We were putting together folders for the AGM chatting about ideas and new Star Trek series. These were some of the ideas we came up with. At the time we were discussing the Islamic State’s continued expansion in the Middle East and potential Western intervention. I had also been listening to a series of podcasts concerning the Mongol conquests of settled civilisations. We both felt the idealisation of the Federation (representing the West) presented in earlier television series felt out of place in today’s world and that Star Trek should explore underlying weaknesses and imperfections.
Afterwards I recorded them my notebook for some relaxing afternoon writing. I used to enjoy coming up with story ideas all the time without having the creative writing skills to realise them. It can be a good practice to start with these simple summaries creating many for fun and to explore your imagination. Anyway here are some of my ideas. Maybe I’ll or someone else will use them for some future fan fiction project.
- The Federation turns imperialist. The recent Borg attacks and the Dominion War including the Breen’s attack on Earth have exposed the Federation’s lack of strategic death. Starfleet has become a massively expanded battle fleet. The ongoing breakup of the Romulan Empire creates new threats and opportunities. The Federation Council begins a policy of encouraging migration from the core worlds to the sparsely populated frontier and lays claim to all planets within their borders. This includes those pre-warp civilisations – with whom the Federation promise not to interfere and plan to exclude any outside influences. The species of the core worlds look set to continue their dominance (Humans, Andorians etc). The Federation’s social and economic policy shift towards expansion, internal and external conflicts grow and the newly reorganised Starfleet faces an uncertain future.
- Romulan Civil War strains the prime directive. The events of Nemesis have started an horrific civil war within the Empire. The peaceful Federation is war weary and its leadership increasingly facing inwards. The Romulan Empire is dealing with mass migration and militant opponents and proponents of reunification. Terrorist attacks strike across the Empire as its subject people rebel against the weakened central authority. The military’s attempts to reassert control are bloody. Along the neutral zone border Federation governors grow nervous, Romulan warbirds routinely intercept convoys they accuse of smuggling weapons and refugees. The decision of whether or not to intervene is difficult. Some star systems declare independence and request Federation recognition and support. The Starfleet Admiralty is divided over whether they have the moral duty or capacity. The Romulan Empire view such independence movements as terrorists and indeed in some areas second-class non-Romulan subjects of the Empire are imposing revenge oriented nationalist regimes. The Klingon Empire close their borders and mindful of their own populations are poised to back the crumbling Romulan central government at any cost, potentially driving a rift between the Klingon Empire and Federation. The Federation Senate has long been a talking shop subservient to the permanent bureaucracy, it is now divided between the interventionist and anti-interventionist factions which agree that the Federation’s own democratic systems are in need of reform. The quadrant’s empires are deeply suspicious of such democratic tendencies. Will the Federation risk war and the abandonment of the prime directive to impose democracy and other noble policy aims or will it stand by and witness genocide on its own borders.
- Alternative origin of the Borg. During the Dominion War the Federation were looking for allies. One such species was the Borg a one system civilisation who have only recently discovered warp drive. They were denied entry into the Federation due to their authoritarianism and the Federation’s attitude to genetic and cybernetic augmentation. The Federation saw little risk in encouraging the Borg to attack outlying Dominion territories. However now the war is over and the Borg have assimilated the territories and technologies they are a growing threat. Although their technological starting base is low by the standards of Alpha Quadrant, they are assimilating new technology at an alarming rate and have an almost religious conviction of their own perfection.
- Reemergence. The Federation was lazy, the luxurious and easy life of its post-scarcity, economy didn’t prepare its citizens for the hard realities of the Dominion War. 15 years later the Prean, a migratory species of organic spaceships, cross through Federation space. Despite their technological and military superiority Starfleet is slow and inefficient in responding to the threat. Earth is devastated and only the use of antimatter nova bombs divert the Prean threat. Federation space is further reduced by opportunistic expansion of other Alpha Quadrant powers and local independence movements sometimes spanning multiple systems. The Prean threat continues to reduce interstellar commerce and communication. Once a final resort the use of antimatter nova bombs gradually begin to replace traditional fleet actions. In one case a Starfleet crew refuse their orders to deploy nova bombs – raising the possibility that crews may be replaced with automated ships. Five decades after the devastation of Earth, the Restoration movement on the new Federation capital planet of Aadora seeks to resurrect the infrastructure, ships and ideals of Starfleet.
- The Alpha quadrant is on the verge of peace. It is an age of plenty and unprecedented interstellar cultural and economic integration. Following the events of Endgame the Borg threat has been removed and the Dominion War alliance seems to have united the Quadrant’s three major powers, opening up new avenues of trade and cultural exchange. For the Federation’s new build warships have been scrapped and a further 30% are being refitted for scientific duties. The Klingon and Roman empires have agreed to mothball 50% of their own fleets in orbit around designated planets. In return for reconstruction aid the Cardassian Empire transferred significant numbers of numbers of merchant ships and military assets to Bajor. On Romulas Delta (the planet of the Roman Empire’s second solar system) the Federation have established their first embassy. the size of a small city is an economic, cultural, scientific and diplomatic mission. The head of security is newly transferred to the diplomatic service having been a fighter ace during Dominion War. She just wants to see out the last five years of her enlistment and retire to a frontier world. However a catastrophic event changes the face of the galaxy. A massive Omega Particle chain reaction devastates subspace making warp navigation and travel all but impossible throughout the Alpha quadrant. We see the consequences of this. Hope’s position is extremely tenuous and its diplomatic status in doubt as the authorities’ suspect and blame the Federation. Bajor become a major interstellar power as they have sublight access to the wormwhole and thus to unaffected space where warp travel is still possible.. While Star Trek has a positive message that any problem solved through technology, this sometimes manifests in treating technology as magic whose rules can be suspended when convenient to the plot – beaming through the shields anyone? So would be good to see some firm technological boundaries put in place. Perhaps small ships can still still navigate through low warp speeds at great risk – this could open whole new storytelling possibilities, new ways of trading, new ways of waging war, all of which will affect the role of Starfleet and the domestic societies we see. One potential story arc could be of a Federation trade convoy on a routine route when forced out of warp with no knowledge of what’s going on how would they react? At what point will they realise a trip intended to take perhaps a week may now be a multi-generational journey. Perhaps one of the shipowners is a retired Starfleet captain, at what point did they break their secrecy over the Omega Particle? What sort of society would we see begin to form? How would people used to post-scarcity economics fare in a closed system? Would their Federation ideals help or hinder their survival?
The Secularist Liberal 