RECAP | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 301 - 'Hegemony, Part II'

In the Season 3 premiere episode of , "Hegemony, Part II," we get the epic conclusion to the "," Season 2 finale cliffhanger.

Captain Pike risks it all, taking Enterprise on a daring rescue mission behind enemy lines, while the landing party attempts an escape from a deadly enemy.

As Gorn hunter ships pummel the U.S.S. Enterprise with their firepower, Captain Christopher Pike assesses his options, electing to jam their comms before resigning himself to "retreat and rescue." In order to track the Gorn Destroyer, Lt. Spock suggests tagging the vessel with Wolkite, a rare element that contains subspace gauge bosons. Lt. Jenna Mitchell proposes they arm a dud torpedo with the element. Since the Gorn energy shields work on harmonics, finding the right frequency would enable the Enterprise to ram the ship and create a destructive interference pattern.

With inertial dampeners set to maximum, the Enterprise sets course for the Destroyer and — quite literally — "hits" it, ramming the ship with its saucer section.* Captain Pike orders two photon torpedoes to be fired, one of which contains the Wolkite tracker, and then directs the helm to go to warp. The Enterprise regroups with the rest of the fleet, including Admiral Robert April's U.S.S. Pablo Picasso.

In Sickbay, Nurse Christine Chapel preps Captain Marie Batel for a stasis field that will pause the cellular growth of her Gorn infection. Unfortunately, Batel turns out to be allergic to cryo-serum and can't be put in stasis.** The Gorn will hatch from her body in less than a day, so Pike dispatches Spock to assist. In the Ready Room, Pike confers with April, frustrated by the Federation's hesitation to rush into a fight. Certain the Gorn will push their Hegemony demarcation line further into Federation Space, Pike convinces April to allow him to take action, at least unofficially.

Down in the Science Lab, Lt. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott and Commander Pelia fiddle with Scotty's improvised contraption, which emits a polarized EM signature to fool the Gorn into believing the Enterprise is one of their ships. Pelia chastises Scotty for not recording a work-in-progress log yet assures Pike that the transponder will be operational in time to rescue the landing party and Parnassian colonists from the Gorn.

Meanwhile, aboard the Gorn Destroyer, Lt. La'An Noonien-Singh fights her way out of a cocoon-like organic structure and begins to free the other captives. With Dr. Joseph M'Benga, Lt. Erica Ortegas, and Lt. George "Sam" Kirk now free, they assess their situation. Kirk recognizes the compartment as a massive digestive chamber processing its prisoners as food for the Gorn. The four officers locate discarded Starfleet weapons in an evacuation pile, resolving to save all of the surviving colonists.

Back in the Science Lab, Pelia makes Scotty believe that they're under attack, sparking his ingenuity and enabling him to activate his device as the Enterprise approaches Gorn space. The transponder — what Pelia refers to as a modified EM pulse emitter — goes online, and Uhura explains that the Gorn evolved to rely on biometrics, heat, and EM signatures. Three Gorn Hunters approach the Enterprise and pass by without incident, permitting the Federation starship to track the Wolkite signal to an uncharted binary star system.

Chapel and Spock commiserate in Sickbay, concluding that Batel's body has been altered and is as reliant on the Gorn hatchlings as they are on her. Spock runs a simulation for microscopic debulking factoring for an infusion of zadora extract — an Orion street drug. As they wait, Spock apologizes for the way things had ended, and Chapel advises they reevaluate their friendship when she returns from studying with Dr. Roger Korby. The simulation fails, but Chapel theorizes they can boost Batel's human physiology by giving her a plasma injection from Commander Una Chin-Riley's Illyrian blood.

In the confines of the Gorn Destroyer, La'An and the landing party ready themselves to enter the hangar to steal a ship, which would enable them to access the Destroyer's mainframe, upload its transporter codes, and get them to the Enterprise. As they proceed, Number One and Uhura stand before Pike in the Ready Room and brief him on Gorn sightings that correlate to coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — which set off a frenzy — and X-Class Flares and supra-arcade downflows that trigger a hibernation cycle. Readings indicate the galaxy may be entering a period of activity that could lead to a full-scale Gorn invasion.

Returning to the Bridge, the Enterprise drops out of warp and witnesses the Gorn Destroyer fly directly between the stars and disappear. Pike orders all auxiliary power to the shields so the ship can enter the radiation zone. In Sickbay, the maneuver causes the Gorn hatchlings' growth to accelerate and forces Chapel and Spock to begin surgery using an infusion of Number One's blood. With no response from Starfleet and no visuals — the light bends in a way that creates a natural hologram — Pike surmises this might be the Gorn homeworld. Suddenly, an entire armada of Gorn vessels emerge on a course for Federation space. Uhura drops a communication buoy so they don't lose the Wolkite signal, and Pike orders Mitchell to pursue the fleet.

With Sickbay's Quarantine Mode engaged, Chapel and Spock start operating on Batel, injecting her with the experimental plasma solution. Simultaneously, Uhura reports that the Gorn are transmitting an interference signal preventing the Enterprise from hailing Starfleet, prompting Pike to call Pelia and Scotty to the Bridge. Since stellar flares dictate the Gorn's cycles, Pike suggests that they turn the Enterprise into a CME X-flare — what Scotty describes as an artificial star. Scotty and Pelia brainstorm, indicating the ship would need to fly between the binary stars, modify its deflector shields, and magnetize its hull to attract stellar material.

As Pike accepts the 1 in 1000 odds, Spock provides an alternative to Batel's surgery in Sickbay. Instead of operating on Batel, they could satiate the Gorn hatchlings to keep them from coming out. Once the hatchlings are no longer in defensive mode, Chapel would then be able to dissolve them and treat the infection with Number One's blood. Over on the Gorn Destroyer, La'An recalls her brother Manu as she accesses a Gorn interface, locating the vessel's buffer signatures and transport codes. The Gorn converge on their position, igniting a fierce firefight and inflicting painful wounds upon Ortegas and Kirk.

Aboard the Enterprise Bridge, Pike directs his crew to make the ship "shine like the sun" while turning off the EM emitter.*** Despite dealing with a significant injury, Ortegas takes the controls of a stolen Gorn Hunter, evading their pursuers and piloting them out of the destroyer. La'An transmits the transport codes to the Enterprise so the Parnassians can be beamed out. The stellar gambit pays off, as the Starfleet vessel glows intensely enough to cause the Gorn ships bearing down on its position to return home. With the Parnassians safely aboard, Pike wonders if triggering the Gorn hibernation cycle had only caused a problem for someone else down the line.****

Chapel and Spock exit Sickbay as they wait to see how Batel will respond to their treatment. Pike arrives and heads to Batel's bedside, taking a knee and praying for her recovery. Batel awakens, disapproving of the use of Number One's Illyrian blood in the operation.** Both captains are nevertheless overcome with emotion, finding comfort in each other and expressing their feelings as the Enterprise heads back to Federation space.

* — An Enterprise ship had been used as a battering ram before. While facing off against Shinzon and the Scimitar, Picard recounts his first evaluation at the Academy before ordering his crew to engage their ship at maximum impulse.

** — Captain Batel's allergy to the cryo-serum draws parallels to Kirk's Retinax V allergy, which Dr. McCoy addresses upon visiting the admiral.

*** "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" — While facing another Federation enemy, Picard guided his Enterprise-D crew to neutralize the Borg threat by putting them all to sleep by accessing the Borg's regeneration sequence.

**** "" — Pike ponders if the Gorn hibernation cycle will cause future problems, which foreshadows the instance when Captain James T. Kirk faces a Gorn captain.