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Season 5 Episode 8
Cat call of Cthulu part 2
Operation Sour Grapes – revenge on the leader of the anti-Realm of the Gods protest movement.
The first scenes are a recap of the previous episode. This leads into the a scene of the protest group meeting to complain about having to tell people passing their protests the opposite message to what they are protesting about via the pamphlets the courts have forced them to hand out at their protests.
The recurring character protester says they will launch an appeal to overturn the court’s ruling and to sit tight for now because he is confident that with some legal manoeuvring they can either hide the pamphlets [making them an asked for “behind the counter product”] or have the courts reverse their decision. The protester assures his group that the pamphlets are merely a bump in the road and ends the meeting trying to inspire hope in his followers.
After the meeting ends the protester goes to his office and receives a message that because the crew of the USS Anracosh has largely been forgiven for their actions and become heroes of the Federation, the shady people behind the protesters movement will no longer be sending any support or political backing to him.
After the conversation ends the protester proceeds to embezzle his own movement and say to his followers that the movement has run out of money and he is ending the movement because it is broke [when in fact it has a lot of money. So much money that he buys a nice private tropical island on Risa to retire in comfort on.]
What the protester doesn’t know is that some of the most prominent members of his anti-Realm of the Gods protest group are actually Section 31 agents who have bugged his office and hacked his computer. One of the Section 31 agents is actually the computer expert for the protest group. He is the guy meant to discover if the group’s computers have been hacked.
The Section 31 agent [who is a pro-Federation Ferengi] keeps tabs on what the protest leader is doing and reports his findings to his superiors and to the head of security on the USS Anracosh. The security chief calls for a meeting of the officer core of the USS Anracosh to tell them what the protester is doing. The core crew hate the protest leader with a passion and loathe even hearing his name, but love hearing he is going to embezzle his own movement and would love to take revenge on the man. They say that every member of the USS Anracosh crew would love nothing more than to break the guys face, but exposing him as an embezzler and ruining his public reputation sounds like much more fun. Thus it is arranged that the crew of the USS Anracosh will take over from Section 31 in relation to the anti-Realm of the Gods protester.
A very “sour grapes” plan is made by officer core and enacted by the security chief. They will expose him as soon as he arrives at the tropical island he will assume where he will live out his days in luxury. They will have a large number of journalist who have been given anonymous tip offs with all the evidence of his embezzlement. Only after the guy’s reputation is obliterated will the same information be anonymously forwarded to the police.
The plan is for the crew themselves to organise the journalists and inform the police. These are guys who do covert ops for the Federation for a living. When volunteers are asked for the covert mission the entire crew volunteers! The information of the protester embezzling his movement has already been forwarded to the crew. The crew uses its covert ops skills to set up a fake organisation for the protester to invest through, and put his tropical island in the name of a shell company to hide the fact that it is his own island.
This is a tactic a lot of rich people use to avoid taxes. They put all their possessions and wealth in the name of companies they own so on paper they appear penniless.
With the help of the Ferengi Section 31 agent who has already hacked the protesters databases, the protester is diverted to fake internet banking websites when he tries to embezzle his own movement. The Ferengi Section 31 agent gets official approval from Section 31 command who laugh their heads off sour grapes style off at the revenge plan. This also means that the evidence gathered can be used in a court of law.
The protester moves funds illegally having no idea he is on a fake investment website and a fake real estate website. All this is recorded for dissemination to reporters and the police, and is shown in the pub on the USS Anracosh for the sour grapes enjoyment of the USS Anracosh’s crew.
A shuttle craft leaves the USS Anracosh with a commando team heading to Risa. The crew onboard are dressed in civilian clothes. They meet with reporters on Risa and show the evidence of the embezzlement to the journalists and show them the private island the protester has bought and help the journalists arrange an ambush at the island’s shuttle landing pads area. The commandoes arrange for the transporters to not be working on the day the protester goes to inspect the private island he just bought. The protester will be arriving in a couple of days, and will think that having to shuttle to the island will be a minor inconvenience, not a set up job.
The protester arrives at his island thinking he has made a great future for himself. He is ambushed by a crowd of journalists. Thinking they want to talk to him for “good” reasons he organises an impromptu press conference where he is initially very happy to answer questions. He believes this could launch a new protest career with this new found popularity, and literally the sky is the limit. He thinks this until the questions start and he is shown the evidence of him embezzling the movement he just lead.
The happy expression of his newfound political power drains from his face. He realises what is actually going on. He has been exposed as fake and a fraudster. His dreams of launching a new protesting career are now dead. He runs away from his own press conference only to be confronted by the USS Anracosh’s commandoes and some properly uniformed security officers [who all beam in blocking the protester’s path]. The security officers from the USS Anracosh have powers of arrest just like the police. The press gets some really great footage of him being arrested, not at a protest, but running away from the media exposing him for who he really is.
The news reports of the protester being arrested are shown in the USS Anracosh’s dojo to loud cheers from the crew. The crew throw a party in a cargo bay on the USS Anracosh. In a corner of the cargo bay there is a conversation between some of the officer core asking each other what is happening to the protester, as one of them is monitoring the news via a portable hologram device. The reporter in the hologram says that given the evidence against the protester his trail is a foregone conclusion and there is no way the protester will avoid going to jail. This is shown to the whole crew, who give rapturous applause in the cargo bay and elsewhere on the starship.
The scene cuts to the trial, which is in the same courtroom which hosted his lawsuit against the Federation government and Starfleet to stop the Realm of the Gods project. This was arranged by Section 31 and Starfleet again as an act of sweet revenge. The scene starts with the protester asking that if the verdict is a foregone conclusion, how is it a fair trial? The judge explains that the fairness comes from a being able to vary the length of the jail sentence. The judge is the same judge that presided over the lawsuit, once again this is part of the sweet revenge of Section 31 and the crew of the USS Anracosh.
The audience then sees a montage of the legal case showing both side’s arguments and counter arguments. Other highlights of the trial included in the montage as well.
The next scene is the judge rendering his verdict and the protester being walked out of the courtroom to a shuttle craft that will take him to the Federation prison in New Zealand. The prison cell that the protester is guided to has some graffiti on the wall which says: “Tom Paris was here”. The protester is being put in Tom Paris’s old prison cell. Once again all part of the revenge, the protester is in a cell once used by someone famous, just like he is.
When the security chief contacts the Ferengi spy that used to be in the protest group the spy has some great news: After the head protester had his reputation ruined and he was imprisoned Section 31 used a front company to buy the protester’s tropical island from the Federation government who seized it under asset seizure laws.
Section 31 are gifting it to the crew of the USS Anracosh so they, and the Section 31 agents that helped them, supplied them and fought alongside them can use it as a holiday island and eventually as a retirement village. This is to thank the crew of the USS Anracosh for making Federation allies among the ancients. The spy’s Section 31 superiors love the poetic justice part of the revenge plan.
Afterwards the officer core holds a meeting where the security chief tells the officers to set course for Risa, and explains why, the officer core cheers at this news. The captain makes the relevant orders and crew thinks they are going to continue the party on Risa. When they get to Risa the captain surprises them by telling the crew about their new private island. The bridge crew picks up that their resupply vessel and its escorts are orbiting Risa and wonder why they are there, maybe they are on holiday?
The officer core beam down to the island and meet a large number of Section 31 agents that they know from the resupply vessel. They act as a welcoming committee for the crew and give the crew the title deeds to the island. These are not only Section 31 agents they have dealt with before, but also Section 31 agents that recruited the security chief and the Helmsman. The Section 31 agents are there to congratulate the crew on everything they have done for the Federation.
After a party the bulk of the crew arrive on the island by beaming in and by shuttlecraft to inspect the island and plan what they can do with it. In the background you can see the crew assembling pre-fab buildings and infrastructure. The buildings are lightweight and thus clearly adapted to a tropical climate. The infrastructure is basic but more than adequate. It can easily be seen that the crew is already creating a holiday resort for themselves.
In the final scene it is shown that the crew are very pleased and congratulate themselves on getting rid of one of their main enemies. It is stressed that the rest of the protest group will know their leader is a fraud and the whole movement was a fraud. Without the leader the group will fall apart. The final part of the scene is the crew realising they will no longer have to see anti-Realm of the Gods protesters anywhere, and that by itself is a reason to celebrate. At the end of the episode they are laughing at the revenge they just pulled off.
Season 5 Episode 9
Giant machine episode
Note: The B plot for this episode is described at the end of this plot synopsis.
The crew visit an ancient race’s giant machine; they don’t know what this machine does, but it has been proven to be of First Federation construction. They must navigate around it and find [if present] the machines builders and establish a dialog with them and find out what the machine is for.
This begs the question, why not approach the ancients and ask them what this machine is? This was tried and the ancients from the First Federation said that this is another object lesson about the ancients. The Federation must figure out the machine for themselves. The ancients want younger races to do things for themselves, and this is one situation where the ancients want the younger races to show they are worthy of running Realm of the Gods projects.
This episode sees the drone, the chief engineer, the chief science officer and the helmsman working together on occasion. It shows the friendship between the Helmsman and the chief science officer and the friendships that have formed in the crew as a whole.
The Federation asks the crew of the USS Anracosh to investigate an ancient races machine that has been in a remote part of the Federation for as long as the Federation can remember. This machine was made by the First Federation. The USS Anracosh must find out what the machine does.
The crew arrives at the machine, which is sitting in deep space. An away team beams over to the machine. Among others on this team are the Zalkonian doctor and the drone. The drone and the Zalkonian get the life support system of the machine working and many more away teams beam over to analyse the machine. The Zalkonian can operate control panels designed for ascended beings because she is an ascended being, just like the drone can, he has some ancient race abilities even though he is a flesh and blood being.
The drone tells the crew how the First Federation was a group like the Federation, but they did their own Realm of the Gods project several centuries ago and made a collective effort in their member races to all join the ancient races clique as a team. Important plot point: The ancients don’t class this as a Realm of the Gods project that counts as a mass recruitment effort. Ancients do not acknowledge the First Federation as starting a galaxy wide recruitment drive for the ancient races clique. The important reason for this is that the First Federation kept their Realm of the Gods project a secret. They wanted to join the ancient races clique without other civilisations following them.
They had the same motivations as the crew of the Anracosh. Establish diplomatic relations with the ancients to give themselves an advantage over rivals and potential enemies. Of course, their secrecy and subterfuge was not appreciated by the ancients, although they were still allowed to continue with the project. They did put in the effort, after all. Because of their willingness to change and do whatever it takes to join the ancients race clique; the ancients let them in, but the First Federation had to prove their people were worthy to be part of the ancient races clique.
The mistake the First Federation made was they thought they would merely be establishing diplomatic relations with the ancients rather than joining them. They originally thought that a Realm of the Gods project was making an alliance with the ancient races clique and asked the ancients for an alliance. It is the same mistake the crew of the USS Anracosh made when they started their own Realm of the Gods project.
The ancients told the First Federation their Realm of the Gods project was more like a recruitment drive, and asked if they were willing to change so they could join the ancient races clique as “newly made” ancient races. The First Federation was amazed at learning this and eagerly did what they needed to do to become ascended beings.
The First Federation used to occupy a region that a small portion of the Federation and some of the other nearby governments [notably Klingon areas] currently occupy, but had mostly gone into the ancient races clique by the time of the TOS era. It should be mentioned that most of the Klingon Empire used to be First Federation territory. When the Klingons expanded they found deserted world after deserted world. There was nobody to conquer because the First Federation member worlds were abandoned after the First Federation’s people became ascended beings.
The First Federation’s starship Kirk’s USS Enterprise encountered was one of the last ones the First Federation was running before the last of the First Federation’s races ascended. This is why the captain of the First Federation acted the way he did when he encountered Captain Kirk. Why hang around talking to Kirk when he can become an ascended being instead? The drone notes that some of the ancient races they have already encountered were member races of the First Federation.
The Drone’s away team make their way to the heart of the machine to a control room. Here they encounter the chief engineer, the chief science officer and the helmsman. The helmsman is on the team in case the machine has a propulsion system and can be made mobile. It will be his job to pilot the machine.
The crew start their work analysing what the machine does. The drone notes that ancients work on multiple levels of efficiency. Thus it is unlikely that the machine has only one purpose. Whatever this machine does, it will have multiple purposes, and very divergent purposes at that. Imagine a space colony that wants to run a diverse economy instead of relying on one income source – this is done so they are not dependant on the price of one commodity or service.
Going through the machine is not at all safe, members of away teams get wounded while navigating the machine and experimenting with the systems they find along the way. They are dealing with things they do not understand. However, here is the clincher, the wounded officers are beamed away to points unknown and when the USS Anracosh scans the starship it discovers a fully automated sick bay in the giant machine. The captured crewmen react to being captured by saying the remaining crews on the giant machine should avoid getting injured at all costs.
The crew find what the drone said is true. The giant machine has factory areas, what the drone says are living areas for ascended beings, an astronomical observatory, starship maintenance levels, serviced offices and much more. This was obviously a starbase of some kind with many industries and services on offer. It is obvious that the ancients think on multiple levels. One facility would have a myriad of purposes as needed. The giant machine can do many different tasks that the ancients can program it to do.
While the drone has been having a great day teaching the crew about the ancients, the chief engineer and the chief scientist have not been so lucky, they realise that much of the technology is utterly beyond the Federation. They can only understand a small portion of the devices on the giant machine station. One of the biggest obstacles is that the giant machine is designed to be run by ancients. The interfaces do not make any sense to a younger race being.
The drone says the way to solve this problem is to link the computer of the USS Anracosh [and thus the Melkot acting as starship’s A.I.] to the giant machine’s computers. The drone has a plan – he wants the crew of the USS Anracosh to order the giant machine to make and install interfaces younger race beings can use for the giant machine’s control systems.
This will remove much of the mystery of the giant machine because the interfaces will be understandable to the younger races, especially those currently on the giant machine. The downside is that they will have to evacuate the giant machine while the alterations are made, and alteration will take between ten and fifteen minutes.
Back on the USS Anracosh the away teams have returned and the chief engineer, the chief science officer, the drone and the helmsman are meeting. The chief engineer is upset that he has been next to useless on the mission. The Helmsman didn’t get to pilot the ship at all, and agrees that he too felt like dead weight. The science officer says he is in the same boat, but does not feel bad. If he doesn’t get it now, he will eventually. The chief engineer’s crewmates console him. His subordinates don’t feel bad about not understanding ancient race technology, nor does the chief science officer or his subordinates, and that’s their job, so why should he feel bad about not understanding ancient race technology?
Without warning the automated sickbay goes into lockdown as the modifications are made. Afterwards the crew captured in the automated sick bay are automatically discharged as they get healthy. Since they are closest to the control room of the giant machine; those discharged make their way to it and turn on the giant machine’s computer.
The signal is given for the away teams to return to the giant machine. This time much of the mystery is removed. With control panels that they can understand the various purposes of the giant machine become far more obvious. This leads the chief engineer and some of his underlings to explore the giant machine’s computer core.
After exploring the computer centre of the giant machine the discharged crew realise that the computer core is running in standby mode with only essential systems running. They decide to power up the computer core to see what it can do. Inadvertently they awaken the giant machine’s A.I.
The chief diplomat is called in to negotiate and the ancient machine’s A.I. asks for the giant machine to be crewed once again, even if the inhabitants are younger race beings. It asks for the Federation to provide crew for it and it will help them any way it can. The Federation crew ask it to teach the crew they send to understand its systems. It eagerly agrees to help them and the crew of the USS Anracosh send a message to the Starfleet command that its mission is complete and to immediately send follow up teams to examine the now fully operational machine.
The B plot
A commando raid is organised to rescue the captured crewmen, but the commando raid goes very badly and it is like throwing good money after bad. The commando raid triggers defensive systems in the giant machine. The results are obvious; however, the defences are not lethal in nature. The way bad luck befalls the injured crewmen and their imminent transporting is played up for horror, and is similar to a slasher movie in structure. A rank and file crew member dies in this episode.
The commandoes find themselves injured and in the giant machine’s infirmary right alongside the crew they were meant to rescue. They can contact the USS Anracosh to let them know what has happened. The injured commandoes and those who are walking wounded try to escape the medical centre, but the giant machines defences stop them. As time progresses it becomes obvious that escape is not necessary as the rest of the crew discovers and takes control of the giant machine.
While escaping those held in the infirmary discovery the giant machine’s morgue and find that a few of the crew have died in the giant machine. Their corpses are being stored in the morgue. Their bodies are very badly damaged and are beyond the ability of the giant machine or the crew of the USS Anracosh to heal. The commandoes and the walking wounded hold an impromptu funeral for their fallen comrades.
It is noted at the funeral that the ancients, notably the prankster Q, have said on various occasions that if you can’t handle the risks and consequences of exploring the unknown then you should not be out in space exploring anything. More importantly, this is the object lesson to learned here: The ancients have repeatedly reminded the younger races that if you can’t accept the risks and consequences then you are not ancient races material and therefore not fit to join the ancient races clique. Shortly afterwards the funeral ends and the all clear is given, and those in the infirmary are released.
Season 5 Episode 10
Crew transfer protocol
This is Alena Malgum’s episode where she finally gets to join the crew of the USS Anracosh
The story starts off with a failed Section 31 black ops mission with some of the rank and file crew members killed. The mission is a bust and the black ops mission is aborted. The few surviving commandos retreat and are debriefed. Seeing as most of the commandos are dead Alena sees this opportunity to transfer to the USS Anracosh, she can say that she is as multi-skilled as the crew on the starship and thus she deserves to be there. Besides, a few crew members also died in the recent encounter with the giant machine. For the first time the USS Anracosh needs some new crew that does not involve the occasional transfer from Section 31 to replace a single crew member who died in a commando raid on Section 31’s behalf.
Alena sees the numbers of crew that need replacing and puts her own name on the list. She approaches the Captain of the Section 31 flotilla that resupplies the USS Anracosh and asks for the transfer. The flotilla captain is surprised. Alena seemed happy on the Section 31 flotilla passing as a private hauling company.
Alena has a habit of treating those she works with as family, so Alena leaving is what surprises her captain. Alena explains herself, she sees the crew of the USS Anracosh as kindred spirits. Since the USS Anracosh has neural education technology the crew of the starship have become very multi-skilled as the mission has progressed. The crew are just like her in terms of skill level, given she is an amalgamation of six people. She has six different skill sets from six different professions.
Alena reminds her commander that she [Alena] was created in a transporter accident. Six people beamed in after a Starfleet mission and seven people appeared on the transporter pad. She was the seventh and was a fusion of the other six people. Section 31 learned of her existence and seeing her potential recruited her. Alena had nowhere else to go and accepted their offer.
Now she wants to transfer to the USS Anracosh so she can be with people she can easily relate to because she and the crew have similarly large skill sets. Alena’s commander understands and approves the transfer. A bonus is that Alena already knows the Section 31 agents that have transferred to the USS Anracosh before her, so she has a ready made social circle on the starship. Not to mention that the crew already know her as the officer that plans the commando raids and is the briefing/debriefing officer for those raids.
The flotilla Captain mentions that the flotilla has agreed to meet the USS Anracosh at the Maquis Republic’s home world. The crew of the USS Anracosh has business there as does Section 31. Both groups want to recruit the Maquis, notably Section 31 wants to recruit Section 31 agents who defected to the Maquis. From what Section 31 has learned some of the crew of the USS Anracosh wanted to set up a retirement village for themselves on the Maquis Republic’s home world, as opposed to retiring on Risa. They are going there to talk about it with the Maquis Republic’s leadership.
The B plot
The USS Anracosh is returning to the Maquis Republic for shore leave and to recruit some of the locals. If this works then they won’t need to rely on Section 31 to resupply them, not that they have any issue with this. Then again the way the Federation is finally accepting them the crew of the USS Anracosh won’t need Section 31’s help at all. This causes a serious debate within the rank and file crew. Do they need to do Section 31’s dirty work anymore? Why arrange for resupplies through Section 31 when they can now go to a starbase and be welcomed with open arms?
Then there is the issue of crew who now have the option of leaving to further their careers. They no longer have the stigma of serving on the USS Anracosh. Transferring to a new posting is now an option. That involves some crew transferring to Section 31 to be in their commando forces. Some of the crew want to go back to being the Federation’s head kickers, like they were before the rogue mission phase of the USS Anracosh’s journey. Other crew members want to return to Starfleet, some want to retire or find opportunities not related to anything they have done before in their professional lives.
Some of those that want to retire or are planning their retirement mention that they want to retire in the Maquis Republic rather than Risa like most of the crew. They want to negotiate setting up a retirement village. As they are about to discuss it further a message comes over the PA system. The Captain informs the crew that they are about to warp of into the vicinity the Maquis Republic’s home world. Everybody get their posts, they will soon enter orbit.
When the USS Anracosh leaves warp and enters a high orbit of the Maquis home world the crew of the USS Anracosh find the Maquis Republic’s citizens are in full conversion to being ancients. The world is in the process of being abandoned. They knew the Imitari were sponsoring the Maquis Republic to join the ancient races clique, they just assumed that the process would take a lot longer. The crew that contemplated retiring in the Maquis Republic realise that is obviously now not an option, they would be going to an abandoned world that is literally returning to nature. The Maquis are leaving nothing behind.
Without warning the Maquis hail the USS Anracosh, and they are as belligerent as the first time the USS Anracosh arrived at the Maquis home world. The Maquis leadership, now in ascended form, say that they will not let any Maquis, including themselves, surrender to Federation justice. They will not honour the agreement to jail Maquis in Maquis territory or anywhere else. The ancients have let them ascend now, which is something the Maquis themselves assumed would be decades into the future.
Since ascension was offered now by the Imitari and other ancient races they are joining the ancients now and refuse to face Federation justice on same grounds as what the Negilium said to the Federation. No prison the Federation can build could successfully imprison an ancient. The leaders of the Maquis tell the crew of the USS Anracosh that the Federation can get stuffed concerning arresting and imprisoning the Maquis.
The crew of the USS Anracosh have faced hostile ancients before, but not like this, the other ancients were insane or trying to warn them about some hazard or were upset about the USS Anracosh deviating from its mission. This is the first time the crew has faced hostile ancients that are not crazy, actually trying to help them or demanding that they honour their agreements.
The Maquis state that they have already informed the Federation of their intentions to not surrender and that they are ascending, which will make trying to arrest or imprison them not an option. The Maquis then break off their hail and the USS Anracosh hails the ancients around the Maquis home world to tell them that the Maquis are ascending to avoid jail time.
Much to the surprise of the crew of the USS Anracosh; the ancients say they are aware of this fact. However, the deal the ancients struck is that the Maquis are on a kind of probation. After the Maquis ascend they must prove they are not going to do anything criminal, and must not act in a criminal fashion for 500 years. If they do, the ancients will imprison them themselves, and that could mean imprisonment for eternity, but given the effects of immortality that might be the fate of some of the Maquis anyway. If the Maquis behave themselves the ancients will revoke the probation in 500 years and welcome them as full members of the ancient races clique.
The Captain calls for the drone to meet her in her ready room, she needs his guidance on this matter. Soon after the Captain enters the ready room she receives a message. Two fleets have just left warp near the Maquis Republic’s home world. One is the Section 31 flotilla that agreed to meet them here. The other is the Federation fleet commanded by the Admiral the crew of the USS Anracosh answers to.
This is a repeat of the early days when the Admiral was always angry about having to deal with the USS Anracosh. Fortunately the anger is not directed at the crew of the USS Anracosh. This time the anger is at the Maquis for dishonouring their agreement to face Federation justice.
What terrifies the crew of the USS Anracosh is the fact that the Federation fleet has assembled an attack formation against the ascending Maquis near the Maquis home world. The stakes just got a lot higher.
The Captain calls for a meeting with the Admiral on the USS Anracosh before this gets out of hand. The Admiral agrees for reasons the crew don’t know. After the call from the Admiral ends, the Section 31 flotilla’s captain hails and says they have been monitoring the conversation and want to join the meeting. They too realise what is at stake. The Section 31 personnel practically beg to join the meeting and the Captain agrees to it.
The meeting starts with the Flotilla Captain, Alena Malgum, the Admiral, the Drone and the Captain of the USS Anracosh. The Admiral admits that she has known the whole time that the Section 31 flotilla was resupplying the USS Anracosh and knows about the deal between Section 31 and the crew of the USS Anracosh. The Admiral even admits that she knows that the flotilla personnel opposite her are Section 31 agents. The crew of the USS Anracosh were not aware of any of that and are shocked to learn it.
Alena takes the initiative and tells the Admiral that the smartest thing to do is to let the Maquis go, as much as Starfleet and the Federation’s civilian leaders will hate that. Convincing them of that will be the hard part. Both the Section 31 flotilla officers and the officer core of the USS Anracosh have to convince Starfleet and the Federation’s civilian leadership that they should not pursue that Maquis they want to prosecute.
The Admiral admits that is going to be a very hard sell to her superiors and the Federation’s justice department. They have a very bitter grudge against the Maquis and the Maquis being ascended will not change that.
Without warning a red alert is sounded and those in the meeting rush out to the bridge. They see the main screen, the ascended Maquis and the Federation fleet are fighting each other. The other ancients are trying to break up the fight. The Section 31 flotilla has sided with the Federation and one of its guard starships and the freighter have already been severely damaged to the point of almost being a write off. The same can be said for a reasonable chunk of the Federation fleet.
The ascended Maquis have also have casualties. Many Wounded ascended Maquis also orbit the Maquis home world. The Federation gave as good as it got. The Captain orders the USS Anracosh to join the ancients in breaking up the battle. The Admiral understands the Captain. Starting a war with the ancients would be a cataclysm for the Federation. The best course of action is to prevent that.
The USS Anracosh and the ancients stop the ascended Maquis and Federation from fighting by getting between the two groups. The admiral orders her forces to stand down and the ancients order the ascended Maquis to stand down. The ancients address the Federation to say that they are going to get their wish of the Maquis being imprisoned. The Maquis have broken their word with the ancients and will be jailed by the ancients. It may not be a Federation prison, but it will be a prison none the less.
The ancients also repair the Federation vessels and offer compensation to the Federation. They call in a Q to “magic” the Federation and Section 31 fleets to “full health”. The ancients apologise for the Maquis foolishness. The Admiral returns to her fleet and that leaves the Section 31 Captain to talk to the officer core of the USS Anracosh, who want to discuss the personnel changes on their starship. Alena takes her leave as she has another meeting on the USS Anracosh that she must attend.
The captain on the USS Anracosh says that they do not need the flotilla anymore. They can go to any Federation outpost for resupplies now. However, many of the crew of the USS Anracosh want to go back to being commandoes, and will transfer to Section 31 full time to pursue their military careers. The flotilla can pick up the commandoes at the start of next year when the rest of the crew who want to leave will start sending out their resumes to Starfleet postings or retire. For now the commando missions will go on as per the current agreement.
The replacement crew currently needed are now on the USS Anracosh and more personnel will be assigned as staff leave. This won’t take effect immediately, but will be put into effect over the course of the next year. The reason for this is that some of the crew of the USS Anracosh who want to advance their careers will start sending out their resumes to Starfleet commanders or pursue other career options or retire.
We switch to scene where the First officer is running an orientation session for the new crew members. Among the newbies is Alena Malgum. The orientation session is nearly over and the First officer thanks them for listening and shows them their new quarters. The newbies enter their quarters and we follow Alena.
Alena Malgum settles into her new home. She notes it in a personal log [done as a monologue]. There are already a huge number of family photos on a wall in the cabin. The whole wall is dedicated to the photographs. These are from the six families that rejected her existence. She looks at them sadly, and then looks happily at her surroundings. She has found her true home and will love working on the USS Anracosh.
Alena looks outside her cabin’s window. She can see ascended Maquis being imprisoned by other ancients. Alena does a voice over monologue stating that she knows of the crew’s plans to retire on the Maquis home world and how that is now no longer an option. She recaps the plot points mentioned above and rounds off her monologue by saying that the many of the Maquis were war criminals and just plain evil and that evil is its own undoing. The ascended Maquis who fought the Federation have no idea of the kind of hell they are about to endure. Alena has studied the reports about how the ancient races clique works. She states that in spite of the dangers of dealing with the ancients the crew of the USS Anracosh made the right call in opening diplomatic talks with them. She agrees with what the crew did and this is why she believes that being part of the crew of the USS Anracosh is where she belongs.
Season 5 Episode 11
A look at the future – Various Federation species joining the ancients
This episode takes a look at the Federation 1000 years after the Realm of the Gods project was launched. We see the core officers as ascended beings looking at a Federation that has had half its races join the ancients and the rest of the Federation races getting ready to join the ancients. Many of the Galactic governments around the Federation are in the same position.
The officer core is attending a reunion at a museum containing the USS Anracosh. The museum is a space station orbiting the planet Risa. The ascended version of the rank and file crew is there as well. This episode serves as a tour of what happens to the Federation in its future. The ancients are everywhere in the galaxy helping races join the ancient races clique. This is the stage 4 era of the 6 stage cycle of the Realm of the Gods project, meaning that invitations are issued and races who don’t get invited are told how to change so they qualify to join the ancient races clique.
To the unknowing observer it looks like the Federation is collapsing, but this is wrong. The Federation is joining the ancients but it is a slow process. Eventually all of the Federation will be part of the ancient race community. If you think the Federation would be easy to defeat now, that is wrong too, the Federation has the backing of the ancients. This was the dream of the crew of the USS Anracosh – getting the ancients to be their allies, and now that dream is reality, and so much more by the fact that the Federation is joining the ancients. The now ascended crew of the USS Anracosh are at the museum celebrating. The era they are in now is everything they wanted. Nothing can threaten the Federation. Ironically this is destroying the Federation because it is being assimilated into the ancient races clique.
At the same celebrations there is a joint Vulcan/Romulan delegation sent to represent their people at the festivities. Note that the Vulcans are not as emotionless as they are in other versions of Star Trek. They have taken the advice of the ancients and “loosened up” and now have a sense of fun. Here’s something important: The Romulans and Vulcans have reunited and are joining the ancient races clique together as one people.They are also here to see what was once the crew of the USS Anracosh. The crew are heavily involved in setting up stage 5 of the Realm of the Gods process. That being making it look like civilisations have disappeared so stage 6 of the Realm of the Gods process can begin, which is young newly warp speed capable races exploring a galaxy to find other young newly warp speed capable races. The young races also discover ancient race sites and ancients that do not appear to have an active role in the galaxy.
The B plot is an exposé showing the full dismantling of the Federation and covering up most of its existence. It goes into the how, what, where, who and why of the stage 5 Realm of the Gods plans for the area the Federation currently occupies.
The Chief diplomat, and her replacement from centuries ago, and her underlings [all of whom are ascended beings] are negotiating with the Vulcans/Romulans about setting up stage 5. The Vulcans and Romulans note that Humanity and themselves are some of the last races to reach ascension in the current Realm of the Gods project. Both races are leading the charge in tying up loose ends before and after ascending. Humanity and the Vulcans are closing down the Federation. The delegates note that this is fitting as it was Humanity and the Vulcans reacting to Romulan expansion that started the Federation. Now it is the Humans, Romulans and the Vulcans who are winding up the Federation and the Romulan Empire. They note that the Klingons have already ascended and wound up their empire.
It does get nostalgic at times because of the crew’s love for the Federation, but as the Vulcans/Romulans point out the Federation has served its purpose. It is now an obsolete organisation if all the Federation member species are now joining the ancient races clique.
There is a break in the talks about finishing off their respective governments so the delegates decide to take the tour of the USS Anracosh. Both delegations are going to join the rest of the crew in taking a look at the starship that launched the modern galaxy wide Realm of the Gods project. They join the tour and the officer core, who meets them at the start of the tour, recall the times they spent serving on the USS Anracosh.
This takes the form of a flashback:
The crew recall that about six years into the mission they discovered ascension machines on the USS Anracosh amongst all the ancient races technology stored on the starship. In later life the crew used these machines as their mission became redundant when the ancients took a much more active role in the galaxy.
A flashback within a flashback:
There are 14 ascension chambers on the USS Anracosh. With 518 crew members, the crew is divided into 37 teams that take turns getting ascended. This does not include other people associated with the USS Anracosh who also get ascended. At the time the USS Anracosh was starting its career as a museum piece. Therefore only a handful of the crew would go onto the USS Anracosh to use the ascension machines, leave the starship and then leave the museum.
Returning to the main flashback:
It is noted that the Chief diplomat is training her replacement and will soon quit her job to become a professional artist. It was her efforts in turning a nebula into an art piece that re-launched the Chief diplomat’s professional art career.
It was at that point of discovering that the USS Anracosh still had undiscovered technology onboard that the crew of the USS Anracosh went through the starship with a fine tooth comb to find everything they had overlooked. They called in the ancients to explain anything they did not understand. It was embarrassing, especially to the Chief engineer, that after six years of operation that the USS Anracosh still had mysteries. The problem was that after the black hole manipulator was made fully operational the crew thought that all the mysteries of the starship were uncovered, therefore they stopped looking and two years later they stumbled on the ascension machines and realised there were more secrets to find on the USS Anracosh.
Returning to the museum 1,000 years later:
Some of the now ascended crew are taking a tour of the Anracosh. They are feeling nostalgic and want to see the starship they once called home. As the tour progresses the starship reacts to their presence in weird ways. Weird energy fields surround the starship and systems near the touring crew begin to activate on their own. This is something the museum staff has not seen before. In all the time they have worked at the museum the USS Anracosh has never been active. Now it is turning on by itself and reacting to those around it. However, those around it are the most qualified people to find out what is going wrong with the USS Anracosh. What is going on is like the starship remembers its old crew. The crew know that the USS Anracosh is not sentient. The tour guides are getting worried; something going wrong with a starship this powerful next to a major population centre like Risa could be cataclysm.
The museum staff ask the officer core to assemble all the crew present at the reunion and see what is happening to the starship they once called home. It is like history repeating itself as the entire crew reunite onboard and take over the roles they held centuries before. We see all the crew getting back to their posts and analysing the systems of the starship. The officer core note that it has been nine centuries since the crew has been on the USS Anracosh. Nine centuries before current events the USS Anracosh became a museum exhibit because its role and mission was taken over by other Federation vessels.
Even the diplomatic staff has a role. They return to negotiating with the Vulcans and Romulans while still onboard the USS Anracosh as the rest of the crew figure out what is going on with the starship. There is still much to discuss about stage 5 of the Realm of the Gods project. The chief engineer and science officer are reunited and try to figure out why the starship is behaving weirdly to the presence of its old crew. Niffy the Melkot reconnects with the starship to see if it has turned sentient, he proves that it is not self aware. The Bajoran doctor goes back to the starship’s neural education centre. In fact you see all the officer core and the crew’s show regulars return to their roles just as if they had never left them.
They are running an investigation as to why the USS Anracosh is not working as it should. Its current job is to do nothing but be a museum piece that can be visited like a tourist attraction, which is what the USS Anracosh has become. This is also because it is classified as a historic site. Without the USS Anracosh the Realm of the Gods project would never have begun.
We return to the stage 5 talks. There the delegates of both sides discuss in detail how they will hide or destroy all the accomplishments of their civilisations. As part of the negotiations it is noted that the museum they are visiting will have to be destroyed, and that will be done within a few weeks. During the talks the Vulcans/Romulans say that their next destination will be planet Vulcan to help erase evidence of the Vulcan civilisation. They will need to arrange transport to Vulcan as soon as the talks are over.
The talks return to the details of how worlds will be returned to nature just like after the Eugenics wars on Earth, where many parts of the world were left for nature to take over after parts of the Earth were devastated. The methods used after that war will be mimicked in the erasure of evidence of civilisations for stage 6 of the Realm of the Gods process. However, some artefacts they will find useful will be preserved, just like on worlds they have explored in the past where they find a world that is pristine but has a few ancient race sites on it.
The delegations stop for a moment and say to each other how many worlds did they set foot on as Starfleet members or Romulan soldiers? How many of those worlds could have been the birthplace of races currently in the ancient races clique? How many worlds could have been the starting point for ancient races that erased evidence of their civilisation before the delegates explored those worlds while having no idea that ancients once called those worlds home? It something that really makes them think, and have an existential crisis about it.
ENDINGS
After the usual running around one sees in a Star Trek episode before the “push a button make it all better” solution is found the Chief engineer, the Drone and the Science officer stumble on the fact that the starship is metamorphosing. It is becoming a full blown ancient races starship. With the crew fully ascended the starship has sensed this and is becoming a starship designed to be run by ancient races.
It is noted that when a solution is found, that when the crew ascended centuries ago, they were only a few crew ascending at a time. The ascended versions of the crew have never been on the USS Anracosh all at once after being ascended. This is why the starship never behaved in the way it is now. The USS Anracosh is only undergoing a metamorphosis because all of its crew are present and are now ascended beings.
B plot ending
The ending is the organising the cover up that happens in stage 5 of the Realm of the Gods process. In an ironic twist Humanity, Vulcans and the Romulans will all be one of the last species to join the ancients in the current round of the Realm of the Gods project. Humans see it as their job to wind up the Federation. The Romulans feel the same about closing down the Romulan Empire. Humanity, Vulcans and Romulans will also tie up any other lose ends. All three will prepare at the Federation’s and Romulans Empire’s territory for stage 6 of the Realm of the Gods process.
A plot ending:
The USS Anracosh has one more secret to reveal. It turns itself into a full blown ancient races vessel. The saucer section and warp nacelles convert into the same type of material as the engineering hull. The crew see this happen first hand as the USS Anracosh transforms into a full ancient races vessel. The crew are at their posts when this happens. The diplomatic team, also onboard, notes that the beings organising the stage 5 Realm of the Gods process for the Federation and the Romulan Empire need a starship, and that the fully ancient race version of the USS Anracosh fits their needs exactly. The core officers and bridge crew agree. They contact the museum staff, who agree to let them take the USS Anracosh because the museum is being demolished in a few weeks. The crew undock the starship from the museum and fly away delivering the Vulcan/Romulan delegation to Vulcan.
Season 5 Episode 12
Finale Fight the Borg part one
No B plot needed – it is an action show
The USS Anracosh faces off a Borg cube and reinvents their super weapon to fight the cube. The Borg cube is annihilated with one blast and the ancients have to step in because the truce between the ancients and the Borg is broken.
There are hints through the series that the Borg is a current threat to the Federation, but the USS Anracosh is not assigned to fighting the Borg. They have an idea of the current Borg activity but do not care because they encounter beings more powerful than the Borg every week. If they are meeting “Gods” that can change the laws of physics at a whim then it must be Tuesday. Think of how Shaun of the Dead’s intro is presenting quite serious news the protagonist pays no mind to. Besides, it’s not their job. If it was, they’d be finished years ago.
A Borg cube is spotted in Federation territory and the USS Anracosh is sent to intercept it. This particular Borg cube has defeated the force sent to stop it and is about to assimilate a large but remote Federation space colony. Nothing except for the USS Anracosh can get to the colony before the Borg. Other ships could be sent but they don’t have the firepower to confront the Borg. If the Borg gets there first, the colony is dead, if the USS Anracosh gets there first the colony lives. It is a not a race against time, the USS Anracosh hyperwarps to the colony in no time at all.
Realising that this is the Borg they are facing the Captain orders the rebuilding of the superweapon the crew accidentally made about two years ago. This is where it will take time and thus there is no time to test the weapon before confronting the Borg. The test will be attacking the Borg cube before it reaches the colony. The crew knows the weapon will work, so they are not panicking, in fact they are very smug.
When the USS Anracosh drops out of hyperwarp it fires the weapon at the Borg cube. This is a weapon so powerful that the Borg can’t adapt to it. The Borg cube is obliterated in one shot and the crew celebrate a job well done. It’s all high fives and jokes; there wasn’t any doubt of the outcome. Everybody’s incredibly cocksure and smug, but they have no idea what kind of can of worms they’ve just opened.
It has to be noted that the super weapon is so powerful that no amount of Borg adaptation would stop it. This time the ancients are forgiving about the Federation not using the USS Anracosh for its intended purpose, the ancients say that this time the Federation’s actions were justified.
The crew of the USS Anracosh informs Starfleet command, who are also jubilant at the victory. There is a victory celebration which is gate crashed by the ancients, although they are welcomed with open arms. They bring bad news. The Borg has treated the USS Anracosh as an attack by the ancients because the Anracosh is classified as an ancient race vessel. This is a treaty violation of the Borg/Ancients non-aggression pact. The Borg is doing this because they see providing younger races with ancient race technology as another violation of the ceasefire agreement. It allows the ancients to fight proxy wars with the Borg. Since the ceasefire agreement is now nullified the Borg has declared war on the Federation and the ancients. The Federation is in the war because they fired the ancient races weapon at the Borg.
The Borg is sending an armada of Borg cubes and unicomplexes to the Federation and ancient race sites across the Galaxy. This is total war, the Borg feel they have nothing to lose. They will assimilate as much as they can of the Federation and the ancients with the hope that it will be enough to eventually beat back the ancients and take the Federation as a bonus.
This is greeted with terror by the Federation, but the ancients say they are not alone, the ancients are going to mount an offensive war inside Borg territory and help the Federation defend themselves. Federation vessels will have ancient race beings onboard Starfleet vessels to help fight the Borg, and ancient race vessels will fight alongside Starfleet.
Upon the advice of the ancients the USS Anracosh is ordered to charge up the black hole manipulator. They are going to attack unicomplexes sent into the Federation. The role of the USS Anracosh is to act like a strategic bomber taking out strategic targets, namely Borg unicomplexes. They will need all the firepower they can get to take on the Borg.
As the ancients are helping the Federation thousands of Borg cubes and hundreds of unicomplexes are detected heading into Federation territory. The USS Anracosh heads towards the unicomplexes while the bulk of Starfleet and their allies plus the ancients go to do battle with the rest of the Borg vessels.
The war is already underway when the USS Anracosh joins the battle. They find the Federation starships in combat have been enhanced with ancient race technology, and ancient race starships and spacebourne ancients are also fighting the Borg. The USS Anracosh is ordered to destroy the Unicomplexes present and then go to other fronts in the Federation and do the same until they have destroyed all unicomplexes inside the Federation.
Then they are to go to Borg territory and help the ancients there who are conducting an offensive war against the Borg. The co-ordinates they need to know are sent on a sub-channel, so as soon as the unicomplex goes down they are to “hyperwarp” out and attack the next unicomplex.
The USS Anracosh destroys a unicomplex, which is not that difficult with the firepower the black hole manipulator offers. With one unicomplex down, the next unicomplex is flown to and destroyed. Rinse, wash, repeat.
Going to all the fronts inside the Federation gives the crew of the USS Anracosh a macro view of the Borg vs Federation and Ancients war. The Ancients are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Federation and the Federation’s allies. They see ancient race vessels, space borne ancients and ancients in general attacking the Borg and helping Federation vessels attack the Borg. All flavour of ancients are fighting the Borg, including all the ancients introduced in the Star Trek Realm of the Gods series. They are all seen fighting alongside the Federation.
Scenes would include giant ascended Yertholm attacking Borg Cubes with ascended hand held weapons, space based ancients draining Borg vessels of power so Starfleet vessels can obliterate the Borg vessels conventionally, beings like the Organians would fly through Borg vessels destroying everything in their path and leave the Borg vessel collapsing. Dauwd and Q would wish Borg fleets into non-existence, with the Borg ships fading away as if they are fighting being wished into nothing. Various ancients would act as “gun emplacements” on Federation vessels shooting energy beams from themselves at Borg vessels and damaging them. Note that all these attacks are things the Borg cannot adapt to.
The episode continues on noting that the Borg is being beaten back and that the ancients are working well with the Federation. One of the scenes seen is the command centre where Federation Admirals and ancient race beings are there leading their combined forces to victory.
The ancients in the command centre show that they have a second front set up in Borg territory. Here we can see the Ancients and the Borg at war with each other. The giant starship used by the nomadic ancients can be seen here used as a command centre deep in Borg territory. The ancients ask for the USS Anracosh to be sent to the Delta Quadrant front on the grounds that all the Unicomplexes in Federation Territory are destroyed. The ancients want a Federation vessel in the Delta Quadrant [the home of the Borg] for when the Borg give up the fight. The Federation Admirals say they prefer to see the Borg obliterated, the ancients say it is more likely the Borg will give up before being destroyed. The Admirals consult each other and agree that the ancients are right and it would be great to have a Federation presence at a meeting where the Borg surrenders to the ancients.
Before the USS Anracosh can go to the Delta Quadrant, they are confronted by one last Borg vessel that warps in right next to them and tries to crash into the USS Anracosh. They release hundreds of Borg drones onto the surface of the starship and proceed to break into the vessel. The crew of the USS Anracosh have to do running gunfights in their own vessel as Borg drones invade the Starship. The firearms used by the crew are enhanced with ancient races technology, the same ones they developed earlier that year. The Borg cannot adapt to the weapons. Thus the Borg has to resort to gun battles rather than assimilation style tactics.
It is noted that the Borg target the internal security system of the USS Anracosh as they battle the crew. Both the security system and the crew fight the Borg but the Borg makes a point of trashing the starship as they fight their way through it.
The USS Anracosh tries to go to hyperwarp and fails with the attacking ship and forces still connected to them as more Borg vessels arrive to continue boarding the USS Anracosh. The USS Anracosh sends out an SOS as the vessel is overrun by Borg, and the ancients and Starfleet arrives to help and eventually beat back the Borg invaders.
With the Borg invaders driven off or dead the Federation orders the USS Anracosh to join the fight in the Delta Quadrant and the final scene in this episode is the Anracosh going at hyperwarp speed to the Delta Quadrant.
End of finale episode 1
Season 5 Episode 13
Finale Ancients and Federation versus Borg part two
No B plot needed – it is an action show
A recap of the last episode is given.
The scene after the recap is one of the USS Anracosh hyperwarping into Borg territory only to find they have travelled straight into an ambush. The Borg try the same tactic as before: Crash into the surface of the USS Anracosh and release a small army of Borg drones to take the starship corridor by corridor. This is worse than last time as the ancients are not there to help them fend off a Borg invasion of the starship.
The USS Anracosh sends out an SOS on conventional frequencies and on the dial a deity system. Because the ancients are fighting the Borg there is no response. This time they are on their own as the Borg breach the hull and try to take the USS Anracosh – which would be quite a prize for the Borg given its ancient race technologies. However, like last time the Borg is trashing the starship as they go through it. They do not care about the condition of the starship. They must want it out of the way rather than take it intact. Besides that, just the computer files of the ancient races archives onboard would be a prize within themselves. The starship is not needed intact if the aim is to just get the files.
Whatever the Borg’s motivations that is not the worst of it, there are Borg vessels outside the starship that need to be dealt with, although given the USS Anracosh’s super weapons these vessels are soon destroyed. That only leaves the Borg they are fighting toe to toe with. They can’t use the super weapons on the Borg boarding parties as that would blow up the USS Anracosh. The battle against the Borg vessels was quick but came at a high cost. The Borg has wrecked many of the systems of the USS Anracosh, notably the main sensors are almost non-functional. Systems can be repaired after the battle so this is secondary consideration for the officer core and the crew.
One thing is on the officer core’s mind – they can’t let the Borg have the USS Anracosh. The technology and knowledge onboard would make the Borg unstoppable. They have to seriously consider that they are on a kamikaze mission. They would have to destroy the starship if it looks like they are going to lose. The captain and first officer make plans to obliterate the USS Anracosh and everyone on it if that is the only choice left. This could be the end of their adventures and they have to admit it has been a blast doing diplomacy with the ancients, and it may end in a blast to stop the Borg. The officer core can try to work out the Borgs plans for the USS Anracosh later; right now the only goal is survival. Kill the Borg drones with the ancient races enhanced firearms they have and hope for the best.
All of a sudden a large vessel is detected heading towards the USS Anracosh; given the damage to the sensors from the fighting the bridge crew cannot tell who is approaching them. All they can tell is that it is a gigantic starship. Given how big it is it could be a Borg Unicomplex. If it is, this is the end of them. They will have to destroy the USS Anracosh and everyone on it in order to stop the Borg from taking their starship. If it isn’t; what could it be? The only vessels that big belong to the ancients, if it is the ancients then they are saved. The crew manning the bridge are on the edge of their seats as they wait to see what type of vessel is going to appear near their starship.
It is the Nomadic ancients starship, and a fleet of Voth starships with ascended Voth crewing them. This sight would be a god send to the crew of the USS Anracosh except that a bunch of Borg cubes appears with the rescue fleet, and it is obvious that the Borg and the rescue fleets have had running battles while in warp travel. This is a trying time as the USS Anracosh fights a losing battle with the Borg inside its own hull. The starship is in no condition to fight the Borg attacking their rescuers.
The battle rages on and in a short space of time the Borg start teleporting off the USS Anracosh. Some sensors are partly restored and the best guess the crew can make is that the ancients and the Borg have stopped fighting each other outside the starship. The Voth hail the USS Anracosh and deliver the good news. The Borg has “cried uncle” and given up the fight. The Borg has reinstated the cease fire treaty with the ancients and is retreating deep into Borg territory with what forces they have left. The war is over.
With the Borg now teleported off the USS Anracosh the officer core take a look at their vessel. It is utterly wrecked inside and out. There are dead bodies, both Borg and crew, all over the starship and all they can do is call for more assistance from the ancient race vessels that have rescued them. The ancient nomads offer dry dock services on their vessel and the USS Anracosh has to be rebuilt from the ground up. Fortunately not too many of the crew are dead. Their commando training helped keep them alive and able to fight the Borg very effectively.
Now the USS Anracosh is in the nomad’s giant starship getting rebuilt. The survivors work alongside Voth and Nomads and many other ancient races fixing the USS Anracosh in a repeat of the refit that took place about five years ago. The process of fixing the vessel takes a week. As the starship is being rebuilt the crew learn that the ancients are deeply divided about not finishing off the Borg.
It is a very hot and emotive topic among the ancients repairing the USS Anracosh. Half are for respecting the ceasefire treaty with the Borg the other half are for killing off the Borg while they are weak. Obviously the crew of the USS Anracosh are in the camp of killing the Borg.
That is however secondary to the fact that the ancients are beginning to turn on each other. Riots are breaking out around the gigantic starship and the Voth support ships near to it, and it is safe to assume that ancients around the galaxy are turning on each other as well over the topic of what to do with the Borg.
Apart from the frayed tempers from the hot political issue of honour treaty vs kill Borg the repairs to the starship are going along well. With the help of the ancients the wounded are quickly recovering and the repairs will be completed soon. A service for the dead is being done as well with the captain leading it. Inside the starship things are going great, outside it not so much.
It is obvious that the fracture in the ancient races clique will get worse before it gets better. This is something the officer core will have to address. The captain calls a meeting with the chief diplomat and the rest of officer core. The focus is what to do about the ancients debating what to do with the Borg. The consensus among the officer core is that they should back the ancients that support killing the Borg. The captain has to agree that is the logical stance given that it is in the best interests of the younger races to destroy the Borg.
They start planning for siding with the anti-Borg ancients when the ancients party crash the meeting and humbly apologise for doing so. They stress that the stakes are much higher than the ancient races clique splitting into two factions. A preserver among the party crashers shows an illusion like the one shown to the drone when his parents visited him on the USS Anracosh.
The images show riots on the giant starship with Voth being sent in to quell the rioters because the security forces of the nomads are overwhelmed. Then they show something even more disturbing: Ancients attacking the Borg and other ancients stopping them. The ancient party crashers make their point that the ancients are not just splitting into two factions, the ancient races clique is on the verge of a civil war. The worst part is that all the younger races will be caught in the crossfire of the ancients battling each other.
This changes the mood of the meeting. The crew of the USS Anracosh know how powerful and thus devastating the ancients could be. Losing to the Borg, the Romulan supernova that the ancients prevented, making a mistake with the black hole manipulator when moving a planet and much more would do less damage than ancients out to kill each other.
Now the meeting becomes what to do to prevent the civil war rather than siding with the ancients who want to destroy the Borg. If the ancients turn on each other the Borg will be the least of their problems. Right at that time a message comes through for the captain. Repairs are complete and the USS Anracosh is ready to launch.
The captain orders the starship to launch and the ancients take their leave saying that they have come to say what they wanted to say and wish the crew all the best in trying to prevent the ancients from going to war with each other. That requires getting on the dial a deity system and getting the sides to talk to each other.
The USS Anracosh starts to leave the giant starship and the crew looks outside the starship. It may already be too late to stop the ancients from having a civil war. They can see ancient ascended beings are already fighting each other and the giant starship is becoming a place of anarchy and it looks like the civil war is has already begun. The USS Anracosh gets to open space and the captain orders them to start contacting both sides of the ancients civil war and to head back to Federation space. They will do what they can to create peace but as they have just seen it may be too late and they may literally return to a Federation devastated by the ancients fighting each other.
The episode ends on a cliffhanger as the ancients fighting each other extends to the Voth support ships as the USS Anracosh flies off returning to Federation space.
End of finale episode two
Season 5 Episode 14
Finale – Ancients having a civil war part 3
No need for a B plot – this is the ending of the series
The first scene of the episode is a recap of the last two episodes.
The USS Anracosh is flying towards the Federation. While this is happening they are contacting the ancients via the dial a deity system and calling in all the favours they have built up in the ancient races community. They can contact many ancients on both sides of the argument and try to get them to calm down and talk to their opposition. The crew know that they cannot stop the ancients from what they decide to do, but they try to prevent an ancient races civil war. Such a war would mean the end of the younger races civilisations in the galaxy.
There is some good news. Both sides have largely stopped attacking each other and are willing to talk. The USS Anracosh is invited to attend the talks and plead whatever case they chose. This is a good sign, and the ancients attending the conference will be a mix of space borne, and for want of a better word, “terrestrial” ancients.
As a gesture of goodwill the ancients have arranged to transport another Federation vessel to and from the negotiation site. The vessel contains replacement crew to cover the recent losses to the Borg and it has dignitaries to attend the ancient races peace conference. It has to be said that the chief diplomat on the USS Anracosh will lead the Federation’s entourage. The reason for this is that she has lots of experience in negotiating with ancients.
When the second Federation starship arrives a space station is willed into existence by an ancient, and the three sides are told to send their delegates to it. This is nothing new to the crew of the USS Anracosh: Ancients willing massive objects into existence is a Tuesday for them. To the inhabitants of the second Federation vessel this is shocking. An ancient wishing a starbase into existence is something they find amazing, and just look at it in stunned disbelief. The officers of the USS Anracosh assure them that the starbase is safe and the delegates should be sent to the conference as it is about to start.
The conference room is huge and has many seats to accommodate the tripartite talks. The three sides are the Federation, the faction for the ceasefire ancients, and the kill all the Borg ancients. The Federation delegates are reminded that they speak for all the younger races of the galaxy, not just Federation members.
In response the Federation delegates take the stand that the Borg should be wiped out because of the threat they pose to the younger races. This is only a debate because the Borg is not a major threat to the ancients. The ancients can be pious because they don’t have to worry about their civilisations being wiped out by the Borg.
The kill the Borg faction pounces on this opportunity, agreeing with the Federation delegates. You can only be high and mighty about keeping the ceasefire when the Borg is only a minor irritation to you. Put yourselves in the position of the younger races. The Borg is something that threatens their very existence. Of course they would want us to finish off the Borg while the Borg are weak. We have a unique opportunity to wipe out the Borg forever. The time is now.
Both sides of the ancient races clique feel very passionate about their position. The other faction of the ancient races says that the Borg have reinvoked the ceasefire treaty and have backed down knowing they can’t win. If the Borg has decided to go back to honouring the treaty then the ancients should do the same. The ancients must keep their word. The ancients remind the Federation that they do not have a say in such policies. They are the junior partner in the Realm of the Gods project.
To prove their point, the ancients in the keep the ceasefire faction show that the kill the Borg side has lied about keeping the peace in the ranks of the ancients. The ancients reveal via holograms that ancients in the kill the Borg camp are breaking rank and killing the Borg while other ancients are trying to stop them. The ceasefire ancients say that the kill the Borg ancients are not just ignoring the treaty, but ignoring the agreement to not fight other ancients while these negotiations are taking place. They cannot be trusted. In fact the keep the ceasefire ancients delegates reveal that most ancients in the kill the Borg camp are dishonouring the conference’s peace agreement.
This is met with shock by delegates on all three sides of the tripartite talks. The ancients explain to the Federation that this will send the ancient races clique into a civil war. The Federation delegates counter by explaining that younger races are utterly screwed by this development as their civilisations will be caught in the crossfire of ancients trying to kill each other.
The ancients have debated for millennia as to what to do with the Borg and now the recent treaty violation has brought this debate into a dangerous new phase. Many ancients think that if the Borg can be destroyed now; then they should be annihilated now. Just as many ancients think that if the Borg can respect a ceasefire agreement for millennia, then the ancients should do the same. Granted, the ceasefire agreement was only reinstated because the Borg was facing total defeat, but a ceasefire is a ceasefire.
Stuck in a deadlock, the ancients on both sides cancel the conference. Seeing that an ancient’s civil war is unavoidable the USS Anracosh is ordered by Starfleet command to side with the kill the Borg faction. If anything good can come of this, it is that they can help kill the Borg and thus get rid of a major threat to the younger races. This will also earn the Federation some goodwill with the kill the Borg faction.
The USS Anracosh goes to the Imitari home world of Viridis, where the ascended mythbuster has invited them to help a bunch of ancients raid Borg territory. The consensus among the crew’s head kickers is that it will be great to fight alongside the ascended mythbuster.
They prepare for battle, and join a flotilla of ancient race starships and beings going deep into Borg space. The crew are ready for war, but instead of getting a conflict, they find a Borg unicomplex being guarded by ancients who support the ceasefire treaty. The USS Anracosh and its ancient race allies are about to attack the Borg and the ancients defending them when they observe that the Borg have opened a dimensional portal and are actually beginning to leave the universe.
The defending ancients contact the armada, including the USS Anracosh, and confirm that what they are seeing is true. The Borg is escaping into another reality. This has the upshot of cancelling the ancient’s civil war. There is now no reason for the ancients to fight each other. All across the galaxy and beyond, ancients on both sides of the argument are laying down their weapons and making peace with their ancient races brethren.
The Borg have ironically succeeded in doing what the crew of the USS Anracosh failed to do; stop the ancients civil war by fleeing the universe before they could be destroyed. The ancients who support the treaty point out the reasons why the Borg fled. The Borg realised that if the younger races have USS Anracosh type ships, it would only be a matter of time before they came after the Borg themselves, using ancient race type weapons. Even if the ancients failed to destroy the Borg, sooner or later the younger races would finish the job. To avoid extinction the Borg has to leave the universe before being completely annihilated by the younger races.
The grand finale of the grand finale:
The two teams of ancients at the scene where the Borg unicomplex is leaving the universe make peace with each other. As this happens the bridge crew watch as the last of the Borg move to another dimension. This sets off an internal monologue and montage that ends the series. The Borg is a great example of why the crew of the USS Anracosh started their rogue mission in the first place. They approached the ancients to find a way to defend the Federation from greater and greater threats. They succeeded in ways that even amazed the battle hardened combat veterans in the crew of the USS Anracosh.
Because of the Realm of the Gods project, many of the Federation’s enemies and potential enemies have been vanquished. The Federation now has weapons derived from the technology of the USS Anracosh. They can bring the Romulans or any other hostile government to the Federation to their knees. The Dominion is in dire straits, the Orion syndicate is collapsing, the Ferengi are giving up hyper capitalism, space borne ancients that were once a problem for Federation starships are now friends of the Federation. The Federation now has many powerful friends and allies in the ancient races community, and to top it off the Borg are leaving the universe altogether. Whether or not they return is anyone’s guess. The important thing to remember is that one of the reasons the Borg is leaving is the fact that the USS Anracosh exists. What a feather in the cap for the crew of that starship.
This is far more than what the crew of the USS Anracosh originally set out to do. The have set the Federation and many other civilisations on a path of joining the ancients, even if it takes a 1,000 years. This is the future that everyone wants to embrace, even when knowing the risks of immortality. The crew of the USS Anracosh have accomplished far more than their original mission of finding ancients willing to defend the Federation.
They did not anticipate the ancients being so generous. They never thought when they stole the starship that would become the USS Anracosh that the ancients would upgrade it to a starship with god like capabilities. At that time their rogue mission was made legal and Starfleet command gave a motto to the USS Anracosh as a punishment for their rogue operation. The crew have embraced the comical motto because as much as it is humorous it truly sums up the real mission of the USS Anracosh. It is whimsical, but it is the truth:
Flying a starship we don’t understand on a mission we can’t believe meeting beings beyond our comprehension.
End of episode 3 of finale and end of series
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Introduction to a sample Star Trek Realm of the Gods TV show