What very small plot (or plot detail) would make for an interesting Star Trek story?

[evilchumlee]

Who sent the Whale Probe and what their relationship was with Earth's Humpback Whales in the ancient past.

There are plenty of things I want to know more about, and there some things I think are better left unanswered.

This is one of the latter. It's interesting to ponder, but I feel like any answer they give us won't live up to the expectation and wonder.

Same with V'Ger, and to a lesser extent, the Borg. We COULD do a Borg origin story but I feel like it's kind of mundane. I really don't think there would be a huge, dramatic, dynamic story around the formation of the Borg. Rather, I think it's closer to a long, drawn out, Cyperpunk-eque story where a planet dabbles into cybernetics and it slowly consumes them. Interesting enough on it's own, but I don't see a single climax moment. It's more of a progression. Even the Collective I think starts small, on the planet and the first people they assimilate are themselves. I have toyed with that idea and have some half-finished writings about it, inspired by Cyberpunk stories. My idea was that there's a very like, Cyberpunk 2077ish world and cybernetics are running amok as well as unchecked consumerism and consumption. The Collective is actually a backfired tactic enacted by a corporation trying to exploit brain-mods to gently mind control the masses. It works... sort of... but rather than giving them the power to influence the masses, it actually just networks them together. The new collective starts to spread with basically a single focus... "consume".

 

[BillJ]

Who sent the Whale Probe and what their relationship was with Earth's Humpback Whales in the ancient past.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Probe_(novel)

 

[fireproof78]

Who sent the Whale Probe and what their relationship was with Earth's Humpback Whales in the ancient past.

And what did the President know and when did he know it?

 

[Citiprime]

The Galactic Barriers.

Who (or what) created the galactic barriers on the edge of the Milky Way and around the core of the Milky Way? And what purpose do they serve, or are they naturally occurring phenomena with no purpose whatsoever?

The barrier at the center of the galaxy seems to act to keep the "God" entity trapped inside of a prison. Does that imply the barrier around the edge of the galaxy acts to keep something out of the Milky Way?

 

[NCC-73515]

And is the ShaKaRee fake god a cytherean?

 

[Shawnster]

I tend to think that Humans dominate Starfleet more than any other Federation institution

What other Federation institutions do you speak of that do not have a large percentage of humans?

 

[Citiprime]

And is the ShaKaRee fake god a cytherean?

There's a novelverse explanation for who and what he is.

• Somehow entered our galaxy through the Guardian of Forever after Q asked the Guardian to be shown "something new, something different" and it summoned an entity named "0." That entity was malevolent and eventually pulled the "God" in The Final Frontier through the gateway along with some other things.
• Was a contemporary and colleague of some of the other non-corporeal entities encountered by Kirk and the Enterprise (e.g., the Beta XII-A entity, Gorgan, etc.)
• He's responsible for the destruction of the T'Kon Empire
• Was defeated and imprisoned by the Q Continuum

 

[fireproof78]

Does that imply the barrier around the edge of the galaxy acts to keep something out of the Milky Way?

Probably.

 

[Farscape One]

The Galactic Barriers.

Who (or what) created the galactic barriers on the edge of the Milky Way and around the core of the Milky Way? And what purpose do they serve, or are they naturally occurring phenomena with no purpose whatsoever?

The barrier at the center of the galaxy seems to act to keep the "God" entity trapped inside of a prison. Does that imply the barrier around the edge of the galaxy acts to keep something out of the Milky Way?

Or maybe... to keep something in the Milky Way.

 

[C.E. Evans]

What other Federation institutions do you speak of that do not have a large percentage of humans?

On Federation worlds where the number of Humans are low or perhaps even zero. We know there are members (like Vulcan) that still maintain their own individual agencies even after joining.

 

[Jayson1]

The Tzenkethi War. We don't even know what those aliens look like. Prime Lorca is out their also just waiting to make a entrance.

 

[evilchumlee]

On Federation worlds where the number of Humans are low or perhaps even zero. We know there are members (like Vulcan) that still maintain their own individual agencies even after joining.

That get's fuzzy on wording. The question was what Federation institutions.

There are absolutely member world organizations/fleets. We know for absolute certainty Vulcan operates a fleet and an intelligence agency. We've seen Andorian ships in LDS.

It's semantics, but are these considered Federation organizations, or Member World organizations?

The Galactic Barriers.

Who (or what) created the galactic barriers on the edge of the Milky Way and around the core of the Milky Way? And what purpose do they serve, or are they naturally occurring phenomena with no purpose whatsoever?

This, for sure, it's almost odd they haven't really explored this more at some point.

I've never put a ton of thought into it, but I had a nugget of an idea that they're an incredibly ancient holdover from an ancient galaxy-spanning empire, created a defense against... something from outside the galaxy.

I do like the idea of it also being constructed to keep something in. Giving it two seconds of thought, perhaps it was built by some ancient race in response to the PIC Reapers AI-aliens destroying all organic life. Perhaps while being extra-dimensional, for whatever reason (quan...tum?) they're tethered to entry points in the Milky Way. So Ancient Extra-Galactic Sheppard unknown persons built a giant barrier to keep the NotReapers contained.

 

[Citiprime]

I've never put a ton of thought into it, but I had a nugget of an idea that they're an incredibly ancient holdover from an ancient galaxy-spanning empire, created a defense against... something from outside the galaxy.

For those familiar with the lore of Warhammer 40K... a Trek version of the Tyranids is a frightening concept.

The idea of living extra-galactic fleets invading the Milky Way to consume organic matter, and the more they consume the more they evolve to incorporate your characteristics into their defenses to destroy you is pure horror-show.

I could see an ancient species constructing the barriers to combat those type of threats.

 

[fireproof78]

The Tzenkethi War. We don't even know what those aliens look like. Prime Lorca is out their also just waiting to make a entrance.

Is he entering during the Tzenkethi War?

 

[evilchumlee]

For those familiar with the lore of Warhammer 40K... a Trek version of the Tyranids is a frightening concept.

Absolutely.

I have always liked the vast timescales of Trek, like everything that has happened in the galaxy isn't happening "now", there's been entire galaxy-spanning civilizations that have risen and fallen over a few billion years.

We know very little of what's going on in other galaxies. We do know that Andromeda is being flooded by some sort of radiation and the Kelvans are having issues with that. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Prime Lorca is out their also just waiting to make a entrance.

I feel like Prime Lorca is just dead. Stands to reason the old switcheroo happened the usual way, transporter mishap, and Mirror Lorca's ship was in the process of being destroyed. Prime Lorca almost certainly materialized, and died almost immediately.

Sure he COULD be out there, and I wouldn't mind seeing him but... yeah. He's dead.

 

[at Quark's]

Perhaps not a small plot detail, but still a brief throwaway Wesley line from Samaritan Snare:

PICARD: Several friends and I were on leave at Farspace Starbase Earhart. It was little more than a galactic outpost in those days.
WESLEY: Was this before the Klingons joined the Federation?
PICARD: That's right.

So, how did they join (and then extricate themselves again)?

 

[C.E. Evans]

That get's fuzzy on wording. The question was what Federation institutions.

There are absolutely member world organizations/fleets. We know for absolute certainty Vulcan operates a fleet and an intelligence agency. We've seen Andorian ships in LDS.

It's semantics, but are these considered Federation organizations, or Member World organizations?

Depending on the perspective, both.

 

[Verteron]

Perhaps not a small plot detail, but still a brief throwaway Wesley line from Samaritan Snare:

PICARD: Several friends and I were on leave at Farspace Starbase Earhart. It was little more than a galactic outpost in those days.
WESLEY: Was this before the Klingons joined the Federation?
PICARD: That's right.

So, how did they join (and then extricate themselves again)?

Joined as 'allies' works here, just about.

Example:
Britain joined the USA in the Iraq War.
This does not imply we became the 51st state.

Though I believe that when this episode was written, the idea was to have the Klingons as Federation members, so this is really just a dialogue retcon.

 

[at Quark's]

For those familiar with the lore of Warhammer 40K... a Trek version of the Tyranids is a frightening concept.

The idea of living extra-galactic fleets invading the Milky Way to consume organic matter, and the more they consume the more they evolve to incorporate your characteristics into their defenses to destroy you is pure horror-show.

I could see an ancient species constructing the barriers to combat those type of threats.

Sounds a lot like a race of extragalactic überborg to me, with a million-year (or so) headstart on them.

 

[BillJ]

The idea of living extra-galactic fleets invading the Milky Way to consume organic matter, and the more they consume the more they evolve to incorporate your characteristics into their defenses to destroy you is pure horror-show.

Just sounds like a variation on the Borg.