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In [[2387]], the planet [[Romulus]], capital world of the [[Romulan Star Empire]], was destroyed by a [[supernova]]. Nero was at the time the [[captain]] of the Romulan [[mining vessel]] [[Narada]]. His life, in his words, was one of honest labor. He witnessed the destruction of Romulus.
 
In [[2387]], the planet [[Romulus]], capital world of the [[Romulan Star Empire]], was destroyed by a [[supernova]]. Nero was at the time the [[captain]] of the Romulan [[mining vessel]] [[Narada]]. His life, in his words, was one of honest labor. He witnessed the destruction of Romulus.
   
The supernova that destroyed Romulus had been discovered to be a threat to the entire [[Milky Way]]. The Vulcan [[Spock]], a Federation [[ambassador]], had developed a plan to avert this by use of [[red matter]], a substance capable of creating [[black hole]]s. He had intended to enact this plan to destroy the supernova before the explosion reached Romulus. However, he was to late, and Romulus was destroyed before he could arrive to implement it. Nero lost his wife and unborn child, along with nearly all of his people.
+
The supernova that destroyed Romulus had been discovered to be a threat to the entire [[Milky Way]]. The Vulcan [[Spock]], a Federation [[ambassador]], had developed a plan to avert this by use of [[red matter]], a substance capable of creating [[black hole]]s. He had intended to enact this plan to destroy the supernova before the explosion reached Romulus. However, he was too late, and Romulus was destroyed before he could arrive to implement it. Nero lost his wife and unborn child, along with nearly all of his people.
   
 
Nero did not believe that Spock had intended to save Romulus. On the contrary, he and his crew believed that Spock and the Federation had deliberately let Romulus be destroyed. Swearing revenge, they intercepted Spock’s vessel, the ''[[Jellyfish]]'', soon after he had used the red matter to create a black hole that swallowed the supernova, saving other worlds from becoming as Romulus. Spock attempted to escape, but both the ''Jellyfish'' and the ''Narada'' were pulled into the black hole, which had caused a temporal rift that shunted both ships back in [[time]], to the year [[2233]].
 
Nero did not believe that Spock had intended to save Romulus. On the contrary, he and his crew believed that Spock and the Federation had deliberately let Romulus be destroyed. Swearing revenge, they intercepted Spock’s vessel, the ''[[Jellyfish]]'', soon after he had used the red matter to create a black hole that swallowed the supernova, saving other worlds from becoming as Romulus. Spock attempted to escape, but both the ''Jellyfish'' and the ''Narada'' were pulled into the black hole, which had caused a temporal rift that shunted both ships back in [[time]], to the year [[2233]].

Revision as of 23:23, 10 December 2009

Template:Articletype Template:Sidebar character

For the comic book series on the character, see Star Trek: Nero.

Nero was a 24th century Romulan miner responsible for the creation of the alternate reality. He did this via an accidental incursion into the 23rd century. A sworn enemy of the United Federation of Planets, he intended to completely obliterate the Federation in the timeline his actions created. He succeeded in destroying the planet Vulcan, and with it, most of the Vulcan people, before he himself was defeated and destroyed by Federation Starfleet Captain James T. Kirk

Origins

Romulus Destroyed in 2387

}The destruction of Romulus

In 2387, the planet Romulus, capital world of the Romulan Star Empire, was destroyed by a supernova. Nero was at the time the captain of the Romulan mining vessel Narada. His life, in his words, was one of honest labor. He witnessed the destruction of Romulus.

The supernova that destroyed Romulus had been discovered to be a threat to the entire Milky Way. The Vulcan Spock, a Federation ambassador, had developed a plan to avert this by use of red matter, a substance capable of creating black holes. He had intended to enact this plan to destroy the supernova before the explosion reached Romulus. However, he was too late, and Romulus was destroyed before he could arrive to implement it. Nero lost his wife and unborn child, along with nearly all of his people.

Nero did not believe that Spock had intended to save Romulus. On the contrary, he and his crew believed that Spock and the Federation had deliberately let Romulus be destroyed. Swearing revenge, they intercepted Spock’s vessel, the Jellyfish, soon after he had used the red matter to create a black hole that swallowed the supernova, saving other worlds from becoming as Romulus. Spock attempted to escape, but both the Jellyfish and the Narada were pulled into the black hole, which had caused a temporal rift that shunted both ships back in time, to the year 2233.

Incursion

Nero explodes when told he is in 2233

Nero charges at Robau to kill him

The Narada arrived in 2233 near the Klingon-Federation border. At first, Nero and his crew did not realize what had occurred. Using the weaponry of the Narada, which, being a 24th century vessel, was far more advanced than anything in the 23rd century, Nero and his crew attacked and severely damaged the Federation starship USS Kelvin, and forced her captain, Richard Robau, to come aboard the Narada. There he was questioned as to the whereabouts of Spock and the Jellyfish. Upon realizing from his answers that they were now 154 years in the past, Nero killed Robau in rage. Robau’s first officer, Lieutenant George Kirk, managed to save the rest of the Kelvin crew by piloting her into the Narada in a kamikaze run after the crew evacuated. This damaged the Narada somewhat, but did not disable it. Nero and his crew spent the next 25 years repairing the Narada and waiting for Spock to come through from their own time, as they had done.

Destruction of Vulcan

File:Vulcan Orbital (alternate reality).jpg

Vulcan's destruction

Nero calculated the exact time and place of the arrival of the Jellyfish. When it came through, he and his crew promptly captured it. However, Nero did not intend to kill Spock. Instead, he intended to visit upon Spock the same loss that he believed Spock had caused him and his crew: the loss of his homeworld while he watched, powerless to stop it.

Nero took Spock to Delta Vega, a planet near Vulcan, and marooned him there, where he could see Vulcan large and clearly. The Narada was then positioned over Vulcan, its drill platform was deployed and a hole was drilled to the planet’s core. While this was being done, the Narada was attacked by a fleet of Federation starships, as the drilling had caused severe seismic disturbances that had elicited a distress call, bringing a Federation fleet in response. The Narada decimated the fleet. The last ship to arrive was the USS Enterprise[!], commanded by Captain Christopher Pike. Also aboard were then-Cadet James T. Kirk and the Spock of this timeline, who was the First Officer.

Nero contacted the Enterprise and demanded that Pike come over to the Narada alone in a shuttle, threatening the Enterprise with the destruction he had inflicted on the fleet if Pike refused. Pike acceded, but also organized a mission in which Kirk, whom he had made Acting First Officer, and two other officers, orbital skydived onto the drill platform and disabled it. However, the three officers could not do so before it had reached Vulcan’s core. Nero had a torpedo containing red matter from the store still contained within the Jellyfish launched into the core. On detonation, the red matter created a black hole that consumed the planet. The only survivors were approximately ten thousand whom the Enterprise managed to beam up, including the Vulcan High Council, whom this timeline’s Spock had personally rescued. Nearly six billion Vulcans, almost the entire people, perished. Nero’s quest for revenge against Vulcan was successfully completed.

Attempted Destruction of Earth

Nero interrogates Pike

Nero interrogates Pike

Nero’s next objective was the obliteration of the Federation itself. He intended to destroy all Federation planets, starting with the state’s capital world of Earth, in a similar fashion to what he did to Vulcan. In doing so, he intended to create an existence for Romulus that was without the Federation. Having captured Captain Pike, he used the coercive effect of a Centaurian slug to force him to reveal the codes to Earth’s defense grid. The Narada then set course for Earth.

Downfall

Nero sucked into a black hole

Nero's final moments

However, aboard the Enterprise, Kirk had become acting Captain. He ordered chase given to the Narada. As the Narada settled over Earth’s and its drill platform deployed, he implemented a plan to beam himself and Spock aboard the Narada. Spock took control of the Jellyfish, exited the Narada with it and used it to destroy the drill platform. Meanwhile, Kirk rescued Pike. Consumed by rage at being thwarted by the Spock of this timeline, Nero lost all sense of reason and ordered all weapons fired on the Jellyfish in an attempt to kill Spock, despite the danger of activating the red matter aboard the Jellyfish. This failed, and Spock piloted the Jellyfish on a collision course into the Narada, being beamed off before the collision. The explosion caused the store of red matter aboard the Jellyfish to form a black hole that began to tear the Narada apart. Having returned to the Enterprise, Kirk offered Nero assistance in saving himself and his crew. Nero furiously refused, preferring, in his words, to suffer the destruction of Romulus a thousand times and then die in agony than accept help from Kirk. Kirk obliged, ordering all the Enterprise’s weapons fired on the Narada, hastening the vessel’s destruction, and that of Nero and his crew. (Star Trek)

Memorable quotes

"Hi Christopher, I'm Nero." (Star Trek)


"James T. Kirk was considered to be a great man. He went on to captain the USS Enterprise...but that was another life. A life I will deprive you of, just like I did your father." (Star Trek)

- To James T. Kirk while strangling him.


"SPOOOOOCK!" (Star Trek)


"I want Spock dead now!" (Star Trek)


"Fire everything!" (Star Trek)


"I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you!"

- Nero's response to Kirk after suggesting Nero to surrender peacefully. (Star Trek)

Appendices

Background

Nero & Klingons

Deleted shot of Nero escaping his Klingon captors

Countdown Nero

Nero in Star Trek: Countdown

Nero was played by Eric Bana. Screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci named Nero after the Roman emperor Nero, as a nod to the Roman inspirations of the Romulans.[1]

In the film, Ayel addresses Nero as "Prod". In a deleted scene in which the Narada is surrounded by a Klingon fleet, the subtitles created for the scene translate "prod" as "Commander." However, in the audio commentary for the film, the writers state that "Prod" was intended to mean "Praetor."

In the prequel comic Star Trek: Countdown, Nero's backstory is expanded upon. According to the series, Nero was initially in league with Spock, and attempted to help him stop the supernova. When Vulcan declined to assist Romulus by handing over the technology necessary to produce red matter, Nero blamed Spock and Vulcan after the supernova destroyed Romulus, believing it was a ploy to claim Romulan territory. He claimed his teral'n from the Romulan Praetor, whom he killed for ignoring Spock's warnings about the supernova. An explanation is also given for the tattoos on Nero and his crew:

"There was a tradition on Romulus that when a loved one died you would paint your grief upon your skin. Ancient symbols of love and loss. In time the paint would fade, and with it the period of mourning. Life would go on. We paint these symbols on our skin now. But we burn them deep. So that they will never fade. Because life does not go on. We died with our friends. We died with our families. We died with Romulus. And all that is left is revenge."

In the novelization of 2009's Star Trek by Alan Dean Foster, Nero states that his formal name resembles "Oren" ("Ŏ'ŗên"), but is difficult for Humans to pronounce. The novel reiterates that Nero believed the destruction of Romulus was part of a conspiracy perpetrated by the Federation, and that any attempt to warn of the supernova in the past would therefore be futile. It is also suggested that if Nero had succeeded in destroying the Federation, he would have used any remaining red matter to create a black hole and consume the star before it could go supernova. Additionally Nero states that the annihilation of the Federation would allow the Narada crew to return to Romulus as warriors rather than simple miners.

External links