Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer and consultant who has contributed articles to, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and. Is La’an’s threat assessment correct, or will this be Pike’s final encounter with the Gorn? Stay tuned as we continue to explore strange new worlds… Uhura learns about Hemmer’s take on the apparent conflict of interest between the Aenar’s pacifism and serving in Starfleet, while Number One smiles upon seeing M’Benga donating blood to her after her operation, a clever nod to their discussion about the bigotry surrounding the mixing of Illyrian and human blood in “ Ghosts of Illyria.” Pike supplies La’an with vital advice about leadership and inspiring the crew to perform miraculous deeds. “Memento Mori” demonstrates the crew’s ability to come together even when separated aboard their own ship. Cleveland “Book” Booker learned the same when President T’Rina explored his mind following Kwejian’s annihilation in Discovery’s fourth season. The incident has inspired renewed confidence in the security officer, but as Spock warned, the mind meld they shared was not a shortcut for dealing with mental trauma. However, La’an believes the Gorn intrusion to be a sign that they are seeking to open new hunting grounds. The gambit works, with the remaining Gorn pursuer believing the processor’s explosion was actually Enterprise’s demise.
Erica Ortegas describes this as the “Pike Maneuver,” a moniker similar to those of the 24th century tactics emblazoned with Jean-Luc Picard and William T. Pike plans to kill two birds with one stone by performing a slingshot maneuver around the black hole and venting the cargo bay to launch the processor as a decoy. Upon returning to the Enterprise, La’an and Spock are informed that, despite Uhura and Hemmer’s best efforts, the atmospheric processor will explode in twenty minutes. Since the Gorn value strength, they choose to destroy the “weaker” craft. Now armed with the Gorn light code, Galileo dispatches a false message to the large Gorn vessel inaccurately indicating that humans had boarded its smaller sister ship. La’an recognizes that no record exists of such a sibling, prompting Spock to close their connection. The mind meld gives La’an a glimpse into Spock’s own memories of the last moments he shared with his sister, Michael Burnham, before she traveled to the 32nd century. La’an remembers her brother sacrificing himself to keep her safe, as well as handing her a guide that detailed the Gorn’s use of light to communicate. The pair explore La’an’s mind, finding themselves on the Gorn breeding planet where the security chief and her brother were taken as children. La’an is unable to accurately recall her time with the Gorn due to trauma-induced memory gaps, so she allows Spock to initiate a mind meld.
La’an and Spock volunteer to take a shuttle (the legendary Galileo, of course!) to survey the area outside of the brown dwarf.Īboard Galileo, La’an and Spock witness the Gorn ships illuminating one another with pulses of light. The theory proves correct, as one of the Gorn attackers implodes. Pike orders the Enterprise to dive deeper into the brown dwarf, betting that his craft can outlast its Gorn counterparts in the high-pressure environment.
…at least until two similar vessels, as well as a massive Gorn capital ship, are detected entering the vicinity. This edge permits the Enterprise to find the Gorn and utilize the brown dwarf’s gravity to drop an unguided photon torpedo onto the ship that eliminates the threat… Spock provides some hope, devising a clever method of tracking their enemy with a primitive form of radar. Back to the present, Khan’s descendant La’an emphatically explains that the Gorn see humans as food for their hatchlings. The Enterprise is without shields, weapons, or sensors, much like the Starfleet ship’s eventual battle against Khan Noonien-Singh in the Mutara Nebula from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.