Star Trek: Discovery

Last season on Star Trek Discovery:

Seven hundred years after we left, dilithium supplies dried up.

The Federation tried alternative warp-drive designs,

but none proved reliable. Then came the Burn.

No one knows how or why it happened.

But in an instant, all dilithium went inert.

Any ship with an active warp core detonated.

The Federation as we know it disappeared overnight.

This is where the Burn started.

I'm reading there is dilithium dispersed throughout this planet.

Federation could use that news right now.

There's a signal coming from the center of the nebula.

The message is over a hundred years old.

This is Dr. Issa of the KSF Khi'eth.

Those marks on Dr. Issa's head... She was pregnant.

We have come to rescue the child.

Su'Kal is his name.

We may have found the source of the Burn.

You are no longer alone.

Saru has asked for time to consider his next steps.

He'll return to Kaminar to help Su'Kal build a new life.

- This is home now. - No. Kwejian is home.

I really liked seeing Kwejian.

I really liked being there with you.

- Have you spoken with Saru? - Yes, sir, I have, but...

He wants you to captain Discovery. I do too.

So many worlds have been struggling since the Burn.

We found a way to mine the dilithium on that planet.

You and your crew can bring it to them.

You can bring them hope, Commander Burnham.

They have waited long enough, and I think, so have you.

Everybody ready?

Yes, captain.

Let's fly.

It is an honor to be the first visitors

your planet has received since the Burn.

On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, we thank you.

We've been sent to convey their desire

to reconnect with your great civilization

and to raise the possibility of sharing resources

and technology in the future.

It's tradition to give a gift as a means of establishing trust.

So as a gesture of goodwill, we have dilithium on our ship,

and we'd be pleased to offer it to you,

as we have done with many other worlds.

No strings attached.

I'm sorry, that's an idiom, not a non-literal...

We're familiar.

Perhaps we should speak plainly.

Forego the niceties of politics.

- Oh, there's been a misunderstanding... - No misunderstanding.

You brought something you think we need

along with the tantalizing offer

to help yourselves to our technological bounty,

all for the low, low price of "no strings attached."

I'm pretty sure she said the words "possibility" and "share,"

but other than that...

Book.

I am aware that in the decades leading up to the Burn,

your relationship with the Federation was strained.

But you've changed.

Things are different now. We can trust you.

We scanned your ship. You brought a third life form to our planet.

Yeah, that's Grudge.

Grudge.

Felis catus, a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal.

You claim to understand our culture, yet bring a carnivore to our world?

Domestic. I said domestic.

She's my pet. She lives on my ship.

I feed her, love her, give her cat treats.

- Is she grateful? - No.

- No. In no way. - Bad attitude.

- Yet you expect us to be. - No. Oh, no, no, no.

- You came to make pets of us? - We haven't come to make you anything.

- Let me explain. She's a queen. - She's a queen.

- You hold a monarch captive? - Oh, no, no, no.

Emperor Lee'U, we have the utmost respect for you...

- This is bad. This is really bad. - Do your empathy thing.

- My what? - Your empathy thing, right now.

- I brought you here to connect with them. - I don't think they want to.

You will take us to your ship.

We will free the queen.

- Oh. - Yep, time to go.

They're not gonna be happy seeing a massive starship.

- They're not going to. - What?

Wouldn't fit. I'm sending the little guy.

- It'll be here in time? - About to find out.

Ugh! Why is there always a cliff?

Why say "carnivore" to the butterfly people?

They are not butterfly people. Why do you even have a pet?

- Why not have a hologram goldfish? - I had one. Grudge ate it.

Who eats a hologram?

The butterflies are shooting us. Bring up weapons system.

No! Do not fire back. This is a diplomatic mission.

Then I'm beaming us out.

- No, we have to give them dilithium. - They don't want it.

If we leave now, they will never trust the Federation again.

- Or we'll come back. - Why haven't they hit us?

- What? - The Alshain.

- They should've hit us by now. - And that's a problem?

Captain, sensors have you moving erratically.

- Everything okay? - Yep. Just negotiating.

About to hit a tree! Hang on!

"Don't fire back," she says.

They're having trouble navigating.

Still able to shoot at us.

Great, maybe we'll live long enough to pet my hostage again.

That's it.

- It's their satellites. - You're not explaining, are you?

- Rhys, some help. - Want me to send a team?

- No. It's a science problem. - Is this a chase?

Are you in a chase?

The Alshain can't stay on course in flight.

- We need to get their satellites working. - Aye, captain. We'll figure it out.

Commander Stamets?

Unless the Alshain are hitting the Romulan whiskey, which I doubt,

- the problem has to be... - The planet's magnetic poles.

They started shifting 300 years ago. They're now 14-degrees west

of where they'd been for thousands of years.

Alshain use the magnetic fields to navigate during flight.

- Like birds? - Did you know birds are born

with a mineral called magnetite

that helps determine the magnetic field to find north?

They'd have developed technology to help compensate.

Captain was right.

The dead satellites...

Geomagnetic compensators.

Nice work, both of you.

Jovar Tal loved birds, so...

All right, what's with the compensators? Why aren't they working?

They use dilithium to stabilize power.

I'm not getting dilithium signatures. They're out.

- Captain Burnham... - Got it.

Send DOTs with enough dilithium to restart the array.

Monumentally shitty idea.

- You want them to catch us? - We have to earn their trust.

More Alshain coming.

- We can give you covering fire... - Do not fire, we've got this.

No, Michael, we do not.

- We're done. I'm beaming us out. - We can't.

- Not every moment is a victory. - Compensators re-initialized.

- You were saying? - Congratulations.

Now they can shoot right at us. Can we go now?

You tell me.

Now.

You're welcome.

Captain, the emperor is hailing us.

Thank you, Lieutenant Christopher. Put him through.

You did not experience a pleasant visit, Captain Burnham.

- One way of putting it. - Then may I inquire:

Why still give us your dilithium?

Because we're the Federation. It's what we do.

If you need anything else, we're here.

No strings attached.

That was a hell of a thing.

Thanks, everyone.

All right.

Let's fly.

The Federation's gift of dilithium can take us back to the stars.

Or it can benefit our citizens in their daily lives here on Kaminar.

The danger of travel is too great.

And the Burn cannot happen again, now that I have left the dilithium planet.

How can you be sure?

There is always a risk.

We cannot live in fear.

Great Elder, you have yet to share your perspective.

We would value your words immensely.

Su'Kal is correct: There is no danger of another Burn.

The science is clear in that regard.

I have marveled these five months on Kaminar.

Past generations of our species lived in fear and hatred.

We live now together, in communion.

And while at times we may struggle,

I believe there is much we can share with other worlds.

Our duty is to our home, is it not?

If you define Kaminar alone as home,

it is, of course.

But consider this.

Here, we live, love,

grow food in the light of our sun.

However...

it is not our sun.

We share it with six other planets in our solar system.

A system which is one of many in a shared galaxy.

Beyond our galaxy...

space.

In truth, we are on an island together.

We must ask ourselves:

Do we honor our interconnection,

or do we curl inward like a leaf pulled from its tree?

After the Burn, that is what many chose.

But this is a new era. Is it not?

If you tell me you've made a dress uniform for Grudge, I'll stay.

Almost. I'd almost stay.

No, you shouldn't miss your nephew's Ikhu Zhen ceremony.

A boy only becomes a man once.

And this is a big deal, right?

Starfleet Academy reopening after 125 years.

You introducing the president...

which you're not excited about.