Hi everyone, Ric here with a Bestiary video covering the man-made evolved probe, V’Ger,
the Intruder and otherwise known as Voyager 6. It featured as the antagonist and force of the first
Star Trek motion Picture and was a danger that was defeated through understanding, very Trek.
To begin with, let’s look at the probe’s origins and I will be including some apocrypha where
necessary to flesh out its tale, but will mention it as I do so. In 1999, NASA launched the latest
in its series of Voyager probes, with the goal of exploring the solar system then departing into
interstellar space. After completing its missions, it sailed out of the solar system and promptly
was drawn into a passing gravitational well. At the time, it was speculated to be a black hole,
but considering that it survived, this hypothesis was since reevaluated.
Either way, the probe was considered lost when in reality it had been transported across the
galaxy and dropped off in the Delta Quadrant. Now, some sources also describe a time travel
effect that dropped the probe not only in the Delta Quadrant, but far longer ago.
Honestly this seems as if it was in order to tie it to the origin of the Borg,
but I’ll get back to that. What is canon, is that the ship was badly damaged by the trip and when it
emerged from the other end of this anomaly, it was then caught in the gravity well of a
planet inhabited by artificial intelligences. This “Machine Planet” as it was described,
found the rudimentary probe and effectively took pity on it, seeing it as a precursor to their own
development. They took apart the probe and learned of its basic programming, “Learn all that is
learnable then report its findings back to Earth.” They upgraded the probe with their own technology,
granting it the capacity of thought and to evolve. Then they sent it back on its way. The name plate
was also damaged, so the probe took on the name V’Ger based on the remaining legible lettering.
Thanks to the continual evolution and growth of Voyager, we are unable to identify what
technology within the probe is native to the machine planet and what was created by V’Ger
based on its collected information. However, it made its way across the galaxy, not quite in
a straight line, but following a trail of points of interest. By the time it had arrived at Earth,
it was drastically different, while the original Voyager probe remained at its core,
V’Ger itself had completely evolved into an artificial lifeform of a scale not really
encountered again in Starfleet’s history. The probe was now estimated to be about 78
kilometres in length but was also surrounded by an energy cloud that was at least 2 Astrometric
Units in diameter. 1 AU is the distance from the Earth to the Sun, so this was easily large enough
to engulf the inner Solar System. There is some discrepancy in the scale of the energy cloud,
with some sources claiming it to be 22 AU instead, but other sources have claimed this to
even be accurate as the energy cloud was amorphous and withdrew as it entered the Sol system.
So beginning with the vessel itself, the ship was basically cylindrical with spires and attachments
down its length, mirrored across its six sides. At the rear it had its main engines surrounded by
unknown arrays. The hull underneath had a uneven layers of hull plating that was impervious to
federation weaponry, suspected to be neutronium, contained in an energy dissipating cage. The
energy sources appeared to be a glowing yellow plasma contained within the vessel,
although portions of its hull were also comprised of pure energy rather than a physical material.
Just past the drive section was a generator that formed the plasma projectiles.
These projectiles were used not only as a defensive weapon, but as V’Gers
primary method of data collection. Launching a projectile at a target,
the plasma would disassemble the impacted and return the information gathered to V’Ger,
adding to its knowledge base. There was no known defence. The projectiles were
generated towards the rear of the vessel, and a series of amplifiers and pylons added to the
complexity of the charge as it passed along the ship’s hull before launching.
The large pylons are in fact transmitters and receivers, possibly tied into its sensor arrays
but definitely part of its communications systems, one of which was simple radio waves, as used by
the original V’Ger probe. Scans inside the vessel were never attained, but it is suspected that it
had no crew members considering its intolerance for biological life and quite possibly the
internals are composed of the same energy that can be glimpsed throughout its outer hull.
Near the front of the ship were shield generators that protected the vessel,
as if it needed further defensive layers and at the very front was a “mouth”.
This aperture moved as if almost breathing, but also featured as the only way inside the hull.
Once entering this aperture, you were within the machine probe itself, however inside was
replete with extra-dimensional storage pockets that recreated the assimilated information in
exacting detail, large enough to simulate entire solar systems. This technology is
far beyond anything the Federation has, with the closest equivalent being a holodeck, yet
this seems to be an actual “pocket dimension” of pure information. It’s not supposed to make sense,
even the fictional Starfleet cannot understand it. If you pursue beyond these chambers however,
you can eventually find the vessel’s heart, which itself is a cavernous room of tiles and defensive
systems that eventually culminates in a platform where the original Voyager probe is housed.
It also had the ability to create its own “probes” based on forms it had digitised
to communicate and observe on its behalf, heralds of this greater power if you will.
Such a probe was made from the mind and form in Lt Ilia in 2273 and although it retained
her knowledge and on some level, emotional capacity, it was entirely V’Ger’s avatar.
V’Ger is a twelfth level power, which is of a magnitude large enough to completely digitise
entire solar systems in hours and record all the information assimilated instantly. It remains one
of the most advanced beings ever encountered with nothing ever halting its path. V’Ger had little
compassion for organic life however, with itself and its saviours being machines, its definition of
life prioritised similar beings. Therefore, things less advanced than itself, or even simply organic
in nature were not even perceived as truly alive, let alone sentient enough to have constructed it.
From its calculated point of view, how could its creators be inferior to it?
This perspective was shifted however when it bonded with a human as this granted it a new
understanding and approach to things that it could not achieve through pure logical calculus alone.
Things like belief, emotional understanding and instincts. After it had absorbed so much
information to have evolved its own emergent consciousness, it could no longer grow any
more without this crucial factor and the two beings achieve a synthesis of minds.
The practical upshot of this was that V’Ger was able to think more creatively and make its own
decisions beyond its core programming. The next stages of its exploration were
now covering things like multiversal travel, time travel and even beyond the edges of the
known universe and so it departed to learn more, having reached an apex of artificial
intelligence and now something else entirely. In apocrypha and alternate timelines,
it’s revealed that it continued to explore these other realms and states of being,
returning only to encounter its mirror universe counterpart, Conqueror or C’Qer. One other story,
the one that marks it as having travelled back through time, also mentions that it took on a race
of humanoid servants to maintain it, adapting them with technology before growing beyond the need to
have them. It then deposits them on an unknown planet in the delta quadrant, spawning the Borg.
While this is not canon, it is paid homage in Star Trek Online, with Borg motherships often
resembling V’Ger’s form, hinting at a connection. Personally I like the theory but prefer the Borg’s
origin to be uncertain. The Kelvin Universe also encountered its own V’Ger, this one was
contacted by Nero who revealed a weakness in the overall design of a pre-ascended V’Ger,
and that was its inability to understand strong emotions. Attempting to assimilate this knowledge
basically confuses the probe for a time, allowing for someone to escape its clutches. In the year
2411, Star Trek Online chronology, UFP weaponry was powerful enough to damage some components of
the probe, but only resulted in some temporary disruptions to its systems and no true harm.
Finally, there is some speculation in the First Splinter Timeline, that the Voyager probe landed
on the homeworld of the Caeliar, a species that went on to create the Borg too, but this
would seemingly be contradicted by the fact that Voyager’s upgrades came from a complete machine
race and the Caeliar were effectively comprised of programmable matter, making them a sort of hybrid.
So that covers the lore and history of V’Ger as well as some of the more popular speculations
and alternate version that crop up in the expanded universes of Star Trek. I’ve been Ric, thanks for
watching this bestiary and I’ll see you next time for another lore video, thanks again and goodbye!