Star Trek Just Launched a New Star Fleet to Explore the Multiverse

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5, episode 9 – “Fissure Quest”

Star Trek: Lower Decks has just introduced a new version of Starfleet whose mission is to explore the multiverse. In Star Trek Prime Universe, Starfleet's prime directive is to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and civilizations. Starfleet ships like the USS Enterprise explore the galaxy in search of exotic new species, hoping to learn more about its many wonders. But in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, the USS Cerritos has a different mission: closing loopholes that lead to alternatives Star Trek timelines.

However, in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 9, 'Fissure Quest,' Section 31 accused Captain William Boimler (Jack Quaid) of tracking a rogue ship that disrupts the multiple realities of the Star Trek universe. Leading the Defiant-class Anaximander starship, Captain Boimler (Jack Quaid) and his crew of alternate universe legacy characters from different backgrounds. Star Trek series finds the surprising cause of “holes” in the multiverse, and it involves a fascinating alternative Starfleet.

Star Trek: Lower Decks features an alternate star fleet that explores the multiverse

In its penultimate episode, Lower Decks introduced a new type of Starfleet

When Captain Boimler and his crew are captured by the Khwopians, they find themselves in a cell with the crew of the ship that is causing the quantum rifts. Captain Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard), who first appeared in Star Trek: First Contact, reveals that she and her team have been exploring the multiverse using a Quantum Reality Drive. In Star Trek Prime Universe, Sloane helped Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) develop Warp Drive, which allowed humanity to explore the galaxy and eventually led to the creation of the United Federation of Planets.

In Lily Sloane's alternate reality, she and “Ze” developed a Quantum Reality Drive that allowed them to explore the multiverse. Captain Boimler grew up “Tired of [beep]-ing multiverse,” and wants to explore previously unknown worlds again. When he expresses this feeling to Sloane, she points out that exploring various realities has allowed him better understand humanity and map its “unlimited” potential. Sloane and her crew have the same enthusiasm for reality that all of Starfleet's best officers have for their jobs.

Why Star Trek's New Starfleet Warp Drive Is Dangerous for the Multiverse

Your Quantum Reality Boost Causes an Unfortunate Side Effect

As a function of its Quantum Reality Drive, Captain Sloane's ship, the Beagle, has the ability to create quantum fissures in the fabric of reality and travel between dimensions. Sloane insists that they always close the fissures behind them, but she doesn't realize that her actions create a second rupture elsewhere. When these rifts are left open, ships and beings from other universes sometimes pass through, causing problems in the Prime Universe. One of the Vulcans on Sloane's crew points out that they “did not take into account additional power dissipation”, which led to the cause of these additional divisions.

Captain Sloane immediately apologizes and seems genuinely upset that her crew's actions have caused others to be left out of their realities. Sloane and her crew offer to help Captain Boimler and his crew return home and ultimately help prevent the destruction of Star TrekIt's the multiverse. Star Trek: Lower Decks' “Fissure Quest” ended on a cliffhanger, but Captain Sloane and her crew have already helped save the day. If they find a way back to their own reality, Sloane will likely work with Zefram Cochrane to fix the problems caused by their Quantum Reality Drive so they can continue to explore the multiverse safely.