C/2018-G2

C/2018-G2 was the designation NASA gave a Preserver probe when they believed it to be a comet.

History and specifics

In 2020, this probe entered the Sol system and the USS Lewis & Clark was tasked with investigating this probe because it was believed to be a previously undiscovered comet and the Lewis & Clark would be in the vicinity as it investigated Saturn. As the probe neared Saturn it changed course to assume a polar orbit of Saturn. Shaun Christopher, commander of the Lewis & Clark, donned a spacesuit to investigate the probe. As Christopher neared it, the probe sent a beam of energy into the center of Saturn's storm, restoring Saturn's rings to their proper place. The probe then departed the Sol system.

In 2270, the probe entered the Klondike system on a course for Klondike VI's storm. The USS Enterprise intercepted the probe and beamed it aboard, where it was discovered that the probe had been so beat up over the years it would not have been able to restore Klondike VI's rings as it had Saturn's. However, with information acquired from Shaun Christopher, who had been temporally displaced and his mind transferred into Kirk's body by an unidentified higher being to "test" the Enterprise crew, the Enterprise was able to use its phasers to duplicate the energy fired from the probe, restoring the rings to normal. (TOS novel: The Rings of Time)

The naming notation using "2018" means this object was first observed and catalogued in the year 2018.