Star Trek: 10 Classified Starfleet Secrets
While exploring space, Starfleet has made a number of discoveries too dangerous to be made public.
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00:00In Trek, Starfleet constantly encounters dangerous new technologies, phenomena, and alien societies.
00:07Despite this, they are actually surprisingly transparent with their knowledge.
00:10Students at Starfleet Academy, for example, learn about the adventures of Kirk's Enterprise
00:14and the many Earth-shattering discoveries they made with little censorship.
00:18However, Starfleet, like pretty much every other organization, has some secrets that
00:22they wish to keep hidden.
00:24Tech too potentially dangerous to be shared, crimes that Starfleet committed in the past,
00:29entire worlds forbidden to visit, and many more classified pieces of information exist,
00:34known only to the highest-ranking officers in the fleet and the CIA-inspired secret organization
00:39Section 31.
00:41Section 31 itself, since its conception, has retreated further and further into the shadows,
00:46until they were virtually forgotten by everyone by the 24th century.
00:50Clearly, Starfleet has a skill of hiding what they don't want to be known.
00:54And so, with that in mind, then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, here with 10 Classified
00:59Starfleet Secrets.
01:0110.
01:02Yore
01:03When Discovery's crew traveled to the 32nd century in Star Trek Discovery's third season,
01:07the Mirror Universe version of Philippa Georgiou started having flashbacks, losing control
01:12of her mind, and physically glitching at random intervals, and no one on the ship could figure
01:17out what was wrong.
01:18The Discovery crew took this information to Dr. Kovich, who accessed and showed Dr. Culber
01:23the classified file of the alien known as Yore.
01:26Yore was a Starfleet officer and time soldier who, in 2379, traveled both to the future
01:31and to the prime universe from another dimension.
01:34Kovich revealed that his journey to both a different time and a different universe, just
01:38as Georgiou had done, caused him to slowly and painfully die as his molecules drifted
01:42further away from the time and place they were meant to be.
01:45Interestingly, it's heavily implied that the universe Yore originated from was the rebooted
01:50timeline from the new Star Trek movies.
01:53Kovich stated that his reality was created by a Romulan mining ship.
01:56Fans assumed that he was referring to the Narada, Nero's ship from the 2009 film Star
02:02Trek.
02:039.
02:04The technology of the Genesis device
02:06The development of the Genesis device started off with good intentions.
02:10The device created by Dr. Carol Marcus was the most sophisticated terraforming technology
02:15in the Federation.
02:16But after Khan stole it and detonated it aboard the USS Reliant, the technology's destructive
02:21capability was exposed, which made Project Genesis a huge controversy across the Quadrant.
02:27All of the science behind the Genesis device was classified by Starfleet.
02:31This, mixed with the drama surrounding Khan, made many neighbors of the Federation, such
02:35as the Klingons, very nervous.
02:37Ultimately, these fears died down because the tech was soon found to be unstable and
02:40the project was scrapped.
02:42So although almost everyone in the Quadrant had heard about the Genesis device in the
02:4623rd century, the actual science behind it was known to only a few individuals.
02:52It's likely that either Starfleet or Section 31 still keep records of the tech, and many
02:56other alien species have probably tried to recreate it, but we have so far never seen
03:01this on screen.
03:028.
03:03Dangerous Borg files
03:04In the iconic two-part Voyager episode Scorpion, the crew entered Borg space for the first
03:10time.
03:11Prior to this moment, no Federation ship had ever gone so deep inside the Borg's home territory,
03:16so Janeway tried to prepare by reviewing every file on the Borg she could find, including
03:21classified information likely only available to captains.
03:25It's a quick shot that's easy to miss, but near the beginning of the episode, when Janeway
03:28is doing research on the computer in her ready room, you can see that the Borg files she's
03:33reading are, in fact, classified.
03:36This might seem like a minor detail, but it actually tells us a lot.
03:39Most people in the Federation have heard of the Borg, so it's likely the classified information
03:43pertains to Borg technology, such as nanoprobes and electronic mind control, which could have
03:49been studied from salvaged Borg drones and ships.
03:51It makes sense that Starfleet would know a great deal about the tech simply from examining
03:55it, but they definitely wouldn't want the Klingons or Romulans to be able to access
03:59it.
04:007.
04:01The Paxons
04:02In the Next Generation episode Clues, the Enterprise-D inadvertently stumbled into the
04:07home system of the Paxons, but everyone other than Data had the memory of their encounter
04:12erased.
04:13The Paxons are a highly xenophobic species.
04:16They hate outsiders so much that they conceal their homeworld with an energy field that
04:20stuns the crew of approaching alien ships, rendering them unconscious until they leave
04:24the system.
04:25The field also tricks sensors into detecting a fake wormhole, so when the crew awakens,
04:29they assume that the journey through the wormhole was the cause of their unconsciousness and
04:33spontaneous jumping across light years.
04:35Unfortunately for the Paxons, Data, as an android, was immune to the effects of the
04:39energy field.
04:40At first, Data was able to revive the crew, but in order to escape certain destruction
04:44and appease the Paxons, Picard had to allow them to erase the crew's memories.
04:49He ordered Data to never reveal the existence of the Paxons, but clues were left behind
04:53that led Picard to uncover Data's secret.
04:56The Paxons agreed to give them a second chance and once again erased their memories, this
05:00time taking special care to remove any residual clues.
05:03Data presumably kept the existence of the Paxons secret for the rest of his life.
05:086.
05:09Discovery and the Spore Drive
05:11After its sister ship, the USS Glenn, was destroyed, Discovery became Starfleet's only
05:15ship equipped with a displacement-activated Spore Hub Drive.
05:19This unique technology is the fastest and most advanced method of travel ever seen on
05:23screen.
05:24The ship can access a universe-wide network of mycelium to instantaneously move across
05:28the galaxy.
05:30The tech was highly classified and was even developed with the involvement of Section
05:3431.
05:35Although the Klingons were aware Discovery could appear out of nowhere, they had no idea
05:39how the Spore Drive functioned.
05:41After Discovery and its crew were transported to the future following the battle with the
05:45Artificial Intelligence Control, Spock recommended to Starfleet that Discovery should be reported
05:50as destroyed and keep classified all information regarding the Spore Drive and Control.
05:56Clearly, they listened to his advice, as Starfleet never used Spore Drive tech again until Discovery
06:01returned in the 32nd century.
06:03When they got to the future, the Spore Drive was instrumental in protecting what remained
06:07of the Federation and solving the mystery of the Burn.
06:115.
06:12The Morphogenic Virus
06:14One of the more abhorrent acts ever committed by Section 31 was their creation and deployment
06:19of the Morphogenic Virus.
06:21Section 31, realizing that the Federation's hopes of winning the Dominion War were dwindling,
06:26intentionally infected Odo with the virus during a medical examination.
06:30The top-secret Morphogenic Virus was specially designed to kill Changelings, the leaders
06:34of the Dominion.
06:36They hoped that Odo, when linking with other Changelings, would pass it on to the whole
06:40population.
06:41Odo was never meant to develop symptoms, but when he began to, Dr. Bashir did some digging
06:45and exposed the Section 31 plan.
06:48Using some fancy tech, Bashir was able to enter the mind of the Section 31 agent Luthor
06:53Sloane to extract the cure, saving the Changelings, including Odo, and improving the relationship
06:58between the Dominion and the Federation.
07:01Many in the Federation opposed giving away the cure to save their enemies, but this act
07:04of mercy was instrumental in ending the Dominion War.
07:084.
07:09The Pegasus
07:10In Star Trek Discoveries' third season, the ship received a number of tech upgrades from
07:15the future.
07:16One of these upgrades was a cloaking device which surprised audiences because, for most
07:20of Starfleet's history, the organization was banned from developing any sort of cloaking
07:24technology.
07:25The ban was one of the requirements of the Treaty of Algeron, which also reinforced and
07:29redefined the Romulan Neutral Zone and greatly improved the Federation's relationship with
07:34the Romulan Empire.
07:36The treaty brought peace to the Alpha Quadrant, but delayed the advancement of cloaking technology
07:40for centuries.
07:42Many in Starfleet were apparently rather displeased with this arrangement, as we learn in the
07:46Next Generation episode, Pegasus, that the organization illegally developed and tested
07:51a secret cloaking ship, the USS Pegasus.
07:54The Pegasus was equipped with a phase cloaking device, a unique type of cloaking tech that
07:58shifted the vessel out of phase with normal space, rendering it not only invincible but
08:03also presumably indestructible.
08:06After an accident, the Pegasus was thought to be destroyed, but it was actually drifting
08:09through space in its cloaked state, before materializing later inside a solid asteroid.
08:14In the episode, the Enterprise D crew was ordered to retrieve or destroy the wreckage
08:18before the Romulans found it, but when Picard learned the truth of the phase cloaking device,
08:23he made the information public.
08:253.
08:26The Mirror Universe visitors from Discovery
08:29At the end of the first season of Star Trek Discovery, the ship and its crew were transported
08:34to the Mirror Universe, the edgy, authoritarian reality first appearing in the original series
08:38episode, Mirror, Mirror.
08:40Eventually, Captain Gabriel Lorca was revealed to be a Mirror Universe imposter trying to
08:45use Discovery to get revenge on the Empress of the Terran Empire, the Mirror counterpart
08:49of Michael Burnham's deceased former captain, Philippa Georgiou.
08:52In the end, Lorca was killed and Georgiou was brought back to the Prime Universe against
08:56her will, where she assisted Discovery in ending the Klingon War, then later started
09:01working for Section 31.
09:03Despite Discovery's first season taking place before the original series, when Kirk's Enterprise
09:08encountered the Mirror Universe in Mirror, Mirror, they had never heard about it before.
09:12This is because Discovery's interactions with the Mirror Universe were classified on a need-to-know
09:16basis.
09:17Only high-ranking officers like Captain Pike were briefed on the Mirror Universe, Lorca's
09:22origins, and the true identity of the new Georgiou.
09:25When interacting with average people, Georgiou played the role of her Prime counterpart,
09:29noting that she somehow survived her supposed death.
09:322.
09:33The Secret of Talos IV
09:35The true nature of Talos IV was a secret so guarded by Starfleet that revealing it was,
09:40during the original series, the only crime with a death penalty.
09:43Talos IV was the planet visited by Captain Pike and the old Enterprise crew in the original
09:48series pilot episode, The Cage.
09:50The world was home to the Talosians, whose technological illusions were so powerful that
09:54they could allow extremely injured or dying people to live comfortably again.
09:59Spock commandeered the Enterprise in the two-parter episode, The Menagerie, in order to free his
10:03former captain, Pike, from his wheelchair.
10:06The law forbidding travel to Talos IV was known as General Order 7, and, as mentioned
10:10earlier, had a punishment of death, but Spock was able to protect his crew by seizing control
10:15of the ship single-handedly, risking only his own life.
10:18In the end, Starfleet made an exception to General Order 7 and allowed Spock to go unpunished,
10:23but the law likely remained in place afterwards at least for a few decades.
10:28Starfleet feared what would happen to both the Federation and the Talosians if the public
10:32were to learn of the incredible powers found on Talos IV.
10:361.
10:37The Omega Directive
10:38In the late 23rd century, a Federation scientist named Keterat made a very dangerous discovery
10:44– the Omega Molecule.
10:46Keterat created an Omega Molecule using boronite ore, but, lacking proper containment, the
10:50molecule became unstable and exploded, killing everyone aboard their secret research base
10:55and devastating the Lantaru sector.
10:58The worst effect of the explosion was the destruction of subspace, which rendered warp
11:02travel and subspace communications impossible across light-years of space.
11:06Starfleet determined that Omega was too dangerous to be allowed to exist, as a few mere particles
11:11were thought to be enough to destroy subspace across an entire quadrant.
11:15All information regarding them was classified, and only Starfleet captains and flag officers
11:19were briefed on its existence for the sole purpose of destroying it at any cost should
11:23any molecules be detected.
11:25Keterat encountered a large number of Omega Molecules in the episode The Omega Directive.
11:29Alone in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway was forced to inform the crew about Omega, and, with
11:33the help of Seven of Nine, successfully destroyed the molecules, damaging only a small area
11:38of space.
11:39And that concludes our list.
11:41If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know in the comments below, and
11:44while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:48Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, at Trek Culture, and I can be found across
11:53various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:55I've been Ellie with Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to
12:00boldly go where no one has gone before.