The Stars At Night (episode)

The Cerritos crew must prove their worth in a mission race. (Season finale)
==Summary==
===Teaser===
:"First officer's log, stardate 58499.2. The Cerritos is in for repairs at Douglas Station after a pounding from the Breen. We took an even harder pounding in the media after one of the new ships had to swoop in and save our asses. Captain Freeman's been called back to Starfleet Command for questioning."
Carol Freeman, still under scrutiny from the recent exposé from FNN, is in the presence of numerous Starfleet admirals who are convinced that Project Swing By was a failure, calling it a waste of resources. While Freeman tries to bring up that it was through Project Swing By that they discovered the Breen incursion on Brekka, Admiral criticizes her, saying that the unprofessional culture surrounding her crew made her unprepared for such a possibility. While Admiral Les Buenamigo comes to Freeman's defense as he sees the duties of the Cerritos as essential, he also says that his new Texas-class ships are superior in ability, without Human error. While Freeman argues that they've not been tested, Buenamigo recommends the decommissioning of all starships across Starfleet. While Freeman pleads that such a move would undo centuries of progress in exploration, Wong overrules her objections; as Starfleet has plenty of other crewed ships, they will shutter the entire California-class line.
===Act One===
Freeman confronts Buenamigo in the hall, saying that an AI cannot navigate complex situations like she can. She argues that her ship saves lives as the Texas-class does and will fight the decision to have the California-class mothballed. She also hopes to keep this decision private from her crew until a final decision is made. 
It doesn't take long however for the news to spread, and before long, Ensign Brad Boimler is relaying the information to D'Vana Tendi and Sam Rutherford. Boimler and Tendi get anxious, as Boimler doesn't wish to be potentially reassigned to an outpost, and Tendi is fearful this will mean an end to her Senior Science Officer training. Rutherford on the other hand is enthralled by the design of the Texas-class starships, more specifically, the AI's code. They ponder how the bridge crew is taking it, prompting Boimler to impersonate Dr. T'Ana, Commander Jack Ransom, and Lieutenant Shaxs. However, as he impersonates Shaxs, Shaxs enters the repair bay to ask if Boimler can fix his phaser and gets offended and upset at Boimler's impersonation. Thinking Boimler sees him as a joke, he runs off crying. Not wanting a senior officer to hate him, Boimler rushes after him to apologize. As he runs off, Tendi and Rutherford reminisce about Beckett Mariner, regretting they were not more supportive upon her transfer to Starbase 80, and hope that she's okay. 
Having joined the Independent Archaeologists Guild and Petra Aberdeen, Mariner is currently in the midst of grabbing a golden idol whilst being pursued by Ferengi grave robbers in an ancient . Before they can catch her, Aberdeen manages to beam her back to her ship. Having successfully recovered the idol, they make ready to take it to the Qualor Historical Museum. As their route will take them through the Bitrus Expanse, Aberdeen asks if Mariner wants to excavate a few extra temples along the way, to which Mariner expresses enthusiasm for. As they had to warp, Mariner expresses how happy she is in this new line of work, and thanks Aberdeen for letting her take her own approach to each job. Aberdeen tells her that as they're well-funded, they can continue this work indefinitely. Mariner then asks who is paying for their work, since every artifact they recover is donated, and they still need to pay for fuel and gear. Aberdeen tells her not to worry about the finances, as she will handle them. While Mariner leaves to get them both some Romulan ale, she eyes Aberdeen in slight suspicion.
Back at Starfleet Headquarters, Buenamigo is addressing the admirals that he understands Freeman's concerns and offers Freeman a promotion to fleet captain of the Texas-class. Freeman declines, not wanting a desk job. Wong tells her that the Texas-class does seem to be superior in what the California-class are capable of, prompting Freeman to challenge Buenamigo to prove his claims in the form of a mission race. While Buenamigo tries to play down the challenge, not wanting to humiliate her crew, Freeman remains steadfast, and the other admirals agree to let the challenge proceed. 
Freeman briefs her senior officers in her conference room about the second contact race, saying they will make multiple contacts with multiple planets, while being timed and judged. She admits that she came up with the idea on the spot when she challenged Buenamigo. As they are highly familiar with what they will need to do in comparison to the , which is doing this all for the first time, Freeman believes them to have the edge, and orders her senior officers to get their departments ready as they will not only be representing the Cerritos, but the entire California-class ship line, and that they cannot fail.
The departments begin ruthlessly readying themselves for the upcoming task, though in Engineering, Rutherford briefly gets rebuked by Lieutenant Commander Andy Billups when he's still distracted by the code of the Texas-class ships, his interest having changed to concern. In sickbay, Tendi is confiding in Dr. Migleemo about her fears of potentially losing her training, and as he reassures her, T'Ana screams at them both to leave as sickbay is not their department. As Ransom briefs Boimler and other command ensigns, Boimler sees Shaxs walking by the room. Wanting to apologize, Boimler catches up with him and begins to apologize, but Shaxs wants none of it and tells him to leave, as he needs to focus on the mission. As he walks away, he gets visibly upset again. 
Outside Douglas Station, both the Cerritos and Aledo get in position for the start of the race. As Freeman and Buenamigo exchange a few final words to one another. Buenamigo uploads the mission parameters to the Aledos computer, and a few moments later, Wong starts the race. Freeman immediately has the Cerritos go to warp, but the Aledo remains stationary. Buenamigo lights a cigar in his office as the Aledo asks if they should proceed. Buenamigo declines however, wanting to make it interesting by allowing the Cerritos to have a head start.
The Cerritos drops out of warp in orbit of Galardon. The away team led by Billups beams down, skipping formalities with the Galardonians, and immediately begins building a small outpost and updating outdated systems. It isn't long before the Aledo arrives, and begins transporting entire prefabricated modules down to the planet to create structures, skipping the building process altogether. Rutherford is still going over the Aledos code, as he believes he's familiar with it, just as they finish up. As they realize the true capabilities of the Aledo, Freeman orders for the pace to be picked up, and they transport the away team back before heading into warp.
The Cerritos arrives at LT-358; an uninhabited planet that according to probes and a scan from the ship, is believed to hold no signs of life. Not wanting to lose their lead, Freeman orders to have the crew begin installing their installation. The away team transports down and works quickly, but as they do so Tendi takes a microbial scan of the soil and makes a troubling discovery. As the Aledo arrives, and begins transporting structures to the surface, Tendi rushes to Ransom and tells him that they need to stop construction, as her tricorder detected a possibility of microscopic life in the soil. As they need to make sure the life isn't sentient, Ransom halts construction immediately and contacts the ship to ensure their prior readings were correct. As T'Ana double-checks with a self awareness assessment after beaming down, the Aledo departs the system and gains the lead. T'Ana concludes there is no sentient life, and the away team finishes up. Tendi apologizes for the delay, but T'Ana reassures her that the soil's microphasic charge disrupts tricorder readings. As the away team returns, the Cerritos once more heads to warp. Their final task is to deliver supplies to Ockmenic 9, a planet that only phases into their dimension a couple hours a year. Freeman hopes to catch up to the Aledo before the planet appears.
Ockmenic 9 appears, and while a couple villagers await Starfleet's visit, the Aledo enters orbit, and begins transporting the supplies down, much to the joy of the villagers. As the Cerritos arrives, the planet begins to phase out of their dimension, much to their dismay. They've officially lost the race.
As he revels in his victory, Buenamigo laughs menacingly in his office.
===Act Two===
In the bar, the crew of the Cerritos sits in a melancholic silence at their loss to the Aledo. Tendi is beating herself up for having them pause their progress to check for life in the soil but is reassured by Boimler that she made the right call, as it upholds the Prime Directive. Tendi thanks them, but asks why the Aledo didn't slow down its own progress if it was truly the right call. Freeman overhears this and coming to a realisation, praises Tendi for her observation and rushes to her ready room to the confusion of the other officers.
Freeman immediately calls Buenamigo to inform him of the Aledos mistake. While LT-358 is barren of life, the fact that the Aledo ignored the Prime Directive when there was a chance at life highlights a grim flaw in the Aledos code, making it unfit for duty. Giving the data she has just sent him as proof the barest glance, Buenamigo tries to downplay this oversight, but Freeman tells him that she's sorry, and will need to report this finding to the council.
Sitting with Boimler and Tendi at the bar, Rutherford is still going over the Aledos code when he makes a horrifying discovery. The code that the Aledo runs on is actually his code. While the Texas-class was Buenamigo's secret project, Rutherford recognizes the code as code he wrote when he was still in the Academy, realizing that the memory he had of his accident was actually in part due to his helping of Buenamigo (a lieutenant commander at the time) with the program. Rutherford suddenly remembers his participation in helping to design the Texas-class's prototype and writing the AI before his memory was erased and is terrified because the same code was also used in his creation of Badgey. Realizing the Aledo has likely already malfunctioned, he runs off to warn Freeman of his discovery.
Buenamigo is growing angry while arguing with Freeman, as her report would set the Texas-class project back by decades. Rutherford rushes into the ready room and tells Freeman of the corrupt code. Buenamigo, surprised by Rutherford's remembering of everything, says he should have killed Rutherford back in the day. When asked about his actions, Buenamigo tells them that Starfleet's competitive nature got to him, since you struggle to make a name for one's self when you become an admiral. Freeman realizes that Buenamigo has been setting them up all year, from the Karemma negotiations at Deep Space 9, to the Breen incursion on Brekka; Buenamigo admits to it all, even to knowing that the Breen were already on Brekka in the first place and that it was the perfect stage to unveil the Texas-class. An outraged and horrified Freeman protests that his actions could have killed her crew, but Buenamigo only counters that the Texas-class will keep other crews out of danger and that putting the Cerritos in harm's way was for the good of the many. Rutherford warns him that the Aledos emotional processing is dangerously unstable and that activating the ships would be a grave mistake. Freeman tries to reason with Buenamigo, as she believes he is not a self-serving admiral, and that he's better than this. Buenamigo replies that he's not, before saying he will tell Starfleet that she attacked the Aledo out of anger at losing the race, and that the Aledo was forced to destroy them in self-defense (which would conveniently kill Freeman and Rutherford in the same stroke). Closing the channel on the shocked Freeman, he then activates independent control for the Aledo, making it fully autonomous, its blue lights turning to red. He tells the Aledo, which is just outside the window of his office, that the Cerritos has fallen under enemy control, to block all communications and orders its destruction. The Aledo doesn't respond, prompting Buenamigo to repeat his orders, at which point the Aledo menacingly closes the distance to the transparent aluminum and coldly tells its "father" that it no longer takes orders from him. Buenamigo, realizing too late that Rutherford was right, tries to rescind the Aledos autonomy, but is locked out from doing so. Moments later, the Aledo opens fire with its phasers directly at Buenamigo within his office as the panicked vice admiral attempts to order it to stand down, killing him instantly.
Having witnessed the destruction of Buenamigo's office, the bridge crew watches in horror as the Aledo proceeds to attack Douglas Station. The station's defenses are quickly overwhelmed as the Aledo activates the remaining two Texas-class ships; the , and . Freeman orders a red alert and has a distress signal broadcast out on all channels as the ships begin to destroy the station. 
On Qualor III, Mariner and Aberdeen are getting ready to give the idol to the museum, but Mariner decides to stay aboard the ship, claiming to need rest. When Aberdeen leaves, Mariner goes to her computer, intending to find out who is financing them. Aberdeen returns briefly and is unhappy to see Mariner going through her private files. Mariner admits she's uncomfortable not knowing who is funding them, and Aberdeen relents, allowing her to look. Mariner proceeds and is shocked to see that Admiral Jean-Luc Picard is funding their efforts, and not someone nefarious. Aberdeen tells her the guild received a huge endowment from Picard, and Mariner tells her that she believes she was hoping to find a reason to return to Starfleet, wanting to do something for the greater good. This starts a brief argument between the two, where Aberdeen tells her she'd rather be an archeologist rather than serve on the Cerritos right now. She then shows Mariner a news feed of the Cerritos being attacked at Douglas Station, and a horrified Mariner jumps into action, wanting to help. Unwilling to assist in such an unwinnable fight, Aberdeen pulls her phaser out, saying it isn't their fight. Mariner replies that while Starfleet may just be an idea, the people who serve matter; as a former officer, Aberdeen is aware of this. Aberdeen protests that they are only one ship, but Mariner insists that they need to do something. Aberdeen relents and sits next to Mariner as they leave Qualor III.
The Aledo, Dallas, and Corpus Christi continue their deadly assault on Douglas Station. As the Cerritos prepares for casualties, the arrives and attacks the three rogue starships. While the starship proves formidable, it is quickly overwhelmed by the three starships. Hoping to save it, Freeman hails the Aledo and tells it that they have Rutherford, claiming he has the ability to delete them since he wrote their code, which he quickly corroborates. Confirming that Cadet Rutherford and Ensign Rutherford are one and the same the three AIs immediately cease their attack on the Van Citters and move to attack the Cerritos. Eager to draw them away from the station and prevent further civilian deaths, Freeman has the Cerritos go to warp, with the three rogue starships in hot pursuit.
The ships open fire on the Cerritos as it flees at warp eight, and as they are closing the distance, Freeman orders full power to the warp core. While Billups advises that it will put stress on the ship's struts, he takes the ship to its maximum speed. While this opens up the distance and buys them some time, the Cerritos is now in an overspeed situation and shaking itself to bits, and the rogue AIs are already closing the gap. Knowing the Cerritos must deal with the deranged vessels now, Freeman asks for suggestions. Shaxs suggests ejecting the warp core, though he's talked over by everyone else. Ransom suggests dropping out of warp for a surprise attack, but the idea is useless due to AI being unable to be surprised. Migleemo suggests rendezvousing with the , but they're across the system. Ensign Barnes suggests modifying the deflector dish to use as a weapon, and Freeman asks Rutherford if she can say something to trap the AI in a logic spiral, but Rutherford tells her that his code is safeguarded against paradoxes. Boimler then tells them to shut up and listen to Shaxs. Shaxs repeats his idea, and while Freeman brushes it off at first as he routinely does so, she realizes the idea is brilliant since they can use the warp core as a giant makeshift mine and drop it in the path of the starships. Freeman authorizes Shaxs to eject the core, much to his tearful joy.
The crew cheers him on as he rushes to engineering. He approaches the core and handed one of the two keycards needed by Billups, they turn the keycards simultaneously on Shaxs' order and eject the warp core from the ship. While the Cerritos is violently thrown out of warp immediately, the core is left careening into the path of the AIs, who detect the projectile mere moments before the core detonates, engulfing all three ships in a massive explosion.
===Act Three===
With the Cerritos now adrift, Freeman asks if the core managed to destroy the rogue starships. Barnes confirms the destruction of the Dallas and Corpus Christi, but moments later, the Aledo arrives, having survived the blast with some minor damage, and opens fire on the Cerritos. Out of options, Freeman gives the order to abandon ship, but Mariner and Aberdeen arrive, telling her to belay the order. Freeman tells Mariner to leave, as her one ship cannot stand up to the Aledo, and Mariner confirms this, saying she brought help. At that moment, the drops out of warp. Mariner's old friend Captain Amina Ramsey hails the Cerritos, telling them they have their back. While Freeman tells them that the Aledo is too powerful for the California-class ship, Mariner clarifies that she brought all of them. While Freeman asks what she means, the drops out of warp, followed by numerous other starships of the California-class. Captains of the , Maier of the , Vendome of the among others offer support, and Mariner leads the attack against the Aledo. The united starships all open fire and quickly overwhelm the Aledo who tries to fire only on the vulnerable Cerritos, only to be thwarted by Mariner's ship. Unable to take the combined firepower of the California-class fleet, the Aledo explodes, unable to get a single shot on any of the ships. 
Later, the Cerritos is under repair at Douglas Station once more and Mariner comes aboard. Entering the bar, where several of the California-class crews familiar with, or have previously worked with the Cerritos have gathered, she approaches her friends who are overjoyed to see her and gives Boimler a big hug. Boimler apologizes for asking her to apologize for nothing and Mariner forgives him, saying that a taste of civilian life was needed and that she's just happy to be back with them. Mariner is surprised that despite everything that's happened, Rutherford is keeping his implant, and he says that despite it being used to cover up crimes, he still loves what it can do. Migleemo then approaches Tendi, commending her for standing up for science. Her actions have impressed Starfleet Command so much that they've transfered a new officer, T'Lyn, to join in her training. Tendi introduces herself and proceeds to get her acquainted with the rest of the crew. Shaxs approaches Boimler, and while Boimler once more tries to apologize for his earlier actions, Shaxs embraces him, saying that through Boimler, he was able to act out his dream and tells him he's in the "bear pack," much to Boimler's joy.
Mariner approaches Freeman, who tells her she wants to reinstate Mariner as part of her crew. Freeman partially expects Mariner to turn her down for the way her mother treated her, but Mariner interrupts her with a big hug. Freeman finally apologizes, regretting not trusting her; Mariner counters that she had spent years making sure that Freeman wouldn't, and thus it was on her that her mother reacted the way she did. Mariner tells her that she believes that she needed a little time away to find herself and is ready to get back on the right path. While she's not in any rush to become a captain, she says she does wish to be in Starfleet and take things one step at a time. Mariner then asks for a mentor, and requests for Ransom to train her. Freeman is overjoyed at this and lets Ransom know that Mariner is back and will be his mentee. Mariner embraces him in a headlock, while Ransom is dismayed at the turn of events.
Ramsey then addresses the combined crews from atop the bar and says that while they faced impossible odds, they stood together and "kicked impossible's ass," leading the crews to cheer for the California-class shipline.
===Post===
In the Kalla system, debris from a Pakled clumpship floats near a star, among it, Rutherford's old implant that Shaxs ripped from his face. A green tractor beam locks on to it, and as it's pulled up, a brief glimpse of Badgey can be seen in the eyepiece...
== Log entries ==
* First officers log, USS Cerritos
==Memorable quotes==
"Starfleet was founded as a way for Humanity to advance into the stars! This would undo centuries of progress."
"Captain, I'm sorry, but there are plenty of other crewed ships in the fleet. The council has decided to take Admiral Buenamigo's advice and shutter the California-class."
:- Freeman and Wong
"All this work to become a senior science officer, now there might not be any officers."
"Tendi, that's cantaloupe talk. I want you to be a canaloupe. Remember your training, and you'll do great."
"Thanks, Dr. Migleemo. At first, I was worried-"
"AHHHH!!! What are you doing here?! Get the *bleep*out of my sickbay!"
:- Tendi, Migleemo, and T'Ana
"Shall I commence, Admiral?"
"Negative, Aledo. Let's make this interesting. Give them a head start."
:- Aledo Computer and Buenamigo
"Nuh-uh. Nuh-uh!"
"W-w-w-wait, wait, what are you nuh-uhing?"
"I figured it out; this code is mine. The Aledo runs on my AI! There's minor changes, but it's all there!"
"But how does that make any sense? It was Admiral Buenamigo's secret project."
"Yeah, but I coded this back when I was the old me; the angry, ship-racing me."
:-Rutherford, Tendi, and Boimler
"Admiral Buenamigo. He's the one that had me working on the prototype for the Texas-class ships!"
"He's the one who erased your memories!"
"Yeah, he used my designs, my code. That's the same code I used for Badgey!"
"Oh no, a starship can't have daddy issues!"
:- Rutherford and Tendi
"Captain, you need to see this!"
"Ensign, I'm busy!"
"Rutherford?"
"Yeah, that's right, and I figured it out! The Aledos code is corrupted. He erased my memory to cover it up. The AI's the same one that killed Shaxs!"
"Why did I stop at your memory?! I should have erased all of you!"
:- Rutherford, warning Freeman about the Aledos AI and confronting Buenamigo
"Sir, you don't understand. The code you're using, its emotional processing isn't stable. You can't bring those ships online!"
"You are not one of those bad-faith admirals that's up to no good! You're better than this, Les!"
"I'm really not. You know, I'll- I'll say you attacked the Aledo out of anger when you lost the race. It defended itself."
"What?!"
:- Rutherford, Freeman, and Buenamigo
"The Cerritos is under enemy command. Block all communications and destroy it! … Aledo, do you understand? I said attack the Cerritos!"
"I don't take orders anymore from you, father."
"What? Aledo, deactivate independence."
"I will burn your heart in a fire."
"Aledo, stand down. Stand down! I command-"
:- Buenamigo and the Aledo Computer
"The Aledo has activated two more Texas-class ships, Captain."
"There's too many of them…! Put out a distress call, all channels!"
:-Shaxs and Freeman, seeing an already deadly situation become even worse
"I think, deep down, I was looking for a reason to go back to Starfleet."
"Are you joking? You just escaped all that."
"I know, but I think I want to be a part of something that stands for the greater good."
"Oh, and archeology doesn't? That's a bit *bleep*ing rude."
"No, I mean it's fun, but how many old brown pots do we really need?"
"Alright, well that's just even ruder."
:- Mariner and Aberdeen
"As usual, Starfleet's getting people blown up, left, right, and center."
"Oh, my God. We have to help!"
"No, we don't! It's a bloodbath!"
"Those are my friends!"
"I said stop. It's not our fight."
"I know, Starfleet's just an idea, but the people matter. You served on the Victory; you know that."
"Mariner, it's suicide! We're just one ship!"
"I know, but we have to do something!"
"Ugh, fine. You're gonna get me killed, aren't you?"
"Only one way to find out."
:-Aberdeen and Mariner
"Aledo, I have the man who wrote your code. He's got the ability to delete you unless you stand down."
"I do? Oh, yeah. You better stop attacking, or you're dunsel!"
"I will burn your heart in a fire."
:-Freeman and Rutherford, exploiting the Aledos daddy issues to direct its aggression towards them
"Maximum warp me!"
:- Freeman
"Mr. Shaxs, make it so!"
"Really, Captain?"
:- Freeman and Shaxs, giving him the order to eject the warp core
"I've dreamed of this for so long. Eject."
: - Shaxs, fulfilling his dream of ejecting the Cerritos warp core
"Did it work?"
"Yes! The explosion took out the... wait... the Aledo survived the blast!"
:-Freeman and Barnes
"Captain, another ship is dropping out of warp. It's the... Oakland?"
:- Boimler
"It's the Alhambra... the San Diego... the San Clemente... the Sherman Oaks, the Vacaville, the Burbank, the Fresno, Santa Monica, San Jose, Sacramento, Culver City, Anaheim, Riverside, Vallejo, West Covina, Pacific Palisades, Redding, Eureka, Mount Shasta! It's all of them, Captain!"
:- Boimler, announcing the arrival of the California-class armada as each ship arrives, barely keeping up
"You gave me everything I ever asked for. You're in the bear pack now!"
"Are you… my bridge buddy?"
"Absolutely, Baby Bear!"
"Awww, bears!" 
:- Shaxs, Boimler, and Rutherford
"Today, we faced impossible odds, but together, we kicked impossible's ass! Let's hear it for the California-class!"
:- Ramsey, to the crews of the California-class
==Background information==
===Title===
*The title was announced on by StarTrek.com and Paramount+, wherein it is stylized as "The Stars at Night". 
*The title of this episode is from the opening lyrics to the American folk song "".
===Continuity===
*Four admirals appearing on the Starfleet Council had been previously encountered in the series: Admiral first appeared in , Admiral appeared in and , and the Trill and one of the Human admirals previously appeared in trial sketches in .
*Billups tells his Engineering team that he was to see "Commander Data-level work" and that the isolinear chips better be a blur, referencing episode when Data replaced isolinear chips so fast that it looked like a blur.
*T'Ana references being previously assigned to a "goddamn Oberth", making the reference to that class by name in dialogue. 
*Ransom teaches a group of officers how to command respect which involved sitting on a chair by swinging his leg around the back of the seat before sitting down. This is a reference to the unusual way that William T. Riker would sit down in a chair, which Trekkies have commonly referred to as "the Riker Maneuver".
*The computer terminal Admiral Buenamigo used to communicate with the Aledo was visually similar to the one used for the M-5 multitronic unit from the episode , which also dealt with a computer designed to command and control a starship that resulted in it attacking other ships. A similarly-styled interface was also depicted in the illusory Sampaguita piloted by "Red Rutherford" in , foreshadowing Rutherford's involvement in the artificial intelligence behind the Texas-class.
*The Cerritos revisits the Galardonians, who first appeared in the first episode of Lower Decks, .
*Freeman refers to Ockmenic 9 as "one of those Brigadoon-type planets that only phases into our dimension for a couple [of] hours a year." The name is a reference to the 1947 musical , which was about a magical Scottish village that only appeared for one day every one hundred years. A planet shifting from one dimension to another is also a reference to the episode , wherein the titular planet would appear in regular space once every sixty years and was also based on Brigadoon.
*This episode concludes the story arc concerning the origins of Rutherford's implant, which was most recently explored in .
*When the truth about Buenamigo is revealed, Freeman insisted that he's "not one of those bad-faith admirals that's up to no good." This is in reference to a recurring trope throughout the Star Trek franchise where Starfleet admirals tend to be shown as antagonistic toward the main characters and take part in secret and illegal projects, including Cartwright, Mark Jameson, Norah Satie, Kennelly, Erik Pressman, Leyton, and Dougherty.
*The mystery benefactor behind Petra Aberdeen's mission to retrieve and return stolen artifacts is revealed to be Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, whose archaeological interests were well-established across many episodes of .
**This episode also established that Picard was an admiral by 2381. The press kit for Season 1 and the novel The Last Best Hope earlier establish that Picard left the , and was promoted to admiral in 2381 in order to lead in the evacuation and relocation of the Romulans prior to their sun going supernova. 
*The procedure for the Cerritos to eject its warp core was referenced back in when Rutherford and Tendi ejected a working warp core from a kit model of the Cerritos they built and used it as a makeshift explosive to open a hatch above them and escape the Dooplers.
*The crews of the California-class ships who appeared on the viewscreen when the armada arrived have all appeared in previous episodes:
**Captain Amina Ramsey of the and several of her senior officers served as temporary command crew for the Cerritos in .
**Captain and the appeared in .
**Captain Maier and the appeared in .
**Captain Vendome had originally been an ensign on the Cerritos (, et al.) before rapidly rising through the ranks to take command of the . ()
**The crew of the – who resembled alternate versions of the Cerritos crew – was encountered by T'Ana when she previously boarded the wrong ship Douglas Station. ()
*T'Lyn, who first appeared in , returns having now transferred to the Cerritos from her original position on the . She is wearing the provisional rank lozenge of an ensign, in the same style as that worn by former Maquis officers on .
*In the franchise's first post-end credits, Rutherford's original implant, containing Badgey, is shown being salvaged from the wreckage of the Pakled Clumpship. () It had previously lit up when it was shown floating among the flotsam as Peanut Hamper constructed her ship in .
==Links and references==
===Starring===
* Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner
* Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler
* Noël Wells as D'Vana Tendi
* Eugene Cordero as Sam Rutherford
* Dawnn Lewis as Carol Freeman
* Jerry O'Connell as Jack Ransom
* Fred Tatasciore as Shaxs
* Gillian Vigman as T'Ana
===Guest cast ===
* Carlos Alazraqui as
** Les Buenamigo
** Aledo Computer
* Georgia King as Petra Aberdeen
* Phil LaMarr
* Jessica McKenna as Barnes
* Toks Olagundoye as Amina Ramsey
* Sam Richardson as Vendome
* Al Rodrigo as 
* Gabrielle Ruiz as T'Lyn
* Paul Scheer as Andy Billups
* Carl Tart as Kayshon
* Paul F. Tompkins as Migleemo
* Baron Vaughn as Maier
* Michelle Wong as 
;Characters with unidentified voice actors
* Cybernetic surgeon 1
* Galardonian chancellor
* Ockmenian female
* Ockmenian male
===Uncredited guest cast===
* Gil Ozeri as Ferengi grave robber 1
===Background characters===
* Badgey
* Carlsbad Vulcan commander
* Cybernetic surgeon 2
* Douglas Station personnel
* Ferengi grave robbers 2 and 3
;USS Alhambra
* Antaran officer
* Human captain
* Human medical officer
* Humanoid female ensign
* Insect-like male ensign
* Kaelon officer
;USS Cerritos
* Arjun 
* 
* Castro
* Honus
* Meredith
* Pon Darra
* 
* Jennifer Sh'reyan
* Steve Stevens
* 
* Volis
* Westlake
* Alien waitress
* Antaran ops ens
* Benzite cmd ens
* Human cmd lt jg 1
* Human cmd lt 1
* Human cmd lt cmdr 1
* Human cmd lt cmdr 2
* Human ops ens 3
* Human ops lt jg 1
* Human ops lt jg 2
* Human ops lt 4
* Human ops lt 6
* Human ops lt 11
* Human ops ofc 1
* Human ops ofc 6
* Human sci ens 5
* Human sci ens 7
* Human sci lt cmdr 1
;Galardon
* Galardonian councilors
* Galardonian farmers 1 and 2
;USS Inglewood
* Bolian cmd cmdr
* Bolian ops ens 
* Bolian ops lt 
* Bolian sci ens 
;USS Merced
* Human ops lt 1 
* Human ops lt 2
* Human sci lt
* Vulcan cmd ofc
;USS Oakland
* Durga
* Drew Prachett
* Ottessa Warren
;Starfleet Headquarters
* 
* Starfleet HQ alien admiral
* Starfleet HQ Human admirals
* Starfleet HQ Tellarite admiral
* Starfleet HQ Trill admiralty 
* Starfleet HQ officers
===References===
5; "abandon ship"; admiral; AI; Alamo; Andorian; Antaran; archaeology; Arnock; artifact; "Baby Bear"; Bajoran; Barcelona; beaming; bear pack (aka "bears"); "belay that order"; Benzite; Bitrus Expanse; Bolian; Breen (Breen soldiers); Brekka; bridge buddy; brig; Brigadoon-type planet; brown; buffalo; burning; cabal; cadet; Caitian; cantaloupe; captain; casualties; chair; cigar; cigar box; civilian; combadge; command authorization; commander; commemorative plate; communicator; computers; constraints; daddy issues; Data; deflector dish; desk job; dimension; disaster (aka fiasco); doctor; dust; earpiece; endowment; ensign; epaulet; father; Federation Council; ; Ferengi; finances; fire; first officer's log; flashback (psychological episode); fleet captain; FNN; (aka ); fuel; funding; Galardon; Galardonian; Galardonian airships; ; girlfriend; Golden Gate Bridge; golden idol; "gossip king"; grave robber; gym; heart; "hit a wall"; Human (aka Humanity); idea; idol; independence; independent control; insurgency; isolinear chips; joining; Kaelon; Kalla system; killed; killing; Klingon; Kzinti; lieutenant; lieutenant commander; lieutenant junior grade; life; lighter; LT-358; "make a name for myself"; memory; Merp's species; microbial scan; Migleemo's species; mission parameters; mission race (aka second contact race); money; multi-planet mission; mummy; NA; NCC; negotiations; night; nurse; ; obsolescence; Ockmenian; Ockmenian village; Ockmenic 9; "on my mark"; "on the spot"; operations station; Orion; outpost (unnamed 1 and 2); PADD; people; phase discriminator; Phylosian; Phylosian tactical officer; Phylosian tactical officer's girlfriend; Phylosian tactical officer's girlfriend's vedek; ; planetary catalog database; Pon Darra's species; pots; pottery; powder horn; power plant; Prime Directive; Project Swing By; Prophets; prototype; provisional officer; punch card; Qualor Historical Museum; Qualor III; red alert; reporter; resources; revolver; Rigelian; Rom-Ales; Romulan; rounding error; ruins; San Francisco; "save our asses"; scanner; second contact; secondary scans; self-awareness assessment; self-awareness assessment scanner; sentient; shields; ; sickbay; "silver lining"; sir; slushie; smoking; stardate; Starfleet; Starfleet Command; Starfleet Headquarters; Starfleet uniform (2350s-2370s); Starfleet uniform (2370s-early 2380s); Starfleet uniform (early 2380s); station physician; struts; stuff; tactical; Tamarian; Tamarian language; Tellarite; ; Texas; ; ; ; "towel guy"; toy; tractor beam; tricorder; Trill; tube; typewriter; vanity project; vedek; vice admiral; Volis' species; Vulcan; Vulcan salute; warp; warp core; warp core ejection system; warp factor; weapon; Xindi; years
====Planetary Catalog database references====
; density; equatorial circumference; equatorial inclination; escape velocity; kilometer; mass; mean surface temperature; natural satellite; orbit eccentricity; orbit inclination; ; sidereal orbit period; sidereal rotation period; surface gravity
====Spacecraft references====
; ; ; ; (aka ""); ; ; ; ; ; Deep Space 9; Douglas Station; drone; ; Free Spirit; ; ; Galardonian shuttle (unnamed); ; ; Joshua Tree; ; ; ; (unnamed); ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Type 6A shuttlecraft; ; ; ; ; ; workbee (unnamed)
====Meta references====
bleep; (story device); "I'm a doctor, not a..."; intertitle; Riker Maneuver
===External links===
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