Star Trek: Discovery (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 14 - The War Without, the War Within - full transcript
Burnham and the crew are faced with the harsh reality of the war during their absence. In order to move forward, Starfleet must use unconventional tactics and sources to take their next action against the Klingons.
Previously on
Star Trek: Discovery...
What is happening to you?
I don't think I'm Ash Tyler, Starfleet Lieutenant.
Not really. Not anymore.
L'RELL: We modified Voq into a shell that appears human.
We grafted his psyche into Tyler's.
I do not know where your Voq ends and our Tyler begins,
but they are both in jeopardy.
Only my hands can tend to him.
(screams, groans)
Logic tells me she's not the one that I betrayed.
She's a ghost.
(groans)
I have no future now.
Find a way home. I will buy you some time.
Get out of there, now.
What have you done to me?
If we blow the reactor core,
the resulting explosion will be pure mycelial energy.
We can ride it long enough
for the energy to activate the drive,
and then you can navigate us home.
We overshot by nine months.
If the map is to be believed,
it appears the Klingons have won the war.
Captain.
Emperor.
On your knees, slave.
This Kelpien is my captain.
(exhales)
Sir, I can explain.
Yesterday we dined on the entrails of his brethren.
And today you seek his favor?
Transport our visitor to guest quarters
on deck three
and confine her there now.
You told me there were no Kelpiens
in the other universe. You lied.
I hoped to spare you the pain.
The presence of a Terran defector
on this ship is to be regarded as classified.
Its utterance will carry a penalty of treason.
Do you understand? Aye, Captain.
COMPUTER: Captain, your presence is requested in sickbay.
With me.
(door whooshes open)
I could offer excuses. (electric welder crackles)
I was trying to destabilize the Terran Empire.
I... I thought Starfleet could benefit
from learning about an alternate universe.
The truth is that I just couldn't
watch her die again, Saru.
I wanted to offer her more.
I am sorry.
Saving Georgiou may indeed prove
to be a grave error in judgment.
But...
no one else could have done what you did
aboard that Terran flagship.
You are alive,
and we are home.
Any news from Command?
Federation ships have appeared on long-range sensors,
but none answer my hail.
Doesn't feel much like home.
(electrical surges)
Discovery suffered damage riding the mycelial shock wave
back into our universe.
We are running on auxiliary power
until repairs are complete.
Deck four.
Dr. Pollard has orders to alert me
when Lieutenant Tyler regains consciousness.
An emergency surgical procedure proved necessary.
An attempt to excise the Klingon
in Tyler's neurological identity.
How?
What happened to him was completely outside
of the realm of sanctioned medicine.
Starfleet did not perform the procedure.
It was the Klingon-- L'Rell.
His torturer?
And handler.
She oversaw Tyler's transformation.
None of us are sure what state we might find him in.
I am hoping that a familiar face
could offer him encouragement to heal.
How he reacts to you may offer us insight
into who he has become.
Captain, he's awake.
Is that an order, Captain?
I fail to understand.
Is that an order? To see him?
No.
I'm sorry.
I can't.
What are your findings, Doctor?
By all assessments, the patient now presents as Ash Tyler.
Adrenocorticotropic hormonal levels are normal.
Cellular mitochondria counts are back within human range.
I find no remaining evidence of Klingon aggression
or muscular stamina.
So, is he human or Klingon?
(sighs) Neither. Both.
We can't be sure.
Not without understanding the science
behind the reassignment procedure.
And how do we do that?
I suppose we could start by asking him.
(sighs)
SARU: Tyler?
Mr. Saru.
Thanks for the save. And Voq?
I can access his memories,
but there's a disconnect.
Like watching someone else's life or something.
Do you remember what was done to you?
The Mo'Kai call it a choH' a'.
Species reassignment protocol.
Specifically designed to infiltrate
classified Starfleet intelligence.
Are there others?
Voq was the test case.
They flayed his skin.
Cracked his bones open.
Sawed his heart into pieces.
You think that'll be the worst of it.
Then they start shaving down the tips of your fingers.
Voq was T'Kuvma's Torchbearer.
He submitted to the torture willingly, at L'Rell's behest.
They were the only true believers left.
Voq and L'Rell believed taking the ship would
bring followers back to T'Kuvma's house.
They were in love, you know.
I...
Will you cooperate with us?
Share everything you know?
Of course.
I...
I would do anything to undo what I've done.
Is she alive?
Uh, Specialist Burnham has
returned safely aboard Discovery.
(exhales)
Thank God.
Can I... Focus...
on your recovery.
You both survived a harrowing ordeal.
Saru, I tried to kill her.
I murdered...
...Dr. Culber.
I belong in the brig.
Voq is responsible for your crimes.
And I see no semblance of him before me.
Your privileges aboard Discovery will be limited.
But I will not take your freedom.
(door whooshes shut)
(electricity crackling)
Vessel is approaching, sir.
Federation signature.
Hail them at once.
Aye, Captain.
Captain, its shields are up.
It-Its phasers are charged and targeting.
Shields up.
I'm picking up an incoming transporter signature.
We're being boarded.
Identify yourselves!
Hands where I can see them!
(indistinct shouting)
I demand an explanation for this intrusion!
We ask the questions. (comm chirps)
Clear for transport.
Admiral...
Where's Captain Lorca?
Sarek! Please! Stand down, Specialist.
Now. Computer...
initiate command-level override.
Authorization Admiral Katrina Cornwell, pi beta six.
COMPUTER: Override confirmed. (ship powering down)
Start with him.
Ambassador, what are you doing?
What the times require.
(gasping softly)
My mind to your mind.
My thoughts to your thoughts.
(Sarek breathes deeply)
Ah...
SAREK: Mr. Saru is who
he appears to be.
The Discovery has been through
an inconceivable ordeal.
Then where the hell is her commanding officer?
Captain Lorca... is dead.
*
*
*
(original Star Trek theme plays)
Bastard. (weapon fires)
The Lorca I came up with was measured, he was reasoned.
But I couldn't have imagined...
That Lorca was an impostor from an alternate universe
was not the most obvious conclusion.
We were all deceived.
CORNWELL: Discovery was destroyed
by Klingons nine months ago.
I saw the debris with my own eyes.
That wreckage belonged to the Terran Discovery.
The two ships switched places when we jumped across universes.
CORNWELL: From what you've told us about the Terran Empire,
no Starfleet officer could survive that universe alone.
So my Gabriel is dead.
Lorca sidelined the most vital asset in our fleet.
Now, with your return, we have disseminated
your hard-earned, cloak-breaking algorithm
to the front lines,
which will neutralize the Klingons' ability
to render their ships invisible.
But our fear is it's too late.
The war here has waged on
for nine brutal months without it.
Stardate 4789.6:
Klingon vessels launch
hypothermic charges at Kelfour VI,
burning off their atmosphere
and killing 11,000 civilians
instantly.
Stardate 4851.5:
A cloaked raider tails the USS Saratoga
into spacedock at Starbase 22,
then ignites its antimatter supply
in a suicide mission.
Days later, similar assaults
are carried out on bases 19 and 12,
resulting in the loss of one-third of our fleet.
Research outposts
at the border colonies of Nivalla, Septra and Iridin
have also been destroyed.
The only children spared
are now orphans.
There's no pattern to these attacks.
There's no logical progression to their targets.
There's not even consistency of method.
In the absence of a clear leader,
the Klingon houses are divided once again.
At the start of this war, we fought one enemy.
Now, we fight 24.
They quarrel among themselves,
hence the indiscriminate nature of their aggression.
But their collective aim seems clear.
To compete for dominance
by seeing which house can destroy the most
Federation assets.
We are fodder for their futile savagery.
Our deaths, their spoils.
CORNWELL: Nearly 20%
of former Federation space has been occupied.
Discovery will jump
to Starbase One immediately.
All evidence of your recent journey
will be classified and destroyed.
We cannot risk the knowledge of this alternate universe
leaving the confines of Discovery.
I don't understand.
There would be too many possibilities.
Indeed. Our people have suffered terrible losses.
What would you do if you thought that your dead wife,
your lost child, your murdered parents,
all might be alive on the other side
and that a technology exists
for you to see them again?
This knowledge must be buried.
Command will want this locked down.
Of course, Admiral.
Starbase One is our only remaining sanctuary.
Can you jump us there?
STAMETS: Well, it's, uh,
100 AUs from Earth
and over a light-year from our current position.
We used up the last of our supply of spores to get us home,
and I can't jump without them.
The journey at warp will be perilous.
Klingons swarm the quadrant.
I'm afraid we have no choice.
Saru, take the ship to warp as soon as possible.
Admiral...
There's one more thing you need to know.
BURNHAM: Emperor, the Federation has questions.
I need you to answer them.
What kind of guest would I be
if I refused such a simple request?
I'm told that, in your universe,
your word is law.
Here, we do things differently.
I can see that.
The resemblance is remarkable.
What do you know of your counterpart,
Captain Philippa Georgiou?
I know that she is dead
and I am not.
But I will leave you to determine which of us
has proved stronger.
Specialist Burnham has assured us
that your arrival in this universe
is without motive,
but your presence here remains complicated.
The solution, however, is not.
Send me home.
The Emperor narrowly escaped a violent revolution.
She deserves political asylum.
I don't need your protection.
We have charted a course for Starbase One.
You will be held there, humanely,
until Command can determine a proper course of action.
So I am your prisoner.
Look, Your Highness, or whatever you're called,
I'll tell it to you straight.
I'm not even sure we know how to send you home,
and even if we did,
we have a war to fight.
I'm sorry.
Like I said, you're our guest.
Make yourself at home.
The resemblance is remarkable.
See that she's comfortable.
(door whooshes open)
(door whooshes shut)
(electrical crackling)
FEMALE VOICE (over comms): Attention, all cadets...
Stamets.
I'm sorry.
Words...
Words are not enough, and I know that.
But I am.
You killed a good man.
A man that I loved.
Do you remember that?
I do now.
And... does it gut you?
Does it sicken you?
Good.
Maybe you're still human after all.
(indistinct chatter)
(chatter dies away)
(synthesizer powers up, dings)
(whispers): That's him.
Excuse me.
You don't have to do this. I'm okay.
How could that possibly be true?
Just eat.
And talk, if you want to.
I'm here.
Welcome back.
(indistinct chatter resumes)
Hi.
Admiral.
Starbase One within range.
Well done, all.
USS Discovery to Starbase One,
permission to initiate docking procedures?
She'll be a sight for sore eyes.
Admiral,
I'm unable to establish contact.
Reset our channels.
I'll override the comms restrictions manually.
CORNWELL: Detmer, drop us out of warp.
Aye, Admiral.
Bring Starbase One on screen.
Aye, Admiral.
No.
Enhancing image.
BURNHAM: That's a Klingon crest.
House D'Ghor.
They've seized a Federation starbase?
Scan for life signs. Now! OWOSEKUN: Complying.
Sensing 274 Klingon
life signs aboard. Federation life.
Uh, negative, Admiral.
There's nothing.
There were 80,000 souls on that base.
A large contingent of our leadership
and at least three starships.
The Klingons are practically in Earth's backyard.
Captain, we're being scanned.
Detmer, maximum warp. Get us out of here.
Yes, sir.
OWOSEKUN: I'll bring sensors to maximum.
BRYCE: Maintain constant scans
of Klingon contacts...
*
Admiral, Discovery awaits your orders.
Maintain current course and speed.
We will make contact with Command.
What's left of them.
(door whooshes open)
(door whooshes shut)
You live.
And you finally made it aboard the USS Discovery,
though I suspect you've found the accommodations lacking.
Even from a cage, Kahless hears my call.
I do not subscribe to your ideals.
And yet, I feel as though you and I understand each other.
T'Kuvma taught that all humans are without courage.
About this, he was wrong.
I want to be truthful with you.
Your side is winning.
When we met, you had nothing but contempt
for the crumbling leadership of the Klingon Empire.
T'Kuvma sought to strengthen and unify the Great Houses.
If he has succeeded in only this,
it is cause for celebration.
Your Great Houses are carving up Federation assets
among their factions.
A captured starbase bears the insignia of House D'Ghor,
not of the Klingon Empire.
Is that the kind of unity your messiah proclaimed?
They think nothing of the collateral damage
caused by their brutal attacks.
They target civilians, hospitals, food convoys.
They slaughter innocents and inspire terror
across the quadrant. This is war,
not a child's game with rules.
We fight to preserve Klingon identity.
No one is looking to destroy your culture.
Our laws are founded in equality. Freedom.
T'Kuvma taught us that the Federation cannot help itself.
It seeks universal homogenization and assimilation.
T'Kuvma was an ignorant fool.
And your people are moving closer and closer
to my home planet.
What are you looking for?
More territory?
Conditional surrender?
I mean, your people won't even make demands. Why?
How does this war end?
It doesn't.
Klingons have tasted your blood.
Conquer us...
or we will never relent.
Thank you.
(door whooshes open)
(door whooshes shut)
There's been a change of plans.
Another Klingon attack.
You'll have to stay on board
Discovery a little while longer.
It makes no difference.
One cell in this universe is as good as another.
You heard your admiral.
We mean you no harm.
The admiral was just...
Tell me about the Vulcan.
There is a connection between the two of you.
Why would you say that?
The way you look at him
is not unlike the way you look at me.
He's essentially my father.
He raised me.
So you were orphaned here as well?
Another echo of fate between our worlds.
Your rule extends through every system in your galaxy.
You've conquered places
Starfleet hasn't even dared to explore.
I see now
that the time for peace has passed.
I need you to tell me,
how did you defeat the Klingon Empire?
I started this war, and I need to finish it.
Why did you bring me here?
Truly.
I wanted to show you a place of morality,
of hope.
Let me tell you,
daughter who is not my daughter.
In truth, you wished to save me because you couldn't save her.
This regret that you have for what you did,
it weakens you.
I feel it every day of my life.
The Klingons are like cancer cells: constantly dividing.
To root them out,
you must destroy the tumor at its source.
How much do you know about Qo'noS?
I suppose I don't have to tell you
it's the middle of the night.
I have a proposal.
SHUKAR: I left Discovery
only to learn that a Klingon attack is imminent.
They are gathering forces to launch a strike
on this whole system.
The Klingons are taking the fight to us.
We need to take it to them, to Qo'noS.
Attack the Klingon homeworld?
CORNWELL: Not a simple attack.
A simultaneous strike on their planetary-defense batteries,
immediately followed by the coordinated destruction
of all military targets planetwide.
A single offensive so destructive,
it will force the enemy to retreat from Federation space
and head for home.
SHUKAR: Our remaining fleet
is being called back to defend Earth.
Discovery should join them.
SAREK: Each path of logic leads to the same conclusion:
Starfleet tactics have failed us.
We must adapt if we're to have any hope of survival.
Qo'noS is uncharted territory.
We have no idea where their defense batteries are,
much less their weapon production systems or shipyards.
SHUKAR: The planet's dense upper atmosphere prevents
long-range topographical and energy analysis.
And no Starfleet officer has set foot there in this century.
DRAKE: Your strategy's a good one, Katrina.
But it's not feasible without a map.
And by the time Discovery got close enough to begin surveying,
they'd blow her out of the sky.
She's not gonna be in the sky.
CORNWELL: Let's go over it again.
Qo'noS is composed of a subterranean series
of now dormant volcanoes.
It is a planet of caves.
STAMETS: Some of them, according to Specialist Burnham's intel,
are big enough to house a Crossfield-class starship.
BURNHAM: Rather than surveil our targets from orbit,
we can map the terrain from the inside out.
Thereby minimizing our risk of detection.
SARU: Jumping a massive starship
inside a cave
of impenetrable rock does seem, uh, challenging.
Travel aboard the mycelial network is, in itself,
a sort of advanced
detection system of geophysical imaging.
I can easily identify the voids in energy
that would represent a chasm versus a solid mass.
BURNHAM: And once we're in position
within the cave system,
we'll release our surveillance drone
to collect the necessary tactical information.
Good.
Because I've assured Starfleet we can do this.
And by "we," I mean you.
It's a good plan, Specialist.
Well done. Thank you, Admiral.
One question: how do we get the spores
necessary to make the jump?
We'll have to grow them ourselves.
SARU: My understanding is that your crop
took years to cultivate.
Set a course for the Veda system.
And...
get ready for a show.
Prototaxites stellaviatori.
My original sample,
and the last-remaining mycelium of this strain.
We are headed to an uninhabited class-4 moon
in the Veda system.
And if this works, I might even let you name it.
You're gonna terraform a moon?
Your own research on the success
of an organic mycelial harvest was indeterminable.
I've studied your data myself...
Straal quashed it.
He wanted to keep the crop captive,
but if ever there was a time to go wild...
Your child is lost.
SAREK: Do not confuse
my ward with yours.
My daughter
was a singular example of brilliance
until one foolish choice doomed her world.
Sound familiar?
If I understand correctly,
my ward saw through the man who brought down
not just your child, but your empire.
Perhaps best not to make comparisons.
Why have you requested my presence?
You were summoned, Vulcan, for one reason.
I want to help you end this war.
The information
you provided Michael has already proved valuable.
I told her as much as she could handle.
Our daughters are not so unlike after all.
In my world,
Qo'noS is little more than a blackened mass of dust.
The Klingons fight for scraps and fear certain death.
But it took a great deal more
than a mapping drone in a cave to get there.
You assured Michael that your plan would prove effective.
And it will, momentarily.
But they will regroup.
Their longing to destroy the symbol that is Earth
runs far too deep.
What if I could show you how to bring them to their knees
once and for all?
The Federation does not subscribe
to what I imagine are Terran methods of combat.
You face annihilation.
Is it not logical
to do anything you can to save the lives of your kind?
Give me what I want,
and I can assure victory for the Federation.
What are your terms?
Freedom.
I must return to Vulcan.
There are evolving details to the plan
that must be considered.
What evolving details?
I sense you are uneasy.
During my mind-meld with Saru,
I learned of your attachment to the Klingon spy
and what he did to you.
Such events are clearly troubling.
I'm fine, Sarek.
I remain unconvinced.
There is irony here, of course.
The man you fell in love with was a Klingon.
He...
I don't know what he was.
There is also grace.
For what greater source of peace exists
than our ability to love our enemy?
I've made foolish choices.
Emotional choices.
Well, you are human.
As is your mother.
There is no telling what any one of us may do
where the heart is concerned.
We are at war.
Logic dictates that each farewell may be our last.
Do not regret loving someone, Michael.
Admiral Cornwell requested a status report.
This is the last of the mycelial transport vessels.
We will be able to launch by the time we reach Veda.
I just said good-bye to my father, and it felt different.
Final.
It won't be, right?
Did you ever think, when you signed up for Starfleet,
that you'd be forced to see war and death?
Death found me when I was a child.
So, yeah.
I knew what I was getting into.
I don't think I did.
Not really.
Does that make me naive?
It makes you optimistic.
When we were in the Terran universe,
I was reminded how much a person is shaped
by their environment.
And I think the only way that w-we can stop ourselves
from becoming them
is to understand the darkness within us, and fight it.
Tyler needs you.
I'm told he's doing well.
That's not possible, not when you've lost the person
you care about the most. He killed
a Starfleet officer.
And he...
he tried to kill me.
And those crimes are reprehensible,
but Tyler is not the person who did that,
at least he's-he's not anymore.
He is something other, someone new.
And what we do now, the way that we treat him,
that is who he will become.
I know you still care about him.
I do.
That does not mean I should.
Michael, he's been stripped of his badge.
He'll never fly for Starfleet again.
He'll be lucky if he doesn't end up in a lab or a cell.
What kind of future can he have?
Say what you have to say, even if it's good-bye.
Lieutenant Stamets, your stop.
Locked and loaded, Admiral.
Detmer, put her into geostationary orbit.
Locking in
approximately 800 kilometers above the moon's surface.
STAMETS: Copy that.
Initiating mycelial- ejection protocol.
Engaging agri-transport boosters.
*
Status, Lieutenant Stamets.
STAMETS: Sensors from the terraforming field
show root structures forming in zones 922
and 5041.
Ready the EM darts.
TILLY: Darts calibrated.
Fire.
(door whooshes open)
Come on, kiddos.
Come on.
*
COMPUTER: Spore generation at four percent.
Eight percent.
Twelve percent.
Fifteen percent.
Nineteen percent.
Twenty-two percent.
Twenty-seven percent.
CORNWELL: I would congratulate you, Lieutenant,
but I'm afraid the work has just begun.
COMPUTER: Forty-seven percent.
Fifty-two percent.
(door whooshes open)
I don't know where to start.
I do.
I'm sorry.
I know there's no way I can prove this to you,
but Voq, he's gone.
I believe you.
Was there ever really an Ash Tyler?
And did he love me?
Because I loved him.
You lied to me.
You said that if it got to be too much,
that if you couldn't handle it,
you would come to me.
And it did.
And you didn't.
And that wasn't Voq, that was you.
Tyler.
Who the hell is Tyler?
You think I know anymore?
You think I have any idea who I am now, where I belong?
This isn't about a lie.
This is about you looking for an excuse to end it.
"Excuse"?
My crewmates have been kinder than they need to be.
Why are you, the person who knows me best,
so quick to turn your back?
Stop. I want you to admit it.
Admit that you can't do this anymore
because you finally went there with someone
and things got complicated.
Because your parents were killed by Klingons
and you fell in love with one.
(exhales)
Maybe you're right.
I know in my head
that you couldn't be responsible for Voq's actions...
...but I felt your hands
around my neck.
And I looked into your eyes
and I saw how much you wanted to kill me.
The man that I love wanted me dead.
And no matter how hard I try,
when I look at you now,
I see Voq's eyes.
I see him.
Your crew may have put it behind them, but I can't.
I shouldn't be here.
I should be an activated Klingon spy,
behind bars... or dead.
Michael, the reason it didn't take,
the reason L'Rell couldn't get through to me, that was you.
Did Ash Tyler love you?
Hell yes, he did.
And I can't find my way back without you.
(sighs)
We created something beautiful today
in a desolate wasteland
that had never seen life.
After the Battle of the Binary Stars...
I was so lost.
I had to sit with myself.
I had to work through it.
I had to crawl my way back.
I'm still not there, but...
I'm trying.
That kind of work...
reclaiming life...
it's punishing...
and it's relentless.
And it's solitary.
No, I...
Ash.
It's not easy...
letting you go.
(sniffles)
(sighs)
CORNWELL: The mycelial bloom was successful.
A spore harvest is underway.
Then the jump to Qo'noS will be possible?
Yes. Imminently.
The Federation Council has been briefed
on our newly acquired intelligence from the Terran.
Despite the extraordinary risk,
all are agreed that we have no choice but to proceed.
Our very existence hangs in the balance.
Then it's time.
Open a shipwide channel.
We have all mourned
the enormous loss of life due to this war.
The acts of violence committed against us are the acts of a foe
without reason, without honor.
And they will not stop coming after us in the hopes
of destroying everything that we hold dear.
These are desperate times
and they call on us to do more than merely protect our people,
defend our borders.
I stand before you with a mission.
At 2100 hours, the USS Discovery
will jump for the Klingon homeworld
in order to map its surface
and isolate vulnerabilities
and military targets.
This brave team
will be the first to visit
this inhospitable planet
since Captain Archer and the crew
of the Enterprise NX-01,
nearly 100 years ago.
So allow me to introduce you
to the person who will chart your course to Qo'noS.
Captain Philippa Georgiou.
Thank you.
CORNWELL: Though long presumed dead,
Captain Georgiou
was recently rescued
in a highly classified raid
of a Klingon prison vessel.
She was transported aboard Discovery
with my personal retinue.
The mission to Qo'noS is a perilous expedition.
And Starfleet is confident
that Captain Georgiou
is uniquely qualified to get you there
and to do what needs to be done.
Specialist Burnham,
I trust that this will be an auspicious reunion,
despite our history.
Now take your station.
Yes... Captain.
Captioning sponsored by CBS
What is happening to you?
I don't think I'm Ash Tyler, Starfleet Lieutenant.
Not really. Not anymore.
L'RELL: We modified Voq into a shell that appears human.
We grafted his psyche into Tyler's.
I do not know where your Voq ends and our Tyler begins,
but they are both in jeopardy.
Only my hands can tend to him.
(screams, groans)
Logic tells me she's not the one that I betrayed.
She's a ghost.
(groans)
I have no future now.
Find a way home. I will buy you some time.
Get out of there, now.
What have you done to me?
If we blow the reactor core,
the resulting explosion will be pure mycelial energy.
We can ride it long enough
for the energy to activate the drive,
and then you can navigate us home.
We overshot by nine months.
If the map is to be believed,
it appears the Klingons have won the war.
Captain.
Emperor.
On your knees, slave.
This Kelpien is my captain.
(exhales)
Sir, I can explain.
Yesterday we dined on the entrails of his brethren.
And today you seek his favor?
Transport our visitor to guest quarters
on deck three
and confine her there now.
You told me there were no Kelpiens
in the other universe. You lied.
I hoped to spare you the pain.
The presence of a Terran defector
on this ship is to be regarded as classified.
Its utterance will carry a penalty of treason.
Do you understand? Aye, Captain.
COMPUTER: Captain, your presence is requested in sickbay.
With me.
(door whooshes open)
I could offer excuses. (electric welder crackles)
I was trying to destabilize the Terran Empire.
I... I thought Starfleet could benefit
from learning about an alternate universe.
The truth is that I just couldn't
watch her die again, Saru.
I wanted to offer her more.
I am sorry.
Saving Georgiou may indeed prove
to be a grave error in judgment.
But...
no one else could have done what you did
aboard that Terran flagship.
You are alive,
and we are home.
Any news from Command?
Federation ships have appeared on long-range sensors,
but none answer my hail.
Doesn't feel much like home.
(electrical surges)
Discovery suffered damage riding the mycelial shock wave
back into our universe.
We are running on auxiliary power
until repairs are complete.
Deck four.
Dr. Pollard has orders to alert me
when Lieutenant Tyler regains consciousness.
An emergency surgical procedure proved necessary.
An attempt to excise the Klingon
in Tyler's neurological identity.
How?
What happened to him was completely outside
of the realm of sanctioned medicine.
Starfleet did not perform the procedure.
It was the Klingon-- L'Rell.
His torturer?
And handler.
She oversaw Tyler's transformation.
None of us are sure what state we might find him in.
I am hoping that a familiar face
could offer him encouragement to heal.
How he reacts to you may offer us insight
into who he has become.
Captain, he's awake.
Is that an order, Captain?
I fail to understand.
Is that an order? To see him?
No.
I'm sorry.
I can't.
What are your findings, Doctor?
By all assessments, the patient now presents as Ash Tyler.
Adrenocorticotropic hormonal levels are normal.
Cellular mitochondria counts are back within human range.
I find no remaining evidence of Klingon aggression
or muscular stamina.
So, is he human or Klingon?
(sighs) Neither. Both.
We can't be sure.
Not without understanding the science
behind the reassignment procedure.
And how do we do that?
I suppose we could start by asking him.
(sighs)
SARU: Tyler?
Mr. Saru.
Thanks for the save. And Voq?
I can access his memories,
but there's a disconnect.
Like watching someone else's life or something.
Do you remember what was done to you?
The Mo'Kai call it a choH' a'.
Species reassignment protocol.
Specifically designed to infiltrate
classified Starfleet intelligence.
Are there others?
Voq was the test case.
They flayed his skin.
Cracked his bones open.
Sawed his heart into pieces.
You think that'll be the worst of it.
Then they start shaving down the tips of your fingers.
Voq was T'Kuvma's Torchbearer.
He submitted to the torture willingly, at L'Rell's behest.
They were the only true believers left.
Voq and L'Rell believed taking the ship would
bring followers back to T'Kuvma's house.
They were in love, you know.
I...
Will you cooperate with us?
Share everything you know?
Of course.
I...
I would do anything to undo what I've done.
Is she alive?
Uh, Specialist Burnham has
returned safely aboard Discovery.
(exhales)
Thank God.
Can I... Focus...
on your recovery.
You both survived a harrowing ordeal.
Saru, I tried to kill her.
I murdered...
...Dr. Culber.
I belong in the brig.
Voq is responsible for your crimes.
And I see no semblance of him before me.
Your privileges aboard Discovery will be limited.
But I will not take your freedom.
(door whooshes shut)
(electricity crackling)
Vessel is approaching, sir.
Federation signature.
Hail them at once.
Aye, Captain.
Captain, its shields are up.
It-Its phasers are charged and targeting.
Shields up.
I'm picking up an incoming transporter signature.
We're being boarded.
Identify yourselves!
Hands where I can see them!
(indistinct shouting)
I demand an explanation for this intrusion!
We ask the questions. (comm chirps)
Clear for transport.
Admiral...
Where's Captain Lorca?
Sarek! Please! Stand down, Specialist.
Now. Computer...
initiate command-level override.
Authorization Admiral Katrina Cornwell, pi beta six.
COMPUTER: Override confirmed. (ship powering down)
Start with him.
Ambassador, what are you doing?
What the times require.
(gasping softly)
My mind to your mind.
My thoughts to your thoughts.
(Sarek breathes deeply)
Ah...
SAREK: Mr. Saru is who
he appears to be.
The Discovery has been through
an inconceivable ordeal.
Then where the hell is her commanding officer?
Captain Lorca... is dead.
*
*
*
(original Star Trek theme plays)
Bastard. (weapon fires)
The Lorca I came up with was measured, he was reasoned.
But I couldn't have imagined...
That Lorca was an impostor from an alternate universe
was not the most obvious conclusion.
We were all deceived.
CORNWELL: Discovery was destroyed
by Klingons nine months ago.
I saw the debris with my own eyes.
That wreckage belonged to the Terran Discovery.
The two ships switched places when we jumped across universes.
CORNWELL: From what you've told us about the Terran Empire,
no Starfleet officer could survive that universe alone.
So my Gabriel is dead.
Lorca sidelined the most vital asset in our fleet.
Now, with your return, we have disseminated
your hard-earned, cloak-breaking algorithm
to the front lines,
which will neutralize the Klingons' ability
to render their ships invisible.
But our fear is it's too late.
The war here has waged on
for nine brutal months without it.
Stardate 4789.6:
Klingon vessels launch
hypothermic charges at Kelfour VI,
burning off their atmosphere
and killing 11,000 civilians
instantly.
Stardate 4851.5:
A cloaked raider tails the USS Saratoga
into spacedock at Starbase 22,
then ignites its antimatter supply
in a suicide mission.
Days later, similar assaults
are carried out on bases 19 and 12,
resulting in the loss of one-third of our fleet.
Research outposts
at the border colonies of Nivalla, Septra and Iridin
have also been destroyed.
The only children spared
are now orphans.
There's no pattern to these attacks.
There's no logical progression to their targets.
There's not even consistency of method.
In the absence of a clear leader,
the Klingon houses are divided once again.
At the start of this war, we fought one enemy.
Now, we fight 24.
They quarrel among themselves,
hence the indiscriminate nature of their aggression.
But their collective aim seems clear.
To compete for dominance
by seeing which house can destroy the most
Federation assets.
We are fodder for their futile savagery.
Our deaths, their spoils.
CORNWELL: Nearly 20%
of former Federation space has been occupied.
Discovery will jump
to Starbase One immediately.
All evidence of your recent journey
will be classified and destroyed.
We cannot risk the knowledge of this alternate universe
leaving the confines of Discovery.
I don't understand.
There would be too many possibilities.
Indeed. Our people have suffered terrible losses.
What would you do if you thought that your dead wife,
your lost child, your murdered parents,
all might be alive on the other side
and that a technology exists
for you to see them again?
This knowledge must be buried.
Command will want this locked down.
Of course, Admiral.
Starbase One is our only remaining sanctuary.
Can you jump us there?
STAMETS: Well, it's, uh,
100 AUs from Earth
and over a light-year from our current position.
We used up the last of our supply of spores to get us home,
and I can't jump without them.
The journey at warp will be perilous.
Klingons swarm the quadrant.
I'm afraid we have no choice.
Saru, take the ship to warp as soon as possible.
Admiral...
There's one more thing you need to know.
BURNHAM: Emperor, the Federation has questions.
I need you to answer them.
What kind of guest would I be
if I refused such a simple request?
I'm told that, in your universe,
your word is law.
Here, we do things differently.
I can see that.
The resemblance is remarkable.
What do you know of your counterpart,
Captain Philippa Georgiou?
I know that she is dead
and I am not.
But I will leave you to determine which of us
has proved stronger.
Specialist Burnham has assured us
that your arrival in this universe
is without motive,
but your presence here remains complicated.
The solution, however, is not.
Send me home.
The Emperor narrowly escaped a violent revolution.
She deserves political asylum.
I don't need your protection.
We have charted a course for Starbase One.
You will be held there, humanely,
until Command can determine a proper course of action.
So I am your prisoner.
Look, Your Highness, or whatever you're called,
I'll tell it to you straight.
I'm not even sure we know how to send you home,
and even if we did,
we have a war to fight.
I'm sorry.
Like I said, you're our guest.
Make yourself at home.
The resemblance is remarkable.
See that she's comfortable.
(door whooshes open)
(door whooshes shut)
(electrical crackling)
FEMALE VOICE (over comms): Attention, all cadets...
Stamets.
I'm sorry.
Words...
Words are not enough, and I know that.
But I am.
You killed a good man.
A man that I loved.
Do you remember that?
I do now.
And... does it gut you?
Does it sicken you?
Good.
Maybe you're still human after all.
(indistinct chatter)
(chatter dies away)
(synthesizer powers up, dings)
(whispers): That's him.
Excuse me.
You don't have to do this. I'm okay.
How could that possibly be true?
Just eat.
And talk, if you want to.
I'm here.
Welcome back.
(indistinct chatter resumes)
Hi.
Admiral.
Starbase One within range.
Well done, all.
USS Discovery to Starbase One,
permission to initiate docking procedures?
She'll be a sight for sore eyes.
Admiral,
I'm unable to establish contact.
Reset our channels.
I'll override the comms restrictions manually.
CORNWELL: Detmer, drop us out of warp.
Aye, Admiral.
Bring Starbase One on screen.
Aye, Admiral.
No.
Enhancing image.
BURNHAM: That's a Klingon crest.
House D'Ghor.
They've seized a Federation starbase?
Scan for life signs. Now! OWOSEKUN: Complying.
Sensing 274 Klingon
life signs aboard. Federation life.
Uh, negative, Admiral.
There's nothing.
There were 80,000 souls on that base.
A large contingent of our leadership
and at least three starships.
The Klingons are practically in Earth's backyard.
Captain, we're being scanned.
Detmer, maximum warp. Get us out of here.
Yes, sir.
OWOSEKUN: I'll bring sensors to maximum.
BRYCE: Maintain constant scans
of Klingon contacts...
*
Admiral, Discovery awaits your orders.
Maintain current course and speed.
We will make contact with Command.
What's left of them.
(door whooshes open)
(door whooshes shut)
You live.
And you finally made it aboard the USS Discovery,
though I suspect you've found the accommodations lacking.
Even from a cage, Kahless hears my call.
I do not subscribe to your ideals.
And yet, I feel as though you and I understand each other.
T'Kuvma taught that all humans are without courage.
About this, he was wrong.
I want to be truthful with you.
Your side is winning.
When we met, you had nothing but contempt
for the crumbling leadership of the Klingon Empire.
T'Kuvma sought to strengthen and unify the Great Houses.
If he has succeeded in only this,
it is cause for celebration.
Your Great Houses are carving up Federation assets
among their factions.
A captured starbase bears the insignia of House D'Ghor,
not of the Klingon Empire.
Is that the kind of unity your messiah proclaimed?
They think nothing of the collateral damage
caused by their brutal attacks.
They target civilians, hospitals, food convoys.
They slaughter innocents and inspire terror
across the quadrant. This is war,
not a child's game with rules.
We fight to preserve Klingon identity.
No one is looking to destroy your culture.
Our laws are founded in equality. Freedom.
T'Kuvma taught us that the Federation cannot help itself.
It seeks universal homogenization and assimilation.
T'Kuvma was an ignorant fool.
And your people are moving closer and closer
to my home planet.
What are you looking for?
More territory?
Conditional surrender?
I mean, your people won't even make demands. Why?
How does this war end?
It doesn't.
Klingons have tasted your blood.
Conquer us...
or we will never relent.
Thank you.
(door whooshes open)
(door whooshes shut)
There's been a change of plans.
Another Klingon attack.
You'll have to stay on board
Discovery a little while longer.
It makes no difference.
One cell in this universe is as good as another.
You heard your admiral.
We mean you no harm.
The admiral was just...
Tell me about the Vulcan.
There is a connection between the two of you.
Why would you say that?
The way you look at him
is not unlike the way you look at me.
He's essentially my father.
He raised me.
So you were orphaned here as well?
Another echo of fate between our worlds.
Your rule extends through every system in your galaxy.
You've conquered places
Starfleet hasn't even dared to explore.
I see now
that the time for peace has passed.
I need you to tell me,
how did you defeat the Klingon Empire?
I started this war, and I need to finish it.
Why did you bring me here?
Truly.
I wanted to show you a place of morality,
of hope.
Let me tell you,
daughter who is not my daughter.
In truth, you wished to save me because you couldn't save her.
This regret that you have for what you did,
it weakens you.
I feel it every day of my life.
The Klingons are like cancer cells: constantly dividing.
To root them out,
you must destroy the tumor at its source.
How much do you know about Qo'noS?
I suppose I don't have to tell you
it's the middle of the night.
I have a proposal.
SHUKAR: I left Discovery
only to learn that a Klingon attack is imminent.
They are gathering forces to launch a strike
on this whole system.
The Klingons are taking the fight to us.
We need to take it to them, to Qo'noS.
Attack the Klingon homeworld?
CORNWELL: Not a simple attack.
A simultaneous strike on their planetary-defense batteries,
immediately followed by the coordinated destruction
of all military targets planetwide.
A single offensive so destructive,
it will force the enemy to retreat from Federation space
and head for home.
SHUKAR: Our remaining fleet
is being called back to defend Earth.
Discovery should join them.
SAREK: Each path of logic leads to the same conclusion:
Starfleet tactics have failed us.
We must adapt if we're to have any hope of survival.
Qo'noS is uncharted territory.
We have no idea where their defense batteries are,
much less their weapon production systems or shipyards.
SHUKAR: The planet's dense upper atmosphere prevents
long-range topographical and energy analysis.
And no Starfleet officer has set foot there in this century.
DRAKE: Your strategy's a good one, Katrina.
But it's not feasible without a map.
And by the time Discovery got close enough to begin surveying,
they'd blow her out of the sky.
She's not gonna be in the sky.
CORNWELL: Let's go over it again.
Qo'noS is composed of a subterranean series
of now dormant volcanoes.
It is a planet of caves.
STAMETS: Some of them, according to Specialist Burnham's intel,
are big enough to house a Crossfield-class starship.
BURNHAM: Rather than surveil our targets from orbit,
we can map the terrain from the inside out.
Thereby minimizing our risk of detection.
SARU: Jumping a massive starship
inside a cave
of impenetrable rock does seem, uh, challenging.
Travel aboard the mycelial network is, in itself,
a sort of advanced
detection system of geophysical imaging.
I can easily identify the voids in energy
that would represent a chasm versus a solid mass.
BURNHAM: And once we're in position
within the cave system,
we'll release our surveillance drone
to collect the necessary tactical information.
Good.
Because I've assured Starfleet we can do this.
And by "we," I mean you.
It's a good plan, Specialist.
Well done. Thank you, Admiral.
One question: how do we get the spores
necessary to make the jump?
We'll have to grow them ourselves.
SARU: My understanding is that your crop
took years to cultivate.
Set a course for the Veda system.
And...
get ready for a show.
Prototaxites stellaviatori.
My original sample,
and the last-remaining mycelium of this strain.
We are headed to an uninhabited class-4 moon
in the Veda system.
And if this works, I might even let you name it.
You're gonna terraform a moon?
Your own research on the success
of an organic mycelial harvest was indeterminable.
I've studied your data myself...
Straal quashed it.
He wanted to keep the crop captive,
but if ever there was a time to go wild...
Your child is lost.
SAREK: Do not confuse
my ward with yours.
My daughter
was a singular example of brilliance
until one foolish choice doomed her world.
Sound familiar?
If I understand correctly,
my ward saw through the man who brought down
not just your child, but your empire.
Perhaps best not to make comparisons.
Why have you requested my presence?
You were summoned, Vulcan, for one reason.
I want to help you end this war.
The information
you provided Michael has already proved valuable.
I told her as much as she could handle.
Our daughters are not so unlike after all.
In my world,
Qo'noS is little more than a blackened mass of dust.
The Klingons fight for scraps and fear certain death.
But it took a great deal more
than a mapping drone in a cave to get there.
You assured Michael that your plan would prove effective.
And it will, momentarily.
But they will regroup.
Their longing to destroy the symbol that is Earth
runs far too deep.
What if I could show you how to bring them to their knees
once and for all?
The Federation does not subscribe
to what I imagine are Terran methods of combat.
You face annihilation.
Is it not logical
to do anything you can to save the lives of your kind?
Give me what I want,
and I can assure victory for the Federation.
What are your terms?
Freedom.
I must return to Vulcan.
There are evolving details to the plan
that must be considered.
What evolving details?
I sense you are uneasy.
During my mind-meld with Saru,
I learned of your attachment to the Klingon spy
and what he did to you.
Such events are clearly troubling.
I'm fine, Sarek.
I remain unconvinced.
There is irony here, of course.
The man you fell in love with was a Klingon.
He...
I don't know what he was.
There is also grace.
For what greater source of peace exists
than our ability to love our enemy?
I've made foolish choices.
Emotional choices.
Well, you are human.
As is your mother.
There is no telling what any one of us may do
where the heart is concerned.
We are at war.
Logic dictates that each farewell may be our last.
Do not regret loving someone, Michael.
Admiral Cornwell requested a status report.
This is the last of the mycelial transport vessels.
We will be able to launch by the time we reach Veda.
I just said good-bye to my father, and it felt different.
Final.
It won't be, right?
Did you ever think, when you signed up for Starfleet,
that you'd be forced to see war and death?
Death found me when I was a child.
So, yeah.
I knew what I was getting into.
I don't think I did.
Not really.
Does that make me naive?
It makes you optimistic.
When we were in the Terran universe,
I was reminded how much a person is shaped
by their environment.
And I think the only way that w-we can stop ourselves
from becoming them
is to understand the darkness within us, and fight it.
Tyler needs you.
I'm told he's doing well.
That's not possible, not when you've lost the person
you care about the most. He killed
a Starfleet officer.
And he...
he tried to kill me.
And those crimes are reprehensible,
but Tyler is not the person who did that,
at least he's-he's not anymore.
He is something other, someone new.
And what we do now, the way that we treat him,
that is who he will become.
I know you still care about him.
I do.
That does not mean I should.
Michael, he's been stripped of his badge.
He'll never fly for Starfleet again.
He'll be lucky if he doesn't end up in a lab or a cell.
What kind of future can he have?
Say what you have to say, even if it's good-bye.
Lieutenant Stamets, your stop.
Locked and loaded, Admiral.
Detmer, put her into geostationary orbit.
Locking in
approximately 800 kilometers above the moon's surface.
STAMETS: Copy that.
Initiating mycelial- ejection protocol.
Engaging agri-transport boosters.
*
Status, Lieutenant Stamets.
STAMETS: Sensors from the terraforming field
show root structures forming in zones 922
and 5041.
Ready the EM darts.
TILLY: Darts calibrated.
Fire.
(door whooshes open)
Come on, kiddos.
Come on.
*
COMPUTER: Spore generation at four percent.
Eight percent.
Twelve percent.
Fifteen percent.
Nineteen percent.
Twenty-two percent.
Twenty-seven percent.
CORNWELL: I would congratulate you, Lieutenant,
but I'm afraid the work has just begun.
COMPUTER: Forty-seven percent.
Fifty-two percent.
(door whooshes open)
I don't know where to start.
I do.
I'm sorry.
I know there's no way I can prove this to you,
but Voq, he's gone.
I believe you.
Was there ever really an Ash Tyler?
And did he love me?
Because I loved him.
You lied to me.
You said that if it got to be too much,
that if you couldn't handle it,
you would come to me.
And it did.
And you didn't.
And that wasn't Voq, that was you.
Tyler.
Who the hell is Tyler?
You think I know anymore?
You think I have any idea who I am now, where I belong?
This isn't about a lie.
This is about you looking for an excuse to end it.
"Excuse"?
My crewmates have been kinder than they need to be.
Why are you, the person who knows me best,
so quick to turn your back?
Stop. I want you to admit it.
Admit that you can't do this anymore
because you finally went there with someone
and things got complicated.
Because your parents were killed by Klingons
and you fell in love with one.
(exhales)
Maybe you're right.
I know in my head
that you couldn't be responsible for Voq's actions...
...but I felt your hands
around my neck.
And I looked into your eyes
and I saw how much you wanted to kill me.
The man that I love wanted me dead.
And no matter how hard I try,
when I look at you now,
I see Voq's eyes.
I see him.
Your crew may have put it behind them, but I can't.
I shouldn't be here.
I should be an activated Klingon spy,
behind bars... or dead.
Michael, the reason it didn't take,
the reason L'Rell couldn't get through to me, that was you.
Did Ash Tyler love you?
Hell yes, he did.
And I can't find my way back without you.
(sighs)
We created something beautiful today
in a desolate wasteland
that had never seen life.
After the Battle of the Binary Stars...
I was so lost.
I had to sit with myself.
I had to work through it.
I had to crawl my way back.
I'm still not there, but...
I'm trying.
That kind of work...
reclaiming life...
it's punishing...
and it's relentless.
And it's solitary.
No, I...
Ash.
It's not easy...
letting you go.
(sniffles)
(sighs)
CORNWELL: The mycelial bloom was successful.
A spore harvest is underway.
Then the jump to Qo'noS will be possible?
Yes. Imminently.
The Federation Council has been briefed
on our newly acquired intelligence from the Terran.
Despite the extraordinary risk,
all are agreed that we have no choice but to proceed.
Our very existence hangs in the balance.
Then it's time.
Open a shipwide channel.
We have all mourned
the enormous loss of life due to this war.
The acts of violence committed against us are the acts of a foe
without reason, without honor.
And they will not stop coming after us in the hopes
of destroying everything that we hold dear.
These are desperate times
and they call on us to do more than merely protect our people,
defend our borders.
I stand before you with a mission.
At 2100 hours, the USS Discovery
will jump for the Klingon homeworld
in order to map its surface
and isolate vulnerabilities
and military targets.
This brave team
will be the first to visit
this inhospitable planet
since Captain Archer and the crew
of the Enterprise NX-01,
nearly 100 years ago.
So allow me to introduce you
to the person who will chart your course to Qo'noS.
Captain Philippa Georgiou.
Thank you.
CORNWELL: Though long presumed dead,
Captain Georgiou
was recently rescued
in a highly classified raid
of a Klingon prison vessel.
She was transported aboard Discovery
with my personal retinue.
The mission to Qo'noS is a perilous expedition.
And Starfleet is confident
that Captain Georgiou
is uniquely qualified to get you there
and to do what needs to be done.
Specialist Burnham,
I trust that this will be an auspicious reunion,
despite our history.
Now take your station.
Yes... Captain.
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