Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Lower Decks Series Finale - "The New Next Generation"Star Trek's Prime timeline. In the end, a new stable portal to infinite Quantum Realities was opened, and only one starbase could guard this wormhole to the multiverse.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's original mission saw the space station led by Star Trek's galaxy. Even after the Gamma Quadrants' rulers, the Dominion, crossed into the Alpha Quadrant and declared war on the Federation, Deep Space Nine remained at its post at the gate of the wormhole.

Starbase 80 Is Star Trek: Lower Decks’ New Deep Space Nine

The Worst Starbase Now Has Starfleet's Most Important Mission

Star Trek: Lower Decks' finale now puts the multiverse in play by creating a stable portal into unlimited alternate universes. Just like Deep Space Nine and the Bajoran wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, Starfleet established a new mission to guard this multiversal portal and explore the various quantum realities. Because of the portal's dangerous tachyon radiation, only one starbase has systems old enough to be unaffected. Thus, Starbase 80, formerly known as the worst starbase in the Federation, now guards the portal.

With Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) assigned to oversee Starfleet's multiverse exploratory mission, it makes the former Captain of the USS Cerritos Star Trek: Lower Decks' equivalent to Captain Benjamin Sisko. Star Trek: Lower Decks spent several seasons setting up the undesirable Starbase 80 before revealing it in season 5, but the animated comedy's endgame was always to give Star Trek: Lower Decks its own version of Deep Space Nine, just as the Cerritos inherits the mantle of Star Trek: The Next Generation's USS Enterprise-D and E.

Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Starbase 80 Also Has Its Own USS Defiant Like DS9

The Starship Anaximander Will Keep Boldly Going Where No One Has Gone Before

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine leveled up with the introduction of the USS Defiant in season 3, which created new story opportunities and lined up DS9 with the other starship-based Star Trek series. It's no coincidence that to go with Starbase 80 as its version of Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 9, "Fissure Quest" introduced the Anaximander, a Defiant Class starship led by Captain William Boimler (Jack Quaid). The Anaximander completes Star Trek: Lower Decks' revamp of Deep Space Nine's concept and mission.

Hopefully, we will see what became of Starbase 80's mission some day.

It's also fitting alternate reality versions of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) are part of the Anaximander's crew (and are a couple). Although, sadly, Star Trek: Lower Decks' alternate reality Curzon Dax (Fred Tatasciore) didn't live to see the stable multiverse portal. As the USS Cerritos, with its new command structure, warps into new voyages, Star Trek: Lower Decks also ends with its own Deep Space Nine and, hopefully, we will see what became of Starbase 80's mission some day.