The Cerritos stares down the opposing ship, both of them attempting to lay claim to the century-old Starfleet debris field that surrounds them. The Drookmani claim salvage rights, but Freeman doesn't want them acquiring Starfleet technology. So far, the only violence has been a petty tractor beam tug-of-war over the first piece, but Freeman trusts her crew will be ready if things turn ugly.
Though she might reconsider if she knew what was going on in the mess hall at that moment. The lower decks cheer as Ensign Fletcher attempts to imbibe a record-breaking stream of cantalope puree directly from the replicator. In the commotion, Mariner accidentally pushes Dr. T'Ana into her plate of nachos. The doctor doesn't take kindly to having cheese sauce stuck in her fur, but Fletcher rushes in to soothe her choler with a warm towel and a fresh plate of food. Mariner is impressed by his quick thinking, and Boimler explains that Fletcher has always had a knack for conflict resolution.
Tendi and Rutherford, meanwhile, are just sitting down to eat, speculating on what they might find in the debris once the Drookmani situation is over. Tendi suddenly turns anxious when Rutherford suggests that they'll have to go out in EV suits to work on the pieces too big for a cargo bay. She confesses that she never learned how to spacewalk at the Academy; through some kind of error she was given a passing grade and was too nervous to mention it to anyone. She is understandably afraid of facing the dangers of space without the proper training, but Rutherford has a solution. He's been working on a holodeck training program of his own that should have no problem teaching her something as standardized as EVA protocol.
As for Boimler and Mariner, they are engaged in some tedious maintenance on the ship's isolinear cores. They're worried they won't finish in time to go to the Chu Chu dance they've been so excited for, but Fletcher does them a solid and volunteers to finish the assignment on his own. The lower decks always look out for each other.
Rutherford takes Tendi to the holodeck and introduces her to his virtual tutor, Badgey, a cute anthropomorphic papercl— er, combadge who cheerfully offers to teach them a lesson. Tendi asks for a lesson on spacewalking. After a brief loading bar (Rutherford adding sheepishly that Badgey can be a bit slow sometimes), the holodeck throws them into a microgravity environment. After a few clumsy moments while they adjust, Badgey returns to load the next stage of the exercise. He takes a bit longer this time. Feeling embarrassed, Rutherford tries to give him some... verbal encouragement, but it takes a kick to the stomach to get Badgey unstuck again. They continue on, and the camera zooms in ominously on Badgey's frozen, uncanny smile...
Boimler and Mariner are returning from their concert, still riding high at seeing the Zebulon Sisters perform, until they notice Fletcher prone and dazed in the middle of the hallway. They rush over to ask what happened. Fletcher says he was working on the core, as usual, when an unknown figure stunned him with a phaser from behind. And one of the cores he was working on is missing! It's only a semi-critical component, responsible for deflector shield auto-regulation, which leads them to suspect it was someone from Delta Shift looking to get them into trouble without actually compromising the ship.
But there's a problem: those smarmy assholes already have a rock-solid alibi. When confronted, the Delta Shifters remind Mariner and Boimler that they were at the Chu Chu Dance with everyone else. Fletcher is still going crazy with anxiety over the situation, having to be restrained from starting a fight several times by his friends.
Freeman's patience with the Drookmani is starting to wear thin. Though unarmed, they start using their tractor beam to toss pieces of debris at the Cerritos. Shaxs advises they return fire after noticing that the shields are draining faster than they should against such a mild assault, but the Captain is still determined to find a peaceful solution.
Unfortunately for Rutherford and Tendi, damage from the debris strikes causes a failure in the holodeck safety protocols (like always). The computer stops responding to their commands. Rutherford tells Badgey to run a diagnostic, which he happily acknowledges, but then he "accidentally" clips Rutherford on the shoulder while floating past him. He turns back towards them, eyes dark with malice, voice glitchy and distorted.
Apparently, the talking combadge took his creator's kick to the loading bar a bit personally. He lashes out violently at the ensigns, and they take flight through the holographic cargo field. Rutherford changes the program to a Bajoran marketplace, hoping it will easier to lose their pursuer there. They spot Badgey gorily tearing through a crowd of bystanders and take off in the opposite direction towards a long stairway leading to a temple-peaked mountain.
Ensign Fletcher is beside himself with panic as the debris strikes continue to drain the shields. If they drop too far, it will become obvious to the bridge that a crucial core component is missing. He suggests that maybe the Drookmani stole it as a means of sabotage. Boimler and Mariner exchange an incredulous glance, but with no other leads, they decide they might as well do a search for intruders. That is, until they go to retrieve their tricoders and notice the missing core in Fletcher's bunk, poorly concealed by a bedsheet. Fletcher tries to come up with an excuse before immediately collapsing in a fit of guilty sobs. He had the brilliant idea of hooking his brain up to the core — with the expectation that it would make him smarter and make the maintenance easier — but all he succeeded in doing was to break it. Or so he thought...
As angry as Boimer and Mariner are Fletcher's irresponsibility, they decide to cut him a break and just fix the core without reporting him. His relief at this is short-lived. The core suddenly comes to life, glowing purple and flailing its ribbon cables everywhere in search of stuff to consume. Mariner realizes it must have been corrupted by Fletcher's brain waves. She and Boimler want to call for help, but Fletcher goes back into ass-covering mode and threatens to pin this whole mess on them if they don't help him deal with it quietly.
Meanwhile, Rutherford and Tendi are still on the holodeck, panting and sweating under the holographic Bajoran sun as they struggle to stay ahead of their would-be murderer. Rutherford apologizes for getting them into this mess; he knew Badgey wasn't ready, but was blinded by his eagerness to impress Tendi. But then, as he looks down at the stairs below, he notices something peculiar: Badgey seems to be struggling with the heat as much as they are. He's not supposed to be susceptible to environmental factors like that. Rutherford realizes this presents an opportunity and switches the program over to a freezing cold planet.
The other ensigns continue to stalk the ravenous computer core, looking for a way to subdue it. Fletcher suddenly says he has an idea! Boimler and Mariner look at him hopefully, but it turns out it's just another convoluted scheme to lie his way out of taking accountability for his stupid mistake. They tie him up and leave him to deal with later before turning their attention back to the more immediate threat. The core continues to grow as it grabs every scrap of technology in reach. In desperation, Boimler and Mariner attempt to direct it into a nearby airlock, which succeeds after Mariner tosses her tricorder in as bait. Ejecting it into space, they breathe a sigh of relief to finally be rid of their problem... before they notice the core is drifting directly towards the Drookmani ship.
Though as it turns out, this is exactly the break Cerritos needs. The shields have failed, and Captain Freeman finally gives the order to open fire, but their weapon systems have already been disabled! That's when the bridge crew notices the strange glowing object burrowing its way into their opponent. The hole coughs up a gout of fire and the Drookmani ship goes lifeless.
Rutherford and Tendi trudge through the snow and wind of the holodeck, struggling to resist the cold long long enough for it to freeze Badgey. Seeing that Tendi is starting to become disoriented from hypothermia, Rutherford turns around to face the abomination he created. They trade blows, but Badgey's slippery frame keeps him out of Rutherford's clutches. Grabbing a shard of ice from the ground, Badgey manages to gain the upper hand, pinning Rutherford to the ground and driving the makeshift knife deep into his shoulder. Rutherford fights back with all his strength, but Badgey's arms lock tight around his throat. Electricity arcs from the damaged holoemitters, adding more violence to the raging blizzard swirling around them. Rutherford chokes out an apology to his creation for mistreating him, but Badgey's bloodthirst remains unabated. But before he can finish the job, Badgey freezes in place as the cold finally gets to him. Rutherford rises and holds the now-defenseless psychopathic hologram in his arms. With one final farewell, Rutherford twists Badgey's "neck", killing him once and for all.
Barely a moment later, the ship's systems are restored. The holodeck resets, including Badgey, who reappears with his usual greeting. Though he appears to not remember anything that just happened, Rutherford and Tendi nevertheless quickly and awkwardly excuse themselves.
The crisis over, Mariner and Boimler return to untie Ensign Fletcher. A moment later, Commander Ransom appears, demanding an explanation for what happened during the Drookmani engagement. But rather than rat him out, Mariner tries a different approach... she gives him all the credit for saving the ship. It earns him a party and a promotion to the Titan. Boimler is bitter, to say the least, to see his dream assignment going to a selfish coward like Fletcher, but consoles himself with the hope that maybe this opportunity is what Fletcher needs to finally realize his potential as an officer.
Instead, Fletcher finds out what happens when his slacker attitude comes under the scrutiny of the fleet's finest. He makes an angry call to his former friends less than a week later, complaining that he's been kicked out of Starfleet entirely! Boimler and Mariner hang up on him, content to let him be someone else's problem now. Boimler turns to Mariner and acknowledges that, while she might also be a rule-breaker, she's ten times the officer Fletcher was. Mariner thanks him for his praise... then pulls out the keys to the captain's yacht, which she checked out in his name, and runs off to take it for a joyride before Boimler can stop her.
Tropes:
- Absurdly Long Stairway: The Bajoran marketplace simulation includes a stairway up a mountain to a temple. Using it to get away from Badgey causes Rutherford to realize that Badgey is being affected by the physical conditions of the simulation even though he shouldn't be.
- Accidental Hero: Mariner and Boimler accidentally unleash the corrupted isolinear core onto the Drookmani ship in the process of getting it off the Cerritos, but this ends up saving the day as the damage is such that Freeman is on the verge of ordering an evacuation.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
- Rutherford's helper character Badgey turns violent after the holodeck safeties fail, as retaliation for Rutherford kicking him to get him working.
- Fletcher plugging his brain into an isolinear core in an ill-conceived attempt to make himself smarter instead corrupts the core with his neural imprint, giving it an endless desire to make itself smarter by incorporating anything it can grab into itself, all the while repeating various words and phrases that Fletcher has said throughout the episode.
- Almost Out of Oxygen: Badgey uses his teeth to rip a hole in Rutherford's EV suit while the holodeck safeties are off. Fortunately, the limited functionality remaining allows Rutherford to switch the location to Bajor, eliminating that problem.
- Beam-O-War: The Cerritos and the Drookmani do this with tractor beams over some wreckage.
- Blatant Lies:
- Badgey deliberately hits Rutherford in the shoulder to cause his creator pain, and his subsequent apology is totally insincere.Badgey: Sorry about that. I didn't mean to (Death Glare) hurt you.
- Fletcher turns out to be a compulsive liar, tending to cover his own ass and put those around him at risk rather than face punishment.
- When Tendi asks Rutherford if they lost Badgey, he glances back and sees that Badgey is still pursuing them, but Rutherford replies with a falsehood to reassure her.Rutherford: Uh, yeah. We're doing fine. We're so good.
- Badgey deliberately hits Rutherford in the shoulder to cause his creator pain, and his subsequent apology is totally insincere.
- Butt-Monkey: Ransom catches the ensigns imitating warp sounds all at once and assumes that some kind of alien takeover is happening. So of course the one that he tackles and restrains is Boimler.
- Camera Abuse: When Badgey punches Rutherford, some of the latter's blood splashes directly on the "camera" (well, the animation equivalent).
- Catchphrase: Badgey asks "Can I teach you a lesson?" repeatedly in the episode. It takes on an ominous tone when he turns evil.
- Continuity Nod:
- Rutherford suggests that the space cargo might contain a cryo-frozen princess.
- This isn't the first time that we've seen a tractor beam used to launch objects instead of restrain or retrieve them.
- Mariner's feud with Delta Shift, first mentioned in "Temporal Edict", comes up again.
- Fletcher ends up being transferred to the Titan, which Riker took command of after Star Trek: Nemesis. (Weirdly enough, Riker himself is not name-checked, even though there are plot-relevant reasons to do so.)
- Crowd Chant: Several officers in the mess hall chant "Fletcher!" to encourage him while he chugs down a record-breaking amount of cantaloupe puree.
- Death Glare: Badgey's eyes express his homicidal rage after the holodeck safety protocols are deactivated.
- Delicious Distraction: When they can't force the isolinear core into the airlock, Mariner chucks her tricorder into the airlock so it will go in willingly to get the delicious tech.
- The End... Or Is It?: Badgey may not have been completely reset after all:Badgey: (happy) If you need me, Badgey's here! (menacing) I'm ALWAYS here...
- Enemy Mine: At one point, Mariner lampshades how much better she's getting along with Boimler when they're dealing with Fletcher's screw-up, instead of their own.
- "Eureka!" Moment: While Rutherford and Tendi are running from Badgey, Tendi takes the time to compliment Rutherford on Badgey's programming, saying that he is amazing even if he is trying to kill them. Rutherford also notes that it is weird that Badgey hasn't murdered them yet, and they finally notice that he is just as exhausted as they are from running. Rutherford realizes that he is being affected by the physical conditions of the simulation even though he shouldn't be, and if they can tire him out, they can probably freeze him out too, and changes the simulation to a blizzard to try freezing him to death.
- Everyone Has Standards: Mariner flat-out states that she only breaks rules to make her job easier, and would never endanger the crew to benefit herself, while Fletcher is just trying to cover his own ass.Fletcher: (to Mariner) You break the rules all the time!
Mariner: Only dumb rules that shouldn't be there so I could do a better job! I would never put anyone in danger!
Boimler: (clears throat)
Mariner: Except, sometimes, maybe Boimler! - Evil Sounds Deep: Badgey's voice drops a couple of octaves when he says "hurt you" to Rutherford.
- Failed a Spot Check: Mariner and Boimler accuse Delta Shift of sabotaging the core, forgetting that they had been at the dance with them shortly before.
- Failsafe Failure: Naturally, the safety protocols are the first thing to go when a power overload makes the Holodeck Malfunction.
- Fake Static: Boimler and Mariner use a combination of some kind of spray and tossing the tablet around to claim that Fletcher's signal is being disrupted before hanging up on him.
- Gasp!: Everyone in the mess hall gasps after Dr. T'Ana tells Mariner that she should work on Starbase 80, which is considered to be a Place Worse Than Death.
- Gilligan Cut:
- Captain Freeman insists that her crew is ready and focused. Cut to Fletcher chugging cantaloupe puree from the replicator.
- Fletcher suggests to Mariner and Boimler that they let the corrupted isolinear core grow bigger, thrash them, then blame the whole thing on a Q so they don't get in trouble. It then cuts to Fletcher tied up with cables while the two drag the core to the nearest transporter.
- Boimler thinks that Fletcher's transfer will be good for him. Six days later, he calls back to complain about being fired.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Fletcher recommends to T'Ana that she try the carnitas because it's delicioso ("delicious").
- Holodeck Malfunction: Thanks to the inadvertent sabotage to the shield array and the scavengers attacking, the holodeck safeties are disabled by a power surge while Rutherford and Tendi are in the middle of a spacewalk simulation. They can't deactivate the program or leave, but they can switch locales.
- Improvised Weapon:
- The Drookmani reverse their tractor beam and use it to chuck wreckage at the Cerritos, since their ship doesn't have any weapons.
- The now-sentient isolinear core is accidentally used to disable the Drookmani vessel after the Cerritos is unable to return fire, then Mariner claims that Fletcher did it intentionally so he'll be Kicked Upstairs and reassigned.
- Badgey grabs a nearby icicle and stabs Rutherford in the shoulder with it.
- Insane Troll Logic: While Freeman is doing her best to avoid opening fire on the Drookmani, their captain still insists that she's fighting them because she's trying to evade the debris that they're throwing at her ship.
- Kicked Upstairs: Mariner spins a lie about Fletcher deliberately modifying the isolinear core into a weapon to use against the scavengers, so he'll be promoted... and transferred to another ship, far away from them.
- Kill It with Ice: Seeing that Badgey is suffering from physical exertion while climbing up a long flight of stairs, Rutherford switches the program to a blizzard in an attempt to freeze Badgey to death. He has to fight Badgey and nearly loses, but it eventually works.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: The Drookmani use their tractor beam to hurl the debris at the Cerritos in order to chase them off, destroying the salvage that they're supposedly fighting for.
- Mechanical Abomination: The corrupted isolinear core quickly becomes an all-consuming monster eating technology while repeating Fletcher's dudebro dialogue. If not thrown out the airlock when it was, it could have easily destroyed the ship.
- Monochrome Past: Fletcher's "recollection" of what happened to him while Mariner and Boimler were at the Chu Chu dance show is in black-and-white except for the phaser fire that hit him.
- Neck Snap: Rutherford does this to Badgey after freezing him, despite him not having a neck.
- Never My Fault: Fletcher spends most of the episode trying to deflect blame for screwing up the isolinear core, blaming everyone from Delta Shift to alien intruders to Q himself.
- Nice Guy: Fletcher easily defuses a fight between Mariner and T'Ana, and later takes over their shift replacing the isolinear cores so she and Boimler can go to a play everyone's excited about. It's then subverted when he accidentally breaks the shield array's automatic repair system and concocts an elaborate lie to avoid taking responsibility.
- Non-Indicative Name: Mariner complains that the isolinear core is referred to in the singular in the work order, even though the actual unit consists of a couple dozen cores that all have to be replaced.
- Noodle Incident: T'Ana suggests that Mariner should transfer to Starbase 80. Everyone gasps at this as if it's a grave insult.
- Offing the Offspring: Because Rutherford programmed Badgey, the latter addresses the former as "Father," and Rutherford acknowledges Badgey as his "son." This doesn't stop Rutherford from snapping his neck to protect himself and Tendi.
- Off with His Head!: Badgey rips off a guy's head in the Bajoran marketplace simulation.
- Oh, Crap!: Mariner and Boimler share this reaction when they realize that the isolinear core they just spaced is floating directly toward the Drookmani ship.
- Out of the Frying Pan: Mariner and Boimler shoot the corrupted isolinear core out of an airlock... and into the Drookmani ship. It thankfully just causes the latter to be disabled, but then they're left to explain what happened to the senior staff.
- Percussive Maintenance: When Badgey freezes while loading a cargo recovery training simulation, Rutherford gives him a kick to get him working again. It works, but drives Badgey to murder as soon as the safeties fail.
- Place Worse Than Death: Starbase 80, an assignment that is apparently so bad that the mere suggestion of being transferred there is treated as a grave insult.
- [Popular Saying], But...:Mariner: You know what they say: keep your friends close, and your enemies way the hell somewhere else.
- Purple Is Powerful: The corrupted isolinear core glows purple, and it's powerful enough to incapacitate the Drookmani vessel.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Mariner and Boimler do this as they watch the isolinear core drift into the Drookmani ship with no way to stop it.
- Remember the New Guy?: Downplayed, as Fletcher appeared as a background character before this episode, and was even seen in his bunk next to Boimler's in the previous episode, but he wasn't properly introduced until now, and his friendship with Boimler was never brought up.
- Ship Tease:
- Rutherford's and Tendi's mag-boots pull the two ensigns together like they're hugging. They're both somewhat embarrassed by this.
- Shaxs and T'Ana share a Smooch of Victory after the Drookmani are defeated.
- Rutherford admits to Badgey that he thinks Tendi is cute and wants to protect her from Badgey.
- Shout-Out: Badgey seems to be a parody of Clippy from the 1997-2003 versions of Microsoft Office.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Mariner is starting to make a traditional speech about how good Starfleet is before the isolinear core surges to life.
- Sickly Green Glow: The Drookmani's tractor beam is green, and they're the antagonists in this episode.
- Similar Squad: Delta Shift is revealed to be a group of lower deckers similar to the main cast, with a cocksure badass not unlike Mariner, a fastidious wimp similar to Boimler, an Ops officer wearing an eyepatch over his left eye not unlike Rutherford and his implant, and a science officer with the same hairstyle as Tendi.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Delta Shift is this to the main characters' Beta Shift.
- Skyward Scream: With his head facing the simulated sky, Rutherford screams Badgey's name after killing him.Rutherford: BADGEEEEYYYYYY!
- Smooch of Victory: When the scavengers' ship is disabled, Shaxs excitedly grabs and kisses T'Ana.
- Sound-Effect Bleep:T'Ana: Aah [bleep], do you know how hard it is to get cheese out of fur in a sonic shower?!
Fletcher: And if you don't come clean, [Mariner]'s gonna [bleep] your [bleep] off!
Drookmani captain: [bleep] you. - Suicidal Pacifism: Freeman is so insistent on being diplomatic with the Drookmani, even in the face of their obvious intransigence, that she lets them completely deplete the shields before finally letting Shaxs retaliate. Unfortunately, the Drookmani have unintentionally disabled the weapons with the repeated strikes, nearly forcing Freeman to order everyone to Abandon Ship. Before this can happen, Mariner and Boimler coincidentally shoot the corrupted isolinear core at the Drookmani by mistake, solving the problem.
- Three Lines, Some Waiting:
- The C plot is the confrontation with the Drookmani scavengers.
- Because the Cerritos may need to perform salvage operations on the cargo, Tendi stresses out over how she never completed her training course on space-walks. This leads Rutherford to take her to the holodeck for training, where they meet Badgey.
- Mariner and Boimler are maintaining isolinear cores with the help of Fletcher, but he covers for them while they attend a recreational event, leading to the inadvertent screw-up mentioned above. This causes problems when the scavengers open hostilities because the aforementioned core was part of the ship's Deflector Shields array...
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Mariner and Boimler vent the corrupted isolinear core out an airlock when it becomes too massive for them to drag it to the transporter.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Mariner continues to make fun of Boimler, but the two of them are solidly on each other's side throughout the episode.
- Villain Has a Point: Technically, the Drookmani do have the principle of "salvage rights" on their side.
- Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: Rutherford admits that he hadn't entirely ironed out the kinks in Badgey's program before showing Tendi because he wanted to impress her.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Lt. Shaxs is desperate to simply blow up the Drookmani ship and be done with it, but Capt. Freeman insists on settling the conflict diplomatically, to his frustration.Shaxs: Phasers locked onto their warp core, Captain. Please, please let me shoot their warp core! I have been very good this month!
Freeman: Evasive pattern Sulu-Alpha.
Shaxs: OH, COME ON! - Wrench Whack: Fletcher attacks the isolinear core with a wrench to make it let go of Mariner and Boimler, although he only does it because the alternative — reporting the incident as the two suggest — would mean taking responsibility, and he would rather have them to blame than do so.
