We open with Cadet Uhura, who has been invited to the Captain's quarters for dinner for the first time. Ortegas told her that she might want to wear her dress uniform — which is underscored when Ortegas herself shows up in civvies. (Pike himself just laughs at the hazing.) To get to know his crew, Pike asks them where they see themselves in ten years (stumbling over the question a bit), and Uhura admits that she has no idea: as an orphan whose family were killed in a shuttle accident who was then relegated to the care of her grandmother, a Starfleet officer, she ended up in service almost by default, and doesn't know if she wants to stay. However, she does have facility with languages, being able to speak all the ones in Kenya and several more besides.
Pike is called to the bridge. The Enterprise is outside a desert planet called Persephone III which hosts a sentient species which has yet to discover farming. Unfortunately, it's threatened by a comet which is going to Colony Drop the planet in two days, resulting in a Class-5 Apocalypse How. The crew quickly decide to deploy ion engines, launched via photon torpedoes, to push the comet off-course... but the torpedoes are deflected by Some Kind of Force Field, a thing most comets do not have.
Science officer Spock, Security chief Singh and Lt. Sam Kirk of xeno-anthropology are beamed down, along with Cadet Uhura, whose training regimen this week includes away missions. They find a structure on the comet, which presumably is powering the deflector shields and contains an egg-like object. While they are gone, the Enterprise is menaced by a significantly larger ship crewed by people calling themselves the "Shepherds." They worship M'Hanit — their name for the comet — as a creator deity that brings life, and will not let anyone interfere with it... and are prepared to enforce their mandate at gunpoint.
Uhura has been absently humming a Kenyan folk tune the entire time, and Spock notices that the controls of the egg respond to music. Uhura (a soprano) and Spock (a bass) sing a number of intervals, and the comet lowers its shields, allowing the away team to be beamed back. Thereafter, Pike and his crew hatch a plan: while they fly a diversionary skirmish against the Shepherds, Spock uses a shuttle to systematically heat one side of the comet, shifting its course just slightly. The result is not only a saved planet, but a desert planet that has just received a massive infusion of comet water, increasing the chances that the inhabitants will figure out how agriculture works.note The Shepherds point out that this is precisely what they were protecting M'Hanit for, and depart in peace.
Uhura finishes analyzing the comet's tune, and reveals that the intervals it sang can be converted into coordinates... which spell out the exact chunk of ice that Spock's mission broke off. The comet knew what was going to happen. This is of limited comfort to Number One and Captain Pike, who have been discussing Pike's future. Una maintains that Pike still has the ability to Screw Destiny... but Pike already knows the names of the six people he'll save, and, once he's in private, calls up their files on the computer, showing that he's starting to become more comfortable with his pending Heroic Sacrifice. Meanwhile, Spock catches up to Uhura and points out that, while she might not be eager to be in Starfleet, Starfleet is, or should be, eager to have her.
Tropes:
- Aliens Speaking English: Conveniently, the alien musical coding works on the European even-tempered scale and responds to a 440Hz "A." Spock reasons that because music is based in mathematical concepts, there's a base logic behind it that works universally.
- Asteroid Thicket: A more reasonable example than most as the Enterprise, the Shepherd ship and Spock's shuttle all fly through the chunks of rock M'Hanit is carrying with it.
- Attack Hello: The Shepherds announce their presence by firing a torpedo at Enterprise, before hailing them and warning them to back off.
- Attack Pattern Alpha: When the Shepherds attack the Enterprise after the away team is beamed back, Pike orders "Escape Pattern April Omega 3", presumably named for the ship's former captain (now Admiral) Robert April. Later, when Pike orders her to fly in front of the comet, Ortegas announces that she's using "Evasive Pattern Ortegas Gamma 1".Pike: Evasive Pattern Ortegas?
- Brutal Honesty: Discussed by Spock and Uhura.Spock: How are we doing, Cadet?
Uhura: At the moment, pretending not to be in way over my head. Too honest?
Spock: I am a Vulcan. We are "too honest" by nature. - Call-Forward: Ortegas mentions that Uhura coming overdressed to dinner allows her to check off an item on "Enterprise Bingo". While this seems innocuous at the time, we learn in four episodes that "Enterprise Bingo" actually exists.
- Captain's Log:
- The episode opens with a log entry by Uhura mentioning the comet and the party.Uhura: Cadet's log. Stardate 2912.4. The Enterprise is surveying the Persephone system, where the crew is studying the behavior of an ancient comet, C/2260-Quentin. I, however, am doing rotation in landing party readiness protocols, which doesn't really involve comets, ancient or otherwise, so duties are pretty slow at the moment. Except, of course, for a recent invitation to dinner at the captain's cabin, for which I have been encouraged by Lieutenant Ortegas to dust off my dress uniform.
- Near the end, Pike records his log musing about the nature of the comet.Pike: Captain's log, supplemental. I am left to wonder... who made the comet? How many more like it are out there? Was it coincidence that fostered the chance for more life on Persephone III? Or something more?
- The episode opens with a log entry by Uhura mentioning the comet and the party.
- Character Development: Uhura gets some — in fact, she gets more before the credits roll than she did for the entire time she was played by Nichelle Nichols.
- Chekhov's Skill: Uhura's nervous tic of humming comes in handy as the tune resonates with the egg.
- Commonality Connection: Uhura and Spock find common ground because they're both "too honest" and they're knowledgeable about the mathematics of music.
- A Day in the Limelight: This is very much an Uhura episode. She starts out being subjected to minor hazing while questioning her place in Starfleet; she then figures out how the comet works and proves that she belongs on the Enterprise. We also learn more about her backstory than we ever did on TOS, particularly that her parents and older brother were killed in a shuttle accident while she was at university in Kenya.
- Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: Sam walks right up to the egg and tries to touch it, earning him an almost-lethal electric shock when it radiates a wave of energy to protect itself.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Hemmer makes it clear that he doesn't want his human shipmates to treat him like he's handicapped because he's blind. (He has several enhanced senses, including precognition.)
- Easily Forgiven: After Spock 'helps' the comet change course, (as Pike said, "not actually touching it,") the Shepherds implore the crew of the Enterprise to try to keep a more open mind about their mission, in the future. As the Shepherds depart, their leader tells Pike they are not parting as enemies.
- Exact Words: Pike promises the Shepherds that he will not touch M'Hanit again. And he doesn't. Spock instead uses the shields of a shuttle to radiate enough heat to melt part of the comet off, changing its course.
- Foreshadowing: In the beginning of the episode, Uhura asks Hemmer about the fact that Aener (albino Andorians) supposedly have precognitive abilities. At the end of the episode, she finds that the message the comet had sent the Enterprise was a prediction of its altered course thanks to the crew include the exact shape of the piece that would break off and change the atmosphere of the planet it was going to collide with for the better.
- Glass Cannon: The Shephard vessel is indicated to be heavily armed and more than a match for Enterprise, but a single phaser blast impacts the hull without even needing to breach a shield and forces them to retreat temporarily.
- God Is Good: It's unlikely to be an actual god, but it's implied that M'Hanit deliberately orchestrated events so that its tail would terraform Persephone III slightly, massively improving the natives' quality of life.
- Let's Duet: Uhura and Spock sing together with their respective soprano and bass vocals in order to open the "egg" on the comet.
- Magical Defibrillator: When Sam Kirk gets shocked by the "egg" on the comet, Spock scans him and reports his heart has stopped. He uses Kirk's suit-built-in defibrillator to shock Kirk's heart back to beating. Downplayed, since Spock says that Kirk will still need medical attention in sickbay and he remains unconscious throughout.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The comet does end up doing exactly what the Shepherds said it would do, and seems to have known in advance exactly what Spock would do to make it happen.
- Meaningful Echo: When Spock re-establishes contact after his mission to divert the "comet", he starts with a short laugh, calling back to the initial scene and Captain Pike's words. Obviously the close shave permitted him to tap into his Human half.
- Mildly Military: Pike has regular dinners for senior officers and has a habit of inviting random lower ranked crewman to join in an effort to bring new perspectives to the group. Ortegas plays a prank on Uhura when she gets invited by saying it is formal attire, only to find everyone in casual wear or loosened-up duty uniforms when they arrive with Uhura in her dress uniform. While Starfleet has always been Mildly Military and Captains from different shows have engaged in some social events with their crew, this indicates a much more friendly and personal relationship than has been portrayed before.
- Military Brat: Downplayed. After her parents were killed, Uhura lived with her grandmother, a Starfleet veteran, and that was where she got the idea to enlist.
- Mythology Gag:
- Uhura's dress uniform jacket resembles the "Jupiter" jacket design from Star Trek Online.
- The Persephone System was first mentioned in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Too Short A Season".
- One of the future cadets hails from Tendara Colony, future home of one Annika Hansen.
- Spock and Uhura being well-versed in the mathematics of music was inspired by a deleted scene
from the TOS episode "Elaan of Troyius" where he mentions to her the complex mathematics of the Vulcan lute.
- Never Heard That One Before: Uhura isn't the first person to ask Hemmer about his telepathy.Uhura: Uh, I've read that, among many things, the Aenar have a form of precognitive ability.
Hemmer: I knew you were going to ask that.
Uhura: Because you sensed my question before I asked it?
Hemmer: Because everyone always asks that. - Omniglot: Uhura reveals at the dinner party that she's fluent in 37 languages; 22 of them are from her native Kenya, and she also speaks non-Earth languages like Andorian and Vulcan.
- One-Steve Limit: Pike wants information on the cadets he will save in the future, so he asks the computer for information on "the following Federation citizens," giving only a list of names. The computer helpfully provides exactly one record for each name. (Apparently there is only one person in the entire Federation named Andrea Lopez, despite both her first and last names being common in the 21st century.). Possibly justified in that Pike knows exactly who these people are and may have already flagged their records for review; however, then one would expect him to order their records pulled up, not searched for.
- Playing Possum: Pike has Enterprise maneuver in front of the comet and then fakes a systems failure to make it seem as if Enterprise can't move away under its own power. Should the Shepherds do nothing, Enterprise will impact and destroy the comet. The Shepherds buy the act and tow Enterprise to safety, allowing Spock to divert the comet while they're occupied.
- Proscenium Reveal: Spock calls Pike to tell him there's a problem with the comet. Cut to it impacting and obliterating Persephone III, only for the scene to then rewind, revealing it's a simulation of what's coming.
- Real After All: Downplayed. After finally diverting the comet, Uhura realizes the comet already knew what they were planning, implying that M'Hanit is based on a genuine intellect contained in the comet, though it's not clear it's exactly what the Shepherds think it is.
- Sadistic Choice: Pike knows the names of every cadet he saves that fateful day in the future, making it all the more difficult knowing that any attempt to save his own life could very well doom theirs.
- Sarcasm Mode: How Lt. Ortegas sums up a brief hail from Pike to the Shepherds:Ortegas: I think that went well.
- Self-Deprecation: Pike tells his dinner guests a story about how he tried to chase a Nausicaan who wasn't wearing pants — only to trip on the Nausicaan's pants. Spock doesn't understand how Pike can consider his misadventure funny or encourage others to laugh at him.Pike: Sometimes, Mr. Spock, things go so badly, you just have to laugh.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Spock says this of Nurse Chapel when Uhura jokes about her being his girlfriend.
- Shown Their Work: Despite some considerable Artistic License – Space in the depiction of the comet, the scene after the crew beams onto it shows the star field wheeling in the background, as the comet tumbles through space. It's beautifully reminiscent of the impressive shots taken by the Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in 2014.
- Songs in the Key of Lock: Uhura discovers that the "egg" on the comet responds to music — specifically, the Kenyan melody she hums. She and Spock then use the melody to make the egg open up to them.
- Switch to English: Inverted — Uhura calls out Hemmer and Spock for teasing her in their native languages, earning Hemmer's respect.
- Telepathy: Hemmer (an Aenar) and Spock (a Vulcan) are telepathic, and this is shown in a demonstration in front of Uhura where the blind Hemmer catches a carrot thrown by Spock.Hemmer: You telegraphed your throw, telepathically.
Spock: As was my intention, to illustrate. - That's No Moon: What is assumed to be a comet is actually a starship.
- Troll: Ortegas engages in it while encouraging Uhura to come to dinner in her dress uniform. This is underlined when she mentions "Enterprise Bingo" — as we learn several episodes later, "Show up overdressed" isn't one of the items on the list.
- Universal Translator: Pike is confused by the aliens referring to themselves as "Shepherds." The relief communications officer assures him that this is how the Universal Translator interpreted their name.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Pike has a plan that involves getting in front of the comet with no further explanation. Once he's done so, he fakes the ship being disabled so the Shepherds will have to tow the Enterprise away. Meanwhile, Spock is in a shuttle, having hidden in the comet's tail in the confusion, and generates heat using the shields to break off a chunk of the ice and divert the comet's path.
- Wham Shot: Enterprise fires modified torpedoes at the comet in preparation to alter its course, only for the torpedoes to explode against the Deflector Shields guarding the comet.Pike: Anyone wanna tell me how a comet puts up a force field?
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Nurse Chapel gives the away team an injection to protect them from radiation on the comet's surface. We expect this to set up a Race Against the Clock (as her genetic disguise injection did in the previous episode), but it's never mentioned again, even though the away team clearly spends far longer on the comet than their allotted time.note Instead, the plot shifts focus to the mystery of the egg so they can lower the shield and save Sam Kirk, who needs to get to sickbay after being electrocuted.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Uhura first reveals that she isn't so sure about a career in Starfleet, Spock points out just how prestigious a posting she's secured for herself — ahead of thousands of applicants almost as qualified — and notes that others sure of their future might be better suited for the job. After her performance on the comet, Spock echoes the sentiment but adds that she's definitely proven she has what it takes.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Discussed at the end — Pike has accepted his fate and feels that he can't change it, especially as it involves him making a Heroic Sacrifice to save several cadets, but Una tries to convince him to Screw Destiny by saving the cadets without sacrificing himself.
