Ensign Spock reports aboard the Enterprise, and gets stuck with Number One in a malfunctioning turbolift.
Tropes:
- Call-Forward: Spock and Number One discuss his intentions to pursue Command. He eventually captains the Enterprise many years later, although he willingly hands command over to Admiral Kirk for the duration of the Genesis incident.
- Dare to Be Badass: When Spock says that he has no interest in Command, Number One immediately calls him out on it, saying that no one would take the brutal courseload that he did at the Academy just to "sling a tricorder for the rest of their lives".
- Doom It Yourself: Tired of waiting for Engineering, Number One climbs on Spock's shoulders and opens a maintenance panel to try to fix the problem. Unfortunately, she grabs the wrong component and the shock knocks them both to the floor.
- Ensign Newbie: Spock in this case— stiff as a board, barking out responses as if he were a green recruit, and doesn't speak unless he is responding to Number One's statements. He relaxes a little by the end.
- Not to mention his relatively lax self-discipline, getting caught smiling in a momentary lapse of bearing.
- Forgotten Phlebotinum: No one suggests using the transporters to get Spock and Number One out of the turbolift. Though at this point in canon, intra-ship beaming is still considered risky and dangerous.
- The Gadfly: Number One orders Spock to do this, telling him that she wants him to ask every single crewman that he encounters question after question until they get annoyed with him. Of course, then she gets stuck with him for an extended period of time.
- Hidden Depths: Turns out that the stoic, businesslike Number One is an exceptional singer, belting out the "Major-General's Song" while stuck in the turbolift.
- And then Spock, the reserved Vulcan, joins in. And genuinely enjoys it.
- Spock admits to Pike that Vulcans often feel a sense of wonder, they just usually keep it to themselves.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Number One orders Spock, on his honor as a Starfleet officer, to never speak of her singing.
- Major General Song: Performed by Number One.
- MST3K Mantra: Spock at one point brings up the Prime Directive and its moral implications. Number One advises him that, for the sake of his own sanity, it's best not to pull that thread.
- Mythology Gag:
- This is not the first time that prominent crew members from the Enterprise have indulged in singing a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan, nor is it the first instance of the "Major-General's Song" itself, as a partial rendition showed up in TNG's "Disaster".
- Number One chides Spock for shouting. Shouting out information was an Early-Installment Weirdness quirk of Spock back in "The Cage". Spock's smiling was another bit of Early-Installment Weirdness that she similarly needles him for.
- The Enterprise apparently has another Celtic engineer. (This one's Welsh rather than Scottish.)
- Not So Above It All: After an uncomfortable silence, Spock sings the chorus from the "Major-General's Song" back to Number One.
- Reluctant Warrior: Pike. Number One states that, even though he is the most decorated Starfleet captain for his actions in combat, Pike hates resorting to force and considers using it as admitting failure.
- Rudely Hanging Up: Number One cuts off Lt. Upjohn twice this way, usually when Upjohn is rambling on the comm line rather than providing useful information to solve the problem.
- The World Is Just Awesome: Number One mentions with undisguised awe that, on her first deep space cruise aboard Enterprise, they passed within half a light-year of 99 Pegasi, a "triple-mode, high-amplitude, Delta Scuti star". Spock openly admits that he is envious that she got to experience that.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: After the turbolift gets stuck, Number One mentions this.Number One: People don't talk in elevators.
Spock: I have observed that, sir.
