40,000 Years

40,000 Years is the eighth mission in Season 5 for the crew of the USS Endeavour. It aired on March 12th, 2012 and was ran by DGM Kossuth.
==Captain's Log Entry==
"Ship's Log. We have entered the other universe only to encounter what seemed a pitch battle in the systems closest to HVN-998. We detected the energy signature of a new form of weapon... before our probe could report more details of what was going on in the system, a large explosion created an energy wave, destroying the probe and forcing us to make an emergency turn into the wave. Once we approached the system, we found that one of the three planets had been destroyed. We are currently collecting the last of the survivors on several remaining disabled ships in system... this will be our first contact in this universe. End log." - Captain Hann
==Plot Summary==
Roughly 20 minutes after the conclusion of the last episode, the crew of the Endeavour is planning their next move.
The episode began with Captain Hann's ship's log. He was soon briefed by his Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander T'Pang. In her capacity as Chief Science Officer, she prepared and presented a report indicating that the alien fleet was disabled by a combination of shockwave and electromagnetic pulse, and could theoretically be jumpstarted with a polaron beam. She also noted that the configuration of this system was highly unusual, as it possessed three M-Class planets with moons but no other planetoids. In the report, she hypothesized that the system could be artificial in nature.
The Captain noted that they shouldn't proceed further until they've had a chance to talk with the aliens. T'Pang agreed.
Meanwhile, Doctor Jonas Bell was handling triage in Sickbay. Some of the aliens were wounded in the attack, and Acting Lieutenant Pirak was still unconscious from his injury during the dimensional jump. One particular alien, Ahaxi, had identified himself as the leader of this group and spoke with Dr. Bell. He expressed a desire to speak to the Captain, and was seemingly puzzled as to what a Doctor was.
The MACO Contingent consisting of Shannon Moore and Joanna Hall were keeping an eye on the alien guests while they were on the ship.
On the bridge, Captain Hann asked Vorath if he believed these aliens to be hostile. Vorath informed the Captain that the aliens were actually quite grateful for the assistance and were behaving properly. Before heading down to Engineering to check on the ship, Hann ordered Vorath to analyze the alien technology and assess their capability.
While Hann conferred with Chief Engineering Officer Krystin Chen, Vorath conducted in depth scans of the alien ships and revealed that they have a technology level of roughly the Federation in the 2360s. Their ships tended to be small, fast, agile and armed with disruptor weapons.
In Main Engineering, Chen reported to Hann that the ship was actually doing quite well, considering the circumstances. Everything that was damaged was either repaired or under repair. At the same time, in Sickbay, Bell was treating Pirak for his dented forehead.
Back on the Bridge, T'Pang made an interesting discovery; just before the explosion, several dozen ships fled from the system at warp. The subspace shockwave "burned" the warp trails of those ships into subspace, similar to how the Hiroshima atomic bomb burned shadows into objects. T'Pang narrowed their trajectory down to a small area, but the trails were disrupted by the asteroid field at the edge of the system. Chen arrived on the bridge shortly thereafter, and eagerly asked T'Pang if the ship was performing well according to the science station. T'Pang responded, in typical Vulcan fashion, that the ship was performing within specifications. Chen kept trying to get T'Pang to acknowledge that it exceed expectations, but T'Pang soberly noted that the Endeavour hasn't truly been tested yet.
Captain Hann arrived in Sickbay shortly after, to check on Pirak and speak with Ahaxi. After joking around with Bell about charging Pirak some latinum for the use of the Biobed, the Captain asked Ahaxi who attacked them. Ahaxi replied, "The Order" and went on to describe this organization as genocidal maniacs. Hann asked if Ahaxi would tell his story to the command staff, to which he agreed.
After the commercial break, the command staff assembled on the bridge to hear Ahaxi's story.
"Okay, listen. This galaxy is deteriorating. You can't detect the effect from here, but you can if you go further out. When our scientists first found out about this effect, a portion of the population turned to fanaticism. There's an ancient religion shared by all the races in this region. It's absurd, it's just a myth, but the Order sticks to it like it was the truth. The myth goes something like this. Supposedly this galaxy was created by an entity 40,000 years ago. The story is that the entity created life, to amuse it by making war against other life. Over time, the entity gave the people better and better weapons to cause more carnage. But in a final battle, the people overthrew this entity and locked it away. Most people were wiped out. Those who survived carried on, and we are the descendants of them. It's insane, but the Order believes that we need to free this supposed Elder God. And they are willing to attack anyone who is against this." - Ahaxi's story about why the Order is so vicious.
T'Pang noted that a myth may have some element of truth in it, but Ahaxi vehemently dismissed this as pure fantasy. Doctor Bell wanted to know if the Order had a plan to release this Elder God, but Ahaxi had no answers. T'Pang asked if the Order knew where this Elder God was residing at, to which Ahaxi responded by pulling out a datapad. According to Ahaxi, this datapad had partial coordinates to an archeological site that holds a great deal of information regarding this Elder God. He was hoping to discover that the Elder God is a fabrication, which would hopefully dissolve the Order.
Vorath noted that faith is a powerful weapon, and mere incorrectness is not enough to dissuade people from disbelieving. Chen seemed concerned about the myth being true, at least in part.
Ahaxi elabored further on the attack. The Order had developed a weapon called the "Javelin of the Elder God", or Javelin for short, and he thinks that they managed to create a super-sized version that could cause planetary devastation. The Order ships were engaged in a skirmish with the Heretic ships, but departed just before the blast.
Hann wanted to know more about how this galaxy is deteriorating. Ahaxi described it as a barrier of sorts, where space and time began to warp until there was pure nothingness. Chen described as "the big crunch", a reference to the scientific theory that the universe will eventually collapse in on itself eventually.
The briefing concluded, and Ahaxi provided T'Pang with the datapad for analysis. Captain Hann met in private with Doctor Bell, who suggested that the Endeavour offer the inhabitants of this universe a gradual relocation to our own, so that the conflict no longer becomes one of necessity.
"It sounds like this "Order" are a bunch of people who are lashing out after essentially being told they have a terminal illness. If we offer them a cure - a transplant to a stable universe, they may abandon this extremism." - Doctor Bell
Hann said it sounded like a quick fix, but we would still need to know why the Order is interested in arming the Hirogen. Bell expressed an interest to avoid going in guns blazing, and apologized to Hann, stating that he didn't quite know his style yet. Hann said he had enough of blazing guns, as he was previously stationed on the Klingon front, but we would need to collect more information before making a decision. Hann assured Bell that they would apply as little force as necessary. Bell seemed pleased and went back to work.
Meanwhile, Ahaxi talked with Vorath about the capabilities of the Endeavour. Ahaxi was very impressed with the ship and expressed an eagerness to confront the Order militarily. Once Bell left the Captain's ready room, Ahaxi and Bell spoke at length about Ahaxi's culture. In Ahaxi's culture, it is unusual to have a specialized doctor because knowledge is freely shared and everyone is expected to have a wide range of skills. Bell described it as enlightened and proposed an exchange of information, to which Ahaxi agreed.
Krystin Chen asked via combadge if the Captain would come to her station. She discussed with the captain a residual, localized effect from the shockwave that impaired the speed of the FTL computer.
T'Pang and Ahaxi, back on the bridge, discussed what to do with Ahaxi's 600 survivors. T'Pang suggested we find a safe place for them to be dropped off, while Ahaxi requested that the Endeavour help power up the disabled ships. After all, Ahaxi's people lived on the ships anyway. Around this time, the Captain walked up to the two of them and said that they would get the ships running.
Afterwards, Hann spoke with T'Pang privately. Hann said that they would need to get as much information as possible about this Order. T'Pang agreed and expressed some doubts about Ahaxi's explanation of the warp trails that were found leaving the system. Hann noted that it sounded like the Order were looking for a new home.
Vorath expressed a concern to the Captain and Executive Officer that we may be bringing the Endeavour into a battle that it cannot win. Hann acknowledged that, but stated that we needed to find out why the Order was behaving so aggressively. Vorath was suspicious of how eager Ahaxi's people are to help, and the suspicion seemed to be shared to some degree by Hann and T'Pang.
Hann eventually ordered T'Pang to help get Ahaxi's ship back online, but to download his databases if he can. T'Pang noted that Ahaxi may offer up the databases willingly... but if not, T'Pang might find a way to access them regardless. The top priority was to get the aliens back on their ships.
As the episode was brought to a close, Hann patted Vorath on the back and expressed gratitude that he had a Klingon as a member of his crew; they were always thinking like a warrior.
Previous Episode: In the Blink of an Eye
Next Episode: Deo Vindice
Category:USS Endeavour Episodes
Category:Season 5