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As the Discovery learns more about the mysterious anomaly devastating Starfleet, new data suggests an old enemy from Star Trek history could return.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 6, “Stormy Weather,” streaming now on Paramount+.
Ever since the start of Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, the rebirth of the United Federation and Starfleet has been threatened by a dark matter anomaly moving through the galaxy. Moving suddenly and with an unpredictable trajectory, the anomaly has already consumed the Kwejian home world in a matter of seconds before continuing its devastating rampage. Starfleet and its allies have scrambled to learn more about the anomaly and its best course of action to deal with this threat. Among the revelations gleaned from data regarding the anomaly is that it was artificially created by an unknown entity from outside of the galaxy, potentially setting up the return of a powerful enemy from Star Trek: The Original Series: the Kelvans.
While exploring a subspace rift caused by the anomaly in order to learn more about it, Book attempts to use the spore drive to jump the Discovery outside of the rift when the crew discovers the corrosive effects left by the anomaly are steadily eating through the starship’s hull. However, this escape attempt backfires and Book is overloaded with feedback energy from the rift itself. As Book recovers in sickbay, Chief Engineer Paul Stamets analyzes the data in his body linked to the anomaly, realizing that the energy signature matches that of the Galactic Barrier, the forcefield around the borders of the galaxy. With this data in hand, the crew quickly deduces that the creators of the anomaly are from outside the galaxy.
The crew of the Enterprise during the TOS era previously encountered enemies originating from outside of the galaxy in the Season 2 episode “By Any Other Name.” While investigating a distress signal emanating from an uncharted planet, the Enterprise is ambushed by representatives from the Kelvan Empire, a conquering species from the Andromeda Galaxy sent ahead to spearhead a full invasion of the Milky Way Galaxy. With their vessel scuttled by crossing through the Galactic Barrier, the Kelvans commandeer the Enterprise to return to their galaxy with the gathered reconnaissance information, taking on human forms to effectively operate its controls while transforming the bulk of the crew into small, chalky blocks.
While Kirk and the remaining crew were able to appeal to the Kelvans to relinquish control of the Enterprise by pointing out they had progressively taken on human traits that made them distinctly different from the Kelvans and would be virtually unrecognizable upon their return, the threat of the Kelvan Empire remains. The Kelvans estimated that even the modified Enterprise of the 23rd century would take approximately 300 years to travel between the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies. With Discovery Season 4 taking place approximately 900 years after the events of the TOS era, this would certainly give the Kelvans enough time to realize something happened to their scouting party and rethink their strategy in conquering the Milky Way Galaxy.
While Starfleet dismissed the possibility of preexisting omnipotent races in the Star Trek Universe creating the anomaly, the revelation that the creators appear to be from outside the galaxy adds an even greater degree of mystery to the devastating force rampaging across the galaxy. The Kelvan Empire is presumably still active in the Andromeda Galaxy and is likely not eager to give up its plans to conquer the Milky Way Galaxy, sending over an anomaly to soften any existing defenses. And while an entirely different enemy could be responsible for the anomaly’s creation, the Kelvans set a sinister precedent that could mark their imminent return.
To see if the Kelvans will indeed return, Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.
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