STAR TREK 25

The Federation and Star Trek in the Twenty-Fifth Century, a work of fan fiction.

100 years after the climax of the Dominion War, Will Riker is still alive and begins his million-year contest with Q and Abdel.

Q is Picard's nemesis, admittedly very much based on/ripped off of Mr Mxyplik [sic] and Batmite (of DC fame). Riker finds out that Q manipulated the Borg into their repeat attempts to assimilate Humanity, due to the Q Continuum's belief that Mankind will overtake them in evolutionary development (admittedly this takes off Childhood's End but the Borg being manipulated is my idea).

Cardassia Prime is still under joint Federation and Klingon occupation, with (the) Cardassians able to become Federation citizens only through joining Starfleet or other government organisations.

This is a Federation that is showing more of its dark side.

Many Federation citizens are openly expressing their wishes to join the Borg Collective, now that its Queen has been overthrown after a failed attempt to assimilate now-Admiral Riker.

Many 'Borgies' are arrested, charged with treason and sent to Federation penal colonies. Protesting at this, many Federation planets and colonies secede while others bar their citizens from joining Starfleet.

Starfleet itself is now generally concerned with carrying out anti-smuggling operations and arms embargoes.

A descendant of Ambassador Spock is now the Praetor of the newly-formed Vulcan-Romulan-Reman Alliance, which is now part of the Federation. However, the Romulan fleet is still intact and Remans are barred from being Federation citizens unless they join Starfleet.

Starfleet officers often trade places with their Romulan counterparts while Vulcans can be officers in both militaries and all starships now have 'Armour' (i.e. from the risible 'Voyager' finale) and cloaking technology and can thus effectively be shielded while cloaked.

A 'Dominion Remant' still exists with the Founders themselves joining the UFP as a single citizen entity. Many Jem'hadar provide security for both the Federation and the Remnant, which itself is run by a Council of the leaders of its various protectorates, the Vorta having returned to a primitive state and the Jem'hadar being cured of their Ketrasel White addiction (although warriors often carry a supply as sustenance in emergency).

Starfleet has possession of a Queen-era Borg cube, its crew defecting during the Queen's final months, and access to Transwarp. All Starships have a Data as emergency science and engineering head and a 'Zimmerman' as emergency medical head.

The Klingon Empire now includes several former Cardassian and Federation colonies. The Empire is now much more democratic with all members becoming citizens at age 18, although Warriors/the Nobility become citizens at 13 and can inherit property and become officers in the Klingon Defence Forces. Conversely, the Federation mostly consists of autocratic/class-ridden regimes like that on Betazed and others in the Star Trek franchise/canon.

Copyright Neil Thurogood 2012

Ideas and justifications.

1.What if Riker still had the powers of Q, and the Borg are aware of this, but had to refrain from using them for fear of retarding Mankind's development? He does teleport however and remains eternally middle-aged and disease-free.

2.Ideal super-villain: an immortal Human who wishes to die but constantly endangers others trying to end his own life; being 'Abdel' aka the Biblical Adam (you can tell from a lack of a belly-button and his hermaphrodism).

3.Realistically, wouldn't some people want to be Borg as opposed to forceful assimilation especially if suffering from a terminal disease or just old age?

4.Humanity evolves back into amphibians (as implied in 'Voyager') leaving Riker, Abdel and Data as the last Humans.

5.Riker solves the Q-Abdel problem a million years from now by luring him to an uninhabited planet and finally using his powers to destroy them both, thus freeing Humanity and the wider galaxy.

6.Several other fictional universes coalesce into the previous two scenarios, e.g. Watchmen, Space:Above and Beyond, Forever War/Forever Free, Babylon 5 and The X-Files.

Copyright Neil Thurogood 2012

Babylon 5 questions and answers part six.

53.Thought I'd take a shot at estimating the enlisted and non-commissioned ranks,
generally speaking assuming they are based on those currently used by the United States Marines Corps and include the Warrant Officer grades used by the US Army. Those of the Royal Air Force and USAF are also included.

I've placed the Warrant Officer grades (those used by the US Army) ahead of the enlisted ranks somewhat in line with the system used by the British Army (which uses two Warrant Officer grades above the rank of Staff Sergeant) on the basis that these positions would be based on a combination of experience, certain skills (specifically pilot in most cases) and the duty to command enlisted and commissioned personnel from multiple branches of the service. Evidently, Warrant Officers in EarthForce are situated between/below the Commissioned ranks. Based on Navy terminology (e.g. Command Chief Petty Officer), with reference to in-show references to 'sector' and using the term 'Master Sergeant' where appropriate to maintain consistency, a good guestimate is as follows:

Fleet Master Sergeant>Colonel
Force Master Sergeant>Lieutenant Colonel
Sector Master Sergeant>Commander
CWO5>Major
CWO4>Lieutenant
CWO3>Second Lieutenant
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO2)>Ensign
Warrant Officer (WO1)

GROPOS/EarthForce Marines Corps:

CWO5=Command Sergeant Major
CWO4=Sergeant Major
CWO3=Master Gunnery Sergeant
CWO2=Master Sergeant
WO1=Gunnery Sergeant

E4=Staff Sergeant
E3=Sergeant
E2=Private First Class
E1=Private

Navy (outposts/bases):

CWO5=Command Master Sergeant
CWO4=Chief Master Sergeant
CWO3=Senior Master Sergeant
CWO2=Master Sergeant
WO1=Technical Sergeant

E4=Staff Sergeant
E3=Senior Technician
E2=Leading Technician
E1=Technician basic

Air Crew/Starfury support staff:

CWO5=Command Master Sergeant
CWO4=Chief Master Sergeant
CWO3=Senior Master Sergeant
CWO2=Master Sergeant
WO1=Technical Sergeant

E4=Staff Sergeant
E3=Senior Crewman
E2=Leading Crewman
E1=Crewman

Warship/Cruiser:

CWO5=Chief Master Sergeant
CWO4=Master Gunnery Sergeant
CWO3=Gunnery Sergeant
CWO2=Master Sergeant
WO1=Technical Sergeant

E4=Corporal
E3=Specialist
E2=Crewman First Class
E1=Crewman

Non-commissioned Flight Corps:

CWO5=Chief Flight Master Sergeant
CWO4=Senior Flight Master Sergeant
CWO3=Flight Master Sergeant
CWO2=Flight Sergeant
WO1=Staff Sergeant

E4=Corporal
E3=Specialist
E2=Crewman First Class
E1=Crewman

Security:

CWO5=Chief Warrant Officer
CWO4=Chief Warrant Officer
CWO3=Chief Warrant Officer
CWO2=Chief Warrant Officer
WO1=Warrant Officer

E4=Staff Sergeant
E3=Sergeant
E2=Private First Class
E1=Private

54.A note; RAF enlisted ranks: Master Aircrew
Warrant Officer, Flight Sergeant Aircrew,
Flight Sergeant, Chief Technician,
Corporal
Senior Aircraftman
Leading Aircraftman
Aircraftman

USAF: three First Sergeant grades above Staff Sergeant

Along similar lines, perhaps the following grade system can be used as an alternative unified rank and grade system:

CWO4=Command Chief Warrant Officer
CWO3=Senior Chief Warrant Officer
CWO2=Master Chief Warrant Officer
CWO1=Chief Warrant Officer

E9=First Sergeant
E8=Warrant Officer
E7=Master Sergeant
E6=Staff Sergeant
E5=Sergeant
E4=Corporal
E3=Specialist
E2=Private First Class
E1=Private