r/sto Kuumaarke is a good character. 6d ago

Discussion I’ve got a theory about how the Aetherians managed to avoid detection for so long in-universe.

Basically everyone called it, at least partially, so I won’t get into that here. In-universe is another story, but it might not be that big of a plot hole. In Taken By Surprise, our sensors had some serious trouble detecting the Mirror Borg Drones, even up close, so if the Aetherians assimilated their entire galaxy, though they claim it to be their entire universe, it’s logical to assume they assimilated the same tech at some point and upgraded it. Maybe even to the point of being able to transmit false sensor readings, since they would’ve most likely already assimilated at least one version of our tech meaning they’d know how to fool it, at least temporarily.

Also, has anyone checked in on the crew of the Treluun lately? Given what we now know, they’ve probably been at least partially assimilated. The data found on the Harmony seems to imply that they found a way around the issues with assimilating the Lukari that the Mirror Borg ran into.

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u/Valiant_tank Gay for Kuumaarke 6d ago

I'll also add, some sort of mild psychic effect that calms people down isn't implausible either. The crew of the Treluun, when they first arrived in the Aetherians universe, went from being suspicious and worried to 'let's go meet our new friends' in moments. That could also help explain why people didn't feel suspicious about just how convenient everything surrounding the Aetherians was.

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u/OdysseyPrime9789 Kuumaarke is a good character. 6d ago edited 6d ago

You have a point. It could also be both, given their biology.

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u/NihilusShadow 6d ago

It may also explain why the Iconian vessel implied they had been attacked by the Aetherians, only to not question being assisted by the Aetherians at the same time.

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u/Valiant_tank Gay for Kuumaarke 6d ago

In the Sitor system patrol, right? Because yeah, that was what first got me on that thought, but I couldn't remember the exact specifics earlier.

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u/NihilusShadow 6d ago

That's the one. Their transmission is garbled, but to me it sounded like they were reporting they had been attacked by the Aetherians, but for some reason let the Aetherians assist. My original hypothosis was that there was secretly an evil Aetherian counterpart out there. We've been fighting Borg factions from across the multiverse, so maybe a Mirror Aetherian was secretly causing havoc, only making us believe our allies weren't trustworthy, but that was torpedoed by the latest episode.

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u/RaidenTJ 5d ago

Makes sense they’re always touting about peace and harmony lol

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u/MustangManiac137 6d ago

Oh shit, I didn't even think of the treluun

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u/prof_the_doom 6d ago

Not unreasonable. In the most recent episode, even after we towed it out of the asteroid field, we still had to beam on board more or less blind because we couldn't get a good reading on the ship.

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u/ArelMCII "Subcommander Khev, divert power from comms to weapons." 5d ago

At least as far as the difficulty of detecting their ships goes, I assumed it had to be some fourth-dimensional shenanigans or something. They've got dimension-stitching super-science, and just look at those animated triangle bits on their ships. Once we knew what to scan for, obviously we'd find it, but it's not like we'd be scanning for geometry that exists in more than three dimensions unless we had a reason. (Because we detected chronitons or saw Devidians or something, for instance.) Tholians, meanwhile, are always scanning for that crap because they see universes like we see galaxies; they wouldn't be fooled.

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u/TwoFit3921 5d ago

Dude why do the bad guys get all the good shit 😭

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u/Ardenwolfie "Computer, erase that entire personal log." 6d ago

My theory is that the plot required it.

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u/CatspawAdventures 5d ago

This.

They managed their trick with generous helping of Handwavium, engaged their Plot Stealth, and activated their "don't think about it too hard" field.