For anyone not aware (because I first saw the episode a few months ago) … this is reference to the Dooms Day machine episode of Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 2 Episode 6 (originally aired in 1967)

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Doomsday_Machine_(episode)

… also … that is one big ass horn

I was playing some STO the other day and I think I killed this thing in a boss fight.

Yo pass the joint maaaan

Was that influenced by those Charles Sheffield novels? What, Higher Education? I wonder if those hold up. Oh. TOS almost certainly came first.