Previously on
Star Trek: Discovery...
You are the only one who has
had contact with the Red Angel.
You said you don’t understand
why it chose you.
It guided me to a remote planet
and showed me...
the end.
My perception of reality
was challenged
by visions from
a time-traveling entity.
Who should help me
but you, of course?
After all, the entire
Klingon w*r was your doing.
That version of me
that called your quarters home,
that version of me is dead.
And I’m not going back.
Would you please
just move forward
and let me do the same?
Whether I can issue orders
or not,
we have to get a team onto
that station and reset control.
Michael, you have to open
the airlock.
No. I’m not gonna eject you
into space.
I will unlock this door.
I will k*ll you.
Everything is because of you.
Because of me?
You have to find
Project Daedalus.
Where is Project Daedalus?
Commander Airiam reminds us
that resilience
is an unshakable virtue.
She was fiercely loyal...
to her crew...
to Starfleet.
And, in her final moments,
she sacrificed herself
for that loyalty.
That is how she’ll be
remembered.
Some people choose
to live their lives
as if nothing is a miracle,
but Airiam fought for her life,
and so everything was.
Everything that she saw,
everything that she felt,
all of her memories,
they made a kind of...
constellation for her.
I’m... I'm grateful to her
for that lesson.
She was my friend.
She said once,
without a hint of self-pity,
that the paths of trillions
of particles
had been forever changed,
simply because
she and her husband smiled
at each other.
She was happy that together
they made the universe
a little less orderly.
I just felt the weight
of what I had lost...
but she showed me that
my augmentation didn’t make me
an imitation of myself.
It made both of us new.
And that there could be
a future.
She was right.
There are so many reasons
to join Starfleet.
We get to reach for the stars.
We get to reach
for the best in ourselves.
But, most important,
we get to reach for each other.
We get to do what we love
alongside colleagues
who become friends...
who become family.
And who better to stand with,
shoulder to shoulder,
facing those pivotal moments?
Who more painful to let go?
I am so sorry, Airiam.
On Kaminar,
we sing songs of remembrance
for those who have been taken
from us too soon.
This is a song of remembrance
for Airiam.
You spoke beautifully.
Thank you.
I’m so sorry.
I’m sorry you were confined
to quarters for so long.
I told Captain Pike
you weren’t responsible.
It’s okay.
If I were in his shoes,
I’d have done the same.
I just wish it had
played out differently.
Yeah.
Michael.
I can feel what you’re trying
to do, Ash.
I can.
But Section 31 created Control,
and some future version
of it came here.
And now Airiam is gone.
You don’t think I knew
what was happening, do you?
Of course not.
But your duty is still to them.
So...
Let’s start with
everything we know.
The A.I. is from the future.
It infected Airiam
and forced her
to copy some of the
Sphere data into Control
so Control could evolve.
We stopped her before
that could happen.
How did the Section 31 program
designed to eliminate threats
become the thr*at?
Time travel.
The one variable we cannot
possibly predict is the future.
And clearly,
that future A.I. is built
on advanced technology of which
we have no understanding.
How do we stop it?
To the best of our knowledge,
the future A.I. only infected
Airiam and Control.
Airiam’s neural system was
erased before her funeral.
As for Control,
it was used only by Section 31.
We destroyed the station
where Control was located,
and, per your
suggestion, Admiral,
we advised all Section 31 ships
to run diagnostic tests.
All came out clean.
Let’s not celebrate just yet.
The A.I. that infected Control
could have sent itself
off-station.
We have to assume that it’s
lying dormant for now,
but it could reemerge
at any time.
And when it does, we have to
be able to destroy it somehow.
Hi. Oh, um... Sorry, uh,
Captain... Admiral. Everyone.
I-I should have knocked.
Although it-it is kind of
pointless, these doors
pretty much open right on
their own most of the time.
Ensign, did you need something?
Uh, uh, well, actually,
I found... I have something.
I mean, I found something.
Um...
So I was, uh...
I was reviewing some scans
of Airiam’s system,
and I-I found this weird
code, and at first,
I figured, uh, it’s just
some junk from an old update,
but then I discovered
it’s actually a file
that was implanted there
by a digital parasite.
The file is called
Project Daedalus.
Those are the last words
Airiam said to me.
The file also contains
a bio-neural signature
of the Red Angel.
Michael, it’s you.
While Dr. Culber hasn’t been
officially reinstated,
I’ve asked him
to oversee analysis
of the data Tilly uncovered.
The results are conclusive?
Well, every test that I’ve run
on Commander Burnham
is a 100% match
to the bio-neural signature
found in Airiam’s Daedalus file.
We have to consider the source.
Airiam was compromised.
The A.I. could have
had her plant information
to throw us off course.
I see no logical
or strategic reason
for Airiam to have provided
a false positive.
And even if she had, it would
have read too perfect.
Humans have a few
neural wild cards
that anything artificially
generated couldn’t replicate.
I would have caught it.
We’re saying that Michael,
our-our Michael Burnham,
is going to wake up one day,
access time-travel technology
that doesn’t exist yet,
and take it upon herself
to save the galaxy.
That supposition fits
her emotional profile
rather precisely,
particularly her drive
to take responsibility
for situations
often beyond her control.
Thank you for sharing that
with the group, Spock.
We must also assume
the cataclysmic events I foresaw
when the Angel appeared to me
are a result
of Control evolving,
achieving consciousness.
Let’s assume for a moment
I am the Red Angel.
If I knew about an apocalypse,
why wouldn’t I say so?
Perhaps you simply have
a penchant for the dramatic.
Okay.
The suit was emitting
tetryonic radiation,
which would limit
traditional radio
and sensor communication.
That would explain
my difficulties
in mind-melding with it.
And why it put seven signals
in the sky.
It was trying to get Starfleet’s
attention, maybe to warn us.
But the first three signals
appeared on the asteroid,
Terralysium, and Kaminar,
with four left
to reveal themselves.
If I’m guiding Starfleet
to these specific places
on some sort of path, why?
What do these locations
have in common?
- Admiral. Captain.
- We’ve just received word
that a Section 31 vessel
is on its way.
The Federation has cleared
Discovery, Lieutenant Spock
and Commander Burnham
of all charges.
If you came all this way
to arrest somebody,
you wasted a trip.
We’re aware, Admiral.
Chris, I’m sorry
for the loss of
your crew member.
We’re here to make sure
nothing else from the future
can att*ck the Federation.
We’re already working
on a strategy.
In other words,
you’re accumulating input,
which only invites debate.
No debate, no innovation.
I prefer a little
totalitarian efficiency,
but that’s me.
Admiral, we have a solution.
I’m cringing already.
The Angel is the only one
with answers about the future,
the A.I.
and perhaps how to stop it.
And we can’t predict
when or how it will appear.
Correct. So...
we set a trap, we capture it
and make it work for us.
The Red Angel’s
bio-neural signature
was hidden inside Airiam’s data
in a file called
Project Daedalus.
Are you absolutely certain
it was a match to Michael?
It’s me.
As the Angel travels
through time,
she opens a micro-wormhole
along with the possibility that
a future A.I. will follow her.
We can’t let that happen again.
Agreed. Which is why
we have to stop her
from traveling back and forth.
We have to capture her.
Me.
So, how do you propose
we trap her?
20 years ago,
we discovered the Klingons
were researching time travel.
Obviously a critical
thr*at... a warrior race
with the ability to rewrite
the past and shape the future?
They’d have wiped us out
before we could even walk
out of the primordial soup.
No offense.
None taken.
They would’ve.
We found ourselves
in a temporal arms race, so
to gain a strategic advantage,
we developed
"The Daedalus Project."
It’s ours.
Section 31’s grand
design for time travel.
You created the Red Angel?
The suit was on the
verge of being tested
when it was destroyed
by Klingon spies.
We thought they had abandoned
the project permanently.
Until the signals began.
Once the suit appeared
alongside the signals,
we started working
on a way to capture it.
A mousetrap, if you will,
to get our technology back.
And the individual
using that technology?
She will not be harmed.
There are gaps in your story
that I find disconcerting.
I’ve told you everything
you need to know.
Not if I’m the mission, sir.Burnham.
I have the technical
specifications
and a list
of, uh, equipment required.
Provided I may borrow some of
your top minds to build it.
You can work with Commander
Stamets. He’s one of our best.
Even if they succeed,
there is still the matter
of predicting
the Angel’s next appearance.
She has not
consistently accompanied
the arrival of the signals.
Signal or no signal,
there has to be a pattern
to my jumps.
And once we find it,
we’ll find me.
I’ll figure out a way to close
the wormhole once she gets here.
The graviton beams on our ship
should be powerful enough.
I would be happy to assist you
with the calculations,
Captain Leland.
Admiral?
Let’s go build a mousetrap.
Georgiou, wait.
What aren’t you telling me?
How many times
have you asked me that?
Aren’t you getting bored?
I’ll stop asking when it
stops being a question.
I know there’s more to
that Daedalus story.
We shared
what we needed to share.
At least, I have.Philippa.
I’m putting my life
in your hands.
You asked for my trust.
I’m giving you a way to earn it.
I’m not the one
with the information
you need to hear, Michael.
Leland?
It’s my experience
it’s often our best intentions
that cause us
to do the most harm,
especially to those we care for.
This is the Red Angel.
A suit that lets someone travel
through time
via micro-wormholes.
But wormholes
are inherently unstable,
so the Angel
needs to hold them open
or she won’t be able
to get home again.
And as I understand it,
to keep the wormhole open,
the suit generates
a membrane, a protective
layer that travels with her,
and one end stays attached
to her starting
point in the future.
An anchor.
When she wants to go home,
it snaps her back
like a rubber band.
Our phase discriminators
will hold the Angel
in stasis beams
so the membrane
can’t snap her back.
And then we’ll lower
her to a platform,
where an electromagnetic pulse
will shut down the time crystal
that powers her suit.
And, uh, then we
raise the containment field,
and that will hold her here
for as long as we want.
And then, uh,
we can question her,
and nothing from the future
will be able to reach us. Right?
What’s that look on your face?
I was thinking you may be
smarter than the Stamets I knew.
You’re also much more neurotic.
Have you considered medication?
Um, based on my calculations,
the phase discriminators
should function properly.
The problem is...
Uh, hey, Tilly.
Is, um, Admiral Cornwell here?
I thought she might be...
Yeah. What? No, she’s not.
No, but it is... it’s great...
uh, so great that you’re here.
Please, your wide-eyed attempt
to release
this fabulous male tension
is a buzzkill.
You never learned to relish
a little discomfort, Red?
Who raised you?
My-my mom. My mom.
But she wasn’t around a lot.
Stop talking.
You said
there was a problem, Paul?
Uh, yes, with the...
the phase discriminators.
Uh, we’d need the equivalent
of 12 warp cores
to generate enough energy
to-to run them,
and if we can even locate
that much power, it will be
almost impossible to control.
Not for you.
In fact,
we don’t need warp cores.
One of the Project
Daedalus testing sites
was on Essof Four.
Y-Yes, I’ve read
about that place.
So much deuterium.
We can use it to create
a plasma reactor
to power up
our phase discriminators.
And then, snap,
we have our mouse.
You are savvier than he was.
Um...
you-you do know that
he’s gay, right?
Don’t be so binary.
In my universe,
he was pansexual,
and we had DEFCON-level
fun together.
And you, too, Papi.
Did you just call me Papi?
Uh, well, in my universe
and pretty much any universe
I can possibly imagine,
I’m gay.
And so is he. Of course you are.
I’m glad we all see
what’s right in front of us.
And now, if you’ll excuse me,
I need to talk to Captain Pike
about setting a course
for Essof Four.
What just happened?
Commander.
Hey.
I just...
Look, my job is to preserve as
many lives as possible at any cost.
But what you said
at the service...
It is hard to let go.
You did the right thing.
I’m grateful you were there.
Strange way to get
to know someone, but...
after seeing how hard
you fought for her,
the real her...
Let’s just say I'm grateful
you were there, too.
The wormhole used
by the Red Angel would close
on its own eventually,
but we must find a way
to force it closed immediately
or risk
another A.I. infiltration.
Unfortunately,
Discovery’s graviton beam
is not powerful enough to...
Which is why I said
I’d do it from my ship.
I’ll have Specialist Tyler help.
We’ll close it fast.
Did Captain Pike decide
that I needed a monitor?
Is that why you’re here?
I chose to work with you
because I wanted
to assess you myself.
Section 31 has engaged
in questionable practices
of late.
Given that we will be
working together
and the lives of those
I care for may be in your hands,
I need to know
that you can be trusted.
If you can tell the answer,
I’m not doing my job very well.
Even without my ganglia,
I still have
strong instinctive reactions
to dangerous situations
and individuals.
And?
I believe you will work
to protect your crew and ours
to the very best
of your ability.
I also believe
there are many things
you are not saying.
Excuse me.
Mr. Saru.
May I have a moment
with Captain Leland, please?
Certainly, Commander.
Captain, we’re preparing
a strategy to capture me.
I have a right
to know everything you do.
As in everything you know.
You are capable of some
intricate moral gymnastics.
And that’s your job, right?
But I am giving you one chance
to explain everything
as you need to explain it.
I knew your parents.
They worked on Project
Daedalus for Section 31.
I had them stationed
on Doctari Alpha.
No.
We were stationed there
because my parents wanted
a change of scenery.
And we only stayed
as long as we did
because I wanted to see
a star go supernova.
You were there... because of me.
Your parents...
Your parents
were k*lled there...
because of me.
My parents... were scientists.
My father was
a xenoanthropologist.
My mother was an astrophysicist.
They wouldn’t have been involved
in Section 31.
She was also an engineer.
A brilliant one.
They were working on a theory
that sudden technological leaps
across certain cultures,
including those on Earth,
weren’t happenstance
but the result of time travel.
No. They would have known
that certain leaps,
including
technological advancements,
can be explained.
I wasn’t convinced, either.
Until they built the suit.
No.
No, they didn’t mention
anything like this to me.
Because it was classified.
And very dangerous.
What did you have to do
with this?
The suit was missing a key
component: a time crystal,
the element that would enable
it to jump through time.
We got Intel from an
operative on Qo’noS
that a time crystal had
hit the black market
near the Orion Outpost.
I used my assets in
the sector to steal it.
See, I thought
that we had made it untraceable.
But the Klingons tracked it
to Doctari Alpha.
Where a star
was about to go supernova,
releasing a massive amount
of energy.
This whole time...
I thought...
We were there because of you?
For a time crystal?
And you let
the Klingons track it?
I was young,
I was ambitious, I...
I was careless.
I should have done more
to protect your parents.
I know how much this has
cost you, and I’m so sorry.
I hope...
That’s for my mom.
That’s for my dad.
This isn’t over.
I just uploaded all
the Section 31 signal data. Did you know?
Know what? That Leland was responsible
for the death of my parents.
You knew, didn’t you?
No.Don’t lie to me, Ash.
Michael, I don’t know
what you’re talking about.
Every moment
you work for Section 31,
you’re announcing who you are.
You’re saying this is your
compass, this is your course.
You can live with that?
Section 31 has
a specific mission.
I don’t always agree
with their tactics,
but I do believe
in their mission.
No matter who pays the price?
It’s not blackand-white.
They-they also do a lot of good.
I’ll take that as a "yes."
Come.
Admiral, uh,
they said you were here.
Do you have a moment?
I do.
You, uh, used to be a therapist.
Yes, I’m aware.
What’s on your mind, Doctor?
Doctor.
I can understand how that
might sound strange to you.
I would assume
everything
is strange to you now.
Your experience transcends
everything we know
about identity.
I’ve never felt more alone
in my life.
Even sitting here.
Commander Stamets is the person
who knew you most profoundly.
You used the past tense.
Well, you are... new.
I remember Paul.
I remember loving him,
but if feels like a dream.
It’s someone else's life.
And I don’t know
what I feel about him now.
Do you feel pressure
to feel something?
I can’t give him what he needs.
And I don’t want to hurt him.
All right. You know that.
You know you don’t want
to hurt him. That’s not enough.
Enough for what?
Enough for the man
I know loves me.
And who I once loved.
Love is a choice...
Hugh, and one doesn’t just
make that choice once.
One makes it again and again.
I’ll let you get back to it.
Doctor.
The only way to make a new road
is to walk it.
Thank you, Admiral.
I’m sure Captain Leland
appreciates your choice
of high-density urethane foam
in lieu of his nasal cartilage.
Spock, no offense,
but you’re the last person
I want to talk to right now.
You are angry.
An understandable reaction.
You lost your friend.
Knowing her death
was unavoidable
would not provide solace.
You also learned
that you are the Red Angel,
which does not make
logical sense despite
its correlation
to your emotional profile.
Spock...
Finally,
you discovered
your parents were k*lled
because of Captain Leland’s
negligence,
which does not make their loss
any more acceptable.
I do wish I’d been there
when you struck him.
I believe I would have
found the moment...
satisfying.
You have experienced
a series of events
in which both emotion
and logic have failed you.
In my experience of this,
it is...
uncomfortable.
Very.
What you said about...
me always finding a
way to blame myself...
You are right.
I brought my guilt
into your home.
I’m sorry.
You were a child...
with a child’s understanding
of an event
that even adults
would struggle to comprehend.
However, if it will
ease your suffering,
I accept your apology.
Thank you for coming
to talk to me.
It was unexpected.
And helpful.
I had not anticipated
this conversation, either,
but I appreciate it, as well.
So, why did you come
to see me, then?
In your absence,
I made a discovery.
I now understand the variance
in the signal patterns...
What causes the Angel to appear
at certain times and not others.
And?
The variance is you, Michael.
We don’t have to wait.
We can set the trap directly
on Essof Four.
The plan was to power the
trap there and take it
wherever we find the Angel.
What’s changed?
We’ve been trying to track her
by the signals,
asking when
she might appear somewhere.
But what we should have been
asking is why.
Why does she appear
where she does?
Each signal brought Discovery to
a location where
lives were saved.
The Angel appeared at some of
those locations, but not all.
Leaving no clear pattern
to suggest intent.
However, there is a pattern
to her appearances
without any signal.
As when Spock was a boy and it
warned him that I was in danger,
when it appeared to me on the
asteroid when I was injured,
seeing it gave me strength,
knowing that help was
on the way.
You were saving your own life.
The Grandfather Paradox.
Future Burnham would not exist
if Present Burnham were
to perish.
When Michael’s life
was in danger,
her guardian Red Angel
intervenes.
Which means
I have to be the bait.
What does that mean exactly?
The place doesn’t have
a breathable atmosphere.
We set a trap, I go down.
You let me start to suffocate.
Are you insane?
Absolutely not.
The Angel will protect her,
Captain,
or her efforts to
communicate with us,
to save the galaxy,
would be for naught.
And if anything were
to not go as planned,
Dr. Culber will be right there
to resuscitate me.
But we do not believe he will
ultimately be necessary.
I’m not looking forward to it,
Captain... far from it...
But we do not see any other way.
What you are asking me to allow
is in direct opposition
to the oath I took
as a Starfleet captain.
I understand,
but with all due respect,
between risking myself
and risking all sentient life,
there is no choice.
Captain, if we’re going to capture
the Red Angel, you have to let me die.
To call Essof Four inhospitable
would be a gross understatement.
Temperatures fluctuate wildly.
And its carbon monoxide
atmosphere
is laced with perchlorate dust
which will quickly prove lethal
to any oxygen-breathing
life-form.
But the facility itself
has oxygen, doesn’t it?
That is correct.
So we’re going to the
Ninth Circle of Hell to capture
a Red Angel.
I’d enjoy the irony of that
if this weren’t so dangerous.
Commander Stamets,
your work must be precise.
We have to succeed
on the first attempt.
We won’t have
another opportunity.
Once Commander Burnham is
strapped into that chair,
the roof will recede,
she’ll be exposed
to the toxic atmosphere,
and she will have exactly
two minutes to live.
And she’ll suffocate...
painfully.
Dr. Culber, be prepared
to breach the target
area and resuscitate.
I will. Don’t worry, sir.
But you cannot
revive her too early,
or the Angel will not appear.
And if she does not,
we will lose much more than
the life of Michael Burnham.
All sentient life will be lost.
Hey.
May I come in?
Yeah.
I’m glad you're here.
You have to know,
what happened to your parents...
Please don’t apologize.
What I said to you was not fair.
I was angry,
and I didn’t know
where to put it.
I think you put it where
you knew it would be okay.
I don’t... I don't want that
to be our last conversation
if, um...
No, don’t even think that way.
This will work.
You have an entire crew
dedicated to saving your life.
You have me.
I’m scared.
Me, too.
Captain, the facility
is prepped and ready.
The away team is on site.
Welcome to the bridge,
Lieutenant Nilsson.
Standing by, Captain.
Bringing phase discriminators
online.
We didn’t get a chance to
talk at Airiam’s funeral.
I just...
wanted to say I’m sorry.
Thank you.
Paul...
This isn’t the time.
Might not ever be the time.
Are you ready?
As I’ll ever be.
Michael Burnham,
always willing
to sacrifice everything
for the good of others.
We’ll monitor exposure time
from the moment
the roof retracts.
Why didn’t you just tell me
about my parents?
It wasn’t my story to tell.
But I could make certain
it was told.
I got to go.
Let us hope the Angel
lives up to her name.
Captain Leland,
are you and Mr. Tyler ready
to go?
Standing by to close the
wormhole in the Angel’s wake.
Make it fast.
Trust me, the last thing I want
is another A.I.
infecting our systems.
Michael...
I know, Ash.
What if it doesn’t work?
Were you to perish,
I would be charged with k*lling
a Starfleet officer.
Again.
It would therefore be ideal
if you survived.
Such a way with words, Spock.
On your mark, Commander.
Ready.
Shutting down life support.
Starting timer now.
Two minutes and counting.
Oxygen saturation
level’s at 85%,
and falling fast.
If it drops below 40,
she won’t make it.
Ensign Tilly, tachyon update.
Ensign, are you picking up any
spikes in the tachyon radiation?
Sorry, sir.
Um, no change.
What if she isn’t coming?
Oxygen saturation
is down to 62%.
Heart rate spiking.
She wants out.
It’s over.
We’re coming to get you,
Michael.
Wait. She’s saying something.
Var-Var...
Variance.
She said "variance."
I don’t give a damn
what she said.
Get the oxygen.
Follow me.
Michael means that
she is the variance.
She is creating a
situation where
the Red Angel will have
no choice but to save her.
That thing is not coming,
and Michael
is shaking her head no!
Because she does not
want interference.
We must let it proceed.
Oxygen is down to 42%.
If I don’t get to her,
she’ll die.
Yes, Doctor.
That is the idea.
Status reports.
No change in tachyon levels.
Sensors stable on my end, too.
No sign of the Red Angel.
Your call.
- This operation is over.
- Away team, get her out of there.
We can’t, sir.
Lieutenant Spock is
holding us hostage.
Says we have to let her die.
Damn it, Spock, stand down!
I’m sorry, Captain.
I cannot.
- Spock, stand down!
- That’s an order!
I am sorry, Captain. I cannot.
Ops, beam Commander Burnham
directly to sickbay now.
I can’t, Captain.
There’s too much interference
to get a lock on her.
Interference from what?
I’m detecting a massive surge
in tachyon radiation.
Captain!
Get us over there! Now!
Shields up. Red alert.
Get ready, Spock.
It’s coming.
I need eyes. Working on it.
I’m having trouble stabilizing
the beam. I need more power!
Keep f*ring. I’ll override
the security buffers.
Get that damn thing closed
as soon as you can!
Now!
Authorizing
security buffer override.
System offline.
Tyler, I need...
System online. Never mind.
Authorizing
security buffer override.
Working.
Let’s go. It is not that hard.
Let’s go. Let's go.
It is not that hard.
Tyler, you should have
the power you need now.
Wormhole’s closed!
Reengaging atmosphere.
Systems back up.
Can you get out there
to Burnham?
Not yet. It’s not safe.
f*ring EMP.
We have the Red Angel.
Raising containment field now.
Mom?