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Star Traks: Boldly Gone
Episode name
Season	10
Episode number	2
Writer(s)	Alan Decker, Anthony Butler
Year	2503
Stardate	178635
Chronology
Previous in series	Legend of the Bain [BG]
Next in series	Welcome to the Party [BG]
Previous in timeline	Legend of the Bain [BG]
Next in timeline	Welcome to the Party [BG]

A momentous discovery deep in the Beta Quadrant has the USS Anomaly traveling very far from home. Pasts will be confronted! Relatives will be met! Relationships will be tested! And a toilet will be repaired! (But we won’t say whose!)

Summary

On Planet B-2-47361 deep in the Beta Quadrant, Harold and Ann Marsden explore an abandoned world. It is covered in cities and towns, but there is not a person to be found. And all of the structures have been cleared of furniture and belongings. As far as they can tell, the entire population just packed up and left for reasons they cannot determine. While investigating a massive structure, they make what they believe to be an important discovery and contact Starfleet Command for immediate assistance.

Very far away from Planet B-2-47361, the USS Anomaly completes a battle simulation against multiple Breen scythe ships to test out their systems after several weeks of repairs. With everything performing well, they return to Waystation Prime ready to receive their next assignment, which comes quickly when Admiral Kristen Larkin schedules a briefing with selected members of the crew. Before it starts, Commander Vioxx approaches Lieutenant Commander Tovar and asks him to look into Tori Burke. They both find it strange that a person who spent the last 20 years in stasis was just named the CEO of the Dillon Consortium.

Larkin starts the briefing and tells the gathered officers that Harold and Ann Marsden have located the homeworld of the Pliggeri, the species that created Cabral and his fellow Cerebe. Cabral is surprised to learn that it has been abandoned, and Larkin assures a concerned Lieutenant Shelly Marsden that her parents are fine. Since most of the galactic powers have been trying and failing to duplicate the Anomaly’s anti-singularity drive, Larkin is concerned that news of the Pliggeri homeworld would lead to the equivalent of a gold rush and possible a war as they try to strip the planet of its technology. Larkin orders Captain Reginald Bain to get to the planet and assess the situation as soon as possible, but not tell anyone beyond those in the briefing where they are going.

Commander Prosak informs Snotch that she will be leaving Waystation Prime immediately. Snotch informs Tori Burke, believing that his business with them is at an end. Burke tells him to get on the Anomaly and find out where they are going. Prosak informs Bain and Tovar that Snotch has requested to join them. Tovar is hesitant, but Prosak says that she will stay with him at all times and, since she wasn’t in the briefing, she has no idea where they are going. Bain agrees and tells Tovar to give Snotch the VIP treatment. Snotch spends the journey with Prosak but, despite taking a tour of the ship and dining among the crew, he learns absolutely nothing of use. On the one occasion he is able to dine alone in the ship’s holo-mess while Prosak is on duty, Tovar joins him and prattles on about his past lives for the entire meal. Even when they arrive at their destination, Snotch finds that Prosak’s quarters don’t have a view of the world they are orbit and his guest quarters have no windows at all. In order to distract Prosak from trying to make their relationship physical, Snotch has her start reading about obscure Vulcan philosophers (aka crackpots).

Once they arrive at the Pliggeri homeworld, Bain, Tovar, Marsden, and Rosalyn Bain beam down to see Harold and Ann, who are in their small ship, the SS Petra. This is the first time Tovar is meeting his in-laws, and, they are aware that their daughter is now married. Marsden goes in first to prep her parents, telling them that she and Tovar are wed. She brings Tovar aboard, and, after they greet him warmly, Marsden breaks the next bit of news: the Bains are there too. They are thrilled to meet Captain Bain, since he saved their lives several years earlier when Marsden was toddler when he repelled raiders that were attacking the Marsdens’ camp. They are glad to have the chance to thank Bain in person, since Marsden never told him that he’d saved her family. After a brief get-to-know you conversation, Bain asks to see the Marsdens’ discovery. Rosalyn beams back to the Anomaly while Dr. Natalia Kasyov beams down and Cabral descends from the ship rather than using his hovercam.

The Marsdens take the group inside the large structure that the Petra is parked next to and lead them to a massive chamber, which Cabral recognizes as where Cerebe are grown. Bain orders Vioxx, who is in command of the Anomaly, to do a thorough scan of the entire planet. Cabral connects himself to one of the room’s dormant consoles, which latches onto him and begins activating other systems. Cabral finds his consciousness pulled into a direct connection with the chamber’s computer system. Upon learning that Cabral has an emotional link with Kasyov, the computer grabs her and connects to her mind as well. The computer, which has taken the form of a Mega-Sphere, informs Cabral and Kasyov that it is now comprised of systems from around the planet and that it will assess the threat they pose and take appropriate action. When asked by the Mega-Sphere what he does on the ship where he now resides, Cabral explains that he helps run the Anomaly’s anti-singularity drive, which combine Pliggeri technology with that of other species. The Mega-Sim booms that sharing the work of the Pliggeri with child races is forbidden. The Mega-Sphere goes on to explain that the Pliggeri knew that the child races of this galaxy would soon be reaching out to explore the stars, which would lead to war and chaos. So the Pliggeri packed up and moved to a younger galaxy. The computer was left to watch over the planet in case the Pliggeri needed to return. The Mega-Sphere says that Kasyov and Cabral will be preserved as data and transmitted to the Pliggeri for study.

Out in the real chamber, Bain sends Harold and Ann back to their ship for safety. Marsden works to free Kasyov and Cabral while Bain and Tovar protect her from mechanical tendrils that suddenly begin attacking the group from the chamber walls. Bain requests phaser rifles from the Anomaly. Meanwhile in orbit, the Anomaly detects several thousand small objects appearing around the planet, which until then had been completely devoid of satellites which begin powering up. Marsden tells her parents to launch the Petra and join the Anomaly in orbit.

Inside the computer, the Mega-Sphere tells Cabral and Kasyov that the entire planet is being eliminated, which it sees as the only way to protect the Pliggeri technology there from the child races of the galaxy. Everyone inside the chamber, which it has now sealed, will be killed.

Marsden, out of desperation, sets a proton saw to overload and detonates it inside the console holding Cabral and Kasyov. It is enough to destroy the console and release them from the computer.

The objects in orbit, which the crew have dubbed the Diamond Drones, open fire on the surface, blanketing it with energy that starts searing away everything. Unable to beam up the away team, Vioxx orders the Anomaly to head to the building containing the chamber.

As the ship is buffeted from the energy blasting out of the drones, Snotch rushes to Prosak’s window to see what is happening. Prosak takes the opportunity to make her move, spinning him toward her and kissing him. That’s the last straw for Snotch. He doesn’t care anymore what Burke and the Dillon Consortium might do to him. He breaks things off with Prosak and retreats to his quarters.

The Anomaly blasts open the hatch covering the chamber, beams up the away team, and retreats into orbit. The drones finish disintegrating the planet and then all self-destruct, leaving not a trace of Pliggeri technology behind.

The Marsdens leave on the Petra to explore other worlds. Snotch requests to be dropped off on the first available Federation world, which is Matria Prime. Before Snotch leaves, Bain apologizes for not getting the chance to join Snotch for a meal or something, but he was just too busy with the Pliggeri situation. That name finally gives Snotch something to tell Burke. After he leaves, Tovar confirms to Bain that their suspicions about Snotch were correct, and he made several transmissions using a hidden ultraspace transceiver that he snuck aboard. Now that they had mentioned the Pliggeri to him, they could only wait to see if the Dillon Consortium took the bait.

Having been abruptly dumped by Snotch, Prosak comms her father, Rorshak sobbing.

Upon getting word from Snotch, Burke tells her assistant, Gregory that it is time to make Bain an afterthought by making the Anomaly irrelevant. The Consortium will make its own anti-singularity drives and sell them to the highest bidders.

Prosak goes to see Bain and requests to be temporarily relieved of her duties. She has a lot to think about and needs to reconsider her life choices.

Featuring

• Captain Reginald Bain
• Commander Prosak
• Commander Vioxx
• Lieutenant Commander Tovar
• Lieutenant Shelly Marsden
• Sub-Commander Remax
• Dr. Natalia Kasyov
• Centurion Nortal
• Sub-Lieutenant Zantak
• Cabral
• Rosalyn Bain
• Snotch
• Harold Marsden
• Ann Marsden

Author's Comments

This is a long story in Traks terms. Granted, when I started writing original Star Traks, they were mainly “books” and some really short short stories, but by the time things settled out, most of the stories ended up being somewhere in the 20-25 page range in Microsoft Word. That pretty much holds true for a lot of Anthony and Brendan’s work as well. This one was 47. There are a few reasons. First, there’s a lot of ground…er…space to cover. I also wanted to let the opening sequence with the Marsdens breathe a bit and go into what it was like for them to explore this (I have to say it) strange new world. And finally, it’s the last run of stories. Why not go super-sized? It worked for Ted Lasso (Or didn’t depending on your feelings about the final season of that show).

Marsden’s parents aren’t a huge part of the story, but I did really enjoy writing the scene where they meet Tovar and the Bains. It also felt right that they’d put Marsden to work as soon as she got there. I think a lot of us have had similar experiences while home to visit our families. I usually ended up providing tech support in one way or another. Fortunately, no toilets were involved. Really, though, I didn’t want any big family drama there. It wasn’t the focus of the story, and there was absolutely no reason for them to not like Tovar.

As for the other main relationship of the story, Prosak and Snotch, Anthony did the bulk of the initial work. Snotch was tossed into an uncomfortable scenario (not that I feel sorry for the guy) and soldiered through as best he could until he just couldn’t take it anymore. I did feel it was important that Bain and Tovar were suspicious from the start. At least twice in original Traks, I had people get onto the Secondprize with malicious intent and pretending to be someone they weren’t. I really didn’t want to go to that well again. Besides, the Anomaly was rushing off to a momentous find. Why would they let a complete stranger on board during that unless they had a reason? I hate when characters on shows and in films become idiots just so the plot can happen, so I wasn’t about to do that in this story.

When Anthony and I started writing Boldly, I’m not certain that we had a clear plan for the Pliggeri. I vaguely recall thinking that they might become the series’ main antagonist, but we obviously didn’t end up going that direction, which I’m glad about. But with the series ending, it was definitely time to start answering some questions about them. In the end, they just didn’t like the way the neighborhood was going (Too many damn kids!), so they moved.

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