S05E12 - "Dark Star" - 23/05/15

[Grizz]

Production Code: 5x12 | AFx58
Episode Title: "Dark Star" [ Season Finale Part 1 of 2 ]
Writer: Grizz
Air Date: 23rd May 2015

It's the end - but the moment has been well and truly been prepared for.

Starfleet Operations in the Tyrella Sector are brought to a halt due to an incident aboard Starbase 215. Before long, Pioneer's newly assigned Acting Commanding Officer arrives in the Accobar System: Captain Maria Vega. With the alleged backing of Starfleet Command, Vega begins making several operational changes aboard the station and places her own security teams on every deck. With her own records as locked down as they could possibly be, and with limited contact with the outside world, the existing crew are suspicious of the new arrivals from the start.

By the time Vega reveals her true intentions, it's already much too late. Operation: Dark Star has begun - and Federation history is about to change course.

You Will Need:

Station Iowa (Included in Ultimate Edition)

[Grizz]

Obligatory re-post (best watched on YouTube)

[Mutatio Nomen]

Pioneer's newly assigned Acting Commanding Officer arrives in the Accobar System: Captain Maria Vega.

What the what!?

[Grizz]

Dark Star - Five Teasers

1) "The phaser is locked, set to kill, I assure you."

2) Vega is more a risk-taker than Mason, as she is more than willing to demonstrate.

3) Costello is relieved. Menden is restrained. But it's all for a good cause.

4) If there's one thing I hope Season Five has taught you, it's that looks can be deceiving.

5) "A tiny slither of divinity... engineered, refined and perfected by Denara Clarke... "

[Martin Thompson]

So I guess dark star hits theathers near us tomorrow right?

[Grizz]

It does, indeed.

An Introduction to 'Dark Star' by Grizz

The episode that needs little introduction, considering we have been building to it from all the way back to 'I, Rogan.' Operation: Dark Star has finally been launched as Director Vega heads to Accobar to oversee proceedings herself. I'll let you in on a little secret, Section 31's part in all of this in close to irrelevant. As Vega explains at the start of the episode, she'll be cutting all ties to the organisation by exposing herself. It was a springboard to make it all possible and they will continue without her under new leadership. Only Mason knows of Dark Star's origins and there's no guarantee she'll be in a position to spread the word, still trapped on Station Nimoy.

What happens in this episode is comparatively little compared to the season finale, but this really is where the next season begins. Piece by piece, things start to change and by Season Six, we'll be in a whole different kind of situation - on a professional and personal level for these characters. Vega's motivations behind her actions are hinted at here - drawing parallels to G'rath's attempted Starfleet coup and comparing Mason's morality to that of Amber Munro's. Mason's unwillingness to shoot down Walter Peirce while she had the chance - that hasn't gone unnoticed.

After a few weeks absence, we're back on Pioneer again and events said to be unfolding in the Tyrella Sector have led to the appointment of a new acting Commanding Officer. Yes, Vega's appearance on Pioneer - arriving aboard the USS Apollo (wink, wink, nod, nod, what could that be about) -  seems to be all good and proper. But with no contact from Starbase 215 and all comms traffic being filtered through Vega's ship - with the Apollo's security teams positioning themselves across the station - it becomes increasingly clear that something isn't quite right.

[Grizz]

This is in thirty minutes.

Be there... or be one of the unlucky ones reading about the Dark Star reveal on the Internet, later.