What Is That Mysterious Ship In Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4?

Warning: This article contains spoilers and reckless, downright irresponsible speculation about the latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

There's a serial killer — in a manner of speaking — on the loose in "Star Trek: Lower Decks." Ever since the concluding moments of the season 4 premiere, almost every episode has included a brief prologue centered on the lower decks crew of some doomed alien spaceship in the moments before encountering the same, mysterious object with a nasty attitude. The pattern has remained the same in each and every encounter: Upon confronting the strange vessel, each victimized ship has had to helplessly watch as the strange enemy fires up its weapons, inexplicably drains power from its intended target, and subsequently blasts them into pieces with shocking ease. So far, the kill list has included several classic "Trek" species like Klingons, Romulans, and now Orions, with no end in sight.

This serialized element laced throughout season 4 has been presented with little other fanfare to this point beyond these self-contained (and unexpectedly ominous) vignettes, though it's only a matter of time before the crew of the USS Cerritos finally pick up on this disturbing trend. But until then, Trekkies have already been all over the case with a fine-toothed comb. The ultimate reveal will surely come in the weeks ahead, but what's the fun in waiting if we can't make some educated guesses and off-the-wall stabs in the dark to help pass the time?? You have questions and we have ... well, even more questions, but hopefully a possible answer or two hidden amongst our rampant speculation.

Here's our best theories about which dastardly individual(s) may be responsible for the actions of that mystery ship.

Hey, is it just me, or has this season been noticeably Badgey-free thus far? Voiced by Jack McBrayer, the most feared sociopathic killer to ever stalk the holodecks of the Cerritos was actually the original brainchild of our lovable Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), a hologram created for the express purpose of teaching D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) how to spacewalk. Naturally, things went slightly haywire as the holoprogram gained sentience, turned on its master, and vowed to kill our favorite Starfleet ensigns. Rutherford managed to narrowly avert disaster, but Badgey has continued to show up on occasion since then. We last saw Badgey in the season 3 finale, when Rutherford realized that part of his creation's code had been co-opted by the villainous Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo in his plot to replace all of Starfleet's California-class vessels with specialized, AI-equipped starships. Although our heroes destroyed those ships, a post-credits scene revealed that Badgey had somehow survived the explosions and was now adrift in outer space.

Is that tease for future appearances about to finally pay off? There's no concrete proof, mind you, but it seems inevitable that Badgey will end up involved in the storyline of season 4 in some form or another. This would certainly feel like a natural way to reintroduce the villain and bring him back into action, allowing him to take out his grudge against Starfleet on the universe at large. If he were trying to set up the Federation for crimes it didn't commit, this would be a good way to go about it. In fact, doesn't that unidentified ship sort of resemble the shape of an inverted Badgey? Or am I tumbling a little too far down this conspiracy rabbit hole? Wake up, sheeple!

Ah, yes, Peanut Hamper. Our next obvious candidate on our suspect list is none other than the dreaded exocomp that went rogue (voiced by Kether Donohue). Fans will remember that the robot (which has a fascinating past in classic "Trek" lore) made her first appearance back in season 1 of "Lower Decks," arriving on the scene of the Cerritos as a plucky and eager rookie officer ... until a last-minute change of heart during a particularly dangerous mission had her abandon her post and leave Starfleet altogether. When last we saw her in a particularly divisive episode of season 3, the deserter had crash-landed on a strange planet, cozied up to the indigenous population of bird-people, and even became betrothed to the village leader. All that was revealed to be little more than a ruse, however, and she once again let down the entire crew of the Cerritos. Exiled and cast aside with no other recourse than to call in the Borg themselves, Peanut Hamper's recklessness forced Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) to confine her to the fabled Daystrom Institute.

Obviously, her previous appearances have left her with absolutely no love lost with Starfleet — or any other species in the galaxy, for that matter. Having burned all her bridges and proven that redemption is probably out of reach, it would make perfect sense if she were behind the hostile attacks. Or, perhaps she's only part of a larger team. Remember, at Daystrom Institute we see that she shares close proximity to another cell containing another malfunctioning robotic device and begun plotting with it. And that leads us to our next potential suspect.

If it's starting to seem like the Cerritos crew tend to run afoul of quite a few evil sentient AI, that's because they do. One other possibility regarding that destructive ship could very well be AGIMUS, the computer featured way back in season 2 that attempted to conquer an entire planet. After manipulating a century-long war among the inhabitants, the Cerritos ended AGIMUS' reign of terror. Naturally, the team assigned to escort it back to Daystrom, Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), crash onto another planet and are stranded with the overambitious computer. Hoping to be reconnected to a power source and exact revenge upon the galaxy, AGIMUS tries to divide the two friends against each other so it can sneak behind their backs, use their ship to build a new fleet of "murder drones," and conquer yet another star system — which it ultimately fails to do.

With its plans foiled, AGIMUS is finally shipped to Daystrom and locked up in the facility's aptly-named Self-Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage. We revisit this location when good ol' Peanut Hamper is added to the ever-expanding roster of inmates, where the two strike up a conversation and, like an evil version of the final moments of "Casablanca," AGIMUS extends an offer of friendship: "I think you and I could do awful things together." With its delusions of godlike grandeur and its ability to win other sentient robots to its cause, it's well within the realm of possibility that AGIMUS could have orchestrated a daring escape from Daystrom, along with a small army of likeminded AI that have a bone to pick with the universe's organics.

Could these troublemakers (or some combination of them) be behind such bold attacks? Stay tuned. New episodes of "Lower Decks" premiere on Paramount+ every Thursday.