Progenitor program

The Progenitor program was a computer program seeded by the Progenitors 4.5 billion years ago in the genetic code of many of the humanoid species that the Progenitors had seeded. Once all of the genetic fragments were gathered from twenty-two different worlds, the program would reconfigure the device holding it to play a holographic message from a female Progenitor explaining her race and their actions. It was hoped that their descendant species would come together in the spirit of cooperation in order to assemble the program. (TNG: "The Chase")

In the 2360s, noted archeologist Professor Galen discovered the existence of the program while studying micropaleontology and began working to assemble it. From Earth, Ruah IV, Loren III, and seventeen other worlds, Galen assembled most of the DNA fragments by 2369 and was close to deciphering it. During a surprise visit to the USS Enterprise-D in that year, Galen attempted to convince Captain Jean-Luc Picard, one of his former students, to join him, but Picard ultimately refused.

Shortly thereafter, Galen was killed when Yridians working with the Cardassians attacked Galen's shuttle. The Yridian destroyer was destroyed by the Enterprise, prompting Picard to continue his old mentor's work. Klingon forces retrieved another DNA sample from Indri VIII and destroyed the planet's biosphere to ensure that no one else could get one there while the Cardassians beat everyone else to Loren III, the sample for that planet having been removed from Galen's database during the Yridian attack. Picard convinced Gul Ocett and Captain Nu'Daq to share their samples which revealed that there was still one missing piece. By charting the locations of where the DNA fragments were found and accounting for billions of years of stellar drift, the Enterprise computer was able to pinpoint the last piece on Vilmor II. During a standoff between Humans, Klingons, Cardassians and Romulans on the planet's surface, Doctor Beverly Crusher collected a sample of lichen from an ancient seabed which completed the program. The program then modified Picard's tricorder emitter diode to play the Progenitors' message. (TNG: "The Chase")

In the decade that followed the discovery of the message, the Federation President brought together six Federation and non-Federation scientists in secret to research the Progenitors and their message. This included Trill Jinaal Bix, a Romulan scientist that was present for the message named Dr. Vellek, Terran Carmen Cho, Denobulan Hitoroshi Kreel, and Betazoid Marina Derex. (DIS: "Red Directive", "Jinaal", "Mirrors", "Whistlespeak")

At the height of the Dominion War in the mid-2370s, their research eventually led them to a sector of deep space where they found what Jinaal would later describe as "a technology beyond anything we'd ever seen." When one of the scientists tried to activate it, he was killed. The remaining scientists formed a pact, deleted their research and told the Federation they had reached a dead end. They committed the rest of their lives to ensuring the power would only be found by a "worthy seeker" through a series of clues, "when the time was right...a time of peace when species [had] evolved enough to use it only for good." (DIS: "Jinaal")

In 3191, Vellek's diary was recovered by the USS Discovery, which included the first clue to the location of the Progenitor's technology on Lyrek, starting a search for the hidden technology. (DIS: "Red Directive")

While recruiting Captain Michael Burnham to find the Progenitors' technology, Doctor Kovich told her about the discovery of the message and showed Burnham images of the group that had found it and the Progenitor herself. (DIS: "Red Directive")

After accessing the technology used by the Progenitors to seed humanoid life, Burnham encountered the mind of a Progenitor who had been brought from her own space-time to instruct Burnham in the technology's use. The Progenitor elaborated that the technology that they had used was merely found by the species and it had been used by the race that had created the Progenitors before them, possibly as a part of a cycle of creators and creations. She also told Burnham that the Progenitors had chosen to only seed life rather than outright creating it out of a concern about using the technology on such a large scale. (DIS: "Life, Itself")