Star Trek Discovery just introduced an alien civilization so powerful it will change everything for good or for bad.

Last week's Star Trek: Discovery episode called "All In" gave us more information about unknown "Species 10C," and the details are kind of blowing my mind. I've been thinking about the episode since I first watched it, and I've watched it twice now in the past seven days. Before you read on, know that there are SPOILERS ahead, so proceed forward at your own peril. With that out of the way, let's unpack what we know about Species 10C.

Season four introduced us to this thing called the "Dark Matter Anomaly," or DMA for short. It's a gravitational well that is five light years across, moves of its own accord, and from outside its perimeter looking in, resembles what science has told us actual "black holes" look like. See the picture below, and you'll get the idea.

So, early in season four this thing appeared. On first appearance, it's gravitational waves wrecked a space station. On its next appearance, it completely destroyed the planet Kwejian, when the DMA's gravitational waves from its enormous footprint (again...five light years across) shattered the planet's moon which then collided with the planet destroying it and its inhabitants. This loss stung, because I thought Kwejian was beautiful. There had been a few plotlines that took place on its surface, and I really liked the new cast member who goes by the name "Cleveland Booker." When his homeworld was destroyed...well, this was a big deal for the series as it meant Booker's entire family had been wiped out, along with a large portion of his race.

At this point, the threat that the Dark Matter Anomaly presented to the galaxy and its millions of sentient races was clear. The emergency helped the struggling Federation to pull hesitant worlds into its fold with a promise that it was better to be united against a danger than it was to go it alone. Then more information started to be slowly fed to us episode by episode. The first piece of important information was that the DMA could move unpredictably. In other words, it could vanish in one spot and instantly reform in another ten or fifteen light years away from its original position. The "logical" conclusion was that it wasn't a natural phenomenon. Someone was controlling it. So this "thing" was created by an "as yet unknown" race of alien beings.

In the meantime, Booker who may be the last surviving member of the dead world of Kwejian, just stewed in his emotional anger and grief. He wanted nothing more than to destroy the DMA, which seemed like an impossible task. I mean...how do you destroy something so powerful? And this is especially true when (with more information) we learned that it had a power source at its center equal to a hyper-giant star, and that it was created by technology that is completely beyond anything the Federation has ever encountered. And that's counting The Borg, Species 8472, and everything else. At about this time, we meet Ruon Tarka, who is a genius that seems to be from another universe. This guy appears to be motivated by some kind of promise that he has made to a lover, but his motivations aren't clear, and he strikes me as having many psychopathic tendencies the most fierce of which appear to be gratuitously self-serving. Ruon Tarka did figure out how to destroy the DMA, using a detonation that would destroy sub-space forever in the sector in which it was initiated, thereby making warp travel impossible in that dead area of space. We know that he's only on board with this plan because Tarka wants to use the power source at the center of the DMA to send him back to his universe, which he disclosed (if ever so briefly to Book) was to keep a promise to someone Tarka supposedly cares deeply for. And of course, Book doesn't care, because all he wants is to destroy the DMA and avenge his extinct people.

However, the Federation wants to make first contact with Species 10C. They believe that any civilization capable of creating the Dark Matter Anomaly could just wipe them out if they angered them. Attacking the DMA might just do that, and start a war with a species that they cannot possibly win. So they decide in a huge vote to do just this. Of course, at this point, Tarka and Book go rogue to destroy the DMA on their own. It's during this leg of the story that we learn that the DMA is actually a dredge. It's a shovel that is being used by Alien 10C (whom they now have tracked to an area just outside the Milky Way Galaxy) who have a technology so advanced that they have enclosed a star and three planets within some kind of Dyson Sphere. And the energy they use to power all their stuff comes from boronite ore.

This is a deep dive into Star Trek: Voyager history to an episode called The Omega Directive. Omega (in that Voyager episode) is a highly unstable molecule and the most powerful substance known to exist. The Borg knew it as Particle 010. Seven explained in that episode that the Borg Collective had managed to stabilize a single Omega molecule for one-trillionth of a nanosecond before it destabilized. The cost of the experiment was 29 vessels and 600,000 drones. Anyway...you get the picture. However, Species 10C not only has the ability to stabilize "Omega," but they use it for anything. And just like you and I would have a shovel in the garage that we might use to dig things up in the yard, Species 10C has the dark matter anomaly going around the universe harvesting boronite to send back to their civilization for power. The implication of this is enormous: Species 10C is so advanced technologically, that the entire Federation with its millions of worlds are like ants compared to humans. Species 10C is on the level of a god, with technology so advanced that people flying around in ships through space would be like a fly buzzing around your head.

This is a major development in Star Trek lore. There really hasn't been much "intergalactic" stuff that we have encountered in all the hours of television created for this ongoing story. And I'm deeply fascinated where they are going with all of this. The very introduction of an alien species this powerful is a game changer for the entire story no matter what route they go. If a war starts, the Federation could be completely wiped out unless something big (like Q big) steps in to save everyone and end the war. And we don't know if Q would be afraid of Species 10C (he was afraid of Guinan in The Next Generation and we never got an explanation about that). Additionally, if they make first contact with this species, and it goes well, what will happen next? These are all incredible developments, and I'm glad that the series has already been renewed for season five, because I have questions. I just hope that these new aliens don't look human with a change to the forehead. But the series (thus far) has been knocking things out of the park, so I have a lot of faith that it will all pay off by season's end.

Anyone else watching this show and care to weigh in on Species 10C?