Dispatch Ajax! Podcast
A Geek Culture Podcast - Two life-long Geeks explain, critique and poke fun at the major pillars of Geek Culture for your listening pleasure.
Dispatch Ajax! Podcast
Memory Gamma: Generations
When the Borg assimilated El-Auria, Dr. Tolian Soran lost everything—his wife Leandra, their children, and his entire civilization. The once-gentle man who "wouldn't hurt a fly" became a hollow shell, adrift among the few survivors of his species. His life changed forever during a rescue mission in 2293 when the Enterprise-B, assisted by the legendary James T. Kirk, saved him from a mysterious spatial phenomenon called the Nexus. For a fleeting moment within this energy ribbon, Sorin experienced pure joy as he reunited with his loved ones in a realm where desires shaped reality.
The late 21st century was easily the most tumultuous time in Earth's history. The human race teetered on the edge of extinction after the worst conflict ever fought in its long and bloody existence. It was also an era of Earth's greatest and most profound change. In fact, the future of the entire Alpha Quadrant was set in motion on a chilly spring evening in Bozeman, montana, 2063. But despite what other cultures may think of the Federation and its attitudes, earth is not the center of the universe. At nearly the same time as the first handshake in Vulcan history, a child was born many thousands of light years away who himself would shape the fate of millions of sentient beings. Villain, murderer, tragedy. Nothing about Dr Tolian Sorin's life was black and white, and by learning who he was and what he did, we can all undoubtedly be forced to ask ourselves what would we do for love Excess Granted? Earth may be a paradise today, but crime does still exist in the universe. Earth may be a paradise today, but crime does still exist in the universe, some mundane, some on a galactic scale. This is a journal of the most memorable, most important crimes in the Milky Way and the complex beings who commit them. I'm James Atos, director of Memory Gamma. Here at the Institute, we catalog for posterity these crimes and the events surrounding them.
Speaker 1:On the cusp of the Delta Quadrant, far beyond Federation space, lies a quiet, uninhabited world, orbiting an average, unremarkable star called El Aria. To see it from orbit, one would never assume it was the home of a once-vibrant thriving society of space-saring humanoids, though one would be unwise to even approach the planet, the system, the sector, for a chance of being assimilated by the Borg. Little is known today about the El Arian peoples, other than their reputation is empathetic, engaging and wise, the latter possibly due to their centuries-long lifespans. They are often called erasive listeners. How they use what they hear, however, is a point of contention. Not much else is known about them today, as I said, because almost exactly a century after that fateful night on earth, the board turned their cold gaze to the peaceful system of El Aria. Their great cities were wiped away, as if scooped off the surface by some cosmic hand. Culture, society, art, all was lost to history as the El Arians refused to bow to the Borg demands of assimilation into their collective, to bow to the Borg demands of assimilation into their collective.
Speaker 1:With their home gone, the Elorians, those few who survived, were forced to take to the stars. In a mass exodus, the desperate were huddled into rickety freighters, transports, overcrowded shuttles, anything that would scurry away from the system. Due in part to the relentless expansion of the Borg and also to the system's remote proximity to the great powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, the scattered refugee caravans would spend years, even decades, searching for safe harbor, if not a new home. One such survivor, an accomplished scientist named Tolian Sorin, managed to escape the horrors of the El-Orian genocide, at least physically. His wife Leandra and his children hadn't. His family had perished at the hands of the Borg, a fate arguably better than assimilation, though that would be a very little consolation. The man once quoted as saying that he wouldn't hurt a fly, but became a bitter, nihilistic shell of himself. Dr Sorin had lost everything but his own life. His story wasn't unique among El Aryans, far from it, but if it weren't for an event that took place 30 years later, his name may have easily faded into obscurity. A footnote in the never-ending Book of Bored Terror In 2293, two orphan-class Federation transports were tapped to ferry 265, rescued El Arian refugees to Earth.
Speaker 1:The Robert Fox, named after the legendary Federation negotiator, and the SS LeCoultre were only three light-years from delivering their desperate passengers to salvation, but would never arrive. In a case of literal astronomical odds, the transports were struck by a mysterious and enigmatic spatial phenomenon on its 39-year orbit through the Milky Way. Referred to as the Energy Ribbon, the phenomenon left a wake of enormous gravimetric distortion, pulling both ships deeper into the violent storm. Though Earth is a bustling hub of starship traffic, at this particular moment the only vessel close enough to mount any semblance of a rescue was a shiny new ship with a storied old name Enterprise, the third ship to bear the name since the foundation of the Federation. The Enterprise B had very few in the way of crew, equipment or amenities.
Speaker 1:That day. Its flight was intended as the ceremonial maiden voyage, a gesture more than anything else, to pass the torch to a new but untested crew. Fortunately for the embattled refugees, the new Enterprise shared one thing with its predecessors Captain James Tiberius Kirk Kirk with Captain Montgomery Scott, his former chief engineer, and Commander Poffel Chekhov, his former tactical officer, convinced Captain John Harriman and a reluctant crew to spring into action. Unbeknownst to the rescuers, the energy ribbon was far more than it appeared to the eyes or a ship's sensors. The anomaly, according to the few that had encountered it and lived was a doorway of sorts Not one that could be easily accessed, mind you, but nevertheless the ribbon was a bridge to a different realm of existence, an extra-dimensional realm in which one's thoughts and desires shaped the reality around them, a sort of existential plane where time and space had no meaning, allowing one to visit any time and any place imaginable, and space had no meaning allowing one to visit any time and any place imaginable.
Speaker 1:Arriving too late to save the Robert Fox, the Enterprise moved into transporter range in an attempt to beam aboard the crew and passengers from the LeCoultre. Captain Scott struggled to maintain a transporter lock on them, however, as their life signs were experiencing a state of temporal flux phasing in and out of measurable space-time. As the L'Kul began to fall apart, the transporter was initiated, but the crew was only able to save 47 out of 150 people, including Dr Tully and Sora. Though Kirk and crew had pulled off another minor miracle in the rescue and a daring escape, hearts sank on both sides when the reality of what just happened had become clear. The El Aryans had lost even more of their dwindling numbers and the.
Speaker 1:Enterprise, captain James T Kirk was dead Before being rescued. Elorians experienced a brief euphoric moment inside the Nexus, where all of their desires became reality. For Sorin, he was suddenly with his wife and children again, safe and happy, just as they were before the Borg came To him. The rescue was unbearable he could finally have everything he always wanted, what he'd lost, only to lose it all over again. Zorn became a man obsessed, dedicating himself to discovering a way to safely return to the Nexus. A ship was too dangerous. The odds that he could simply fly into the energy ribbon and survive before he entered were low. No, no, no. He would have to do something far more certain, and this time he wouldn't let anyone stand in his way. It would be a full 75 years, however, before he finally had the plan, the means and the opportunity. Yet his steely, cynical determination never faltered, securing the nuclear inhibitor Trilithium from Lursa and Bor, matriarchs of the great Klingon house, buras Zoran, posed as a crew member aboard the Armagosa Solar Observatory to secretly enact his scheme. Much to his chagrin, however, the Romulans from whom the Trilithium had been stolen raided the observatory, killing the rest of the crew. This, of course, drew the attention of Starfleet, who responded to the station's distress calls. Perhaps an ironic twist of fate, the ship who investigated was none other than the Enterprise.
Speaker 1:Once again, tolien Sorin found the Enterprise to bribe him of his one and only dream. This time, it would be then-Captain Jean-Luc Picard's famed Enterprise D crew that foiled his plans. Coming briefly, sorin managed to return to the observatory and, after a tense firefight with the Enterprise crew, launched his modified solar probe, armed with Trilithium, into the heart of the Armagos's star, taking Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge hostage. Sorin escaped with aid from the Duras sisters and the Enterprise squeaked away just before the star went nova. This, sadly, would only be one stage of his plan. Sorin, once the proud family man, tortures LaForge for all he knows about Trilithium. When satisfied, and after adding a surveillance device to LaForge's visual aid mechanism, the visor, the exhausted engineer, is dismissingly beamed back to his ship in a so-called prisoner exchange the forge for Picard.
Speaker 1:The intrepid Enterprise crew uncovered Sorin's plot, realizing that Sorin intended on destroying the Viridian Star as well, despite the fact that it would annihilate every planet in the system, including Viridian IV, which supported a humanoid society of about 230 million. While the Enterprise engaged Sorin's Klingon accomplices, captain Picard transported to Viridian III to confront Sorin at his secret launch site on the planet's surface. Picard, ever the accomplished diplomat, tried desperately to appeal to Sorin's humanity, for lack of a better word. But after a century, nothing would shake his resolve. Though Picard's efforts were valiant, sorin would not be denied by one man. His missile launched unfettered and the Viridian Star's fate was sealed. It had worked. The destruction of the Star changed the course of the energy ribbon. As it crackled through the system, viridian III was now in its direct path, sweeping both Soren and Picard into the Nexus. In the skies above Viridian IV, the Enterprise defeated their longtime foes, destroying the Duras's bird of prey, but at the cost of their own legendary ship.
Speaker 1:Side note, the Galaxy-class starship was often touted as the gold standard for Starfleet vessels, but looking back, it's now pretty clear what a colossal piece of junk the entire line was. Ask anybody who's tried to eject the warp core. However, one of the better features of the ship was the separating saucer section. In case of emergency and this was certainly that. In typical Galaxy-class fashion, the core breaches prematurely, completely, destroying the damaged star drive section of the Enterprise itself, creating a shockwave that disabled the helm control and pushed the saucer into the atmosphere of Viridian IV On the bridge.
Speaker 1:The Enterprise crew watched in horror as they began to plummet toward the surface of the planet. The saucer skidded through the thick Viridian forests. The Enterprise crew watched in horror as they began to plummet toward the surface of the planet. The saucer skidded through the thick Viridian forests, cutting a large swath of destruction in its path. The crew would survive the harrowing crash. Sadly, it was all for naught. The shockwave from the stars' nova would overtake the planet, wiping out 200 million lives. To relive even a memory of his family, soren would become a mass murderer and never bat an eye. Now you may ask yourself why you don't remember this dramatic event.
Speaker 1:Picard and the Enterprise crew had a long and illustrious career. Perhaps you currently live on Viridian IV? Well, the Nexus has no regard for classic temporal mechanics. According to the official reports of Captain Picard, the legendary James Kirk was in fact alive, drawn into the mysterious realm during the incident aboard the Enterprise B. Picard speaks glowingly of Kirk, but it seems to imply a reluctance on Kirk's part to leave his simulated paradise, and I guess who could blame him? Ultimately, though, kirk would travel back to a point in linear time before Sorin had launched his dreaded rocket. Disclaimer. Starfleet has rigid regulations regarding time travel and do not condone unauthorized incursions into the timeline. All Starfleet personnel are strictly forbidden from directly interfering with historical events and are required to maintain the timeline and prevent history from being altered. However, discussions of events seen during time travel are only restricted to events from the subjective future of persons who might be affected by that knowledge. That having been said, this is Old Hat for James Kirk.
Speaker 1:The two Enterprise captains succeeded in thwarting the machinations of Tully and Soren, wiping clear his genocidal crimes. He would, however, be guilty of at least one death. During the fracas, soren destroyed the structure surrounding his launch platform, causing it to collapse and killing once and for all James T Kirk. Once and for all, james T Kirk. Perhaps fittingly, dr Sorin was then killed himself when his own rocket exploded on the platform, sabotaged by Captain Picard. You, when judging Tolian Sorin, you must first put yourself in his place. If you'd lost everything in the universe that made you whole, watched the innocent die in vain, then touched paradise, a way to live forever in a world set right, what would you do? Though history frames Dr Sorin as a nihilist, torturer and madman, somewhere there is a place, a point in time where he's remembered as a loving husband and father, and if a place like the Nexus exists, proving the progression of time is only perspective, then perhaps both are true. Perhaps the man with the capacity of such love still and will always exist. To be continued, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan production is not endorsed by, sponsored by nor affiliated with CBS, paramount Pictures or any other Star Trek franchise and is a non-commercial fan-made film intended for recreational use. No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures. Live long and prosper.