Charting the Unknown Possibilities of Existence
is a crossover fic between Star Trek and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (mainly The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Spider-Man).
It starts with Q looking at the Snap, and deciding to reroute young Peter Parker in another world in which he will be able to flourish.
In March 2373, a young man suddenly materializes in a busy Manhattan street, and is promptly determined to be a time-displaced Augment.
Now, what will Peter Parker do, stranded in the future with a whole galaxy waiting to be explored?
Contains the following tropes
- Closet Key: Peter never thought he might be interested in both genders before Simon Loews entered his life.
- Different World, Different Movies: Courtesy of the Eugenic Wars, Star Wars went no further than the Original Trilogy.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Q is thoroughly disgusted by Thanos' reasoning, calling it idiotic, and puts Peter in the Trek universe to give the boy a genuine chance to make something great of himself instead of being consigned to oblivion.
- After learning Alamo aimed to defend the institution of slavery, Miles O'Brien and Bashir feel deeply ashamed and decide to discard the holoprogram as soon as they can.
- Simon blatantly dislikes Red Squad for their smugness and arrogance. Nonetheless, he's upset when he learns of their demise because he certainly didn't hate them enough to wish their death.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Simon confesses he believed his mother's new patient, an Augment from the 21st century, would be a long-haired, megalomanical warlord with barbarian charisma. Then he was introduced to Peter Parker, who's hopelessly sweet and nerdy and wanting to help people.
- Fantastic Racism:
- As an Augment and someone born in the 21st century, Peter basically is a walking reminder of the unglorious Terran history. He mentions people tend to condescend to him as a consequence.
- Meren who's a Klingon attempted to join the Vulcan Science Academy, only for the interviewer to question the logic of her doing so since she belongs to a barbarian, brutish species. She opted for Starfleet instead, and T'Lara earnestly apologizes for her experience.
- First Contact: While acknowledging it was a deeply traumatizing event for Marvel Earth, Simon points the Chitauri invasion of New York allowed mankind to learn they weren't alone in the universe.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Peter and May Parker have been sent to the 24th century. It makes for a huge cultural shock, and they often comment on how different life in the future is.
- For Want Of A Nail: T'Lara and Peter speculate the existence of Captain America might be that, as he was a much more benevolent breed of superhuman than Khan Noonien Singh and his cohorts.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Peter joins Starfleet in the engineer track, and his web-shooters have Chief O'Brien praising his polymer web.
- Hero of Another Story: Mentions are made of Picard and the Deep Space Nine crew.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
- Peter is surprised when he meets Meren, a Klingon female who joined Starfleet on the science track. She takes it in good humour while complaining about Klingon Scientists Get No Respect.
- For the Trek verse, Peter basically is an Augment from the old guard, being born right in time for the Eugenic Wars and having the whole package of physical and mental superiority. Yet he has none of the megalomania associated with Khan Noonien Singh and his ilk, something chalked to his enhancements being accidental rather than engineered.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: After learning he's in an alternate Earth's future, Peter wonders if he had a doppelganger in the Trek verse. He did, but since his counterpart was born in the 21st century and killed in 2053 when New York City was bombed in the Third World War, there's no chance for a meeting.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Inverted — Peter in the 21st century was considered a Teen Genius with the potential to grow into one of the foremost brilliant minds of mankind. After landing in Star Trek, he decides to apply for Starfleet's engineer track and finds himself actually working hard in order to stay at the same level than the other students.
- No Transhumanism Allowed: After the Eugenic Wars, Earth isn't interested in allowing Augments to walk around. They immediately carted Peter to a psychiatric institute after detecting his enhancements and would have kept him there for life if Karen Loews hadn't argued he wasn't your usual case.
- Pet the Dog: When Q snatches Peter away from the Marvel universe, he deliberately sends the young boy to Star Trek because he genuinely believes it's the best option for Peter to grow and improve in spite of the anti-Augment racism.
- Seen It All: A time-displaced teenaged Augment is not the weirdest thing that happened in Star Trek. Peter still struggles to wrap his head around that.
- Token Heroic Orc: Peter is slotted in the Augment category, but stays just as sweet and dorky as expected from any iteration of Spider-Man.
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Q considers Stark and Peter stranded on a dead world with the Guardians of the Galaxy and laments their loss, calling it "an utter and dreary waste of great human potential".
