The more I watch the Star Trek films (Abrams' ones in particular), the more I feel that we might have misidentified Spock. It's possible that the older Spock did not come from the Prime Universe, but --
(wait for it)
The Mirror Universe.
Hang on, this is cool. First, we know through dialogue that Spock was from 129 years after 2258. That's 2387, for anyone keeping track. Since he's presumably born at the same time as both of the other Spocks we've seen, we could theorize that Old Spock survived the fall of the Terran Empire (perhaps by allying Vulcan with the Romulan Empire), learned of the danger to Romulus, and commissioned the Vulcan Science Academy to help.
"I promised the Romulans that I would save their world."
That's an awfully big promise for just an Ambassador! Also interesting that he'd pilot the craft himself. Not unreasonable, given his intelligence, but if he was only an Ambassador (as the early dialogue of the film suggests), the Federation and Vulcan probably wouldn't have interfered just because Spock said so. So Spock would have needed significant power over the Vulcan Science Academy, with no Federation oversight.
Furthermore, why would the Vulcan Science Academy be commissioning starships? Would they not be working with the other members of the Federation to build a vessel and contribute resources? Maybe if it wasn't just a group of Vulcan scientists working on one planet, the ship woulda been finished in time!!
No, I think that there was no Federation at this time. In 2387, in the mirror Universe, it's possible that the rebellion had succeeded in dismantling the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, thanks to Captain O'Brien and all the weird stuff he did. With no supreme aggressors, and no Federation, Vulcan (if it was allied with Romulus) would have dumped its resources into building this vessel, perhaps with resources from the Romulan Empire that Vulcan lacked to make up for the Vulcan expertise that the Romulans desperately needed.
"Aha," I hear you say, "But what about the time travel?"
All I have to say about that is "In a Mirror, Darkly". Don't groan too hard, because it's canon. The U.S.S. Defiant (NCC-1764) was considered lost in 2267, and then showed up in the Mirror Universe in 2155, 112 years in the past, by means of a "Spatial Interphase". It's possible that this "Red Matter" that Spock has, is capable of generating a similar spatial interphase, or that an accident involving the Red Matter and the supernova resulted in the interphase effect, which pulled both the Narada and the Jellyfish across the dimensional threshold, as well as displacing them in time.
"Oho!" I sense you thinking, because I sense thoughts now. "But Nero threatens to destroy Federation planets! If he was a Romulan from the Mirror Universe, wouldn't he think of them as Terran Empire worlds?"
Not necessarily! It's unlikely he's even old enough to have ever seen the peak or even decline of the Terran Empire. And through on-screen text and dialogue, we know that Nero arrives 25 years before Old Spock. That's 25 years in space to learn about the Federation, its scope and scale, and that Vulcan is a member.
Even though Nero's dialogue when trying to murder Kirk with his bare hands indicates that he does know Kirk through history, he does not indicate whether Kirk was famous for his diplomacy or his brutality. Though, he does describe Kirk as "A great man". For someone so unscrupulous that he would drop a black hole in the middle of a planet with 6 billion people on it, I would be inclined to believe he would idolize a man who is more like him.
Nero's first mate even adds in his own circumstantial evidence. As Ayel holds Kirk by the throat, he comments on humans are even weaker than he expected. In 2387, in the Prime Universe, Humans would not be a mystery to the Romulan people. However, as a scattered mongrel race clawing out a living in the wake of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance? A reclusive, protective Romulus might not bother learning anything about the physical capabilities of a Terran. Ayel even uses the term "Your species" instead of clarifying "Human" or "Terran". (Though, to be fair, Star Trek has used the term Terran in the Prime Universe as well.)
"But what accounts for the weird size changes on the ships? The U.S.S. Kelvin was an old ship and it was almost as big as the Enterprise on the TV show!" I predict you saying, holding a card to my forehead. Well, for that, all we need is to look back at the show we all love to hate. Star Trek: Enterprise.
The series begins by fucking with everything we know about time. A Temporal Cold War starts in the 29th century, and agents of chaos are roaming around the time stream. Right from here, we can tell that there are going to be problems resolving paradoxes, meaning that everything that comes after Star Trek: Enterprise will likely not be what we saw in the preceding shows, either stylistically, or substantially.
On top of the Temporal Cold War (which stretched out over almost the entire show), we also have several other odds time travel effects explored during the series. For one, we have the TARDIS-inspired 31st-century pod from "Future Tense" (you know, that little tiny tin can with a pilot no one could identify and way more leg room than the outside implied) that was never explained. And, in the same season, we revisit our old buddies the Borg during "Regeneration", who came back from 2372, and what was left crashed at the North Pole. While we can't know exactly what ripple effect these incidents will have, we can't be certain they fill any predestination paradox that is evidenced later in the franchise's timeline.
Furthermore, the episode "In a Mirror Darkly" (specifically, part II) has an viewscreen graphic which was too small to view on a TV screen, but is legible in HD. Sadly, most screen graphics are never intended to be read and often they're intentionally bogus, in-joke, or nonsense. In this case, the graphic was lifted from a copy of the first edition of the Star Trek Chronology, written by the Okudas. You can see that it is somewhat invalid because it still lists Zefram Cochrane's warp flight as 2061, which was the year mentioned in the Original Series. This was later refuted by Star Trek: First Contact, which actually went to the warp flight itself in 2063 (leading to the wreckage seen two seasons earlier). But intentionally modified and added in are the following dates.
2151: The first starship Enterprise is launched, under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer. SEE ADDITIONAL ENTRY.
2156: Romulan Wars begin between Earth forces and the Romulan Star Empire
2160: Romulan Wars ended by the Battle of Cheron. The Romulans suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of an Earth/Andorian/Vulcan/Tellarite alliance.
However, during the Original Series, Spock describes a war with "primitive" vessels using atomic weapons. This can be attributed to the very low-tech ideas of weaponry in the 1960s (the Bomb was a relatively new and very frightening thing, considering before nuclear weaponry, we were still using gunpowder and conventional explosives, which had already been around for a metric yonk's worth of centuries), but it could also imply that the original Earth-Romulan war was to have taken place before the launch of Enterprise. Using archaic ships that topped out at Warp 2, armed with lasers and nuclear missiles, some time between 2120 and 2150, does sound much more reasonable, and also offers a larger window for a coalition to form and for such a coalition to consolidate into the Federation by 2161.
With Star Trek: Enterprise's philosophy, it was such an amped rush that humans themselves got some interstellar stage fright and went all "Terra Prime" on everyone.
"Eehee!" I telepathically project into your mind because you're probably confused as hell right now. "How could anything have postponed the war with Romulus?"
Easy. Temporal Cold War. It's clear from the first episode of Enterprise, "Broken Bow", that people in the 22nd century were already aware that people were screwing around with the timeline, before Earth ever got involved. It's easy to believe that these time-talking benefactors have been altering things for years. We see during the story arc in the fourth season that there are Romulan spies on Vulcan, and could easily have been there for decades. Would it be impossible to surmise that "Future Guy" or one of his "Future Buddies" might have slipped a few words to the Romulans to urge them to plant moles on Vulcan, and use the Vulcans to oppress warp flight by humanity? Perhaps as a result of the tampering, Romulus never felt the need to engage Earth in a war, until 2151 when Jonathan Archer convinced Starfleet Command to tell the Vulcans to sit on it and rotate. With Earth now part of the interstellar community, the Romulans are getting worried. They continue to try and keep the quadrant unstable, fearing a space war that will defeat their empire - hence the Drone Ship.
Once the Drone Ship is exposed, Romulus panics, and starts attacking Earth starships exploring the fringes of Romulan space, leading to a war. With Vulcan and Andoria and Tellar already on their side (as well as technology from all four allies negating the need for nuclear weapons), Earth is able to claim victory in the war with far quicker than history originally planned.
So, with benefactors from all over time messing with Earth from at least earlier than 2151, and Jonathan Archer surely not keeping it out of his captain's log and his reports back to Starfleet, Command would logically start planning more aggressively to establish themselves. Such planning would include the erection of new shipyards, construction of new ships, design upgraded technology for defenses - and establish the Federation as a "humanitarian armada".
And whenever I think of aggressive defenses, I think of bigger, heavier, and more badass - and the design philosophy of J.J. Abrams' Starfleet vessels certainly does its best to corner the market on slick, and damn are they big. The Enterprise is described by the director and writers as being almost 3000 feet long! Compare that to the TV show's U.S.S. Enterprise, which measured just 940 feet. It even goes for the U.S.S. Kelvin, which is estimated between 800 and 1150 feet long (with the lower measurement more likely, and based on the saucer being one deck-tall around the circumference.) Since Nero hadn't shown up until after the Kelvin was built, commissioned, dinged up a few times, and given time to age (due to the aged colour of the hull, scuffs and worn-away paint everywhere), it's safe to assume that this aggressive policy on starships would have to have begun long before Nero.
So, in conclusion, we have the Temporal Cold War messing with Archer's Enterprise, Mirror Nero messing with the Kelvin, and Mirror Spock kind of messing with everyone else.
"I GOTCHA!" I fear you thinking. Because this is getting long as hell and I've already been typing for 3 hours. "In Star Trek, Old Spock identifies himself after saying 'I have and always shall be, your friend'. And in Star Trek Into Darkness, Old Spock confirms that he knows Khan and defeated him at "great cost".
Well, thankfully, they were just vague enough about both of those that they can be compensated for in my theory. First, in "Mirror, Mirror" Spock does remark fondly about his service with Kirk. It's possible that even though he obtained use of the Tantalus Field, he did not execute Kirk, but instead used the actions of Prime Universe Kirk as grounds to arrest him, take control of the Tantalus Field, eliminate Kirk's supporters, and offer Kirk a chance to serve with him, become powerful, and protect a peaceful Empire. Kirk, knowing where his bread is buttered, accepts. We can also suggest that the Mirror Enterprise encountered Khan at some point, ran into conflict with him, and defeated him. And since we know nothing about the fate of the Enterprise in the Mirror Universe, the loss could have been the ship. It could have been Kirk. Spock curiously only states that "Khan Noonien Singh is the greatest adversary the Enterprise ever faced", but did not state that he was directly present for the conflict. So perhaps Mirror Khan was found in space by another ship, the ship was commandeered, and tried to return to Earth, only to encounter Mirror Kirk and the Enterprise. Kirk, not being as altruistic and virtuous, doesn't give Khan any quarter but in the course of the battle, one decides just to slam into the other and destroy both ships, costing Emperor Spock his most valued comrade and one of his most powerful ships.
It's not the most perfect theory and does rely on speculation quite a bit, but let me know what you think! Assuming you got this far without your sensibilities caving in. I know, it's a TON to take in and most of it is probably bullshit, but I had more fun writing it up than I thought I would!
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