The Last Outpost

The Federation has reached a tipping point. With the threat of an imminent and unorthodox Borg attack looming, Starfleet has been forced to pull back it's ships from the Romulan border. Although this act has provided respite on the Klingon front, it has been seen as a betrayal by their stricken Romulan allies under near-constant attack from the KDF. The dissolution of the historic Taylor Peace Agreement draws closer with every passing day. 

Stripped of their ship and their station, Pioneer's former crew awaits Starfleet's act of retaliation against Maria Vega - the former head of Section 31 - who is now operating out of the Accobar System for purposes unknown. But before the attempt to reclaim Pioneer can be launched, Commodore Leona Mason vanishes from Starbase 215 - on a personal mission to her daughter's homeworld to save her from the mental affliction affecting her ability to lead.

Alot to see, a lot to look forward too! Exellent trailer, per usual, though images are for illustrative purposes only and the actual product may vary...

Holy tamalé, that sure looks awesome. I'm not sure I wanna know what 'Hur'q' means..

Quote from: Mutatio Nomen on June 25, 2015, 12:29:24 PM
Holy tamalé, that sure looks awesome. I'm not sure I wanna know what 'Hur'q' means..

You can look it up on Memory Alpha. Sounds quite... interesting for our Chief Engineer.

As usual, I started by being over-ambitious and have worked backwards from there. The decision to keep it at twelve episodes came about upon realizing that there was too much to get through for the proposed ten. My idea of a quadrant spanning, multi-threaded, multi-character arc has very much been stripped back to focusing on Pioneer's (former) crew and their immediate surroundings. Nevertheless, this is Asteroid Field without the asteroid field and it's really going to feel that way. As was shown off briefly in the trailer, we'll be getting ourselves a new ship - but that won't be the case from the start. Thankfully, Starfleet has some great chauffeurs.

This gives us the chance to catch up with some characters who perhaps didn't get the send-off they deserved the first time around. David Rush is returning from a life in limbo - last seen phasing in and out of our reality after getting caught up in the Accobar rift back in the second season. Our once resident teacher / historian / archaeologist / souvenir shop owner, Professor Nathaniel Fox is putting in a brief appearance, after vanishing along with the character's creator (where art thou, Talus?). Denara Clarke and her Halkonian renegades return to cast disdain over Mason's crew for making a mess of everything they put right - among other plot-relevant things.

Perhaps most importantly, we're getting to catch up with President Taylor - for real, this time. Her material has been cut from two seasons in a row or completely stripped down and adapted so that Hampton can take her place. This series really began with Taylor's inauguration and her sending Hampton out to change our little corner of the galaxy for the better. Despite everything, Taylor has never really been under threat. She has done all the right things after the G'rath scandal, but now it's all going very wrong. Her legacy peace agreement signed in the first season is in tatters as the Klingons and Romulans go to war. Confidence across the Federation is at an all-time low given the current crisis. Her support of Accobar comes very much under fire. Then there's the matter of decision making when it comes to a third term...

I've previously mentioned my trepidation with the Borg, so I wanted to make sure that this isn't just seen as "The Borg Season." That Sphere isn't going to be fending off fleets of ships, every week or anything like that. The now-coined Vega Drones will play their part in presenting a new kind of threat while we look towards reclaiming Pioneer & Accobar from our good friend Maria, but we'll mostly be dealing with the ramifications of their mere presence in Federation space. Nobody knows what state the Collective itself is in, though we'll certainly address that "what if" scenario of them becoming aware of Vega's experiment.

It's still a largely character-driven season. Whether it's Mason's battle against her own genetic code, or McClintock's dilemma when he encounters an imprisoned Devlin Marks aboard a Klingon cruiser for reasons that will become clear. We have Sullivan's life hanging in the balance after the abandonment of the Hera. We have Menden stepping up even more and effectively taking charge from the first episode with a cliffhanger more literal than most. We must surely address the mystery of Jemma Etis' whereabouts - given that her sister's temporary posting aboard Pioneer has reached an abrupt end... then we have new arrivals to introduce and get to know and go on even more journeys with. So give them a welcome!

With a twist here and a subtle line there, this is going to start feeling like we're actually heading towards some kind of endgame. All things have their time, and there's only so long Accobar can get away with all the trouble it has caused...

Quote from: Grizz on June 25, 2015, 05:19:01 PM
Recovering Pioneer might just be the easy part...

This makes me rather nervous...

A bit of bonus trivia..

The original Asteroid Base lasted five seasons, and ended with the crew separated from their station, thanks to established Star Trek villains. So I guess I'm finally getting the chance to finish what I started.

Quoteor McClintock's dilemma when he encounters an imprisoned Devlin Marks aboard a Klingon cruiser for reasons that will become clear.

Say whaaaaat!? :P On a serious note, it's awesome to finally get some meat to my role, and am extra-super-psyched.

Are we doing this again? Lets see how far you get this time :P