Star Trek: Version 2.0

Series

DTI To Boldly Go Merrimac
Voyager Parallels Dauntless


Differences

The Version 2.0 timeline is very similar to that of the official Star Trek timeline (no, not the “canon” timeline, the “official” one, which includes ALL officially-licensed Trek tie-ins, not just what’s included at the whim of the producers). There are a few significant differences in the timeline, notably in the early 24th century and from the point of Voyager‘s fifth season onward.

Stardates

One of the most obvious differences between the two timelines is the stardating system. In the official timeline, the stardates were, effectively, randomly made up on the spot by the writers, and were highly inconsistent. When Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted in 1987, a more coherent system to track stardates was devised, with 1000 stardates being roughly equivalent to one Earth year – or about 2.74 stardates per Earth day. Regardless, stardates remained inconsistent even then, though they were more consistent than before.

In the Version 2.0 timeline, a more consistent application of the TNG system has been retroactively applied throughout Trek history, dating back to the foundation of the Federation in early May 2160. The TNG episode “The Neutral Zone” established that episode to be set in 2364, but not the specific date. Thanks to a little math and the Voyager episode “Homestead” giving both a stardate AND an Earth calendar date, I was finally able to determine that stardate x000.0 (where x is the year segment) occurs on May 23rd… which is just weeks, if not days, after the date previously established for the foundation of the Federation! As a result, nearly all TNG-era stardates can be accurately converted into Earth dates, with accuracy down to fractions of a second, depending on how many decimal points are given.

The Early 24th Century

The first major divergence in the two timelines begins in 2299 and continues through 2311, shortly after the Tomed Incident. In the official timeline, Captain Harriman remained in command of the Enterprise-B until after the Tomed Incident, at which point he stepped aside and command was handed over to his first officer, Demora Sulu (as chronicled in the novel “Serpents Among the Ruins”). In the Version 2.0 timeline, however, Harriman accepts promotion to the admiralty in 2399, after five years commanding the Enterprise-B, and command of the ship is assumed by Captain Pavel Chekov. The specifics of the Tomed Incident are also quite different in the two timelines, but following those events, Chekov accepts promotion to the admiralty as well, and hands command of the ship over to his first officer, Demora Sulu. From this point on, the timelines are once again nearly identical.

Also, from 2300 through 2305 in the Version 2.0 timeline, the Constitution-class USS Merrimac NCC-1715 was assigned to patrol the Romulan border and became involved in exposing a Romulan conspiracy to draw the Federation into a war with the Gorn and Kzin (from the Animated episode “The Slaver Weapon,” written by “Known Space” creator Larry Niven, who thus donated the Kzin to the Star Trek universe), which would have weakened Federation defenses and allowed Romulan forces to easily take entire sectors of territory. The fallout from this incident ultimately led to the Tomed Incident in the Version 2.0 timeline.

Voyager

The divergence in the timelines during the events of Star Trek: Voyager was rather controversial when I first wrote the fan fiction stories chronicling those events. In the Version 2.0 timeline, following the unsuccessful attempt by Captain Janeway to negotiate a treaty with the Trabe and the Kazon, she was so embarrassed by the failure that she sabotaged the transwarp experiment by Lieutenant Paris soon thereafter, in the hopes that it would delay Voyager‘s return just long enough for her to redeem herself before returning home. She couldn’t have foreseen the ramifications of that act, however, and both she and Paris were mutated into distinctly nonhumanoid forms before the mutations could be reversed by the Doctor. Over the next several years, she would repeatedly sabotage their efforts to return home after making other missteps. She was ultimately uncovered in the story “Getting Home,” and court-martialed. The Slipstream Drive components were reconnected, and Voyager successfully returned to Earth nearly 18 months prior to the events of “Endgame,” with Captain Janeway now in prison.

Other changes at the same time involved the romance of Ensign Kim and Seven of Nine, who ultimately married after the discovery of Janeway’s sabotage ring, and brought two children into the world. Likewise, Paris and Torres also married earlier than their counterparts in the official timeline, but difficulties inherent in cross-species breeding prevented the birth of their first child, Linnis Miral Paris, until 2377, at the same time as their counterparts brought Miral Paris into their universe.

Additionally, early in the fifth season, Voyager encountered the USS Challenger, which had been transplanted from 2310 in the Alpha Quadrant. The ship was irreparably damaged, and the fifty surviving crew members were integrated into Voyager‘s crew, while as much of the Challenger was salvaged as possible. Notable members of the Challenger crew included Lieutenant Commander Everett Dyson, an original character created around the cameo appearance by Christian Slater in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; Lieutenant Dan Phillips, son of Merrimac captain Jack Phillips, who was a cadet during the events of the Merrimac stories; and Dr. Danielle Marcus, illigitimate daughter of Dr. David Marcus with a former member of the Genesis Project staff, who left without revealing her pregnancy.

Following Voyager‘s early return to the Alpha Quadrant, none of the novels written by William Shatner, save “The Ashes of Eden,” occurred, and Kirk was still thought dead. In the Version 2.0 timeline, Dr. Marcus stole a Delta Flyer-type shuttlecraft, the Kes, and used it to retrieve Kirk’s “echo” from the Nexus, thus bringing him back to life. Kirk was reunited with his now-elderly crew, and spent four years in retirement, until 2380, when he accepted command of the USS Dauntless NX-80179, designed by Kim, Seven of Nine (who now calls herself Annika Kim), Paris, and Torres. Shortly after the ship was launched, Kirk and the Federation found themselves in the middle of an invasion by the Briori, who centuries before had abducted humans and transplanted them to slavery in the Delta Quadrant, only to be overthrown and disappear decades later.

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