RECAP | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 303 - 'Shuttle to Kenfori'

In the previous episode of , while the Enterprise crew celebrates the Federation's Centennial, an uninvited guest — a childish entity with extraordinary abilities — shows up to wreak havoc.

Now, in Episode 3, "," Captain Pike and Dr. M'Benga sneak into disputed Klingon space to find a treatment for Captain Batel. However, M'Benga's secrets are revealed and his past comes back to haunt him on a planet overrun with deadly creatures.

Captain Christopher Pike enters his quarters, finding Captain Marie Batel unconscious on the floor. Once in the U.S.S. Enterprise Sickbay, Dr. Joseph M'Benga informs the now-conscious Batel that the invasive Gorn tissue has aggressively returned. Lt. Spock offers a course of treatment, referencing the Chimera Blossom — a rare specimen sought after for its biological uniqueness and rumored to contain a chemical compound that could stop the malignancy.

Unfortunately, the only place it is likely to be found is on Kenfori in an abandoned Federation research facility focused on crop longevity. The Klingons invaded during the war, and both sides agreed to give it up, placing the planet in the Restricted Zone. Aware that Starfleet would never authorize a mission, Pike and M'Benga plan to infiltrate Kenfori with a two-person away team.

On the Bridge, Commander Una Chin-Riley orders Lt. Scannell to display the buffer zone around the Kenfori System. Lt. Erica Ortegas pilots the ship to the dust cloud near the border, where Pike and M'Benga covertly disembark on a shuttle. As they reminisce over the time M'Benga threw up on Zeta Borealis, sensors pick up the presence of a Klingon communications beacon emitting a signal warning* them to "Go Back Or Die," yet Pike elects to forge ahead.

After landing in the Kenfori jungle, M'Benga relays that there are no lifesigns — only flora, no fauna — as they approach the research facility where samples of the Chimera flower were kept. The pair come across a mysterious Klingon skeleton, deciding to arm themselves as they enter the dilapidated laboratory. Pike quickly locates the Chimera blossoms, but M'Benga urges him not to touch them with bare skin. Certain organic poisons have a medicinal use, so — wearing a mask and gloves — M'Benga collects specimens for Batel's treatment. The doctor refuses to divulge Batel's prognosis to Pike, as the information is considered confidential unless it jeopardizes the rest of the crew. Pike gathers his own flowers and is shocked to discover a severed human foot amidst the foliage!

Back on the Enterprise Bridge, Lt. La'An Noonien-Singh picks up a minor EM flux heading towards Kenfori. On a hunch from Ortegas, a second scan detects the presence of a Klingon battlecruiser. During the war, the Klingons masked their ships behind bursts of EM radiation. Ensign Nyota Uhura reports no comms chatter, so Number One orders them to sit tight. However, the Klingon vessel dispatches a shuttle towards the planet.

Dr. M'Benga analyzes the foot Pike found in the research facility, noting that the remains are consistent with the Klingon body outside. The duo prepare to leave until a horrific screech is heard in the distance. The absence of lifesigns perplexes them, but they are soon distracted by the arrival of the Klingon shuttle, which hovers above the ground and destroys their parked Starfleet craft. Weapons drawn, a hunting party of three Klingons searches the lab.

As Pike and M'Benga flee, they come to a dead end and hide from the Klingons. A brief firefight ensues, but the Klingons manage to corner and capture their Federation prey… until zombie-like mossers — both Federation and Klingon — emerge from the overgrown foliage and savagely bite into and consume one of the Klingon warriors. Pike, M'Benga, and their remaining Klingon foes scatter.

Aboard the Enterprise, Captain Batel's body has acclimated to the pain inhibitors, placing her in agony. Nurse Christine Chapel suggests Spock guide Batel through a Vulcan pain regulation technique with a mind meld. The meld's initial success quickly gives way to screams from both Spock and Batel. Spock sees a Gorn-like perspective, causing him to lose control and knock Ensign Dana Gamble across the room. Spock snaps out of it once Chapel strikes him.** Gripped by uncertainty, Spock and Batel confer about what they witnessed before Spock is called to the Ready Room.

Number One leads a briefing, as the away team failed to check in at the pre-scheduled time. With their transponders still active, Number One intends to bring the Enterprise within emergency beaming range without attracting the Klingon ship's attention. Ortegas objects to the plan to fly at low impulse, arguing that it would take too long. The helm officer proposes warping into the planet's thermosphere, energizing, and warping out — a dangerous maneuver. Lt. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott insists that they’d need to calibrate the phase inducers to the warp distortion to permit beaming.

Since there are no signs that the Klingons have detected them, Number One opts for the slower approach. Once the senior officers have exited the Ready Room, La'An and Chin-Riley discuss Ortegas' subordinate behavior, questioning whether she returned to duty too soon after her ordeal with the Gorn.

On Kenfori, Pike and M'Benga formulate a strategy to reach the comms array on the lab's roof, referring to the former Federation scientists and Klingons as "zombies." According to the facility's computer, the staff had used an agent from the Chimera blossom to modify the genes of a perennial moss that could live anywhere and never died. Everyone in the facility was exposed to the hybrid supercrop when the Klingons attacked, and moss genomes were inserted into their bodies. Since the moss consumed every plant around it to proliferate, that is what the zombie-like beings are now doing — devouring anything that breathes.

Pike ponders this news, wondering why Batel would need bioengineering and hybridization, realizing that the doctor intends to hybridize her with the Gorn. M'Benga maintains it is Batel's only chance of survival, relaying that she didn't want Pike to know. Suddenly, a wave of moss-infused creatures bursts into the room, but the Starfleet officers are saved at the last minute by their Klingon opponents. Only one Klingon survives the ordeal, and she uses her disruptor to take Pike and M'Benga prisoner.

The Klingon guides them to her shuttle on the roof, and the mossers follow close behind. Pike spots force field emitters, establishing an energy barrier that blocks their pursuers. The Klingon unexpectedly stabs Pike in the leg, stating that she had been following M'Benga's whereabouts with a viridium tracker*** which had been implanted in the olives of a drink given to him by a R'Ongovian. The Klingon reveals that she is Bytha, daughter of Dak'Rah and champion of House Ra'Ul, indicating she is there to make M'Benga pay for the assassination of her father.

As the Enterprise enters the buffer zone around Kenfori, the bridge crew attempts to slip by the Klingon battlecruiser. When Ortegas drops to 1/8th impulse, the Klingon vessel seems to spot the Enterprise and trains its attention on the Federation ship's position. Meanwhile, on Kenfori's surface, Bytha calls her father a war criminal whose traitorous deeds made her family's House subject to discommendation.**** By assassinating Dak'Rah, M'Benga had robbed her of the only means to restore honor to her House's name. Pike assures Bytha that M'Benga had only acted in self-defense.*****

On the Enterprise Bridge, Number One expresses disappointment when Ortegas openly critiques her diplomatic approach with the Klingons. As the Klingon starship raises its shields, Bytha holds her d'k tahg to Pike's throat down on the planet, convincing M'Benga to admit that he did assassinate Rah for being a mass-murderer. Considering Rah's death to be an act of justice, M'Benga accepts Bytha's challenge. The two engage in fierce combat, but M'Benga refuses to kill Bytha when he gains the upper hand. With the force field emitters damaged during the fight, the protective energy barrier sputters.

The Enterprise braces for its entry into Kenfori's thermosphere, and Ortegas executes her strategy with precision as the mossers prepare to pounce on Pike and M'Benga. Believing dishonor to be a fate worse than death, Bytha unleashes a spiked baldric and draws her disruptor. The Klingon draws the creatures' attention, sacrificing herself to gain an honorable death. The Enterprise loses artificial gravity for a moment but succeeds in beaming Pike and M'Benga aboard, escaping as the Klingon battlecruiser opens fire.

With Spock synthesizing the Chimera blossom's chemical compounds in the Science Lab, Pike deals with M'Benga's admission of guilt in Sickbay. Since there was no official mission to Kenfori, the captain reasons that he has no report to file about the incident. Pike assures his friend that he's not a monster, just a man.

Ortegas enters the Ready Room to meet with Number One, who states that the helm officer had purposely exceeded the impulse limit during the mission. This allowed the Klingons to spot them, forcing the Enterprise to utilize Ortegas' thermosphere strategy. For endangering the crew, Chin-Riley pulls Ortegas from the duty roster and assigns her to the warrant officer for chain-of-command training. As she exits, Ortegas apologizes.

In the Captain's Quarters, Pike confronts Batel about the hybridization treatment. Although Pike is disappointed that he was not a part of the decision process, Batel insists that the choice was not about him. The disagreement leads both captains to confess that they're scared of what will happen to her, so they hold each other in a comforting embrace.

* "Observer Effect" and "Memorial" — Similar to the Klingon comms beacon, Starfleet had also placed warning beacons of its own, in these Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: Voyager episodes, to ward off others.

** "A Private Little War" — In this Original Series episode, Spock induces a self-healing hypnosis that also requires Chapel striking him to aid in regaining consciousness.

*** — Spock discreetly affixes a viridium patch to Captain Kirk in order to track him in this theatrical outing.

**** "Sins of the Father" — With his deceased father accused of treason, Worf faces the Klingon punishment known as discommendation, which includes a ceremonial shunning and stripping of honor, in this Star Trek: The Next Generation episode.

***** "" — Ambassador Dak'rah, a Klingon defector and the father of Bytha, arrives on the Enterprise, and confronts Dr. M'Benga about their shared history at J'Gal.