her desk’s viewscreen. She shuts off the alarm, tells the crew to go about their business and studies the files. She then calls a conference of the officer core of the starship for later that day and posts guards on the storage room.
At the briefing later that day The Captain reveals that Omega is the most dangerous substance known to the Federation. She brings the officer core up to speed saying that the Omega discovered onboard was totally unprotected in a storage room with a battery making machine in the room near the Omega [Omega was originally developed as a power source]. The Omega has an ancient race technology containment unit [basically a glorified cardboard box] and was until today unguarded.
A brief overview of Omega is given: It is a substance that harms subspace, making warp travel and subspace communications impossible over the area affected. The Federation experimented with it and something went wrong. The resulting explosion left a bubble light years across that cannot be transversed and under “radio silence”.
The reaction from the room is: How could anyone be so irresponsible to have Omega so unprotected? The crew of the USS Anracosh think that the ancients must be crazy; then again they have thought that for a long time. They regularly encounter ancients that are less than sane. They debate about making complaints to the ancients, but realise such actions are futile.
The Drone, who has been silent until now, just bursts out laughing. The rest of the officer core thinks that his actions are totally unprofessional and call him out on his behaviour. The Drone, still unable to contain himself keeps constantly laughing as he brings up a file on the briefing rooms computer. It is the instructions to reversing Omega damage to subspace.
The crew look at the file and realise that Omega damage can easily be reversed with technology the Federation has easy access to. It is so simple that the officer core just sits there utter speechless shocked at the answer to Omega’s threat is so straightforward. The meeting goes into an awkward silence as the officer core contemplate feeling like a bunch of fools. The Drone breaks the silence by acknowledging that the ancients are crazy but they can easily fix the problems Omega causes and thus do not see Omega as a threat.
Once the officers regain their senses they all agree they want proof that the file is the real deal. The Captain orders that the USS Anracosh goes to where the Federation first did its Omega experiments and put into effect the instructions in the file to see if it reverses the affects of Omega. The goal is to make that area usable again to younger races. They arrange it so that the cleanup will make an immediate path to the inhabited world in the Omega affected area to see if there are any unknown survivors of the Omega explosion. A path is made to the world and the crew start doing scans.
What they discover are signs that the inhabited world in the Omega affected area has Iconian wormhole technology on it. They assume it is some kind of Iconian settlement, and since they have already contacted the Iconians they just send an obligatory hello. There is no response. The crew try again, this time a pulse of energy comes from the planet. It hits the USS Anracosh and sends it careening through space. The crew are unhurt, onboard the gravity grid has done its job and the effects are barely noticeable.
The Captain issues a red alert and the residual effects of the pulse are analysed. It is a weapon of ancient race origin. The Drone is shocked that any ancient race being or group would attack them. The pulse was powerful enough to vaporise any younger race vessel. The USS Anracosh survived because it is in part an ancient races starship.
The Captain orders scans to track down the origin of the weapons fire. Another pulse much more powerful than the first hits the USS Anracosh but this time the starship’s shields are at maximum and the pulse has little effect. The Captain hails the attackers and says they have no chance of defeating a hybrid ancient races Federation starship. She tells them to stand down and negotiate. All the response she gets is an ultimatum – go away or be destroyed. After a couple of seconds another pulse is detected, this time it is far more powerful.
The episode ends on a cliffhanger with the USS Anracosh about to be hit by a weapons pulse they are not sure they can survive, or even repel.