The Pregenitor Pulse (A Gilded Cage, Part II)

[Solluk]

Two Defiant class vessels arrive to observe the Noyali ship and make sure it does nothing dangerous.  Meanwhile the Yourship is dispatched by Starfleet to investigate the veracity of the Noyali information.  Proceeding to J0437Á¢Ë†'4715, Yourship visits this pulsar system and searches for the secret control facility the Noyali spoke of.  If they can find it, then Starfleet may have the power to lower the galactic barrier- but will this ability make the galaxy vulnerable to invasion?

Starting Point: Relieved of its duty watching the Noyali ship, Yourship is sent to the nearby pulsar system J0437Á¢Ë†'4715 to investigate the Noyali claims.

End Goal: Yourship penetrates the pregenitor facility, learning how to control the galactic barrier.

Story points that must be passed?:

I) Relieved of its duty watching the Noyali ship, Yourship is sent to the nearby pulsar system J1741Á¢Ë†'2054 to investigate the Noyali claims.

II) With the data provided by the Noyali, it is possible to detect a cloaked facility in orbit around the pulsar, potentially having been hidden there as much as a billion years ago.

III) Away teams beam aboard the facility, and are greeted by a powerful robot.  The robot quizzes each member of the away team on matters of science, engineering, medical, astrogation, computer programming, and even tactical knowledge.  It says that they must display sufficient knowledge of these subjects to pass.

IV) The away team answers the robot satisfactorily, and it allows them to pass into the control room.  There, a holograph plays.  The holograph shows a pregenitor (from TNG episode The Chase.)  The Pregenitor reveals that their species knew there were powerful threats outside the galaxy, and so they set up the galactic barrier to keep the milky way safe.  Twenty pulsars throughout the galaxy provide power to the galactic barrier via mechanisms in these cloaked control rooms.  This control room will allow the Federation to deactivate a segment of the barrier closest to their space whenever they choose, and this would allow extra-galactic exploration.

V) Yourship reports back to Starfleet, and they send a squadron of ships to secure the facility and other similar facilities near Federation space.  They are not prepared to lower the barrier at this time, given the apparent Noyali threat.  But someday, the universe outside the galaxy will be able to be explored thanks to this discovery.

VI) As the Yourship begin their next assignment, they learn the Noyali ship has finally given up and left the galactic barrier, returning from whence it came.  However, the danger of the Noyali loom.  When might they return, and who else lurks in the great beyond, waiting to take a bite out of the Milky Way?

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)

- Flight: Flight control members of the away team may be quizzed on astrogation knowledge.

- Engineering: Engineering members of the away team may be quizzed on Engineering knowledge.

- Operations: Operations members of the away team may be quizzed on computer programming knowledge.

- Security and tactical: Security or Tactical members of the away team may be quizzed on tactical knowledge.

- Medical: Medical members of the away team may be quizzed on medical knowledge.

- Science: Science members of the away team may be quizzed on scientific knowledge.

Note:  This is the conclusion of the 'Gilded Cage' story arc dealing with the origins of the 'galactic barrier' seen in the Star Trek second pilot episode Where No Man Has Gone Before, and touching upon the events of The Chase episode of TNG.  This is a quick, intellectual challenge episode to balance the frenetic combat that wraps up the previous episode.  This episode provides the basis for extra-galactic exploration in the future should the fleet ever decide to do that.