The Last Outpost

"We're importing asteroids? We live in interesting times."

The most serialized season of the Accobar saga came to an end with 'Pantheon of Accobar.'

In a Nutshell: Abandoned by Denara Clarke, the crew face the Accobar rift tearing the system apart - leading to a return trip to Accobar III to locate the power source of the spatial regulator, while Starfleet and Halkonian fleets clash overhead.

"Don't worry, Jemma. Do you really think I've come this far just to let it end here?"

Pioneer: With a recovered Mason still parading her damaged uniform, we found the crew well in to implementing Clarke's plan to seal the rift. It came with something of a risk, however - which is that the rift could rupture to the point of completely obliterating Pioneer, the asteroid field and perhaps the entirety of the Accobar System. When this inevitably took place, Clarke was unable to control the event and simply conceded. After all, the destruction of Accobar and an unstable rift is a perfectly acceptable end to her mission. Not so much for Pioneer's crew.

Instead of taking Clarke's advice and retreating, Etis and the gang devised a solution - attempting to locate the power source for the spatial regulator on the surface and interfacing directly in order to control the flow of energy, contain the excess and reverse the process. While down there, the extended away team encountered Accobi Guardians (to be discussed below) and a timely return of Daniel Thrace, to save his former protégé and bring his journey back to Accobar - departing the series in a mighty blaze of glory (you can see it from orbit and everything!). It was at House's request that Thrace met his end, though his return was inevitable as signposted from the S4 trailer.

However, his words to Jemma seem to suggest that there's something we're missing. Don't worry, there will be time to grieve. Not just for Thrace, but also Barnes. Riker died twice tonight, but he just kept on coming back - so we won't have to add him to the list!  :P

"The Acropolis of Nyx, they called it. Nobody has ever returned to the place, since..."


Accobar: When is a statue not a statue? When it's an Accobi Guardian! There wasn't time for exposition, but these wall dwellers sprung to life to prevent the ruined citadel as Etis began tampering with the regulator. Almost endless in numbers, identical to the assassins and seemingly led by a more distinguishable individual (with red eyes!) - it was said that there were more than likely wiped out in the resulting explosion. But as we last saw the devilish figure wrangling with Thrace on the precipice, it remains to be seen whether Accobar III holds further ancient surprises.

For now, the Accobar rift is sealed. Or at the very least, dormant. It seems unlikely that we'll be seeing any Accobi ships for a while. That's provided that they don't also have cloaking capabilities and slipped over the threshold during the unseen battle. I'm sure it will be fine.


"You found another way. I only wish that it could have been sooner."

Clarke & Halkonia:

Denara Clarke and the Halkonians got away! This is an outcome which I wrestled with a lot. In the majority of revisions, the Orion survived but Clarke was killed on the surface. I told myself that she had to die. She was never an ally or a redeemed villain. In one version, I replicated the stand-off Mason had with Peirce over the lava pits. Only this time, Clarke would have been shot over the edge. In another it was quite the opposite - with Mason risking herself to rescue Clarke before the area was destroyed.

I've arguably chosen the most boring solution. But in a twisted way, the bad guys earned a victory on the back of the good guys - and got away with it. On the plus side, Clarke was quick with the bracelet when she and Mason took a tumble. Will we see them again? I have no immediate plans. If I can come up with a worthwhile reason for them to return, I'm sure Clarke will pop up again. There's still much we can learn. Until then, just assume that they're galaxy-hopping back to New-Halkonia-In-Space.


"Oh, I've got the strangest feeling that something will turn up."

Future: Is Asteroid Base: Beta on the way? Perhaps. Is Taval going to make his play for the Star Empire reclaiming a baggage-free Accobar? Possibly. What's the deal with Henry Etis? Who knows! But I'm certain we'll find out. What was Munro hinting at - and could it be related to the Star Trek: Asteroid Base 7-year anniversary coming up? Most definitely! Hope you noticed the in-joke of the negligence of the Federation when it comes to Accobar's importance - until it affects them, obviously.

The Asteroid Field Base (<-) special will be taking place next month, with details to follow - hopefully coinciding with Community Day. There will also be an additional Asteroid Field special to close up the year's events at an undisclosed point - as we did not have the time to properly come to terms with what has happened... and I feel that is important.

Yes, most importantly of all, Asteroid Field has been renewed for a fifth season in 2015! I made the decision a few weeks ago, which was validated by consistently good numbers and feedback for the remainder of the season. In Jemma and Amber's words, Pioneer can get on with it's original mandate and Asteroid Field Operations can be rebuilt and resumed after being worn down to nothing. I hope to see you back with your characters - with plenty of stories to tell with them! What you do with them is the biggest contributor to the series that we could hope for. Without them, the nonsense that I write would just be worthless.

Thank you all for attending, throughout the season. We have had an excellent turn out after some major concerns during Season Three. Apologies to those that couldn't make it tonight. I toyed with pushing it back or making it a two-part finale, but we wouldn't have been in a much better position next week!

As compensation, take some deleted scenes:

Opening Scene - Renee Hampton and Mark Chaplain discuss Michael Barnes' appointment  Wheel out the Sorkin dialogue. Was cut due to technical issues: DOWNLOAD HERE (http://www.mediafire.com/view/metamsnhuh6lyw6/Opening+Scene%282%29.docx)

Alternate Opening Scene - Original character Roxanne Swan pulls Sophia Mason in to the "Classic" Asteroid Base Universe, to show her what becomes of Accobar if Clarke is allowed to proceed. Was the closure for Swan's previous appearances, but was cut for time.

Two Favorite Women - Mason speaks with Etis and Costello on Accobar III about her position, Barnes' death and their performances since her arrival. Meant to acknowledge and expand on how much she has relied on both of them. Was cue due to time relating to the server issues experienced.

Alternate Thrace Return - Instead of saving Etis, Thrace originally returned to face off with Clarke. He would have met his demise in this manner, though in one version, he took Clarke with him. Opted for the more heroic route, House seemed approving.

Accobi Guardians || Accobi Architect - An exposition scene explaining the origins and purpose of the Accobi forces protecting the Acropolis. This was to be delivered by Clarke by means of myth and legend while still aboard Accobar III. You pretty much got the idea behind the Assassins and the Guardians. For now however, the Architect remains a mystery.

David Rush Returns - Probably the most important sequence that was cut was the return of the original character responsible for shouldering the Accobar storyline. It did not affect the story, but was supposed to make for a reasonably happy ending for the character. Pressed for time, however (down to the last 60 seconds), Rush remains addressed in temporal purgatory. Unlike the Halkonians, I am certain that we will see him again one day. I couldn't possibly resist.

That's that! Rate and discuss (the fourth season), above and below!

Good episode. To bad about the server issues though. I rated this episode "good" because I felt there were some things missing, as you already explained though. For soem reason, the episode felt a bit confined up untill we went on the away mission. There we lost tract of a few people, things went right in the end there but I personally think we could have gotten more out of that then we did now.

Anyway, a nice season finale, not the best one we've had, but given that AF is going to continue, it does fit the bill. Sign me up for that intermitten episode so a few loose ends can be tied up and also the AB special!

It was fantastic. Shame about so many deleted scenes, but thanks for sharing that piece of the script! If I were completely honest, I'd say the away mission felt a bit rushed and last-minute, but you were trying to cram so much in, so forgiveness is incoming. :)

It was another episode which worked better in my head. The ambition will be stripped back to more viable levels  :P

Great episode, I was absent for 2 previous ones so I had a bit of catching up to do in terms of the situation I started in but I managed to follow it regardless

There was plenty of dramatic suspense and a nice burst of action, indeed some elements could be improved, it wasn't perfect but it was still great and anything I would say has already been said, it made a good season finale anyway and I do very much look forward to the future of AF and am excited for more episodes!

Quote from: Archibald on November 03, 2014, 01:22:24 PMI do very much look forward to the future of AF and am excited for more episodes!

Likewise! I'm really happy McClintock has more time aboard Pioneer, doubly so that I didn't really have to campaign for S5! :P I do wonder why there were only six episodes when there was so much to be crammed in? Don't do a Boardwalk Empire, haha.

I wanted a shorter season due to complications which arose in S2 and S3 - both of which overran terribly and stopped and started repeatedly. Bearing in mind how frustrating that was with mostly standalone episodes, whereas here each episode led in to the next, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't strung out over half a year. In hindsight however, I should have at least gone ahead with the additional episode, but keeping it in 2014 was preferable!

It won't be an issue with Season Five - and there will be more than six episodes.

Even though all the things that went before in S2 and S3 (which i also greatly enjoyed) and the fact season 4 was shorter then usual, i did thouroughly enjoy it. The goals and ambitions where high, perhaps a bit too high which is why not everything you wanted to do could be done. But then again, aiming high is a good cause and that is what makes AF such a verry good RP and a good story in general (you could even write a book about it).

As always, I'm looking forward to the future of the SRP.

QuoteIt won't be an issue with Season Five - and there will be more than six episodes.

YES! Atleast 7 episodes! :P