Hi all, for this Trek factoid we’re looking at one of the Federation’s best kept secrets.
Omega. Restricted to the highest levels of the Federation and Starfleet personnel of
Captain and above, the Omega Directive supersedes everything, even the Prime Directive, Starfleet’s
non-interference policy. The United Federation of Planets first exposure
to the Omega particle was around 2268 when the theorised substance became the life-work
of one Doctor Bendes Ketteract. He had speculated of the existence of this energetic little
element that in theory contained the same energy supplied by a warp core. Such a particle
couldn’t exist in our universe in its current state and he even believed that it possibly
was present at the Big Bang, the creation of the universe. You see, these particles
destabilise very quickly and when they do, the do so with an explosive release of energy.
Not only is this explosion akin to a warp core breach, but the resulting energies rip
through subspace and destroy this extra spectrum. The end result is that faster than light of
any kind winds up impossible in the exposed sectors. This means no warp travel and no
real-time communications across this area of space, throwing exploration back several
hundred years. It is still unknown if this damage can ever be reversed.
127 Federation scientists, including Ketteract were working on creating this molecule in
a sanctioned secret starbase in the Lantaru Sector. They succeeded. For less than a second,
they produced a single Omega molecule. Then it destabilised and destroyed large segments
the facility and caused Subnucleonic radiation to be spread over the area. The worse effect
however, was the unexpected. The explosion ripped through subspace from the point of
origin. By the time the explosion dissipated, the subspace ruptures and destroyed areas
had affected seven light-years of subspace around the installation. If anyone wanted
to reach the Lantaru Starbase now, it would take over seven years of conventional sublight
or impulse speeds. The Federation immediately outlawed the creation
of Omega and supressed its existence. They deemed it too great a threat to be ignored
from even other cultures and decreed that it must never be allowed to be synthesised
again. No Federation member may experiment with creating Omega and the Lantaru sector
was explained as a naturally unstable area of space. All captains of Starfleet, those
out there in deep space and the most likely to encounter the new and unknown were briefed
on the true events of Lantaru and the Omega Directive was born. It was built into Starship
Computer software under the encrypted files Omega 1.
Upon detection of Omega, A Federation Starship would lock all systems bring the ship to a
stop and await the captain’s attention displaying the Omega letter. I find it unlikely that
such a drastic reaction would be triggered if the Starship were occupied in an emergency,
but the primary function of this seems to be to isolate any sensor data that could be
glimpsed by the crew and prevent them from stumbling into further danger.
In private, the captain would then receive a computer-compiled brief of the Omega event
in question and then be asked to notify Starfleet Command via encrypted channel and all information
and logs ship-side would also be encrypted. A specialised team would then be dispatched
to confirm the molecules presence and destroy them. This team would be using radiation meds,
insulation and specific shield technology to keep themselves safe. A specialised gravimetric
torpedo could create a reaction in way where the molecules would be destroyed without detonation
and was the preferred method of elimination. From the name, it sounds like this torpedo
was designed to create a sort of gravity well or pocket to contain any subspace effects
but that’s speculation based on the term gravimetrics as used in star trek.
Any research data concerning Omega was also seized and destroyed.
The only time we see it implemented in the show however was in the unfortunate circumstance
of the USS Voyager, which was still in the middle of the Delta Quadrant and far beyond
any Specialised Starfleet Disposal teams. As such, Captain Janeway followed the directive
as best she could but had to improvise and share knowledge of Omega with her senior staff
as well as the former Borg drone, Seven of Nine. Using the shared knowledge of the Borg’s
own experiments on Omega which had begun in 2145 when they assimilated a species with
knowledge of the particle, the crew eliminated a substantial amount of Omega molecules using
a Harmonic resonance chamber. The production of Omega can be synthesised
through the use of Boromite though the process is never detailed for two reasons. One, it
probably defies all sorts of real world physics but that’s not important and two, the Federation
does everything in its power to prevent the spread of this knowledge.
If enough Omega molecules are produced in one go and kept stable for enough time however,
they will align themselves into a stabilisation form that keeps them from exploding, as witnessed
by Seven of Nine. This arguably makes Omega an even more tempting a prize as now it is
confirmed to be harness-able. It’s one hell of a gamble though, all or nothing. Either
you create enough Omega to self-stabilise and have yourself a near-infinite energy source
(even then, maybe not for eternity), or you blow up a quadrant and return the galaxy to
a pre-warp state. Forever. The simulations performed by Seven suggested
that artificial stabilisation would work, and the maths checks out, but if, if there
was even a chance that the science behind it was wrong, then the resulting destruction
would be galaxy changing. Thanks for watching this explanation of the
Omega Directive and the importance with which Starfleet places control of this substance.
Until the next video, I’ll see you later, if Starfleet Intelligence don’t track me
down for leaking this information first.