What Destiny was and what could have been.

This is for people who want to know what Destiny's purpose was in my Stargate Universe continuation. But don't want to listen to the whole Stargate: Nova Roma audiobook series. I didn't go with what the canon show was planning for the ending. (Or what I think they were planning to do, because of stuff Joe Mallozzi posted on-line over the years.) I figured that not using their ending reduced my chances of getting sued. (I didn't think the chances of that happening were that big, but better safe then sorry.) 

Destiny's Goal

Our starting point is the folks that build the planet of Eden. These people are called the Zovaris by the local species. The name is a contraction of the words Zov - which translates are Mystery - and Aris, which translates are people. So literally Mystery People. 

The Zovaris existed in at least two universes. One version in the main Stargate universe and one live 42 universes away. For reasons lost to time, both versions of the Zovaris needed to construct extra habitable planets. And this is where we learn the difference between the two versions of the species. The main universe Zovaris were wise and patient

They started with a small asteroid and slowly worked their way up to the final product. The final product being Eden and its star. As we saw on the canon show, things worked out. The other guys were idiots. They went straight to trying to built Eden and its star. And it blew up in their faces, big time. 

Think of the multi-verse as a pile of glass panes. The idiot Zovaris created an unstable mass that shot through those plates like a bullet. Now, when you shoot a single bullet through a strong enough window, you get a single hole surrounded by these cracks radiating outward like frozen lightning. 

Fortunately, the Ancients of the universe the idiot Zovaris detected these cracks and built a ship to follow one of the cracks and mend it. That ship was called Destiny. But the only way to do its job, was to travel faster then light, but NOT through hyperspace. Eventually, this Destiny reaches the hole, which is a rift to the universe "underneath" her home universe. Let's call it Universe Two. 

They successfully close the rift and undone the damage. But it's such a violent event, that this Destiny ends up stranded at the start of Universe Two. The crew lowers the ship into a layer of hyperspace like a submarine diving under water. They then modify the FTL drive to freeze the ship in time and activate a transmitter, creating the signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. 

But what about the people aboard? They became the first ever to ascend. That done, they headed out into Universe Two. They made sure that the local Ancients not only found the signal, but also built a new version of Destiny. And thus, the cycle was created. 

Our hero ship is not the first Destiny. It is the 42nd incarnation. The story ends with our Destiny reaching the rift and finding the 41st incarnation. Using it as a power source, the crew dial home. The power draw causes a chain reaction that destroys Destiny 41. Our ship is last seen riding through the rift and closing it. Her crew made it back home and the job is done.

What Could Have Been

I figured I was pushing my legal luck as it was, so I didn't include this. But if I thought I could have, I would done so.

But what about our "Bullet"? For lack of a better term. That unstable mass that the idiot Zovaris created is still out there, punching from universe to universe. It is losing energy, but it is also travelling through space. Being exposed to energy fields, particles and dimensions, transmuting as it goes.

The first connect I would have made, starts with the fact that - because it is slowing down - the cracks keep getting shorter. Eventually, it only punches a hole and there are no major cracks at all. And thus was born the Rift at the Heart of the Medusa Cascade. Which the Doctor once closed. Where Davros attempted to detonate the Reality Bomb.

However, our he bullet kept going, until finally it reached a universe where it had just enough energy to punch in. But not enough to punch back out. So it became just another piece of space debris. Well, until it slammed into a place that humans would one day call Wakanda. And yes, I know the Mount impacted millions of years ago. But my explanation is that our bullet doesn't travel in a straight line. It's like a pinball, bouncing around through space and time until it crashes into Wakanda.

And that's it.

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers (aka  Commander Nash) 

Are the Clouds the key to Mass Effect 5?

 

I was thinking about the end of Mass Effect 3 and then I realized something. When we see the effect of the Crucible affect the Mass Relay network, we see it travel the galaxy. But, here's the thing, we see it travel ONLY the galaxy. 

How is this news? After all, Mass Effect Andromeda made it clear that the Reapers were only a Milky Way problem. Because if we zoom out just a bit, we see that the Milky Way has several satellite dwarf galaxies.

There's the Sagittarius Dwarf Spherical Galaxy and two Magellanic Clouds, one big and one small. And the end of the Mass Effect 3 shows crystal clear that they are not affected by the crucible's energy.

Which raises the question: Why? The simplest answers....Because they don't have any Mass Relays. They are outside the network. Which also puts them outside the cycles and the Catalyst's experiment. And in the millions of years and thousands of cycles, nobody has figured it out? I'm having a hard time believing that.

This also raises questions about the Andromeda Initiative and the Benefactor. Why foot the bill for a mission to Andromeda when there are three safe zones on your doorstep in universe terms? What's in those dwarf galaxies that the Benefactor doesn't want the people of the Milky Way to see? Could be our old friends, the Jardaan? Could the Benefactor BE a Jardaan? Let's ponder that for a second...

We know that the Andromeda Initiative's secret goal was to ensure the survival of the Milky Way species. But what if the Benefactor already figured out that the Milky Way species coming out on top was only a matter of time? And because the Benefactor is a Jardaan, they also knew what would happen once they were gone...a Jardaan invasion and enslavement of the Milky Way. 

So funding the Andromeda Initiative isn't about the Milky Way species surviving the Reapers. It's about them surviving what the Benefactor knew was coming after they were gone. And if Jien Garson figured out that was why the Benefactor footed the bill....well, that would give them motive to have Garson killed.

And that's all I have,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (@Dantes74302) 

A Short Announcement

Hello Reader(s),

So, I have something to confess. I haven't been taking very good care of this blog recently. Instead, I've been putting my time and energy into my YouTube Channels (Links below) and my LinkedIn profile. The thing is, my LinkedIn profile leads people...well, here. And if they do click the link and find a blog that has been gathering dust for months, that doesn't really score points.

It also doesn't help my efforts to recruit people to Star Trek: Forgotten Frontier one bit. So, I needed to do something about it. And then I realized that I posted a lot of my LinkedIn articles only on LinkedIn. (Shocker, I know.) Which left me with a way to kill two birds with one stone. Hence, the new From LinkedIn tag on this blog.

The plan is to (re)post my greatest hits from LinkedIn here, giving the blog a nice big influx of fresh content. Also, I'm going to (re)share those post with my X account in the hope of giving that a needed kick in the rear.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302)

Distant Stars

SSV Ain Jalut 

Bunnyburrow is doomed, not Zootopia

Hi Alex,

I recently saw a few Zootopia theory videos on YouTube and that got me thinking. At the end of Zootopia 2, a feather falls into Judy Hops apartment. This is seen as a portent of doom by several YouTube reviewers. And I agree with that. But the thing is, I disagree with WHERE that doom will strike first.

Zootopia City has weather walls, it has locations - buildings, cars, etc - that can be locked and secured to repel invaders and not one, but two disciplined, well trained forces that can resist. The Zootopia Police Department and Mister Big's Mafia. It might have a lot of people. But it is, from a tactical perspective, a HARD target.

However, in the first movie, Judy has to move to from Bunnyburrow to Zootopia to become a police officer. And everybody keeps pointing out how she is the first bunny police officer. If there was a Bunnyburrow PD, completely staffed by bunnies, there would have been nothing special about Judy becoming a cop. 

Nor would she have had to move to Zootopia. She could have just joined the Bunnyburrow PD. The first movie wouldn't have happened. Combined with the town's location in the fields and lack of other defenses, Bunnyburrow is a SOFT target. 

It is a lot easier to attack by a bunch of angry, hungry, predatory, bloodthirsty birds. On top of that, based on the town's population counter in the first movie, Bunnyburrow has a lot bigger population then Zootopia. 

There is also a darker long-term potential for danger. If I was a tactician with dark designs on Zootopia, I would first attack all the soft targets outside the city I could find. Not only would this provide my force with a large influx of food - as Napoleon said: An army marches (or in this case flies) on its stomach - it forces the ZPD to spread itself thin as they try to find out what is going on. And once that happens, leaving the defenses weakened, THEN I'd pounced on my final target: The city of Zootopia itself.

So, yes, Zootopia is doomed. Just not right away. And with even the smallest drop of realism, Zootopia 3 will not be a child friendly buddy cop movie....It'll be a dark, horrific, dystopian war flick, with people getting eaten left and right. 

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash) 

Another Piece of Trek Kurtzman Ruined

Hi Alex,

With all this talk about Star Trek's television side, I have totally forgotten that there is another part of the Trek universe that Kurtzman and his hacks at Secret Hideout ruined. For decades, dozens of novelist have worked hard to continue the universe on the written page.

In 2021, because of Kurtzman and his dreck, a trilogy of novels called Star Trek: Coda did a hard reset on the novel-side of Star Trek. Everything set post Star Trek: First Contact (2373) has been given the Expanded Universe treatment. (If you don't know what that means, ask a Star Wars fan when happen to their novels when Disney took over and I'm sure they will explain it to you in detail.)

And yes, Peter David fans, that means all of Star Trek: New Frontier is now gone from the timeline. I'm not blaming David Mack, who wrote Coda. I'm blaming Kurtzman. 

It is his mismanagement of the franchise, his disregard for continuity and his utter lack of writing skill that caused this. Secret Hideout could not write the ingredient list to a box of cereal without losing the plot and having somebody burst out into tears at least three time before getting to the end.

They are complete and utter hacks !

Okay, rant over. Have a nice day,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

An Unhinged Mass Effect Theory

This post is exactly what it says on the tin. So, let's dive right into it... 

 

Welcome to the Prothean Empire ! The Protheans are fighting the Metacon War and things are not going well. So they decide, lets send an expedition to the galaxy next door to enslave us some reinforcements. Here comes the plot twist... 

Andromeda is the modern (2180's) name for that galaxy. But what did the Protheans call it ? What if the Jardaan are called the Jardaan, because the Protheans called it the Jardaan Galaxy. And it was the Jardaan Expeditionary Force. So the people on the mission started calling themselves Jardaan and it stuck.

(For Stargate Atlantis fans....like the folks Stargate Command send to Atlantis became known as Lanteans to the folks in the Pegasus Galaxy.)  

Now, there is the little hiccup of the timeline. From what Javik said, the Metacon War was happening when the Reapers showed up to end everything. So this expedition would have been thousands of years ago, while things in Andromeda only went pear-shaped a couple of hundred years before Mass Effect: Andromeda.. (While the Andromeda Initiative was in transit.) But then I had an idea...

Even with Prothean technology, going from one galaxy to another takes a long time. And without Mass Relays, you need another way to go faster then light and compensate for the pesky thing called relatively. My idea is that whoever the Protheans were fighting found out about the Expedition and decided to commit a little old-fashioned sabotage. This resulted in a trip that should have taken several centuries stretching into thousands of years. (Possibly tens of thousands.)

Undeterred by this little...uh...delay...the Jardaan continued with their mission and happily enslaved the Kett. Except they botched explaining the plan to the Kett. Javik said that the plan was to bring all the organic sentient species together in the Empire. Of course, he was talking METAPHORICALLY. But the Kett took the plan LITERALLY. And thus Exaltation enters the picture....

And that's all I have. Have a nice day,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

My Pitch for Wolfenstein: Youngblood 1.5

Hi Alex,

There's an old saying that says that all good things come in threes. So far, I've pitched two game remakes. One for Mass Effect and one for Star Trek. To complete this trilogy, I thought I should do something different and leave the world of Sci-Fi games behind. 

Why Wolfenstein: Youngblood ?

Back in 2019, Youngblood was not as well received as its predecessors. And here in 2025, Machinegames has finished Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. This means they now have the resources to start working on the final game in their Wolfenstein series...Wolfenstein 3.

The problem is that Wolfenstein 3 is probably years away from releasing. And because of Youngblood's reception, there is not that much buzz for it (yet). So my pitch is for a Youngblood DLC/Expansion that will hopefully do something about that game's reputation and give the series an injection of activity. Also, by going the DLC route, players won't have to wait as long as they would for a full game.

The Set-Up

In Youngblood, we learn that the @ssh@ts have just lost a major battle over the Strait of Gibraltar. Whoever they've been fighting in Africa is about to cross over and bring the fight to them. In this DLC, we learn that like in our timeline the Organization of African Unity was formed in 1963.

However, unlike the real OAU, this version has only one goal...to fight and kill the @ssh@ts. And for the past seventeen years, that is exactly what they have been doing. Pushing them out of one country after another. And now they invading Spain and Portugal. In this timeline, the @ssh@ts betrayed Franco and conquered the country. 

There is, however, one major barrier between the OAU and Berlin...the French-Spanish border. The enemy has fortified this border for just this scenario....

Cue the Blazkowicz's Sisters: ...which is where the sisters come in. Due to the Jess and Soph wiping out countless @ssh@ts in Paris, things are looking up for the Resistance in northern France. They've been able to steal supplies, re-establishing/reinforce cells in other cities...etc, etc. 

The plan is to drop the Sisters in the a southern city, so they can revive the Resistance there are well. Then the revived Resistance can start chipping away at the Border from the other side. Killing key officials, sabotaging supply routes, blowing up important factories, etc, etc.

The Setting

The @ssh@ts are kind of expecting this move, so they increase security in all major southern French cities. But the Resistance outsmarts them by sending the Sisters (and their ally Abby) to Monaco. 

In this timeline, Monaco is not a playground for the rich. It was invaded and all it's bank accounts were plundered by the Reich to pay for the fortifications on the border. Then they build a big uber-concrete wall around it and turned into a Ghetto. (The European counterpart to New Orleans from the New Colossus.) 

The Real-life reason is that Monaco is relatively small. You can map out a large chunk of it, maybe all of it (relatively) easy. And it is next to the sea, so you have a build-in perimeter for the map already. The wall on one side and the water on the other. And by making it a separate map, you don't have to mess with the pre-existing ones. Back to in-game...

...The Resistance also picked Monaco because it has a harbor. This allows for a supply line from the OAU. And once the Sisters help free the city, they can hijack the Wall's defenses and turn them against the @ssh@ts. 

The Secondary Plot-line

After liberating Monaco, the Jess and Soph go back to Paris. And here comes a chance to shake up the Status Quo if you've complete the main campaign already. Once you've done that, and completed all the side missions, there's not much reason to keep playing the game. Post-endgame, it just become a lot grinding to level up. 

The idea for a the secondary plot-line is to do a partial reset of the Paris maps to give players who have finished the campaign more Post-endgame content.

The Plot:  

While the Sisters were away, a new Uber-@ssh@t arrived in Paris. He ordered all the codes changed (the codes for the doors in the Brothers, the drone dispenser code, etc.) and had people going around placing new padlocks all over town. He also had all the entrances to underground maps sealed up. This is a major problem for the Resistance. So Abby comes up with a plan..

...which is to frame the Paris' chief @ssh@t locksmith. The current locksmith is loyal to the @ssh@ts, but his aide is a Resistance spy. She sends to Sisters on a couple of missions frame the locksmith and make the enemy think that its the other way around. Once the @ssh@ts execute the locksmith, the spy will be promoted to take his place.

That done, the Sisters must find a way to kill the new Uber-@ssh@t, so he doesn't catch on or cause more trouble. (Which is complicated by the fact that he moved into a heavily guarded apartment in New Berlin.) 

Once the new Uber-@ssh@at is dead and with the spy in place, the player can then proceed to find the new codes, destroy the padlocks and re-unlock all the underground areas. This is also where any potential expansions of the Paris map could be sneaked in. As sites for side-missions unlocked by this new key spy. (*Moans at that pun.*) 

And that's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302 on X) 

My Pitch For Mass Effect Andromeda 2.0

 

Hi Alex,

First of all, I know that the tradition is to make an elevator pitch. But this subject is too long. So let's call it a boardroom pitch. And thanks for listening to my ramblings. So, here we go...

Boardroom Pitch for Remaking ME: Andromeda

To begin with, the folks at BioWare have made it clear that Mass Effect 5 will be a sequel to both the original trilogy and Andromeda. I'm not making this up, Mike Gamble - the big cheese himself - has said this. 

The problem is that to do that to properly, you will need to able to import choices from Andromeda into ME5. 

Now, I know that there are probably Andromeda critics thinking that there can't be that many. Or that they aren't that important. Well, let's see what I can think off from the top of my head. Ready ?

1. Tell me about your Ryder. Scott, Sara, somebody custom to your play-through ?
2. How is your Ryder doing in the romance department ?
3. Which loyalty missions did you do ?  
4. How did things work out with the Krogan for you ?
5. Did you cover for the Asari Pathfinder or reveal the truth ? Did you let her stay or replace her ?
6. Who rules Kadara Port these days ? 
7. Did you get all the golden worlds to full viability ? 

And I'm sure there are more waiting in the wings. But this is where we hit a major issue. Because Andromeda is runs on the Frostbite Engine, whereas ME-5 will be a Unreal Engine game. And those two pieces of software are not compatible. As things stand, you cannot import an Andromeda game save into Mass Effect 5.

But dude, Andromeda sucked anyway. They'll just do an interactive recap comic like they did before.  

First of all, I know that Andromeda was not everybody's cup of tea, but that is just rude to people who did like it. Keep it polite, please. Second, that would be a long comic. And if you know nothing about Andromeda, you'd be taking shots in the dark. Not to mention the simple fact that making Andromeda 2.0 - a Unreal Engine redo - might crank up Andromeda's sales numbers.

There is also a long-term argument to be made. Andromeda 1.0 came out in 2017...now, let's say ME-5 comes out in 2029 and is a giant hit. ME-6 gets green-lit and releases in 2035. That's great, but what if you want to do another Legendary Edition ? One that collects Andromeda, 5 and 6 ? 

As the last couple of years have taught us the hard way, the video game industry can be a volatile place. In 2040, are there still going to be people who know Frostbite ? Or it is going to be as obscure and forgotten as both the planet and code of Kobol ? (If you get the reference, good on you. If you don't, see what I mean ?) It's going to be much easier to upgrade Andromeda if it's already in (a version of) the Unreal Engine. 

Finally, anything you bring over from Andromeda to ME-5 is going to have to be redone from scratch anyway. Basically, if you don't redo Andromeda, you'd end up teasing the people who did like it with a game they'll never get. You risk turning off the Andromeda fans from your franchise. 

And for those complaining about Andromeda's writing....Who knows what other changes can be hung off this redo ? Which brings up to the big question....

Who Would Do This Remake ?

BioWare has recently laid off a lot people. And they are going to have their hands full with ME-5 for the next couple of years. If they are supposed to do this after ME-5, it's going to take forever to come out. My suggestion would be to outsource it. But to who or whom ? One word....Obsidian. Why ? 

1. Fallout: New Vegas proved that Obsidian can make games in franchises they didn't start and get the flavor right.
2. Obsidian made The Outer Worlds in Unreal Engine. Not only do they know the engine, they have the chops and knowledge to do a space RPG. Which brings us to reason 3...
3. Availability. Once Outer Worlds 2 is out the door - which will happen this year - Obsidian would be able to start this project. Let's look at some other options...
1. Machinegames....Just finished Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, now knee-deep into making the final Wolfenstein game.
2. Bethesda....Hands full remaking their own old titles. And we don't want a game full of glitches and bugs.
3. EA....simply don't trust them to get it right. 

Also, if anybody could tweak the writing in Andromeda, my money would be on Obsidian. And let's circle back to the long-term roadmap above. Andromeda wouldn't have a hard deadline. You could release ME-5 in 2029 and then drop Andromeda 2.0 anywhere you want in the gap between 5 and 6. Essentially slicing the time between releases.

Not to mention that with a planned release in the gap, you could add story to Andromeda 2.0. You could wrap up the loose ends of the Kett and the Quarian Ark. Yes, I know there was a novel about the Quarian Ark. But that only dealt with the virus. 

The Ryders still need to save their bacon from the Scourge and the Kett. You could even end Andromeda 2.0 with Ryder and company leaving for the Milky Way, with ME-5 showing the other end of the trip. (Not to mention that extending the story would give you even more choices for the game save to import, which would change things in ME-5 and give that game even more replayability.)

That's all I have,

Regards, 

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Shepard) 

P.S.

The Alex this 'letter' is addressed to is not a real person. It's my version of Kitty / Dear Sigmund. 

As for the pic that comes with this letter....I'm writing a Mass Effect Fan-Fic about the SSV Ain Jalut, the original SR-2 / Normandy's sister-ship, and made my own assignment patch for the ship.  

What current Hollywood should watch.

Okay, folks, I won't beat around the bush. In my opinion, 98 percent of modern Hollywood sucks. And it all comes back to bad writing. Characters are unlikable or unrealistic, plots tend to be thin and don't get me started on the messes of CGI and AI. My advice to modern Hollywood, watch these shows/movies from the past and learn what you have forgotten...

1. Twelve Angry Men

An excellent movie. If you want to see how to make a movie with only ONE set, this is the one for you. On top of that, all the twelve men are Caucasian. Yet, they are a wide spectrum of humanity because of their personalities and upbringings. This movie doesn't float on cheap action, or set pieces, it floats on writing, characters and ACTING. As does the next entry...

2. ER: Into That Good Night

...which is one of the best episodes the show ever did. It's so heart-wrenching that I can't even watch it when I do an ER re-watch. This episode proofs that a good story doesn't have be happy one. Nor does it have to have a happy end. Time to move on to...

3. Doctor Who: Listen

I know that people tend to be critical of the later Dr Who episodes. But this 12th Doctor episode is an excellent example of how to build tension using music. Try watching the episode with the sound off, but the subtitles on and you'll find it a lot less tense. 

4. Das Boot

And I don't mean the TV show remake. The original movie is a long watch, but it's worth it. Being about the Germans, this movie had an uphill battle to get its viewers aboard. But get aboard the viewers it did. It's an anti-war movie that shows the horrible costs. And that makes you sympathize with people who are supposed to be 'the bad guys.'

That's all the recommendations I have for today.

 Regards,

 Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

A Note on The Outer Worlds

 I love The Outer Worlds, but there is one simple problem with this game...it's too short. Combine that with the fact it's been ages since the announcement of Outer Worlds 2. Which raises the question....why didn't Obsidian kill two birds with one stone and kick a third DLC out the door ? 

Not only would this have helped keep the buzz going, we still have two planets on the map that we haven't been to....the ice planet Typhon and the gas planet Hephaestus. And yes, I know, the system map says that there is nothing for humanity on Typhon, except...

...Who do you think wrote that, in-game ? The Board....who probably claimed that so that nobody would visit Typhon and notice the gunships and the Hope parked in orbit. And it does have a valuable resource, because once you melt ice, you have this lovely thing called water. 

And water is everything. On top of that, who knows what surprises are waiting under the ice of Typhon. And then there is Hephaestus...

A whole planet full of miners. This would have been an excellent site for some post end-game/Brave New World shenanigans. Plus, all the companies have dirty secrets. Why should Hephaestus Mining be any different ? 

And they did own Scylla... So was it a coincidence that Clyde Harlow set-up his base there ? Or was he making sure that nobody dug up the area underneath his complex...

That's all I have for today.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Cough, cough, cough....

...blast this thing is dusty !

Hi Alex,

It's been a while, so I figured it was time to kick another letter out the door.

Are you okay ? It's been ages since I got a letter from you. Are things okay on the island ? Anyway, with N7 day coming up, I think now is a good time to talk about computer games. (Again ? Well, it's been a couple of months since my last post on the subject. So, here we go...)

My wish-list for 2025...     

Mass Effect (Next)

I have zero interested in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. But I am glad that it is about to be kicked out the door. Once it is gone, BioWare can finally start proper work on Mass Effect. So the sooner it is out the door, the better. I know it will be years before we actually get the game, but I'm wishing for more news on the game...

Wolfenstein 3

...which is the same situation for another two games...Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (which is the game I don't care about) and Wolfenstein 3 (the game I actually want). Fortunately, Indy's game will launch on 9 December. Which means that 2025 will see Wolfenstein 3 going forward at last.

Outer Worlds 2

This game was announced back in 2021. The last update was in August 2024. Hopefully, it wouldn't be another three years before we get more information on this game. Come on, folks, give us some juicy details !

And that's all I have for now,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Wish list for Prodigy Season 3

In my last blog, I pondered how Prodigy could be used to clean-up the messy Trek time line. But there are plenty of other plots that I would love to see in Season 3. So, without further ado, my wish-list is....

Dal's History

Yeah, we know that Dal is an Augment. And that he was created by proteges of Dr. Arik Soong. But how does that work ? Remember, Arik was seen in the 2150's and Prodigy starts in 2383. There's a piece missing here....Plus, how did he end up with DaiMon Nandi ? And speaking of Nandi, I want our crew to go another round with her and give Nandi her comeuppance.

Another Borg Day

The Neurolytic Pathogen is spreading through the Borg Collective. We've seen shades of this in Let Sleeping Borgs Lie, but what about the folks from Unimatrix Zero ? Did Starfleet just abandon the Borg Resistance created by Captain Janeway and company to be cannibalized by the Queen ? I think the crew of the USS Prodigy would have something to say about that.

Vidiians and Ocampans

Since the Borg plot would see our crew going (back) to the Delta Quadrant, I'd love to know if the Think Tank (VOY "Think Tank.") actually did cure the Phage ? I hope they did, because that would allow to see how such a cure would affect the Quadrant as a whole. And to see what the Vidiians are like now / were like before the phage. And who hired the Tank to cure the Phage ? If it wasn't the Vidiians, that could spell major trouble.

And speaking of major trouble. The Caretaker gave the Ocampans five years worth of energy before he died. By the time of Prodigy, that energy has long since run out. Add to that, there's a whole lot of Kazon on the surface...

Love's Labor Found

Moving on....Starfleet has the bad habits of visiting worlds once and then forgetting about them. Let's not make the same mistake with the Enderprizians. Especially since they are a pre-warp race, which means that Garrovick's crash there opened up a whole can of worms. The Protostar crew did their best clean up said mess. But if they want to get it right, they need to keep an eye on the place.

Rev-12

What happened to the Unwanted ? Did they find a place to settle ? Or are they still travelling the Delta Quadrant ? Maybe helping people like an interstellar version of the A-Team ?

And Finally...

There is Ascenia. What happened to her after she got arrested ? Will the 98 liberate her to come back and cause more trouble for our crew ? And speaking of crew....

There are currently seven people aboard the USS Prodigy, but Zero says in the pilot that it takes at least 20 folks to operate a Protostar-class. While our heroes have been doing fine so far, if they are going up against the 98, they might want to do something about the massive hole in crew roster. And with Starfleet being short on people, our crew might have to get creative...

That's all I have,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Outer Worlds 2

Hi Alex,

I've been playing the Outer Worlds and it's a great game. Which is why it wasn't a surprise when The Outer Worlds 2 was announced in June 2021. I have no idea when it is coming out, but I do have a wish-list of things I'd to see in that game. So, without further ado...

Swimming

In the original game, you can walk through ankle-deep water. And on Monarch, you can walk through a waterfall or two. But that's where the interaction with water ends. 

The Unreliable...

One of the few things that is known about the story is that the setting won't be the Halcyon colony. The thing is...it wouldn't be the Outer Worlds without everybody favorite's rust-bucket. My workaround would be to take Skip Drive from Phineas Welles' ship aboard the Unreliable. (Welles' ship was totaled in the original game anyway.) The Unreliable would then be ready for a trip to new worlds...

...And Old Faces ?

...but with who onboard ? The flesh-and-blood crew all move on at the end of the game. (Presuming they survive that long.) But ADA and SAM are part of the Unreliable. So I am hoping that they will return in the next game. As for our hero....I hoping we get to pick between either creating a new one or importing our old character Mass Effect style.

Answers

We need to know what happened to Earth. And the Cornelius Vanderbilt which vanished while headed there. Which raises another question...there were TWO assault cruisers knocking around Halcyon. What is the name of the other cruiser and what happened to her ?

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Star Trek: Forgotten Frontier

The Road to Get Here...

A while back, I wrote a letter to Robert Meyer Burnett, which he was kind enough to read/reply to on his YouTube channel. Before then, I was part of two Play-by-E-mail RolePlaying Games...First Star Trek: Pathfinder and then Star Trek: Freedom. But by the time of writing that letter, I was seriously considering starting a game of my own.

 

So what was that letter about ? It was a short demonstration of how easy it was to write something better then the brain dead Drek that Kurtzman and Co have been putting out. The letter was a short entry featuring my RPG character, a lovely Romulan lady called Yenna Chor'dan. After his reply, I decided to throw caution to the wind and start that RPG. 

 

I was planning to write a follow-up letter, but something is up with PostGeekSingularity.com. Maybe it's me, maybe it's on their end, but I can't get onto the site. So I needed to creative, and here we are. Time to move on to...

 

Shameless Self-Promotion

 

Back when I started my RPG, I wrote a blog about it and send it out on Twitter. Along with an ad

made by my second-in-command, Benjamin. One wee problem, nobody pays attention to either my blog or Twitter. So the plan was to cross my fingers and hope that RMB wouldn't tear me a new one for trying to using his channel for (shameless self-)promotion. Alas, the site didn't work...

Which brings us full circle. Besides Benjamin making the ad, I also asked my brilliant friend Richard

Clogston to write us a theme song. The result is now up on YouTube. So, what was I doing while Ben and Rick were doing this ? I was whipping up a wiki to serve as the game's website. I know zip about about coding, so that is the best I could do. (Well, that and it's free.) So, what is Forgotten Frontier about ? Well...

Forgotten Frontier

Set in 2376, the game tells the story of the tramp freighter SS Nothing. Named after he home-port of Nothing, Arizona, she is a home for those who have no other place to go to. Traveling through the Sol System, she finds adventure in the places Starfleet has forgotten about. 

 

(The first story arc will be set inside the Sol system, but if our intrepid crew beats the odds and survive it, they will set out for other solar systems.)  

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers (aka Captain Yenna Chor'dan)

Arc 6 (Mass Effect Next Theory)

Greetings Internet (and Mass Effect fans),

I know, I know, there are plenty of Mass Effect theories out there. But the more the merrier. So, here we go...

Arc 6

Let's start with the basics, what is an Arc ? It's a vessel meant to allow a group of people to survive / escape a (natural) disaster (of biblical proportions in most cases). For the Nexus and Arc 1 through 5, the disaster in question is the Reaper War. But in Mass Effect Next, the war is over. (Regardless of which ending you picked.) So, Arc 6 needs a new disaster. The question is....what is it ?

The Disaster

One of the teasers that BioWare has given us is "Anomalies detected all across space." I think that the anomalies are the disaster, and that we have already seen this disaster play out on a smaller scale. In Mass Effect 2, we have a radiation source in the form of star Dholen, that is render the planets around it uninhabitable for organic life.

My theory: Whoever the new big bad is, messed with Dholen as a test of Milky Way galaxy shield technology. They also messed with the blueprints of the Crucible. Their alterations caused the Crucible blast to interact with dark energy and create the anomalies. Anomalies that are now the radiation source with the affected area being the entire Milky Way. 

Who is on Arc 6?

My guess is that like Arc 5 (aka the Keelah), Arc 6 will be multi-species ship. If I was designing it, I would use it to make the list of evacuated species longer. So Raloi, Virtual Aliens, Geth, maybe a second load of Batarians (now that their old government is gone, I figure they are no longer the outcasts of the galaxy), some extra Quarians and so on.

Who do I think the Big Bad are?

Some folks on YouTube have pitched the idea that the Jardaan are the next big bad. And having heard their arguments, I think they are right. It is simply to perfect a way to tie Andromeda into the story. If Dholen was a shield test, we know that our Milky Way heroes don't have the shields needed to withstand the lethal radiation the Jardaan unleash on the galaxy. But...

The Jardaan created Remnant tech and Ryder and co have access to that. I think they used it to upgrade their shields (probably to protect themselves against the Scourge), accidentally giving them the only Jardaan radiation proof shields around, which brings me to...

My Guess About The Story

My crazy theory....Next is going to be a loop. Sounds nuts? Well, stay on the crazy train, please, people. In your first play-through, Arc 6 doesn't make it. Instead, Ryder and co find a buoy, which serves as McGuffin for them travelling back to the Milky Way. 

They return to find a galaxy with only the Jardaan in it. Everybody else is dead. The organics were killed by the radiation and the synthetics were wiped out by the Scourge. So what do Ryder and co do? They travel back in time to recruit Liara and change history. (By doing all sorts of missions in the Milky Way. Since it confirmed to be the main setting.)

Now comes the good part. You had to replay ME3 several times to finish leveling up and get all the best guns. But in Next, New Game+ becomes part of the story. In every cycle, based on the decisions you made in previous games and in Next...

1. The fate / condition of Arc 6 at the start of your next play-through changes, resulting in...
   
2. ....Unlocking extra mission
3. ...More Squad mates (You start with Liara and Shepard. With each cycle giving you one extra.)
4. Upgrades for your ship...

As for the end game. I think the counterpart of the Suicide Mission is Shepard and his team (including Ryder) boarding Arc 6 and getting it safely into Andromeda, breaking the loop and setting up the next game. 

DLCs

Oops...almost forgot that there are two Ryders. So, how does that work ? I'm thinking at if you played Andromeda, your player Ryder goes to the Milky Way, while NPC/other Ryder stays behind to take over as Pathfinder. If you didn't play Andromeda you get to pick your Ryder at the start of your first play-through.

I also think that the Tempest stays behind in Andromeda for the other Ryder to use. And that the Mudskipper is a special craft build for the trip back to the Milky Way (Trekkies: Like Voyager build the Delta Flyer.) As what the DLCs are about, I think they'll fill in the Andromeda side of the story. 

With the rescue of the Keelah / Arc 5 being at the top of (other) Ryders to-do list. And that is the end of my thinking out loud. Have a nice day and...

Regards,

Ruben Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302)

Why I think AITSE should go on strike

Hi Alex,

As is common knowledge, last year saw two strikes - WGA and SAG-AFRA - do numbers on Hollywood and the American film industry as a whole. And 2024 has a potential strike bubbling away in background.

I know that these strikes were hard on people. And that sucked. Nor do I think that should be swept under the rug. But...

I still think that IATSE should strike. Why ? Because while the 2023 strikes have created some certainties for the future, our world is a rapidly changing place. Especially in the field of Artificial Intelligence. 

And then there is the matter of the Bob Igers of the world, with their giant egos. Yes, the strikes forced them to bend the knee to the unions. But give them a successful box office years in 2024 and 2025 and by the time the next negotiations roll around, they will be just as selfish and arrogant as they were last year. Even more so if they are possession of next-level AI programs that will allow Hollywood to replace people with software like you and I change socks. (And I have a LOT of socks.)

Not only would any agreement resulting from the IATSE strike add certainties and safeguards against AI (and people getting sacked), the strike itself would result in productions getting shut-down (or at least experiencing major issues). Does that mean more hard times ? Yes. Does that suck ? Absolutely, totally, two-hundred percent. If I could think of another way, would I be for that ? Yes.

But I can't think of one. Not without things being much worse during the next negotiations. Or to summarize, If IATSE doesn't strike..."The bill comes due." (Karl Mordo, Dr Strange)

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Looking for Trekkies (up for breaking the mold)

Greetings Trekkies,

After having been a member of several Star Trek RPGs, I have decided to start one of my own. Of course, it kind of helps to have other members / players. The problem is that Trek RPGs are a dime a dozen, so what makes mine different... 

One thing that seems to be an iron rule, is that Trek RPGs is that the HAVE to be about Starfleet. Because apparently nobody else in the Federation is capable of boldly going... So that is the first rule Forgotten Frontiers threw out the window. 

Set in the year 2376, Forgotten Frontiers tells the story of the SS Nothing and her crew. With the hero-ship being a civilian vessel, this game will ignore a lot of the restrictions that are baked into Starfleet-centric RPGs. 

Launching from Earth, Nothing will show that there are still plenty of adventures, dangers and miracles left in Sector 001, even if Starfleet has gotten jaded to them. 

Are you up to restoring a sense wonder to the Federation ? Then you need Nothing and Nothing needs you ! 

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Captain Yenna Chor'dan)

Ding, that's two !

Maybe I'm seeing things that aren't there, but I get the feeling the MCU and Whoniverse might be connected. So far, all I had to go on was fact that the MCU has Celestials and the 60th will see the Doc facing off again the Celestial Toymaker. But a quick use of Google reveals that the Star Beast started life as a comic. A comic written by.....Marvel UK. 

Yep, Beep the Meep is a Marvel character. So, what more (possible) links are hiding in the wings ? Keep your eyes open...

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Bits and Pieces Vol. 13

 Hi Alex,

How are things going on the island ? Things have been well....wet...over here. You see, back in July, we had LOTS of rain. More then the local sewers could handle. So the water had to go somewhere...

...which turned out to be my living room. Twice. And my floor didn't like that one bit. So now three quarters of it has to be replaced. And my landlord(s) have decided to replace my bathroom. Which is great...

...But together with the floor replacement, means that my place is headed for a major remodel. Said remodel is taking a lot of preparation, which is why I haven't around to writing to you.

The Good News

It's not all bad news, however. The remodel is giving me the opportunity to deal with several issues that have been hiding in the woodwork. Another thing the remodel kind of forced me to do, was to clean up the hard drive on my computer. I had let some files pile up and I needed to do some major reorganizing. Which I finally got around to now.

And back in September, my American friend Rick made another trip to the Netherlands. Together with two other friends, we visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. And it was great. We enjoyed the paintings (Vincent sure knew how to paint) and had lunch afterwards. Rick then headed to London and met another friend here. 

So there has been good stuff as well,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

The Darkness in Picard S3...

 ....That Nobody Is Talking About

The Borg have been defeated for once and for all ! Yay ! Long live the Federation. But....at what price did this victory come ? Yes, the Borg Collective is evil. Yes, they were planning to wipe out Earth and needed to be stopped. And the queen was an insane (insert whatever curse you think is best here). Picard and crew did what needed to be done. It's not them I'm doubting, but I think the situation is nowhere as black-and-white as it appears at first glance. 

Let's talk about a man called Fred....Fred is just a random guy living on random planet in the Delta Quadrant. Then one day the Borg roll up to ruin everybody's day by assimilating them. Including Fred. He loses his family, he loses his friends, he his loses his mind. And then the neurolytic pathogen ruins the collective. Let us look at the possibilities for Fred.

1. If he's really unlucky, he dies a horrible death and then gets eaten by Queen. Only to be briefly revived as a mindless cyber zombie when Picard and co visit. He is then put out of his misery when the Borg ship explodes.
2. The Pathogen simply kills him.
   
3. He gets stuck in regeneration mode, like the Cube seen in Let Sleeping Borg Lie. And then...
1. Because of people's fear of the Collective, nobody rescues him...ever.
2. Somebody comes across his Cube and he is given the 'Icheb Treatment / aka dissected alive for his implants".
3. Even if he get rescued by somebody who doesn't Icheb him, where's he going to go ? As I said above...friends, family, gone. And what about his homeworld ? Even if the Collective didn't total it, who knows how long Fred has been in the Hive Mind. Is his world still there ? Has it been taken over by somebody else ?....

Which takes us away from Fred and back to the bigger picture. As established by Voyager, Borg Space is big. And like any other nation, the Borg have neighbors. Neighbors who are going to figure out that the Collective is falling apart. And try to conquer their space, either by colonization or warfare. 

A situation that is going to lead to the death of innocents drones like Fred. Bloody wars between these states. Yes, the Federation has won, but the Delta Quadrant is burning. And let's not forget there is also the fact that everybody who was taken over, now probably has PTSD. Not mention the elephant in the room...

Where did this pathogen come from ? Neurolytic Pathogens don't exactly grow on trees. And even if it could be made in the Sickbay of the USS Voyager, I doubt The Doctor would allow it. Yes, he was part of the developing of the nanite weapon they used against Species 8472. But that was with the galaxy at stake. And Voyager's goal was not genocide. In fact, this was a major source of tension between Janeway and the Borg.

The only other option is that Admiral Janeway brought it with her from 2404 to 2378. But it doesn't answer the question of how she got it. Replicators don't make lifeforms. Somebody had to grow it. Somebody rather ruthless. Somebody know for attempting genocide by virus....

Basically, the whole thing screams Section 31. And where they failed when they tried to wipe out the Founders, this time they succeeded.

That's all I....No wait, it was.   But after sleeping on it for a night, it's not anymore. (Short) RANT ALARM !! 

What about the Borg splinter states ? The Borg Cooperative from the Voyager episode Unity and the Unimatrix Zero, whose former members were liberated. Are they gone as well ? Will Section 31 use the pathogen to wipe the Cooperative out to prevent the rise of new Collective !? Will Starfleet just stand for that ?

Moving on.....I know that some people consider Prodigy and Lower Decks non-canon. But based on the upcoming SNW / Lower Deck crossover, the folks running the show(s) think differently. Which brings us to "Let Sleeping Borg Lie". 

The USS Protostar crew managed to get out. But they had the luck of having a Medusan along for the ride. So how many of these dormant Borg ships are out there, waiting to ruin somebody's day ? These ships are basically landmines, ready to restart the Collective if whoever boards them messes up. 

In short, it's a huge frakking, bloody mess. And it's the Federation's fault. They needed to get back to the Delta Quadrant and get to cleaning it up. Or as Commander Adama would put it...

"You cannot play God, then wash you hands of the things you've created. Sooner or later, you can't hide from the things you've done anymore."

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)