Temporally displaced people

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I think it would be interesting to have a series main character who's from the future, permanently living in the past.

DIS has had the reverse - characters from the 23rd century living in the 32nd for an extended period of time.

But I think it would be a new twist to have a character who's from the future who for whatever reason, can't physically return to the future (too dangerous for them as a temporal refugee, are believed dead in the future, etc). And they're not the McGuffin officer - always saving the day with magic advanced tech (though they could once or twice) They bear a heavy burden of knowledge of future tech, science, events etc that they cannot share. Yet for some reason, the timeline is only complete with their long-term presence in the past.

This character's recurring storylines could include dealing with a temporal agent handler who makes sure they don't do what they're not supposed to, and do do what they are supposed to. Perhaps they have the cover story of growing up on an isolated colony world and so they're behind the times. Maybe one episode they have to save a relative who's in danger of dying before the family line carries on.

 

[Timofnine]

They could do a Rios novel, exploring how him, Teresa and their son Ricardo got on after the events of Picard season 2… Rios could be contacted by temporal agents, having to sometimes work with them in order to protect the timeline from manipulation by factions in the temporal Cold War as well as other present day potential alien threats, but Rios would never be *quite* sure which time agents to trust.

The early to mid 21st century is obviously an important point which helps to shape the future of humanity, with many fixed points in time as well as butterfly effects which could ripple uncontrollably in a multiverse of directions, for example, did you know that the 21st century in Star Trek had the potential for the Eugenics wars and even worse… World War III.

The concept for this spin-off could have been very similar to the Gary Seven story from TOS, which was also a back door pilot for a spin-off series in the 1960’s. In a present day version of such a spin-off, Gary Seven can be replaced with Seven of Nine… now Captain of the time ship USS Relativity. Seven of Nine could also have a shape shifting time travelling cat like Gary Seven did, who ‘coincidentally’ is also the same cat that Book had on Discovery… Grudge. Now that’s a crossover opportunity worth exploring!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Mmm...I was thinking more a crew member of a 23rd/24th/25th century ship is originally from the 29th century, before being thrust back in time, which they were meant to be all along.

You've certainly connected a lot of dots, though.

 

[Silvercrest]

I think it would be interesting to have a series main character who's from the future, permanently living in the past.

In DS9's "Visionary", the O'Brien from a few hours in the future was permanently sent to the past (or the present, if you like).

I know, I know, it's not what you were looking for. But ....

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

In @Christopher's DTI novels, Clare Raymond (one of the displaced 20th-century people from "The Neutral Zone") is working as a counselor for the DTI, helping people who are displaced from their own times. I thought that was a cool thing to explore.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

The writers could regularly torture the character by forcing them to stand idly by while someone dies in a manner that could be prevented with future knowledge or future technology.

"OMG, I know how to save them, but I swore never to use my future knowledge!"

"If only I had di-hexacordrazine, I could save her, but it hasn't been invented yet, why God why?"

"I could easily prevent this stellar fragment from destroying the Planet of Cute Children and Puppies, but your cave-man Galaxy-class starship doesn't have a exo-watt capable warp core, you primitives!"

"Oh...you've fallen in love with ... that woman, Captain? Really? I mean-- Noooo, I'm not 'making that face again.' No, I definitely don't 'know something you don't know.' I really could not tell you whether it's going to end badly or not."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

That reminds me of a SNW story (the fanfic, not the TV series) about Gary Seven, in which he reflects on the coming World War III. He points out that he's glad he isn't the agent who has to allow the war to happen - or, more to the point, to make sure it happens.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

The writers could regularly torture the character by forcing them to stand idly by while someone dies in a manner that could be prevented with future knowledge or future technology.

I wrote a fanfic where Spock Prime listened to a Kelvin Enterprise staff meeting, nodding knowingly or laughing at names and missions he recognized from his own reality (all made up by me, no TOS stories).

The displaced person I spoke of may either need to be here, or need to not be where they came from (or both).

 

[Timofnine]

Oh @Laura Cynthia Chambers , never mind a novel, someone should pitch this as a present day low budget Pramount+ TV movie event like that Section 31 thing starring Michelle Yeoh! Young Guinan can be in it too!

Mmm...I was thinking more a crew member of a 23rd/24th/25th century ship is originally from the 29th century, before being thrust back in time, which they were meant to be all along.

I would imagine that as a result of the temporal Cold War, there are a lot of such agents from the future ‘sneaking’ around in the 23rd, 24th and 25th centuries. If as in your scenario someone was transported back in time and ‘neutralised’ in to the said past society, as well as being potentially handled by time agents, I am sure that their Starfleet training (or other) taught them to be *very* careful with their behaviours so as not to disrupt the natural flow of temporal reality. Any actions that they take to either alter or preserve timelines during their accidental temporal incursion could have a multitude of unforeseen future consequences, with the potential for *both* good and bad outcomes for their cause due to the unpredictability of causality… throw a dice and no one can guess where it will land, if a time traveller does not like the number that a dice fell on in their present and decides to throw the same dice again by travelling back in time to change history, they *still* cannot predict the outcome of the dice that they role even when changing the course of history, causing a chaotic, infinite and ever expanding causality loop ; instead of having a predictable outcome each time, it results in an infinite cycle of unpredictable outcomes. Manipulating timelines is probably a *really* last ditch and desperate thing to do due to its unpredictable nature and outcomes - as well as the ‘butterfly’ effect, we need to think about the temporal ‘domino’ effect which also takes affect once the temporal flutters have cascaded out of control and potentially created an uncontrollable and all consuming storm.

In fact, would you not consider any known time traveller who found themselves ‘lost in the past’ to be a sleeper agent of sorts, if they were knowingly being *handled* by time agents and not actually transported/recovered back to where they *actually* belong in the future?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

In fact, would you not consider any known time traveller who found themselves ‘lost in the past’ to be a sleeper agent of sorts, if they were knowingly being *handled* by time agents and not actually transported/recovered back to where they *actually* belong in the future?

That, or they're in the temporal witness protection program. Assuming the person who poses a threat to you can't travel time to find you, send someone else, or doesn't even know you've time traveled (and therefore is still looking for you in their present), you're much safer elsewhen.

 

[Finn]

They should have had Harry Kim from the future, where he's a successful Captain, a legendary hero in the Dominion war when he went back in time and did something, and he ended up on Voyager, and forever an Ensign...driving him insane.

 

[Timofnine]

That, or they're in the temporal witness protection program..

That is *totally* acceptable and makes sense within a time travel storyline set during the temporal Cold War. The time agent ‘handlers’ could be protecting the person who is lost in the past, and they may not even know that they are being protected, which results in the time traveller having a form of paranoia or aggression in relation to the time agents that they interact with as they have idea of what is actually going on. This could even be a good take on Star Trek as a psychological sci-fi thriller, instead of being a soap opera. It could almost be a merged reboot of Frame of Mind, crossed with Parallels and Cause and Effect.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Maybe the agent is one of their ancestors?

 

[Timofnine]

Maybe the agent is one of their ancestors?

That is possible, in particular if the ancestor is not of the agents direct lineage, or of that whom the agent is working for; their may be motive to ‘remove’ the ancestor from history in order to achieve the future goal of achieving power through ‘bloodlines’. Wipe out a bloodline by assassinating an heir to the Empire via an organized temporal incursion, putting an end to a bloodline with more right to inherit power within the Empire than yours… then victory is achieved! Though at what long lasting cost to the timeline? Achieving victory using this underhand method would also *not* be honorable. Also, do not forget the temporal domino effect and the unpredictability of causality.

It is entirely possible that the House of Duras may be involved in the temporal cold war, continuing their internal struggle for power within the Klingon Empire, working with external temporal cold war factions in order to achieve their multi generational goal of seizing control of the Klingon Empire!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I meant that a good guy agent is tasked with protecting his great-great aunt/uncle/grandparent. And they have to reconcile what the family believed about their MIA ancestor with the person they get to know.

 

[Timofnine]

I meant that a good guy agent is tasked with protecting his great-great aunt/uncle/grandparent. And they have to reconcile what the family believed about their MIA ancestor with the person they get to know.

But they already did kind of do this in the movie Terminator, so it would almost be plagiarism.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

You can use all kinds of tropes like that. It's all in the execution of the story. The backstory doesn't have to be identical.

 

[Timofnine]

You can use all kinds of tropes like that. It's all in the execution of the story. The backstory doesn't have to be identical.

I guess that they *could* always retcon the Terminator storyline in to Star Trek, but it *really* does not fit in with the optimistic view of the future that Star Trek (almost) always presented.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

They wouldn't always be in peril. Sometimes protection would mean warning them not to get involved in something, or share information. Much of the time, they would have an ordinary life complicated by having to get used to old tech, a different life than the one they used to have, etc

 

[Timofnine]

They wouldn't always be in peril. Sometimes protection would mean warning them not to get involved in something, or share information. Much of the time, they would have an ordinary life complicated by having to get used to old tech, a different life than the one they used to have, etc

Star Trek TNG/DS9/VOY used to have both A and B plots running parallel to each other in each episode. The A plots were the main exciting storylines and the B plots were the ‘filler’ which kind of developed the side lined characters who were not involved in the A plot, thus helping to ‘pad things out’ in order to fill the 45 minute run time of each episode. You can write the B plots.