Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Previously on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds...

My sacrifice will save the lives

of those I care most about.

-It's time for me to go. I've let something out.

It's your emotions. I can't control it.

Mr. Kirk, clean your mess.

T'Pring and I have decided to take time apart.

I am conflicted

because I have feelings for someone else.

I don't want to suppress this one any longer.

Those events were never supposed to happen

and you were never meant to be aware of them.

I have to insist that you not share

any of what you experienced from this time.

Buy me a drink next time we're on starbase together.

That, uh, sounds lovely.

The people you love the most can cause you the most pain,

but it's the people you love that can mend your heart

when you feel broken.

Communications Officer's Log, stardate 2394.8.

Enterprise has been sent to Bannon's Nebula,

on the edge of explored space.

I've seen a lot of nebulas, but this one's special.

It's a stellar nursery,

the birthplace of new stars.

But that's not why we're here.

The nursery is also full of deuterium-- starship fuel.

Starfleet's building an outpost here to collect and refine it,

if they can ever get it working.

Amazing to think that a million years from now,

those brand-new stars will shine down

on explorers just like us,

but this place will look entirely different by then.

Uhura. You awake there, Ensign?

My eyes are technically open, Captain.

Just didn't get much sleep last night.

Or the last ten.

Oh. Well, I appreciate all the work you've put into

coordinating this mission,

but you generally only want to burn the candle at one end.

I'll take that under advisement.

The crew of the refinery sends their greetings

and they're waiting for our engineering details.

Have Chief Kyle stand by to initiate transport.

I hear congratulations are in order, Fleet Captain.

-Stop it. -Fleet Captain?

I've been given command of the refinery and the Farragut,

just until we get the station on line.

Well, it's the shiniest gas station I've ever seen.

Well, it's not just a gas station, Lieutenant.

It's right at the edge of the frontier.

It unlocks half the quadrant.

It'll be the jumping-off point

for the next great age of exploration.

Oh, good, I was afraid I'd miss the speech.

Well, I started earlier but Uhura fell asleep.

I assumed Starfleet's primary motivation

was the nebula's proximity to Gorn space.

Sadly, you're probably right.

Their presence is growing. This will help us counter it.

Which is why the refinery needs to be finished

-as soon as possible. While the refinery is off-line,

Enterprise's collectors are operational,

though the process may be slower.

It would be logical to use this opportunity to refuel ourselves.

My thoughts exactly, Mr. Spock.

Ortegas, find us a dense pocket of deuterium and do some laps.

Rip some doughnuts through the gas cloud, aye, sir.

Nice and slow, we don't want to use more fuel than we collect.

Activating Bussard collectors.

-Refueling underway, Captain. -

- -[chatter continues indistinctly]

Sorry to interrupt, Captain. I'm receiving a signal.

On speakers.

Any time, Ensign.

Uh...

-It's gone. -Can you play back the recording?

I can't find it, sir.

It was there, Captain.

-It's probably just a glitch... -I'll run a full diagnostic

on the communication system.

First, disable the subspace antenna.

Check for a charge on the EPS manifold

before disconnecting this tap.

Perfect.

-Now, if there's -

any residual ionization,

-here is where you'll find it. -Uh,

what the hell

-are you doing inside my nacelle? -Sorry.

I am recalibrating the communications array.

The antenna assembly goes through the nacelles.

I like to be thorough, and I've asked for so many

of these re calibrations that eventually Hemmer got annoyed

and said it would be easier to show me how to do it myself.

You know, "teach a cadet to fish."

So we made a recording.

Hemmer was our chief engineer, before he...

I know. He was one of my best students.

I'm sorry, I just said that because he's dead.

Actually, he was just okay.

But look-- look what he made of himself.

Right.

Anyway, I'm almost done.

How come you never talked to me before?

Uh, I'm... I'm sure I have.

Oh, no.

-No, no. -Oh.

I'm sorry.

I've just been busy, I guess.

Welcome to the Enterprise.

...here is where you'll find i.

Now, what do you do next?

I don't know.

I won't let you blow up the ship, I promise.

-Not that! -

-Important lesson: be less gullible. -Hey!

Back to work.

Let's start by turning down the gain on the subspace antenna...

Between us and the bulkhead,

the whole project's been a fiasco.

The refinery was supposed to be on line two months ago.

What's slowing it down?

"Organizational difficulties"

was the polite term that Starfleet used.

Their previous superintendent got shipped back to Earth,

which is why they could really use your version of...

managerial fervor?

Mm! Nothing beats cleaning up somebody else's mess.

[indistinct announcement over P.A.]

Space.

The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.

Its five-year mission:

to explore strange new worlds..

...to seek out new life

and new civilizations,

to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Based on what you heard and saw,

and the elevated readings from your visual cortex,

I'd say it's pretty clear you were hallucinating.

You said you had just watched a video of Hemmer.

His death was fresh in your mind.

Starfleet officers aren't supposed to

randomly hallucinate.

You didn't do anything wrong.

And there was nothing random about it.

While working in the nacelle you were exposed

to a small amount of refined deuterium,

which can be dangerous.

You have a mild case of deuterium poisoning.

And that can cause terrifying hallucinations?

It can.

You could also experience headaches,

blurred vision, nausea.

This should help with the symptoms.

But there is something else here.

Your serotonin and cortisol levels.

You haven't been sleeping.

Oh.

It's been a busy...

year.

Exhaustion can exacerbate

the effects of deuterium poisoning.

You need to rest.

How am I supposed to sleep after what I just saw?

I empathize.

But I also know a stubborn patient when I see one.

You aren't going back on duty

until I'm satisfied you've slept.

Head to Deck Seven,

get to work stabilizing the life-support grid.

Aye, sir.

It's not as bad as it looks.

It's way worse.

The central refining and storage systems

all seem to be in good shape.

Have you looked at the maintenance logs?

Because you get the feeling that this place has been

breaking down a lot faster

than the crew is able to fix it.

Luckily, we have three crews now.

Enterprise and Farragut's teams can mop up the problem systems

while the station's teams get the refinery running.

Yes. But if there is

an underlying issue,

and it smells like there is,

we ought to figure that out.

I typically don't base my decision-making

off of feelings and smells.

Oh.

Any underlying issues will become clear as we work.

Mm. Aye aye, Commander.

Hello?

-Sam. -Jimmy.

Welcome to the Enterprise.

Hell of a ship.

And they let you work here?

What can I say? Captain Pike

asked for the more handsome Kirk brother.