#ST:D

[2mo3cm-man]

[batnsons]

christopher pike the silver fox that you are

[ersatz-anomaly]

The Mycelial Network is the only redeeming thing about Discovery beyond the Ba’ul(?) neutering the Kelpians bc they didn’t want to be eaten into near extinction again but also didn’t want to genocide an entire race just for the sake of survival.

The evil AI plotline was such bs bc it now being in the past meant it didn’t need the Sphere Data bc all the data that lead to its birth was already within it and thus could be delivered to Control, ensuring it’s existence and allowing it to destroy all life in the galaxy.

The Mycelial Network was cool and proved that mushrooms really do know more then they let on. (“Tell me the name of god you piece of shit” “you cannot kill me in any way that matters” “*crying* im not afraid of you”)

Before I started watching Star Trek Discovery, the number one thing I heard people dunking on was the spore drive, and the mycelium network.

Before I ever knew anything about Discovery, I had watched a lot of documentaries on, and read a fare bit of fungi related materials. Within the material appeared the real Paul Stamets (mycologist), and I was very interested in everything I was seeing. More specifically the science of it all, while the medical properties of such is wait and see.

Needless to say, when the spore drive and the mycelium network showed up in Star Trek, I thought it was one of the coolest things Star Trek has ever done. I still do. I don't give a shit what anyone else has to say about it, it's an amazing piece of science fiction to me. And I won't defend it, because there is no need to defend harmless fiction you enjoy.

You're fine with subspace, but think the mycelium network in space is unrealistic? Make it make sense.

[tossawary]

The longer I sit on and look back at it, the more I unfortunately dislike "Star Trek: Discovery", especially the episode featuring the Kelpian homeworld. It's been bugging me. Sure, I'm maybe too soft on older ST shows comparatively, which are Trying, but also usually Should Have Known Better even back then; but ST:D happened at a point where the writers DEFINITELY Should Have Known Better, so I'm petty. Like, you have decades of people criticizing "Star Trek" for various reasons, so act like it.

So, spoilers for the Kelpian homeworld episode, because I am going to explain and then complain about it as best that I can remember it. Warning for discussion of character death, suicide, genocide, and non-consensual medical procedures. Long post.

One of the characters on the "Discovery" ship is a Kelpian named Saru, a refugee who escaped an oppressive homeworld and was permitted to join Starfleet. This homeworld is somewhat unique in that it has two sapient species: a prey species, the Kelpians, and a technologically advanced predator species that subjugates them in the name of a "necessary" balance. (I do not recall the name of the second species.)

At some later point in their life, all Kelpians experience something that I'll call Death Puberty. (It has a canonical name, I just don't remember it and this gets the point across to anyone without context.) Saru is not Human, but he is at a stage in his life that is equivalent to Human adulthood. When we first meet him, Saru has yet to undergo Death Puberty, which he believes will cause him to lose his mind and become a danger to everyone around him.

In his society, Death Puberty is when all Kelpians are required to present themselves to the ruling predator species so that they can be killed. It's the Great Balance.

Before we go to the Kelpian homeworld, there's an episode in which the ship encounters a sapient star. The star being emits some sort of signal that causes Saru to enter a premature / induced / unnatural Death Puberty. Saru is so completely convinced that he will go insane after this process that he tries to kill himself for everyone's safety. He persuades another character to kill him; and it's only the process abruptly being completed, apparently without ill effects, at the last possible minute that prevents Saru and his friend from going through with this.

Saru almost immediately concludes that his homeworld's narrative surrounded Death Puberty and the Great Balance is a lie. On one hand, this assumption makes sense, Saru is the one who actually had to experience this lie and surviving Death Puberty sane may have felt like everything clicking into place. Death Puberty also had the side effect of making Saru stronger, more assertive, and less afraid. I don't think it's unreasonable for Saru to feel angry and suspicious, nor was it necessarily unreasonable for him to emotionally jump to conclusions here.

On the other hand, I thought this was a little annoying (this is a really petty nitpick, I know), because Saru is supposedly a scientist. His Death Puberty, which neither he nor Starfleet have had the opportunity to study before, was unnaturally induced prematurely through an encounter with a sapient star, so his experience is presumably unique among his species. "What if my society is built on a horrible lie?" is a good question. I just wish that another character had brought up the uniqueness of the situation to Saru as a consideration, given that the future of a species may be on the line going forward.

So, in a later episode, the ship goes to the Kelpian homeworld to investigate.

Saru does quickly confirm that his society is built on a horrible lie. It turns out that the Kelpians were actually the predator species all along? Death Puberty does not cause insanity and is actually the process by which Kelpians enter their final, deadly form. The other species, which is actually a prey species of the Kelpian predator species, somehow became technologically advanced and created this "Kelpians are the prey species and must adhere to the Great Balance" oppressive setup. Final form Kelpians scare the shit out of them.

(The supposed logistics of evolution here are more than a little silly, but whatever. It's ST. Let's go with it.)

Plot happens and Saru and other characters end up in danger. The other species is more than willing to kill Saru to bury the truth and preserve their deadly lie.

I can't remember the exact order of events here, but somehow, the crew of the "Discovery" decide that the only way to save Saru's life and to forcibly push the truth through is to induce Death Puberty for the entire planet of Kelpians. Which they can somehow feasibly do using the signal they recorded from the star.

Supposedly, this planetwide forced Death Puberty for the Kelpians will scare the other species into backing down or some shit. After all, the other species can't just suddenly cull the entire planet, right?

This is one of those cases where I want to sit ST writers down and ask them: "Hi, what do you think that the in-universe Prime Directive actually means and why it might exist?" I don't know about you, but I think that the Federation probably has rules and regulations against subjecting an entire planet to a medical procedure that they did not consent to? I think that if you violate the bodily autonomy of a single person in that way, Starfleet should haul that captain up in front of a panel and say, "What the fuck??? What the fuck is wrong with you???"

Their solution is to VIOLATE THE BODILY AUTONOMY OF AN ENTIRE PLANET using an UNTESTED MEDICAL PROCEDURE that NOT A SINGLE MEMBER OF THAT SPECIES CONSENTS TO. (Not that a single Kelpian can consent to this on behalf of the entire fucking planet, but you get my point, right?) Ethical fucking nightmare.

This is also one of those situations where I have to put my head into my hands, because FUCK, the science fiction genre is never beating those "you guys sure love a White Savior (derogatory)" (and ST is never beating the "the Federation is just USAmerica in space (derogatory)") allegations at this rate. The "more advanced" and "more enlightened" Federation swooping in and getting to make decisions on behalf of these "less advanced" and "brainwashed" new worlds is essentially what "Deep Space Nine" was criticizing back in the 90s.

This random fucking crew is deciding what happens to these people's BODIES!!! I don't even think there's a doctor on the bridge when this is decided! Not that it would be okay if a doctor signed off on it! You CAN'T just subject people to a medical procedure they can't consent to! And with how often ST tries to say something about eugenics and sapient rights, this action SHOULD BE in-universe explicitly about a hundred different kinds of illegal.

Even if the entire planet of Kelpians sign off on that shit afterwards, it still wouldn't be okay. Everyone involved in making this decision and making it happen should be, at minimum, kicked out of Starfleet, on principle. Someone should be put on trial for this. You don't get to decide what to do with other people's bodies for them.

So, that's a problem. I don't think ST can meaningfully claim to be about seeking a better future if it's going to have a Starfleet ship violate the bodily autonomy of an entire planet without any consequences. But this action just flies casually by as though it's not one of the most hideous things that I've seen anyone do in a ST show.

But, you know, setting aside the violation of the bodily autonomy of an entire planet thing... Let's pretend for a second that this truly is the only option and that the captain of the ship is willing to accept the severe consequences for it... (And there's no opportunity for any other crewmembers to say, "Wait, this is wrong. You can't change people's bodies like this. I can't condone this. And, in fact, am morally obligated to stop you from doing this illegal thing.")

This is still an untested procedure. They don't even know if it will work when they do it. They're forcing a medical procedure on an entire planet and they don't even know whether or not it will work.

They're supposedly using a signal emitted by the sapient star, a remarkably unique being in many ways. There's no guarantee that this one ship will be able to perfectly replicate EVERYTHING that a sapient dying star did to induce Death Puberty in Saru, on a planetwide scale. Death Puberty has not been studied by Starfleet in more than a single individual, who had many unique experiences that his fellow Kelpians cannot have had, so it is not by any means well understood. If they fuck this up in any way, they could kill the entire planet.

Death Puberty is a natural process for Kelpians, occurring later in their lives. There is ZERO discussion of any potential health problems from inducing this change early in Kelpians. This could cause life-long, life-ruining health problems for even adult-equivalent Kelpians, and there is absolutely no mention of infants, of children, of juveniles. For all anyone on this ship knows, trying to induce Death Puberty in every single Kelpian on the planet could cause the agonizing death of every Kelpian child not ready for that process. They don't KNOW. They currently CAN'T know, because they haven't TESTED that.

But, okay, let's pretend that every single Kelpian survives induced Death Puberty with no health problems. The signal miraculously didn't affect child Kelpians at all. It was totally fine.

Remaining Problem: every single Kelpian has been raised to believe that Death Puberty will cause them to go insane and become dangerous.

Saru's initial reaction to going through Death Puberty was to kill himself. He persuaded his own friend to cut his throat before it could finish. His situation was one of unnatural inducement, but he didn't even have them lock him up in a cell to be sure of its ending first; he was CERTAIN.

Upon returning home, before everything goes to shit, Saru learns that his father naturally underwent Death Puberty while he was gone. As is tradition, before the process was complete, Saru's father surrendered himself to the other species and was killed. Kelpians are raised to believe their early deaths are necessary.

I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the majority of the Kelpian population would panic during planetwide Death Puberty. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that a significant fraction of the Kelpian population, none of whom know what the fuck is happening, might try to commit suicide or murder-suicide. Even when the process completes quickly and they still feel sane, they might think, "Well, it probably takes a few minutes for murderous insanity to kick in. I had better kill myself while I still have a clear head, as per our planet's accepted spiritual tradition and for the safety of my loved ones."

Parent Kelpians trying to protect their children? Lovers trying to die in each other's arms? Some Kelpians reasoning to themselves: "Well, I'm still sane. But it's my civic duty to off anyone who seems like they're going insane." And the entire planet has just gone through what they understand to be The End Of The World, so everyone is probably panicking and probably seems more than a little insane right now.

Do I think the majority of the planet would turn murderous or suicidal? No. We don't really know enough about the planet to choose hard numbers. But the Kelpians have nevertheless all been raised to believe they need to be culled for the greater good, there was nothing like informed consent happening, and with Saru as our main and only example here, we can be pretty sure that the number of other Kelpians who panicked and died because of that panic is not zero. Personally, I think that the number would be sadly significant.

So, I think that Starfleet is directly responsible for some murders and suicides here. Even if there were no medical issues, which is a big fucking if that I do not believe, you are still up against generations of an oppressive death cult here. If you spring the apocalypse on these poor people, it will be bad. They did not consent to this. They're, according to the worldbuilding here, all going to think that they're dying!!!

And you know what? In this episode, the main characters force Death Puberty on an entire planet, in order to scare the other species into letting the Kelpians be free or something, and it doesn't work. The other species immediately activates the emergency "Explode The Planet" system they had installed, in order to kill all of the final form Kelpians. Inducing Death Puberty just made the other species panic.

So, the captain of the "Discovery" essentially has to threaten the fear-motivated other species into submission, or something. I don't remember how this episode ends exactly. I think that the captain more or less says that destroying the planet with make them the enemies of the Federation and that the Federation is a very scary enemy, scarier than the Kelpians, so it's better to stop this and be the Federation's ally instead. Or something like that.

The other species backs off on destroying the planet and the Kelpians are free, maybe. They all went through Death Puberty and learned they were living a horrible lie, so they have a lot to work out. No mention of health side effects or panicked suicides, but I don't believe that these consequences didn't happen out of an entire planet of potential bad reactions.

And no one on the "Discovery" suffers any serious consequences for forcing an untested medical procedure on an entire planet conditioned to view it as being worse than dying. I know that the other species wasn't really open to friendly dialogue and there was a time crunch of sorts, but I still think "blustering the enemy into backing down by threatening them" should have been attempted maybe a few more times, before the "violate the bodily autonomy of an entire planet with an untested medical procedure that will make them think they're going insane" option. I think maybe that's not okay to do to a single Kelpian, much less an entire planet of Kelpians, even if Saru's life was on the line, actually.

"The ends justify the means" is another thing that past "Star Trek" has repeatedly criticized. It's especially insulting to have the characters do this shit without any of them bringing up any of the potential risks in their stupid, condescending plan. I want to like these characters, but shallow writing like this makes me hate them. It makes all of Starfleet look like hypocrites. They're supposed to be scientists??? No one here has taken an ethics class, apparently.

They really just... forced an entire planet through Death Puberty, potentially killing or hurting any Kelpians who weren't ready for that, probably killing a significant number of Kelpians who didn't know what was happening and panicked, even though they didn't know whether or not it would work and could have killed everyone, and nearly got all the Kelpians killed anyway. This clusterfuck should be both against countless Starfleet regulations and EXTREMELY illegal under Federation law. But we can file this under a "whoopsie daisy!" because the professionals involved panicked and meant well?

Fuck off. Awful episode. They definitely killed a significant number of innocent people here, even if they didn't show those deaths because the writers apparently didn't think about the obvious medical and social risks, and what these characters did to the Kelpians wouldn't be okay even if everyone miraculously lived. Don't mess with other people's bodies???

[dotthings]

So I finished season one of Star Trek: Discovery and it non-stop had me by the throat. There were so many plot twists I didn't see coming and I have many thoughts and feelings about many things, and I only just started this series I'm being emotionally tormented.

Maybe at some point I'll pull together some specific posts about it.

For now Michael Burnham!!! Captain Georgiou!!! And Michael cursed to lose her captain in every universe and lose her again and again. Paul and Hugh!!! Cadet Tilly!!!! (and Captain Killy!!!) Michael and Ash :o !!!! The themes on war and galactic politics and compassion. And I am really feeling right now the Gene Roddenberry gestalt of: this is the future, we should do better, and we can do better, imagining a better future. And it's not perfect, it's that there are moves forward, and people can do better in the future. ST:D is fairly brutal, yet very hopeful.

It's been a while since I watched Trek but I used to watch a lot of it and I'm enough of a Trek fan I did let out an excited squeak about that last moment of season 1 oh hello!!!!!

[fauvester]

Not sure if you meant for the questions to be askes BUT 9 for like iskra or something would be interesting since there is a mix of human and cardassian culture, does julian celebrate any terran holidays with them?

omg I wish I was a better worldbuilder, people come up with so many fun fake little holidays. Thanks to that one throwaway line in ST:D I've unilaterally decided that Cardassian culture is very food-centric, so you know baby Iskra got taken to lots of street food festivals celebrating military victories and elections..

Julian trying to figure out which terran holidays can be safely transported and re-potted on post-Fire Cardassia (I feel like he still tries to celebrate Federation day at home just so the kids can have some positive associations. Cue him and Lim trying to figure out how to cook a desert lungfish without soliciting their neighbors' help with removing the fibrous capsule..)

Halloween is a safe bet, I think. Scaring the spirits away is vaguely Hebetian and the locals enjoy both tricks and treats. Julian gives his coworkers at the hospital candy to distribute to her.

Still got to be lots of nationalist holidays to celebrate after the war, but now they're very much tinged with bitter memories. Now they're more of an opportunity to complain about the current administration and get drunk (both activities Iskra vigorously enjoys as an adult)

[allmyevilplans]

"Star Trek: Discovery" is over. What did it mean?

Today, the first of the 'New Trek' series ended.

ST:D premiered in September 2017 - shortly after Trump, not that far before COVID - as the first Trek television in 12 years. It was, more-or-less, a 'reboot' - but not in the sense of retreading familiar ground with a new perspective.

Rather, ST:D was an effort to 'modernize' the Star Trek television serial for the streaming era. It did it by - in first season, at least - being Star Trek in name only. Action forward, focused on 1 or 2 characters entirely and eschewing both the ensemble format and parable/morality tale roots of basically every show before it, ST:D was both trapped in broader continuity by being set in the in-universe timeline between existing properties and breaking the same continuity by introducing new characters and technologies that had never been mentioned before. It was trying to have its cake and eat it, too.

The end effect is Star Trek trying to be Star Wars in scope and not succeeding. They were criticized for it, too. From the second season forward ST:D feels a lot more like Star Trek, but the course corrections (more focus on characters other than Michael Burnham, updates to Klingon makeup, blatant reference to Starfleet as a family and the wonder of exploration and camaraderie) feel heavy handed to say the least.

Seasons 3-5 are fascinating because they explore a show that was hauled off the rails by the objections of its viewer base. ST:D never quite manages to break free of being the Michael Burnham show - but it *feels* like Star Trek in a way the first couple seasons simply don't, even if it feels way too overt about it. Flinging itself into the far future - dealing with 2024's scientific speculations and extrapolations (programmable matter, etc.) truly broke new ground with Star Trek as a property and pushed itself further forward from where the series timeline officially ended (and the technological forecasting stagnated) - the nearly unbearable 'Star Trek: Nemesis' movie.

It's important to remember that ST:D predates 'The Mandalorian,' 'The Orville' (which is really quite good in seasons 2 and 3), all the Star Wars shows, Amazon Prime picking up 'The Expanse' - in fact it predates every prestige sci-fi show made for streaming platforms. It made the idea of sci-fi television a *thing* again.

ST:D was often bad, starting far too grim and bloody minded and ending up a bit too fluffy and cheesy. It was sometimes also extremely good - often in spite of its ambition. It was Trek trying not to be Trek but quickly finding out that Trek is so cherished and praised because it *is* utopian, it *is* about people, and that it can't be divorced from its morality tale roots. ST:D feels like it was often flailing because it probably was: the inherent series premise simply didn't work with the property is was in, so it had to change what it was about very, very quickly, and pulling a handbrake that way leaves you in a spin.

I think Discovery is most meaningful because it made all those other properties possible. I don't think, in isolation, that it stands all that tall on its own - I, for one, didn't watch it until Strange New Worlds was coming out and I wanted background on the new series.

Important, but not great.

[theknightlywolfe]

Please, and this goes double if you talk about ST:D

Can we start writing out the full titles of things again pls like some of the shows y'all talk about sound so interesting fr but then you start abbreviating and shit like "man I love hgtysbks" and "you gotta go watch abcdefgh" like girl. First of all gesundheit second of all What am I supposed to do with that What does that mean!!!!

[missfitdroneexperiments]

Status Update #1

Seth: "We've been looking through our ship for things, when Ada had a re-review of the rest of the pods. The lights aren't consistent. Read through the manual and updated the list as such"

Bruce (SD:B) Status: Offline. KIA due to a Renegade drone with a weaponized Particle Accelerator. Unrecoverable due to the loss of the core.

Hunter (SD:H) Status: Offline. KIA due to a point-blank shot via a shotgun. Core damaged, but could be repaired

Charles (SD:C) Status: Online. Pings seem to be coming from somewhere underground. No other communications have been established

Jack (SD:J) Status: Offline. KIA due to friendly fire from SD:W. Core Intact.

Terrence (SD:T) Status: Unknown. Last ping Recorded as "alive" yet no death ping was ever received.

Whitney (SD:W) Status: Offline. KIA due to a lack of Fuel. Recovery possible, but unlikely due to her functions.

Seth (SD:S) Status: Online. Currently recovering from a viral infection.

Ada (SD:A) Status: Online. Currently playing Games

Daniel (SD:D) Status: Unknown. According to SD:A, ST:D was vaporized by a similar accelerator that killed SD:B in a surprise attack. Core was vaporized, however pings with an SSID matching SD:D were detected. Awaiting further updates.

[sleepisforthe-sane]

i'm still 'watching' ST:D, which means I have not watched an episode since sunset was before 1700, but. season 3 would be so much better if Booker was a chick or non-binary or like way more queer in some way.

[adirays]

*imagine an au where they didn’t go 900 years into the future, and michael is going to vulcan for some celebration*

sarek: I said you could invite one friend to the party! ONE!

michael: They don't come separately

tilly: yeah, we’re pack animals, mr. sarek.

the entire dsc bridge crew + stamets and culber: *nods in agreement*

or alternatively,

spock: they don’t come separately

jim: yeah, we’re pack animals, mr. sarek.

bones, uhura, scotty, sulu, and chekov: *nods in agreement*

[trekacrosstheuniverse]

Damn son he really did that?

[pussyhoundspock]

also it’s really funny that the people behind discovery not only completely redesigned the klingon but are using an entirely different version of klingon like ... that language is on duo lingo guys. some fans are legitimately fluent in it! you can’t really mess it up or do your own thing with it people will notice. 

[complicated-airflow]

Mentions of Ahsoka and — VISUALS even — of the USS Voyager....... in the SAME WEEK... 

[leifor]

Quick mirrorverse Marlena Moreau for the soul (my soul)

I love her and she’s why I started writing The Door, I have to tell everyone what happened to her after the disaster in ST:M!

[lxaah11]

Why’s It Always Crystals? - Part 2 (ST:D x The Inhumans crossover)

Chris’ breath forcefully left his body as he slammed into the crevice wall with a loud crack, he had only been falling for a few seconds but he had already resigned himself to the world of pain he just knew he’d find himself in when he hit the bottom. At least he hoped that was what awaited him. The only other alternative he could imagine is dying on impact and, after everything he’d managed to live through, he really didn’t want the thing that killed him to be him losing his damn footing. He could still hear Burnham’s panicked voice echoing all around him, following him down into the darkness, yet he couldn’t quite process exactly what it was she was saying. The adrenaline coursing through his veins had forced his brain to filter out any extraneous sounds and, apparently, Michael fell under that remit. Not that it mattered anyway, he hadn’t yet been able to get his breath back and it felt like he wouldn’t for a while, so he wouldn’t have had a chance in hell of answering her. 

The crack he had fallen down was narrow enough that once he had hit the wall he stayed against it, his back scraping along the jagged surface of the wall taking the skin off as he fell. After a few more moments of free fall he, strangely enough, felt himself slowing down. Don’t get him wrong, he still felt like he had left his stomach up at the top with Burnham and saw no sign of the bottom of this pit, but he was definitely not falling as fast as he had been. The reason for this was not immediately clear if anything it had only become more baffling, as the wall he was sliding down appeared to smooth out the further down he went. It was only when he reached the bottom that he figured it out. The wall, which had been completely vertical when he first started falling, in fact, started sloping out near the bottom and continued to do so until it had become perfectly horizontal. It reminded him of an old playground ride he had only ever seen pictures of - a drop slide, he believed it was called. Affectionately nicknamed a ‘death slide’, and after what he had just experienced he could definitely see why. However, unlike those rides, this version did not have a long flat section for him to decelerate and, instead, stopped rather abruptly. He catapulted off the end and was sent skipping like a stone across the lake of water that had caused this natural phenomenon, before plunging into its icy depths.

With his lungs begging for the oxygen that they had been deprived of, he kicked towards the surface and found that the water was only a few feet deeper than he was tall. He swam over to the opening that he was shot out of, as he moved closer the water became shallower, allowing him to stand with his shoulders above the water as he called up to Michael, who was still shouting down after him.

 “I’m OK. Nothing broken at least.” He added with a chuckle.

“Sir?” A sigh of relief. “What’s down there? Can you see a way back up?”

Miraculously, the lights on his EV suit still worked. He observed the new cave that surrounded him, it didn’t look too different from the others he had just left. All he could see was a narrow tunnel branching off, carrying a ravine further into the rock, but nothing that indicated a way of returning to Burnham. He relayed this information back to her, hoping she’d be able to come up with a solution but also fully prepared to order her to carry on with the mission without him as he tried to make his own way to the surface.

“Captain, I have rappelling gear in my pack but the only anchor point up here doesn’t seem to be strong enough to support your weight, it will just crumble.”

“It’s ok Burnham, you carry on along the path. I’ll stay down here and- “

“With all due respect Captain,” Burnham interrupted showing no said respect, “I believe it best we stick together. We still don’t know anything about this energy source and these tunnels are treacherous, if we split up and one of us gets in danger then it could be lethal.”

Knowing she had a point, but not seeing another way Pike could only respond, “Well then, what would you suggest Commander?”

“The anchor is strong enough to support me, so I’ll make my way down to you-”

“No, Michael-”, Pike tried to interrupt when he realised what she was saying.

“-and we’ll carry on through the tunnel down there.”

“Michael, if you stay up there we know you can get out, you come down here and that is no longer the case. I wish there was another way but you have to leave me, that’s an order.”

There was a pause before Burnham’s voice echoed down to him again, “...I’m already on my way down sir.”

Pike could only sigh and contemplate how he really needed to start being less lenient with his officers, as it seemed to be a running theme that few of them listened to him in situations like this. He hopes that Burnham and Number One never meet, if they did he might as well resign his commission straight away, they would be unstoppable.

As he waited for Michael to reach him, he decided to try and scope out the tunnel that was now their only hope for escape. It was located at the point in the cave where the water was shallowest, only reaching his ankles, and was smaller than it seemed at first glance, just wider than himself and as tall as his waist, he could only cringe at the incoming pain that his back will inevitably feel. There was a scrape of boots over rock followed by a quiet splash as Burnham exited the crag and slipped into the water, she waded towards him and peered over his shoulder. Not even her years of living on Vulcan could help her hide the disgruntled sigh upon seeing the confined space they’d spend the next who knows how long making their way through. They shared a look before Chris, hopefully for the last time on this seemingly endless expedition, got down on his hands and knees and made his way into the tunnel with Michael joining him soon after. Only the sound of their breathing and the sloshing of the water, which wasn’t getting any shallower, could be heard - they both just wanted to get out and were too focused to try and attempt a meaningless conversation. For the first time since entering the caves they seemed to have caught a break, the tunnel seemed to be on a slightly upward trajectory and was hopefully taking them towards the surface. 

They’d been in the water for long enough that the cold had started to permeate through the suits thermal regulation system when they finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. He crawled with a renewed vigour, Michael following close behind, both eager to get back to Discovery or out of the caves at the very least. As he got closer the sound of running water began to echo around them, getting louder as they got closer until they finally reached the end. 

Pike once again found himself short of breath as he reached forward to continue to crawl and instead found that the ground was no longer where he expected and instead rapidly steepened to form another pool that he promptly, and rather ungracefully, fell into. Except this time the water was shallower than he was tall, it was only by sheer dumb luck that he didn’t whack his head on the rock below and instead landed flat on his back, adding to the already long list of reasons he isn’t going to be able to move tomorrow. He sat up, spluttering as he broke the surface only to be greeted with Michael chuckling as she contorted herself so she could enter feet first, having learnt from his mistake. Chris could only self-deprecatingly smile at her as she offered her hand to help him up, which he gratefully accepted. 

Having recovered from his unexpected swim, he was finally able to take in their new surroundings and he very quickly found the source of the light. His heart sank. A beam of light from the surface entered yet another cave through a gap in the ceiling, after which it bounced off the multitude of crystals that lined the edge of the pool, illuminating the darkness. Both Pike and Burnham looked around in awe, so distracted that they both startled when Tilly’s voice disturbed the quiet they had been in for what must have been hours.

  “Captain, Michael? I don’t know what you just did but the readings we’re getting have just got even larger and I didn’t think that was even possible. Is there anything new around you that looks like it could be the source?”

“We’ve ended up in a cavern full of crystals, Ensign, we’ll take a sample and bring it back to Discovery for further analysis. Can you get a transporter lock on us?”

“Affirmative Captain, we can be ready to beam you out at a moment's notice.” A pause. “Well, maybe a bit more than a moment, we are getting some slight interference - nothing to worry about but it’ll take a bit longer to actually get you out of there.”

“Thank you, Ensign, I’ll let you know when we need to beam out.” Pike replied, “With more than a moment's notice.” He added with a smile.

Burnham started to take some readings from the cave, to look for any sign as to what these crystals were and where they came from. As she did this Pike pulled out a laser cutter and knelt to take a sample, the moment he started cutting through the crystal is when things started going wrong. A white mist started to hiss out from the crystal, quickly beginning to fill the cave. As Pike staggered backwards trying to get away from the mist, Burnham’s scanner started going crazy.

“Captain, the readings I'm getting are showing that this gas is potentially toxic,” Burnham reported as she hit the button to activate her helmet. Pike went to follow suit, only to find that at some point during one of his numerous falls the mechanism had malfunctioned. By this point the mist had already filled over half the cave, it was being emitted faster than it could escape. Pike knew immediately he only had seconds, a minute maximum before there would be no clean air left to breathe.

Shaking his head at Burnham to try and convey his predicament he commed up to Discovery, “Ensign, I know I promised a moment’s notice but we need to beam out of here now.” He tried to keep his voice level but inside he was panicking. He had gotten out of so many sticky situations, come back after being hurt so many times but right now he couldn’t see a way out.

“We’re trying Captain but the interference has dramatically increased, we need more time.”

Pike didn’t reply.

The mist had filled the cave. Pike was holding his breath for as long as possible trying to give the Discovery crew as long as possible to get them out of there. But his lungs were burning. He couldn’t hold on much longer. Distantly he could hear a panicked Burnham communicating with Tilly, trying to get them out of here.

“Beam us up! We need to get out of here now, beam us - “

Pike breathed in.