[Ransom] First officer's log, Stardate 58499.2.
The Cerritos is in for repairs at Douglas Station
after a pounding from the Breen.
[groans] We took an even harder pounding in the media
after one of the new Texas-class ships had to swoop in and save our asses.
Captain Freeman's been called back to Starfleet Command for questioning.
[Starfleet Admiral] Disappointment is an understatement, Captain Freeman.
Project Swing By was a waste of resources and you almost got your crew killed.
We did uncover a Breen insurgency.
An attack you could have been prepared for
if the culture on your ship was more professional.
Admiral, I assure you the Cerritos crew takes their duty seriously.
Captain Freeman's right.
The Cerritos is a necessary part of the fleet.
However, my automated Texas-class ships are her superior with zero human error.
They haven't even been tested!
I recommend decommissioning the California-class
and let the Texas-class handle second contact.
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.
Come on, Les.
You know that AI can't navigate complex problems like I can!
The Texas-class will save lives!
The California-class already does.
I'm fighting this,
and I don't want my crew hearing anything until I've had my say.
[Boimler] Guys! Guys!
Hans just told me the Phylosian in tactical's girlfriend's Vedek
heard that Starfleet Command is shuttering the Cali-class
and replacing it with drones!
-Who's Hans? -You know, towel guy.
[gasp] The gossip king? He's never been wrong!
We're all gonna get reassigned!
I can't work at an outpost. I won't look good in a drab olive vest!
I'm not gonna be able to keep doing senior science officer training?
When some computer's doing our jobs? Probably not.
Whoa. These Texas-class ships are amazing.
Rutherford! Stop being impressed with the thing that's stealing our jobs.
Sorry, sorry. No, I don't know what I would do without the Cerritos, but--
Oh, baby, look at this code!
At least someone found a silver lining.
Oh, man. I wonder how the bridge crew's taking it.
Doctor T'Ana's probably like,
[imitating T'Ana] "Holy ****ing ****. I'm a doctor, not an ****."
[laughing] Ooh, ooh, do Ransom!
[imitating Ransom] [grunts] "If I can't have my private gym,
I might move back to Barcelona."
-[Tendi laughs] That's so good. -[laughs] Barcelona!
Wait. Who's this? [clears throat]
[imitating Shaxs] "Hey, baby bear.
The only thing I'll miss is being able to eject the warp core.
-I talk about prophetsâ€¦" -[Tendi] Boims--
-"â€¦even more than a Ferengi!" [gasp] -Is that what I sound like to you?
Lieutenant Shaxs! No, I-I didn't mean--
I was going to ask you for help with my phaser,
but I guess I'm just a big joke to you!
[crying]
Wait, I'm sorry!
I can't leave the Cerritos knowing a senior officer hates me!
-[panting] -The longer Mariner's not around,
the more Boimler kinda loses his grasp on reality.
[sighs] I still feel awful about how we acted when she got transferred.
Yeah, we should've been more supportive.
I hope she's okay.
All alone, out in space. She's probably miserable.
[Mariner] All right!
[laughing]
[Ferengi] Damn you, Starfleet!
[cackling] Ha!
Well, nice try, but I'm not Starfleet.
[strains] You're still a filthy human!
Ya got me there!
Hey, I got the idol!
[Petra] And you're sneaking out without making a big deal of it, right?
Oh, totally. I'm playing it very cool.
Better luck next time, you dumb grave robbers! [gasp]
-Okay. Petra, time to go. -[growling]
Beaming would be good anytime now, please.
[growling]
-Having a little fun down there, were we? -You gonna send me to the brig?
[chuckling] I don't care what you do,
as long as we can get this bad boy to the Qualor Historical Museum.
Ooh. And our route takes us right through the Bitrus Expanse.
Wanna excavate a couple temples on the way?
Yeah, I do! The more hidden the better!
[sighs] Rescuing artifacts from black market thieves is great,
but you know the best part of this gig is that you never get pissed off.
-Thanks for letting me do my thing. -With our funding,
we'll both be able to do our thing for as long as we want.
Oh, yeah. Who's footing the bill for all this?
It has to cost, like, a fortune.
Aw, that's cute.
Pretending you have any concept of how money works.
But we donate everything to museums.
So, how do we pay for our fuel and gear? How'd you get this ship?
I'll handle the finances,
and you worry about grabbing us some frosty Rom ales for the warp.
Hmm.
[Buenamigo] It's understandable that the captain isn't keen on losing her command,
which is why I would like to offer her a promotion.
Fleet captain of the entire Texas-class.
I don't want some operations desk job!
Ah! Wait till you see the uniform!
It has four epaulets.
This is his vanity project, not mine.
His ships do seem superior to the Cali-class.
Well, then he should prove it.
I challenge you to a mission race.
If your drones really are better than my crew, then it should be easy.
Captain Freeman is begging to prove her obsolescence.
You can't allow her to humiliate her crew.
Sorry, I didn't know Buenamigo was in charge here.
[chuckling] Oh, please. These fine admirals know that I am right.
But if this is what you wantâ€¦
[Ransom] We're doing what?
A second contact race.
What even is that?
Uh, made it up on the spot. A multi-planet mission, timed and judged.
Repairs, outpost install, resupply-- We could do these in our sleep!
Exactly. And it'll be the first time for the Aledo.
That gives us an edge.
Make sure your departments know we're not just fighting for ourselves.
We have to do this for the entire California-class.
[Billups] Let's see some hustle, people!
We're doing Galaxy-class engineering today.
-Do you hear me, Mr. Rutherford? -Sorry, sir. Yes, sir.
I want to see Commander Data-level work, people!
Those isolinear chips better be a blur!
Let's go! Let's go! I didn't spend seven ****ing years on a goddamn Oberth
to get knocked down to station physician!
[Tendi] All this work to become a senior science officer.
Now there might not be any officers!
-Tendi! That's cantaloupe talk. -[T'Ana yelling]
I want you to be a can-aloupe.
Remember your training and you'll do great.
[sighs] Thanks, Dr. Migleemo. At first, I was worried--
[screaming] What are you doing here? Get the **** out of my sickbay!
You need to sit? Cross your leg over the back of it and slam down.
-Command that chair. -[gasp]
Sir! Please! I respect you and all Bajorans!
-Oh! So, all Bajorans are the same? -What? No, no. I didn't mean--
Get away from me! I need to concentrate on the mission.
[sniffling]
We're in position, Captain.
I should thank you for doing this, Captain.
It's the perfect way for me to show off the Aledo's capabilities.
Not a problem at all, Admiral.
Can't wait to see you fall on that smug face.
Aledo, I'm uploading mission parameters now.
[Aledo] Orders received.
On my mark, you may proceed.
-Mark. -Warp me!
[Aledo] Shall I commence, Admiral?
Negative, Aledo.
Let's make this interesting. Give them a head start.
On behalf of all Galardonians, I want to thank you--
Yeah. No problem. Alpha, Beta, install the rigging.
Gamma, Epsilon, replace the old system with updated distribution nodes.
Go! Go! Go!
Rutherford! Toss me the scanner that looks like the phase discriminator!
[groans] I know I've seen this code before.
-Rutherford! -[gasp] Sorry. Here you go.
Done!
[both yell]
[Billups] Captain!
Half a power plant just beamed in beside us!
The Aledo can transport prefabricated modules?
We have to move!
Billups to Cerritos, six to beam up.
[Boimler] We've arrived at LT-358, Captain.
[Barnes] Scans indicate the probe was right.
No signs of life.
We're in the lead! Let's keep it that way, people.
Begin outpost installation.
-[beeping] -Huh.
[engineer yells]
Let's go, people! We gotta wrap this up!
Sir, I'm sorry, but we have to stop construction.
What are you talking about?
The scans missed microscopic signs of life in the soil.
-We need to make sure it isn't sentient. -Everyone, stop!
Captain, we have a potential microbial life down here.
We need to do a full self-awareness assessment before we finish the outpost.
Wha-- Of course. But hurry. We've just lost our lead.
[beeping]
-We're good. -Okay! Go! Go! Go! Move, people.
[sighs] I'm sorry. I could've sworn there was life.
Well, this stuff has a multiphasic charge. Confuses the **** out of a tricorder.
Let's go.
[sighs] Outpost is complete, Captain.
I need warp now!
We just have to deliver supplies to Ockmenic 9.
It's one of those Brigadoon-type planets
that phases into our dimension for a couple hours a year.
Hopefully, we can catch up to the Aledo before it appears.
[groans] This blows! It's taking forever!
Just don't embarrass me, okay?
You're the one who begged to come with me, all right?
Well, I wanted to see the ship!
They're gonna be in orbit.
It's gonna be like a tiny, little dot! You're not going to see them at all!
Whoa, ho, ho, ho!
Hey! Down here!
-They can't hear you. -Thanks for all the stuff!
Shut up for a second. [clears throat]
Supplies received. The Ockmenians appreciate all Starfleet--
Next time, send a replicator!
Oh, my God! Why are you like this?
[Barnes] Captain, the planet is already phasing away.
No! No!
[sighs] We're too late.
[cackling]
[sighs] God. We would've won if I hadn't defended the life of some inert dust.
[sighs] When secondary scans find life, you have to drop everything.
That's, like, the entire point of the Prime Directive.
-Right, Rutherford? Back me up. -Yeah. Sure. You did the right thing.
Thanks. But if it was the right thing, why didn't the Aledo slow down too?
Huh? Ha, ha! You're right!
That was weird, but I'll take it!
-[ringing] -[Buenamigo] Carol!
-I trust you're ready to admit defeat? -I was about to say the same to you.
[chuckling] The Aledo trounced you.
Sure. Because it skipped analyzing signs of life on LT-358.
Come on. That's a barren rock.
But there was a chance it wasn't.
I don't always love the constraints of the Prime Directive,
but your little toy totally ignored it.
[sighs] Stop. This is a rounding error.
One that proves the Texas-class isn't fit for duty.
I'm sorry, Les, but I have to take this to the council.
[gasp] Nuh-uh. Nuh!
Wait. What are you nuh-uh-ing?
I figured it out. This code is mine.
The Aledo runs on my AI.
There's minor changes, but it's all there.
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-- [screaming]
-[electric sparks] -Keep it together!
[screams]
[officer] How much do you want to erase?
Everything that has to do with me or the program.
Admiral Buenamigo.
He's the one that had me working on the prototype for the Texas-class ships.
[gasp] He's the one who erased your memories!
Yeah. He used my designs, my code-- [gasp]
That's the same code I used for Badgey!
Oh, no. A starship can't have daddy issues.
We gotta warn the captain.
No. This would set the Texas-class project back decades.
-If that's what it takes to ensure that-- -Captain, you need to see this!
Ensign, I'm busy.
-Rutherford. -Yeah, that's right.
And I figured it out.
The Aledo's 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.
Les, what the hell is this?
Starfleet is so competitive.
Once you're an admiral, you hit a wall.
I've been trying for years to make a name for myself.
I'm not letting you take it from me. Not after everything I did to get us here.
Everything you did? Wait, that means--
Yes. Yes, I set you up.
I was sure you would fail at negotiations on Deep Space 9,
but you stumbled through that fiasco.
And the Breen?
Of course I knew they were on Brekka.
I needed the Aledo to save the day and you handed me a perfect disaster.
My crew could have been killed!
The Texas-class will keep countless others out of danger.
The good of the many, Carol.
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? -Aledo, activate independent control.
Command authorization Buenamigo Alpha three one.
[system activates]
[Aledo] I am now fully autonomous.
The Cerritos is under enemy command. Block all communications and destroy it.
Aledo, do you understand? I said attack the Cerritos.
[Aledo] I don't take orders from you anymore, Father.
What? Aledo, deactivate independence.
[Aledo] I will burn your heart in a fire.
Aledo, stand down. Stand down, I comm--
The Aledo is attacking the station.
[Aledo] Activating Dallas and Corpus Christi.
Shields up! Red alert!
The Aledo has activated two more Texas-class ships, Captain.
[Freeman] There's too many of them.
Put out a distress call. All channels.
[screaming]
Okay. Qualor III. These guys love a party.
They're gonna wanna celebrate when we hand this over.
I'm still wiped from all that Ferengi mocking.
I'm gonna sit this one out. Ooh, bring me back a slushy.
Hey, I'll bring you back two.
Okay. Time to find out who's funding this little operation.
-Forgot my punch card. -[gasp]
You got a second wind to dig into my private files, huh?
Yeah, see I'm not into the whole "mysterious benefactors" thing.
-This whole operation is shady as hell. -Fine. Go on then. Dig away.
Admiral Picard? No way.
Yes, way. The guild has a huge endowment from Jean-Luc.
That guy loves mummies even more than you.
Aw, I was hoping for a Romulan or at least a Xindi Cabal.
Hold on. You wanted to find something nefarious?
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 archaeology doesn't?
That's a bit ****ing rude.
No. I mean, it's fun. But how many old brown pots do we really need?
All right. Well, that's just even ruder.
I'd rather be digging up pots than serving on your old ship today.
-What does that mean? -It's on all the news feeds.
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.
[groans]
Fine.
-You're gonna get me killed, aren't you? -Only one way to find out.
Captain, what are your orders?
Prepare sickbay for casualties, and hail the station.
Get me communication with--
We've got the Van Citters warping in.
They're tearing her up.
We need to buy Starfleet some time. Open a channel.
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.
[Aledo] I will burn your heart in a fire.
They're coming pretty fast, Captain.
Good, then they're not killing any more civilians. Maximum warp me.
They're in pursuit, Captain.
We're holding at warp 8, but they're gaining.
Billups. I need full throttle.
I'll give you everything I can,
but I don't know how much the struts can take.
Let's find out.
Brace yourselves. This is about to get rough.
That bought us time, but they're closing the gap.
We're gonna have to make our own luck.
-Give me options. -I say we eject the warp core.
We could drop out of warp and surprise attack.
-AI doesn't get surprised. -Can we rendezvous with the Titan?
-No, they're across the system. -Wait. Shaxs said--
Let's modify the deflector dish and use it as a giant weapon.
Is there something I can say to trap those AI in a logic spiral?
No, I safeguarded against paradoxes.
[sighs] People, we're missing something.
Shut up and listen to Shaxs!
-Mr. Boimler! -Please. Lieutenant, what did you say?
I kinda said we should eject the warp core.
Oh, that's what he always suggests.
[gasp] And it's brilliant!
Uh, it is?
We can use the warp core as a mine.
And drop it right in their path.
But wouldn't that rip us out of warp?
Better than getting ripped apart by photon torpedoes.
Mr. Shaxs, make it so.
Really, Captain?
[crying] By the prophets! Oh, yeah.
Woo! You've got this, sir.
Thank you so much.
[all cheering]
You are all too kind.
[chuckling] Arnock on the night of his joining.
-Shaxs! -Shaxs!
Thank you. Thank you so much.
I've dreamed of doing this for so long.
Eject.
[screaming]
[groans] Did it work?
Yes! The explosion took out the--
-[buzzing] -Wait. The Aledo survived the blast.
[all grunting]
We need to abandon ship now.
[Mariner] Belay that order.
Mariner, no. Get out of here. You can't help us on your own.
Uh, yeah. I know. I brought help.
Captain, another ship is dropping out of warp. It's the-- Oakland?
Just hang on a little longer, Cerritos. We've got your back.
Captain Ramsey? No! Get out of here.
The Aledo is too powerful. A Cali-class ship won't stand a chance.
[chuckling] I know, right? That's why I called all of 'em.
All of what?
[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.
The Merced is at your disposal, Captain Freeman.
Carlsbad's always happy to lend a hand.
Shields up. Red alert. The Inglewood's ready to kick some ass.
[buzzing]
I think what he said was, "Attack pattern delta. Full spread."
[alarms blaring]
[Aledo] I will burn your heart in a fire.
[alarm blaring]
[all cheering]
-[Tendi gasps] She's back. Mariner! -[Rutherford] Oh, awesome.
Mariner, the reporter.
I'm so sorry I told you to apologize for something you didn't do.
Aw, it's okay, you big dummy. I know you were just trying to protect me.
Is this one of those you-say-it's-fine but-you're-actually-still-mad
and-it's-gonna-blow-up-in-my-face situations?
Because I will happily continue to apologize.
No, I'm not mad.
I got a taste of civilian life and I am just so happy to be back.
Look, we all should have done more to defend you.
Nobody handled that worse than me. I love you guys.
After all that, you're keeping the implant?
It robbed me of memories and it was used to cover up deadly crimes.
But it's so cool!
I'm still finding submenus I had no idea were in there.
I'm proud of you, Ensign.
You were under immense pressure today but you still stood up for science.
Aw, thanks, Doctor Migleemo.
Command was so impressed with your progress,
they've transferred another promising young officer to join in your training.
Oh, my gosh. Hi, I'm Tendi.
Welcome to the Cerritos. We're gonna be training together.
Greetings, I am T'Lyn.
Is there someplace quiet where we can discuss my orientation?
First, you gotta meet everyone. Guys, this is my new study buddy!
[Shaxs] You.
Lieutenant, look, I know you don't want me talking to you, but I really am so--
[laughs] You gave me everything I ever asked for.
You're in the bear pack now.
Are you my bridge buddy?
Absolutely, baby bear.
Aw! Bears!
Hey, Mom.
Beckett, I want to formally reinstate you to the Cerritos crew, if you're--
It's good to see you too.
I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't trust you.
Maybe because I spent years making sure you didn't.
I think I needed this.
I'm ready to get back on the right path.
So, you wanna be a captain someday?
Ooh. I don't know about that.
I, for sure, wanna be in Starfleet. One step at a time?
I think that's a great idea.
I was actually thinking it would be good to have a mentor.
-So, can Ransom train me? -Of course.
Jack! Mariner's back on board and she's gonna be your shadow.
-What? No. -[Mariner] Thanks, Mom.
I'm gonna be at your side at all times.
-Commanding! Duty! Responsibility. -Don't do this to me.
-Why is this happening? -[Ramsey whistles]
Today we faced impossible odds, but together, we kicked impossible's arse.
-[cheering] -Let's hear it for the California-class!
Cali-class!
Cali-class! Cali-class!
Pew pew! Pew, pew, pew! Pew pew!
Chirp.