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Season 3 Episode 1
Distress call and Omega part 2
Title: The omega distress call part 2
USS Anracosh responds to a standard distress call
The episode starts with a recap of the previous episodes events and we return to see the USS Anracosh about to be attacked by very powerful weapons fire. The pulse hits and the USS Anracosh isagain sent flying “head over heels” through space.
The shields are taking a beating but quickly regenerate, and the captain orders the starship to fly to the settlement they detected on the habitable world in the system. The starship gets there in seconds and the captain returns an ultimatum of her own:
“Attention hostile forces this is the captain of the Federation vessel the USS Anracosh – ancient races contact ship. If you fire on us again we will retaliate by bombing important infrastructure on you colony and destroying the weapon you are using against us. Please respond.”
There is a brief pause and a hail comes back to the USS Anracosh, which is now orbiting above the colony. The speaker identifies himself as a representative of the Maquis republic. This is met with disbelief by the bridge crew of the USS Anracosh. The Maquis were destroyed during the Dominion war. These people can’t be the Maquis. Contradicting this assumption is the fact that scans are showing fairly modern Federation technology in the colony the USS Anracosh is orbiting. How could recent Federation technology get on a planet blocked by the subspace ending effects of an Omega explosion?
To answer that question the Maquis representative is seen looking up something on his computer terminal. He asks the starship to identify itself again. The captain of the USS Anracosh obliges. The attitude from the Maquis representative changes considerably.
“So you are the contact starship the ancients have told us about. We were not expecting you to visit us as your business is with the ancients, not us. We asked the ancients to keep our existence a secret. How did you find out about us?”
The captain goes through discovering Omega on the USS Anracosh and the events resulting from the discovery. The Maquis invite them to beam down to the surface of the Maquis Republic’s world saying that any friend of the ancients is a friend of theirs. This results in shore leave on an almost Federation world, which the crew appreciates.
The crew are welcomed with open arms by the rank and file Maquis, who see a once rogue Federation starship crew as kindred spirits. The same cannot be said for the diplomatic and officer delegation. The leaders of the Maquis Republic are not happy about their “Omega fortress” being destroyed and demand the crew undo their repairs to the sabotaged space that protects them from the outsiders.
The officer core and diplomats of the USS Anracosh say it is too late, they read the files the ancients left them on their starship. Therefore the Federation knows how to undo Omega damage. The Federation will finish what the USS Anracosh started. Their Omega fortress is about to be destroyed.
One of the Maquis representatives points out that there is no point asking the ancients for more Omega to rebuild the Omega fortress as the Federation can just demolish it all over again.
The B plot
The scene switches to the crew enjoying some shore leave. They are surprised to discover some Imitari [ascended humans] living among the Maquis. The Maquis and Imitari are friends and the conversation turns to technology. The chief engineer and science officer discuss that they have had problems rescuing hostile people and want to extend the hologram system of the USS Anracosh so they can fake being another starship.
The Imitari offer to help and some of the crew and the Imitari return to the USS Anracosh to upgrade its hologram systems. The Imitari, being in the ancient races clique, are quite knowledgeable about ancient race technology and help the chief engineer, science officer and their crews easily upgrade the hologram systems. This is yet another reminder to the chief engineer that his knowledge of ancient race technology is very lacking and it affects his self-esteem accordingly.
More of the B plot
The big conflict comes when crew of the USS Anracosh track down former comrades who live in the Maquis republic. These were Starfleet officers who defected to the Maquis and were thought to have died at the hands of the Dominion – until now.
The reaction from the Maquis when they see their ex-comrades is on of shock and suspicion. They are expecting a fight and cannot believe that their former brothers in arms have found them behind the Omega fortress.
What is initially thought to be a hostile encounter with Maquis security forces devolves into a reunion as the Crew of the Anracosh explains what has happened and just popped by to catch up with old comrades. It turns into a warm hearted friendly reunion where the crew wishes they could have recruited the Maquis for the rogue ancient races contact missions.
We return to the diplomatic negotiations where the thorny issue of having Maquis members tried for their war crimes is raised. Now that the Federation knows they are not dead the Federation will want to pursue legal charges. This is a point the Maquis representatives will not budge on. The Maquis Republic wants to leave the past behind and will protect their citizens from external prosecution.
The diplomats and officers of the USS Anracosh tell the Maquis representatives that the Federation will not budge on the issue and recall how the Federation wanted to jail them for the rogue operation that became the official ancient races contact project. The crew relay how they know the determination of their government in pursing criminal justice. The only thing that stopped the entire crew from being jailed was the intervention of the ancients. The ancients accepted the diplomatic overtures in exchange for a full presidential pardon for the crew. The Maquis respond this way:
“Oh, if only we had the backing of the ancients. Oh wait we do. See the lady in the corner taking notes, she’s an Imitari, an ascended human. You already know what an Imitari is, in time you will get around to doing official diplomacy with them. It turns out we do have the backing of the ancients and they will help us protect our citizens.”
The Imitari joins the negotiations, she points out that before the crew of the USS Anracosh arrived the Imitari offered to sponsor the Maquis Republic’s joining of the ancient races clique. If those prosecuted get life without parole they will be spending the rest of eternity in prison. The Maquis representatives were in the middle of negotiating with the Imitari when the USS Anracosh arrived. When asked how the Imitari got there the Maquis point to a building outside the window that is clearly a facility housing Iconian wormhole technology.
A deal is struck where the war criminals will be tried locally and if found guilty will be put in an open prison on Maquis Republic’s world. With that settled the usual recognition and friendship treaties are signed. With the job done the crew continues their shore leave and return to the USS Anracosh to complete the Omega cleanup.
A short time later the Admiral’s flotilla arrives on the scene while the crew of the USS Anracosh is cleaning up the Omega damage. The Admiral hails them and once again is very angry with them, but has to give them a message that Starfleet has decreed that the USS Anracosh and its crew are not to respond to distress calls unless, at the captain’s discretion, it is deemed a life threatening situation with nobody else available to help. She chastises the bridge crew out of spite and asks them why they are hanging out near the omega polluted area.
The crew have the last laugh when the Captain explains what they are doing and what they found on the USS Anracosh. The Admiral has to sit there dumbfounded as the Captain explains that Omega damage is very easy to clean up with easily accessible Federation technology and her crew will demonstrate how it’s done to the Admiral and her flotilla of starships.
The flotilla and the Admiral have to look on in utter disbelief and shock as the damage the Omega explosion is caused is reversed in a short space of time. The Admiral is sent the report and logs of what the crew discovered on the USS Anracosh, a small sample of Omega and the Omega damage reversal procedure.
The episode ends with a very reluctant “pat on the back” and congratulations by the Admiral to the Captain and her crew. She gives them the awards she is legally obliged to and tells them to get back to work, and the last scene is the USS Anracosh bridge crew after the hailing call has ended, laughing sour grapes style at getting the one up on their hostile superior.
Season 3 Episode 2
A day in the life of a rank and file crew member on the USS Anracosh
Ensign Ghezear is the Human Klingon Hybrid
Ensign H’yol is the Vulcan who represents the progressive Vulcan full life sect on the USS Anracosh
This is a romantic comedy episode
The B plot is the engineering and science crews testing the engines. For this mission instead of using a wormhole to get to the Small Magellan Cloud galaxy the crew decides to put the ancients enhanced warp drive through its paces. Meaning they are going from warp to hyperwarp [warp above warp and back again]. It’s up to the engineering and science crews to keep the engine running and at a ludicrously fast speed to get to the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy within a day. Things do go wrong and repairs are needed, but the crew has a solid backup plan of using the wormhole generator and impulse engines if they are needed. It nearly comes to that, but the engineering and science crews pull through and a successful hyperwarp trip gets them to the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy.
Ensign Ghezear wakes up and prepares for his shift. After his shower and breakfast in his cabin he puts on his lime green uniform. He leaves his cabin and on the way to his post in astronavigation he passes the starship’s dojo [martial arts training centre]. This is an important place as the vast majority of the crew are Dominion war veterans who are the Federation’s head kickers. Many of the crew hang out here as it is the starship’s social hub, but for now it is largely empty as almost everyone is at work. This evening it will be a social hub as the crew practices their well refined martial arts skills.
Ghezear says hello to Lieutenant Carol Johnson, a Human woman whose short petite stature makes a mockery of her martial arts skills. She could easily deck a Klingon warrior twice her size. People who don’t know her greatly underestimate her fighting ability, and she uses that to her advantage in combat. She runs the dojo and fought in the Dominion war. Lt. Johnson asks En. Ghezear to come to the dojo tonight as he has fallen behind in his training, which is compulsory for the non-specialists in the crew. She notes that normally Ghezear’s work team maintains the dojo for her, but today their services are needed elsewhere, and that is part of daily life on the USS Anracosh: Crew are sent where they are needed, when they are needed.
Ghezear also fought in the Dominion war and he did on occasion fight alongside Johnson. They have a history and this is why when Ghezear promises Johnson he will be at the dojo tonight they refer to each other by their first names. He calls Lt. Johnson ‘Carol’ and she calls En. Ghezear ‘Potab’.
After they exchange pleasantries Ghezear goes to his post thinking about why the head kickers in the crew need to keep up their combat training. In the deal struck with Section 31 [The Federation’s intelligence service] the USS Anracosh crew is to be made available to Section 31 for black ops missions in exchange for Section 31 resupplying the USS Anracosh. At any time Ghezear, like all of the war veterans in the crew, could be called up to do a covert mission for Section 31. He has not been called up yet, but it is only a matter of time. He has to be eternally ready. That does not bother him; it is what he signed on for in the early on in the Dominion war.
Ghezear arrives at astronavigation, he is one of the last crew to arrive on shift. The rest of his work team colleagues got on shift minutes before he did. This is his work team and they are that the part of the crew he gets reassigned with as needed. There are five of them, one team leader and four regular crew.
As he gets to his workstation the last of the workteam arrives. H’yol, a female Vulcan, gets through astronavigation’s door half a minute after Ghezear. H’yol takes a workstation next his. H’yol asks Ghezear what he is doing after work and Ghezear tells her about his promise to go to the dojo. H’yol says she wanted to go to the pub with Ghezear. Ghezear asks himself if she is interested in him romantically, but dismisses it quickly. She is part of his social circle onboard; they will probably just hang with the social group.
On the other hand, she is in the faction that wants to complete the starship’s black hole manipulator to weaponise it. Maybe she wants to talk him into joining her faction. Factions do not affect friendships or work relations. Faction merely means what opinion a person has about the black hole manipulator and nothing else. Currently Ghezear is in the ambivalent faction, he is on neutral about finishing the black hole manipulator, which was given to the Federation by the ancient races of the galaxy. It is one of many ancient race devices on the USS Anracosh. The USS Anracosh was an older version of the USS Excalibur when it was rebuilt by the ancients and the Federation as a diplomatic contact starship so the Federation could meet and greet the ancient races. It is why the USS Anracosh is called Anracosh, it stands for ANcient RAces COntact SHip.
Nobody is actually late for the shift, so nobody is chastised for lateness. Then again such a thing is unheard of in a crew as professional and bonded as he crew of the USS Anracosh. Team leader Fothven, an Andorian who leads the work team is in charge of astrogation today. He has recently used the starship’s neural education centre to get knowledge of long range navigation. He addresses the astronavigation crew and this breaks Ghezear’s train of thought.
Fothven states that they have a special mission today. The USS Anracosh is flying to the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy, a dwarf galaxy 200,000 light years away from the Milky Way galaxy. It’s up to astronavigation to keep track of the USS Anracosh’s location and get the starship home safely.
Before the USS Anracosh was launched such a mission was unthinkable. Fothven mentions to the group to think of the USS Voyager, which was trapped halfway across the Milky Way galaxy. If it wasn’t for some good fortune the USS Voyager would have taken 75 years to get back to the Federation, instead of the seven years that it actually was away from the Federation.
Now the Federation has the USS Anracosh – a starship upgraded by the ancients. It has a warp drive that can get them from one end of the Milky Way galaxy to the other end in the space of a fortnight at cruising speed. Nobody knows how quick the journey would take if they “floored the accelerator”. For all the crew knew if they used the USS Anracosh to its limits the other side of the galaxy could be minutes away. Nobody has yet tried to test the full capabilities of the USS Anracosh.
Fothven continues giving his orders, the USS Anracosh is ferrying diplomats to meet an ancient race currently living in the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy. To that end they are using the USS Anracosh’s wormhole generator to get to and from their destination. This means two wormholes will be created, one to get to the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy and one to get home. Why two? The wormholes made by the USS Anracosh are once use items. Once travelled through they collapse.
The crew begin their work and contact other departments around the starship. The large monitor in astronavigation has computer graphics of their location, their destination and the wormholes being created by members of the crew manning the wormhole generator. The process is far quicker than expected. Two wormholes appear on the screen and the astronavigation department must use the navigation computers to keep track of the starship’s location in space as they travel through one of the wormholes.
Ghezear realises how unthinkable this mission would have been before the USS Anracosh was rebuilt. No Federation vessel had the ability to travel so far outside the galaxy before as part of its normal abilities. Here they are travelling through the Small Magellanic Cloud to a rendezvous with an ancient race. Apart from the fact the USS Anracosh is in a galaxy away from Federation space the morning is uneventful. Calculating and monitoring the travels of the starship is for the most part just like navigating in the Milky Way galaxy. Navigating from the wormhole to the ancient races settlement is just going from point A to point B. Jobs like scanning the local region, diplomacy, engine maintenance or anything else are not Ghezear’s responsibility at the moment.
This would be a dull day in astronavigation except that the main astronavigation screen breaks down leaving the department blind to what is going on. The crew switches to small screens showing limited but different information while Fothven orders Ghezear and H’Yol to fix the main screen. The bridge is informed and are told that astronavigation can fix the problem themselves.
The crew goes on about how this mission was impossible before the Realm of the Gods project and Ghezear and H’yol fix the monitor. This separates the two from the rest of the astronavigation crew. At this time H’yol makes her moves and she makes a pass at Ghezear. She does this by saying that she is part of a sect of Vulcans that believes that having a sexually active lifestyle does not conflict with a life dedicated to logic. Because they are sexually active they do not go through a Pon Farr mating situation every seven years. She likes Ghezear and wants to take things further with him.
It begs the question did Fothven delibeeratly pair up H’yol and Ghezear so H’Yol could make a pass at Ghezear. Knowing the crew of the USS Anracosh that is exactly what has happened.
Nearing lunch break H’yol and Ghezear fix the monitor and return to the astronavigation crew. They get lunch delivered via crew services. Fothven notices how close H’yol and Ghezear are and puts two and two together and congratulates the couple.
Fothven then asks the bridge to send round some more crew to help astronavigation recheck the main monitor. He then turns to H’yol and Ghezear and orders them to take the afternoon off so they can get to know each other.
H’yol and Ghezear leave after lunch as some new crew enter the department to replace them. H’yol and Ghezear now have the freedom of the starship and can go do whatever they want. Ghezear takes her to the dojo and H’yol jokes that beating each other up in the dojo would qualify as a romantic evening to a Klingon. Ghezear gets the joke and they meet Lt. Johnson. She is surprised to see them, and like Fothven she realises they are a couple. She congratulates them and takes them to a part of the dojo where they can practice their martial arts skills. H’yol explains that they were given the afternoon off. Lt. Johnson proceeds to give them martial arts instructions and they spend a romantic afternoon engaging in martial arts practice.
In the evening they meet up with Fothven and the rest of the work team in the cafeteria. The two teams sit at a big table and unofficially debrief as they order their evening meals. Before H’yol and Ghezear can order food Fothven directs them to a two person table set up with candles and obviously set out as a table for a romantic evening. The work teams escort them to the table and move the chairs for them, sit them down and a waiter from crew services tends to them.
The scene changes as they talk and laugh during the evening, the work teams who set up the romantic dinner look over and smile occasionally and so do other members of the crew. When H’yol and Ghezear leave the pub the starship drops out of hyperwarp and they note that the USS Anracosh has arrived in the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The episode ends with H’yol and Ghezear entering the same cabin together.
Season 3 Episode 3
The race that is a copy of the Preservers
The USS Anracosh travels to a small galaxy orbiting a much larger galaxy. Here they meet some ancients that are copies of the Preservers. At the time the Preservers called themselves the Progenitors. We also learn a fun fact this episode: In the Preserver language preserver and progenitor are the same word. We learn this from the drone.
Eons ago the Preservers had a major base of operations in the small orbiting galaxy. One of the projects they did here was to copy their race rather than seed a world so it evolves a near human race of its own.
The new Preservers, who recently renamed themselves “the redo”, said as one word, “Theredo” have had a weird history in that as soon as they got warp capable they explored the galaxy and found many ancient sites of the Preservers. They also discovered that they are the only sentient life in the small galaxy. What they did not know at that time is that the Preservers deliberately made sure that no other intelligent life would evolve in the galaxy of the Theredo, so this motivates them to meet other sentients. The Preservers deliberately gave the Theredo a place where they could experience being the only sapient race in their galaxy. This was to give them an experience similar to the early history of the Preservers.
It was in recent times they discovered they were copies of an ancient race. As they explored the sites they gleamed technology and thus had some very uneven technological development for a time until they recently discovered technology that let them contact the ancient races clique. They discovered a dial a deity system in an archaeological dig site.
The original Preservers invited their brethren into the ranks of the ancients. The Preservers want to sponsor the Theredo into the ancient races clique because they see the Theredo and themselves as the same people. This lead the Theredo to learn about the Federation’s efforts in doing a Realm of the Gods project. Thus the Theredo invited the Federation to come and pay them a visit.
The Theredo are the first race the crew of the USS Anracosh has encountered who are sceptical about joining the ancient races clique. They have issues with the Preservers that need to be dealt with before the Theredo are willing to be part of the ancient races community.
The Theredo are in some ways technologically very advanced and in other ways technologically way behind the Federation. The ancients are in the process of bringing the Theredo up to speed, but that will take a few generations. What advanced technology the Theredo have is largely acquired from ancient Preserver sites scattered around the small galaxy.
What the crew of the USS Anracosh encounters in the Theredo is seeing starships capable of hyperwarp but have tricorders that have to be wheeled around on carts. This makes no sense until they learn that the Theredo mainly reverse engineer Preservers technology rather than invent it themselves.
The Theredo are also going through a crisis of faith in that they have discovered they are a copy of an ancient race rather than evolved on a world like other sentients. So what the crew of the USS encounter is a race that is not psychologically stable. The ancients advised the Theredo to wait a generation before being part of the Realm of the Gods project, but the Theredo went against this advice. They want to meet other non-corporeal beings before they ascend themselves, which they are not in a hurry to do. Once again this is because they are sceptical about joining the ancients.
When the crew of the USS Anracosh and the Theredo meet the Theredo are immediately recognised by the Drone as Preservers, and he says that he was raised by members of the race that created them. The Theredo representatives say that they have already met the original Preservers when the Theredo contacted the ancients. The do not hold any ill will towards the drone, in fact they see him as a fellow victim of the Preservers. The drone respectfully disagrees with them as he sees the preservers that raised him as loving parents.
The Theredo have learned from the Preservers there are more than a few copy races of the Preservers around the local group of galaxies and beyond. These copy races are in remote locations like other small galaxies, so they can be experience being the only sentient race they know, again emulating the early history of the Preservers. Once again learning this has given the Theredo a few mental issues. They feel devalued and have many questions because they are one of many copies of an ancient species.
The B plot
The reverse engineering department gets a chance to examine actual Preservers technology and many in the department are thrilled at such a fantastic opportunity. If it wasn’t for the Realm of the Gods project finding and analysing working Preserver artefacts would be a career maker. If it wasn’t for their current mission having the Preserver items would let them write their own ticket. Then again, if it wasn’t for the Realm of the Gods project they would never be holding Preserver technology in their hands.
This gives the reverse engineering team of the USS Anracosh goosebumps. This is what the original rogue mission was all about. Finding the technology and allies that could ensure the future of the Federation. What’s more they can call up the Preservers themselves and their Theredo descendants for help in understanding the Preserver technology they find in the small galaxy.
The Theredo reveal to the reverse engineering team that they have enmity towards the ancient races clique because of how the Theredo came into being. They actually prefer to work with the Federation and any other younger races that accepts their invitation to come and see them. They reveal that they have sent out many invitations to organisations running Realm of the Gods projects.
The ancients who are also helping the Theredo step in and say that this is one important thing the Federation has to learn about the ancients. The lesson is that the ancients have just as much internal politics as any other group. Look at the Klingon houses being against each other, the machinations inside the Romulan government, the factions of the Kazon and the internal politics of the Federation itself. There are plenty of examples across the galaxy and far beyond of groups with internal political factions. Why would a group as diverse as the ancients be any different? This is why in Realm of the Gods projects ancients must be met on a race by race basis. Many in the ancients community do not want other ancients with other agendas representing them.
This is a harsh lesson for the reverse engineering crew of the USS Anracosh. They knew of the internal politics of the ancients, but now it is being thrown in their faces. They see the Theredo and how they have stand offish relations with the ancients, especially the Preservers.
This is something the crew of the USS Anracosh avoided. The ancients present a united front because they need the Realm of the Gods project to replenish their numbers. Here however, is the truth behind the lie, the ancients are a deeply divided group just like any of the younger races. Politics it turns out is unfortunately universal and eternal, just ask the ancients.
The crew is seeing reality, yes the ancients have much to offer, but they are as flawed and political as any other people. In fact the ancients are shocked that the crew is shocked at seeing the internal politics. The reverse engineering crew say they have to report the discovery of the internal politics to the Federation. The ancients say they can do what they want about it, it won’t change anything. The ancients again stress that the Federation is full of internal politics, so why should the Federation be surprised about the ancients also have internal political manoeuvring as well.
“Oh, does it stun you that the ancients have politics just like any of the younger races? You should not be surprised. The Federation has its own internal politics, what makes you think that a diverse group like the ancients is immune to politics? Besides, it is the height of hypocrisy to criticise the ancients for having politics when the Federation is full of groups with their own political agendas. What you have discovered doesn’t mean a thing.”
The last scenes of the episode:
The diplomatic talks between the Preservers, the Federation and the Theredo have started. The Preservers want to hijack the negotiations on the grounds that the Theredo and themselves are the same race, thus the Preservers should represent them. This does not go down well with the Theredo. The Preservers seem to have a paternalistic/maternalistic attitude to their copy race that the Theredo see as patronising. The Federation diplomats, lead by the Chief diplomat of the USS Anracosh side with the Theredo and say the Theredo should be allowed to represent themselves.
The Theredo now have the stand, so to speak, and use it to explain their position: The whole Theredo race are facing an existential crisis. What is the point of this race doing anything if the race that created them has done it all before? Plus it turns out that the race that created them is the same race as them. Why reinvent their race when they could have colonised the small galaxy and just continued their culture rather than start over from nothing. This means that all the generations of the Theredo suffered and struggled building the Theredo civilisation for nothing. If everything has already been done why waste the effort doing it from scratch all over again?
What brings things to a head is the drone noting that what the Preservers are doing to the Theredo is just like what the Edo ancients do to their non-ascended brethren. The difference is that the “harvesting” is done after a much longer time scale. The drone explains that “harvesting” is an ancient race reproducing by making non ascended versions of themselves that they ascend after the non-ascended reaches adulthood.
Upon learning this the Theredo storm out of the meeting in disgust. As they leave they promise that this is merely a recess and the Federation negotiation team and the Preservers should meet them same time tomorrow to finish the diplomatic talks. They thank the drone for being honest, and that he should be rewarded for his honesty.
When the conference reconvenes the Theredo offer diplomatic relations with the Federation but are not joining the ancients anytime soon. They have a lot to process and it will take time for them as a species to come to terms that they are just a one of many copies of a much older more advanced race that intends to “harvest” them as the drone puts it. They have issues to work out and a micro galaxy that has not yet been fully explored. The Theredo offer the Federation a permanent presence in the small galaxy, saying that they will welcome the Federation with open arms.
They will work through what they have to and be a nation among others at the same time. They can do both, but being a copy of God like beings that will walk among you is something they have to take time to come to terms with. They wish the crew well as they sign the treaties and offer their galaxy as a research base for the Federation and offer the Federation full access to any and all Preserver technology in the small galaxy. The Federation delegates offer to set up permanent wormholes linking the small galaxy to the Milky Way galaxy. The show ends with the Theredo and the Federation diplomatic team shaking hands.
Season 3 Episode 4
The Hur’q garage sale
The crew of the USS Anracosh are visiting a world populated by a variety of ancient races. Here some crew members encounter a Hur’q having a garage sale. Some of the crew who have been trained by Klingons are deeply offended by seeing ancient Klingon artefacts being used as footrests and doorstops and the like. These items are for sale and the crew try and barter for them so they can gift them to their Dominion war Klingon trainers.
To put this image in perspective imagine a devout Christian seeing someone use the Ark of the Covenant as a footrest and seeing the same person use a piece of the cross that Christ was crucified on or a piece of Noah’s Ark used as a paper weight. Imagine that the Ark of the Covenant is also used as a coffee table and has coffee stains from the bottom of coffee cups on it.
The head kickers of the crew of the USS Anracosh debate whether or not to hand the Hur’q’s butt to him on platter for showing such disrespect to the Klingon artefacts. They are very tempted to beat the Hur’q senseless and steal the artefacts, but that would create a lot of problems for the diplomatic team, who are negotiating with the ancient race world’s central government.
One of the crew at the garage sale is Potab Ghezear, the half caste [Klingon father and Human mother] and he has to be restrained by the crew who are with him and calmed down. He is disgusted and enraged by the Hur’q’s mistreatment of Klingon artefacts. He does not want to buy back the relics, he wants to steal them and break the Hur’q’s back so hard the Hur’q will have his face acquainted with his butt.
The crew apologizes for the actions of their colleague and proceed to negotiate a selling price for the relics. The half Human half Klingon is escorted out of the area. The Hur’q realises what the crewman is and says that the Hur’q are a race of atheists, they find the idea an item or anything being sacred a laughable concept, hence the use of younger race sacred relics being used as doorstops and footrests. The crew trying to buy the relics have to really contain their anger at the Hur’q’s attitude and continue to try to buy the items for sale. In their hearts they want to follow their hybrid friend’s plan and beat the Hur’q senseless and take his stuff. They do however offer Federation archived cultural information and other similar data in exchange for the artefacts.
The crew also comment that they thought that the Hur’q had gone extinct, but it is the usual case that they were invited into the ancient races clique. It turns out that many races thought to be dead are actually now in the ancient races clique.
The B plots are divided into various subplots
One sub plot is that the ancients world wants a Federation embassy put on it. It could be a great way for ancients not from the Milky Way galaxy to encounter the Federation.
The main plot is the reactions to the Hur’q garage sale. The Hur’q is almost attacked by the crew and they have to deal with the fallout of it. This sabotages the diplomatic teams efforts, but it is not a body blow to the negotiations.
When the diplomatic team asks why the world is colonised by ancients the response is that the purpose of this world is for ancients who like the lifestyles they had as younger race beings. It is like some ancients seeking a simple lifestyle and want to live as such.
It is noted that one of the leaders of the ancient’s world is an Imitari, i.e. an ascended Human. What surprises the diplomatic team is that he is ex-Starfleet. He is seen in a Starfleet uniform dating from the T.O.S. era. He says that he is Lieutenant Dave Bailey who was ordered by Captain Kirk to remain on the First Federation vessel the Fesarius. He keeps the form he used to have for sentimental reasons and provides his “dog tag numbers” and security codes as proof that he is who he says he is. Dave also notes that many of the ancients on the world are there for sentimental reasons.
The diplomacy team asks Dave why he abandoned the Federation and his loved ones to become an ascended being. Dave replies with great sorrow that he agreed to being ascended with the last of the First Federation’s citizens. His plan was to become an energy being and return to the Federation and offer the Federation all the abilities of the ancients.
It becomes obvious to the diplomatic team that Dave had the same idea as them, which is have the Federation talk to the ancients and get some advantage from them. When Dave was fully Human the Federation was at war with the Klingons. Any help from the ancients back in that era would have meant the Federation crushing the Klingons over a century ago. The diplomatic team realize that Dave is like a kindred spirit to the crew of the USS Anracosh.
The diplomatic team ask Dave why he never returned to the Federation. Once again Dave laments his past and it shows. Dave had a bad reaction to ascension that took him decades to recover from. In that time the Imitari cared for him and gave him his mental health back. By the time Dave recovered his close relatives were all dead and he learned that he had to pick a side. Ascended or corporeal, pick one. Having left the Federation half a century beforehand, Dave chose to stay with the ancients.
Dave reveals that when a Human ascends they are given to the Imitari who then guide and initiate them into the ranks of the ancient races clique. The famous Wesley Crusher has met the Imitari and Lieutenant Junior Grade O’Conner of the USS Cerritos currently lives with the Imitari.
Dave says that the Imitari are debating how to handle an official meeting between them and the rest of Humanity. This is why the Imitari government has not contacted the Federation and asked for the USS Anracosh to visit the Imitari Commonwealth. Simply put the ground work for a diplomatic meeting has not been completed, when it is they should seek out the Imitari government.
Dave notes that he is not a representative of the Imitari people; he is a leader of the ancients world they are on. Speaking of which, they should get back to the negotiations about the Federation having an embassy here. The diplomatic crew agrees and the talks continue as the scene shifts to one of the B plots.
Another sub plot: The Zalkonian doctor is offered a place on the world, if not right now, but as a place that one day she can emigrate to when the Realm of the Gods project is much further advanced and she is no longer needed on the USS Anracosh. She is tempted to take a home on the world, but her loyalty is to her current crew. She makes the decision that the world will be her long term home when she eventually retires from her current job. She is also surprised to learn that there is a Zalkonian community on this world, but none of them are anyone she knew in her previous life. She meets them and they set aside a home for her in “Little Zalkonia” She will always have a place there, even if she moves into the home centuries into the future from her current visit to the world.
A third sub plot is an ascended female Bajoran noticing a non-ascended male Bajoran in the ranks of the away team. The ascended Bajoran is noticed by the non-ascended Bajoran and with the help of the world’s authorities a chase proceeds because the non-ascended Bajoran wants to know how a Bajoran became an ascended being. The ascended Bajoran manages to flee off world and the authorities stop helping the non-ascended Bajoran because the ascended Bajoran has left their jurisdiction. Also, the authorities hesitate to help the non-ascended Bajoran on the grounds that what he is doing hints at stalking. They use the excuse of her leaving the planet as an excuse to stop helping him.
It is revealed to the audience [but not the show’s characters] that the ascended Bajoran is a wormhole alien. The Prophets and their Par Wraith cousins are ascended Bajorans who left Bajor eons ago.
The focus of the episode shifts from the crew almost beating up the Hur’q to the diplomatic efforts and a tour of the ancients colonised world with the Zalkonian doctor questioning if leaving the USS Anracosh to be with her own people is right for her, but her character is that she does not want to be with the ancients at this time because she was ascended against her will. She is still coming to terms with having ascension forced on her.
The diplomatic team and the government of the world both get what they want, a Federation embassy on the world and the world as an ally of the Federation. Dave himself signs the friendship treaty documents and other relevant paperwork. As for the Hur’q, he learns what the Klingons really think of the Hur’q. The crew who nearly beat the Hur’q are let off lightly, the officer core can’t bring themselves to punish them, they agree with the crew that the Hur’q’s actions are disgraceful.
At the end of the episode the Klingon [and other races] artefacts are shown being made ready for shipping to their respective cultures and the crew saying to each other job well done. One of the crew helping with the shipping of the artefacts is the non-ascended Bajoran. He mentions that he saw an ascended Bajoran on the planet and tried to track her down to ask how a Bajoran could be an ascended being. His crew mates say the planet’s authorities were right to tell him what he did hints at stalking and say it would be unwise to do anything like that again, with or without ancients being involved. The Bajoran agrees and it is left a mystery as to who the ascended Bajoran is. Also the crew say to the Bajoran that given their constant interactions with the ancients he will likely find out the truth sooner rather than later.
Season 3 Episode 5
Second Klingon episode
The USS Anracosh tracks down the Klingon ancient races contact starship. Here the crew of the USS Anracosh return the Klingon artefacts retrieved from the Hurq garage sale. The Klingons and the Federation are trading notes on their contacting the ancient races and they travel to a Klingon Starbase together.
Once docked the crew get mildly jealous at the fact the Klingon ancient races contact starship’s crew get treated as equals by the rest of the Klingon Empire, they are not shunned like the crew of the USS Anracosh by the Federation.
The Crew tell their Klingon counterparts about the problems they have with the Federation and the Klingons laugh. That’s Federation exceptionalism for you. The Federation would have to have a problematic relationship with the ancients. There is no way the Federation can cope with something or someone that is superior to them. The Klingons say that they would be surprised if the Federation’s Realm of the Gods project was running smoothly.
While the USS Anracosh is docked at the Klingon base the Klingons want another tour of the USS Anracosh stating their alliance with the Federation as the reason that they should be allowed to analyse the ancient race enhanced systems of the starship. The Chief engineer just laughs saying good luck trying to figure out how the ancient races technologies work. If the Federation can’t reverse what the ancients put on the USS Anracosh, what hope do the Klingon have? However, he is all for the Klingons having free run of the starship. If they can shed some light on ancient races technology he will be very thankful.
It is agreed that the Klingons will have free run of the USS Anracosh and that the Klingon artefacts will be given to the Klingons when they are on the USS Anracosh. There is one condition, the Klingons cannot take any ancient race technology from the USS Anracosh. All analysis must be done on the Federation starship. The Klingons agree to this and say that it is dishonourable to steal, and that since they are examining ancient race technology that it has to be handled carefully. Meaning it should be kept where it won’t do something unpredicted.
The Klingons on the USS Anracosh are divided into two groups. One group will attend the official handover of the artefacts, the other [much larger group] will analyse and try to reverse engineer the ancient races technologies encountered on the USS Anracosh.
The B plot
A deliberately malfunctioning artefact – the Hurq having the last laugh. The Klingon entourage enters the USS Anracosh. The ceremony group goes to the party cargo bay for the official handover. The rest of the Klingons go to main engineering. We follow the Klingons going to the ceremony.
The ceremony is actually being televised in the Klingon Empire and the crew of the USS Anracosh resents the fact that their green uniforms of shame have no dress uniform variant. The usual fanfare of speeches starts of the handover ceremony. The Captain of the USS Anracosh speaks first, explaining what is going on to the Klingon television viewers.
When the Klingon commander speaks he notes that they are on the USS Anracosh, and states what it is, a Federation ancient races hybrid starship. He then goes to state that the Klingon Empire has its own Ancient races contact ship and the Klingons are running their own ancient races diplomacy project, i.e. running their own Realm of the Gods project.
The Klingon commander then drops a bombshell. The Klingon Empire is going to allow and encourage their subject races to try joining the ancient races clique. The Klingons want to inherit the worlds of their subject races that succeed in joining the ancients.
The chief diplomat quietly says to the captain to just role with it. She does so and the ceremony proceeds as planned, except that the one of Klingons present, an expert in Klingon artefacts, notes that one of the artefacts is Hurq, not Klingon, but still has some important historic significance to the Klingons and they want to take it. The Hurq, a race now in the ancient races clique, once ruled the Klingons and there are still many Hurq artefacts on Kronos, the Klingon home world.
The Federation delegates agree to let the Klingons take the artefact. Since the Federation has access to the ancients they can get as many artefacts from the ancients as they want. Besides, the Hurq artefact is an abstract sculpture of some sort that appears utterly inert, why not let the Klingons keep it?
The ceremony roles on to various Klingon rituals and we change scenes to see what is happening in main engineering with the Klingons. The Klingons are getting frustrated and angry. They are as perplexed by the ancient races technology as their Federation counterparts in main engineering. The chief engineer says welcome to my world.
“Now you know why I laughed. I have been at this for a few of years. I find only dead ends in examining the ancients technology of the USS Anracosh. If you are frustrated and angry now, imagine how I feel after years of studying machinery that makes no sense to a creature that is not a million year old energy being.”
The drone is doing his best to help the Klingons and they do not know how to react to him at the moment. They know his origin story. The drone has to admit that the technology they are looking at could not be built by younger races.
“You lack the thing that makes thing that makes the thing that makes the thing that makes thing that makes this device, and probably many regressions beyond that. Sorry, but you are dealing with technology a million years ahead of anything that the younger races can create.”
The analysis of the ancient races technology is only giving the Klingons a superficial understanding of it. That is still plenty to work with, but many of the Klingons feel that trying to figure out the ancients machinery on the USS Anracosh is a waste of time. They are glad not to have a hybrid ancients Klingon starship. Given how frustrated and angry they are now, if the USS Anracosh was the IKS Anracosh, i.e. the Imperial Klingon Ship Anracosh, the Klingons would have blown it up out of frustration a long time ago.
The Klingon engineering and science team cut their losses, take what data they have collected and wait for the ceremony team to finish in the party cargo bay. The Klingons explain their experiences to each other, the ceremony crew saying they have a Hurq artefact among the Klingon relics and the science and engineering crew saying that the analysis was almost a waste of time.
With the ceremony done and the Klingon science and engineering crew’s work done as well, the crew of the USS Anracosh gets some shore leave on the Klingon Starbase. Some of the crew follow the ceremony/parade of taking the artefacts to the Starbase’s temple. It is during this time that halfway between the USS Anracosh and the Temple that the Hurq artefact activates, although the activation is not obvious just by looking at it.
It is not immediately apparent what is happening, but a cloud appears around the Starbase that forms a cloud shell that is spherical and leaves a considerable amount of space between it and the starbase that is surrounds. This leaves the starbase cut off. A Klingon starship travelling to the starbase gets its rear half caught in the cloud, and the rear half of the starship falls apart as if being dismantled. The crew have to eject and the Klingon ship is a write off.
The Klingon starbase and starships open fire on the cloud shell that surrounds the starbase. Phaser and Disruptor fire go straight through the cloud like it is nothing and the torpedoes upon entering the cloud do not explode, they just fall apart into a cluster of their components. It is quickly discovered that anything in the cloud is disassembled to its raw components.
The drone, who is following the parade, looks up and realises what he is seeing. As soon as he sees the cloud, he calls the bridge of the USS Anracosh. He informs them that the cloud is sabotaged space, and not to approach it, it is very dangerous. He asks for the Klingon and Federation science and engineering crews to return to the USS Anracosh. They are going to need everyone they can get to fix this problem.
The drone is worried, he thinks that the USS Anracosh’s weapons systems have had a critical malfunction and need immediate attention. The drone says that if it comes to it chuck the entire crew through neural education backgrounds to give them STEM skillsets. If the USS Anracosh has a malfunction this bad then it is a disaster in the making. The drone requests to be beamed directly to main engineering. He will personally lead the repairs on the USS Anracosh, and don’t bother calling in the ancients, even they will have problems crossing a sabotaged space field. The drone stresses that if they can’t stop the field, everyone in it will be trapped inside it permanently.
The drone is teleported to main engineering. The Federation crew is in front of him and the Klingons are beaming in. When everyone is ready the drone speaks, saying that he cannot stress enough the seriousness of this situation. If they cannot fix the problem they are stranded. It will take the ancients considerable effort to cross a sabotaged space field. For now they are on their own.
The science officer says that it resembles the barrier that used to imprison rogue ancients at the edge of the galaxy. The drone says it is based on the same technology. The drone orders everyone to go through the weapons systems with a fine tooth comb, and then go through the systems attached to the weapons systems. Something must have gone wrong and it might be something subtle.
The search begins for the fault in the USS Anracosh’s systems and the crews, Klingon and Federation report that they can find nothing wrong. The drone says one word “again”, and clarifies “check the systems again” The Federation crew realise that the drone could be a hard task master if he was given a command position and think he is very aggressive in his command style. The Klingons take a shine to him, liking his tough leadership style. The drone defends himself by saying he understands the gravity of their situation because he understands what ancient races technology can do much better than they can.
Again, after a while the search goes nowhere. The Systems on the USS Anracosh are in perfect working order. The drone just orders “again” and this time the head of the Klingon team, the chief engineer and the science officer stop him. They ask what a sabotaged space device would look like.
The drone says it would be surprising small given what it can do, but it would need a power source to keep it running. A small power source could make the device work, sabotaged space will revert to normal space without the device being powered. The power source would be big, but the device itself would be smaller then you expect.
The drone then takes them to the sabotaged space device on the USS Anracosh. One of the Klingons notes that the sabotaged space device is the same size and shape as the Hurq statue the Federation just gave them. It hits the drone, the Klingons and the Federation crew like a thunderbolt. Check the artefacts bought from the Hurq, one of them might be a sabotaged space device in disguise.
The drone says he needs to see the artefacts and demands to be transported [teleported] to the artefacts right away. To the Federation he is exceeding his authority as an advisor on ancient race issues and they don’t want to take orders from someone so underqualified for command. The Klingons have the opposite attitude. They love his kick butt take charge assertive style. They pull rank because it is a Klingon station and demand that the drone be bought to the artefacts now in the Klingon temple.
The hunch of the drone is right: The Hurq artefact is the source of the sabotaged space field. The drone uses his ancient race abilities to “scan” the Hurq statue. The drone explains to the Klingons that, he being an ancient, has the ability to interact with ancient race technology.
The drone discovers that the device will run out of power in a day or so, and the sabotaged space field will collapse when the device has no energy to sustain the sabotaged space field. The drone uses his ancient race abilities to turn the device off anyway and the field surrounding the Starbase disappears.
The Klingons note that so many Hurq artefacts were left on Kronos after the Klingons kicked them out, that the art styles of the Hurq had a major influence on Klingon art, thus the crew of the USS Anracosh mistook the statue as Klingon in origin. Only an expert in Klingon art, like one of the Klingons at the ceremony would notice the difference. The Hurq took advantage of the Starfleet personnel who threatened him and must have set the device on a timer before selling it to them.
With the crisis over there is one more piece of unfinished business for the Federation beings and the Klingons. The Klingon ancient races contact ship and the USS Anracosh make their way to the ancient races world where the Hurq resides. They explain to the leaders of that world how the Hurq was so irresponsible in misusing a sabotaged space device. A device that dangerous is not something to toy with.
The Klingons, Federation and ancients that lead the ancients world do not care why the Hurq set off a sabotaged space weapon, and they agree that the Hurq must be punished. A hint is given to the next scene. The head kickers serving on the USS Anracosh and the Klingons know how to fight someone and not accidentally kill them.
The show ends with a group of Klingons and Federation personnel, including the drone beating the Hurq senseless for giving them the sabotaged space artefact that nearly cut them off from the rest of the universe, and potentially could have killed them. The Klingons now have a deep respect and admiration for the drone.
Season 3 Episode 6
Encounter the Yertholm
Note: Changlings and Founders are the same people. It’s two different names for the same thing.
The B plot is the existential crisis faced by the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar, the two slave races of the Dominion when they discover their gods – the founders of the Dominion treat the ancients as the gods of the founders. The crew of the USS Anracosh makes sure that the word gets out to the rest of the members of the slave races and this puts the Dominion into chaos as the two slave races go into melt down because the spell of the founders being gods to them is broken. The crew of the USS Anracosh take a great amount of glee at getting back at their former foes from the Dominion war.
The crew use the USS Anracosh to broadcast as far and wide as possible the founders worshipping the ancients. This is to spread as far and wide as possible an existential crisis among the slave races of the Dominion, which would be a body blow to the Dominion and severely weaken an empire that is a long term major threat to the Federation.
The story: This mission takes the USS Anracosh into Dominion space, through the region owned by their adversaries from the recent [four or more years ago] Dominion war. The crew is not nervous about this, the USS Anracosh can easily defeat anything the Dominion can throw at them, plus the Dominion would have to answer to the ancients if the Dominion tried to stop a diplomatic mission sent from the Federation to any ancient race.
In a remote area near Dominion space they are going to an outpost of an ancient race called the Yertholm. The Yertholm have contacted the Federation and thus the USS Anracosh has been dispatched to meet with them. It is the standard diplomatic meet and greet, except the USS Anracosh has to go through Dominion space.
The Dominion are not happy about the USS Anracosh travelling through their territory and make that fact clear to the crew of the USS Anracosh when they enter Dominion space. Despite the Dominion’s negative reaction to a Federation vessel of such magnitude as the USS Anracosh in their space, they are too afraid of ancient race retribution to deny the USS Anracosh safe passage. Therefore there is only one condition to the journey. A Dominion vessel and crew will observe the negotiations between the Yertholm and the Federation.
The Dominion reveals that they are aware of ancients active in their part of the galaxy, but they only interact with the ancients at a minimal tokenistic level. Pretty much the same deal as any other younger race. Run away and put up no trespassing signs around ancient race sites. Like any other younger race the Dominion does not want to provoke the ancients. The crew of the USS Anracosh asks them about the ancients in the Dominion’s region, to which the Dominion offers them access to the Dominion’s archives about the ancients that they know about.
This shocks the crew of the Anracosh that their former enemies would be so generous. Fair enough that the war is over and the Dominion want to put the war behind them, but as the Dominion crew points out, the Yertholm would give them the same sort of information anyway, so why hide it?
Many of the crew were looking forward to tormenting their former enemies by flying the USS Anracosh through Dominion territory and having the Dominion wince in pain about the Federation having a super powered starship, and also grin and bear it as the same starship is doing a diplomatic mission to a race they are powerless against and they cannot do anything about it. What stuns the crew of the USS Anracosh is how blasé the Dominion is about the diplomatic mission.
The USS Anracosh is escorted through Dominion space and tries to get more answers from their Dominion escort vessels. This is a fruitless task as the Dominion crew says they will understand when they meet the Yertholm. When the USS Anracosh gets to Yertholm space they discover that the Dominion crew were not kidding. The Federation finally meet the Yertholm face to face, and the face the Federation sees is the face of the manufactured Jem’Hadar soldiers the Dominion uses, albeit an ascended ancient races version of a Jem’Hadar face, including female Yertholms.
The Yertholm look like the Jem’Hadar and they reveal that The Changelings [The founders of the Dominion] got some preserved DNA from Yertholm remains, reverse engineered it and changed to it to produce the Jem’Hadar soldiers. The Jem’Hadar are a genetic modification of the Yertholm species, even though the Yertholm ascended many thousands of years ago.
It turns out the founders of the Dominion, the Changelings, found an abandoned Yertholm base and discovered Yertholm genetics technology on the abandoned base. This is how the Changelings got so advanced in genetics, by getting it from a base built by beings that at the time were on the verge of joining the ancients.
Via the Yertholm the crew of the USS Anracosh learn that the Changelings are actually a discarded ancient race computer system. In fact the location of the base was part of their files when the Changelings were a computer.
The Dominion crew learns this information as well be being observers to the diplomatic talks. The Dominion crew [Jem’Hadar and Vorta] do not know how to react to the Changelings, who they see as gods, being a computer for the ancients. They will have to find a way to come to terms with it, especially when the Yertholm provide evidence and a Changeling on the Dominion starship in Yertholm space confirms that it is the truth. The Changelings have to admit to their slave races [the Jem’Hadar and the Vorta] that the ancients are gods to the Changelings. Just as the Jem’Hadar and the Vorta see the Changelings as gods, the Changelings see the ancients as gods. This gives the Jem’Hadar and the Vorta an existential crisis that they cannot resolve because of the genetic programming the Changelings put into them.
The Yertholm add that the Vorta used to be the Gamma quadrant’s equivalent of the Alpha quadrants Pakleds, a space faring race of low intelligence that the Changelings discovered and got sick of their stupidity. To fix this the Changelings modified the Vorta into their current form. Their myth about being ape like creatures that saved a founder and were rewarded by the Changelings is just that – a myth. The Vorta’s existential crisis is worsened when the Yertholm reveal these facts.
The Yertholm then reveal they are an ancient race warrior species and this leaves the Federation crew as perplexed and in an existential crisis as much as the Dominion crew about their Changling “gods” having gods of their own. The Federation crew thought being an ancient race and warrior race were mutually exclusive. Not the case apparently. Some of crew think it is impossible for a warrior species to become an ascended race. The warrior ancients have to convince the Federation crew that they are the real deal.
They Yertholm point out that the criteria for joining the ancient races clique does not conflict with being a warrior race. As long as a race qualifies to join the ancients, whatever else they are does not matter. The Yertholm put more effort into proving their point of being a warrior ancient race. Much of the episode is dedicated to the crew accepting that the Yertholm are being sincere about everything the Yertholm have told them. The crew eventually realises that the Yertholm are the real deal.
When the crew comes to terms with the truth the Yertholm ask for the usual friendship and alliance treaties to sign and for diplomatic relations to commence, and so a short signing ceremony takes place. The episode ends with the Yertholm saying they are sending a message to the Klingons saying that the Yertholm would love to meet them and establish diplomatic relations with them.
Also the crew of the USS Anracosh gets a very nice sour grapes feeling that the harmed their former Dominion enemies by giving their two slave races an existential crisis that they cannot come to terms with. This will hurt the Dominion and the Federation crew did not have to fire a shot to exact some revenge on their former foes.
The big reveal at the end of the episode is that revealing that the founders have “gods” that they worship has thrown the Dominion into chaos. The Jem Hadar and the Vorta are questioning the founder’s rule and all but a small minority are refusing to obey orders without questioning them. The crew of the USS Anracosh use the ancient race systems on their vessel to monitor the situation in the Dominion as civil chaos breaks out. The founders are seeing their empire collapse around them and will have an uphill battle at best to restore order.
The crew of the USS Anracosh are celebrating this fact. A long term major threat to the Federation is on the verge of destroying itself. This is why the crew started their Realm of the Gods project – it is way to stop those that are a major threat to the Federation. Seeing the Dominion implode is exactly the kind of outcome the crew wants. The episode ends with the crew celebrating the collapse of the Dominion, and it could easily be more than a century, if ever, before they reach the former glory.
Season 3 Episode 7
Bajoran doctor’s episode – the Bajoran project
The USS Anracosh is still in the Gamma Quadrant returning to Federation territory. It is at this moment the Bajoran doctor seizes a rare opportunity for the USS Anracosh to take the Bajoran wormhole back to the Alpha quadrant and while doing so have the USS Anracosh run some diplomacy with the wormhole aliens that the Bajorans worship as Gods. The Bajoran doctor has the agenda of making his race realise that the wormhole ancients are not gods, but are in reality just another ancient race.
The Bajoran doctor has learned through the many encounters with the ancients that ancients can sense things about each other that younger races cannot. So he has thought up a plan, get the Zalkonain doctor to look at a wormhole alien and ask her what she sees. The only thing he needs to do is convince the drone to recommend that the Crew of the USS Anracosh visit the wormhole aliens and treat it like a Realm of the Gods mission.
The Bajoran doctor’s plan B is to access the USS Anracosh’s ancients enhanced communication system while the starship is inside the wormhole and contact the wormhole aliens directly and have them contact the USS Anracosh and offer a diplomatic meeting. Fortunately it does not come to that. The Bajoran doctor convinces the drone to tell the officer core to visit Bajor’s wormhole ancients.
The Bajoran doctor simply suggests the idea to the Drone that they should use the Bajoran wormhole to get back to the Federation and while they are in the wormhole contact the wormhole ancients. It does not take much effort to convince the Drone this is a great idea. The Drone is not that worldly and does not realise that the Bajoran doctor has an agenda. The Drone just takes the recommendation as a great idea and relays the suggestion to the Captain. She to likes the idea because of her agenda of getting her race ready to join the ancients. The Captain issues the relevant orders and the USS Anracosh diverts to the Gamma Quadrant end of the Bajoran wormhole.
The other Bajorans in the rank and file do not know about the orders. They are too low ranking to really get the full picture, so grievances about talking to their gods does not become an issue on the USS Anracosh.
The USS Anracosh enters the wormhole with its communication array blaring out greetings in order to attract the attention of the wormhole aliens. This works and soon they have the Wormhole aliens opening a communication channel with them. The crew of the USS Anracosh thought that negotiating with creatures outside of time would mean not having a common frame of reference and this would make communication difficult. Over the “radio channel” they say this and the Ascended Bajorans returned to this universe to make it easier for younger race beings to negotiate with them.
What the crew sees is confronting – what they see is the wormhole aliens dropping the act of being outside linear time and showing themselves for who they really are. It is obvious that they are ascended Bajorans. This is quite a revelation and raises more questions than it answers. Why are the wormhole ancients ascended Bajorans? For now it becomes the mission of the USS Anracosh to find out. This is not what the Bajoran doctor was expecting. He did not know that the wormhole aliens were ascended Bajorans, even though there have thousands of times he could have asked ancients visiting the USS Anracosh information about the wormhole aliens.
The unthinkable happens some of the wormhole aliens ask to board the USS Anracosh for face to face talks saying that now the Realm of Gods project is running it is time to drop their outside of time ruse and give some answers. The wormhole aliens have dropped all their disguise and are there as they truly are, ascended Bajorans. There is diplomacy between the chief diplomat and the ascended Bajoran diplomat starts and the rumour mill on the USS Anracosh goes berserk.
In the diplomatic meeting the ascended Bajorans admit that the being outside of linear time is a reference to the fact that the wormhole accesses a mini universe that exists outside of time compared to our universe. The mini universe was created by the Ascended Bajorans as a home.
The diplomacy team has a few questions for the ascended Bajorans, the first question is what happened to the Starfleet officer Benjamin Sisko who joined the “Prophets” at the end of the Dominion war?
Answer: Benjamin Sisko left the ascended Bajorans when he discovered the truth of the wormhole aliens being Ascended Bajorans. He felt that the wormhole aliens should tell the truth. Sisko went off to explore the ancient races clique and the Ascended Bajorans do not know what became of him. They asked the Imitari [ascended humans] if he was with them or contacted them and the Imitari said no.
The second question: What happened to the Dominion reinforcements that the wormhole aliens/ascended Bajorans made disappear during the Dominion war?
Answer: The Dominion reinforcements that disappeared in the wormhole were handed over to the Yertholm, whom they are based off. They have been cured of their founder loyalty and assimilated into Yertholm society as fellow ascended ancients, and that includes the Vorta who were part of the reinforcement forces.
The third question: What are the origins of the ascended Bajorans?
Answer: The Bajorans were much more advanced millions of years ago but at that time they could not agree to all agree on becoming ascended beings. This is because they figured out the dangers of immortality before ascending. The modern non-ascended Bajoran people are the descendants of those who refused to become non-corporal and gave their race a technological restart instead of staying extremely advanced. Essentially they were the Bajoran equivalent to the Amish on Earth.
The fourth question: Do the ascended Bajorans live in the Bajoran Wormhole?
Answer: No, the crew of the USS Anracosh are told to check their ancient race sensors. The crew of the USS Anracosh find that the Wormhole has a tunnel at a right angle to the wormhole proper. This tunnel can only be detected by ancient race enhanced instruments and ancient race beings themselves. The Zalkonian Doctor is asked to look at it and she sees the tunnel although the younger race crew cannot see it.
The tunnel in the wormhole leads to a mini universe made by the ascended Bajorans that exists outside of our time, and it can be used as a time machine. This pocket dimension is the home of the ascended Bajorans. They made the wormhole and the pocket dimension. The ascended Bajorans invite the crew of the USS Anracosh to fly to the pocket dimension.
The ascended Bajorans describe the dimension as a place where the laws of science can be customised by ascended beings as they please. Any part of the dimension or the whole dimension can be altered like magic. Unfortunately it is not set up for non-ascended beings to survive in, but if the crew of the USS Anracosh are willing to travel to the dimension the ascended Bajorans are willing to make a part of the dimension comfortable for them.
The crew has one more question before the core officers break for a meeting to decide what options to take.
Question: Why didn’t the ascended Bajorans do something about the Cardassian invasion and occupation of Bajor?
Answer: The ascended Bajorans were obeying the ancient races clique rules about non-intervention. Related to this: The ascended Bajorans wanted the non-ascended Bajorans to figure out they should do the Realm of the Gods project by themselves. They hoped the non-ascended Bajorans would figure out the truth and when they were advanced enough pay the ascended Bajorans a visit. Then the ascended Bajorans would have told them the truth. Now that the younger races are running a Realm of the Gods the rules have changed. The ascended Bajorans say that it is time for the two halves of the Bajoran race to meet.
The two sides then break from their diplomatic talks to confer within their respective groups. It is here where the Bajoran doctor confesses to convincing the Drone to recommend that they contact the wormhole aliens. Like the rest of them, he had no knowledge prior to contact that they were ascended Bajorans. The Bajoran doctor said in his defence that he wanted the truth to come out about the wormhole aliens and given the nature of the Realm of the Gods project the truth would have come out eventually. The officer core had to agree with him on that.
The officer core decide that no disciplinary action be taken against the Bajoran doctor, they were just as surprised as he was about learning the truth of the wormhole aliens.
The other item on the agenda is going to the pocket plane of the ascended Bajorans. The captain accepts the invitation and the USS Anracosh to go to the dimension made by the ascended Bajorans.
This proves to be a briefer visit than expected, the crew of the USS Anracosh are given a brief tour of the dimension and are shown its physics breaking and time travel abilities. Then the crew detect that large numbers of ascended Bajorans are leaving the dimension. The crew of the USS Anracosh ask why the ascended Bajorans are leaving and where are they going.
The answer is not something the crew of the USS Anracosh want to hear: The ascended Bajorans are returning to Bajor en masse in what qualifies as an invasion.
The ascended Bajorans want to set up a project on Bajor showcasing that ancients and younger races can coexist together. It will show the inhabitants of the Milky Way galaxy their future of living alongside the ancients while they are bought up to the level of the ancient races.
The crew of the USS Anracosh realise that all the ascended Bajorans are heading off to Bajor. The ascended Bajorans confirm this and the USS Anracosh, with all the crew onboard makes it way to Bajor to warn the Bajorans that they are about to be invaded.
The final scene is the USS Anracosh weaving around ascended Bajorans in the wormhole trying to outrun them and get to Bajor first. The starship leaves the wormhole and speeds at hyperwarp to Bajor.