[Captain's quarters]

(A large buffet is on offer.)
UHURA [OC]: Cadet's personal log, stardate 2510.6. My assignment to Enterprise is over. After we complete our current mission delivering Vidium power cells to deep space station K-7, I go back to Earth. I'm excited to see my grandmother. Our last call was cut short. Life on a starship has a way of taking over. I've rotated through almost every department. So many amazing, talented people. The top everyone of everything. They all know why they belong in Starfleet. For them, Starfleet has always been the destination. For me, it was where I ran to after the loss of my parents. Serving aboard Enterprise is an affirmation of this entire crew's hopes and dreams. I envy their surety. But me? I guess I'm still searching.
PIKE: Time to bend some ears. Welcome to the big send-off. Although they leave us in a couple of weeks, today it's official. Let's hear it for Cadets Chia and Uhura for completing their training rotation on the USS Enterprise. You have both been exemplary crew members. Dedicated, hardworking, collaborative. We've seen some things together. We've survived some things together. We are bonded now and forever by the family that is Starfleet. And speaking of bonds and oaths. Ensign Duke, front and centre.
UNA: Effective immediately, you are no longer an ensign. Congratulations, Lieutenant Duke.
ORTEGAS: All this time on the ship, and you still shy away from the crowd.
UHURA: Permission to speak freely, sir?
ORTEGAS: Nyota, it's me. Live it up, it's a party. It's your party. Yes, permission granted.
UHURA: I hate goodbyes.
PIKE: Still haven't decided to stay? I know better than to beat a dead horse, but you've made an impact here. There will always be a place on Enterprise for Nyota Uhura.
SPOCK [OC]: Spock to Captain Pike.
PIKE: What is it, Spock?
SPOCK [OC]: Incoming priority one mission from Starfleet Command, sir. Spock out.
UNA: Aren't we already a priority one mission?
PIKE: Yeah. Where's La'An?
UNA: She couldn't make it. She's... scheduled personal health time.
PIKE: She can join us in progress. Get Science and Medical.
(Later, doing the washing up.)
UNA: They need to send someone else.
PIKE: It's not someone else's assignment.
LA'AN: Sorry I'm late. I was with Doctor Sanchez again. Head shrinker.
UNA: It's called Starfleet recovery assistance, and I'm glad you're making use of it.
PIKE: You're on time. We're just kicking around some intel on a mission brief.
LA'AN: While you clean up?
PIKE: People are capable of doing two things at once. Spock?
SPOCK: Approximately four days ago, the USS Peregrine activated a distress beacon before losing contact.
PIKE: Can you take over the dishes for a minute?
SPOCK: Oh. Yes, of course.
PIKE: Saved you a plate.
LA'AN: No, thanks. I'm not hungry.
UNA: You're gonna want to try the omelet. And the bacon.
M'BENGA: And the waffle.
PIKE: The Peregrine's deep space relay took two days to reach Starfleet.
LA'AN: Another two to us, so we might still have contact, just delayed. Oh, my God, this is delicious.
UNA: Told you.
SPOCK: At the time of transmission, the Peregrine was making an unscheduled emergency landing on a class L planet. Valeo Beta Five.
M'BENGA: Are emergency landings ever scheduled?
UNA: The ship made its descent but its beacon went out mid-transmission.
LA'AN: Destroyed on impact? Where... Er, do you have the... Where's the er...
UNA: Extra cheese?
LA'AN: Mmm.
SPOCK: While possible, it is more likely the interference on Valeo Beta Five has disrupted the signal. The upper atmosphere is littered with charged nitrate ions.
UNA: Planet's a known dead zone. Our communications and transporters don't reach the surface.
LA'AN: A Sombra-class ship. That's unique.
M'BENGA: I served on one. Fast. Built with the same parts as a Constitution.
PIKE: She'd gone off the grid, gathering data in uncharted sectors. The Federation wants us to aid the crew and if possible, retrieve the ship.
LA'AN: And our current mission? The Vidium power cells for K-7. Without them the whole space station goes dark.
M'BENGA: Including life support.
UNA: The nearest ship that could deliver them for us is a week away.
SPOCK: Vidium cells decay in transport. A delay of that duration would render them all useless.
LA'AN: I advise we send a landing party to make repairs and treat the wounded. Meanwhile, Enterprise can continue on to deliver the Vidium. Like you said, sir. People are capable of doing two things at once.
PIKE: Let me get you some bacon.
UNA: It's risky. There's no way the landing party could contact the ship.
PIKE: True, it is a communications dead zone, but I have faith in our crew to get it done. The Enterprise can pick us up on the way back.
UNA: Us?
PIKE: I'll oversee this one personally. Get the cadets out on one last away mission with senior officers.
UNA: You sure you want to split up the crew?
PIKE: It'll be fine, Number One. You get the supplies to K-7. I'll pile the kids in the station wagon, take a road trip.
SPOCK: Sir? The station wagon?
PIKE: Anybody has to go, now's the time. Do not make me turn this car around. Okay. You have your orders.

[Valeo Beta V]

PIKE [OC]: Number One, you're good to go. We're making our descent now.
UNA [OC]: We'll monitor your approach.
PIKE [OC]: That's a negative. Once we enter the upper atmosphere, we're going to be out of contact after... Make haste to K-7.
(Two shuttles land near a spaceship.)
KIRK: Man, this is gonna be a hike.
SPOCK: Geothermal anomalies have forced us to land several kilometres from the Peregrine. We should work quickly. This area is highly volatile. It is due to be overrun by an ice storm in approximately six hours.
HEMMER: This wind reminds me of Andoria.
CHAPEL: Glad someone can enjoy it.
DUKE: The anomalies. Is that what's killing our comms?
SPOCK: Negative, Ensign. It is the ionic interference that prevents long-range communication.
KIRK: Drink. You owe him a drink, Spock.
CHAPEL: Duke's a lieutenant now. You call him an ensign, you got to buy him a drink. Starfleet tradition.
SPOCK: Another human drinking game. Does their number have no limit?
KIRK: Nope.
M'BENGA: Based on these readings, the Peregrine made landfall near the ridge of a great chasm.
PIKE: No lifesigns? Anything?
M'BENGA: Still too much interference.
PIKE: We should be getting something.
LA'AN: Captain, might not be a scanning problem.
(She's found a body.)

[USS Peregrine]

PIKE: Blood.
SPOCK: Captain, there is more blood over here as well.
PIKE: I want a full diagnostic as fast as you can. Any luck on the internal comms?
UHURA: No. Still down. And environmental systems are at 20%.
SPOCK: Captain, the bridge is completely offline. Someone hardwired all the controls down to Engineering.
PIKE: Why would they do that?
HEMMER: Plasma in the main circuits. That's not typical. They were likely using energy from the warp core injectors as emergency power.
SPOCK: But that would imply...
UHURA: No backup batteries. And the matter-antimatter reactor's busted.
PIKE: Clearly, I brought the right people for the job. Hem, can you fix it?
HEMMER: Perhaps. I'll have to work in Engineering. Mister Spock, can you manage restoring bridge functions?
SPOCK: I will attempt to make quick work of it.
LA'AN: It's grim. 20 casualties so far, one of them the captain.
PIKE: The Peregrine has a crew of 99.
M'BENGA: There could be more we didn't find. Most died of hypothermia. Their suits are shredded by the elements.
LA'AN: Some of them were picked apart, maybe... local wildlife? Maybe something else.
M'BENGA: As far as I can tell, the crew went outside, got caught in a brutal storm and couldn't find their way back to the ship.
PIKE: Pull up the logs.

[Planet surface]

KIRK: I bet it's real creepy here after dark.
CHAPEL: It's already pretty damn creepy.
CHIA [OC]: Lieutenant Kirk. We found something.
KIRK: What the hell did this?
(A massacre.)

[USS Peregrin]

UHURA: I can only get audio.
GAVIN [OC]: Captain's log, stardate... I'm not even sure. A week since we've crashed? Peregrine was mapping non-Federation space when we found three castaways on an M class planet. A human girl, a humanoid of unknown origin and an Orion named Pasko. We rescued them, brought them aboard, but we didn't know what we didn't know. Pasko was infected with Gorn eggs. Biofilters didn't detect them. But the Orion knew. He set off a plasma grenade in Engineering, tried to end it. The system sent an automatic distress call in response to the explosion. If I could reach Starfleet now, I would say stay away. Don't come to Valeo Beta Five.
LA'AN: A little late for that, isn't it?
PIKE: M'Benga, Spock, go get the others.
GAVIN [OC]: But if you're watching this, chances are we didn't survive.
PIKE: La'An. What do you want to do?
LA'AN: I want to kill them. But I'd settle for finding any crew alive and getting off of this frozen rock.
UHURA: Captain, ops are coming online. I have two life signs on Deck Five.
LA'AN: Human or Gorn?
UHURA: One human, the other... unknown.
PIKE: Hemmer, keep powering up whatever you can. And La'An, Uhura, you're with me.

[Deck Five]

PIKE: This body's been badly mangled.
ALIEN: Kakalaka jarfuk pikarak!
PIKE: What's he saying?
LA'AN: Universal translator isn't processing it. Uhura, do something.
UHURA: That's not how linguistics works.
ALIEN: Karfuk. Karfick. Karfarsh.
UHURA: Wait. It's two life signs, right?
ALIEN: Shipa. Shipa.
UHURA: He might be protecting someone. We should lower our weapons.
PIKE: Stand down.
LA'AN: I hope you're right about this.
UHURA: We're friends. We're here to help you. And whoever might be with you.
(The alien leads them to a young survivor by a fire.)

[Peregrine sickbay]

SPOCK: Nurse Chapel, I need dermal synthesisers for a burn wound.
CHAPEL: Where? You look fine.
SPOCK: Lieutenant Duke. He did not account for potential instabilities in the Jeffries tube.
CHAPEL: Duke wasn't paying attention.
SPOCK: Indeed. Although I do fail to see the logic in asking me to come for supplies instead of seeking treatment.
CHAPEL: Hmm, well... Duke made rank, Spock. He's acting tough.
SPOCK: Pride. A flawed human emotion.
CHAPEL: It's called foolish for a reason.
SPOCK: Thankfully, the teachings of Surak allow me to purge such things. One does not take pride in logic.
CHAPEL: I understand that er... Vulcans have a strong, hidden primal nature. I bet you're a tempest when you're angry.
SPOCK: It is true that without proper mindfulness Vulcan emotion is dangerous. We use logic to not succumb to anger.
CHAPEL: It's good to get mad sometimes.

[Peregrine Engineering]

UHURA: I'm gonna miss you, Hemmer.
HEMMER: Nonsense. People tend to find their way back around in Starfleet.
UHURA: Mmm, not me. When you asked me about my life path, I didn't have an answer. So I had to ask myself... Uhura, why don't you have an answer?
HEMMER: And what was Uhura's response?
UHURA: I've just been drifting. It's time for me to stop coasting.
HEMMER: And you feel that serving with Starfleet is coasting?
UHURA: I don't know. Maybe. Who knows where I'll end up, but... I'm not afraid to face it alone anymore.
HEMMER: Interesting. I never felt that your fear was being alone. I think your problem is the exact opposite.
UHURA: Oh, really? Please, enlighten me.
HEMMER: You make friends easily when you allow it to happen.
UHURA: You think I don't like making friends?
HEMMER: No. I think you love it. And deep down that scares you, 'cause... your real fear is putting down roots.
UHURA: So, now you're a ship's counsellor?
HEMMER: I understand. It is better to leave than to be the one left behind. But that's wrong. You create bonds. It's a gift. Of course the people you care about are going to cause you pain. It will hurt, but the love it yields will far outweigh the sorrow. Now, hand me the electron coupler.

[Peregrine sickbay]

ALIEN: Piti titi camu. Topa karfarsh. Piki shipa topa.
M'BENGA: Your friend, what's his name?
ORIANA: I call him Buckley.
M'BENGA: I like it.
ORIANA: It's just what I call him.
M'BENGA: What's your name?
ORIANA: Oriana. Are we getting out of here?
LA'AN: Are you checking them thoroughly?
M'BENGA: Readings don't show any anomalies.
LA'AN: Are you infected? Is he?
M'BENGA: I told you the readings are clean.
LA'AN: Where are the Gorn?
ALIEN: Karfika kafk!
ORIANA: It's okay, Buckley. I got this. The monsters are gone.
LA'AN: Why didn't you tell the captain about the Gorn eggs when they saved you? Why did you stay quiet?
M'BENGA: Lieutenant?
LA'AN: You could've saved them.
M'BENGA: La'An, stop harassing my daughter. My patient. Leave her alone. Find somewhere else to be useful.

[Peregrine Bridge]

PIKE: Sensors show the ship is clean. Whatever happened outside seems to be the end of it.
LA'AN: Reported missing two years ago.
PIKE: Help me understand. Where do the Gorn fit in?
LA'AN: The girl and the two aliens were probably refugees from a breeding planet. The adult Gorn only harvest their young sporadically, so whatever was born on this ship, they are most likely alone. Don't take comfort in that, Captain. They're equally lethal on the ground. It only takes one.
PIKE: Comms are still down, but we can do a security sweep. If there are any still alive down here...
M'BENGA: A soprano sings an E minor, and we associate a feeling. But it's not really about the melody. Our own reflections make it emotional.
LA'AN: I'm not being emotional.
M'BENGA: I was talking about me. I called the girl my daughter. But that girl... Oriana... she's in a place few can understand. Before pain twists her up inside, she has a chance to grow beyond it, like you.
LA'AN: There's no magic button you press. You just... you just survive.
M'BENGA: She just needs someone to help her see the light.

[Peregrine corridor]

(Spock follows a trail of blood to a hole in the bulkhead, then gets startled by...)
PIKE: Sorry. That for Lieutenant Duke?
M'BENGA: Oh, I didn't realise you were so jumpy.

[Peregrine sickbay]

(The alien, Buckley, is wheezing.)
CHAPEL: Elevated heart rate. Hello. What is this now? Chia, pass me that light.
CHIA: Yep.
CHAPEL: Chia, can you calibrate for a physical? Just use the readings we took on him before.
ALIEN: Kalaka. Pika. Kalaka.
CHAPEL: Easy. We're just gonna run a quick simulation on our scans.
(Oriana goes and hides. Chia is working under the biobed.)
CHIA: You all right up there?
(Things start to burst out of Buckley. Oriana screams.)
CHIA: Nurse Chapel?
(One baby Gorn kills her and scuttles away, more make their escape from the corpse and attack each other. Chapel gets onto a biobed and activates the forcefield.)

[Peregrine corridor]

KIRK: You were lucky. Those conduits had a full current.
M'BENGA: Be glad. I could be amputating.
DUKE: Great. First mission as a lieutenant, and I almost lose an arm.
KIRK: Don't beat yourself up. These things happen, all right?
SPOCK: Duke, perhaps if you take comfort in the fact that you completed the needed repairs. That will shape your pride... -
(A Gorn baby drops down the Jefferies tube and lands on Duke's neck.)
PIKE: Sam, grab him. Keep him still.
KIRK: There's two of 'em.
PIKE: Hold him down. I don't want to risk hitting him.
(But Duke dragged away backwards out of sight, still screaming as Pike tries to shoot the Gorn.)
PIKE: We need to alert the rest of the crew. Right now.

[Peregrine sickbay]

CHAPEL: Oriana?
(She gets down from the biobed.)
CHAPEL: Oriana?
(Bang!)
CHAPEL: It's you. Oh, thank God. They came out of him. I didn't see where... The girl.
LA'AN: Four Gorn hatchlings. I count one dead, that leaves three. They'll mature soon, and then fight for dominance.
CHAPEL: What do we do? What do we do?
LA'AN: Scan for biosignatures.
CHAPEL: Okay.
LA'AN: Still no comms. I've hits on our people, but nothing on the Gorn.
CHAPEL: Does that mean they're gone?
LA'AN: I doubt it. Somehow they found a way to avoid our sensors.
CHAPEL: So they could be anywhere.
LA'AN: Take this. Watch the ceilings, shoot anything that moves.
CHAPEL: Yeah.
LA'AN: We need to find that girl.

[Peregrine cargo hold]

LA'AN: This is where she was before.
CHAPEL: Oriana?
LA'AN: Nothing.
(Noise.)
LA'AN: Nice hiding spot.
CHAPEL: Hey, we're here to keep you safe.
LA'AN: She's already safe. Gorn hate the cold. It's why you came back here, isn't it? Coldest place in the ship? It's where I'd hide.
ORIANA: People before you tricked them into going outside. But now they're back. We leave here, we die.
MANU [memory]: Run!
LA'AN: My brother died like your friend. The Gorn got him. I know what it feels like to watch them hurt the people you love. You feel alone. Nobody understands the pain. But look at me now. These people I came with, my job is to keep them safe. And this crew, I believe we can do anything, even defeat the Gorn. Oriana, trust me. There's surviving and then there's living. Come on.

[Peregrine Engineering]

HEMMER: Now, once we hit the relay switch, the systems will begin to cycle, and then we just have to reboot navigation.
UHURA: Team Hemhura strikes again, huh?
HEMMER: You may have the honour.
(Power on, alarms sounding, strange noise.)
UHURA: What is that?
HEMMER: I don't know. But I smell human blood.

[Peregrine sickbay]

PIKE: Power's on. Means Hemmer's making progress.
KIRK: We stay in here, we're lizard chow. We got to make a run for the shuttles.
SPOCK: By my calculations, the ice storm outside has just begun. It is not safe to leave the ship.
KIRK: It isn't safe inside the ship. But hey, at least we'll all die nice and warm.
PIKE: Sam, you saw I hurt one. We can fight them.
M'BENGA: I could give him a sedative.
PIKE: No, Sam's tougher than he looks, and I need everyone alert.
SPOCK: Captain, the internal comms are back online.
PIKE: Open a channel, all decks.

[Peregrine engineering]

PIKE [OC]: All hands, emergency protocol, regroup and rendezvous in sickbay. Repeat, get to sickbay and watch your six.
(A young Gorn drops in to engineering.)
UHURA: We need to make a run for it.
HEMMER: No! Aah!
(He has stepped in front of Uhura and got caught by Gorn saliva.)
UHURA: Hemmer!
(La'An arrives and shoots, the Gorn makes its escape.)

[Peregrine sickbay]

M'BENGA: Medical officer's analysis.
SPOCK: Fascinating. The Gorn's biological makeup renders them invisible to all of our sensors.
M'BENGA: A genetic chameleon. That's how I missed them inside of Buckley.
PIKE: Was there anything from his bioscan we can use? Something trackable.
M'BENGA: For starters, we don't even know what kind of species he was. And according to this, the maturity cycle depends on the host. In the Orion, it took weeks. Humans, days.
SPOCK: These ducts in the mouth likely expel venom.
HEMMER: Yes, and it burns quite tremendously.
SPOCK: No doubt a toxin meant to blind its victim.
HEMMER: I was not the best target.
PIKE: Hemmer, I know you have rules about telepathy. Any chance they don't apply to an enemy that's trying to eat us?
HEMMER: If I could, I would. But it appears they have a psychic barrier to my abilities. I cannot sense them.
SPOCK: Impressive, like their genetic coding. No doubt another evolution in order to hunt undetected.
KIRK: Impressive? You think this is impressive?
SPOCK: It was merely an observation.
KIRK: It killed Duke right in front of you, Spock. Doesn't that hit you somewhere deep inside? No, nothing?
HEMMER: We just need to reboot navigation.
KIRK: Can you feel anything? Or are you just some heartless, pointy-eared computer? PIKE Hey! Now that that's out of the way, if we want get out alive, we have to stop yelling at each other and start listening. Hemmer, what is it you're trying to tell us about the nav com?
HEMMER: It's the only system left to reboot. Everything else is online.
PIKE: That means our mission is complete.
HEMMER: That would be correct.
PIKE: Okay. Now let's get rid of these Gorn. La'An, tactical analysis. The hatchlings have begun molting, but they aren't fully mature. At this stage, younglings have an intense drive for alpha dominance. The two left will be the strongest, the smartest, and extremely hostile to each other.
PIKE: That's a weak spot. We can work together, that's our advantage.
LA'AN: No matter what, we have to kill them now. We'd have no chance even against one adult Gorn.
M'BENGA: These younglings move too fast for us to hunt. We'll have to create a choke point.
LA'AN: The Gorn are highly intelligent, even at this stage. A simple trap won't work.
CHAPEL: How are we supposed to hunt them? We can't even track them with sensors.
UHURA: We make them come to us.
SPOCK: That is... very logical.
LA'AN: Gorn can't resist aggressive behaviour. They won't back down from a challenge, so we can use that to draw them out, put them down.
KIRK: Great. Now we're bait.
LA'AN: We can use the environment controls. Gorn avoid the cold. We can force them into the areas we want them in.
PIKE: Now this sounds like the start of a plan. All right. Let's get to work.

[Peregrine bridge]

PIKE: Computer, transfer all functions to comms station. Captain Pike, command code two-four-six-eight-ten.
M'BENGA: You still haven't changed that?
PIKE: We can quarterback the operation from here.

[Cargo bay]

COMPUTER: Temperature decreasing.
SPOCK: As the ship cools, this bay will become a warm oasis for them. You are okay with what you must do?
HEMMER: If it succeeds, you and I will be trapped in here with angry Gorn. I will not be the one to kill it, but I will do what I must to protect the lives of this crew.

[Ventilation system]

CHAPEL: Hey, are you okay?
LA'AN: Trust me, there's nothing I'd rather be doing right now than fighting back against the Gorn.

[Corridor]

UHURA: Game on.
(She shoots at it.)
UHURA: It's here.
(She runs.)
KIRK: We got one in the chute!

[Bridge]

PIKE: Uhura, I'm blasting the Transporter Room now. Go!

[Corridor]

(Uhura runs out of the transporter room and Kirk shuts the door.)
KIRK: Come on, come on. You really are good at everything.
PIKE [OC]: It's going into the vent system. Spock, get into position.

[Corridor]

(Spock fires the alien's weapon.)
SPOCK: It's not responding.
PIKE [OC]: You have to draw it out.
LA'AN [OC]: Fight it, Spock! Make it angry!
(He pictures Duke being dragged away.)
SPOCK: The rage that is in my thoughts... I let into my heart.
(He roars, runs forward and jabs the weapon into the vents.)
PIKE [OC]: Why does my audio sound like there are two Gorn?

[Cargo bay]

HEMMER: The other one is here. It's boxing him in.
PIKE [OC]: Spock, watch for the second Gorn.

[Corridor]

(Kirk arrives, and the angry Spock turns on him.)
KIRK: Hey, hey, easy, easy. It's me. It's me.
(Sounds of Gorns fighting.)
KIRK: They've turned on each other.
LA'AN: When those two are finished there'll be one left. The alpha. We put that down, we go home. Hemmer.

[Cargo bay]

LA'AN [OC]: I'm coming your way.
(She is watched as she enters.)
LA'AN: Come on! I'm unarmed. It's just you and me. Fight me! Come on, fight me!
(The Gorn shows itself. La'An runs. Hemmer gets into a cargo pod, La'An jumps into another.)
LA'AN: Hemmer, now! Do it now!
(A jet of freezing air zaps the Gorn. A few minutes later, La'An gets out of the cargo pod and smashes it to frozen pieces.)

[Bridge]

M'BENGA: It's dead, Chris.
PIKE: Yeah?

[Cargo bay]

KIRK: We did it. That's the last of them.
LA'AN: Not quite.
HEMMER: I'm going to go outside now.

[Bridge]

PIKE: Hemmer, what's going on?

[Cargo bay]

HEMMER: I may not be able to sense them, but I know my own body very well.
LA'AN: The spray. It's more than a venom. It's how they reproduce.
CHAPEL: Captain, open the door.

[Bridge]

PIKE: I... I can't.

[Cargo bay]

HEMMER: I do not want anyone to try to stop me.
CHAPEL: We can extract them.

[Bridge]

M'BENGA: We'll neutralise the growth process, figure something out.

[Cargo bay / Bridge]

HEMMER: If we had more time, I'm sure you could. But it's too late to... Argh. We all know what's coming.
PIKE: Hemmer, you don't have to do this.
HEMMER: But Captain, my sacrifice will save the lives of those I care most about. For me, there is no other choice.
SPOCK: A logical conclusion.
HEMMER: Live long and prosper, my friend.
UHURA: No. No! We can help you. You have to let us try.
HEMMER: Uhura. I want to leave you with one last piece of advice. Open yourself. Make a home for yourself amongst others, and you will find joy more often than sadness.
UHURA: Hemmer. Hemmer, please, please...
HEMMER: Do not weep for me. I've had a good life. It's time for me to go.

[Planet surface]

HEMMER: Just like Andoria.

[Ready room]

(Enterprise has Peregrine in tow.)
ORTEGAS: This sucks. I hate funerals. But if Hemmer was here, he would remind us that this is a celebration. Exalt the fallen and commit them to the cosmos. Then he would have scolded me for pushing the engines too hard. And I would have called him a blue meanie. And we'd laugh. And it wouldn't have felt like a funeral. Best engineer I have ever served with.
UHURA: I never told Hemmer, but he reminded me a lot of my dad. Always pushing me to see things from a new perspective. Do better, be better. Losing Hemmer... hurts. The people you love the most can cause you the most pain. But it's the people you love that can mend your heart when you feel broken. That's what Hemmer's purpose was. To fix what is broken. And he did.

[Corridor]

(Spock walked out with clenched fists, and is now punching holes in the walls.)
CHAPEL: Spock.
SPOCK: Do not follow me.
CHAPEL: What's going on?
SPOCK: I'm warning you, back off!
CHAPEL: Tell me what's going on.
SPOCK: I can't control it. I've let something out. Rage. Pain.
CHAPEL: It's your emotions.
SPOCK: My mind has gotten weak.
CHAPEL: No. No. It doesn't make you weak, Spock. It makes you human.
(She hugs him, then he walks away.)

[Captain's quarters]

LA'AN: So, I found a lead on Oriana's family. Someone out there might be looking for her.
PIKE: How strong of a lead? Not very. It's er... weak, actually. And it's outside Federation space.
PIKE: But you want to pursue it anyway?
LA'AN: I know what it feels like to be alone. If there's any chance she still has people out there...
PIKE: A mission like this, it takes time.
LA'AN: I'd like to request a formal leave of absence. Decommission me if you have to, but I need the freedom to go where the clues take me.
PIKE: If I said no, would it make a difference?
LA'AN: I...
PIKE: I'll square it with Starfleet. Whatever you need. But La'An, however long it takes, come back to us, okay?
LA'AN: Aye, sir. Captain? Chris. Thank you... for everything.