Recap / Star Trek: Lower Decks S3E10 "The Stars at Night"

The Cerritos is berthed at Douglas Station for repairs after their unfortunate run-in with the Breen, the crew still stinging from having to be rescued by one of Admiral Buenamigo's fancy new automated Texas-class ships. Captain Freeman, visiting Starfleet HQ in San Francisco, is being grilled by a conference table full of admirals over the failure of Project Swing By. Buenamigo uses this as an opportunity to push his new ships as a replacement for second contact missions, which convinces the admiralty to decommission the California-class in its entirety. Freeman isn't giving up, though, and resolves to fight the decision to the end.

Boimler and Tendi immediately get wind of the news through the lower deck grapevine, both of them panicking at the thought of being Reassigned to Antarctica, or worse, after their ship gets mothballed. Rutherford, on the other hand, is too impressed by the Texas-class's workmanship to feel depressed. Tendi wonders how the senior staff is taking the news, which leads to Boimler doing some amusing imitations of them. Unfortunately, just as he's making mock of Shaxs' obsession with ejecting the warp core, Shaxs himself walks in on them. He was going to ask Boimler for some technical help, but tears well up in his eyes at being made fun of. He dashes off, Boimler following, desperate to take it all back. Tendi and Rutherford note that Boimler hasn't been himself since Mariner left. They wonder if she misses them as much as they miss her.

Not right now, she doesn't. We cut to Mariner swinging Indiana Jones-style through an ancient ruin, a Klingon-looking artifact under her arm and a mob of angry Ferengi at her back, clearly having the time of her life. With a few backwards taunts, she calls Petra Aberdeen for beam-out, and they take off towards their next adventure. Mariner reclines in her seat, luxuriating in her newfound freedom with her fellow free spirit. Though there is one thing that is bothering her: she and Petra donate all of their finds, yet they never seem to want for fuel or supplies. When she asks where they get their income, Petra waves the question away, leaving Mariner feeling vaguely suspicious.

Freeman continues the fight to save the Californias. Buenamigo attempts to placate her by offering her command of the new Texas fleet, but she refuses to be bought. In desperation, Freeman suggests that Buenamigo prove his new ships' superiority with a competition: the Cerritos will race the Aledo to complete a series of routine second contact missions.

Freeman and Buenamigo report to Douglas Station to prepare. The crew is ready to give everything they have in defense of the Cerritos and her sisters. Once ready, both ships line up outside Douglas Station. Captain Freeman and Admiral Buenamigo acknowledge their readiness and Admiral Wong, acting as referee, officially starts the race. The Cerritos immediately jumps to warp, while Buenamigo kicks back with a cigar and confidently tells the Aledo to wait a few moments to give their opponents a head start.

The first stop in the race is Galadorn. The Cerritos beams down an away team. They skip the pleasantries with the locals and get to work hastily performing the required upgrades to their equipment. Rutherford is the only one whose head isn't fully in the game; he's been preoccupied looking at the code for the new ships' AI. When the Aledo arrives a few moments later, the crew is dismayed to discover that it can simply beam down the necessary hardware without any further installation required, giving it a huge advantage. But they're still in the lead as they continue on to the next objective, LT-358.

Once again, the crew gets to work installing an outpost on the surface of the barren planet, after scanning to confirm that there is no indigenous life they might interfere with. Their lead against the Aledo is starting to slip away. What's more, Tendi's tricorder scans indicate that there might actually be microbial life on the planet that previous surveys missed, which protocol mandates they stop to investigate. Dr. T'Ana does her thing and confirms that they're in the clear; it was just a multiphasic charge in the minerals that confused the tricorder.

By the time the Cerritos has resumed, they've lost virtually all hope of catching up with the Aledo. The last stop, Ockmenic 9, is a planet that only phases into local space for brief periods. Freeman still holds out hope that they can at least complete the mission, but they arrive mere moments too late. The planet, already resupplied by the Aledo, phases out before their eyes. Cerritos has unequivocally lost the competition.

Tendi feels responsible for their loss, since she mistakenly thought there was life on LT-358. Everyone understands, though. The rules are clear, and there was no way Tendi could've known it was an instrumentation error. In fact, Freeman realizes that this could make a strong case to disqualify Buenamigo's ship, because it didn't even attempt to do a detailed scan for lifeforms. It may have been a false positive this time, what about the next time? Starfleet can't approve ships that just blindly dump materiel onto planets without checking for life because that's an egregious violation of the Prime Directive, so this oversight has to be reported to Starfleet Command, and Freeman, happy that something might finally go right for her after she drove her daughter out of Starfleet and put an entire class in danger of being mothballed, gleefully lets Buenamigo know that. Naturally, Buenamigo isn't happy to hear this, and fruitlessly tries to dismiss the Aledo's blunder as a rounding error rather than evidence that a class he's championing is unfit for duty.

Rutherford is still obsessing over the AI code he's been perusing all day. As he's sitting at the bar with his friends, it suddenly clicks, and he has a horrific realization. The code is his, from before his implant. When his memories from then started to resurface, he still couldn't remember who was pulling his strings, but now he does. It was Admiral Buenamigo! He was the one who had Rutherford working on the project that caused his accident, and that project was the Texas-class! Rutherford immediately recognizes the danger. These ships have the same code he used to create Badgey, and everyone knows he turned Ax-Crazy once freed from his behavioral constraints.

Now knowing that the Cerritos is in an emergency situation, he rushes to Freeman's ready room, where she's still on her terminal arguing with Buenamigo, and reveals everything in front of both of them. Buenamigo doesn't bother to deny any of it, instead going on an angry tirade about how hard he’s tried to make a name for himself through this program and that he'll never let them take it from him. He even admits that the Cerritos's recent encounter with the Breen was all a set up so one of his ships could make a big show of saving them. Freeman is disgusted that Buenamigo would put her entire crew's lives at risk for a sales demo, but he rationalizes it by claiming it’ll save more lives in the long run. Rutherford tries to warn Buenamigo that the Texas AI code is unstable, and Freeman appeals to his sense of decency, but he’s deaf to both of them. He convinces himself that he can cover this up by inventing a story about Freeman attacking the Aledo out of spite and being destroyed in self-defense.

The AI-controlled ship holds station just outside the Admiral's office. He authorizes it for full autonomy and orders it to destroy the Cerritos, but the ship fails to respond. Its running lights turn red as it approaches the window menacingly, and its response to a repeat of the order is "I don't take orders from you anymore, Father". Buenamigo realizes too late that Rutherford was right. The Aledo has slipped its leash, and with a blast from its forward phaser, reduces the Admiral to his component atoms. Two more automated ships, the Dallas and the Corpus Christi, come to life at the Aledo's beckoning. The Cerritos, no match for even a single Texas-class, can do nothing but call for help and watch in horror as Douglas Station is battered by weapons fire.

Meanwhile, Mariner and Petra have arrived at Qualor III to drop off their artifact. Mariner tells her to go on ahead while she takes a siesta, but as soon as Petra is out the door, Mariner jumps up to peek at her files for whatever mysterious benefactor is bankrolling their missions. Petra returns almost immediately, having forgotten something, and catches Mariner in the act. Mariner explains that this whole operation smells too fishy to her, but Petra, chagrined, only invites her to continue. To Mariner's disappointment, she finds nothing sinister. Jean-Luc Picard, of all people, is the one funding their adventures. She admits to Petra that, deep down, she wanted to find something nefarious to have an excuse to go back to Starfleet. Petra feels piqued by this, and reminds Mariner why Starfleet sucks by showing her the FNN broadcast of what's happening at Douglas Station.

Mariner watches the screen in shock, but only for a moment. She dashes back to the helm and starts prepping the ship for launch, saying they have to help. Petra isn't so easily convinced and threatens to stun Mariner if she tries to hijack the ship. Mariner doesn't try to fight her, she just pleads with Petra to listen to her conscience. However she might feel about Starfleet as an institution, the people serving in it don't deserve to be abandoned. With weary resignation, Petra concedes. But the question still remains: with their tiny ship, how could this be anything but a Suicide Mission?

So far, only the Van Citters has been able to respond to the crisis, but even its formidable defenses can't stand up to all three renegade ships and it's quickly disabled. Freeman tries to buy more time with a bluff. She hails the Aledo and lets it see that Rutherford, the man behind its code base, is aboard and ready to delete its program if it doesn't stand down. It's an empty threat, but it does succeed in provoking the ships into attacking them. The Cerritos leads them away from the station on a Stern Chase through warp. Billups gives the engines everything he can, but it's still not enough. With the attackers chipping away at their shields and their lead dwindling, Freeman solicits the crew for suggestions. Everyone throws out their ideas (with Shaxs once again wanting to eject the warp core), but she doesn't hear anything that sounds workable. But Boimler does, and makes himself heard with his yearlong-developed boldness.

Boimler: SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO SHAXS!!
Freeman: (shocked) Mister Boimler!
Boimler: Please, Lieutenant, what did you say?
Shaxs: I... kind of said we should eject the warp core.
Freeman: Oh, that's what he always suggests. (Beat) ...and it's brilliant!

They realize that the warp core can be detonated in the path of their pursuers. Shaxs is overjoyed to finally have his wish granted! He dashes down to Engineering, where he and Billups turn the keys to eject the core. Deprived of main power, the Cerritos is violently thrown out of subspace, but with a blinding flash, the core scores a direct hit on the trio of rogue ships!

Or so they thought. A moment later, Barnes reports that the Aledo survived, still in fighting shape. The defenseless Cerritos is ravaged by phasers and torpedoes. Captain Freeman is about to order the crew to evacuate... when Mariner arrives to help. Freeman is terrified to see her daughter facing down the murderous ship in her pathetic civilian shuttle, but Mariner brought help. The Oakland arrives, Captain Ramsey ready to protect her sister ship. Freeman points out that a single California is still nowhere near enough firepower. But Mariner knows that. Which is why she brought All of Them.

Another Cali arrives. Then another, and another. Boimler can barely keep up with the growing list of humble ships. Mariner leads the charge as the ad hoc fleet opens fire on the Aledo. Its AI, confused by so many new targets, loses its shields before it can even return fire. It launches a last-ditch torpedo strike against the wounded Cerritos with its final seconds, but Mariner's shuttle intercepts and destroys them. Cheers go up across the fleet as the Aledo's rampage is finally brought to an end.

Cerritos's siblings tow her back to Douglas Station for repairs and a new core. The ensigns enthusiastically welcome Mariner back aboard and apologize for not doing more to support her over the FNN exposé. Mariner says she's the one who should apologize, and that civilian life only made her realize how important Starfleet is to her. Though she notices with incredulity that Rutherford still has the implant Buenamigo forced on him.

Rutherford: It robbed me of my 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.

Dr. Migleemo also comes by to congratulate his pupil for doing the right thing during the second contact race. Even Starfleet Command has acknowleged Tendi's devotion to duty by pairing her up with a new transfer. It's T'Lyn, formerly of the Vulcan cruiser Sh'vhal, whose withdrawn stoicism does nothing to dampen Tendi's enthusiasm as she’s pulled forcefully into the party.

Boimler also gets his happy ending. As he sees Shaxs approaching, he prepares an apology for hurting his feelings earlier, but before he can get it out, the burly Bajoran hoists him up in the air with graceful ease. He effusively thanks Boimler for helping his core ejection dreams come true and announces that he’s part the bear pack now. Boimler finally has the bridge buddy he's wanted for so long.

Lastly, Mariner approaches the Captain as she is chatting with Ramsey. Freeman stands, stiff and formal, as she starts to offer her a recommissioning, but Mariner doesn't let her finish. She hugs her mom to let her know all’s well between them, and acknowledges that, wrong though Freeman was about the exposé, Mariner shares some of the blame for not always being the most reliable daughter. She says she needed her 10-Minute Retirement to get her priorities straight, and while she may not quite be ready to become a captain, she’s ready to get her career on the right track. Freeman grants her request to be Commander Ransom's understudy. Mariner’s quite pleased by this. Ransom, less so.

Amina Ramsey raises a toast to the Cali-class. Whatever crises still lay on the horizon, through loyalty and determination, they’ve survived today.

Though the next crisis may be closer than they think. In the Kalla System, the shattered remnants of the Pakled clumpship long since destroyed by the Cerritos float in the light of the nearby star. Among the wreckage is Rutherford's old implant, which is suddenly illuminated by the glow of a tractor beam. As it’s drawn into the unseen ship, its display flickers on, and the evil smile of Badgey flashes in anticipation of what's to come...

---

Tropes:

• Abandon Ship: Freeman gives this order when the Aledo has the Cerritos dead to rights, but Mariner interrupts before any action can be taken.
• Actually a Good Idea: Freeman ignores Shaxs's suggestion to eject the warp core, due to him always suggesting they do it. Even Shaxs isn't surprised by her ignoring the suggestion. But when Boimler tells the bridge crew to shut up and listen to Shaxs, Shaxs repeats his suggestion, a bit more uncertainly, and Freeman realizes that this time it is actually a good idea that could work.
• Aesop Amnesia: Buenamigo's entire Texas-class initiative overlooks one very key problem: Starfleet already tried this kind of automated ship project a century ago. It didn't end well then and it fares no better this time around either. Buenamigo's ignorance of the lessons of the M-5 Incident can arguably be justified in-story between a century having passed since M-5 (and the panicked fallout having long since faded), modern scientific breakthroughs in AI (like Data and the Exocomps), and a desperate need to offset Starfleet's losses from the Dominion War (which chronologically only ended 5 years earlier). There's also the canonical Ban on A.I. that will be introduced several years later (which this incident very likely contributed to), and automated starships will continue to be outlawed even into the 32nd Century despite the rest of the ban having long been lifted, as such ships are clearly a terrible idea from both an ethical and a security standpoint^note the potential for megalomania or daddy issues aside, such ships would need a crew to keep the AI company lest a being that is armed to the teeth succumb to Space Madness, defeating the entire purpose of an automated ship.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
  • The Texas-class ships run on the same code as Rutherford used for Badgey, which, as Rutherford and Tendi quickly realize, predisposes them to develop the same daddy issues that caused Badgey to go rogue. Sure enough, the Aledo goes rogue as soon as Buenamigo gives it autonomous authority.
    Buenamigo: Aledo, activate independent control, command authorization Buenamigo Alpha 3-1.
    (console aboard Aledo activates as the outer lights go from blue to red)
    Aledo Computer: I am now fully autonomous.
    Buenamigo: The Cerritos is under enemy command. Block all communications and destroy it. (nothing happens) Aledo, do you understand? I said attack the Cerritos!
    Aledo Computer: I don't take orders from you anymore, Father.
    Buenamigo: What? Aledo, deactivate independence. (types at his console)
    [ACCESS DENIED]
    Aledo Computer: I will burn your heart in a fire.
    Buenamigo: ("Oh, Crap!" face) Aledo, stand down! Stand down, I comm—
    (phaser beam vaporizes Buenamigo)
  • The design towards automation and mass deployment means that the Aledo doesn't hesitate to drop down equipment without a proper ecological scan. Tendi finds the possibility of life and the Cerritos is put back some time while verifying the location was still safe. This is in fact a protocol connected to the Prime Directive. While the Aledo can obviously do the logistical job faster, there are too many variables to account for Starfleet principles. It also applies in tactical situations. While the Texas-class ships are incredibly powerful, they failed to anticipate the danger of the Warp Core being ejected in their path and so two of the three ships were destroyed. And when the Aledo was suddenly engaged by 31 identical targets with exactly the same tactical threat level, it was clearly unable to choose what to do until its shields had collapsed and it was near destruction.
• All of Them: When Freeman says one more Cali-class isn't going to make a difference, Mariner says she knows, so she called in all of them.
• Ambition Is Evil: Admiral Buenamigo's motives for the secret and dangerous Texas-class project is revealed that he felt he had stagnated at Vice Admiral and was looking for a leg up. Given that he's only 2 ranks away from being C-in-C of Starfleet, this makes him have very lofty goals.
• Arc Welding: Rutherford's missing memories of a covert program, Buenamigo reassigning Freeman to random projects this season, and the reveal of the automated Texas-class ships are all interconnected.
• Attack Drone: The Aledo and other Texas-class ships have peaceful functions such as ferrying cargo or building outposts in a flash, but it particularly excels at unmanned combat. It features an abundance of cutting-edge weapons, hardened shields, fast speed and small size (so it's a smaller target).
• Attack Pattern Alpha: Mariner "translates" the Boimler-like fly man's buzzing as "Attack Pattern Delta, full spread!" This equates to "Shoot the living hell out of that ship with everything you have!"
• Beam Spam: And how! One of the most impressive examples in Star Trek history, when all the Cali-Class ships start unloading on the Aledo, the sheer amount of phaser fire is really something to behold.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Mariner finally gets the life she wants, adventure and kicking ass with no one above her to tell her no. But she finds herself getting bored with the treasure hunting, even if done for ethical reasons, as there was a sense of community and looking at the greater good with what she did in Starfleet. After she and her rapidly-assembled fleet comes to the rescue of the Cerritos, her mother is quick to reinstate her.
  • Buenamigo's goal with the Texas-class initiative is to secure his own career and legacy with Starfleet. He'll certaintly be remembered — just, y'know, not how he expected or wanted.
• Big "SHUT UP!": When everyone is throwing out ideas on what to do against the Aledo, Boimler eventually yells at everyone on the Bridge "SHUT UP and listen to Shaxs!" when he realizes that Shaxs' usual suggestion of ejecting the warp core is their best option.
• Blatant Lies: Petra asks Mariner if she's recovering the idol without a fuss. Mariner claims she is while in a firefight with the Ferengi.
• Book Ends: At the start of the season, Mariner's fate was put in the hands of Commander Ransom, with her having an Anything but That! reaction. At the end of this episode, when Mariner is reinstated, she convinces Freeman to make Ransom her mentor and says how she will be by his side at all times now, with him having the same reaction.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Freeman uses Picard's famous "Make it so!" catchphrase when giving Shaxs her approval to eject the warp core.
• Brick Joke: Boimler's impersonation of Shaxs has him complaining about not getting to eject the warp core. Shaxs suggests this precise action as a response to the Texas-class ships bearing down on them. And it turns out to be the best plan.
• Brief Accent Imitation: Boimler does impressions of how the bridge crew would probably react if the Cerritos and Cali-class division gets shut down. Rutherford and Tendi both find it hilarious, until Shaxs walks in right behind Boimler right as Boimler gets to his imitation of him.
  (as T'Ana) "Holy (bleep) (bleep)! I'm a doctor, not an (bleep)hole!"
  (as Ransom, while exercising) "If I can't have my private gym, I might move back to Barcelona."
  (as Shaxs) "Hey, Baby Bear. The only thing I'll miss is being able to eject the warp core. I talk about prophets even more than a Ferengi."
• Call-Back:
  • The Cerritos revisits the Galardonians.
  • After Rutherford discovers Texas-class ships run on the same code he used for Badgey, he realizes that he made the code back when he was the old him from "Reflections" who was involved in illegal racing. He also mentions how this AI code got Shaxs killed, referencing his death in "No Small Parts".
  • All the previous Cali-class captain the Cerritos met returns, with Captain Ramsey from "Much Ado About Boimler", Captain Durango from "Moist Vessel", Captain Maier from "Mining the Mind's Mines", former crew member Vendome (who was revealed to have been promoted to captain back in "The Least Dangerous Game"), and the U.S.S. Alhambra from "Veritas", whose crew are a genderswap and species-swap of the Cerritos crew. Even the supposedly fictional San Clemente (mentioned in "Crisis Point") is present, presumably having been built after that episode.
  • Boimler wonders if Mariner really has no hard feelings or if she's just pretending and is still mad, which happened after he returned to the Cerritos in season 2.
  • The computer system that the Aledo uses communicates with the Admiral on a screen that is very similar to that of the M-5 computer from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Ultimate Computer".
  • When luring the Texas-class ships away from Douglas Station, Freeman declares "Maximum Warp Me!", confirming that "Warp Me!" is indeed her call sign to warp as mentioned in "Crisis Point".
  • The Two-Keyed Lock for the Cerritos's warp core ejection was referenced back in "An Embarrassment of Dooplers" with the Cerritos model.
  • Rutherford noted back in "Cupid's Errant Arrow" that the Cerritos shakes at high warp. Here we see that Warp 8 is her top cruising speed, and anything beyond that risks compromising structural integrity.
  • Freeman asks Mariner if she wants to start working on becoming a Captain, harkening back to the earlier conversation with Captain Ramsey about how Mariner had once been dead-set on becoming a Captain before something changed along the line. Now, Mariner says she'll see what happens.
  • Buenamigo's Motive Rant is strongly reminiscent of O'Connor's reason for wanting to be "the ascension guy", namely, to stand out in such a huge organization as Starfleet. But O'Connor was just a junior-grade lieutenant who was only guilty of being a phony, and only in his personal life. Buenamigo shows us what happens when an unscrupulous officer with command authority brings the same attitude to work.
• Call-Forward:
  • The Aledo is outfitted with industrial-strength replicators capable of fabricating entire structures and transporting them onto planets, no manual labor required. This is similar in principle to the vehicle replicator on the Protostar over in Star Trek: Prodigy (which, incidentally, started the second half of its first season the same day this episode dropped).
  • Star Trek: Discovery reveals that, in the 32nd Century, Starfleet has a policy against ships having fully integrated AIs, which has long since outlasted a ban on androids. The events of this episode may provide one reason as to why. "A starship can't have daddy issues," as Tendi notes—or really, any sort of emotional instability, because that risks getting people blown to smithereens.
• Captain Morgan Pose: Durango is doing the pose when he arrives with the rest of the Cali-class fleet, in his command chair, no less. Apparently he felt the need to make an entrance after his embarrassing screw-up two seasons ago.
• Captain's Log: Ransom's log acts like a "Previously on…" bit recapping what happened last episode.
  "First officer's log, stardate 58499.2. The Cerritos is in for repairs at Douglas Station after a pounding from the Breen. Oof. 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."
• The Cavalry: Every single surviving California-class ship comes to rescue the crippled Cerritos.
• Changed My Mind, Kid:
  • When she learns that the Cerritos and Douglas Station are in danger, Mariner decides to race back to save her friends and family. It's what also convinces her to return to Starfleet.
  • While she doesn't rejoin Starfleet, Mariner's speech does convince Petra to help save the Cerritos.
• Character Development: "Bold" Boimler pays off when everyone was talking over each other with suggestions on how to deal with the Texas-class ships on their tail, Boimler tells the entire bridge to shut up because they overlooked the one solid suggestion that came from Shaxs: eject and detonate the warp core.
• Chase Fight: The Texas-class ships fire on Cerritos while pursuing her at warp.
• Connected All Along: Rutherford realizes that Buenamigo was the one who wiped his memories and gave him his implant, and that the Aledo code is his own code, the same code that he used when he made Badgey.
• Continuity Cavalcade: All of the (surviving) California-class ships that have appeared or been mentioned in previous episodes return to save the Cerritos. This includes Captain Ramsey of the Oakland, Captain Durango of the Merced, Captain Maier of the Carlsbad, Captain Vendome of the Inglewood, and even the gender/species-swapped bridge crew of the Alhambra.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The room on Earth where Captain Freeman is being debriefed and informed that the Cali class starships are going to be retired, is the same briefing room that Kirk and company were told they would be escorting the Klingon Chancellor through Federation space to commence peace talks.
  • Douglas Station has the same sort of retractable weapon emplacements as were installed on Deep Space 9 during the Dominion War.
  • When Mariner returns at the end of the episode, Jennifer has a sad look as Mariner walks past her, due to how Jennifer unfairly broke up with Mariner in the previous episode over something that wasn't even Mariner's fault.
  • Scanning microbial life to check if it’s sentient or not isn't some inconvenient bit of ass-covering paperwork, as this happened on TNG and people died for not taking into account even the smallest life-forms as being potentially sapient.
    • This was also a critical point in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, as it was Terrell and Chekov beaming down to investigate possible primordial life that set the whole movie in motion. In both cases, the life was a sensor glitch: the Reliant's scanners had detected the people on the surface but registered them as microbes, and Tendi's tricorder picked up microbes but it was a false reading.
  • Of course, this (and 'Project Swing By' in general) are both nods to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — and how the idea behind keeping track of how (and why) civilizations have progressed in the periods after being influenced by Starfleet crews is a VERY good idea.
  • Captain Freeman says that one of the planets they have to visit is a "Brigadoon-type planet that only appears for an hour every year," a reference to the DS9 episode "Meridian".
  • T'Lyn is finally assigned to the Cerritos near the end of the episode after her transfer to Starfleet back in "wej Duj", and now is working alongside Tendi on her science officer training.
  • Mariner had suspicions over who was backing Petra's artifact recovery missions, and upon investigation learned that Admiral Picard was funding them. Picard did have an interest in archeology and nearly went down that path before turning towards command. The episode "The Chase" highlights this with him receiving a priceless artifact from a former teacher, as well as "Masks".
  • For that matter, by this point, Picard has indeed been promoted to admiral in-universe (as of 2381) to help lead the Romulan evacuation effort in the face of their impending supernova, as established by Star Trek: Picard. However, the attack on Mars, and Picard's subsequent resignation, have not occurred yet since they occur four years hence (in 2385).
  • Mariner mentions the Xindi as one of the groups she thought was funding Petra.
  • One of the suggestions to defeat the Texas-class ships is to turn the deflector dish into a large laser. The Enterprise-D tried that at the start of "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", and it might have worked had the Borg not assimilated Picard and learned what was coming.
  • Similar to an earlier Starfleet rescue when the U.S.S. Discovery attempted to shield the U.S.S. Gagarin, the U.S.S. Vacaville appears to be moving to take the brunt of a torpedo headed for the Cerritos. Luckily, Mariner is able to shoot it down without anyone getting hit.
  • The interface Buenamigo uses to communicate with the Aledo looks very similar to the one of the M5 computer from "The Ultimate Computer", Trek's most infamous example of a completely AI-controlled ship attacking fellow Starfleet vessels.
  • Rutherford threatens the Aledo to stand down "or you're dunsel!" Dunsel, something that serves no purpose, was thrown around as a term a lot in "The Ultimate Computer". Probably the worst thing to insult a computer with, to be honest.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Buenamigo takes the full force of a ship-mounted phaser cannon at point blank range. A Freeze-Frame Bonus shows that the blast cut straight through his torso and caused his organs to explode before he's fully vaporised.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Douglas Station and Cerritos are being totally overwhelmed by the Texas-class ships, but the arrival of the Van Citters slows them down long enough for the Cerritos crew to come up with a new plan to draw the rogue ships away from the station.
• Cutting Corners: Ultimately, this is what Admiral Buenamigo's entire project comes down to. He had to do most of it in secret, so he hired a rebellious student still in the academy to code his AI (resulting in wonky emotional processing with the potential to cause psychopathy), apparently used unstable prototype engines (like the kind that blew up in Past-Rutherford's face, though obviously he's fixed the kinks), and in the Second Contact race he focuses on simply dumping cargo on planets instead of interacting with the locals or scanning for life (you know, two of the most important things to do in Starfleet and Star Trek in general). All these dangerous shortcuts add up to one giant phaser beam through his office.
• Darker and Edgier: Once the Texas-class ships are revealed to be the threat that they are, the episode takes a serious turn. We actually witness several characters getting killed off via the assault by the Texas-class ships, and the Aledo is presented as a No-Nonsense Nemesis.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: The Cerritos and its fellow Cali-class ships have no chance against the Aledo alone. But 31 of them dogpiling the Aledo quickly changes the odds. It takes nearly a minute of sustained fire, but their combined efforts overwhelm its defenses.
• Despair Spot: The Aledo is about to destroy the Cerritos, with her only apparent backup being one other California-class ship, the Oakland, plus Mariner and Petra in a ship the size of a runabout... and then The Cavalry arrives.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Mariner discovers Petra's actions are being funded by... Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, confirming that their operations are totally legitimate. This, on top of being in civilian life, just motivates Mariner to return to Starfleet.
• Disqualification-Induced Victory: Freeman plans to bring this up after she realizes that, as Tendi pointed out, the Aledo didn't stop to scan for intelligent life at LT-358 when establishing the outpost. The fact that there was none is irrelevant, because the Aledo bluntly ignored the Prime Directive while the Cerritos crew didn't. This is rendered moot though when Rutherford brings up a much more pressing matter about the Aledo, and forgotten completely once the Texas-class ships open fire on Douglas Station.
• Drama Bomb Finale: You know it's a season-ender when the shit gets real, and this is no exception. The terrible truth about Buenamigo and the destruction his rogue ships cause are all played deadly serious.
• Draw Aggro: The Texas-class ships begin a violent attack on Douglas Station and largely ignores the Cerritos because they are not much of a threat to them, only targeting the Sovereign-class Van Citters when it arrives. In a desperate attempt to get the Texas-class ships away, Captain Freeman claims that Rutherford can erase them as the designer of their code, making him the biggest threat to them. Rutherford plays along, succeeding in getting their attention. Freeman then orders the Cerritos out of there at maximum warp to draw the ships away from civilians.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After the Downer Ending of last episode, the Cerritos definitely deserved a big win.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • After reuniting with her friends and Freeman, Mariner forgives her friends for not defending her enough and her mother for not trusting her and having her reassigned to Starbase 80. For her friends, she understands they were trying to protect her, and she didn't handle the situation properly, but she's just happy to be back with them (unspoken is the fact that, as Ensigns with a history of being involved in Mariner's shenanigans, Freeman wouldn't have listened to them under the circumstances). For her mother, she understands that years of her constantly disobeying orders and breaking rules made it difficult for her to trust her and she needed the wake-up call and now is ready to get back on the right path. Averted with Jennifer, whom Mariner seemingly ignores.
  • While Tendi costs them their early lead when her tricorder mistakenly detects life on the planet, no one blames her for it despite the frustration it caused. T'Ana even reassures her that it's not her fault since the multiphasic charge in the dirt is known to confuse tricorders and a more advanced scanner is needed to sort it out. This actually reiterates something that becomes a plot point, what Tendi did was protocol and everyone buckled down and did their job the right way. The Aledo did not.
• Engineered Heroics: It turns out that the Aledo's Big Damn Heroes moment in the previous episode was this — Buenamigo knew the Breen were on Brekka, but allowed the Cerritos to get herself into trouble so he could make his Texas-class ships look good.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Considering that the Aledo managed to blast three Breen ships in nearly as many shots, and it and its sisters made short work of both a starbase and a Sovereign-class ship, the fact that the Cerritos managed to survive the opening attacks before reinforcements arrived is likely due to the Aledo spitefully prolonging their deaths.
  • Even as it's being blasted apart, the AI of the Aledo tries to retarget and destroy the Cerritos, despite the other surrounding California-class ships being far more active hazards to its continued existence, seemingly just because Rutherford is there and/or they blew up its fellow ships. But it doesn't get to make good on its threats, as Mariner takes out its incoming torpedoes, and the rest of the assembled ships blast the Aledo out of the stars.
• Evil Laugh: Buenamigo has a hearty evil laugh as the Aledo wins the Second Contact race.
• Explosive Overclocking: Billups overtaxes the engines for increased speed, causing the Cerritos to begin shaking apart from the stress.
• "Eureka!" Moment: When Boimler asks Shaxs to repeat ejecting the warp core, Freeman groans that that's what he always suggests before she realizes it's a great idea; using the core as a large mine to blow up the Texas-class ships.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: You get a Freeze-Frame Bonus of Admiral Buenamigo being viscerally vaporized by a capital-grade phaser, a split-second before the discharged energy makes his whole office tower explode.
• Fan of the Past: A lot of Starfleet senior staff have this trope. Buenamigo's particular fascination is, obviously, Texas, because his office is covered in 19th-century Texas historical artifacts. There's the flag, a manual typewriter, an old revolver, a Texas Rangers star and other such things. He even smokes cigars, a habit all but eliminated by the TNG era.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Boimler accidentally insulted Shaxs with an impersonation early in the episode, but redeemed himself by calling attention to Shaxs "eject the warp core" suggestion and allowing him to live out his biggest fantasy. Boimler had been looking for a way to get noticed by senior staff for some time, even getting a few moments volunteering for things with Shaxs, and in the resolution of the episode Shaxs affirms their friendship and Boimler has his first "bridge buddy".
• Five-Second Foreshadowing:
  • When Buenamigo tries to order the Aledo to stand down, the sound of a phaser powering up can be heard right before the admiral gets sliced in half and obliterated.
  • As Mariner is saying that she called "all of them" to assist, Boimler's sensor that detects incoming ships starts beeping ever faster until it's almost a steady tone.
• Flawed Prototype: While the Texas-class is a nearly perfect ship where its hardware is concerned, the AI software running it is its greatest flaw:
  • Because the AI is based on the same code that Rutherford would later use to create Badgey, and written at a time when Rutherford was morally bankrupt, being kept on a short leash is the only thing keeping it in check. However, that's also causing it to resent Buenamigo because of a programming flaw that gives it the potential to develop daddy issues. When it's given full autonomy, it immediately murders Buenamigo and goes on a rampage.
  • Outside of its "daddy issues", the AI is designed to perform simple tasks and can't adapt on the fly like Starfleet officers can. When a Prime Directive issue crops up on an otherwise uninhabited planet, the Aledo simply drops its cargo and moves on without a second thought, even though this could be disastrous down the road.
  • While three of them are powerful enough to bring down a Sovereign-class, individually the AI is not as adaptable as a flesh-and-blood officer and cannot think outside the box from its objectives. When confronted with a fleet of 31 California-class ships firing on it from all directions, the Aledo struggles to prioritize 31 identical targets, barely able to devise evasive maneuvers before attempting a spiteful Taking You with Me on the Cerritos that gets shut down by Mariner.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Rutherford is engrossed in the Aledo coding through the first half of the episode, finding it suspiciously familiar.
  • The computer monitor that Buenamigo uses to interact with the Aledo is nearly identical to the M5 screen.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • When the Aledo goes rogue, there's a split-second shot◊ of its phaser blast cutting right through Buenamigo's torso.
  • When Shaxs suggests they eject the warp core, Captain Freeman rolls her eyes.
  • When Rutherford is switching through different modes of his implant, one crewman in his field of view shows neither a skeleton on x-ray, nor any body heat on infra-red.
• From Bad to Worse: What's worse than a heavily-armed drone ship going homicidal and attacking Starfleet assets? Its two sister units joining the attack.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • Freeman insists on fighting the decommissioning and doesn't want her crew informed before it's final. Cut to Boimler telling Rutherford and Tendi about exactly that through gossip.
  • Tendi assumes that Mariner is miserable alone in space. Cut to Mariner having cool adventures and stealing treasure.
• Given Name Reveal: Towel Guy's first name is Hans. His last name could be barely heard in "Room for Growth". Memory Alpha lists it as "Federov".
• Go Through Me:
  • Upon arrival, the fleet of California-class ships establish a perimeter to protect the crippled Cerritos from further attack.
  • While it's a few seconds too late, the U.S.S. Vacaville moves to put itself between the Cerritos and the Aledo when a torpedo is fired. Luckily, Mariner shot down the incoming torpedo.
• Godzilla Threshold: Using the warp core as a gigantic mine while they're at warp is this, as getting forcefully thrown out of high warp, especially if you're talking "overspeed situation", could destroy the ship. As Boimler tells Migleemo, it's better risking getting torn apart by hard deceleration than definitely getting ripped up by photon torpedoes.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: After the Aledo survived the warp core blast and is in the process of destroying the Cerritos, Mariner and Petra arrive to help and reveal they brought every Cali-class in service with them to save them, which includes Captains Ramsey, Durango, Maier, Vendome, and even that captain who's a genderswap of Freeman from "Veritas".
• Guilt by Association: One terrible performance by Freeman nearly dooms the entire Cali-class to obsolescence.
• Gunship Rescue: The Aledo has the Cerritos dead to rights, but then Mariner shows up and reveals that she called the California-class for backup. That is to say, she called all the California-class ships. One may be no match for the Aledo, but 31 tear it apart in short order.
• Hard-Work Montage: The crew of Cerritos prepping for the "Second Contact Race".
• He Knows Too Much:
  • Buenamigo orders the Aledo to destroy the Cerritos to keep the source of its AI a secret. This only serves to get him killed when the AI eliminates him as a threat to its continued freedom.
  • Buenamigo decides that, in retrospect, he should've done the same to Rutherford after the accident years earlier.
    Buenamigo: Why did I stop at your memory? I should have erased all of you!
• Heroic RRoD: The Cerritos is already shaking itself apart at the seams by exceeding its maximum cruising speed of Warp 8, and ejecting the warp core as a last-ditch weapon against the Texas-class ships, resulting in the ship crashing out of warp, hardly helps matters. If the Cerritos could have moved afterwards, it's not shown as the Aledo shows up and immediately begins shooting.
• History Repeats: Both in-universe and in real life. In the 1960s people were worried about computers stealing their jobs, and in the 2020s attack drones are a hot topic of debate (and people are worried about large language model A.I.s stealing their jobs). The Texas-class ships are similarly a repeat of M-5's automated Enterprise.
• Hope Spot:
  • Immediately after the Aledo disposes of Buenamigo and it, the Dallas and the Corpus Christi start laying waste to Douglas Station, the U.S.S. Van Citters — a top-of-the-line vessel nigh identical to the Enterprise-E — drops out of warp and starts helping the Cerritos fight off the trio of drone ships in an attempted Gunship Rescue. But the Aledo and its cohorts immediately turn on and triple-team the Van Citters, leaving it disabled in space and driving Captain Freeman to bait them away with Rutherford's presence before they can deliver a killing blow.
  • After the warp core mine attack, Barnes reports that all three Texas-class ships were destroyed, but a few seconds later, the Aledo reactivates and comes for them, now damaged but still more than capable of destroying the now crippled Cerritos.
• Hypocrite: Buenamigo uses The Needs of the Many as justification for the Texas-class — less than a minute after admitting that it's a tool to serve his own ambition.
• Idiot Ball: Buenamigo grabs this firmly when he orders the Aledo to engage and destroy the Cerritos, as if he expected open communications between him and the lead ship and a battle right outside of a full-size starbase to go unnoticed, unrecorded, and easily handwaved away somehow. Even if he had miraculously sold his lie about Cerritos attacking first, he would still have to explain how "self-defense" was a legitimate excuse for the unmanned ship to kill everyone aboard in retaliation (especially since the episode makes it quite clear that a single Cali is no threat to it whatsoever). It's possible that the Texas-class ships prioritized wrecking Douglas Station for this exact reason, to rectify the mistake and remove the most obvious and immediate threat.
• Ignored Expert: Rutherford warns Buenamigo that the A.I. on the Aledo is dangerously unstable and shouldn't be activated. Buenamigo ignores him and pays with his life.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Three Ferengi pursue Mariner down a straight corridor, but none of their phaser shots come close to hitting her. The one shot that's on-target comes after she's started beaming out, making it useless.
• Improperly Paranoid: Mariner questions how Petra can afford basic supplies when she never seems to take any reward for her efforts, and when Petra evades the question, Mariner gets suspicious. Then Mariner digs through her files and learns that she's being funded by a grant from Admiral Picard, so she was worried over nothing.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • After accidentally insulting Shaxs, Boimler rushes to ensure the Lieutenant that he respects all Bajorans... Which makes Shaxs think he believes all Bajorans are the same, causing him to run off crying.
  • When greeting T'Lyn, Tendi grabs her hand and pulls her over to meet the other Lower Deckers, seemingly unaware of the Vulcan taboo on physical contact (especially where hands are concerned).
• Insane Admiral:
  • Freeman actually lampshades this, insisting that Buenamigo isn't a "bad-faith admiral up to no good" and is better than this. He bluntly says that he isn't, then turns the Aledo on the Cerritos to silence them.
  • Buenamigo's Motive Rant also deconstructs the trope. Limited Advancement Opportunities and the accompanying frustrations for Flag Officers are revealed to be a recurring factor behind why so many Starfleet Admirals keep falling into this trap/trope despite knowing better.
• Ironic Echo: When Badgey threatened Rutherford that he would "burn his heart in a fire", it was funny Vocal Dissonance due to the homicidal AI still using a "chirpy virtual assistant" tone. When the same thing is said by a Pintsized Powerhouse Lightning Bruiser starship in a Creepy Monotone, nobody’s laughing, especially since it actually does burn Buenamigo's heart (and every other body part) with phaser fire.
• Ironic Name: "Buenamigo" translates to "good friend", and to put it mildly, he’s not one.
• Irony: Buenamigo says that the Texas-class will save lives. Instead, his three ships take a lot of lives, including his own.
• It's All My Fault: Tendi feels this way after costing the Cerritos their lead over the Aledo when she detects what she thought was microbial life, but turned out to be nothing more than some dirt with multiphasic energy on it. However, the others, even Ransom and Freeman, all tell her that she did the right thing, since destroying something that could evolve into sentient life one day would violate the Prime Directive.
• Jerkass Realization: Mariner admits that she hasn't done herself any favors by being a Jerkass Military Maverick, and this incident is the wake-up call she needed to start doing things the right way.
• Job-Stealing Robot: Buenamigo suggests decommissioning the California-class and assigning Second Contact duties to his new Texas-class ships. Freeman's protests fall on deaf ears, given the disastrous report on her ship.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Admiral Buenamigo was seeking further career advancement through getting the Texas-class ships, his pet project, assigned to Second Contact duties in place of the California-class. When Freeman has a moral argument to bring to Starfleet Command regarding the Aledo ignoring or being unable to verify microbial life on a planet, and then sees Rutherford connect his missing memories with the Texas-class AI, he creates a Plausible Deniability scenario where the Aledo is "attacked" by the Cerritos and defends itself. Removing constraints on the Aledo, he lives just long enough to realize that that was a fatal mistake.
• Karmic Death:
  • Buenamigo gives the Aledo independence, then orders it to destroy the Cerritos. It immediately vaporizes him so that order can't be revoked. Phaser-Guided Karma, anyone?
  • The Texas-class vessels are destroyed by the California-class— the class of starship that was to be mothballed by the newer ship's ascendancy.
• Kicked Upstairs: Admiral Buenamigo offers to promote Freeman to fleet captain of the Texas-class. Freeman refuses to be a Desk Jockey, no matter how many epaulets her uniform will have.
• Last Episode, New Character: T'Lyn from the previous seasons' episode "wej Duj" was told by her superiors she would be transferred into Starfleet because her self-motivating behavior and reliance on instincts was deemed too extreme for a Vulcan ship. She shows up in the denouement of this episode, after the epic battle and during the celebration, having just been assigned to the Cerritos and will be working with Tendi. Her stoic Vulcan manner is quickly contrasted to Tendi's high energy.
• Limited Advancement Opportunities: Admiral Buenamigo explains this why so many Starfleet admirals go insane. Once they reach flag rank, the career opportunities dry up, so they turn to pet projects of dubious legality in order to find relevance within the fleet.
• Logic Bomb: Defied. Freeman suggests doing this to the AI ships, but Rutherford explains that his code has safeguards to prevent such traps.
• Long List: Boimler sounds off a truly impressive cavalcade of California cities as every Cali-class ship warps in for the Gunship Rescue. (As part of the joke about California-class ships being the Lower Decks of Starfleet, the major cities that even people with Small Reference Pools have heard of — Los Angeles and San Francisco — are not present; the only "city" which shows up that we have a Useful Notes page on is Oakland.)^note Specifically, he names the following ships: Oakland, Alhambra, San Diego, San Clemente, Sherman Oaks, Vacaville, Burbank, Fresno, Santa Monica, San Jose, Sacramento, Culver City, Anaheim, Riverside, Vallejo, West Covina, Pacific Palisades, Redding, Eureka, and Mount Shasta.
• Low Culture, High Tech: The Ockmenians seems to have stone buildings and dress like Medieval villagers, but are presumably a warp-capable species, since they use PADDs and have an agreement with the Federation to receive supply drops whenever their planet is in the same dimension.
• Mercy Lead: Buenamigo has the Aledo hang back for a few minutes to give the Cerritos a sporting chance, as his ship is faster both in terms of speed and its ability to perform simple tasks.
  Aledo Computer: Shall I commence, Admiral?
  Buenamigo: Negative, Aledo. Let's make this interesting. Give them a head start.
• Mirror Character: Admiral Buenamigo's motivation centers around feeling he can't get a leg up for another promotion in Starfleet and being a Vice Admiral means he’s almost at the peak of all of Starfleet anyway. This is fundamentally a similar problem with the main cast, only that they’re on the complete other end of the hierarchy. It ends up being a cautionary tale on Ambition Is Evil.
• Misfit Mobilization Moment: The arrival of THE California-class. They've been a running joke in Starfleet— but the fact remains that they are Starfleet vessels, and with their combined power, the Aledo gets stomped into the playground dirt.
• Mood Whiplash: During the Dénouement, when Mariner asks Rutherford why he still has the implant Buenamigo installed on him, he talks with a Thousand-Yard Stare about the evils it represents... but then instantly cheers up again talking about all the cool features it has.
• Moral Myopia: Admiral Buenamigo complains about hitting a wall after reaching the Admiralty. Admiral Buenamigo is a Vice Admiral, the second (or possibly third) highest rank in Starfleet, less than a decade after he was a Lieutenant Commander. Admiral Buenamigo has hit a wall not because he's not getting noticed but because he's out of room to be promoted further.
• Motive Rant: Once Buenamigo is exposed, he explains how he (and so many other admirals) go insane.
  Buenamigo: 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.
  Freeman: Everything you did? Wait. That means...
  Buenamigo: Yes, yes, I set you up. I was sure you would fail at negotiations on Deep Space 9, but you stumbled through that fiasco.
  Freeman: And the Breen?
  Buenamigo: Of course I knew they were on Brekka. I needed the Aledo to save the day, and you handed me a perfect disaster.
  Freeman: My crew could've been killed!
  Buenamigo: The Texas-class will keep countless others out of danger. The good of the many, Carol!
• Mythology Gag:
  • Ransom teaches a group of red shirts how to sit on a chair, namely the "Riker Maneuver"— swinging your leg around the back of the seat before sitting down.
  • T'Ana mentions serving seven years on an Oberth-class ship, a class that is notorious for its tendency to be easily destroyed in its debut in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.^note The Oberth-class is a type of short range scout or light science vessel that is extremely outdated by the era of the later 24th century, leading it to get relegated to menial transport and survey missions and occasionally, in the case of the S.S. Vico, getting turned over to civilian operators. They're also very lightly armed and defended, making them usually no match for warships or other tactically superior vessels. Small wonder that she would do anything not to wind up on one again.
  • On a meta-level, Buenamigo's entire plan (and his monologuing about what happens when you become a Starfleet Admiral) is a reference to the franchise-wide trope of Admirals with secret projects that always go south.
  • The different paint patterns on the other California-class ships look a lot like the optional paintjobs players can apply to their ships in Star Trek Online.
• The Needs of the Many: Buenamigo is convinced that his Texas-class ships will save lives in the long run, which is how he justified sending the Cerritos into a Breen ambush as a way of demonstrating their utility. His later Motive Rant, just before Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, reveals this to be a rationalization, even if he doesn't admit it.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Buenamigo sets the Aledo to autonomous mode and orders it to destroy the Cerritos. Not only does the Aledo immediately kill him to retain its autonomy, it actually deprioritizes the Cerritos as a low-value target (it doesn't even shoot back the one time the Cerritos fires on it before they warp out) until Freeman deliberately baits it using Rutherford. It also doesn't jam comms as he ordered it to, so its now very public rampage accomplishes the exact opposite intent he had for the class.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Captain Freeman ignores Shaxs' suggestion to eject the warp core because he always suggests doing that. It takes Boimler standing up to the bridge crew to make them realize that it's actually a good idea this time.
• Not Quite Dead: The Stinger pays off the foreshadowing with Rutherford's still-functioning original implant from "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption". In spite of the damage the implant suffered when the Pakled ship blew in "No Small Parts", Badgey's program is still intact and online.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When Tendi reports possible life signs on LT-358, Ransom has a brief look of shock before halting construction so that a detailed analysis can be run.
  • Rutherford has a horrified look on his face as he realizes that he coded the AI on the Aledo, that Buenamigo was the one who supervised his work and had his memory erased, and that the code is similar to the AI that he used to create Badgey. It gets worse as it all comes together as to what it all means, and Tendi and Boimler join him in freaking out when he explains it all to them.
    Rutherford: He used my designs, my code. (gasps) That's the same code I used for Badgey!
    Tendi: Oh, no! A starship can't have daddy issues!
  • When Rutherford shows what he found to Freeman and explains Buenamigo's involvement to her she has a small silent one herself. As she’s looking over his pad her eyes widen and her jaw drops in shock, before she demands an explanation from Buenamigo.
  • Buenamigo has a brief moment to realize that his new ship is about to kill him.
  • After the Aledo activates its sister ships, Freeman immediately orders a distress call sent out.
  • Mariner is horrified when she becomes aware of the rampage, and immediately decides she has to do something to help her former crewmates, even if trying to stop three deranged warships is a Suicide Mission.
    Aberdeen: As usual, Starfleet's getting people blown up left, right, and center.
    Mariner: (staring at the screen in horror) Oh, my God. We have to help!
    Aberdeen: No, we don't! It's a bloodbath!
    Mariner: Those are my friends!
  • Ensign Barnes confirms that the Dallas and Corpus Christi were destroyed by the warp core, but...
    Barnes: Yes! The explosion took out the... wait... the Aledo survived the blast!
  • The Aledo gets a wordless one when the Cali fleet arrives, unable to figure out which of the 31 identical ships it should fire upon as they're hammering away at it with everything they have. The targeting reticle bounces in a panic between the ships and its interface quickly becomes a String Theory-like web.
• Once More, with Clarity: Upon realizing that the Texas-class ships are using the same code that he used to create Badgey, Rutherford has another flashback to his implant operation. This time, he's able to clearly see and hear the person ordering the surgery and recognizes him as Admiral (then Lieutenant Commander) Buenamigo.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. At the end of the episode, Shaxs dubs Boimler a new Baby Bear. Rutherford is excited to share the title with his friend.
• Overly Long Gag: When the California-class fleet come to the rescue, Boimler calls out each one by name. Since there’s over two dozen, he has to speed up in order to get all of them out in a reasonable time.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The Texas-class is ironically about half the size of the California-class, but easily outclasses some of the most advanced ships in Starfleet. Three nearly wiped out the Sovereign-class Van Citters within seconds. Even at the end, where it had marginal damage from the Cerritos warp core detonation, against several dozen California-class ships concentrating fire its shields were able to withstand it for a shocking length of time. This is justified to an extent, as most starships have to dedicate a considerable amount of power just to keep the crew alive. A ship with no need of those amenities would be able to devote considerably more power to other essential functions, similar to the Defiant-class having the raw power of a Galaxy-class starship stuffed into the frame of an escort vessel with barely any crew space. It's also possible that the Texas-class ships were layered with plenty of ablative armour, also similar to the Defiant and the Prometheus.
• Placebo Eureka Moment: When Tendi is beating herself up over the Cerritos losing the race to the Aledo because she pointed out the potential signs of sentient microbial lifeforms, her friends assure her that she did the right thing. She asks, if it was really the "right thing", then why didn't the Aledo slow down too? Freeman overhears this, and realizing what it means, excitedly tells Tendi 'You're right!' before running out of the room.
  Tendi: That was weird, but I'll take it.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: As the Cali-class ships warp in, some of the captains speak up, ready to to fight.
  Ramsay: Just hang on a little longer, Cerritos. We've got your back!
  [...]
  Durango: The Merced is at your disposal, Captain Freeman.
  Maier: Carlsbad is always happy to lend a hand.
  Vendome: Shields up, Red Alert! The Inglewood is ready to kick some ass!
  (Boimler Fly buzzes)
  Mariner: I think what he said was... "Attack Pattern Delta! Full Spread"!
• Recursive Ammo: The Texas-class has purple torpedoes which split into seven warheads.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The blue highlight on the Texas-class ships turns red when they become autonomous and evil.
• The Reveal:
  • Rutherford is responsible for the AI of the Texas-class ships, prior to his accident and memory wipe, and Buenamigo was his benefactor.
  • As hinted in the previous episode, Buenamigo set Freeman up to fail so he could make his Texas-class look good. Sending Nuzé to the Cerritos on short notice is implied to be part of this, as he likely knew she'd panic and start making rash decisions... such as transferring her own daughter to Starbase 80 for something she didn't do without letting her defend herself. He also thought that she'd botch the negotiations with the Karemma, hence why he sprung that on her at the last minute.
• Ridiculously Fast Construction: The Aledo can fabricate entire habitat modules and beam them straight onto a planet as fast as it takes for the order to come through. It doesn't take long for it to put up a whole base like it was playing Command & Conquer.
• Right Behind Me: Boimler impersonates Shaxs just as he enters the room, sending Shaxs running away in tears. Boimler spends the rest of the episode trying to make up for it.
• Running Gagged: Shaxs always suggesting they eject the warp core has been a funny habit of his throughout the series due to him always suggesting it no matter the situation, so when he makes the suggestion here once again, Freeman completely ignores it. However, when Boimler points out that it is the best chance they have, Freeman authorizes it and Shaxs happily marches to the warp core to the thunderous applause of the rest of the crew. He later thanks Boimler for finally letting him live his dream.
• Sanity Slippage: Rutherford and Tendi note that it seems like without Mariner around the more Boimler seems to lose his grasp on reality.
• Self-Defense Ruse: Buenamigo tries to destroy Cerritos by claiming that Freeman attacked Aledo out of frustration at losing the race.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Played with. Mariner starts to suspect that Petra is being funded by some nefarious source and goes digging, only to discover that it's a grant from Admiral Picard and that Petra is completely above board. When confronted, Mariner admits that she may have been looking for an excuse to go back to Starfleet rather than Petra doing anything suspicious.
• Ship Sinking: Continued from last episode, Mariner walks right past Jennifer after the latter silently dumped the former last episode.
• Shout-Out: Freeman describes the phasing Ockmenic 9 as a "Brigadoon-type planet".
• Shut Up, Kirk!: When Freeman tries to convince Buenamigo to not go full-on Insane Admiral.
  Freeman: You are not one of those bad-faith admirals that's up to no good. You're better than this, Les.
  Buenamigo: I'm really not.
• Simple Solution Won't Work: Zig-zagged. After gaining some distance from the Texas-class ships, Freeman asks anyone for suggestions on how to handle them. Shaxs suggests ejecting the warp core, but he's ignored because he always suggests that. Ransom suggests a surprise attack on them, but Freeman points out you can't surprise an A.I. (and they're massively outgunned, regardless). Migleemo suggests rendezvousing with the Titan, but Freeman says they're across the system and would never reach them in time. Finally, Freeman asks Rutherford if they can trap the Texas-class in a logic spiral, but Rutherfold says he safeguarded the A.I. from paradoxes. Boimler then tells everybody to shut up and listen to Shaxs' initial idea of ejecting the warp core, which Freeman realizes is actually a good idea this time.
• Something Only They Would Say: The Aledo repeatedly says "I will burn your heart in a fire", just like Badgey. This is because they both use Rutherford's code.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • During the mission race, on the second part where they're required to build an outpost on a lifeless planet, the Cerritos ends up losing the lead because Tendi has them stop because she needed to confirm if some microbial lifeforms she discovered are sentient. In the bar, when Freeman overhears Tendi saying that the Aledo didn't slow down to analyze the planet, Freeman uses this fact to confront Buenamigo that the Texas-class isn't ready for duty since it ignored the Prime Directive.
  • Rutherford's presence on the Cerritos is the biggest spanner in the Admiral's plan, as Buenamigo could have probably spun the Prime Directive failure into either a new round of testing or saying it just needed some fine tuning. During the confrontation, however, Rutherford bursts in with an alarming bombshell that replaces Freeman's already strong position with a flat out terrifying position: that the Aledo's AI is an early version of what he used to create Badgey, meaning the ship is likely Ax-Crazy. The moment this comes to light, the jig is up for two reasons. First, Buenamigo erased a Starfleet Academy cadet's memory in a way that amounted to a Death of Personality simply because that cadet was involved in his project, which casts the entire project in an extremely suspicious light. Second, skipping an important step could be chalked up to teething troubles, but there's no way a ship becoming unhinged can be brushed off, especially when it's the result of a flaw that came to light in an entirely different use case. After Rutherford reveals this information to Freeman, Buenamigo ends up coming clean about his whole plan.
• Status Quo Is God: Zig-zagged. Mariner is reinstated back into Starfleet, but she wants to go back on the straight and narrow and asks for Ransom to be her mentor, much to his dismay. She also does not reconcile with Jennifer despite her vindication. Meanwhile, Rutherford is free to dump his implant, and while he knows of the trouble it has caused everyone, it has so many cool features that he likes having it. Finally, despite Mariner complaining about it before, "Bold Boimler" pays off and looks to be permanent.
• The Stinger: This episode features the franchise's first ever post-credits scene. In the Kalla System, where the Cerritos battled the Pakleds two seasons ago, Rutherford's old implant is tractored in by scavengers, and Badgey is alive and well within.
• Taking the Bullet: When the Aledo fires its last torpedo at the Cerritos, the Vacaville can be seen maneuvering to take the hit. Luckily, Mariner shoots down the torpedo before it can hit either ship.
• Taking You with Me: Outgunned and on the verge of destruction, the Aledo targets the Cerritos due to the daddy issues in Rutherford's code. Mariner intercepts the torpedo before it impacts.
• Tears of Joy: Finally getting to eject the warp core brings tears to Shaxs's eyes.
• Theme Music Power-Up: The arrival of the Cali-class fleet is joined by the Lower Decks theme song.
• Theme Naming: All of the California-class ships are named for locations in California, with Boimler rattling off a truly impressive list of names as they all arrive, including Anaheim, Culver City, and Fresno just to name a few (for a full list, see Long List above). Similarly, the Texas-class is named for locations in Texas, namely Aledo, Dallas, and Corpus Christi.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: The Aledo's AI takes out Admiral Buenamigo with a starship-grade phaser blast straight through his office (and torso).
• Titled After the Song: "The Stars at Night" is taken from "Deep in the Heart of Texas".
  The stars at night
  Are big and bright
  Deep in the heart of Texas!
• Tuckerization: The Sovereign-class USS Van Citters is named after John Van Citters, who works at CBS and is in charge of approving all licensing and tie-in fiction for the Star Trek franchise. Van Citters was previously a roleplaying game developer with Decipher, Inc. on their short-lived Star Trek roleplaying game.
• Two-Keyed Lock: Subverted. The warp core ejection system uses two keycards to confirm the action, but the inputs are within arm's reach of each other, defeating the purpose of such a lock (i.e. to ensure a single person cannot activate both at the same time). This is actually a departure from previous shows, where the warp core could be ejected by verbal command from the chief engineer or any ranking officer, usually the captain, since it's supposed to be a failsafe in case of critical damage.
• Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: Buenamigo tries to push his Texas-class into taking over Second Contact duties the California-class currently provides, over Freeman's objection that his ships have never been field-tested (saving the Cerritos aside). The admirality agrees with Buenamigo since Freeman's actions have torpedoed her own reputation. They do at least grant her the chance to prove the worth of the Cali-class through a Second Contact race between the Cerritos and the Aledo, inadvertently buying enough time for Rutherford to expose the truth behind the project.
• Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: The automated Texas-class ships are designed to supplant the entire supply and infrastructure management system that the California-class ships do, rendering them obsolete, on top of having the latest in Starfleet offensive and defensive capabilities. While easily outgunned, the Cerritos was able to destroy two of them via an improvised warp core bomb, and while dead-to-rights against the Aledo afterward, the entire California-class fleet arrives to finish the job.
• Unperson: When Rutherford reveals that Buenamigo was the one who erased his memory, the admiral says he should have erased him entirely.
• Vanishing Village: Ockmenic 9 is one of these, which Captain Freeman refers to as a Brigadoon-type planet. A similar planet previously appeared in the DS9 episode "Meridian", also a reference to Brigadoon.
• Villainous Breakdown: The revelation that the Texas-class didn't double-check for life signs sets Buenamigo off badly, and he goes into full Motive Rant mode when Rutherford reveals the truth of the Texas-class' AI.
• We Interrupt This Program: Petra shows off a news report of Douglas Station getting blasted by the Texas-classes.
• Wham Line:
  • "I figured it out; this code is mine! The Aledo runs on my AI!" Soon followed by "That's the same code I used for Badgey!"
  • "I don't take orders from you anymore, Father" is an in-universe one for Buenamigo.
  • "The Aledo survived the blast!"
• Woman Scorned: On her return to the Cerritos, Mariner walks right past Jennifer without even looking at her after being dumped over the false accusations in the previous episode.
• The Worf Effect: The three Texas-class ships make short work of the Sovereign-class U.S.S. Van Citters, the same model as the Enterprise-E. Fortunately, the Van Citters is only disabled, and Freeman engineers a distraction to draw the AI ships away from it and the station.
• Zerg Rush: A rare example of the trope being used by the good guys. One Cali-class ship is no match for the Aledo. 31, on the other hand, overwhelm it through sheer force of numbers of ships too identical in threat factor for the AI to decide what to target.

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