Years ago, a young Una suffers from a bad leg injury, and her parents fear taking her to a doctor because her Illyrian lineage could be discovered. Back in the present, Captain Batel gives Una a plea deal — plead guilty for willingly hiding the truth and they'll dishonorably discharge her, meaning she gets to walk free, but all her hard work gets sealed away and she's Persona Non Grata to Starfleet. She suggests Una talk to her legal counsel about this, but Una's rightfully miffed that her counsel works for Batel and wants her to accept. Elsewhere, in the Vaultera Nebula, Pike's little journey from last episode reaches its conclusion as he reaches the offices of Neera (Yetide Badaki), a well-known civil rights lawyer, but she's still being really pissy about seeing Pike. So, Pike decides to play a Game of Chicken, seeing if she'll see him before he runs out of oxygen as the area is not so friendly to humans. Thankfully, it works and Pike sees Neera.
Inside the office, it becomes quite clear that Neera and Una had a friendship of sorts, but she's willing to hang her friend out to dry despite the massive trouble she's in. Pike admits he had a bigotry of sorts towards the Illyrians, but that abandoned colony made him see otherwise. He also points out that Neera has had a number of anti-Federation cases tossed out because of "lack of evidence", suggesting that the Federation doesn't want their squeaky clean image to be tarnished. Pike implores her to take the case so those cases can be given the light they need. On Earth, Una's shocked that Neera came to her, as their friendship was pretty much ruined because Una went into Starfleet and lied about her heritage to get in. Neera ultimately agrees to take the case, but not because of Una, but because of other Illyrians who don't want to hide who they are. In Pike's quarters, Batel reacts angrily over Una rejecting the plea offer, but Pike counters that the law is probably wrong. Batel is Just Following Orders and tells Pike to see her in court. The next day, Batel files additional charges now that Una intends to go through with the trial — the new punishment on the table is dishonorable discharge and twenty years in jail.
In Una's cell, she's incredulous that they're going that far, but Neera points out that they want to Make an Example of Them. Despite Una wanting to stand on her exemplary track record, Neera tells her to shut up and let her do her work. On the Enterprise, La'an, back at work, guides Neera to Una's room to work at. She asks some questions about the legality of evidence and leaves soon after. In the mess hall, Batel talks to Pike as tensions cool. Pike's upset he's not part of the defense witnesses, but Batel convinces him that if he speaks up, the trial will turn against him. Elsewhere in the mess hall, Ortegas does a Gag Dub between Spock and the Vulcan prosecutor, but M'Benga points out the two hate each other, which Spock confirms when he apologizes for his “sudden outburst”, causing the two to laugh. On the bridge, La'an requests logs from Una as well as everyone's personal logs. However, while Uhura realizes she wants to help Una, La'an can't just break the rules like that.
Soon, the trial starts and, after being told the charges against her, Una pleads not guilty. Batel and Neera make their opening statements, arguing for the protection against another Khan Noonian Singh versus the belief that some laws go too far. Admiral April is the first on the stand. Batel reveals that April had been the one to sponsor Una to Starfleet Academy and was there for her early years. However, he regretfully admits that if he knew the truth, he wouldn't have sponsored her. Neera tries a different tactic: attacking the Double Standard of the Prime Directive. However, Neera goes too far and the whole thing is stricken from the record. While the Enterprise crew discuss Neera's tactics, Una accuses Neera of doing this for her own reasons and not to help her, but Neera dismisses her again. Admiral April briefly joins Pike, figuring out Pike was the one who recruited Neera while Pike is regretting recruiting Neera. April's upset that Neera's antics caused him to not be able to defend Una's character and he marches out.
M'Benga, La'an and Spock are called in as character witnesses to defend Una. Batel tries to use La'an's connection to the infamous Khan Noonian Singh, but she's able to deflect, while Spock gets a brief chuckle after mentioning Una's love for classical musicals. All three are able to defend Una, with Spock suggesting that by punishing Una, they'll be punishing themselves. During recess, Neera is able to find out why La'an is worried about evidence— La'an was angry over Una's revelation and she mentioned it in a personal log and fears that Starfleet learned from that. Not only does Neera reassure her of her own worries concerning her genetic past, but she comes to realize that there's no way Starfleet would have learned about Una from the Enterprise.
The trial resumes and Neera surprises everyone by putting Una on the stand. Una explains why she joined Starfleet, despite the problems it would have caused, leading her to pull a Title Drop by mentioning Starfleet's pre-Federation motto. We learn of Una's past, where her family was given provisional citizenship the year before she was born, yet decided to continue performing their rituals in secret. However, things went wrong when Neera's cousin, Ivan, had his heritage discovered and was ostracized by his peers, his home was vandalized and ultimately his entire family was arrested, including himself. This led to serious unrest and massive Fantastic Racism. Ultimately, Neera asks Una to reveal who told Starfleet about her secret: Una says she herself did. She was tired of hiding who she was and she wanted Starfleet to be better. However, Pasalk, bald-headed Vulcan creep of an attorney that he is, steps in and gleefully (as much as a Vulcan can) points out that this also meant Pike knew and hid this information, and not only should Una be punished, but so should Pike.
However, Neera has one last trump card: the Starfleet Uniform Code of Justice. She has Batel read Code 8514, which authorizes asylum for those being persecuted for their beliefs or biology. She uses Una's desire to join Starfleet and Pike's decision not to turn her in as reasoning to approve her for asylum, and asks the tribunal to grant her asylum rather than send her to jail. The tribunal agrees with this, stating that their laws against genetic modifications are needed, but there are situations that warrant individual consideration. Una is free, all charges dropped.
On the Enterprise, Una returns to her ship and crew. While the needle wasn't moved in terms of genetic manipulation being made legal, she and Neera are patching up their friendship. The bridge crew welcome Una back, but Una's quick to get back to business and sends them on their way— but not before Pike gives Una a big hug.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: When asked why she would out herself, Una proclaims "I shouldn't have to hide." In X2: X-Men United, Mystique, played by Rebecca Romijn, is asked why she doesn't use her powers to pass as human full-time and responds "because we shouldn't have to."
- Amoral Attorney:
- Pasalk, the driving force behind Una's prosecution. It seems that his only concern is getting victories and he even relishes the idea of court martialing Pike before Neera pumps the brakes on that.
- Absolutely averted for Batel. She makes it clear several times that she is only prosecuting because it's her job, pulls strings to try and get Una a good plea bargain, has a huge grin on her face when she realizes that Neera has cracked the case in Una's favor, and happily joins in the ovation for Neera on her departure.
- Artistic License – Law: All things considered, there was slightly less of this than many Star Trek Courtroom Episodes. In particular, more scene cuts are used to establish that time is passing between events that should definitely have time passing between them, e.g. between the end of Neera's address to the court and the court's ruling. There are also some more recherché than usual elements of Real Life law mentioned, such as the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine. That said:
- Upon refusing the plea deal, Una is charged with sedition (inciting/taking part in rebellion against the government). By no stretch of the imagination could Una's actions be defined as such. If lying on her application form is enough to qualify for sedition, it paints a rather dystopian portrait of the Federation.
- The big mystery of who turned in Una to Starfleet should have been easily resolved. The prosecution would have been required to turn over their evidence against Una during disclosure prior to the court proceedings beginning. Even if Una went out of her way to disguise her involvement in ratting herself out, Neera would at least know where to start looking, rather than La'an fumbling about for a potential snitch.
- By present-day legal standards, the show correctly portrays that it's very risky to have a defendant testify in their own defence, because the prosecution can then cross-examine them and elicit unfavourable truths (which indeed happens). However, it's downright insane to put your defendant on the stand without intensively prepping them for the line of questioning you're going to ask them. Springing a surprise question on your own client is a good way to find things have Gone Horribly Wrong.
- It doesn't make any sense for Neera to ask opposing counsel to read out a law text. Batel, or at least Pasalk or the judges, should bridle at this, but it passes without comment.
- Striking a witness's entire testimony isn't something judges do off the cuff because they get annoyed at the witness or counsel raising their voice. It isn't a punishment. There would have to be a legal basis for it, counsel would be called upon to make argument about whether or not there was, and it would almost always apply to just one or two specific answers, not retroactively to lots of questions from both sides that elicited no objections. Judges often don't appreciate counsel's or witnesses' deportment, but they have other ways of dealing with that.
- In current law, at least, an "expert character witness" isn't a thing. An "expert witness" is a witness who is an expert in a specific field and is therefore qualified to give their opinion on relevant evidence (e.g. an automotive engineer who explains what happened during a collision, or a doctor who opines about how a person died), while a "character witness" simply speaks to the character of the person in question (usually the defendant), which is what Neera's witnesses do. It doesn't just mean "really knowledgeable witness."
- Suffice it to say, having asylum from the Federation into Starfleet is an absurd idea, like asylum from the United States civilian population into U.S. Navy active service. Also, in the claim for disclosure for asylum, that would cover the four months after she told Captain Pike about it, but not the previous 25 years in Starfleet. (The logic is maybe that the asylum claim protects her from being charged for things related to the reason she claimed it, but if so this isn't clearly stated, and just emphasises the absurdity of essentially claiming asylum from the same legal system you're claiming asylum with.)
- It's not entirely clear why Batel, captain of her own ship (the USS Cayuga) would be serving as a prosecutor. Doubly so when Vice Admiral Pasalk is on hand and a part of the JAG. Earlier episodes where such a thing happens tend to justify it by a lack of staff and the posting being either new or on the frontier, but this takes place at Starfleet Command.
- The trial structure, towards the end, makes little sense. Neera has Una take the stand. Pasalk cross-examines her. Neera does her what is presumably supposed to be her final argument (or cross cross-examines Batel?), and the judges give their verdict. Pasalk and Batel should normally be given a chance to argue against Neera's point after she raises it.
- Pasalk's decision to threaten Pike with being charged with conspiracy while cross examining Una makes little sense. First, it's not Pike's trial, so any charges on Pikes are irrelevant outside of some plea deal negotiation, and doubly irrelevant to his questioning of Una. Second, even outside of the legal argument, threatening the (by Pasalk's own words) most decorated captain in Starfleet with conspiracy only gives the Starfleet admirals acting as judges further incentive to not condemn Una so they can avoid Starfleet that later embarrassment down the line. And indeed, that's precisely what happens when Neera gives them an out that lets them legitimize what Pike did.
- Neera's questioning of Admiral April regarding the Prime Directive gets April's testimony stricken from the record. In her closing argument, she references that specific testimony, that the Prime Directive can be suspended when a Captain deems it necessary, as part of the justification for her asylum argument. When testimony is stricken from the record, it's like it never happened, it cannot be referenced or utilized as part of arguing or judging the case.
- Bait-and-Switch: During the character witness testimony, Spock is asked if he felt that Una was hiding anything and he says he did. It looks like Spock is going to throw her under the bus, but he instead mentions her love for classical musicals. In fact, this scene appears in the trailer for the season, further building up suspense with the viewer only to then subvert it.
- Batman Gambit: Una suspects Neera knew how everything was going to play out when she had her testify, knowing that Pasalk would want to cross-examine her, and inadvertently open the door for Neera's refugee law defense (as well as priming the judges to be more open to a solution where they don't have to prosecute their most decorated captain, as Pasalk suggested). Neera deflects admitting she did.
- Bittersweet Ending: Una is restored to her position and cleared of all charges, but the Federation's policies towards genetic manipulation haven't changed. Still, Neera has hope for the future because Una's crew accepts her for who she is.
- Call-Back:
- M'Benga recognizes Spock's body language as unusually short tempered, something he no doubt picked up on during his time serving as a medical intern on Vulcan in "A Private Little War".
- Pike mentions the abandoned Illyrian colony as why his attitude towards the Illyrians has changed. As well, La'an is terrified she may have mentioned Una's species in a personal log, referencing to how upset she was in that episode upon learning the truth.
- In the same episode, Una noted how the Illyrians found it easier to adapt themselves to a hostile climate rather than attempting to reshape an entire planet to suit their needs. That is put into practice here, with the atmosphere of Neera's world being toxic to human life but perfectly breathable to Illyrians, who can transition to an Earth-like atmosphere effortlessly.
- When Spock is asked what he suspected Una was hiding, he responds, "An affinity for Gilbert and Sullivan musicals", referencing the duet they sang together.
- The Tellarite Admiral is introduced as the trial's "Space Command Representative", a position only mentioned once in the franchise before. TOS' "Court Martial" established that it was custom to have an officer in such a position at a Court Martial.
- Court Martial: Una Chin-Riley goes before an admiralty tribunal for falsifying her application to Starfleet Academy, with sedition charges tacked on when she refuses a plea deal.
- Courtroom Episode: This episode marks Strange New Worlds' take on past Trek episodes based around a court hearing, like TNG's "The Measure of a Man" or DS9's "Dax" or "Rules of Engagement".
- Didn't Think This Through: Pike seems to have buyer's remorse as Neera's early attempts at mounting a defense seem to be more focused on attacking the Federation at large, rather than securing a positive outcome.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- When Una rejects the plea deal, Starfleet adds charges for sedition (without specifying how, exactly, Una's actions were seditious) and aims for a twenty-year prison sentence on top of dishonorable discharge. As Neera lampshades, their first instinct was to sweep the incident under the rug because Una made a fool of them, so if they can't do that, they intend to make an example of her.
- Una reveals that Neera's cousin Ivan was arrested when he was ten just for being a (modified) Illyrian.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Una's recollections of discrimination and violence against the Illyrian community echo the issues facing minority and immigrant communities in the 2010s and '20s, including the rise of anti-trans laws in many American states, often targeting supposedly unnatural and threatening medical procedures. Pasalk even comes close to saying "facts don't care about your feelings" verbatim to justify it, and Neera refers to Una getting "outed" as an Illyrian. In Una's words, some people felt they had license to be their worst selves.
- The tension between Una and Neera over Una's ability to "pass" for human mirrors the tensions in real-world minority communities, such as between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned people of color, bisexual people in male-female relationships, etc. On Neera's side, she resents Una's choice to join a society that shuns those who don't have a choice to try blending in (like herself). On Una's side, she believes in the good parts of that society and wants to be an Internal Reformist, and she's painfully aware of how fragile her position is starting from childhood (when she almost died of a treatable infection because if an unsympathetic doctor outed them, her family would have lost everything). This is emphasized by Neera being played by a black actor and Una by a white actor.
- Doomed by Canon: Neera was never going to get the Federation to change, let alone reconsider, their anti-genetic augmentation stance, because it's still in place in the 24th century.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Neera's initial argument is to interrogate April about his multiple violations of General Order One. The point of this isn't to undermine April's credibility, it's to shore up her argument that Starfleet's actions are founded on bigotry rather than genuine legal principle—if they are willing to accept April's violations of their self-defined "prime directive", then they have no excuse for their stringent prosecution of a rule violation that they themselves define (by implication) as less important than one individual violating the Prime Directive four times. April, however, does not pick up on this and takes her line of questioning as a personal attack on his character.
- "Eureka!" Moment: La'an admits to Neera that she filed a personal log which mentioned Una is an Illyrian, and suspects this is how Starfleet discovered her. Neera refutes the idea, as the admiralty would have to subpoena the logs, and even then it would have taken six months for them to get through the red tape, a full two months shy of the incident that forced her to reveal the secret. In court, Neera then calls to the stand the only person who could/would have alerted Starfleet: Una herself.
- Exact Words: Spock is asked on the stand if he suspected Una was hiding something. He honestly replies that she was: "An affinity for Gilbert and Sullivan musicals." Batel should have been more specific.
- Fauxshadowing: The episode heavily implies that somebody on the Enterprise sold Una out to Starfleet, but it turns out Una herself was the culprit.
- Fantastic Racism: The episode goes into more elaboration of the Federation's No Transhumanism Allowed laws, making it more than just Federation policy but how it had filtered into the general society. Una's family were scared to admit their cultural background, getting treated at a hospital and calling someone an "augment" was a form of childhood bullying. This in turn creates a quite clear allegory for modern-day racism, queerphobia and transphobia.
- Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow: Discussed and exploited. Neera snidely observes while cross-examining Admiral April that the Prime Directive is only "Prime" up until a captain decides it isn't, and Starfleet by and large seems willing to give them deference as long as they can adequately justify their behavior. By that logic, she argues, Una should be shown the same leniency because her captain did the same for her.
- Gag Dub: In-Universe — Ortegas watches a conversation between Spock and Pasalk and play-acts how two "Vulcan bros" would talk to each other (with an exaggerated deadpan, of course).(as Pasalk) "Mr. Spock, I do hope you understand why I have to throw your friend in jail simply for being who she is."
(as Spock) "Of course, Mr. Pasalk. It is only logical. Shall we play a round of Kal-toh this weekend?"
(as Pasalk) "Yes. That would be enjoyable." - Game of Chicken: Pike is insistent on seeing Neera, so he deliberately waits in the lobby with his oxygen supply about to run out, betting she'll give in and hear him out. He's right.
- Gratuitous Latin: "Ad Astra Per Aspera" means "To the stars through hardship". Una does a Title Drop while explaining what it means to her.
- Hollywood Law: As a whole, the episode is not as bad on this as it could be: Star Trek law episodes historically tend to rely heavily on appeals to emotion, whereas this one relies more on clearly reasoned legal arguments. Additionally, Pike gets a full-time real lawyer who specializes in problems like Una's, and he's convinced to not be involved any furthernote , in contrast to previous episodes where cases are argued by people who would normally be expected to recuse themselves due to a close personal relationship to the defendant. That said, Neera makes her last-minute slam dunk with the political asylum regulations during her closing arguments, where it would more realistically be an argument made in a motion to dismiss.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After April's testimony, Pike tries to share a drink with him, but April is still upset by Neera's questioning and storms out. Pike pours April's glass into his own and downs the whole thing.
- Internal Deconstruction: Of Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke. The Federation argues that its anti-genetic augmentation laws are necessary because of Khan and Adam Soong, but such laws have blanketed everyone who has them as being falsely perceived as beings who would tear the universe apart and rule over it because they believe themselves superior. As Una's tragic backstory shows, she and her family were forced to live in fear because they feared being outed as Illyrian — beings who explicitly didn't modify themselves for superiority, but rather survival — so no, not everyone who is genetically modified is like Khan (as Dr. Bashir and Dal would prove later).
- Ironic Juxtaposition: Likely unintentional: as Una waxes about how Starfleet is filled with people from "so many worlds", the camera cuts to four crew members, with all but Spock being from Earth.
- It's All About Me: Neera accuses Una of this, but after her failure against April, Una realizes she's doing this for herself and her anti-Federation stance.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Neera's busting down of Admiral April and the rest of Starfleet for their frequent willingness to break the Prime Directive is similar to how fans have spoken about Starfleet's captains doing the same.
- Loophole Abuse:
- Discussed and ultimately subverted with La'an. She believes the evidence that outed Una as an Illyrian was illegally obtained from her personal logs, and so the trial could be thrown out on a technicality ("fruit of the poisonous tree"). Neera seriously doubts Starfleet had the time or inclination to do so, so that avenue is shut down.
- Neera invokes Starfleet Code 8514 — a request for asylum from persecution — and matches it to Una's reasons for joining Starfleet and eventual revelation of her own Illyrian background to trump her violation of Starfleet's anti-genetic engineering laws, as well as getting Pike clear of potential conspiracy charges for concealing the fact from Starfleet after he found out. It's a bit of a stretch, but the alternative would have required Starfleet to prosecute their most decorated captain.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Previously seen captaining the ship U.S.S. Cayuga as recently as the season 1 finale, Captain Batel is now stated to be a JAG officer.
- My God, What Have I Done?: La'an is afraid that Starfleet may have retrieved one of her personal logs where she mentioned Una's species. However, Neera shoots that idea down, leading to the "Eureka!" Moment.
- My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: As Batel had warned Pike, Vice Admiral Pasalk forces Una to admit that she had previously disclosed her genetic augmentation to him, and tries to use that as a stepping-stone to charge Pike as an accessory. Neera outwits him by invoking Starfleet regulations on political asylum for refugees during her closing arguments, providing a legal cover for the tribunal to acquit Una and therefore stop Pasalk before he could even start investigating Pike.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Batel, before and after this episode, is Captain of the USS Cayuga. While she serves as the arresting officer to bring Una into custody, this makes sense as she's a fellow captain and Pike has a conflict of interest. There's no reason for her to also serve/be appointed as lead JAG officer for Una's trial when Starfleet no doubt has many qualified officers on staff specifically for that purpose. This is seemingly done to continue the conflicting loyalties set up by keeping her involved, similar to Picard and Riker being forced onto opposing sides for Data's trial in TNG: "The Measure of a Man".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Although April blames Neera for choosing an argument that stretches the boundary of relevancy rather than asking about Una's character, which he would have defended happily, her salient point (that Starfleet's respect for its most important code is at best flexible, making their dogmatism on Una's violation appear arbitrary) is sound. If he hadn't felt the need to go on an angry tangent to defend the burdens of captaincy, the judges' patience might not have snapped the way it did and gotten his entire testimony stricken from the record.
- Noodle Incident: Spock's comments reveal Vice-Admiral Pasalk's a former colleague of Sarek's. Obviously, something happened that soured relations between the two Vulcans, but the exact circumstances and details are left unrevealed (though based on the hostility between Spock and Pasalk, there's an implication Spock himself was a factor in that schism).
- Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Neera is a civil rights attorney who reluctantly takes on a case involving law for the government's military arm. While the trial is about civil rights in the abstract, military law is significantly different from civil and criminal law and Una is specifically charged with falsifying her academy application. The episode does have Neera ask for a copy of Starfleet's Uniform Code of Justice so she has proper references to build her case, and the victory hinges on a Loophole Abuse that interprets Una's Starfleet service as a type of request for asylum according to Starfleet protocol (indeed, if her record wasn't previously spotless that argument likely wouldn't have worked).
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for Laughs. As Dr. M'Benga and Ortegas are watching Spock be interrogated by Pasalk, M'Benga notes that Spock is unusually tense based on his body language (though Ortegas can't tell). When Spock approaches his comrades, he apologizes for his outburst and the fact that Pasalk brings out the worst in him, despite the fact that both he and Pasalk looked as stoic as ever. The pair get a good laugh out of the apology.
- Out of Focus: Ortegas and Chapel have barely any lines and do not appear outside of crowd scenes.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: Explicitly (and, on a meta-level, rather amusingly) averted: Batel warns Pike to absolutely not try this, and he listens. In the end, the only people speechifying are those whose job it is: the lawyers.
- Properly Paranoid: Neera refuses to put Una on the stand because the prosecution would force her to validate their claims and likely implicate her shipmates as co-conspirators. When she does put Una on the stand for her final gambit, Pasalk takes charge and immediately tries to rope Pike in on conspiracy charges, seemingly having been waiting for the opportunity the entire time.
- Rage Breaking Point: After Neera rakes April (and by extension Starfleet) over the coals for frequently breaking the Prime Directive, he loses his temper and goes on a tear about how captains have to make quick calls based on their best judgment at the time. Since this results in a complete digression from the case at hand, his entire testimony is stricken from the court record.
- The Reveal: Una is revealed to be responsible for Starfleet discovering her heritage, having outed herself because she was tired of hiding who she is.
- Screw Destiny: In "A Quality of Mercy", Una had spent seven years in prison in the alternate timeline after being outed as an Illyrian. Either because he chose to accept his fate or was driven to fight even harder knowing what would become of her if he didn't, Pike's efforts ultimately result in Una being acquitted.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- Discussed. Neera points out that Robert April violated the Prime Directive at least three times when he was captain of the Enterprise, using that as proof that Starfleet regulations are largely followed/enforced on the whims of its individual captains. This ultimately plays into her final gambit, asking the court to enforce the law that favors her client, rather than the one that would punish her.
- An interesting example. La'an tries to get Uhura to retrieve personal logs in her gambit to save Una. It's averted as Uhura refuses to get La'an in trouble to save her friend. Uhura points out that La'an is giving her an illegal order; if Uhura were to follow it, they would both get court-martialed (and it's not mentioned, but the evidence obtained through illegal activity probably would be deemed inadmissible, so they wouldn't be helping Una anyway). It's a case where doing what's right is following the rules, and La'an's request is framed as a bad idea born of desperation.
- Soapbox Sadie: Neera is a lawyer who is pushing against the Federation's more draconian laws, mostly the anti-Augment laws. She tries to use Admiral April as an example of their selective enforcement, but it fails when he doubles down in response to his character being questioned, and she's called on it by Una after the fact.
- Spanner in the Works: Pike refusing to accept Una's resignation and promising to defend her back in "Ghosts of Illyria". As it turns out, that was the last thing needed to grant Una asylum, and all the tribunal needed to do is to approve it.
- Status Quo Is God: Thanks to Neera's legal maneuvering, Una is cleared of all charges and restored as first officer of the Enterprise without affecting the Federation's broader eugenics laws, which will persist well into the 24th century— as Dr. Julian Bashir and Dal R'El will one day find out when their own augmentations come to light.
- Tempting Fate: Batel tells Pike not to get involved at all, as he would get wrangled in with conspiracy charges. Una accidentally involves him anyway.
- To Be Lawful or Good: The overall narrative of the episode discusses this trope, as the characters are all acting in ways they believe to be the "right thing", even if it's not "lawful" or not "good".Neera: If a law is not just, then I ask: how are we to trust those who created that law to serve justice?
- Tranquil Fury: Spock and Pasalk can barely tolerate each other despite seemingly having a cordial conversation. Spock even apologizes to Ortegas and M'Benga for his "outburst". Which makes them both crack up the second Spock is out of earshot.
- Villainy-Free Villain: Batel. While she is the prosecutor during the trial, she makes it clear that she is only doing her duty, and is as happy as everyone else when Una is cleared of the charges.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Neera's reaction when Pike tells her about his views of Illyrians changing after the events of "Ghosts of Illyria".
- We Used to Be Friends:
- Una and Neera used to be friends when they were younger, but Una's desire to get into Starfleet, requiring her to hide who she really is, ruined it.
- According to Spock, Vice-Admiral Pasalk and Sarek are former colleagues. What exactly led to their falling out is left unrevealed.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Batel is furious at Pike for his role in getting Una to reject the plea deal, because she pulled a lot of strings to let Una off with as light a punishment as possible in what appears to be a slam-dunk case.
