Summary[]
The USS Discovery NCC-1031-A has been retrofitted with 32nd century technology, including detached warp nacelles, programmable matter interfaces and personal transporter badges for the crew. As the ship is waiting to be dispatched to Argeth, where it may be needed to resolve a crisis, Booker's ship arrives at the cloaking field perimeter, with just his cat Grudge aboard. A pre-recorded message from three weeks ago says that he was going to a salvage yard of the Emerald Chain on the planet Hunhau, to retrieve a black box from a ship that was destroyed in the Burn. Michael Burnham is eager to retrieve this third box to triangulate the origin of the Burn. Against Saru's direct order, Burnham and Georgiou take Booker's ship and set a course for his last known coordinates.
When they arrive at the salvage yard, they pretend to be traders and are welcomed by Tolor, a nephew of Emerald Chain leader Osyraa. Burnham spots Book among Tolor's workers and is waiting for an opportunity to talk to him. A system that kills anyone who is accordingly tagged and crosses the perimeter assures that the inmates wouldn't escape, which Tolor demonstrates on a Bajoran inmate who is caught stealing. Meanwhile on the Discovery, Adira has upgraded the spore drive interface and also offers Stamets to improve his implants. They reveal that Gray is still present in their mind although he was killed, which sounds familiar to Stamets.
On Hunhau, Burnham and Book use a moment of distraction, in which Book says that he has the black box and that the shift change in 43 minutes may be an opportunity to escape. Burnham tells Tolor she would need more time to examine the merchandise. Having waited long enough, she sets off an alert and is apprehended by Tolor, together with Georgiou. As Tolor and his guards are investigating Book's ship, the prisoners, led by Book and an Andorian called Ryn, use the shift change for their revolt. Ryn is wounded when he takes a shot meant for Book.
Burnham tries to profit from the distraction and to overwhelm Tolor, as the prisoners are waiting for someone to deactivate the perimeter pylons. But Georgiou experiences a flashback and passes out. When she regains consciousness, she grabs the control unit and takes the fence down just before Tolor manages to beam away. Burnham and Georgiou take Book's ship to help the prisoners and attack the guards. They beam up Book and Ryn, while the rest can escape in a transport. Back at Federation Headquarters, Saru relieves Burnham of duty as his first officer.
Errors and Explanations[]
Ex Astris Scientia[]
Continuity[]
- Bernd Schneider: Relabeling the Discovery to "NCC-1031-A" may be an attempt to hold up the official story that the ship was destroyed 930 years ago. Either that, or the very rare letter suffixes are not used consistently anyway and don't necessarily denote a new ship of the same name. Or to give the impression it is a new ship built to the same design, just as the Enterprise A was built to the same design as the refit Enterprise.
Nitpicking[]
- Did anyone authorize Adira to retrofit the spore drive? Stamets is obviously surprised but doesn't mind at all, just as already when Adira tampered with the ship's systems in "People of Earth". This upgrade may have been necessary, due to the retrofit of the ship.