Amber Munro and David Rush were reunited. The location of The Gateway was revealed. Doctor Rogan developed a weapon of mass destruction. Sophia Mason and Jemma Etis broke a few regulations in the Holodeck (remember THAT Season Five episode? (https://last-outpost.net/forum/index.php/topic,7807.0.html)). Gaila... well, we all love Gaila.
Following their stand-off in Accobar prior to Kort's capture, and having been pursuaded by his testimony and President Taylor's ongoing quest for reunification, the Helia embarks on its mission with Klingon and Romulan escorts under a ceasefire - plus our good friend Devlin Marks, representing the free peoples of the galaxy. Plus he's the only one who knows where he's going.
It truly is the beginning of the end - thank you for coming and I hope to see you again for what remains!
Since we've dived head-first into the finale, I'd like to say thank you to Grizz for everything you've done to bring this plot and indeed this galaxy to life for as long as it's been. I counted roughly 15 seasons at the end of today's episode which I believe is a record number of seasons. As for the episode itself, considering that we're wrapping up all of the arcs that have been going on throughout the years I have to say that everything is going quite well. Everyone is engaged and I believe we're all ready for this final battle between the forces of the Accobi and the forces of the Alpha Quadrant. There was one thing I wanted to say about this episode, since I feel I do have some explaining to do:
"We have to weaponize it" ... "That ah ... may also be in the works"
I know that this seemed a bit jarring in the RP, so I wanted to take a moment to talk about how this has actually been in the works for some time now.
Ironically, the decision to weaponize the nanovirus was one that I made within three weeks of having it aboard Asteroid Base: Alpha. At the time, my in-character rationale was that as this was obviously some sort of weapon to begin with, so learning how to destroy it would only come best if I myself continued to develop it as it was intended. Indeed, this branch of research continued and as a result we have the weapon that was produced in today's episode. One of the things that I tried to do in Asteroid Base as well as Asteroid Field was indicate that Rogan was not only researching but also weaponizing the nanovirus. The subtlest way I did this was to keep the apparatus hidden as much as possible. The research equipment was stashed away in a hollow compartment under the console behind the CMO's desk on AB: Alpha, and then was subsequently moved to the hollow space under the console behind the CMO's desk aboard Pioneer Station. Once the research became too much to hide in a closet, it was moved into a large hollowed spaced right underneath Sickbay, complete with dampeners to prevent the whole system from being discovered by internal sensors. The system was then placed in a lockdown so that only a few people on the station could access it or the information that Rogan had learned along the way.
Keeping the vast majority of research hidden from superiors was also a decision that I made early on. During Asteroid Base: Alpha, there was a lot of political activity regarding Starfleet and various sects and most of it was shady. In addition, it became more and more obvious that there were elements hiding in the shadows that would likely seize and utilize the research if they discovered it existed. In order to minimize the chance that his research would be used for nefarious purposes, Rogan intentionally only mentioned when there was a major breakthrough in regards to destroying or manipulating the nanovirus (on Asteroid Base: Alpha, this was almost always tied to plot elements), but he never shared at any point that he may be able to weaponize it. In fact, up until this very episode, I'm not sure there was any explicit indication in-character that this was something that Rogan had been working on, but it was definitely something I had in mind as an end-game right from the get-go.
Work on the nanovirus was indeed research-oriented for a very long time, only because Rogan did not have access to the source material that the nanovirus was extrapolated from. It was only when Denara Clarke shared this secret with him that Rogan finally had the means to bring his work to completion. I also consider this in-character discussion to be the point where Rogan realized that one of the key factors to keeping the galaxy safe would be his ability to complete and possibly improve upon the weapon that Denara had started. The under-deck lab setup was expanded and a secondary computer was "commissioned" by Rogan in order to fully study and realize the potential of the nanovirus. In today's episode, we saw the culmination of all of that work: the secondary computer finally isolated and replicated a single strain of dominant nanovirus that was more potent than could ever be imagined. The exact strength of the final product has been something of a debate in my head for a long time, but today I finally settled on an answer.
I want to close by saying that I hope everyone enjoyed being there as much as I did, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the final two episodes of Asteroid Field take us!
If we where still doing the polls this would definately be a 5/5 vote for me. We got back together again, whoo! I'm happy that we got to do this and finish the story together. The AB/AF series has always been one of my favourites, mainly because of the way things that happend 5 seasons ago are still relevant today (I don't know how you do it Grizz, but your planning, or alteast using what you already set up in the past, skills are amazing).
The episode itself of course got to see some things that where a long time coming and really had to be done before the shows end, which I'm glad to have seen done now so we can really focus on those last episodes of (finally) wrapping up the main story. It was nice to have one last really good character development episode in which we al got to shine (Rogan with his ongoing nanovirus investigation, McClintock coming to terms with everything that happend to him giving him a pivitol part to play in the upcomming conclusion, Mason and Etis finally sharing that long, long, long foreshadowed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0R_SKOMoqc)and overdue (https://last-outpost.net/forum/index.php/topic,7807.0.html)private moment and of course Tobin getting prize for longest living ACMO :P)
Great epsiode guys, lets make it the best RPG-X SRP conclusion ever the coming weeks!
+1 to everything said above - all I need to add is I'm proud to part of this and happy to see this well-earned conclusion to the finest RP I've ever witnessed.
I may not have been with the series as long as some others have been but of the season I have been here for, I've loved every minute of it. Even without having experienced any of the build-up to this final season there has been enough information throughout this season to more than catch me up on what I need to know and the story is still throughly enjoyable. The characterization of the cast is superb, the scale of events is huge, and the gravity of the stakes comes through loud and clear. I am so glad I decided to sign up for season 7 and all my expectations have been exceeded. I am very excited for what lies ahead in Parts 2 and 3!
Thank you all for your comments.
I wish I could have delivered a more timely and full-fat version of the final season - but my work commitments and ADHD weren't having any of it.
I will put out brief summaries of the missing episodes prior to the last episode, however.