- For other uses, see Aegis (disambiguation).
The Aegis were a group of advanced and mysterious beings who appeared to have a vast understanding of time and history, and worked to safeguard the both the timeline and the development of other civilizations through their intervention specialists, supervisors, and agents. (TOS: "Assignment: Earth"; ST comic: Convergence, et. al)
Preferring to operate indirectly and from behind the scenes, the Aegis would use a Varley extraction method to abduct members of various species who were about to die or otherwise disappear from history, and bring them to their planet in a cloaked system. Through a process of selective breeding and some genetic engineering, the descendants of these abductees would be trained as operatives for the Aegis. These operatives were eventually sent back to their ancestors' worlds to covertly prevent them from harm, either through outside influence or self-destruction, until their civilizations were mature and advanced enough to survive on their own. (DTI novel: Shield of the Gods; TOS novel: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1)
The Aegis themselves were "unbound by the limits of time" and possessed highly advanced technology, including long-range transporters and artificial intelligences like Beta 5 computers. They equipped their intervention specialists with a number of devices, most notably the multipurpose tool known as the servo. Such agents were also assigned a partner that could appear in feline or humanoid form. (TOS comic: The Peacekeeper; TOS: "Assignment Earth"; TOS novel: Assignment: Eternity)
They were highly secretive, and extremely strict about preserving the timeline. While capable of moving their agents through time seemingly at will, they preferred to have them operate in their native era unless absolutely necessary, and would keep information on "future events" secret from even their most senior operatives as much as possible. (DTI novel: Watching the Clock)
During the second half of the 20th century, their primary operative on Earth was a Gary Seven (aka Supervisor 194), who had an Earth-born assistant, Roberta Lincoln. From 1968 until 1996, Mr. Seven and Ms. Lincoln, and their feline partner Isis, would save the Earth on numerous occasions, some of them involving time travel and the crew of the USS Enterprise from the 23rd century. After Seven's semi-retirement, Lincoln took over as supervisory agent, with a new partner, Rain Robinson, joined by Ramses. (TOS: "Assignment: Earth"; TOS novel: Assignment: Eternity; TOS novel: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 2)
In 2290, a group of rogue agents of the Aegis captured the Federation starship Pacific which was testing an experimental protomatter weapon. The rebels intended to use it against their masters. Once again, Gary Seven worked with the crew of the USS Enterprise-A, and destroyed the Pacific and its protomatter payload, returning the rebels to face the Aegis.. (TOS comic: The Peacekeeper)
Since they rarely intervened directly, little was known about the Aegis to non-operatives. They could appear in a various forms, including as giant humanoids in high-collared robes. (ST comic: Convergence)
In 2364, a representative of the Aegis known as the Traveler became aware of the potential in Wesley Crusher, making contact at several points and nurturing his latent abilities. In 2370, Wesley accepted the Traveler's offer to join their number. (TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before", "Remember Me", "Journey's End"; PIC: "Farewell")
When Starfleet Captain James T. Kirk first met The Doctor, he thought the enigmatic time traveler might have been an agent of the Aegis like Gary Seven, especially when Kirk saw him use a servo-like sonic screwdriver. By the 24th century, the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations theorized that the Aegis might be related to the Preservers or to their universe's equivalent of the Time Lords of Gallifrey. The agency also presumed that the Aegis' cloaked planet was their homeworld, but some believed it was merely an outpost or colony world where their operatives were raised. (Star Trek: Pendragon)
External links[]
- Aegis article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Aegis article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
- Aegis article at Star Trek Expanded Universe, the fanon and fanworks Star Trek wiki.