♪ ♪
Previously on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds...
UHURA: Spock, meet James Kirk,
first officer of the Farragut.
UNA: When I took my commission,
I spent a week shadowing Pike.
It made all the difference.
PELIA: You want to know the worst thing
about living almost forever?
The loss of those you love.
UNA: It wasn't your fault, Chris.
PIKE: I led the mission.
We're responsible for other people's lives.
The lives of my crew mean everything to me.
KIRK: Our job puts us up against death
more than is fair.
Now, you can let death win
or you can fight back.
KIRK: First officer's personal log. Stardate...
What is the stardate?
They're all blending together.
Farragut is conducting a planetary survey
of Helicon Gamma, an uninhabited M-class world
outside Federation space, and...
I am so deeply bored.
I find myself constantly questioning
Captain V'Rel's orders.
It's like she's allergic to risk.
We're out here to get our hands dirty,
to be explorers,
not to triple-check every sensor reading.
I get it.
She wants to do everything by the book.
Any changes since last night?
I just think the book would be more interesting
if I got to write it.
V'REL: Helm,
bring us into a low geosynchronous orbit
over the northern continent.
Captain V'Rel, if I may,
we could get much more detailed readings
from an even lower orbit.
- How low do you suggest? - Lowest orbit there is.
Our boots on the ground.
Given the geological instability,
it seems an unwarranted risk.
Risk is why we're here, isn't it?
Starfleet could have sent a probe,
but instead they sent us
because some things you need to see for yourself
- to truly understand. - Captain,
an unknown force just impacted
- Helicon Gamma's surface. - Report.
ALVAREZ: There's a seismic disturbance in the planet's crust.
(EXPLOSION)
- Red alert. - (ALARM SOUNDING)
Helm, take evasive action.
All hands, brace for...
(ELECTRICAL CRACKLING)
(COUGHING)
(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.A.)
(HEAVY IMPACT)
(ALARMS SOUNDING)
KIRK: Medical team to the bridge.
This is the USS Farragut.
We need immediate assistance. We've taken heavy...
Sir, something's interfering with the comms signal.
I'm trying to identify the source.
It's coming from that.
PIKE: Space.
The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
Its five-year mission:
To explore strange new worlds...
to seek out new life
and new civilizations...
to boldly go where no one has gone before.
♪
♪ ♪
SPOCK: Readings?
Life signs on board,
but barely enough to crew the ship.
Multiple systems nonfunctioning.
- What in Baird's name happened here? - Whose name?
The Scottish inventor.
Everyone knows John Logie Baird.
(MAN COUGHING)
- Rescue? - That is our purpose.
The question is: Rescue from what?
I only saw a glimpse. It was huge.
- He's got internal bleeding. - (PAINED GROAN)
I need to get him to sickbay.
I'd better go to Engineering
and check there's still a warp core.
Report back with your findings.
We will offer our assistance
to Captain V'Rel on the bridge.
- (COMMS CHIME) - Wait.
It's not just ship to ship.
All comms are down.
We'll have no way to get in touch with each other.
Go. But find your way to the bridge
as soon as you can.
(WHIRS SLOWLY)
Don't you shut down on me.
CHAPEL: Reinforcements have arrived.
(PAINED GROAN)
Where's your CMO, Ensign?
Just you, then.
(GROANING)
I'm seeing a lot of blunt-force injuries in here.
- What happened? - ENSIGN: You should ask the captain.
Bed four.
Captain V'Rel, I'm Nurse Chapel.
You have a cerebral contusion. There's no cranial swelling.
I need to get back to the bridge.
Mm-hmm, right after we make sure
that your brain isn't herniating.
- Stay. - (GROANS)
Our away team is heading to the bridge.
They can help.
Try bypassing primary sensors.
See if anything's functioning in the lateral array.
(HEAVY IMPACT)
Alvarez, get us out of this debris.
Sir, it's too dangerous without the sensors.
- Captain... - Captain V'Rel left me the conn,
and it's up to me to return it intact.
Mr. Spock.
Ensign Uhura. La'An.
- Welcome aboard. - LA'AN: James.
Quite a mess you've gotten yourself into.
Seems to be my specialty.
It's a miracle you got our distress call.
- Signal was jammed. - UHURA: The interference has
wreaked havoc with us, too.
But I might be able to set up line of sight.
- Permission to borrow your telemetry? - More than granted.
Alvarez, aim us at the Enterprise.
Stand by for the captain.
Captain Pike.
I'll dispense with the pleasantries
since we're still in a critical situation.
Is the threat still in the area?
Unknown.
Tell me what you do know.
We were in the middle of a geological survey
of Helicon Gamma when...
well, there's no scientific way to put it...
all hell broke loose.
- Planetary instability? - No.
A focused gravitational beam aimed at the planet.
Aimed by what?
A ship capable of generating
a tractor beam that powerful would have to be...
Several orders of magnitude bigger
than any starship on record.
I know. It sounds crazy, but it's true.
We barely saw it. It wasn't interested in us.
We were just collateral damage.
(QUIETLY): Destroyer of Worlds.
PIKE: And it just disappeared?
When the debris hit, we lost sensors,
comms, all critical systems.
Captain V'Rel was injured but lucid enough
to give the evacuation order.
Escape pods have been deployed.
I'm keeping a skeleton crew aboard
so Farragut doesn't become a salvage job.
Well, you've performed commendably,
but let's get you all to safety.
Number One, I want all Farragut crew
- beamed aboard immediately. - UNA: Aye, Captain.
Full evacuation. We'll start with the escape pods.
- PIKE: Proceed. - Captain Pike...
I know, I wouldn't want to give up my ship either,
but the safety of the crew has to come first.
It's the right call.
We have some critically injured patients in sickbay
- and no doctor. - Ensign Uhura,
confirm with Chapel which patients require
immediate evac and get them to Enterprise.
- On it, Captain. - Before you evacuate,
transfer all tactical info on this mystery ship.
I want to be ready if they take another swing.
I have restored some function to sensors.
Sending what little data we have back
with Lieutenant Noonien-Singh.
Beaming back now, Captain.
I'll hand this to you personally.
Energize.
- Now put all your systems... - (TRANSMISSION BREAKS UP)
KIRK: Uhura, get him back.
What happened?
- I don't think I can. - Why not?
Alvarez, I need you on tactical.
- Prepare all weapons. - Aye, Commander.
SPOCK: We have visual on Enterprise. They are engaging.
Whatever we've got, fire at that thing.
That is illogical.
Enterprise's weapons were clearly ineffective.
Our targeting systems are down.
Firing would serve little purpose
- and risk damaging Enterprise. - Well, we have to do something.
We can't just sit here.
SPOCK: At present,
I am afraid that is all we can do.
Diagnostic. I want a complete ship diagnostic right now.
UHURA: Uh, well, here's some good news.
- We're not being jammed anymore. - Great.
Bridge to sickbay. I need to speak
to Captain V'Rel ASAP.
CHAPEL: Nurse Chapel reporting.
She required an emergency craniectomy,
which I'm not qualified to perform,
so I beamed her to the Enterprise
two minutes ago.
Commander, you are now captain of the Farragut.
We await your orders, sir.
UNA: Anything you recognize?
PIKE: Klingon maybe. Hard to say.
There's not much left to recognize.
Some of them seem ancient.
Damage report.
Main power's off-line, all network systems are down.
Engines, weapons, internal comms.
Hand communicators still are not working.
Too much interference.
- Life support? - Working but minimal.
Send a runner.
Tell the crew to gather in central spaces.
Areas near the outer hull are gonna get pretty damn cold.
Captain, the last runner we sent to Engineering hasn't come back.
Then we have to assume that we've been boarded.
Did the Farragut's sensor logs tell us anything
about the species that built this thing?
Their hull is nearly impenetrable to our sensors,
but it's clear they're incredibly advanced.
Sir, have you heard of Asaasllich,
Destroyer of Worlds?
It-it also translates as Astrovore.
Astrovore? No.
Well, every child growing up
on a remote colony world has.
Different names, same story.
Scavenger ship, hundreds of years old,
prowling just beyond the edges of known space.
Consuming resources from planets
and any ship unlucky enough to cross its path.
ORTEGAS: I heard a version when I was posted near the border.
Klingons called it Chach-Ka. "The Annihilator."
MITCHELL: Admiral Sawyer told a story like that
in his Stellar Cartography class.
The monster past the edge of the map.
LA'AN: Whether or not this is that ship, we know it's a scavenger.
We have to assume that their intention
is to tear the Enterprise apart as well.
Number One, I need you and Ortegas to find a way
to get engine control back online
so that when we get to Engineering
and we stop the power drain,
we're ready to make a run for it.
Acting captain's log.
Feels strange to say that.
Under better circumstances, it would be thrilling.
I've asked the Enterprise officers to fill in
for our missing bridge crew.
But they barely know me,
and now I have to ask them to trust me.
(SIGHS)
If I were in their shoes...
(DOOR CHIMES)
Pause recording. Come in.
(DOOR WHOOSHES OPEN)
Captain Kirk, we compiled all of the data
from our encounter with the alien vessel.
What do we know?
Our sensors cannot fully penetrate its hull,
so we can ascertain little of its composition,
capabilities or crew complement.
What about weaknesses?
UHURA: Fundamental math? Its size.
It would be hard to generate a stable warp field
at that scale, wouldn't it?
Well, odds are, it's slow, but...
- But then we can catch it. - Regulations...
Regulations would have us tuck tail
and run back to Federation space.
By the time we reach a subspace relay
and get reinforcements,
Enterprise will have been ripped to scraps.
We all have people on...
My brother is on that ship.
SPOCK: As the ranking officer, we will follow your orders.
I merely wished to provide you with all relevant information.
SCOTTY: Those are the signatures
from the picked-apart alien ships we saw in Nessie's gob.
Enhance that bit, would you?
(PADD BEEPS)
SPOCK: One of the vessels is a D7-class Klingon cruiser.
Could any of them have survived?
Highly unlikely.
The hull plating would be disassembled,
venting all breathable air.
Even the Klingons couldn't fight their way out.
These scavengers, they take what they please from ships...
damn the crew... and pervert the tech into their own.
We've no idea what they're capable of.
Chapel's right.
If speed is our weapon, then we have to press it.
What speed?
Uh, with all due respect, Commander...
I mean, Acting Captain?
Is it just Captain? Uh...
Sir, they easily could've destroyed the Farragut
or made off with us tucked in their bloody huge pouch,
but they didn't.
And you have a theory as to why?
Because your ship's so banged up it wasn't worth stealing?
Well, then I need you to perform some miracles, Mr. Scott.
We need engines and weapons, in that order.
- Aye. - Patch up the wounded.
Get them back to work as soon as you can.
We need to figure out where
that scavenger ship is headed
so we can find a way to get there first.
That's it. Let's get going.
(DOOR WHOOSHES OPEN)
(PHASER CHARGES)
Really missing the turbolift.
Only eight decks and two access ladders left to go.
(METAL SCREECHING)
(PHASER CHARGES)
Oh! Oh, no, don't shoot.
You don't live to be 5,000 by getting yourself shot a lot.
We're on our way to Engineering.
Bad place to be right now unless you're fond
of choking to death on your own gurgling blood.
Wh... From what?
The umbilical!
Come with me. Come.
It's flooded with toxic gas.
It's tunneled straight through our hull.
It's tapped into our power systems,
our computer network, our fuel storage.
We've barely any auxiliary power left.
If we don't disconnect it,
we will not have enough to escape.
If the air is toxic, we'll need breathers
to get close to the umbilical.
Grab them. Ensign Miller will escort your team.
The second we disconnect from that thing,
we need to be ready to fly.
Yes, Captain.
SCOTTY: Yeah, you heard right.
You better start doing your job, you daft piece of...
KIRK: Mr. Scott?
Everything okay in there?
Soon will be, once I've torn a few things out
and put them back proper.
An-And how long will that take?
To do it right? Two days.
Hmm.
Why don't you start with doing it the way
where we won't immediately explode,
and we'll take it from there?
(CHUCKLES THINLY)
Spock and Uhura made a breakthrough.
Oh, aye? Oh.
The mineral that the scavenger ship was collecting
at Helicon Gamma... it was aldentium.
Oh, I've heard of it.
A few species use it in their... propulsion systems.
There's another world nearby with significant deposits...
Sullivan's Planet... directly in their path.
Inhabited?
Over a hundred million people.
Pre-warp, so the non-interference directive
means we can't warn them.
Not that there's anything we could do anyway.
Listen, we need to get there first.
Set a trap for the scavengers.
You're not asking me to warp us past them,
with the head start they've got?
Look, I can give us warp power,
but if you think this tub will hold together
at high speed after the beating she just took,
your bum's out the window.
The plasma manifolds...
I understand.
No, I'm not sure you do.
You were handed a raw deal, all right?
No one can fault you for that.
But if we push this ship too hard and it fails,
that's our fault, not theirs.
It's a risk.
But I am betting on us.
Prepare for maximum warp.
Huh.
What's the problem?
I just bypassed every safety feature
to make a direct connection to the helm controls.
I should've shocked the bejesus out of myself.
Disappointed you didn't set your hair on fire?
If there's not enough power to do that,
there's nowhere near enough to steer the ship.
(METAL SCREECHING)
That's a good sound, right?
The ship is happy screaming?
- It's a reminder to work faster. - (SIGHS)
Can we fire the thrusters manually?
I mean, we can if we want to very quickly die.
The maneuvering thrusters use a chemical reaction.
They can be triggered by hand.
MITCHELL: But with no comms, we'd have no way to coordinate them.
With no sensors, we'd be flying literally blind.
Who needs sensors? We have eyes.
Add to that no shields or navigational deflector.
If we make a mistake, which we definitely would,
we end up a scorch mark on the wall.
PELIA: Communication issue?
I got here just in time, then.
This may be the first time I'm glad
to have lived through the 1980s.
(MUFFLED BREATHING)
LA'AN: Captain.
(TRICORDER BEEPS)
PIKE: It is hooked directly into our power grid,
our computer systems, and our fuel pods.
LA'AN: We could try to sever it with our phasers.
PIKE: That much energy would take out half the ship.
(RUMBLING)
LA'AN: Cover!
(PHASER CHARGES)
(PAINED GROAN)
(AIR HISSING)
PIKE: I don't think they can see us through the smoke.
Let's get her out of here.
Uhura, status.
Approaching warp seven, sir.
(WHIRS SLOWLY)
Well, Farragut may be held together by duct tape
at this point, but as long as it holds...
Sensors indicate we have overtaken the scavenger vessel.
Excellent work, everyone.
How long until we reach Sullivan's Planet?
Two hours, if we can maintain this speed.
I will be accepting drinks in the galley
from everyone who said that this was impossible.
After we have saved your ship, of course.
Of course.
(SIGHS)
(RUMBLING)
Report.
Well, we've dropped out of warp,
and I've lost all engine power.
Captain, our stratagem has put us
directly in the path of the scavenger vessel.
I am aware, Spock.
It's the plasma manifolds... they've blown out.
KIRK: Well, then take whoever you need
and get down there and fix them.
They are gone! Beyond repair!
We'll need to put into spacedock now
and replace them.
We just... we pushed her too hard.
We're dead in the water.
SCOTTY: I told you, I rechecked the numbers
and re-rechecked them, and all three times confirmed
the warp engines are now giant paperweights.
UHURA: We still have some impulse power.
SCOTTY: Not nearly enough.
I'm afraid all we can do is play dead
and hope the scavenger ignores us.
There's a chance it'll just go on its merry planet-eating way.
SPOCK: Our other option is to abandon ship and escape by shuttle.
We could take one to the nearest subspace relay
and hail Starfleet.
CHAPEL: By the time we get there,
everyone on Sullivan's Planet will be dead.
So we're agreed, both options are terrible,
but we have to pick one. In one hour it'll be here.
That's how long we've got to decide which is least terrible.
That is not our decision to make.
I pick neither option.
Okay. That is a bold and... if you don't mind me saying...
highly unorthodox choice.
Okay.
Sir, he's just concerned.
They have our crew,
and the planet they're headed for is inhabited.
We won't be able to warn them without...
Thank you, Ensign Uhura.
I'm up to speed on the particulars.
No need for further discussion.
CHAPEL: Then how will we provide you with options?
I don't need options.
I don't need chattering voices.
What I need is to clear my head.
And I can't do it with all this...
Well, that could have gone better.
No. How?
This is his first time in the chair, right?
He's had the conn before but never like this.
He's showing classic signs of strain under duress.
The pressure he must be feeling...
Aye, great. First he's reckless,
now he's liable to snap like a twig.
Let's say he does. What then, huh?
We would take steps to... remove him from command.
And... what would those steps be, exactly?
As ranking medical officer on board,
it's within my power to evaluate him
and, if he is mentally unfit, remove him from duty.
UHURA: Okay, before we even think about going down this road,
we should consider
that he's still working on his command style.
Aye. Right now his style is lacking.
That's my point.
Maybe we can help him find it.
I've seen him in a crisis before,
when he didn't have the pressures of being captain.
He saw something in me that I hadn't seen in myself.
It saved my life.
I think he just needs to be reminded
that same thing is in him.
Well, one of us should talk to him.
He is clearly agitated.
Perhaps someone with a less emotional style
might be more effective.
PIKE: Maurer... come on.
Maurer, stay with us.
She can't wait. We have to treat her now.
LA'AN: What, with those two things roaming around?
PIKE: We have no choice.
LA'AN: They're not taking any damage.
PIKE: In here, the Port Galley.
LA'AN: No fumes. We're safe.
She's bleeding out.
- I need a medkit. - Wait, wait, wait, I think...
If we had comms and a functioning transporter,
we could have saved her.
You don't know. Those ion particles
are like bullets. They rip through flesh and bone,
primitive but effective.
(LOUD BANGING)
And yet their suits are highly advanced.
I have never seen a device absorb phaser fire like that.
- It doesn't make sense. - Maybe they're from some
dark corner of the cosmos that'll never make sense.
We have to find a way to get through their defenses somehow.
No one has ever seen them, but I know
they were considered monsters, even by the Gorn.
Set phasers to kill.
(PHASER POWERING UP)
(BANGING CONTINUES)
(GLASS RATTLING)
I had this imported from an Ithenite distillery.
I'll get you another one.
(CLINKING)
(SCREECHING)
PELIA: As an old friend of mine once said,
"Let there be light."
(SIGHS) Come, come, come.
Her quarters are...
exactly what I expected.
Here. No, no. Okay.
There you are.
Not you. (GROANS)
You were once bouncy
and cheerful, but when the novelty wore off,
you got a little creepy.
How is any of this junk
going to help us fly out of here?
Oh, my goodness,
I piloted many a starship with this.
Granted, they were 8-bit,
but it was a good time on a Friday night.
Ah, found it.
Take.
(CHUCKLES) Is this a, uh,
personal massager?
Oh, this was once a state-of-the-art communicator.
You had to plug it into the wall,
but if people annoyed you, you'd put them on hold.
I think there are more.
So the signals are grounded,
transmitted cable to cable.
(GRUNTS) Take that.
Which will insulate them from being jammed.
We're going to have the crew
strip the ship for copper cables,
and we're going to wire the Enterprise.
(LAUGHS)
Go on.
Captain V'Rel and I had an ongoing game.
For the first time, I think I was
on my way to beating her,
but we never had the chance to finish.
I think this is how we left the board.
If I may interrupt.
Oh, you already have.
Don't stop now.
You rightly dismissed two flawed courses of action,
but time is short and we require a new plan.
It was V'Rel's move, and I had her in a corner.
If I could just figure out what she would have done next.
You are acting captain. Your crew is waiting.
To keep them waiting longer would be...
- not good. - Here's the thing.
I'm frozen.
I find this surprising.
Your brother speaks often
of your aspirations for command
and of your affinity for leadership.
Actually, he said
you are not afraid to throw your weight around,
no matter who's in front of you.
Yeah, that sounds like Sam.
And in a way he's right.
From the moment I joined the Academy,
I was determined to sit in that chair
faster than anyone before me
because I thought I knew better.
I thought I was better.
Whenever orders don't make sense to me,
which happens more often than I'd like,
I always think that I should be the one giving them.
Earlier, I told Captain V'Rel to send a landing party
to Helicon Gamma.
I pushed her hard on it.
Thank God she ignored me,
otherwise we'd all be standing on the surface
when it exploded.
Good leaders know when to listen
and when not to.
(CHUCKLES)
Well, I failed at that test, too.
Mr. Scott warned me
not to push the engines, but I ordered him to anyway.
I've been flying by the seat of my pants this whole time,
making call after call
with no clue where they'd lead us,
hoping I'd luck into the right one,
and all I did was put us belly up in the path of
the ultimate destroyer.
And now you are having a crisis of confidence,
but you still have to lead.
Believe me, I'd love to,
but there's nothing coming to me.
(SIGHS)
My mom was fond of an expression.
"The dog who caught the car."
Now that I've finally latched onto one...
I have no idea what to do with it.
On Vulcan, we have a similar expression.
"The sehlat who ate its tail."
Though I would point out you have
a significant leg up over a quadrupedal beast.
Your human intuition.
It has guided us this far. We are all still here.
I recommend you keep following it.
Okay.
If you insist.
(BOATSWAIN'S WHISTLE SOUNDS)
Scotty, how long until that scavenger ship gets here?
Less than 20 minutes, but that's just an estimate.
Well, it's good enough for me.
Glad to see you back, sir.
Me, too.
Look, I know we got off to a rough start here,
and there's nothing I can say that can make up for that.
Rousing speeches aren't exactly my forte.
I think you're doing just fine, sir.
But let me be crystal clear to each of you.
Even if my actions indicated otherwise,
I have no intention of giving up on rescuing the Enterprise,
not with the lives of both of our crews on the line.
Thank you, sir. I needed to hear that.
And I need to hear from you.
What do we know?
Besides the fact that we're dead in space,
what do we know about these scavengers?
Their ship has to have some kind of weakness.
Uhura, what have you seen?
Ships, a lot of them,
from across the quadrant. It appropriates them,
steals their functionality,
and bends that to its own needs.
SCOTTY: And its needs are bottomless.
All it does is consume and make itself bigger.
The bigger it gets, the more it requires.
Then it moves on to devour the next resource, like...
it will never stop,
you know, it'll never have enough.
Exactly. Scotty, you just found their weakness:
Their ravenous need to consume.
Bottomless greed.
We can use that against them.
How?
That's where you come in.
I need you to fill the plasma manifold
until it's overflowing with aldentium.
No-no, the-the manifold's a useless husk,
and we don't have a drop of aldentium on board.
We just need to make it look like we do.
CHAPEL: As aldentium decays,
it gives off lots of anti-protons.
Well, I could flood the intermix chamber with anti-protons
and make it look like our engines run on aldentium.
They'll catch the scent and gravitate towards our tailpipe.
We are going to make the Farragut
into a banquet that's impossible for these scavengers
to resist, and when they come to dine,
we're going to make them regret it.
The captain has given his orders.
I still feel funny being called that while V'Rel's alive.
I promise to demote you at the earliest opportunity.
Wait, so what exactly
do we do after we get these scavengers to try and eat us?
Here's where the plan gets a little crazy.
(LAUGHS): This is where the plan gets crazy?
Glad you're sitting down, Nurse Chapel.
You especially, Mr. Scott,
are not going to love it.
(PIKE SHOUTS)
(LA'AN GRUNTING)
La'An!
- (PIKE AND LA'AN GRUNTING) - (SCREECHES)
- (SCREECHING) - (GRUNTS)
(PIKE SHOUTS)
(LA'AN GROANS)
(PHASER WHIRS)
(PHASER CHARGES)
(SCREECHING)
(SCREECHES)
(LA'AN PANTING)
(ALARM SOUNDING)
(BOTH GRUNT)
(PIKE GASPING)
(COUGHING)
You all right?
(PANTING): Yeah.
It... didn't shoot.
Why didn't it kill me?
(AIR HISSING)
We may only have a minute.
How do we get this thing the hell off my ship?
Well, if we can't disconnect it, what if we convince them to?
- How do you mean? - Make them want to disconnect it.
Give them a taste of something...
highly undesirable.
I see, stir up a little acid reflux?
- Yeah. - What about, uh, baryon particles?
That would ruin their fuel and their day.
One of us would have to access the waste system
beneath the warp drive.
Waste system? All right, you do that.
I have to isolate the fuel line.
And bring a hyper coupler.
La'An?
Be careful, that other alien's still out there.
(PHASER CHARGES)
(DIAL TONE)
PELIA: Ladies, I haven't done this
since I was a roadie for the Dead.
Your species can communicate with dead people?
- (PHONE RINGS) - UNA: Hello?
Ah, ah, yes, yes.
Uh, uh, Lieutenant, it's for you.
- Hello? - Starboard thrusters are ready.
Port thrusters standing by.
Okay, Erica, don't crash.
The scavenger vessel has dropped out of warp.
Anti-protons... anti-protoning?
We're as juicy a target as I can make us.
Red alert. All stations prepare for...
well, for that.
- Ready impulse engines. - Standing by.
How many times has she helmed?
Twice, including now.
Full impulse, Uhura.
(THRUSTERS HOWL)
- Scotty, your turn. - If you insist.
I do, Mr. Scott.
Detach at my mark.
KIRK: Mark.
Spock?
The sehlat has eaten its tail, Captain.
The scavenger ship has been disabled.
Uhura, get us line of sight to the Enterprise
as quickly as you can.
MITCHELL: Incoming transmission.
It's the Farragut, audio only.
UHURA: Enterprise, do you read?
Took you long enough, Ensign.
Good to hear your voice, too.
We're pretty banged up, but we disabled the scavenger ship.
SCOTTY: Tell her it's just temporary.
How temporary?
UHURA: No idea, but this is your chance.
For a jailbreak. (SCOFFS)
(SIGHING)
ORTEGAS: Port and starboard thrusters,
give me ten percent.
- (RUMBLING) - Whoa,
we got to kill those thrusters. We are not off-leash.
(LA'AN GRUNTS)
Captain, any luck finding the fuel line?
I've got a pretty solid guess.
Hand me that connector?
And you might want to take a step back.
If it explodes, it will take out the entire engineering hull.
A big step, then?
(EXHALES)
(WHIRRING)
Baryon particles are entering the deuterium stream.
The mixture is... destabilizing.
Let's get the hell out of here
before we get sucked out with this thing.
(RUMBLING)
Wait.
Emergency systems are rebooting.
ORTEGAS: Captain did it. The umbilical's detached.
Port and starboard thrusters,
50%.
Ease off starboard thrusters. Whoa.
N-Not that easy. Give me 30%.
50%. Now wait.
50, 80.
Cut starboard thrusters.
(METAL GRINDING)
Hate to backseat-drive, but you're hitting the wall.
Full port thrusters.
Thruster controls aren't responding.
That's real bad.
Wait, I have an idea.
- I'm all ears. - (RUNNING FOOTFALLS OVER PHONE)
Commander?
(RUNNING FOOTFALLS)
Commander?
(AIR HISSING)
Yes! Starboard thrusters to 20%.
Keep us even.
Captain.
PIKE: The scavenger.
The scavenger vessel's systems are coming back on line.
They are targeting Enterprise.
Lock phasers.
Uh...
SPOCK: Sir, the grapplers have proven
to be resistant to our weapons.
Okay, Spock.
What do you got?
(ALARM BEEPING RAPIDLY)
(LAUGHTER)
(PHASERS CHARGE)
Mr. Spock, scan the debris for life signs.
Approximately 7,000 life signs,
but they are dwindling quickly.
Can we beam survivors aboard?
(SIGHS)
Not even if we wanted to.
There's too much debris to get a transporter lock.
Captain?
The life signs.
Yes, Mr. Spock?
SPOCK: The life signs are all human.
The markings on the hull.
Can you get us a clearer image?
SCOTTY: Aye.
UHURA: I found this in our historical database.
In the mid-21st century,
before first contact with the Vulcans,
a group of scientists believed
that Earth's environmental crisis was too severe
to recover from, so they built a ship.
They hoped it would carry humanity
to civilizations in other worlds.
But it failed.
UHURA: The ship disappeared.
The entire crew,
their families, gone.
Never heard from again.
PELIA: I remember when it launched.
We-we hadn't yet invented warp drive.
We'd barely put out the fires
of the Third World War.
One of the few nations left standing
sifted through the ashes of their space program,
scoured the world for a crew.
You might say...
they were the best of us,
the most optimistic,
searching for a way to carry on
the flame of life.
All those people.
7,000 souls.
The descendants of the original inhabitants.
KIRK: So what went wrong?
How did they go from that to...
whatever it is they became?
(DOOR CHIMES)
Come in.
Ah...
Just wanted to let you know in person,
Dr. M'Benga says that Captain V'Rel is going
to make a complete recovery.
We'll tow Farragut back to spacedock.
Then you only have
to hold the fort down a little while longer.
I'm imagining the look on Admiral April's face
when he sees us pull in with no nacelles.
He likes Aldebaran whiskey.
Maybe have a bottle ready.
You know, it might not feel like it, but you made the right call.
We were under attack.
You saved hundreds of lives, both here and on Enterprise.
Number of...
estimated human casualties on unknown vessel...
7,000.
Well, may I?
Please.
You know, when, uh...
when I got bumped up to first officer,
I remember second-guessing Bob...
uh, Admiral April... a lot.
- Did he ever straighten you out? - No.
He let me learn a very hard lesson.
The big decisions... they seem so simple
when someone else has to live with the consequences,
but the choices you make in that chair...
they are yours to make...
and what comes after...
that is yours to live with.
Some decisions you will regret for the rest of your life,
but you still have to make them.
They were human beings.
Why does that make it feel so much worse?
All I can say is...
having empathy for your adversary is part of the job.
But I didn't.
I didn't think of them as people...
at all.
Until it was too late.
Well, maybe that's the lesson.
Empathy isn't conditional. It's either given or it isn't.
They... clearly saw us,
and either they didn't recognize us or they didn't care.
Whatever journey they had been through
the last 200 years, it broke them.
When they left Earth...
they were the best humanity had to offer.
They weren't monsters.
Is that what we would become in the same circumstances?
I'd like to believe we wouldn't.
- Why not? - Because of how you're feeling right now.
Because the next time you're in that chair,
you will remember we are often not that different
from our enemy.
And that knowledge,
from this moment on,
will continue to guide you.
Good night, Captain Kirk.
(DOOR WHOOSHES OPEN)
(DOOR WHOOSHES SHUT)
- Synced and corrected by naFraC - - www.addic7ed.com -