News Files:Theme

From Star Trek: Gamma One

The theme of Star Trek: Gamma One is 'evolution,' as in the process of change, for weal or woe, which all individuals, races, and social groups undergo with the passage of time. Now, while it is true that *any* character in a story is expected to undergo change as part of the ongoing conflict and evolution of the story, ST:GO's theme is one of the process, need, and moral course of change itself.

In fairness, this is not a 'new' theme to Star Trek. Many episodes of both 'classic' Trek and ST: The Next Generation dealt heavily with the impact of First Contact or diplomatic relations with the Federation on smaller societies -- single worlds or lost colonies were constantly changed by first-time or renewed or deepening contact with Kirk or Picard and their people. DS9 then took this theme and showed more closely how sometimes the roles would be reversed, and it would the Federation forced to change (in the case of DS9, becoming more violent, more militant, at least on the borders) due to contact with a mysterious and advanced civilization. Our goal here with ST:GO is to balance those two poles, then, to show that evolution is not a flash of lightning but a feedback loop, that it is a process of quantum chemistry writ on the social scale, changing the catalyst as much as it changes the reactants.

To step back from the metaphors, then, we are basically telling the tale of the continued exploration of the Gamma Quadrant and how those continued discoveries will force change in that region of space as well as in the Alliance, how the very act of exploration changes the explorers as well as the explored. We will be acknowledging that it is the very act of exploration will force the crew of Task Force Gamma One to ask 'what are we? what are we becoming?' ... but that at the same time, in having these encounters and asking these questions, they are changing the many societies they encountered, as well.

Some questions which will loom large are:

• Now that the war is over, what becomes of the Alliance? While we are honoring the spirit of the Alliance in the Gamma Quadrant, legally we are not required to ... how does the new terrain and environment affect the interaction of federations and empires? The Klingons and the Romulans will not take very long to realize that the Alliance Treaty does not require a sharing of discovered Gamma Quadrant resources -- how long before the Chancellor, Praetor, or someone claiming to act in either of their names decide to take pre-emptive action to make the Gamma One expedition and its findings less multilateral?

• With the war over, how does the role of the wormhole change? Does it go from being a strategic resource held in religious awe to being just another commonplace wonder like a transporter or warp drive? Is it still necessary to consider it a divine manifestation?

• For that matter, what happens during those times when the wormhole closes or becomes unstable or unusable, when messages back and forth are not just awkward and brief but entirely absent, and the senior officers of the ships of Task Force Gamma One are on their own, their every decision independent of Starfleet Command and setting precedent for Starfleet and the Federation in the Gamma Quadrant? This cannot be avoided -- there will be times when the characters must make stuff up as they go along, and they clearly will become the history of the Federation and the Alliance in the Gamma Quadrant.

• In short, what are we becoming? Why are we here? Has Starfleet outgrown its usefulness? Has it, with all its coups and factions and politicking and militarization, become something twisted from the dream envisioned in the 2160s? Is it only paying lip service to its core values and Prime Directive?

• What becomes of the Jem'Hadar? This question, especially, will be asked, from the very first Jem'hadar encounters in the very first few episodes, in which the Jem'hadar are still reeling from a withdrawal of Founder presence and guidance so complete that even in the Gamma Quadrant, the Dominion is now mostly tied together by tradition and habit.

Some miscellaneous thoughts:

• With regards to canon history, and how much precedent is being set, there are those who will argue 'how much' of the Gamma Quadrant was shown by the episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It should and shall be our position that while DS9 clearly showed visits into the GQ by Starfleet, these were brief runs to one small arc of space on the far side of the wormhole -- DS9's crew scratched the surface and there is so much more.

• The 'mood' of this game should, in fact, always be one of curiosity and questioning. Sometimes fading into comic relief, other times starkly serious, there should always be unresolved questions, moments of doubt, and hypotheses to be tested. The player characters should never be one hundred percent sure of the next step, since evolution *is* a never-ending process.

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