Star Trek: The Continuing Mission

[Bry_Sinclair]

Never watched Lost thankfully. I could see it annoying the hell out of me!

Any idea I come up with just doesn't fit right with me. I did think about them being out of temporal sync with the rest of the universe (like the aliens in "Time's Arrow"), but under the right conditions they can be seen of briefly.

Or they were kidnapped/possessed by an alien race that needed the crew, but not the ship.

Or maybe there was a saboteur onboard who did something to the entire crew before they themselves vanished.

I agree that the reason would be needed from the very beginning, with very subtle hints given along the way, until the big reveal, and then comes the possibility of getting them back and what would happen to the Enterprise then.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I like the idea that they were kidnapped by a new alien race that needed the crew but not the ship. They wiped all the databanks and left all the shuttles intact. So that they're location was kept a secret. Starfleet knows the last known location of Enterprise from the last report that was sent but not anything after that. I could see the idea of the Breen being blamed if you wanted to go with them as the race that attacked, but it turning out to be a completely new race with an unknown agenda. There's some cliche factor to this of course but I think if you spent enough time working it out that you'd be able to fit in all the rest of the story factors.

This would also kind of affect the crew's mentality as they know they're a temporary replacement staff who's primary mission is to find out where the crew proper went to. I could see the first season finale ending with the crew discovering that the Enterprise-E crew had been kidnapped by aliens after their investigation, etc.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The alien invasion of the Enterprise would be probably the easiest way around what happened to them (granted it has been done many times before, but it's a classic for a reason). Would have to think of the reasoning behind it though.

Was also thinking of the Post-Vanishing crew, the following are all definates:
Commanding Officer - Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Human, Male)
First Officer - Commander Martin Madden (Human, Male)
Chief Security/Tactical Officer - Commander Worf (Klingon, Male) [he'd be back in gold though]
Chief Engineering Officer - Commander Geordi La Forge (Human, Male)

Whilst I'd still need to cast the following:
Ship's Counsellor - Troi said her replacement was a woman
Chief Medical Officer - No thoughts on this one as yet
Ops Officer - Was thinking an alien woman, rank of Lieutenant
Conn Officer - I'm leaning towards a male Bajoran Ensign

Also for the original crew line up, I've been having some thoughts:
- Promoting Lavelle up to Commander and First Officer in place of Atoa
- If I did this I would move Dorian to Ops and bring Kell Perim back aboard as Conn Officer (now a full Lieutenant), or maybe keep her at Conn adn put Kell at Ops
- I'm also not sure about Mordock at Tactical, though I don't know who I'd replace him with (Bryan Singer's non-speaking character of Lieutenant Kelly popped into my head, as I'm sure I've read that in fanon he is genetically enhanced, and I think that would be interesting to play with in this situation). But anyone got any other thoughts?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

They sent the ship back as a Trojan Horse! There's something wrong with it that will end up destroying the entire Federation!

There was a virus on board the ship that got loose when the ship was in drydock and is silently spreading throughout all the Feds' technology...

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Sweet idea Temis. I may have to pinch it!

 

[Admiral_Young]

For operations manager have Kell Perim return. I'm a big fan of hers despite having a bit part (She's the Helm officer in Insurrection). For CMO maybe Dr. Selar. Could make up your own creation for the Counselor.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

What's wrong with Hedril? I would think a telepath with her abilities would be handy in the long run.

Selar does kick ass, and it would be an excuse to bring Suzie Plakson onboard.

There are quite a few characters that could easily be used.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Ooops didn't see that you already had Perim there. I must confess I have no clue or can't remember who Hendril is.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Sweet idea Temis. I may have to pinch it!

Pinch away!

Problem: it takes the focus of the story away from the Enterprise, since by the time the story starts, the virus has already spread and the Enterprise is no longer the threat. So maybe there's a reason that the vanished crew hold the key to uncovering the secret threat to the Feds. They learned about it, were sposed to be executed, some escaped.

And/or, as the first infectee, the Enterprise will fall prey to it first. So when things start going wrong onboard...

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Ooops didn't see that you already had Perim there. I must confess I have no clue or can't remember who Hendril is.

Hedril was played by a 12 year old Kirsten Dunst on the TNG episode "Dark Page", where we find out about the death of Deanna's older sister.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Okay I know her now very well actually because that's my brothers favorite episode lol. He's a big Kirsten Dunst fan.