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writesandramblings · 6 years

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The Captain’s Secret - p.55

“Null Way Out”

Full Chapter List Part 1 - Objects in Motion << 54 - Finger on the Trigger 56 - Baser Instincts >>

They were able to remove the spores gradually. Using Mischkelovitz's particle map, they deployed biomimetic suspensions of anti-spores exactly where the frozen spores were in targeted amounts. The gel substrate itself had no effect on the spores. The immovable particles cut through the yellow-green goo like pebbles through water, but when an anti-spore particle came into contact with a spore, there was a tiny pop of light as both were reduced to a discharge of energy and rendered safely inert. The chronitons, if that's what they were, dispersed back to whatever temporal plane of existence they had come from. Bit by bit the cloud of glowing particles in the spore chamber shrank like stars fizzling out in a darkening sky.

They were still trapped in time because according to Stamets and Egorova, they needed to reach a critical integrity point at which the field would collapse, but they would get out of here soon enough. "It's like a tree," explained Egorova. "Once the spores in the heart of the system are gone, the branches will fall down."

The field dropped down below sixty percent, then fifty. "Soon," promised Stamets.

At least they were finally able to eliminate the rationing. When Lorca announced this, the crew was so happy the ship seemed to reverberate with cheers. An impromptu celebration erupted in the mess hall. Nine hundred puzzle pieces ended up scattered across the floor, forcing Lorca to make another announcement: "This is a Starfleet vessel. We're all glad this is almost over, but I want every inch of this ship spotless in preparation for our return." Even this failed to put a damper on the festivities. People were simply too happy to be going home.

For his part, Lorca drank six cups of coffee to celebrate. It wasn't even good coffee, just an exercise in drinking as much as he liked. Now he was prowling the corridors in the middle of the night checking every corner of the ship for anything that might reflect badly on them once they reconnected with Starfleet.

It was late, but Lorca knew Lalana and Mischkelovitz would be awake. He found Allan guarding the door alone. "Where's..." Lorca gestured at the spot where O'Malley usually stood.

"Inside, sir," said Allan, authorizing door access.

The lab area was empty. Lorca glanced over the mess of components strewn everywhere that made up the general chaos in which Mischkelovitz preferred to work. That anything got done in this lab was a miracle, but she had managed the particle map.

The door to Lalana's area opened as Lorca approached. Lalana rotated her hands in pleasant greeting. "Hello Gabriel! You are up late tonight."

O'Malley and Mischkelovitz were inside on the couch. It was warm as ever and both had their uniform tunics off. O'Malley's boots were up on the table and he was holding a bottle of beer glistening with condensation, while Mischkelovitz was balled up next to him, a cup gripped in her hands. A padd sat on the couch next to O'Malley with a live feed of the outside hallway. "About four hours later than usual," was O'Malley's greeting.

Lalana looked up at Lorca. "Macarius and Emellia are celebrating the end of rationing with me." Rationing had affected Lalana less than anyone on the ship, so its end meant little to her, but as neither Mischkelovitz nor O'Malley partook in any of the wider festivities, this would seem to be the extent of their celebration.

Lorca squinted and frowned. If coffee was the cure for a hangover, maybe a hangover was the cure for coffee. "I believe decorum requires you offer me a drink, colonel."

O'Malley lifted an eyebrow. "Well, now, if I give you a beer, you'll owe me a favor, and I should warn you, I collect on favors."

Lorca crossed his arms and frowned. "I can make that an order."

"Can you now? What happens when a captain orders a colonel... Nothing, I think." There was that jaunty edge Lorca remembered from their first meeting. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

"You can have mine," said Mischkelovitz, stretching out her cup, which was mostly empty. Given the amount of beer still in the bottle O'Malley was holding, it was doubtful the cup had ever been full to begin with.

"Nevermind," sighed Lorca. "I will get you a beverage and I will owe the favor for you," announced Lalana, clicking her tongue at all of them and loping out into the lab to where she knew the beers were hidden.

"I suppose you're here to talk to Lalana," said O'Malley. "We've got about eight minutes left on this if you don't mind. You're welcome to have a sit." He moved the padd on the couch beside him to make room.

Lorca moved further inside to where he could see the monitor on the wall but did not sit. They were watching an old program he did not recognize. "Aren't you on shift, colonel?"

"Perks of being the boss. Case in point," said O'Malley as Lalana returned with the beer and handed it to Lorca. It was one of those retro artisanal microbrews. "Also it's Friday."

"It's Tuesday," said Lorca, twisting off the cap. It had been Tuesday for more than five weeks now.

"Not if you pretend time's passing. Though, it actually might be Thursday. I've lost track."

Lalana spun her hands some more and noted, "Calendars are entirely arbitrary and since there is no time in here, you might say it is any day you wish and not be incorrect. Provided the day is Tuesday." Lorca snorted in laughter and took a swig of the beer. It was a very clean pilsner, entirely refreshing in the warmth of Lalana's room.

"It's Saturday," said Mischkelovitz. It might have been a correction of O'Malley's estimate or simply the day she wanted to pretend it was.

"Then by all means," said Lorca, taking up a position next to the couch and remaining standing. "What are you watching?"

"It is called 'Sir Digby Chicken Caesar,'" said Lalana, hopping up onto the hammock behind the couch.

"This is roughly Emellia's favorite entertainment program of the past five hundred years," explained O'Malley. "Though I should warn you, it's... inexplicable."

"I am enjoying it very much," said Lalana. "It is highly irreverent! And sometimes things are more interesting when they are not easy to explain. Computer, resume."

It turned out not to be one continuous program, but a series of short sketches. The plot, what little of it there was, involved two drunken, delusional vagabonds in a mockery of Victorian-era gentlemen adventurers.

Mischkelovitz erupted into peals of laughter almost immediately. She cackled, gasped, and shrieked with utter delight. Lorca had seen this level of hysteria only once before, from John Groves. Lalana's enthusiastic tongue clicks were sedate in comparison, and O'Malley only occasionally chuckled and seemed to find most of his amusement not in the program itself, but in Mischkelovitz's reaction to it.

Periodically, the two featured characters would go on the run, the camera fixed on the titular vagabond's face while he provided imaginary narration and his own theme music. This was clearly Mischkelovitz's most favorite part.

Mischkelovitz continued tittering after the last sketch finished. Gasping with laughter, she repeated one of the final lines: "In a world where it's important to know who your friends are rather than who your daughter is!" She doubled over in continued hysterics.

O'Malley chuckled and hooked his arm around her shoulder. "All right, Melly, that's enough."

Mischkelovitz managed to get a handle on the giggling. "Thank you, Lalana! For letting us use your couch."

"You are always welcome in here, Emellia," said Lalana, dangling her tail down towards Mischkelovitz. Mischkelovitz responded by patting her hand against the broad end of the tail.

Empty bottle in hand, O'Malley pulled Mischkelovitz up from the couch, and tucked the padd under his arm. He pointed at Lalana. "Don't forget. You owe me one now." He smiled and sauntered out with Mischkelovitz at his side.

Lorca stood there, half-empty beer in hand, staring after them long after the door had closed.

"Gabriel?"

Lorca took another sip of the beer and glanced over at her. "Yes?"

Lalana turned and perched on the side of the hammock closest to him. Their faces were level. "I am sorry."

"For what?"

"Lieutenant Stamets and Dr. Culber, Macarius and Emellia, they are the only ones on Discovery who have been able to speak to loved ones throughout this. Most of the crew has been isolated from everyone they care about."

Lalana's tail drifted towards him, hovering near him but not touching him. Lorca took another sip. She continued, "In a few hours, everyone on this ship will be able to contact their loved ones, because their families are out there. But you cannot, and I cannot, because we have no one out there to contact. That is why I am sorry."

Lorca grimaced. It was a sobering thought. Not that a single beer was enough to get drunk on.

Lalana's hands clasped tightly together. "We are the only ones of our kind."

He lightened slightly, a smile breaking onto his face. "We're not the only ones. There are plenty of humans and plenty of lului out there."

"But none like you. And none like me." She placed her tail against the back of the hand holding the beer. "Please remember that. For all that you and I look very different, in this one way, at least, we are exactly alike."

The smile deepened. "You're entirely too sweet, Lalana."

"Am I?" she asked, withdrawing her tail and tilting her head. "Or am I selfish? Perhaps I just like looking at the stars in your eyes."

He laughed and she clicked her tongue, but there was a truth in it.

The call came. "Captain, we think the field is nearing collapse!"

Lorca made his way to the bridge and found all the stations active and occupied. Now that they were nearing the end, everyone was back to regular shifts. Saru moved from the captain's chair to the science station. Not that Lorca needed the chair. He bypassed it entirely and took up a position in front of the viewscreen.

"All right, people, look alive," he said, even though he himself looked haggard because he had still not been to bed. "Stamets! Status report."

"Field is at forty-two percent, captain."

Egorova's voice cut in. She was in the engineering lab with Stamets. "We're noticing an instability in the field. A particle variance. It's consistent with my models of field collapse."

"Forty-one percent!" announced Stamets. "Forty!" There was rising excitement in his voice.

As Lorca watched, the scattering of faint stars on the screen shifted. A thousand million tiny points of light suddenly twinkled into view and became constant. The red-orange nebula shimmered back into view.

"Field collapse!" reported Stamets, stating the obvious.

It was stunning. Lorca was breathlessly amazed at the sight. He had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. As the crew erupted into cheers and applause behind him and audibly over the comms from the engineering lab, Lorca stared at the screen, overjoyed, not wanting to look away. He found himself laughing and his eyes watered. Not full tears, just a tiny twinge of true elation. He wiped at the dampness and straightened with a sense of pride. The stars were back. He felt at home.

He finally turned away to see the smiling, happy faces of the crew behind him. At the helm, Lieutenant Detmer was smiling with tears on her cheeks. Owosekun and Richter were clapping. Lorca looked across the bridge to Saru and gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

There was another person who deserved some recognition. "Congratulations, Mr. Stamets."

Unfortunately, this was not a compliment Stamets was destined to hear. "He's not here, captain," said Egorova. "He just ran out."

"Sir, incoming transmission!" reported Richter. "It's the USS Penfield."

Lorca stepped back so the holocomm could put the transmission in the same field of view as the stars on the viewscreen. "Put it through."

The captain of the Penfield appeared. She looked moderately perturbed. "Discovery, we just received a communications burst from you. Is everything all right?" All of their transmissions that had been caught by the temporal bubble had gone out all at once. As the nearest ship, the Penfield was first to respond.

"Captain Blanchard, we are right as rain. But it's very good to see you."

There were moments of elation across Discovery.

In sickbay, Dr. Culber watched the bridge feed with a smile that was interrupted only when Stamets burst into the room, ran over, and kissed him, too happy to care what the rest of the staff in sickbay might think about the display.

It turned out, the staff in sickbay were just as appreciative of Stamets' success. They applauded. Whatever blame anyone had felt about the spore drive's role in putting them in their unfortunate predicament was pushed aside by the relief of getting out, at least for the moment.

"I did it," said Stamets, moved by the display, but speaking only to Culber, because as much as there were people clapping, in moments like this, there was only one person who seemed to exist.

"I always knew you would," said Culber, smiling.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

In Lab 26, Lalana watched her view fill with stars and spun her hands. She knew Lorca would be happy, and that made her happy, too. She wished she could have shared the moment with him in person, but at least they were looking at the same stars. A whole universe of stars.

In the brig, John Groves was oblivious to the change in circumstance when it happened. He only noticed some minutes later when Discovery jumped to regular warp. Shortly after, one of Landry's nameless security grunts came to escort him to Lab 26. Groves remarked that they must be out of null time, but the grunt said nothing.

It wasn't until Groves arrived at the lab that O'Malley confirmed the situation. "Yes, indeed, and if you hadn't fucked up so badly with the captain, you might've been able to see it, too."

"Pfft, like I care," said Groves.

"Have a lovely day," offered O'Malley, entirely sarcastic, and deserted Groves in the otherwise empty lab.

Groves stood there, alone and unhappy, because the truth was he did care. He cared an awful lot. He went to Lalana's door. "Hey," he said when she answered. "I've got nothing to do."

"Excellent," she said. "I will keep you company. I have nothing to do, either!"

Groves' arrival meant O'Malley was free to return to his quarters at last. Mischkelovitz was there, asleep in John Allan's bed because Allan's shift perfectly coincided with her sleeping habits. She stirred slightly when he entered. O'Malley hushed her and she settled back down at the familiar sound of his voice. He wished he could convince her to sleep in there all the time because it was reassuring to be able to see her and know everything was all right without having to crawl through any wall panels.

The Lab 26 guard shifts afforded precious little time for sleeping, but there was one other important thing O'Malley had to do. He activated the comms and was relieved when he got a response and the figure of his wife appeared in the room. She was taller than him, her skin grey with flecks of black and white, her eyes red slits. She was dressed in the same draped white gown she had been wearing when last he saw her, her raven-black hair still pulled into complex loops on her head. "Aeree! It's so good to see you again at last."

Aeree blinked at him. "We just spoke this morning," she said.

"It was morning for you, but it's been over a month for me. I know it's an imposition, love, but indulge me, will you? I'll explain what I can."

Aeree let out a soft sort of sigh. She did not always indulge him, because humans required so very many indulgences, but she did now. "Very well. You may proceed."

O'Malley was relieved. "Right, so, we encountered a temporal anomaly..."

There were many such transmissions across the ship. No one mentioned the spore drive, instead using the allowed terminology of an unspecified "temporal anomaly," but even leaving the detail of the spore drive out, it was incredible. Five weeks in less than five seconds.

Lorca left the bridge for the ready room, propelled by the sense that they were well overdue for reporting in to Starfleet Command. From his perspective, it had been more than five weeks. From Cornwell's, it was a lot of information to take in all at once.

"This is incredible," she said.

There was a lot to be impressed with. Stamets had gathered extensive, detailed data on the nuances of post-jump mycelial field collapse which he described as a "research breakthrough" furthering their understanding of mycelial jumps by leaps and bounds. Egorova's data on the mysterious temporal particles, limited though it was by the facilities on Discovery, would keep physicists occupied for years. (Lorca left out the detail that Mischkelovitz maintained these particles were definitely chronitons her husband had already discovered.) Several other scientific projects had gotten in extra weeks of work, even with by the power restrictions placed on them. They had a lot to show for their brief moment in null time.

Which did nothing to erase Cornwell's concerns over the cause of the incident. "Sabotage," she said, shaking her head. "We need to recall Discovery and conduct a full security review."

"Now hold on," said Lorca. "It's a non-issue at this point. Whatever caused this is no longer a threat, if it ever was in the first place. Discovery is more ready than ever to get out there. Let us go to the front lines where we can make a real difference instead of hanging out back here running drive tests."

Cornwell remained professionally doubtful. "Gabriel, something stuck Discovery in a time bubble and you don't know what."

It smarted, not knowing, but Lorca had moved past that in the five weeks of null time. "Doesn't matter. If it wanted to hurt us, it would have. Look, what did we get as a result of this 'sabotage?' Five weeks of extra time. Frankly, I hope the entity strikes again, because this time we won't waste all that time worrying about conserving our resources and whether or not we can escape. We can get every project on this ship five weeks further along in the blink of an eye and have the Klingons on the ropes by next Tuesday."

"You think the point of the sabotage was to give you more time?"

Lorca ground his teeth in aggravation. "I don't know. Maybe it wanted us to develop anti-spores. Maybe it was trying to help. What do you want me to say? I have no explanation."

Cornwell looked at him, concerned by his dismissiveness of the issue. "That's what worries me."

"I'm telling you, tactically, we're in the clear. It's time to put us on the front lines. We're five weeks readier than we were this morning."

He was clearly desperate to get out into the action after the null time experience. He had been itching for a fight before, trying to convince Cornwell to put Discovery closer to the action while it was still in the beginning of testing its spore drive, but now he seemed positively bloodthirsty. Cornwell shook her head. "Look, why don't we reevaluate this at Starbase..."

"Do you not trust my tactical assessment?"

The expression on his face was one of hurt. Cornwell's lips tightened into a thin line. She knew that cutting him down like that would do them both a disservice.

"How long have we known each other?" he asked.

Cornwell fixed him with a look that suggested now was not the time to play that card. "This has nothing to do with whether or not I trust your assessment—and I do. It's just, this is a lot to process, and I would rather we take precautions given the importance of Discovery's research."

Lorca leaned on his desk and looked downward in thought. When he lifted his head back up, he had a look of determination. "Then how about we get a second opinion." He hit the comms. "Mr. Saru, would you come in here please?"

On some level, Cornwell was impressed. The great Gabriel Lorca actually deferring to a second opinion? Then she realized the only reason he would ever do so was if he already knew what the second opinion was.

Saru entered, inclining his head in deference to Cornwell. "Admiral Cornwell."

"Saru, explain to the admiral the nature of our little sabotage," said Lorca, crossing his arms and turning away to look at the stars going by outside the ready room window.

"I can ask my own questions," said Cornwell, crossing her arms as well. From her end of the commline, she could plainly see Lorca had turned his back on her. "Commander Saru?"

Saru looked at her with a startled expression. "What is it you wish to know, admiral?"

"Do you think Discovery is under threat?"

"Not at present, no."

"But there's a chance someone on board is sabotaging you."

Saru pressed his fingers together. "I do not think this is the case. I admit I was skeptical of Lalana's assessment at first..."

Cornwell blinked in surprise. That was not a name she had expected to hear come up in this context.

"I have since come to agree that if someone were intending to harm Discovery, they chose a method which did not result in such. And, should this event happen again, we now understand how to escape from it. I do not believe the ship is under threat." Moreover, his threat ganglia agreed with this assessment, though he kept this detail to himself.

"A Kelpien says there's no danger," said Lorca, turning back around. "I rest my case."

"I'm still ordering you to report to Starbase 43 for a systems review," said Cornwell. "Is that clear?"

Lorca didn't bat an eye. "Of course, admiral." The transmission ended. Saru and Lorca stood in the ready room mulling over the orders.

"Captain," said Saru. "I do not find it pleasant when you use the fact I am a Kelpien to make a point in an argument."

Lorca momentarily sneered. Not at Saru, at the bad taste Cornwell's orders had left in his mouth. Towards Saru, he offered a look of earnest encouragement. "When it comes to Starfleet Command, I'm gonna use every damn card in the deck. I won't apologize for it. And I suggest, when you're captain, you do the same. You cannot give them an inch, Saru. As much as I respect Admiral Cornwell, she's an administrator. She's never been out here doing what we do. Anyone sitting back at Command is going to be three steps removed from what's really going on. They don't know what we know, they don't see what we see, and no matter how detailed we make our reports, they're never going to have the same perspective we do right here, right now, in the thick of it. So you take any advantage you have and you press it. "

Saru's eyes widened faintly. Lorca had not said if but when. "Yes, captain."

Lorca turned back to the window and the stars outside. "No one sees what we see, Saru. That’s our advantage and our curse.”

Part 56

#Star Trek #Discovery #fanfic #fanfiction #Captain Lorca #Gabriel Lorca #Hugh Culber #Paul Stamets #Katrina Cornwell #Admiral Cornwell

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thelatetothegameblog · 6 years

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So the second half of the first season is about to begin. How about we take a look again at the first half, shall we?

Originally Posted on 11/14/17

Star Trek Discovery is a series with an identity crisis. Much like it’s lead character, Michael Burnham, it is trying to live between two worlds and succeeding completely at neither of them. Just a fair warning, the way forward is dark and full of spoilers so go back if you want to remain ‘pure’.

Still with me? Okay.

Theme Song

Lets start with the most reoccuring thing in the show, The Theme Song. The Theme to a show can make or break it. Just ask people who watched Enterprise. Yeah, it was bad.

This one is actually pretty incredible, with hints of the original series and it is certainly a proper Star Trek theme. So this goes in the good pile.

What is the series about?

Star Trek Discovery is supposed to take place 10 years prior to Star Trek The Original Series (TOS). So, timeline wise, this series takes place well before the famed 5 year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. This means it, theoretically, takes place when Captain Christopher Pike was in charge of the Enterprise and that would also mean that Spock was among Pikes bridge crew on at the time.

Spock and Pike from the Original Series Pilot: The Cage

Star Trek is traditionally known to feature ensemble casts that work together even if there is a little conflict at times. By the end of the first episode of any given series you typically know the characters, have a basic understanding of their needs, and personalities. These traits are later defined further through subsequent adventures. This series, on the other hand, mostly follows two characters, Burnham and, the Captain of the Discovery itself, Lorca. There are other players in the series but really only two (maybe two and a half) characters.

Discovery follows First Officer Michael Burnham (played by Sonequa Martin-Green) as she struggles with her own moral code and the duality of her life. From early on, some of her decisions lead to the events that are indirectly responsible for the first Klingon War with the Federation. This war would eventually lead her to the Starship Discovery under the command of Captain Lorca (played by Jason Isaacs). More on this later.

Burnham’s story, as I mentioned before, is one of finding her place and justifying her existence. Lorca, on the other hand, seems to be proving himself to himself. His is a dark internal conflict that is rarely seen in Starfleet Captains. Unscrupulous and obviously corrupted by the freedoms he has been granted by Starfleet Command, Lorca feels he can do no wrong and rarely even tries to hide it. He is a fascinating character and is certainly one of the high points of the show.

Ultimately, the USS Discovery is attempting to find new and unique weapons for Starfleet to win the war against the Klingons while under the command of an unscrupulous Captain. They do things, get into trouble, and then do more things. The ironic thing is that Lorca has something on his desk that could honestly end the war on it’s own and he doesn’t even know it. A freakin Tribble.

Literally at his fingertips the ultimate Weapon against the Klingons.

The Characters:

Michael Burnham (aka Vulcan Not Vulcan):

You see, Michael is a human that was raised by Sarek and Amanda, a fact of which the show WILL NOT let you forget. These are the same parents who gave birth to Spock from the Original Series, in case you don’t recognize their names. Michael was rescued by Sarek in an event where she was given part Sarek’s ‘Katra’ (his soul) and so she has a unique link with him that also serves as a plot device. She also happens to be the first Human to graduate from the Vulcan Academy. Because of her upbringing, she straddles both worlds and has issues with both. So yeah, she is a pretty convenient character to be following in this series but, then again, most of the characters we meet in Star Trek are exceptional people with interesting backgrounds so we really shouldn’t be surprised here. I mean how boring would it be to follow Craig the Space Janitor? Okay, maybe that would be a good show.

She is ultimately responsible for the war between the Federation and the Klingons in this story and is reminded of this constantly at first. Then people stop caring about that since you know it stopped being important to the plot. She’s a hot head and it gets her in trouble a bit, which is ironic since she was raised by Vulcans from a young age. Man, Vulcan education must be pretty terrible.

Captain Gabriel Lorca (aka Lucius Malfoy in Space)

The Captain of the Starship Discovery. You don’t meet him until episode three even though the show is named after the ship he captains. Heck, you don’t even meet the ship until episode three so there’s that too.

Lorca is basically the combination of every evil character Jason Isaacs has ever played. I swear he is the go-to bad guy these days. Not that he does a bad job but seriously, when I see him pop up on a show, I know this guy is gonna be bad news.

Anyhow, Lorca is the Captain of the Discovery and he isn’t the ‘nice guy’ ‘straight laced’ Captain we are used to. He’s not even a Kirk level ‘cowboy’ Captain, he is a war Captain and he had been given the okay by Starfleet to do pretty much what he wants to do. This is NOT a good idea as he is not the most stable or pleasant or diplomatic guy to be in charge of a Starship with the power that Discovery has.

All that being said, I loved his character on the show, he is one of two and a half fully formed characters with the rest being pretty two dimensional at best.

Saru (aka Not Abe Sapien)

Saru is played by one of my favorite actors, Doug Jones. Sadly the show doesn’t give him much to work with in this character so he just comes off as a dickish alien version of his character from Hellboy, Abe Sapien.

Saru is from a species that is new to Star Trek (yeah 10 years before TOS and already a species we never met before) called the Kelpians that are a Prey Species. He has these ganglia things that tell him when he is going to die, or so he says that’s what they do. They are really just telling him to run away because there is a chance for them to get killed. His species was not the top of the food chain on their home planet so it’s a pretty good chance they all got eaten before TOS began. Ten years can be a bitch.

He hates Burnham and makes it VERY WELL KNOWN throughout the season. I mean, this dude won’t shut up about it. But overall he isn’t too bad. I mean, he’s good enough to get a photo on this review so that’s pretty good. The rest of the folks can pretty much be replaced by a talking lamp post. Yes, only ONE lamp post. That’s how two dimensional they are! I know that sounds mean and it’s no fault of the actors. The writers have just done a really poor job making these characters interesting.

The remainder of the crew is pretty forgettable so I’ll give you my own names for them. There is Chippy the Starfleet Cadet , who ends up Michael’s roommate. There is Science Officer Grumble, who ends up being key to running the ship. Then we have Doctor McFancy Pants who we find out is dating Science Officer Grumble. Oh and later we meet up with Security Chief Tyler (that’s really his character’s name, so maybe he was memorable, not fully formed but memorable) ‘the human guy who is maybe a Klingon but we aren’t sure yet.’ (Hint, he’s probably a Klingon and we don’t know it yet. He might not even know it yet for that matter. hmmm) Sarek is worth an honorable mention only in that he is important in this series as part of Michael Burnham’s Character, but as a character of his own he is pretty one dimensional this time around.

Of all these half characters Science officer Grumble and Security Chief Tyler are the ones I hope get more characterization. They have potential and maybe when I do a Season One Part Two review they will get photos of their own.

There is one other character that I absolutely love but I can’t consider him one of the two and a half fully formed characters since he only shows up in 2 episodes. Yeah, I know thats nearly a fourth of the show so far but still, he is at best a recurring character at this point. That character is one of the few solid connections to TOS, that character is Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

Harry Mudd (played by Rainn Wilson) is an amazing connection to the Original Series. You see, when we originally met Mudd, he was a con man who was attempting to swindle miners until the Enterprise happened along to stop him. Mudd was a terrific foil for Kirk but what was he doing prior to all of that? Why being a con man of course! (and serving time in a Klingon Prison) Rainn’s portrayal of Harcourt Fenton Mudd is, by far, one of the highlights of the series thus far and I honestly hope we haven’t seen the last of him.

The Ship(s)

The first ship you meet is the Shenzhou, don’t get used to her, she doesnt last long. Heck, I’m not even going to go into details.

The ship you need to know about is The Discovery. This ship doesn’t show up until Episode 3 ‘Context is for Kings’. It is an experimental ship, one of two, that contains a unique ‘Spore Drive’ that allows for unique travel. The ship is captained by Captain Malfoy Lorca and is a science vessel turned weapons research ship due to the battle with the Klingons.

The Discovery really is a beautiful ship.

The Aliens:

This is really tough for me. I absolutely HATE how the Klingons look in this series. Let’s discuss for a minute. Please bear with me.

This is a Klingon from 100 years prior to the events in the Discovery and Original Series.

Note the prominent Brow Ridge, the bushy eyebrows, the long flowing hair, the unique facial hair and dark skin.

This next one is a Klingon from the Original series. Remember he is from 100 years AFTER the events in Enterprise but only 10 years AFTER the events in Discovery.

Note the shorter hair, lack of brow ridge, bushy eyebrows, unique facial hair and dark skin. Also keep in mind that this series was from the 1960’s so prosthetics were not commonly used due to budgetary reasons.

This next one is from the Star Trek Next Generation Era set 100 year AFTER the Original Series.

Note the return to the brow ridge, the bushy eyebrows, the long flowing hair, the unique facial hair and dark skin. According to the storyline the Klingons had experimented on themselves resulting in the smooth foreheads from the original series. It was an embarrassment to them and not something they liked to talk about.

Now, this is what appears as a Klingon in Discovery. Please note that Discovery is supposed to take place only 10 years prior to the original series. So you would think they would look either like that of the Enterprise Era or of the Original Series Era but no. They look like this.

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! Seriously. There is no way to can go from this to the smooth headed version in 10 years!

This really bothers me and every time I see one, it takes me out of the series immediately. Everything else, from the insane technology that doesn’t make sense 10 years prior to TOS to the uniforms that don’t make sense I can get over, it’s distracting at best. The only thing that would make ANY sense to a Trekkie like me is that Discovery takes place in the Kelvin Universe (click the link for an explanation) where the Klingons looked like this:

And you know what? That would have been awesome. A TV series set in the new movie universe would have been great as they would have been able to bring in the new version of Kirk, Spock and McCoy with little effort. Unfortunately the producers say that it is based in the Prime Universe and fits in with all the other tv series. Shenanigans I say.

Okay, Rant over, let’s get back to this lengthy review.

Other aliens include…well there really aren’t any specific other aliens. I mean, we see some Vulcans. We see Saru and there is also the Waterbear that becomes the navigator/regulator of the spore drive for a while. This guy:

He’s pretty cool.

There are some other things on the show but nothing really notable, not so far at least.

The Series:

Episode One and Two: The Vulcan Hello/Battle At The Binary Stars (aka the 2 hour pilot that was split into two because CBS wanted viewers to pay for half the first episode on their new streaming service.)

Michael and the Captain of the fist ship get into a disagreement on how to handle the newly (re)found Klingons and Michael tries to incapacitate the Captain and take over the ship in order to initiate a first strike. She ends up failing in her task, the ship gets wrecked and she gets courtmartialed. There, just saved you two hours of a pointless pilot.

I won’t get into the details of each one of the rest of the episodes. Ultimately, this first half of the series ends up in an interesting cliff hanger where we find out that there are Alternate Dimensions. I hope to GOD that one of these dimensions give us an explanation for those damned Klingon Not Klingons (KLINGNOTS for short for those of you who have been reading my weekly episodic reviews). If you want more details you can find those here. They are 99% spoiler free so you can enjoy them fully. Although if you already read all of this it really doesn’t matter huh?

Theories and Musings

One of the biggest theories is that Tyler the Security Chief is really a Klingon Sleeper Agent. One big thing is that there is an Albino Klingon named Voq that seems very important to the story until he and a female Klingon are disgraced and make plans to get revenge. This is literally the last time we see the Albino Klingon. The very next episode we are introduced to Tyler who is found on a Klingon ship as a captive. That ship is captained by who? The Klingon Female that the Albino was plotting with. At the end of the mid season finale Tyler and this Female Klingon meetup and, after he deals with some PTSD, she tells him ‘ I will never let anyone hurt you’. Weird huh? The crazy thing, Burnham is in love with Tyler. Yeah that’s gonna suck. (Oh, Hey look Tyler got his picture in after all! Maybe he is an important character!)

Voq maybe Tyler

Tyler maybe Voq

One other theory is that Lorca is not from the Prime Universe at all. He is actually from the Mirror Universe and has been trying to get back. He blends in as the Prime Universe Lorca having either displaced or killed the original and is trying to use the Discovery to find his way home. One thing that verifies this is that he has been tracking the rifts that lead to alternate universe and when Science Officer Grumble tells him he will only do one more jump he overrides the jump and they end up somewhere unexpected. Also, it would really explain his a-hole tendencies that is very unlike traditional Starfleet Captains. Unless he is just like this guy. This guy was a dick.

Well, that’s all I have for you on this one. I hope you enjoyed my ‘indepth’ review of Chapter One of the Star Trek Discovery Series. I am sticking around for the second half in January and I plan to report to you on a weekly basis when those episodes are released. I am a firm believer that Any Trek is Good Trek unless it’s Bad Trek then it’s crap. Let’s hope this series finds its stride, it looks promising but I don’t like to get my hopes up. Let’s be honest, they should have set the series After Star Trek Voyager.

Thanks for reading, if you liked this review please check out my other review series: Key Movies Of My Life and my Toy Reviews. You can also get caught up on my Star Trek Discovery Reviews HERE. As always, please feel free to comment below and share your experiences with these movies as well. If you just happend by, please tell me what you think!

Thanks!

Late To The Game 11/14/17

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In Depth review of Star Trek Discovery Chapter One. So the second half of the first season is about to begin. How about we take a look again at the first half, shall we?

#detailed #Kelvin Universe #Kirk #Klingons #Original Series #review #Reviews #Spock #Star Trek #Star Trek Discovery #starfleet

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