Star Trek: Lower Decks has a sharp tool at its satirical disposal: it’s canon, which means that every notion and plot point – no matter how ridiculous – is shared by the other, more serious Star Trek shows. That lets it poke fun at all manner of sacred cows, including some of the biggest and most influential events in the franchise. That includes the Battle of Wolf 359, the disastrous fight with the Borg that brought the Federation to the brink of disaster at the end of Season 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Lower Decks used the moment to bring the franchise its own crazy conspiracy theorists.
The future of the 24th century has traditionally been depicted as utopian, where a united and enlightened humanity lives in peace with the rest of the galaxy. But conspiracy theorists and other irrational aspects of humanity presumably never went away, no matter how badly they might jar with that bright future. It's one of the things Lower Decks slyly enjoys reminding everyone. Season 1, Episode 10, “No Small Parts” uses a throwaway gag to quietly twist the knife.
Wolf 359 took place offscreen during The Next Generation, Season 4, Episode 1, “The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2,” as Starfleet made a desperate last stand to stop the Borg cube from reaching Earth. The battle lasted mere minutes, resulting in the loss of 39 Starfleet vessels and 11,000 personnel. The Borg proceeded to Earth and would have assimilated the entire population were it not for the eleventh-hour heroics of the Enterprise-D.
The aftereffects of the battle could be seen in Trek shows for years. The series premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Emissary,” began with the battle itself as Ben Sisko’s wife was killed and he was forced to flee their ship with his son Jake. It also can be felt more subtly in a reflected loss of personnel. Sisko initially takes control of Deep Space Nine despite not being a captain, while Riker and Data are forced to take temporary command of a pair of undermanned vessels in The Next Generation, Season 5, Episode 1, “Redemption, Part 2.” In both cases, the episodes strongly infer a heavy loss of command personnel lasting for years after Wolf 359 and personnel shortages being regular.
And yet, as “No Small Parts” points out, that evidence still wouldn’t be enough for some people. After being outed as the captain’s daughter, Mariner finds herself accosted by Steve Levy, a lieutenant aboard the Cerritos. He hopes to use Mariner’s familial connection to push his agenda, only to have Mariner remind him that he believes that “Wolf 359 was an inside job.” He further maintains that the Dominion War never happened and that the Changelings who caused it are a myth.
The gag is part of Mariner’s mortification at being outed as the captain’s daughter. Levy’s conspiracy theories are part of an obsequious personality of the sort Mariner deliberately tried to avoid as an unknown ensign. Furthermore, he maintains them for years: Lower Decks takes place over a decade after the Battle, and “No Small Parts” occurs a year after Levy first mentioned the Wolf 359 conspiracy to Mariner. Like most conspiracy theorists, he refuses to drop them.
It’s a funny joke, but the choice of subject shows that the writers know how conspiracy theories work in reality. Wolf 359 took place in the depths of space, away from public sight, while the shapeshifting Changelings could be anyone or anything. Both traits allow theorists to speculate and even make accusations without a single shred of proof, something Levy presumably adheres to. It runs counter to Starfleet’s commitment to knowledge and verifiable facts, and that’s presumably the point. Humanity may never lose the paranoia and willful ignorance required to formulate such theories, even in a utopian future.