The title of the episode, of course, pretty much telegraphs which parallel universe we’re likely to have elements of this week. The Mirror Universe was a major part of Season 1 of DIS, and the Mirror Philippa Georgiou was a supporting character through the first 3 seasons.

The Stardate is 866282.9. I’ve said this a lot, but the new Stardate system baffles me. By TNG reckoning the 866000s should be 3189, but they confirmed it was 3191 in DIS: “Jinaal”, so how it’s calculated now is anyone’s guess.

Book browses through Moll’s records - the first one is from the Federation, the third from Andor. I don’t recognize the logo or alien script from the second one, although it vaguely reminds me of Alienese from Futurama.

Burnham quotes from a Kellerun (Rayner’s species) classic, The Ballad of Krul, “Serve it without a grum of osikod.” From context it probably means not to sugarcoat whatever is said next, with “grum” as a quantity and “osikod” either as a flavoring ingredient, or a word meaning deception, i.e. “without an ounce of bullshit.”

Book makes reference to charging impulse capacitant cells and then releasing the energy into the drive coils. Impulse engines, although limited to sublight operations, have had warp driver coils as part of their design in various eras. In the 22nd Century, according to the USS Enterprise Haynes Manual, the NX-01 used the inertial mass-altering capabilities of a warp field to increase the apparent mass of ejected propellant to achieve greater thrust. In SNW: “Memento Mori”, there is a reference to only half impulse speed being achievable with one warp nacelle damaged. The TNG Technical Manual says that as of the mid-24th Century and the designing of the Ambassador-class, driver coils were built into impulse engines to lower the inertial mass of the ship so that even at sublight the ship would be easier to push.

Book is aware of the Mirror Universe, since he recognizes the ISS prefix (as opposed to USS) for Empire ships. And we see it is the ISS Enterprise, last seen in TOS: “Mirror, Mirror”.

Michael says that crossing between universes has been “impossible for centuries”. This is a stronger statement from from what Kovich said in DIS: “Die Trying”, when he stated that the MU and the Prime Universe had been drifting apart ever since Georgiou crossed over (back in the 23rd Century), and there hadn’t been a crossover between the two for 500 years. While it’s debated, I’m of the school of thought that Georgiou did cross universes (and time) during DIS: “Terra Firma” thanks to the Guardian of Forever. And in that same episode, Kovich related the tale of Yor, a Time Soldier, from the 2379 of the Kelvin Timeline to the 30th Century of the Prime Timeline.

Cardassian voles are rapidly breeding pests that are attracted to energy fields. They are native to Cardassia Prime and first mentioned in DS9, but have made appearances in ENT and also DIS Season 1. DS9 once suffered an infestation of voles.

A graviton pulse was used to seal up a subspace rupture in TNG: “Schisms”. While the idea is to use it to stop the antimatter reactions making the aperture pulse, the 43.7% chance of implosion sealing it forever makes sense with what it was used for in “Schisms”.

The bridge of the ISS Enterprise uses the same set as SNW, but with the Empire logos and a ISS dedication plaque as part of the redress. Michael wants to use the sensors to track quantum signatures from “our universe”. It was established in TNG: “Parallels” that every possible universe has a unique quantum signature as does its inhabitants.

Michael mentions her mirror counterpart and how she must have died before ISS Enterprise was trapped. The exact disposition of Mirror Michael is unclear. in DIS Season 1 she was lost in a shuttle accident and Prime Michael posed as her. In the licensed comic book Succession, (co-written by novel and series writer Kirsten Beyer) it was revealed that Mirror Michael had survived and managed to ascend to the throne, but she was in turn killed by Mirror Airiam. In DIS: “Terra Firma”, Mirror Michael finally makes an on-screen appearance. Mirror Georgiou and her fight and kill each other before Georgiou is returned to the 32nd Century, so it depends on whether you believe Georgiou was actually traveling in time or not or whether she was in the actual MU or not. In any event, Prime Michael is unaware of the events of the comic or Mirror Georgiou’s time/space travel.

Michael looks at her adoptive brother Spock’s station - or at least where it would be on the Prime Enterprise. Despite Michael’s assumption, Mirror Spock was not exactly “as ruthless as the rest”. As Prime Kirk described him in TOS: “Mirror, Mirror”, he was a man of integrity “in both universes”. Sadly, it would be Mirror Spock’s reforms towards peace that would lead to the Empire being toppled by a Klingon-Cardassian alliance.

The intermix chamber is where the matter/antimatter reaction of the warp core takes place. In TNG times, the entire warp core assembly consists of the intermix chamber plus the matter and antimatter injectors and tubes which is what is jettisoned when they order the warp core to be ejected (VOY: “Day of Honor”, et al.).

The plaque in the transporter room indicates Tartarus Base on Stardate 32336.6 - by TNG reckoning that would correspond with 2355, but who knows how the Terrans measured stardates? In any case, since they’re using the SNW sets, the ship itself is apparently showcasing mid-23rd Century levels of technology. Oddly, for a plaque apparently put up by dissidents, it says "Long Live The Empire". Tartarus Prime was mentioned as a planet with high temperatures in the novel The Rings of Time.

The Terran High Chancellor making reforms might be referring to Spock, who was said to have risen to be Commander-in-Chief of the Empire (DS9: “Crossover”). Mirror Saru was a Kelpien slave in the MU experienced by Georgiou in DIS: “Terra Firma” but was saved by her and consequently went on to save a lot of lives. If the plaque was put up in 2355, then these events would have taken place about 97 years after Mirror Saru was saved by Georgiou and about 88 years after Mirror Spock met Prime Kirk. We don't really know how long Kelpiens naturally live, but Su'Kal (the one who caused the Burn) lived to be over 120 years old, so it's possible.

Interestingly, there are holoemitters in Sickbay, which seem to indicate later-24th Century technology (i.e. the EMH of VOY). Of course, this is all assuming tech levels are consistent across universes. I have many questions.

An Erigah is a Breen blood bounty, and we have a fan theory confirmed: L’ak is indeed a member of the mysterious Breen that have never been seen unmasked on screen. In the Litverse, the Breen are actually a society rather than a single race, consisting of six species, none of whom match L’ak’s description.

In the flashback, the Breen Moll meets wear similar uniforms (although the helmets don’t have the pronounced “beak”) and speak the same unintelligible language from their appearances in DS9. The Breen also carry what must be a 32nd Century version of the neural truncheons they had in DS9, which acted like cattle prods.

Moll identifies L’ak as the “Primarch’s nephew”. Coincidentally, in DS9: “The Adversary” the leader of the Tzenkethi Coalition in the 24th Century is known as the “Autarch”.

When L’ak first removes his helmet, his skin and skull are almost transparent, reminding me of how the Gallamites were described with transparent skulls and brains twice the size of humans (DS9: “The Maquis, Part 1”). It seems that Breen skulls and skin get more opaque with exposure.

Callor V was previously mentioned in DIS: “Jinaal”. Rubindium is used in communications tech, first mentioned in TOS: “Patterns of Force” and subsequently in DIS: “Far from Home”. There is also a similar-sounding element called rubidium (VOY: “Think Tank”).

The Emerald Chain, an organized crime concern, was the central antagonist in Season 3, but are shattered by the end of it, so that dates the start of Moll and L’ak’s relationship to 3189.

Booker’s planet Kwejian was destroyed by the DMA in Season 4, in case anyone forgot, leaving him the last of his species.

The Primarch says L’ak carries the genetic code of the Yod-Thot, “They who Rule”. In DS9, “Thot” denoted a high rank (the script for DS9: “Strange Bedfellows” describes Thot Gor as a Breen general). As a side note, the Klingon word yoD means “shield”.

So Breen have “two faces”, one transparent and one not. Hopefully we can get some backstory to explain why this is, and why the non-transparent face is viewed with disdain. The weapon the Primarch materializes is a sleeker version of the 24th Century Breen rifle.

We see L’ak apparently bleeding, although the fluid isn’t red. In DS9: “In Purgatory’s Shadow”, Bashir says Breen don’t have blood, although how he knows this for sure is not explained. While this could be misinformation, some Earth invertebrates have circulatory systems that contain, not blood, but hemolymph, a fluid that carries carbohydrates, lipds, amino acides, hormones, etc. through the body. The Breen could be similar.

Rhys’s suggestion seems odd at first blush - don’t photon torpedoes already have antimatter in them? Then you realize his idea is to replace the matter in the torpedoes with antimatter as well, adding more antimatter to the aperture reactions. I’m still trying to figure out why hexagonal.

Michael comments that “hit it,” sounds weird and sticks with her own “let’s fly.” Of course, “hit it” was Pike’s catchphrase to go to warp.

I’m going to leave the question of how Stamets is able to recognize that it’s the ISS Enterprise from this distance unanswered. The setting and ending of the episode was kind of spoiled if you had paid attention to the Season 5 trailers anyway.

The face off between the ISS Enterprise and the refit Discovery reminds me of a similar face off between the USS Enterprise and Discovery at the end of Season 1 (DIS: “Will You Take My Hand?”).

Michael used the tractor beam earlier to signal 3-4-1-4, a reference to The Ballad of Krul Section 4, Verse 7 where Krul calls to his war brother for rescue with a drumbeat using that pattern.

I’m still kind of bummed we didn’t see any Tzenkethi despite being in their space. Which kind of makes me wonder what their status is in the 32nd Century.

Culber refers to his death and resurrection in Season 1 (DIS: “Despite Yourself” and “Saints of Imperfection”, respectively).

We find out that the MU refugees did make it to the PU, and one of them, Dr Cho, became a Branch Admiral in Starfleet. Presumably the trauma of existing in a different universe wasn’t as severe because there was no time travel involved, unlike Yor or Mirror Georgiou, who crossed universes and had a centuries-long gap.

The Branch Admiral rank was detailed in the FASA Star Trek RPG’s TNG Officer’s Manual, and was a new rank to extend Admiral’s rank and privileges to non-Command division positions like the Starfleet Surgeon General, or other divisions like Security or Engineering, or the Inspector General’s Office. This was to give them the requisite authority to carry out their policies.

Since Cho was a part of Jinaal’s group, which existed during the Dominion War (2373-2375), that makes the Starfleet. Presumably the trauma of existing in a different universe wasn’t as severe because there was no time travel involved, unlike Yor or Mirror Georgiouears old, assuming she was commissioned at the same time as her Prime counterpart, in 2245. Which leaves the question of why the tech is the same despite nearly a century apart up in the air, since they apparently added holoemitters. Maybe the show should have used the Enterprise-D sets from PIC Season 3. The Enterprise-D was commissioned between 2362 and 2364 (sources vary), so that’s actually a closer date.

The dedication at the end is to Allan Roy “Red” Marceta, who was a lead set dresser on DIS. He passed away in 2022.

The title comes from the David Bowie song “Changes” from the 1971 album Hunky Dory. The song also has the lyric “Time may change me, but I can’t trace Time.” Given the theme of this episode, it seems appropriate.

The latinum bars are soaked in fop’yano poison (first mention). Latinum, a Ferengi currency, is a metallic liquid which is encased in gold (considered by Ferengi to be worthless), and persists as a currency in the 32nd Century (last seen in DIS: “All In”). The dead weapons dealer is Annari, a Delta Quadrant species which first appeared in VOY: “Nightingale”.

Deuterium manifolds were mentioned in dialogue in VOY: “Course: Oblivion” and VOY: “Renaissance Man”, with deuterium being the fuel used in fusion reactors on Federation starships. A manifold distributes fluids and gas from one pipe to many and vice versa. In internal combustion engines, an intake manifold distributes the fuel-air mixture to the cylinders and an exhaust manifold distributes exhaust from multiple sources to a single pipe for venting.

Polarons are particles that can be used in weaponry (DS9: “The Jem’Hadar”) or for scanning for vessels (VOY: “State of Flux”), among other things. Polaron radiation is fatal to humanoids (DS9: “Apocalypse Rising”).

The Red Angel is indeed Michael, forming a major part of the plot for DIS Season 2. Michael and Rayner appear to have been transported to the end of Season 2, when Michael pulled Discovery along with her to the 32nd Century (between DIS: “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” and “Far From Home”).

Michael identifies the second jump as being in drydock in San Francisco when Discovery was first being built. The original dedication plaque for the NCC-1701 says “San Francisco, Calif.”, so that tracks. The dedication plaques for Discovery, Shenzhou and Franklin also indicate they were launched from the San Francisco Fleet Yards. That being said, the assumption was always that the fleet yards were in orbit, the scene in ST 2009 showing the Enterprise being constructed on Earth notwithstanding.

The next jump is to Stardate 1051.8, the climax of Season 2 of DIS (“Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”), the Battle near Xahea with Control, just before the time of the first jump.

Rayner identifies the culprit: a Krenim chronophage or a “time bug”, left over from the Temporal War. The Krenim were Krenim were a Delta Quadrant species with the technology to manipulate time (VOY: “Year of Hell”). A chronophagey a “time eater”. The Temporal Cold War was a feature of ENT’s stories, which became a hot war around the time of the 31st Century (ENT: “Storm Front”), although the nature of a time war means that it was fought across different time periods. Eventually, as a result of the War, time travel was outlawed.

The time jumping into the past of the ship is very similar to the events of VOY: “Shattered”, as many have pointed out. In the VOY novel A Pocket Full of Lies by Kristen Beyer, it is revealed that the shattering of Voyager into 37 time frames was due to the detonation of a chroniton torpedo launched by the Krenim Beyer was hired as a staff writer for DIS and was an executive producer on PIC and SNW.

Stamets’ consciousness exists outside of the normal flow of time (DIS: “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”) because of his tardigrade DNA, which he spliced into himself so he can function as the navigator required to use the Spore Drive (DIS: “Choose Your Pain”).

The fourth jump takes them to Osyraa’s hijack of Discovery in Season 3 (DIS: “Su’Kal”). The Black Alert was Tilly trying to jump away, but Stamets was interrupted before the jump could be executed by an Emerald Chain boarding party. Reno is dressed in Discovery’s 23rd Century uniforms, since this is before the crew changed to 32nd Century uniforms at the end of Season 3.

A Vesper martini is a cocktail invented by Ivar Bryce, a friend of writer Ian Fleming’s, who used it in Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel. It consists of gin, vodka and lillet.

The fifth jump takes them to 3218, 27 years in the future. Zora says that Michael and the crew died “decades ago” when the Progenitor tech fell into the wrong hands.

The Breen (DS9: “Strange Bedfellows”) are an antagonistic alien race usually hidden behind their masked suits. They were originally referred to as a Confederacy but in the 32nd Century are an Imperium. They have been mentioned previously as being in a state of infighting.

Michael refers to the first time she boarded Discovery while still serving her sentence for the mutiny she attempted on the Shenzhou in DIS: “The Vulcan Hello” that (debatably) set off the Klingon War.

The diagram that Zora flashes up is a light cone, used in physics as a way to visualize a path through spacetime, converging on the event where the past and future cones meet.

The tone of this future jump is similar to the Short Treks episode “Calypso”, where a future Discovery is seen devoid of life except for Zora, who has been alone for a thousand years. However, that version of the ship does not bear the NCC-1031-A number of the refit (as the episode was made before the Discovery’s time jump at the end of Season 2) and how “Calypso” can fit in with continuity as it stands now is a matter of debate.

Chronitons are Trek particles with temporal properties and associated with time travel. World lines are curves in spacetime describing the path an object takes through spacetime, and therefore its corresponding history. Scaravelli’s Constant is not a real thing as far as I can tell. Mark Rothko was an abstract painter known for his color field paintings.

Just as a note - the reason why Michael and Rayner are in their 32nd Century uniforms and Stamets is not is because the first two are physically jumping through time thanks to being in mid-transport when the jumps started. Stamets remembers only because his consciousness is the one that retains its memory despite the time jumps, as he did in “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Turn Mad”.

Book pronounces raktajino in its usual form, so Reno’s pronunciation of it as “raktachino” last episode must be idiosyncratic in nature.

The warp bubble does indeed insulate whatever’s within from the effects of Special Relativity - it has to, or else faster than light travel would be impossible. This is true whether or not you subscribe to the Alcubierre model for the warp drive (which I do not), the TNG Tech Manual version where the warp bubble lowers inertial mass (which I do), or some other method.

Rayner expresses concern that breaking the warp bubble would rip Discovery (and them) apart and Stamets says inertial dampeners will take care of that - which to me discounts Alcubierre once again because there are no inertial forces acting on the ship in such a model.

Airiam was Discovery’s cyborg spore drive ops officer who was taken over by Control and had to be killed (DIS: “Project Daedelus”).

Michael (and Michael) is presumably using Suus Mahna in the fight, a Vulcan martial art that T’Pol was also proficient in (ENT: “Marauders”). She finishes herself off with a Vulcan nerve pinch. Non-Vulcans have been known to use the nerve pinch, and Michael herself used it in “The Vulcan Hello” to disable Georgiou.

The title comes from the David Bowie song “Changes” from the 1971 album Hunky Dory. The song also has the lyric “Time may change me, but I can’t trace Time.” Given the theme of this episode, it seems appropriate.

The latinum bars are soaked in fop’yano poison (first mention). Latinum, a Ferengi currency, is a metallic liquid which is encased in gold (considered by Ferengi to be worthless), and persists as a currency in the 32nd Century (last seen in DIS: “All In”). The dead weapons dealer is Annari, a Delta Quadrant species which first appeared in VOY: “Nightingale”.

Deuterium manifolds were mentioned in dialogue in VOY: “Course: Oblivion” and VOY: “Renaissance Man”, with deuterium being the fuel used in fusion reactors on Federation starships. A manifold distributes fluids and gas from one pipe to many and vice versa. In internal combustion engines, an intake manifold distributes the fuel-air mixture to the cylinders and an exhaust manifold distributes exhaust from multiple sources to a single pipe for venting.

Polarons are particles that can be used in weaponry (DS9: “The Jem’Hadar”) or for scanning for vessels (VOY: “State of Flux”), among other things. Polaron radiation is fatal to humanoids (DS9: “Apocalypse Rising”).

The Red Angel is indeed Michael, forming a major part of the plot for DIS Season 2. Michael and Rayner appear to have been transported to the end of Season 2, when Michael pulled Discovery along with her to the 32nd Century (between DIS: “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” and “Far From Home”).

Michael identifies the second jump as being in drydock in San Francisco when Discovery was first being built. The original dedication plaque for the NCC-1701 says “San Francisco, Calif.”, so that tracks. The dedication plaques for Discovery, Shenzhou and Franklin also indicate they were launched from the San Francisco Fleet Yards. That being said, the assumption was always that the fleet yards were in orbit, the scene in ST 2009 showing the Enterprise being constructed on Earth notwithstanding.

The next jump is to Stardate 1051.8, the climax of Season 2 of DIS (“Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”), the Battle near Xahea with Control, just before the time of the first jump.

Rayner identifies the culprit: a Krenim chronophage or a “time bug”, left over from the Temporal War. The Krenim were a Delta Quadrant species with the technology to manipulate time (VOY: “Year of Hell”). A chronophage is literally a “time eater”. The Temporal Cold War was a feature of ENT’s stories, which became a hot war around the time of the 31st Century (ENT: “Storm Front”), although the nature of a time war means that it was fought across different time periods. Eventually, as a result of the War, time travel was outlawed.

The time jumping into the past of the ship is very similar to the events of VOY: “Shattered”, as many have pointed out. In the VOY novel A Pocket Full of Lies by Kristen Beyer, it is revealed that the shattering of Voyager into 37 time frames was due to the detonation of a chroniton torpedo launched by the Krenim. Beyer was hired as a staff writer for DIS and was an executive producer on PIC and SNW.

Stamets’ consciousness exists outside of the normal flow of time (DIS: “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”) because of his tardigrade DNA, which he spliced into himself so he can function as the navigator required to use the Spore Drive (DIS: “Choose Your Pain”).

The fourth jump takes them to Osyraa’s hijack of Discovery in Season 3 (DIS: “Su’Kal”). The Black Alert was Tilly trying to jump away, but Stamets was interrupted before the jump could be executed by an Emerald Chain boarding party. Reno is dressed in Discovery’s 23rd Century uniforms, since this is before the crew changed to 32nd Century uniforms at the end of Season 3.

A Vesper martini is a cocktail invented by Ivar Bryce, a friend of writer Ian Fleming’s, who used it in Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel. It consists of gin, vodka and lillet.

The fifth jump takes them to 3218, 27 years in the future. Zora says that Michael and the crew died “decades ago” when the Progenitor tech fell into the wrong hands.

The Breen (DS9: “Strange Bedfellows”) are an antagonistic alien race usually hidden behind their masked suits. They were originally referred to as a Confederacy but in the 32nd Century are an Imperium. They have been mentioned previously as being in a state of infighting.

Michael refers to the first time she boarded Discovery while still serving her sentence for the mutiny she attempted on the Shenzhou in DIS: “The Vulcan Hello” that (debatably) set off the Klingon War.

The diagram that Zora flashes up is a light cone, used in physics as a way to visualize a path through spacetime, converging on the event where the past and future cones meet.

The tone of this future jump is similar to the Short Treks episode “Calypso”, where a future Discovery is seen devoid of life except for Zora, who has been alone for a thousand years. However, that version of the ship does not bear the NCC-1031-A number of the refit (as the episode was made before the Discovery’s time jump at the end of Season 2) and how “Calypso” can fit in with continuity as it stands now is a matter of debate.

Chronitons are Trek particles with temporal properties and associated with time travel. World lines are curves in spacetime describing the path an object takes through spacetime, and therefore its corresponding history. Scaravelli’s Constant is not a real thing as far as I can tell. Mark Rothko was an abstract painter known for his color field paintings.

Just as a note - the reason why Michael and Rayner are in their 32nd Century uniforms and Stamets is not is because the first two are physically jumping through time thanks to being in mid-transport when the jumps started. Stamets remembers only because his consciousness is the one that retains its memory despite the time jumps, as he did in “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Turn Mad”.

Book pronounces raktajino in its usual form, so Reno’s pronunciation of it as “raktachino” last episode must be idiosyncratic in nature.

The warp bubble does indeed insulate whatever’s within from the effects of Special Relativity - it has to, or else faster than light travel would be impossible. This is true whether or not you subscribe to the Alcubierre model for the warp drive (which I do not), the TNG Tech Manual version where the warp bubble lowers inertial mass (which I do), or some other method.

Rayner expresses concern that breaking the warp bubble would rip Discovery (and them) apart and Stamets says inertial dampeners will take care of that - which to me discounts Alcubierre once again because there are no inertial forces acting on the ship in such a model.

Airiam was Discovery’s cyborg spore drive ops officer who was taken over by Control and had to be killed (DIS: “Project Daedelus”).

Michael (and Michael) is presumably using Suus Mahna in the fight, a Vulcan martial art that T’Pol was also proficient in (ENT: “Marauders”). She finishes herself off with a Vulcan nerve pinch. Non-Vulcans have been known to use the nerve pinch, and Michael herself used it in “The Vulcan Hello” to disable Georgiou.

Trill has a surface area of 500 million km^2, which is similar to Earth (501 million km^2). Other data include an orbital distance of 1.215 AU, a year of 483 sols, a surface temperature of 297 Kelvin (23.85 C) and 1 satellite.

Trill spots are as unique to the individual as human fingerprints or Saurian dorsal ridges, and Zora links them to one Jinaal Bix, who lived 800 years before. Adira says it is unusual, but not unheard of, for a symbiont to live to 800 years.

Rayner has assumed the rank of Commander as the new XO. It’s not clear if this was a condition of his staying on in Starfleet or if it is a situation like that of Will Decker in TMP, where he was Captain rank but was temporarily reduced in grade for the purpose of the mission once Kirk assumed command. On the other hand, by the time of the Enterprise-A, this ship had at least two or three Captains on board (Kirk, Spock and there’s some debate about Scotty), and Spock was referred to as Captain, not Commander.

Reno pronounces raktajinos as “raktachinos”- which is actually not entirely wrong. Raktajino is actually a portmanteau word from both Klingon and Italian. Technically, Klingon coffee is qa’vIn, derived from “caffeine” (coffee is not native to the Empire, and was probably first taken as plunder from human vessels or colonies). Adding liquor (HIq) to it produces a beverage known as ra’taj, which also gained popularity outside the Empire. The “export” version is non-alcoholic but contains a nutlike flavoring, being called in Federation Standard raktaj. Then a variant of raktaj with cream became popular, which became combined with “cappuccino” to become raktajino. So while the preferred pronunciation is jino, with a soft “j”, saying it as chino actually pays homage to the second word that makes up the portmanteau (Klingon for the Galactic Traveler by Marc Okrand).

Guardian Xi was last seen at Federation HQ in DIS: “…But to Connect”, when Gray Tal decided to join the Guardians. The Caves of Mak’ala house the breeding pools of the symbionts, and we last visited them in DIS: “Forget Me Not”. The milky liquid in the pools acts as a medium for electrical impulses that allow the symbionts to communicate with each other.

The zhian’tara ritual was first seen in DS9: “Facets”, where the memories of a previous host are temporarily incorporated into a volunteer to allow face-to-face communication with the current host. Done under the supervision of a Guardian, a variation of this was used to transfer Grey’s consciousness and memories into a synth body (DIS: “Choose to Live”).

The favinit is a Vulcan plant, first mentioned in VOY: “Alliances”, where Tuvok created a hybrid of it and a South American orchid.

The year is finally stated as 3191, although that does not match with the Stardate given last week, which by TNG reckoning only makes it 3189. More evidence that stardates work differently now, and I do wish the production team would stop being coy and let us know how.

So, just to get our chronological bearings, Michael leaves 2258 at the end of Season 2, lands in 3188 at the start of Season 3, spends a year with Book before Discovery lands in 3189, and the rest of Season 3 takes place. A few months pass between Season 3 and 4, taking us into 3190, and at least six months between Season 4 and 5, bringing us to 3191.

The Vulcan Purists were first mentioned in DIS: “Unification III”, where we met their representative V’Kir. In DIS: “All is Possible”, the Purists tried to force an opt-out clause in the agreement for Ni’Var rejoining the Federation, but a compromise was brokered by Saru and Burnham for an independent review committee instead.

Cabrodine, an explosive material, was first mentioned in DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”, where the station schoolhouse was destroyed by a cabrodine-infernite bomb.

Jinaal says that the Dominion War was raging when the Progenitor technology was found, so it’s not a literal 800 years (which would make it 2391). The Dominion War officially lasted from 2373-2375.

Dalaka was a rogue planet, one that had broken out of orbit and was traveling through interstellar space untethered to a star system, first encountered in 2151 by the NX-01 Enterprise in ENT: “Rogue Planet”. Bore worms were said to enter a person’s ear to lay their eggs there.

Tongo was a Ferengi game played in Quark’s on DS9 in the 24th Century, so at some point either the game migrated to Bajor or Asha spent some time with Ferengi who played. She says her nicknames were “Full Monopoly” and “Bluff Master”. Two of the winning hands in Tongo are “Full Consortium” and “Total Monopoly” (DS9: “Change of Heart”).

Nilsson was played by Sara Mitich, the original actress for Airiam in Season 1, who then changed roles for Seasons 2-4. This dialogue establishes that she left to join the Voyager-J, the platform for testing the pathway drive, and that the tribble seen in Discovery’s corridors is a pet.

Sehlats are large bear-like beasts native to Vulcan (TOS: “Journey to Babel”), and domesticated varieties were treated as pets. Spock had a pet sehlat named I-Chaya in his youth, who died defending him from a le-matya (TAS: “Yesteryear”).

The bar on Discovery is given a name, “Red’s”.

The Tzenkethi were in conflict with the Federation sometime in the mid-24th Century (DS9: “Paradise Lost”), but although mentioned in that episode and extensively in DS9: “The Adversary”, we have never seen one on screen. Different versions have appeared in both Star Trek Online, the Litverse novels and in the current Star Trek comic by IDW.

At the end, we see a disguised Moll plant some kind of device on Adira’s sleeve.

Trill has a surface area of 500 million km^2, which is similar to Earth (501 million km^2). Other data include an orbital distance of 1.215 AU, a year of 483 sols, a surface temperature of 297 Kelvin (23.85 C) and 1 satellite.

Trill spots are as unique to the individual as human fingerprints or Saurian dorsal ridges, and Zora links them to one Jinaal Bix, who lived 800 years before. Adira says it is unusual, but not unheard of, for a symbiont to live to 800 years.

Rayner has assumed the rank of Commander as the new XO. It’s not clear if this was a condition of his staying on in Starfleet or if it is a situation like that of Will Decker in TMP, where he was Captain rank but was temporarily reduced in grade for the purpose of the mission once Kirk assumed command. On the other hand, by the time of the Enterprise-A, this ship had at least two or three Captains on board (Kirk, Spock and there’s some debate about Scotty), and Spock was referred to as Captain, not Commander.

Reno pronounces raktajinos as “raktachinos”- which is actually not entirely wrong. Raktajino is actually a portmanteau word from both Klingon and Italian. Technically, Klingon coffee is qa’vIn, derived from “caffeine” (coffee is not native to the Empire, and was probably first taken as plunder from human vessels or colonies). Adding liquor (HIq) to it produces a beverage known as ra’taj, which also gained popularity outside the Empire. The “export” version is non-alcoholic but contains a nutlike flavoring, being called in Federation Standard raktaj. Then a variant of raktaj with cream became popular, which became combined with “cappuccino” to become raktajino. So while the preferred pronunciation is jino, with a soft “j”, saying it as chino actually pays homage to the second word that makes up the portmanteau (Klingon for the Galactic Traveler by Marc Okrand).

Guardian Xi was last seen at Federation HQ in DIS: “…But to Connect”, when Gray Tal decided to join the Guardians. The Caves of Mak’ala house the breeding pools of the symbionts, and we last visited them in DIS: “Forget Me Not”. The milky liquid in the pools acts as a medium for electrical impulses that allow the symbionts to communicate with each other.

The zhian’tara ritual was first seen in DS9: “Facets”, where the memories of a previous host are temporarily incorporated into a volunteer to allow face-to-face communication with the current host. Done under the supervision of a Guardian, a variation of this was used to transfer Grey’s consciousness and memories into a synth body (DIS: “Choose to Live”).

The favinit is a Vulcan plant, first mentioned in VOY: “Alliances”, where Tuvok created a hybrid of it and a South American orchid.

The year is finally stated as 3191, although that does not match with the Stardate given last week, which by TNG reckoning only makes it 3189. More evidence that stardates work differently now, and I do wish the production team would stop being coy and let us know how.

So, just to get our chronological bearings, Michael leaves 2258 at the end of Season 2, lands in 3188 at the start of Season 3, spends a year with Book before Discovery lands in 3189, and the rest of Season 3 takes place. A few months pass between Season 3 and 4, taking us into 3190, and at least six months between Season 4 and 5, bringing us to 3191.

The Vulcan Purists were first mentioned in DIS: “Unification III”, where we met their representative V’Kir. In DIS: “All is Possible”, the Purists tried to force an opt-out clause in the agreement for Ni’Var rejoining the Federation, but a compromise was brokered by Saru and Burnham for an independent review committee instead.

Cabrodine, an explosive material, was first mentioned in DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”, where the station schoolhouse was destroyed by a cabrodine-infernite bomb.

Jinaal says that the Dominion War was raging when the Progenitor technology was found, so it’s not a literal 800 years (which would make it 2391). The Dominion War officially lasted from 2373-2375.

Dalaka was a rogue planet, one that had broken out of orbit and was traveling through interstellar space untethered to a star system, first encountered in 2151 by the NX-01 Enterprise in ENT: “Rogue Planet”. Bore worms were said to enter a person’s ear to lay their eggs there.

Tongo was a Ferengi game played in Quark’s on DS9 in the 24th Century, so at some point either the game migrated to Bajor or Asha spent some time with Ferengi who played. She says her nicknames were “Full Monopoly” and “Bluff Master”. Two of the winning hands in Tongo are “Full Consortium” and “Total Monopoly” (DS9: “Change of Heart”).

Nilsson was played by Sara Mitich, the original actress for Airiam in Season 1, who then changed roles for Seasons 2-4. This dialogue establishes that she left to join the Voyager-J, the platform for testing the pathway drive, and that the tribble seen in Discovery’s corridors is a pet.

Sehlats are large bear-like beasts native to Vulcan (TOS: “Journey to Babel”), and domesticated varieties were treated as pets. Spock had a pet sehlat named I-Chaya in his youth, who died defending him from a le-matya (TAS: “Yesteryear”).

The bar on Discovery is given a name, “Red’s”.

The Tzenkethi were in conflict with the Federation sometime in the mid-24th Century (DS9: “Paradise Lost”), but although mentioned in that episode and extensively in DS9: “The Adversary”, we have never seen one on screen. Different versions have appeared in both Star Trek Online, the Litverse novels and in the current Star Trek comic by IDW.

At the end, we see a disguised Moll plant some kind of device on Adira’s sleeve.

It is Stardate 866274.3, which places it, by TNG reckoning, in 3189. However, as I’ve noted before, this is an impossibility, since Burnham arrived in the 32nd Century in 3188, then spent a year before reuniting with Discovery (3189), then months passed between Seasons 3 and 4, and also between Seasons 4 and 5 so at a minimum it should be 3190. So stardates have to be working differently now.

The image Burnham is looking at is of the Progenitor hologram from TNG: “The Chase”, played by Salome Jens, who also played the recurring role of the Female Changeling in DS9.

The unwritten Starfleet code of conduct is apparently “Don’t snitch.” Rayner has been in Starfleet for 30 years, during which time the Federation was apparently at war (but no longer), and he’s fought side-by-side with Vance. The Breen are infighting over a new leader (they are now an imperium instead of a confederacy), and the Orions are regrouping, presumably after the splintering of the Emerald Chain at the end of Season 3 (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

Book imitates Saru’s threat ganglia, which started as a response to sensing danger, but following his vahar’ai (DIS: “An Obol for Charon”), were replaced organs which could shoot spines.

The Promellians fought a long war against the Menthars which ended in the extinction of both species in the 14th Century. The Enterprise-D encountered a Promellian battle cruiser caught by a Menthar booby trap and nearly fell victim to the same trap in TNG: “Booby Trap” (2366). A necropolis is basically a very large graveyard or tomb, hence Burnham’s concerns about it being a sacred space.

Zareh was a courier who encountered Saru and Discovery when they first arrived in the 32nd Century (DIS: “Far From Home”), attempting to extort dilithium from them. He allied himself with Osyraa during her commandeering of Discovery and eventually died in the ship’s turbolift systems while fighting Book (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

The Promellians’ use of Lang-cycle fusion engines was first mentioned in TNG: “Booby Trap”. I do wonder, however, what the statue was supposed to represent, since Promellians as seen in TNG only had two eyes, not four.

Being able to generate new phasers with just a metaphorical flick of the wrist is really handy.

Booker says that Moll and L’ak are Sui, couriers who take the most dangerous jobs fpr the action and latinum (from suicide, perhaps?).

The inscription starts with “Jolan tru, zarbalgon…” which Burnham translates as “Hello, wanderer”. Jolan tru is a traditional Romulan greeting which was used as both “hello” and “goodbye” (TNG: “Unification I”). Where Burnham learned Romulan is unexplained, but likely from her mother, a member of the Qowat Milat or on Ni’Var (DIS: “Unification III”). At the time she left the 23rd Century, the Romulans were still safely ensconced behind the Neutral Zone.

Burnham identifies the inscription as a Romulan revlav, which from context must be a poetic form, consisting of five verses or lines. “Hello, wanderer. Many worlds have you traveled. Opaline waters call to you. Thoughts are shared.” Saru says that seems to point to Betazed, but the fifth verse is missing.

Saru and Burnham have really been boning up on Romulans. The shaiqouin, the false front door of Romulan houses, was first mentioned in PIC: “The End is the Beginning”, but there was called a shaipouin. The last verse reads, “A world like no other, where two souls entwine, joined as one.” Adira deduces that the whole poem in context points to Trill.

Booker reminds us that his name is an alias, passed down from courier to courier (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”, “Species Ten-C”).

Saru packs his knife, a gardening tool given to him by his sister on the night he left Kaminar to join Starfleet (ST: “The Brightest Star”).

Saru talks about giving oneself over “to the journey”, which reminds me of the toast that Barclay gave in the alternate future’s tenth anniversary of Voyager’s return (VOY: “Endgame”). Saru first warned Tilly about not touching the swamp kelp in bloom in DIS: “Choose to Live”.

Vance’s daughter previously appeared in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, but this is the first time we learn her name is Charlie (named after him, presumably).

Other receipients of the Grankite Order of Tactics (first mentioned in TOS: “Court Martial”) include James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard (PIC: “Remembrance”) and Liam Shaw (PIC: “The Next Generation”). The latter three also received its Class of Excellence.

It is Stardate 866274.3, which places it, by TNG reckoning, in 3189. However, as I’ve noted before, this is an impossibility, since Burnham arrived in the 32nd Century in 3188, then spent a year before reuniting with Discovery (3189), then months passed between Seasons 3 and 4, and also between Seasons 4 and 5 so at a minimum it should be 3190. So stardates have to be working differently now.

The image Burnham is looking at is of the Progenitor hologram from TNG: “The Chase”, played by Salome Jens, who also played the recurring role of the Female Changeling in DS9.

The unwritten Starfleet code of conduct is apparently “Don’t snitch.” Rayner has been in Starfleet for 30 years, during which time the Federation was apparently at war (but no longer), and he’s fought side-by-side with Vance. The Breen are infighting over a new leader (they are now an imperium instead of a confederacy), and the Orions are regrouping, presumably after the splintering of the Emerald Chain at the end of Season 3 (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

Book imitates Saru’s threat ganglia, which started as a response to sensing danger, but following his vahar’ai (DIS: “An Obol for Charon”), were replaced organs which could shoot spines.

The Promellians fought a long war against the Menthars which ended in the extinction of both species in the 14th Century. The Enterprise-D encountered a Promellian battle cruiser caught by a Menthar booby trap and nearly fell victim to the same trap in TNG: “Booby Trap” (2366). A necropolis is basically a very large graveyard or tomb, hence Burnham’s concerns about it being a sacred space.

Zareh was a courier who encountered Saru and Discovery when they first arrived in the 32nd Century (DIS: “Far From Home”), attempting to extort dilithium from them. He allied himself with Osyraa during her commandeering of Discovery and eventually died in the ship’s turbolift systems while fighting Book (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

The Promellians’ use of Lang-cycle fusion engines was first mentioned in TNG: “Booby Trap”. I do wonder, however, what the statue was supposed to represent, since Promellians as seen in TNG only had two eyes, not four.

Being able to generate new phasers with just a metaphorical flick of the wrist is really handy.

Booker says that Moll and L’ak are Sui, couriers who take the most dangerous jobs fpr the action and latinum (from suicide, perhaps?).

The inscription starts with “Jolan tru, zarbalgon…" which Burnham translates as “Hello, wanderer”. Jolan tru is a traditional Romulan greeting which was used as both “hello” and “goodbye” (TNG: “Unification I”). Where Burnham learned Romulan is unexplained, but likely from her mother, a member of the Qowat Milat or on Ni’Var (DIS: “Unification III”). At the time she left the 23rd Century, the Romulans were still safely ensconced behind the Neutral Zone.

Burnham identifies the inscription as a Romulan revlav, which from context must be a poetic form, consisting of five verses or lines. “Hello, wanderer. Many worlds have you traveled. Opaline waters call to you. Thoughts are shared.” Saru says that seems to point to Betazed, but the fifth verse is missing.

Saru and Burnham have really been boning up on Romulans. The shaiqouin, the false front door of Romulan houses, was first mentioned in PIC: “The End is the Beginning”, but there was called a shaipouin. The last verse reads, “A world like no other, where two souls entwine, joined as one.” Adira deduces that the whole poem in context points to Trill.

Booker reminds us that his name is an alias, passed down from courier to courier (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”, “Species Ten-C”).

Saru packs his knife, a gardening tool given to him by his sister on the night he left Kaminar to join Starfleet (ST: “The Brightest Star”).

Saru talks about giving oneself over “to the journey”, which reminds me of the toast that Barclay gave in the alternate future’s tenth anniversary of Voyager’s return (VOY: “Endgame”). Saru first warned Tilly about not touching the swamp kelp in bloom in DIS: “Choose to Live”.

Vance’s daughter previously appeared in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, but this is the first time we learn her name is Charlie (named after him, presumably).

Other receipients of the Grankite Order of Tactics (first mentioned in TOS: “Court Martial”) include James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard (PIC: “Remembrance”) and Liam Shaw (PIC: “The Next Generation”). The latter three also received its Class of Excellence.

The Star Trek Universe bumper features Discovery jumping in with her spore drive then flying off at warp. 

If anybody’s questioning whether one can actually survive on the outside of a ship traveling at warp, the answer is yes, as long as they are within the starship’s warp bubble (ENT: “Divergence”, where Trip moved between Enterprise and Columbia while the two ships shared a merged warp bubble. See also PRO: “Mindwalk”). There is a mistake in the closed captioning which says “warp level” instead of “warp bubble”. 

Tonic 2161 is named after the year the Federation was founded. Although it’s for the Millenium Celebration, the current year is actually around 3188-3190 (stardates have been a bit wonky ever since DIS went to the 32nd Century), hence the “give or take a few decades” remark. The stars in the cocktail taste like jumja sticks, a sweet Bajoran delicacy made from the sap of the jumja tree (DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”). 

The holographic nametag for Stamets is not a screen overlay, but comes out of his tricom badge (DIS: “Die Trying”), a 32nd century combined tricorder, comm badge, holographic PADD and personal transporter. The pathway drive was first mentioned back in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, where a prototype was installed on the Voyager-J and Burnham was under consideration for being her captain. There were no details on how it worked, however.

Tilly says it’s been “months” since Burnham has talked about Book, which means some time has elapsed since the end of Season 4. There is a brief shot of a Lurian speaking to another alien I’m unable to identify.

T’Rina mentions the Tholian Republic and Breen Imperium. There have been political changes since the TNG era, since back then they were the Tholian Assembly (TOS; “The Tholian Web”) and the Breen Confederacy (DS9: “Strange Bedfellows”). Her relationship with Saru has grown more serious, as evidenced by her use of the word “love”. 

800 years - if exact - puts it at 2388, after the Mars Attack (2385), Picard’s resignation from Starfleet (2386) and the Romulan Supernova (2387). This is the first mention of a “Red Directive”.

The dessicated Romulan corpse has the forehead ridges that mark them as a Northerner (PIC: “The End is the Beginning”). 

Burnham’s phaser pistol can transform into a rifle configuration, presumbly by the same method that allows it to be stowed as a device on the sleeve (first seen in DIS: “Terra Firma, Part 1”). 

Burnham’s EVA suit must have inertial dampeners because the moment she exits the warp bubble she’s going to decelerate to sublight. Without them, inertial forces would turn her into a red smear inside of her suit.

Captain Rayner is a Kellerun (DS9: “Armageddon Game”). We see a tribble in the corridor, perhaps the same one from DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”.

Moll and L’ak stole a tan zhekran, a Romulan puzzle box. We saw an example of it in PIC: “The Impossible Box”, where it was used as a booby trap. 

Tilly is of course speaking of her ice moon escapade with a group of cadets on Kokytos in DIS: “All is Possible”. This is the first mention of Andorian champagne (or should that be Andorian sparkling wine?) - previously the only Andorian alcoholic beverage we were aware of is Andorian ale. 

Fred is a synth (PIC: “Maps and Legends”), with the same golden skin and eyes as Soong-type androids like Data, and has lived for at least 622.7 years (c. 2565), the last time he saw a Romulan puzzle box. Among the items L’ak and Moll offer is an infamous self-sealing stem bolt (DS9: “Progress”). 

The book inside the puzzle box appears to be filled with Romulan writing. Booklice, or Psocoptera, are real in case there was any doubt. 

Fred’s internal memory drive has the serial number AS-0572Y. Stamets connects that to Altan Soong, which might mean Fred is from Coppelius (PIC: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”). Altan was last seen in a holographic recording in PIC: “The Bounty”, having died between 2399 and 2401. 

Burnham says she hasn’t hated anyone this much in 930 years, which if taking from 3188 dates back to 2258, the year Discovery jumped to the 32nd Century. 

Tilly says the database is using 256 qubit (captioned as “Q-bit”) shifting fractal encryption. Breaking into it is a violation of Security Protocol Six Alpha.

Discovery jumps back in at Archer Spacedock, installed around Federation HQ and first unveiled in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”. 

Let’s hope that Saru and T’Rina’s wedding isn’t as violent as Spock’s (TOS; “Amok Time”). Stamets says that they were about to download 15 teraquads of data from Fred’s eye. A quad is a fictional unit of data invented for TNG, deliberately kept vague to avoid comparisons to today’s bytes. 15 teraquads sounds impressive, but in VOY: “Drone” the advanced Borg drone One was said to have assimilated 47 billion teraquads. 

Kovich shows Burnham that Dr Vellek was there on Vilmor II at the climax of TNG: “The Chase” (2369), where Picard discovered that many species of humanoid life in the Galaxy had been seeded by a precusor race, the Progenitors. It’s interesting that Kovich says that the Progenitors created all humanoid life. In “The Chase”, it didn’t reach as far as that - in fact, there were species which didn’t have the DNA pieces necessary to solve the puzzle and the Progenitor hologram only said they seeded “many worlds”.

The Star Trek Universe bumper features Discovery jumping in with her spore drive then flying off at warp. 

If anybody’s questioning whether one can actually survive on the outside of a ship traveling at warp, the answer is yes, as long as they are within the starship’s warp bubble (ENT: “Divergence”, where Trip moved between Enterprise and Columbia while the two ships shared a merged warp bubble. See also PRO: “Mindwalk”). There is a mistake in the closed captioning which says “warp level” instead of “warp bubble”. 

Tonic 2161 is named after the year the Federation was founded. Although it’s for the Millenium Celebration, the current year is actually around 3188-3190 (stardates have been a bit wonky ever since DIS went to the 32nd Century), hence the “give or take a few decades” remark. The stars in the cocktail taste like jumja sticks, a sweet Bajoran delicacy made from the sap of the jumja tree (DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”). 

The holographic nametag for Stamets is not a screen overlay, but comes out of his tricom badge (DIS: “Die Trying”), a 32nd century combined tricorder, comm badge, holographic PADD and personal transporter. The pathway drive was first mentioned back in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, where a prototype was installed on the Voyager-J and Burnham was under consideration for being her captain. There were no details on how it worked, however.

Tilly says it’s been “months” since Burnham has talked about Book, which means some time has elapsed since the end of Season 4. There is a brief shot of a Lurian speaking to another alien I’m unable to identify.

T’Rina mentions the Tholian Republic and Breen Imperium. There have been political changes since the TNG era, since back then they were the Tholian Assembly (TOS; “The Tholian Web”) and the Breen Confederacy (DS9: “Strange Bedfellows”). Her relationship with Saru has grown more serious, as evidenced by her use of the word “love”. 

800 years - if exact - puts it at 2388, after the Mars Attack (2385), Picard’s resignation from Starfleet (2386) and the Romulan Supernova (2387). This is the first mention of a “Red Directive”.

The dessicated Romulan corpse has the forehead ridges that mark them as a Northerner (PIC: “The End is the Beginning”). 

Burnham’s phaser pistol can transform into a rifle configuration, presumbly by the same method that allows it to be stowed as a device on the sleeve (first seen in DIS: “Terra Firma, Part 1”). 

Burnham’s EVA suit must have inertial dampeners because the moment she exits the warp bubble she’s going to decelerate to sublight. Without them, inertial forces would turn her into a red smear inside of her suit.

Captain Rayner is a Kellerun (DS9: “Armageddon Game”). We see a tribble in the corridor, perhaps the same one from DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”.

Moll and L’ak stole a tan zhekran, a Romulan puzzle box. We saw an example of it in PIC: “The Impossible Box”, where it was used as a booby trap. 

Tilly is of course speaking of her ice moon escapade with a group of cadets on Kokytos in DIS: “All is Possible”. This is the first mention of Andorian champagne (or should that be Andorian sparkling wine?) - previously the only Andorian alcoholic beverage we were aware of is Andorian ale. 

Fred is a synth (PIC: “Maps and Legends”), with the same golden skin and eyes as Soong-type androids like Data, and has lived for at least 622.7 years (c. 2565), the last time he saw a Romulan puzzle box. Among the items L’ak and Moll offer is an infamous self-sealing stem bolt (DS9: “Progress”). 

The book inside the puzzle box appears to be filled with Romulan writing. Booklice, or Psocoptera, are real in case there was any doubt. 

Fred’s internal memory drive has the serial number AS-0572Y. Stamets connects that to Altan Soong, which might mean Fred is from Coppelius (PIC: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”). Altan was last seen in a holographic recording in PIC: “The Bounty”, having died between 2399 and 2401. 

Burnham says she hasn’t hated anyone this much in 930 years, which if taking from 3188 dates back to 2258, the year Discovery jumped to the 32nd Century. 

Tilly says the database is using 256 qubit (captioned as “Q-bit”) shifting fractal encryption. Breaking into it is a violation of Security Protocol Six Alpha.

Discovery jumps back in at Archer Spacedock, installed around Federation HQ and first unveiled in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”. 

Let’s hope that Saru and T’Rina’s wedding isn’t as violent as Spock’s (TOS; “Amok Time”). Stamets says that they were about to download 15 teraquads of data from Fred’s eye. A quad is a fictional unit of data invented for TNG, deliberately kept vague to avoid comparisons to today’s bytes. 15 teraquads sounds impressive, but in VOY: “Drone” the advanced Borg drone One was said to have assimilated 47 billion teraquads. 

Kovich shows Burnham that Dr Vellek was there on Vilmor II at the climax of TNG: “The Chase” (2369), where Picard discovered that many species of humanoid life in the Galaxy had been seeded by a precusor race, the Progenitors. It’s interesting that Kovich says that the Progenitors created all humanoid life. In “The Chase”, it didn’t reach as far as that - in fact, there were species which didn’t have the DNA pieces necessary to solve the puzzle and the Progenitor hologram only said they seeded “many worlds”.

I just had a paranoid thought that Ronald Moore has done a deal with Paramount so that when For All Mankind hits the 2020s in Season 6, we’ll get the Bell Riots and the start of World War III, then jump ahead through the war years until we introduce the character of Zefram Cochrane, with the last shot of Season 7 being Bozeman, Montana and the shimmering of a transporter effect, to the tune of “Oobie Doobie”.

I think I drank too much coffee.

In this post I’ll be proposing a model to understanding how Star Trek warp drive works. In doing so, I’ll be attempting to reconcile the way the TNG Technical Manual describes warp drive with the idea that warp drive somehow takes advantages of shortcuts through real space by warping space around the craft, yet still experiences inertial effects.

I want to point out at the outset that I am not proposing anything analogous to the Alcubierre drive that many fans seem keen on equating with Star Trek warp drive. My objections to conflating the two are laid out here. Ultimately, this model involves the ship actually moving at FTL speeds although spacetime distortion is involved.

I also fully admit I’m not a physicist, so I may - probably - have gotten many things wrong, even with the made-up science I’m going to talk about. I’d appreciate any discussions and suggestions to refine this model, even ones that outright say it’s rubbish and implausible (as long as you be constructive and explain why, so I can learn).

So let’s begin.

How Warp Drive deals with Relativity

To recap: the basic obstacle to superluminal or faster-than-light travel is Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Special Relativity says that as the velocity of an object with mass accelerates towards the speed of light (c), the mass of that object increases, requiring more and more energy to accelerate it, until at c, that object has infinite mass, requiring infinite energy to push it past c. In fact, Special Relativity says that nothing with mass can reach c - photons are massless and can only travel at c.

The first publicly available description of how Star Trek warp drive gets around this came from the licensed Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (1991). At page 65:

WARP PROPULSION

The propulsive effect is achieved by a number of factors working in concert. First, the field formation is controllable in a fore-to-aft direction. As the plasma injectors fire sequentially, the warp field layers build according to the pulse frequency in the plasma, and press upon each other as previously discussed. The cumulative field layer forces reduce the apparent mass of the vehicle and impart the required velocities. The critical transition point occurs when the spacecraft appears to an outside observer to be travelling faster than c. As the warp field energy reaches 1000 millicochranes, the ship appears driven across the c boundary in less than Planck time, 1.3 x 10^-43 sec, warp physics insuring that the ship will never be precisely at c. The three forward coils of each nacelle operate with a slight frequency offset to reinforce the field ahead of the Bussard ramscoop and envelop the Saucer Module. This helps create the field asymmetry required to drive the ship forward.

As we read here, Star Trek gets around Special Relativity by using a warp field to distort spacetime around the ship and lower its inertial mass so that the shaping of the warp fields and layers around the ship can push and accelerate the ship itself towards c with reasonable energy requirements. We see warp fields lower mass in TNG: “Deja Q” and DS9: “Emissary”.

Note that while ships are equipped with impulse drives, impulse operations are purely sublight in nature. In fact, the Tech Manual says that impulse doesn’t even enter into it at all when a ship goes to warp. It is the increasing strength of the warp field, shaped by the asymmetrical firing of the warp nacelles that produce it, that ultimately propels the ship without the need for impulse or reaction engines being involved. However, the ship still experiences inertial forces through this propulsion, necessitating inertial dampening fields (VOY: “Tattoo”, ST 2009).

As field strength (measured in units of millicochranes) increases, the lower the inertial mass gets and it becomes easier to accelerate towards warp (TMP). When the field hits a strength of 1000 millicochranes, the ship hits c, or Warp 1. Or rather, it straddles the boundary between 0.999c and 1.001c, spending no more than 1.3 * 10^-43 seconds at either velocity, so that it can apparently maintain velocity at c without the infinite energy requirements otherwise needed.

This is in contrast to sublight impulse engines which work in tandem with a warp field to take advantage of its mass-lowering effect. In the 23rd Century, it is implied the nacelles assist with impulse operations (SNW: “Memento Mori”), and in the 24th Century, impulse engines have driver coils built in which create a sub-1000 millicochrane warp field (TNG Tech Manual). In the 22nd Century, the NX-01’s impulse engines also had driver coils installed, but for the opposite reason - to increase the apparent mass of the ejected propellant as it exited the engines so it could provide greater thrust (USS Enterprise Haynes Manual).

What about subspace?

Now, to be fair, the idea of using a warp field to distort spacetime around the ship to propel the ship does sound an awfully lot like Alcubierre. But where warp drive differs is that unlike Alcubierre, the ship still feels inertial effects and is able to interact with objects outside of the warp field. In other words, the ship is still firmly moving through real space, not completely insulated and stationary within the warp bubble while space moves around it. Alcubierre’s bubble also doesn’t have a mass-lowering effect.

We know from the show that subspace is its own realm, with its own layers and domains (TNG: “Remember Me”) where even life can exist (TNG: “Schisms”). That has led to a suggestion that when a ship enters warp, it enters subspace which serves like a sort of hyperspace shortcut or wormhole. However, this has its difficulties in that it doesn’t explain why a ship in warp can still interact with objects outside of subspace as if it were in real space.

It is clear, though, that subspace has its own physical laws and its own special frame of reference, one of which is that you can exceed the speed of light in it: for example, the use of subspace radio which transmits at, in TNG times, Warp 9.997 (approximately 79,000c). In Star Trek, they generate subspace fields like we generate electromagnetic fields - in fact, the warp field is a subspace field.

But how does this relate to warp drive? Allow me a little sidestep into another franchise to draw a rough analogy.

Domain amplification and subspace

In the manga/anime series Jujutsu Kaisen, one of the magical techniques that the most powerful sorcerers use to battle each other is called “domain expansion”. This creates a closed area centered on the sorcerer enclosing their target, an area in which the sorcerer sets the rules, akin to a zone in which they receive a power buff. Inside it, if the domain is not countered, the sorcerer’s strikes will always hit the target. The sorcerer’s abilities are enhanced and various other things can happen depending on the rules that the sorcerer has preset into the domain.

Another use of domains is called “domain amplification”. This is not a full domain expansion, but surrounds the attacking sorcerer with a skin or bubble that has domain effects. It doesn’t use as much power as a full expansion, but is used to nullify any defensive techniques the target sorcerer might have, by imposing the attacking domain’s own rules against the technique. This still allows the attacking sorcerer to interact with things outside this domain bubble while taking advantage of some of its effects.

(All this will make sense, I promise)

Let’s imagine that real space is a domain that follows the rules that we associate with an Einstein/Newtonian universe, where relativity holds sway. Then we have another domain - subspace - where relativity can be ignored or at least circumvented.

So what if generating a warp field is like domain amplification, creating a bubble of a subspace domain that encloses the ship? This subspace or warp bubble is then shaped by the nacelles, which distorts space locally, allowing the bubble and the ship to be propelled along at FTL speed. This is because while inside the bubble, the rules of subspace apply, not the relativistic rules of real space. It therefore becomes possible to exceed c in that special frame of reference. And yet, the bubble is still strongly connected to real space, so the ship can interact with objects outside the bubble. This explains the existence of Newtonian forces like inertia, acceleration and momentum still acting on the ship, and the continuing need for inertial dampers at warp.

This tight coupling to real space is also why we can see “stars” streaking by while in warp (more likely dust particles in real space being accelerated as they are caught in the ship’s warp bubble). The visual change in post-DIS Trek where the outside of the ship looks more like a Stargate-ish tunnel can be explained away as what the interior of the warp bubble looks like stretched out, as the ship speeds along within it like a canoe on a river, being propelled by layers of warp energy within the bubble and also carried along by the current within the bubble itself as it cruises along.

Subspace and spacetime shortcuts

The existence of subspace as a separate dimensional realm also provides us with a possible solution for the disparity between what the TNG Tech Manual gives us as absolute c values for various warp factors and the speed of plot that we see on screen. Often, the time taken between star systems and sectors is much shorter than what we would expect given the warp factors quoted, if the ship did indeed travel at the c values given by the Tech Manual.

My suggestion is that subspace is not a one-to-one correspondence with real space, but exists in a “higher” dimensional plane where distances in subspace are much shorter compared to their real space counterparts. For example, what would take 200 light years to traverse in real space would be, say only be equivalent to 20 light years travel distance in subspace.

(I’m just tossing out figures here - I don’t obviously mean this as an exact ratio, and for all we know depending on the architecture of subspace the exact correspondence can vary widely, which again helps fit the speed of plot.)

So this further suggests that the TNG Tech Manual c values are meant to reflect speeds in subspace, or rather the ship’s velocity within the warp bubble, which translates to faster velocities and thus further distances travelled in real space. In effect the ship, by surrounding itself with a subspace domain, creates its own shortcut/wormhole through real space.

Conclusion

So, TL;dr: Star Trek warp drive works by surrounding the ship with a warp field, a bubble of subspace which both lowers the inertial mass of the ship and removes it from the relativistic requirements of real space. Propulsion is achieved by shaping the field, but within the subspace bubble the ship still moves and can act on real space as well as experience inertial forces. Additionally, the warped relationship of subspace to real space means that distances travelled in subspace move the ship much further in real space, and that warp factor velocities reflect the speed at which the ship moves in subspace rather than real space.

Thank you for your attention.