Trektember: 2019 Wrap-Up (plus: Deep Space Nine Season 8?!)

Hey, guess what? We did it, for the fourth time! (Did what? If you missed the entirety of Trektember, click here)

This year’s Trektember reminded me how much I really love Deep Space Nine. It isn’t a perfect television show, but it packs so much realness and humanity into its 173 episodes that it just won me over once again.

An Alternate Future

When Ira Steven Behr put together his latest work, a documentary about the show entitled What We Left Behind, he got the writing room band back together to put together a loose outline for Season 8, Episode 1—an episode and series which exist solely in an alternate universe (the imaginations of the writers).

We thought that was a great idea, so we put together some stories of our own; featuring this year’s Trektember writers (and a couple of special guests!). So we humbly present six episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 8; which begins a year after the events of “What You Leave Behind.”

1. “Armistice”, by Matt McKinney
   A significant faction of the ‘Alpha-bred’ Jem’Hadar refuse to accept the Dominion surrender and try to reignite the war. Our crew, in a parallel of “To the Death” only with much more personal history, must team up with a Dominion strike force to stop these rogue soldiers before their rebellion becomes widespread.
    
2. “Crocuses in the Desert”, by Calvin and Natalie Atwell
   A desert on Cardassia Prime has suddenly become an ocean. Amidst the ecological disaster wrought by the Dominion, the Cardassians are thrilled at the instant increase in arable land. But as the climate continues to shift, turning the formerly-arid planet into a jungle, the natural blessing is starting to look a lot more like a disaster caused by a recently-discovered sentient aquatic race.
    
3. “Hall of Mirrors”, by David Atwell
   Garak, a newly-minted Cardassian ambassador, is sent to Qo’noS to re-establish diplomatic relationships between the Cardassian Union and the Klingons. But before his consular ship even leaves Cardassian space, it passes through an old Dominion trap, from which they recover to find themselves in the Mirror Universe; there they find that the Dominion has discovered the Wormhole and is in the process of building up a presence in the Alpha Quadrant. Garak uses his spy skills and knowledge of the war to assist the Terran Union in their war, discovering a surefire way to turn them back forever before realizing that the Dominion of the Mirror Universe is not evil, instead trying to unite the galaxy in a loose confederation against Species 8472. Garak must decide if he’ll help the Terrans finally gain victory over the Dominion, or give up all hope of going home.
    
4. “In Absentia”, by David Atwell
   Jake, Rom, and Leeta have gathered aboard the Promenade to welcome Lt. Nog back to the station after his six-month mission aboard the USS Eisenberg; however, when the ship docks, Nog is not aboard. Moreover, no one on the ship even remembers him. In trying to unravel the mystery, Rom discovers that Nog’s records no longer exist in any Starfleet databases at all; Jake discovers that none of his previous stories that mentioned Nog contain his name any longer; and, most troubling at all, Leeta finds that people who leave the station seem to forget all about him. Before they can get any answers, though, a station evacuation is ordered due to an incoming ion storm. The three must try to get to the bottom of his disappearance as a storm begins to rage, both literally and figuratively, all around them.
    
5. “Tsali and Scott”, by Adam Collings
   The paperwork has been signed. Bajor is now, finally, an official member of the Federation. While on the station for the festivities, Admiral Ross re-activates Kira’s Starfleet commission and assigns her the rank of Captain. He has a new mission for her. While the alpha quadrant have a tentative peace with the Dominion, nobody has dared travel through the wormhole since the end of the war. Kira takes the Defiant to negotiate with the Dominion to allow Starfleet access to the Gamma Quadrant for peaceful exploration. While negotiating with Odo and the Female Changling, things appear to be progressing well. But it gets more complicated when Kira is approached by a crew of Gamma Quadrant locals. Inspired by the Alpha Quadrant’s victory over the Dominion, a resistance movement is growing in the Gamma Quadrant, and they’re asking for Starfleet’s assistance. Kira is torn. She knows her duty to establish an agreement with the Dominion, but how can the former freedom fighter stand by and allow them to continue oppressing people in their own quadrant? She must now return to the station to seek guidance from the Prophets.
    
6. “Diaspora”, by Kevin C. Neece
   Virtually every close relationship in the series was split up in the finale. Everyone’s scattered. It’s a fractured family. Years later, what story, what challenge, what calling could send them out to find one another again and bring them all back together? Ben Sisko’s return, of course—or is it?
    
7. “Sundered from Memory”, by Mark Wingerter
   The Enterprise docks at DS9. Picard and Sisko have a war of words and confront the tension between them started in “Emissary,” Riker sits backwards on a chair and chats war stories with Kira, Data and Odo discuss how to be human, Geordi and O’Brien reminisce about early days on the Enterprise, Bashir and Troi work together to save a patient. Worf just kind of feels out of place for some reason. And why not throw Q in the mix to cause chaos across the station and everyone has to work together to get rid of him? Quark just watches the whole thing unfold, narrating his annoyance with hyoo-mons and the Federation. Everything is going fine until they’re contacted by Starfleet, who have put the station under quarantine; Sisko is supposed to be missing, off with the Prophets; and his appearance in “Diaspora” was really just a premonition of sorts predicting his return. Kira has the wrong rank. Data should be dead. Odo should be in the link. The Enterprise-D was destroyed over Veridian III. And where’s Dr. Crusher? Q denies any involvement, and isn’t inclined to help even if it is true. Maybe the mysterious patient has the solution. Perhaps it has something to do with Nog’s sudden disappearance from memory. The combined crews must work together to solve the problem—knowing full well that they’ll all lose something important if they’re able to figure it out and fix the timeline. Perhaps their own lives.

Or maybe you’d like something a little more revolutionary? This version of DS9 season 8 is a time jump to 2421 (with an almost entirely new cast) essentially 250 years since the formation of the Federation and more than 40 years since season 7.

• “The Centre Cannot Hold”, by James Harleman
  66-year old Jake Sisko arrives at the station traveling with his niece (a daughter of Sisko and Kasidy’s child) lamenting the present state of affairs.

  Benjamin miraculously returns with a prophecy and a mission: to end the newest and greatest threat to the Alpha Quadrant… the Federation, which has devolved into everything the Founders feared it would.

  This would take us past the Trek films, destruction of Romulus (and ST: Picard) and even Voyager’s return and explore the inevitable end of kingdoms and empires and removed earth and UFoP from the pedestal. It would also allow us to see offspring of the main cast as well as any legacy they left behind, as well as a few perhaps still alive and kicking. We’d seen enough of that era. Let’s see the 25th century through the Siskos’ eyes…

Hope you enjoyed our imaginary time in the DS9 world. What’s your pitch for a DS9 Season 8?

What’s Next?

Trektember will return! Before that, we have more new Trek to talk about (and we’ll be talking about Picard here)!  In the meantime, check out the archives to catch any episodes you missed this year; or go even deeper to see what Trektember looked like in years past.

Thanks so much for reading Trektember on Reel World Theology.  We all hope that you’ve gained something from this perspective, and see Christ more deeply.  Live long and prosper!

Special Thanks

We’d also like to give a thank you to the writers who made this year’s Trektember a reality.

Adam David Collings, AdamDavidCollings.com
David Lichty, Redeeming Culture/Reel World Theology
James Harleman, Cinemagogue/Popcorn Theology
Kevin C. Neece, The Gospel According to Star Trek
Matt McKinney, POS-TOS
Mark Wingerter, Reel World Theology
David Atwell, Reel World Theology

We couldn’t have done it without you.