Thoughts on LD S4’s mysterious vessel

Just a forward that I wasn’t sure if this belonged on Startrel or Daystrom… but the fact that this deals with minor spoilers for the latest episode and an analysis made me lean to here.

Anyways, it was brought to my attention by u/tunkfurmer on Reddit that every scene about the attacks started with some lower deckers complaining about their captains before the attack.

So I went back and reviewed those scenes and… IMO it tracks.

Starting with the most recent episode, the Ferengi Keith admits that he was in communication with the vessel in return for profit. He was earlier complaining about Rom’s policy changes.

Next most recent, the Orion vessel made an unplanned encounter with the vessel. The Orion plagiarist/buttmonkey was the only one focused on his console during the encounter. The Captain demands to know how it got past their systems before the ship is destroyed.

With the vertical Romulan warbird, we learn both the male and female Romulans intended to betray the captain. The captain accuses the male officer, but he claims innocence. The female remains off frame for that exchange, but otherwise doesn’t trigger my suspicions outside of ‘By omission’.

And finally the Bird of Prey. Somewhat similar to the Orion Plagerist, the Spear Wielding Klingon seems more detached from his female counterpart to the vessel’s presence. But otherwise, like the Female Romulan, doesn’t act especially suspicious.

So…All four crews include at least one Lower Decker who was:

• Dissatisfied with the chain of command
• Operating a bridge console at the time of the attack
• Could be interpreted as not being surprised by the ship’s presence (the death beam,though, is another story.

Couple this with Keith’s betrayal and the Orion Captain’s bewilderment at the downed systems… I think we have saboteurs amongst the Lower Decks across the quadrant. Saboteurs that seem not to expect the sudden death beam.

All that said… I’m not sure what the vessel is after. The ships are destroyed, with no discernible corpses amongst the wreckage. It’s unlikely to be salvage considering how thoroughly the ships are vaporized. And none of the ships seem to fit a profile. You’ve got the small and nimble Orion Vessel to the large Warbird. None of the vessels seem to be in the midst of any especially important task.

With that established… I think we can possibly project what the vessel will strike next.

T’Lyn’s arc this season is about coming to terms with her exile from the Vulcan vessel. It seems likely to me that we’ll revisit the ship this season. And… given what we know of the profiles of the purported saboteurs… I suspect T’Lyn, as a misfit amongst Vulcans, is likely to be put in contact with the vessel.

As for the Cerritos herself, this season we’ve been introduced to two new ensigns. A command one who’s aware of the favoritism Ransom gives to Mariner and an engineer who out performs Rutherford, but gets snubbed out of a promotion. If the Cerritos gets put out of commission, I’d have my eyes on those two.

I was originally disinterested in the ongoing attacks… but in this light things have gotten quite fascinating to me.