Set in the Kelvin Timeline:
The Enterprise-A is on its first ever deep space mission. Crossed any and all Federation boundaries a year ago, they truly are on their own.
Kir, Spock, Mccoy, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty and a new helmsman, Mckenna, a female Andorian born and raised on Earth.
They actually went 'westbound' on the Alpha Quadrant and started to explore.
The crew comes across a very vibrant planet, third from its star, but are shocked to find a thriving civilization consisting of Humans, Vulcans, Androrians, Tellarites and several other 30 or so FedSpace species.
However the civilization is fully pre-warp, but resembles mid 21st century aesthetics (2010s).
During their investigations they end up 'waking' a very dangerous adversary, ones who have been collecting these species for millenia, for testing an all-out invasion/enslavement of said species.
But our beloved crew has an ally, an ally that has been biding his time and is very knowledgeable of these alien adversaries, because he used to work for them.
His name... is Gary 7.