One of the theories i’ve heard about it is that one of the races with much higher power levels, or a higher powered being, may have constructed the barrier to protect our galaxy from something outside. I imagine that we’ll probably never know what the person who originally suggested this idea might’ve thought for an origin for it, or if it was just a plot device they came up with to turn that one guy into a super being… but… you’re right, given that as far as we know, even the spore drive turns to useless when nearing the galactic barrier.
However… one might find that the mycelial network picks up again somewhere on the other side of the barrier, and might allow for rapid intergalactic travel.
But, it’s not really necessary – the Milky Way is still even in Discovery’s current time, quite unexplored by the Federation. We could make hundreds of years of Star Trek stories without ever needing to leave the galaxy.
One of the theories i’ve heard about it is that one of the races with much higher power levels, or a higher powered being, may have constructed the barrier to protect our galaxy from something outside. I imagine that we’ll probably never know what the person who originally suggested this idea might’ve thought for an origin for it, or if it was just a plot device they came up with to turn that one guy into a super being… but… you’re right, given that as far as we know, even the spore drive turns to useless when nearing the galactic barrier.
However… one might find that the mycelial network picks up again somewhere on the other side of the barrier, and might allow for rapid intergalactic travel.
But, it’s not really necessary – the Milky Way is still even in Discovery’s current time, quite unexplored by the Federation. We could make hundreds of years of Star Trek stories without ever needing to leave the galaxy.