"Set a course, Ensign. Warp 7, punch it." - Commander Rafael Martinez
"Hailing Frequencies Open!"
—Eric, starting off the show.
Shield of Tomorrow is a tabletop gaming-based web series hosted by Geek & Sundry. It is a Star Trek RPG starting approximately around late-Season 3 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, using the Star Trek Adventures game system.
The story focuses on the bridge crew of the U.S.S. Sally Ride, an Intrepid Class Starship designed for deep space exploration and scientific discovery. The story deals with the impact of the Battle of Wolf 359 on Starfleet as well as the looming threat the Dominion poses, and the general unease and apprehension of the universe as all these events cloud around them without many answers.
A Spiritual Successor, Clear Skies, began on January 13, 2020, hosted by QueueTimes
every Monday at 6:30pm PST.
The Bridge Crew is made up of the following:
- Hector Navarro as Captain Rafael Martinez, recently promoted Human Captain of the SS Sally Ride.
- Sam De Leve as Commander Junil Rue, XO/Tactical Officer and Joined Trill.
- Aliza Pearl as Lt Cmdr T’Lan, the Vulcan Science Officer.
- Amy Dallen as Dr. Throlo Sh’shirros, the Andorian Chief Medical Officer.
- Bonnie Gordon as Ensign Lark Sage, the Bajoran helmswoman.
- Gina DeVivo as Chief Mala Ren, the Betazoid Engineering second-in-command (from Episode 12 The Orphan, pt.2).
And Eric C. Campbell as our GM. The show was on Geek and Sundry’s Twitch channel every Friday at 4:00pm PST.
This show contains examples of the following:
- Affectionate Nickname: Rue has one for Ensign Sage, "Little Bird".
- Ascended Fanboy: In-Universe Captain Rafael Martinez, who idolizes Kirk, has risen up to the rank of Captain himself.
- Badass Boast: Courtesy of the Captain himself:Captain Martinez: Oh yes, we're Starfleet. We DID that.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Most of the higher-ups on Starbase 138 are stretched pretty thin.
- Catchphrase: Eric is particularly prone to this trope. (ex: Whenever a player has a question for the GM, he asks: "Please state the nature of the gaming emergency.")
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each player in the game wears the appropriate colored uniform (or at least appropriate colors) of their station on the ship.
- Bluff the Eavesdropper: While seemingly berating Captain Martinez about his meddling, the doctor talking to him holds up a datapad that reads "They're listening".
- Colony Drop: In "The Pull, Pt. 3," Citrien 7's moon impacts the surface, obliterating it. The episode ends with the implication that something has caused gravitational catastrophes like this to happen seven times just recently before, this being the eigth.
- Command Roster: As is standard for all Star Trek crews:
- The Leader: Captain Rafael Martinez.
- Number Two: Commander Junil Rue.
- The Scientist: Lt. Cmdr. T’Lan.
- The Medic: Dr. Throlo Sh’shirros.
- The Pilot: Ensign Lark Sage.
- Mr. Fixit: Lt. Cmdr. Veth Zhiv.
- Wrench Wench: Chief Mala Ren
- Communications Officer: Ensign Lark Sage takes over comm transmission
- Continuity Cameo: Ensign Kim pops up in Lark Sage’s backstory, as well as The Doctor when Lt. Throlo goes to assist the medical staff of Starbase 138.
- In Episodes 11 and 12, the crew happen upon Regula 1 and in the meantime The USS Sally Ride happens upon a piece of The Enterprise itself!
- Covert Distress Code: Captain Martinez has one that Commander Rue understands.
- Distress Call: The crew intercepts a call in Episode 1.
- HUD: The Twitch stream’s overlay, which Eric calls the All-Knowing Interface, reveals it can change when it switches to Yellow Alert as the USS Sally Ride approaches Citrine 7 towards the end of Episode 1.
- In "The Pull Pt. 3," it goes all the way to Red.
- Innocently Insensitive: Ensign Lark Sage helpfully offers that task might be done sooner, specifically an evacuation, as some of the personnel listed have already died!
- Intergenerational Friendship: Sage and Zhiv bond quite a bit over engineering.
- Kicked Upstairs: Lt. Cmdr. Zhiv certainly considers his reassignment to be much better, despite the implication that the ones responsible for his reassignment were just trying to get rid of him.
- Look, a Distraction!: Ensign Sage's Distraction Dance.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Commander Rue’s apparent nickname of “Commander Killjoy.”
- Quickly-Demoted Leader: Just before taking him on-board as Chief Engineer, former Captain Veth Zhiv was dropped in rank due to his personality quirks and a slew of incidents.
- Red Shirt: The former Chief Engineer of the USS Sally Ride during their "Episode 0" test session is something of a subversion, as their death is mentioned and felt well into the show and his death jumpstarts the plot-point of filling his now vacant position.
- In 'The Pull pt. 2' Security Officers Yalor and Rett are specifically described as such (though given the time period they are actually wearing yellow shirts.)
- Shout-Out: A guest character, Forkin Kunert, is a Trill on its eighth host. He mentions his previous seven hosts: Arch, Reed, Cast, Saab, Kerr, Lance, and Issen. His player, B. Dave Walters, claims that those names are from an "obscure source".
- Space Pirates: Zazrit and his crew, who have ties to the Orion Crime Syndicate.
- The Reason You Suck: Martinez is the subject of a brutal example of this during his flashback in "I Remember, Part 2". We see his attempt to emulate his hero James Tiberius Kirk by altering the conditions of the Kobayashi Maru test. This is immediately detected by his teachers and he's dragged before a Starfleet tribunal. The verdict of the trial is that while he will not be expelled, the engineering student in his squad (who assisted him altering the test) will be dishonorably discharged from Starfleet. Martinez tries to appeal, only to be coldly informed this is not up for debate. He receives a brutal comeuppance about the unfairness of it all:Academy Instructor: (Coldly) "Welcome to command cadet. You've got what it takes to be a captain, but I'm going to tell you something right now Martinez: ''You are no James Kirk.''
- The Spock: Lieutenant Commander T’lan, fittingly enough. When the ambassador at the Betazoid Embassy briefly relates his suspicions that he was intentionally placed on the under-staffed unfinished Starbase 138, T’lan’s response is to encourage him to “seek the logic.”
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Dod Voslo, Commander Rue’s old crewmate is still quite shaken from whatever happened to their last ship, quite likely the Battle of Wolf 359. It remains to be seen whether this applies to Commander Rue themselves.
- Tastes Like Feet: The malfunctioning Replicators aboard Starbase 138 are noted by Ensign Lark and Captain Martinez to be ‘very’ off, having “a hint of grass” to their taste.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Nobody in the universe loves cream soda as much as Ensign Lark Sage.
"Hailing Frequencies Closed."
