Star Trek: Discovery Reveals A Voyager Enemy Played A Big Role In The Temporal Wars

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange"

Summary Commander Rayner reveals the Krenim's role in Temporal Wars in Star Trek: Discovery S5E4, connecting Star Trek's past to the future of the USS Discovery.

The Krenim's advanced technology creates a time bug in Discovery, tying them to Temporal Wars as arms dealers or major power.

Star Trek: Discovery raises questions about the Krenim's alignment in Temporal Wars, hinting at possible alliances with the Federation and the Delta Quadrant.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange", Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) confirms that a Star Trek: Voyager enemy played a huge role during the Temporal Wars. "Face the Strange", written by Sean Cochran and directed by Lee Rose, finds Rayner, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) cycling through moments from the USS Discovery's past and future. The trio's temporal predicament is caused by a time bug, a device that is designed to trap its target inside their own timestream, allowing Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) to get ahead of Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery's time bug was created by the Krenim, a technologically advanced species first encountered by the USS Voyager. In Star Trek: Voyager season 4, episodes 8 and 9, "Year of Hell", Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the USS Voyager were devastated by a year-long conflict with a temporal scientist called Annorax, (Kurtwood Smith). The Krenim's mastery of temporal technology was incredibly advanced even in the 24th century. Now Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 reveals that, centuries later, they were still a force to be reckoned with during the Temporal Wars.

1:49 Related Voyager Is Why Star Trek Is Replacing Discovery’s Spore Drive Starfleet is abandoning the spore drive in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, having found a better form of warp travel thanks to the USS Voyager.

Discovery Reveals Voyager's Krenim Played a Big Role In Star Trek's Temporal Wars

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Star Trek: Discovery's time bug is just a nickname, the device is referred to as a "Krenim chronphage" and Rayner states that they're "left over from the Temporal War." This heavily implies that the Krenim were a big player in the Temporal Wars, first introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise. Whether the Krenim were involved in the fighting or merely providing weaponry is unclear, but the fact that the time bugs were being used in the conflict creates a direct link with Star Trek: Voyager's race of temporal scientists.

It makes sense for the Krenim to be involved in Star Trek's Temporal Wars, given how advanced their temporal technology must have become in the 500 years after their encounter with the USS Voyager. In "Year of Hell", the Krenim had built a weapon that could negate the existence of their enemies. Technology such as that would be of great interest to those involved in fighting the Temporal War. It's likely, therefore, that the Krenim were at least very successful arms dealers during the conflict, and at worst one of the Temporal War's major powers.

Whose Side Were Voyager's Krenim Enemies On In Star Trek's Temporal Wars?

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Star Trek: Enterprise previously revealed that the Federation, the Na'kuhl, and the Sphere Builders were all in conflict during the Temporal War. The Krenim weren't named during Enterprise, so Star Trek: Discovery's revelations about the use of their technology raises questions about whose side they were on during the Temporal Wars. If they weren't, as Enterprise suggests, an opposing power, then they must have been allied to someone. It's possible that once the Federation began expanding into the Delta Quadrant they formed an alliance with the Krenim, making them allies during the Temporal War.

In Star Trek: Discovery, Rayner specifically states that Krenim time bugs are sold on the black market, in reference to the Federation outlawing temporal technology. Non-Federation species wouldn't be tied to this restriction, suggesting that the Krenim would become members in the 500 years after Star Trek: Voyager. With Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 set to return to the Delta Quadrant, it's possible that fans could soon get an update on the Krenim, and their future relationship with Starfleet and the Federation in the centuries before the Temporal Wars.

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 will be released on Netflix later in 2024.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+