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The overall tone of the show is important. It must have the feel of old Treks, with exploration and first contact being high on the list of plot devices. But with a galaxy that is completely explored, where is there to go? Easy, silly: a new galaxy!

Here’s some techno babble for ya:

The reason why warp speeds have such hard and fast rules (the no higher than  10 stuff, for instance) is because of the prevalence of stellar gases, gravity wells and other such phenomena. But because there is essentially nothing more than 
empty space between galaxies, travel to another galaxy is actually quite fast. While there might be millions of light-years between galaxies, a ship specifically outfitted with an intergalactic warp drive can essentially leap to another galaxy within a very short time frame. I’d say it takes about an hour to get between the Milky Way and the next-closest galaxy.

So what if Deep Space Nine had a wormhole?  That doesn't mean I can't.  


The new galaxy has been explored very little. Already, Starfleet ships have been escorting colonization craft from the overflowing populations of Federation member worlds. These colonists are getting first-hand experience with the new galaxy and the life that lives within it.

The precursors didn’t just seed the Milky Way with its genetic material, obviously. The New Galaxy in the very early stages of interspecies organization, much like the Federation at the beginning of TOS. The Union of Member Worlds is the New Galaxy’s version of the Federation of Planets, and the main entrance point of Starfleet ships from Milky Way is right at the edge of the Union’s burgeoning borders. The pilot could very well be the first contact between Union and Federation.
Of course, the Federation and the Union have differing goals. Perhaps the Union’s policies conflict directly with the Prime Directive. They see it as their role as more advanced species to bring fire to the natives, so to speak. They contact primitive worlds and bring them to the light of technological novelty. This makes the potential for exploitation very real and there are members of the Federation and the Union that see no problem in doing just that.