As part of a general Trek mapping project, working maybe towards a rough 3D map (though I doubt that could be done alone) I have, over the last few months, been grouping together all the numbered sectors and reconciling their likely placements, from all tv and film references, plus the occasional novel, game and comic one. The idea is also to have something of a possible resource for fanfics or other general interest.
Helping to make much of this possible was attentivesenpai's excellent Star Trek map on Reddit, intended for ST Online projects... which just may be the most detailed 'large' Star Trek map from fandom. Trekbbs' own 'JimCat' or 'Atavachron' had also produced a preliminary 'side view' of sectors, running 12 deep, which was also of some vague help.
Overall I've drawn heavily from Geoffrey Mandel's and Larry Nemecek's Star Charts book, for guidance... but find myself not fully agreeing with the system they set down, as it does not fully match onscreen references. I also wanted to narrow the field of confusion. Others like MalMap's on Wordpress have tried placing sectors themselves, but these end up very random, so I like to keep them together in blocks, as Mandel suggests. The solution was not to have the blocks themselves too fixedly arranged in a linear sequence, I found.
That way, two digit, three digit, and four digit sectors seemed to fit much more neatly into the resulting system, with a five digit system overall (and per Mandel, 9 digit on a galactic scale) Bear with me after that, however, as it gets fairly longwinded.
So the Federation home systems become grouped in sectors 21001-21008, with 21010 and 21045 (where the Bassen Rift is) thus nearer the Romulan Neutral Zone. All I did was add an extra digit to the sector from ST Nemesis, so as to integrate that one. Similarly, the Taugan sector now becomes 22158, whilst an outlier like 9569 (from TNG 'Transfigurations') can now become 19569, and so on.
The result is a bit jigsaw like, but beginning to become organized. Cardassian sectors now mostly fall into Block 215, but so likely does Betazed and the Betreka Nebula. Across from that, in near Beta Quadrant, I placed Block 218 (to be broadly consistent with the sector list from the Operation Retrieve chart) but did end up fudging it a bit, to be only three sectors wide. If set far 'above' Omega Leonis and Qo'nos block, then there'd probably be room for a larger block more easily. Still, right above that falls a possible Block 214 (for the Briar Patch, at sector '441') which may constrain things.
Orelious (sector '401') near Tzenkethi space, is too far away to fit into the same block as Ba'ku, but the novels do imply a sector 22402 is nearby (in 'The Brave and the Bold' duology) so that may be a solution. Rura Penthe remains in sector 21166, as per canon - but now Qo'nos can be in nearby sector 21170 (loosely fitting the label given in 'Into Darkness' - more accurately '27 70')
Sector 21947 meantime, from TNG "Suddenly Human", has now been bumped down to near the Grazer system - just beyond Talarian space, allowing more room for the other blocks. This also lets more nearby sectors be filled in, approaching Tholian space, conveniently. Way across the map, Devolin, in sector '1607', now provisionally becomes part of Block 216 (so 21607) That's not geometrically neat, but does preserve the simplicity of the system so far.
New sectors open up beyond Rura Penthe and Mempa, with varying nomenclature established. Starbase 173 is in 'sector 23' per 'Measure of the Man', which could be any one of several abbreviations, but for now I assign it as 23023. Not far away, around Starbase 117, falls sector 23079 (presumably right at the edge of sectors within easy reach for Operation Retrieve, in the plans from the deleted Undiscovered Country scene material) Then the wider Klingon Empire opens up, running into the area of operations for several Starfleet Relay Stations in the 24th century (see TNG "Aquiel")
Sectors there include '2520' as being more or less in Klingon space, yet adjacent to Relay Station 47. Possibly this is an abbreviation of 22520 (thus putting many sectors beginning 22, well into the Beta Quadrant) Though if the system is further extended, 32520 is, however, vaguely possible.
And beyond Relay Station 194 falls the briefly mentioned sector 23891, just past the far end of Klingon Space (where the system Taurus is, on the Star Charts, presumably) From this we might infer much of the further reaches of Klingon space fall into blocks 231 to 238, out past Krios, possibly. The Empire also covers many stars, in several constellations, and so almost certainly extends ten, perhaps even as many as fifteen sectors, vertically, allowing much more leeway.
Romulan space I have tried to keep relatively neat, placing most of it in the early 22000s range. So sector 30 from "Balance of Terror" becomes sector 22030. This begins a range of sectors that may lead out towards the sparsely defined sector 22055 (on one background display list) and then potentially jump by a decimal place the deeper into Romulan space one moves 'vertically'... eventually lining back up with Taugan sector (22158) Way across in the Alpha Quadrant are more vaguer sectors like '97' or '108', which may be part of the broader expanse of Block 210 and 211 (which may be numbered somewhat akin to 'order explored' more than anything else)
So near Deep Space 3 and the Black Cluster, we have a possible sector 21097 (maybe running down to 21108 around Ferenginar, and beyond)
Higher numbers get mentioned further into TNG, such as Beta Stromgren being 'beyond manned exploration zones' in sector 25434. This is where things begin to get less neat, as the Mutara Nebula, per a background display, falls in sector 25712 (but also 'near' Starbase 12, going by Kirk's vague original line) Presumably this is beyond most of the Taurus Reach sectors, which include sector '63' between Mira and Pacifica (per TNG 'Conspiracy'; this is now provisionally sector 25263)
Still higher numbers get mentioned occasionally in TNG and Voyager, with the odd lower number. For instance, hijacked Argus Array data, in "Parallels" is sent to sector 19658 (described by Worf as 'uninhabited'. For the purpose of this essay, I've placed it beyond Zalkon and Zeta Gelis) In "Ethics" the Enterprise-D is due to depart from Beloti sector, between Cardassian and Talarian space, to Sector 37628, which I have for now placed near Velara and close to the Pleiades. This is very remote from Beloti, but presumably still on the exploration schedule Picard's been asked to stick to (with or without shortcuts of 'warp corridors' involved) More precisely, on attentivesenpai's map, this is near the edge of Federation borders, a little past Rho Persei.
One of the most remote 'local' sectors, potentially, comes from Voyager's "Inside Man", with the Ferengi operating in 'sector 39542', said to be in 'Grid 8, Alpha Quadrant'. Per the Star Charts system, this may even place it over 1000 light years distant, in another 'grid' per the sector layout system described. For now, though, I'd pinned it as being towards Sheliak, as a compromise. Another obscure one from VOY "Flashback" (sector 36764) has also now ended up at the lower Klingon border, near Cambra.
From this we might infer sector numbers jump exponentially the more area of space is opened up, cubically and radially, with presumably more stacking (which matches the vague intention seen in a tactical map from "The Wounded" where sectors jump by 1000 each 'row') but now, on a much more manageable scale, perhaps)
As Attentive Senpai's map includes at least 40x31 sectors, and if we assume some 15 vertically, a rather large number (18,600) opens up, allowing plenty of room for finessing. For the sake of simplifying, I've assumed the numbers usually get lower towards the core, and higher towards the rim, but this has not proven fully cut and dried, so far. The lowest one I've so far integrated, come from Decipher's Starships RPG guide, for the Aerie/USS Raven class, with the USS Swift assigned to a stellar survey in sector 15120 (which I've stuck deep in the Scorpius Reach, towards Antares) The further away each sector is, of course, the more random the placement.
But I think this is a very workable guide so far - though not as systematic as the new Edge of Midnight fansite may be utilizing. It's also flexible enough for me to add more sectors from novels and other older sources, loosely into the layout. And even to invent new ones (for instance, much of the Taurus Reach and Gorn sectors now lie in 'Block 256', whilst the sector 918, from the old L.A. Graf novel 'Death Count' now lies in block 259, further down) Spica also ends up at sector 19562... (whilst our Thallonian and Xenexian friends from the New Frontier books, could be in either sector 20221G, or 19221G?)
This has developed pretty neatly out of basic spitballing I began with... so now I'd be more than happy to receive feedback or suggestions (including about the vertical areas for expansion) and just to see if people find this more widely useful, for now.
Helping to make much of this possible was attentivesenpai's excellent Star Trek map on Reddit, intended for ST Online projects... which just may be the most detailed 'large' Star Trek map from fandom. Trekbbs' own 'JimCat' or 'Atavachron' had also produced a preliminary 'side view' of sectors, running 12 deep, which was also of some vague help.
Overall I've drawn heavily from Geoffrey Mandel's and Larry Nemecek's Star Charts book, for guidance... but find myself not fully agreeing with the system they set down, as it does not fully match onscreen references. I also wanted to narrow the field of confusion. Others like MalMap's on Wordpress have tried placing sectors themselves, but these end up very random, so I like to keep them together in blocks, as Mandel suggests. The solution was not to have the blocks themselves too fixedly arranged in a linear sequence, I found.
That way, two digit, three digit, and four digit sectors seemed to fit much more neatly into the resulting system, with a five digit system overall (and per Mandel, 9 digit on a galactic scale) Bear with me after that, however, as it gets fairly longwinded.
So the Federation home systems become grouped in sectors 21001-21008, with 21010 and 21045 (where the Bassen Rift is) thus nearer the Romulan Neutral Zone. All I did was add an extra digit to the sector from ST Nemesis, so as to integrate that one. Similarly, the Taugan sector now becomes 22158, whilst an outlier like 9569 (from TNG 'Transfigurations') can now become 19569, and so on.
The result is a bit jigsaw like, but beginning to become organized. Cardassian sectors now mostly fall into Block 215, but so likely does Betazed and the Betreka Nebula. Across from that, in near Beta Quadrant, I placed Block 218 (to be broadly consistent with the sector list from the Operation Retrieve chart) but did end up fudging it a bit, to be only three sectors wide. If set far 'above' Omega Leonis and Qo'nos block, then there'd probably be room for a larger block more easily. Still, right above that falls a possible Block 214 (for the Briar Patch, at sector '441') which may constrain things.
Orelious (sector '401') near Tzenkethi space, is too far away to fit into the same block as Ba'ku, but the novels do imply a sector 22402 is nearby (in 'The Brave and the Bold' duology) so that may be a solution. Rura Penthe remains in sector 21166, as per canon - but now Qo'nos can be in nearby sector 21170 (loosely fitting the label given in 'Into Darkness' - more accurately '27 70')
Sector 21947 meantime, from TNG "Suddenly Human", has now been bumped down to near the Grazer system - just beyond Talarian space, allowing more room for the other blocks. This also lets more nearby sectors be filled in, approaching Tholian space, conveniently. Way across the map, Devolin, in sector '1607', now provisionally becomes part of Block 216 (so 21607) That's not geometrically neat, but does preserve the simplicity of the system so far.
New sectors open up beyond Rura Penthe and Mempa, with varying nomenclature established. Starbase 173 is in 'sector 23' per 'Measure of the Man', which could be any one of several abbreviations, but for now I assign it as 23023. Not far away, around Starbase 117, falls sector 23079 (presumably right at the edge of sectors within easy reach for Operation Retrieve, in the plans from the deleted Undiscovered Country scene material) Then the wider Klingon Empire opens up, running into the area of operations for several Starfleet Relay Stations in the 24th century (see TNG "Aquiel")
Sectors there include '2520' as being more or less in Klingon space, yet adjacent to Relay Station 47. Possibly this is an abbreviation of 22520 (thus putting many sectors beginning 22, well into the Beta Quadrant) Though if the system is further extended, 32520 is, however, vaguely possible.
And beyond Relay Station 194 falls the briefly mentioned sector 23891, just past the far end of Klingon Space (where the system Taurus is, on the Star Charts, presumably) From this we might infer much of the further reaches of Klingon space fall into blocks 231 to 238, out past Krios, possibly. The Empire also covers many stars, in several constellations, and so almost certainly extends ten, perhaps even as many as fifteen sectors, vertically, allowing much more leeway.
Romulan space I have tried to keep relatively neat, placing most of it in the early 22000s range. So sector 30 from "Balance of Terror" becomes sector 22030. This begins a range of sectors that may lead out towards the sparsely defined sector 22055 (on one background display list) and then potentially jump by a decimal place the deeper into Romulan space one moves 'vertically'... eventually lining back up with Taugan sector (22158) Way across in the Alpha Quadrant are more vaguer sectors like '97' or '108', which may be part of the broader expanse of Block 210 and 211 (which may be numbered somewhat akin to 'order explored' more than anything else)
So near Deep Space 3 and the Black Cluster, we have a possible sector 21097 (maybe running down to 21108 around Ferenginar, and beyond)
Higher numbers get mentioned further into TNG, such as Beta Stromgren being 'beyond manned exploration zones' in sector 25434. This is where things begin to get less neat, as the Mutara Nebula, per a background display, falls in sector 25712 (but also 'near' Starbase 12, going by Kirk's vague original line) Presumably this is beyond most of the Taurus Reach sectors, which include sector '63' between Mira and Pacifica (per TNG 'Conspiracy'; this is now provisionally sector 25263)
Still higher numbers get mentioned occasionally in TNG and Voyager, with the odd lower number. For instance, hijacked Argus Array data, in "Parallels" is sent to sector 19658 (described by Worf as 'uninhabited'. For the purpose of this essay, I've placed it beyond Zalkon and Zeta Gelis) In "Ethics" the Enterprise-D is due to depart from Beloti sector, between Cardassian and Talarian space, to Sector 37628, which I have for now placed near Velara and close to the Pleiades. This is very remote from Beloti, but presumably still on the exploration schedule Picard's been asked to stick to (with or without shortcuts of 'warp corridors' involved) More precisely, on attentivesenpai's map, this is near the edge of Federation borders, a little past Rho Persei.
One of the most remote 'local' sectors, potentially, comes from Voyager's "Inside Man", with the Ferengi operating in 'sector 39542', said to be in 'Grid 8, Alpha Quadrant'. Per the Star Charts system, this may even place it over 1000 light years distant, in another 'grid' per the sector layout system described. For now, though, I'd pinned it as being towards Sheliak, as a compromise. Another obscure one from VOY "Flashback" (sector 36764) has also now ended up at the lower Klingon border, near Cambra.
From this we might infer sector numbers jump exponentially the more area of space is opened up, cubically and radially, with presumably more stacking (which matches the vague intention seen in a tactical map from "The Wounded" where sectors jump by 1000 each 'row') but now, on a much more manageable scale, perhaps)
As Attentive Senpai's map includes at least 40x31 sectors, and if we assume some 15 vertically, a rather large number (18,600) opens up, allowing plenty of room for finessing. For the sake of simplifying, I've assumed the numbers usually get lower towards the core, and higher towards the rim, but this has not proven fully cut and dried, so far. The lowest one I've so far integrated, come from Decipher's Starships RPG guide, for the Aerie/USS Raven class, with the USS Swift assigned to a stellar survey in sector 15120 (which I've stuck deep in the Scorpius Reach, towards Antares) The further away each sector is, of course, the more random the placement.
But I think this is a very workable guide so far - though not as systematic as the new Edge of Midnight fansite may be utilizing. It's also flexible enough for me to add more sectors from novels and other older sources, loosely into the layout. And even to invent new ones (for instance, much of the Taurus Reach and Gorn sectors now lie in 'Block 256', whilst the sector 918, from the old L.A. Graf novel 'Death Count' now lies in block 259, further down) Spica also ends up at sector 19562... (whilst our Thallonian and Xenexian friends from the New Frontier books, could be in either sector 20221G, or 19221G?)
This has developed pretty neatly out of basic spitballing I began with... so now I'd be more than happy to receive feedback or suggestions (including about the vertical areas for expansion) and just to see if people find this more widely useful, for now.
*jaw drops*
