#MicroTreks

Pike pours Sisko a glass of water.

“So—I uh—know I should hardly be surprised by people appearing in my quarters,” Pike begins. “Especially when your older self from an alternate future pays you a visit, but—why are you here again?”

Sisko grins.
1/14 Sisko swallows the ice cold water and sets the glass on Pike’s counter. “Well, I’m—not quite sure.”

“You’re not sure,” Pike repeats.

“I—exist outside—uh,” Sisko says, the hilarity of his statement preceding the words. “Time.”

“I’m—sorry,” Pike says.
2/14

#MicroTreks

“You can be anything,” Q says. “Why play humanoid?”

Odo folds his arms over his chest. “Why do you?”

Q’s brow raises then he leans back in his chair, smirking.

“I’ve learned to be a pyrithian bat, a vaporous cloud of light,” Odo says.
1/8

“And the Great Link, but to be part of life in the galaxy, I become what I must: humanoid,” Odo says.

“Ahh, so this limited, bipedal form is mere utility to you then,” Q says. “Is that it, Odo?”

“It’s who I am,” Odo says. “I am also more. And so are you.”
2/8

#MicroTreks

“That’s an interesting question,” Michael replies.

Janeway notices her stiffening face and the dryness of her voice. “I can tell you that the question itself is an answer, isn’t it?”

A thin grin pulls apart Michael’s lips. “It is—actually.”
1/14

“I suppose I should attempt an answer first,” Janeway says.

Michael nods.

“So, my father—well, first you must imagine this—figure—the figure of immense gravitas and—authority,” Janeway says. “He was nothing less than—the incarnation of Starfleet service.”
2/14

#MicroTreks

“You know what,” Raffi says. “Yeah—I’m just gonna say it.”

Worf pours them both tea.

“You’re a shit father and a coward,” Raffi says. “And I mean that, honey, with all the love I can muster.”

Worf drops a cube of sugar into Raffi’s cup.
1/6

Worf sits across from her, his tea in hand. His eyes burrow into hers.

“You are more courageous than I had thought,” Worf says.

“Love hurts,” Raffi says. “Because love brings the truth—the good, the bad, and the ugly.”

Worf swallows his tea.
2/6

#MicroTreks

“From Tau Alpha C?” Sisko asks sitting on the couch in his office.

Beverly nods, setting her raktajino down. “Told Picard that my son was special.”

“I see,” Sisko says.

“And then a few years later—he—took him,” Beverly says.

“Took him?” Sisko asks.
1/9 Beverly nods, motioning to the stars outside the window. “Out—there—some—time.”

“And there’s no way to track this—Traveller?” Sisko asks.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Beverly says. “But that’s not the point: Wesley went—willingly. In search—of—” She pauses, unsure.
2/9

#MicroWars

A little girl climbs the limbs of a tree that hang over a cliff. A kite struggles in the breeze against the branches.

“Mica, get down!” a boy shouts.

She climbs. The limb arcs downward.

Snap! The boy races to the edge.

“Hello, up there!” Ben shouts.
1/4 Both the girl and the limb hang free in the air. The man stands beside the thin river below. His hand waves the girl and branch onto the land.

“Are you a Jedi?” the boy shouts, intrigued.

“I’m just a—helpful neighbor,” Ben says.
2/4

#MicroTreks

“You—got to stay,” Shaw says.

“Yeah—I did,” Reno says. “And it was fucking grueling to engineer my friends like some—cannibalized, engine parts.”

“But—again—you got to do something to save them,” Shaw says.
1/8 “You didn’t have to see hopelessness in their eyes as you crouched into the escape pod,” Shaw says.

“You tough enough for some straight talk, Captain Dirge?” Reno asks.

Shaw shrugs.

Reno leans forward. “Your friends died—frozen debris forever floating at Wolf 359.”
2/8

#MicroTreks

Bashir and Miles are led down a dark corridor by two security officers.

“Fleet formation?” Bashir asks.

“It’s this new protocol that allows any starship hooked into the system to operate as one,” Miles says.

“Sounds—dangerous,” Bashir says.
1/5 “You’re bloody right it’s dangerous,” Miles says. “It’s supposed to protect the fleet from being compromised by outside influence.”

“Like what happened with that Living Construct years ago,” Bashir says.

“Quiet,” a security officer growls.
2/5

#MicroTreks

Kirk, McCoy, Spock, a civilian human-Vulcan hybrid, and a civilian man enter the transporter room.

“We’re all set here, Captain,” Scotty says from behind the transporter room console.

“Thank you, Scotty,” Kirk says hesitantly.
1/14 “If you’ll step up on the pad, please,” Kirk says.

The woman cautiously nods and steps up on the pad.

Spock stands on Kirk’s right. McCoy stands on his left, holding a hypospray.

Kirk, with his palm open, says, “Bones.”

McCoy grips the hypospray.
2/14

#MicroTreks

Sisko steps out of his office. “Jakira.”

Jakira looks up from a console. Worf stands. O’Brien sets his hypospanner down and stands up from an open conduit. Odo folds his arms across his chest.

“Doctor Bashir is waiting for us,” Sisko says.
1/14 “Benjamin,” Jakira says. “You’re not going to do this.”

Sisko steps forward. “You know—I am.”

“You forget that I’ve known you for so long—I know you better than you know yourself,” Jakira claims.

“Jadzia knew me. Kurzon, too,” Sisko says. “Not—you.”
2/14

#MicroTreks

Picard walks resolutely from his Ready Room onto the bridge and up to the Engineering station.

“Mister Georley,” Picard says quietly. Georley turns from the console. “Yes, Captain?”

“Will you accompany me to Sickbay?” Picard asks.

Georley’s eyes widen.
1/14 “I think—sir—that everyone should know what you’re about to do,” Georley announces to the bridge. Worf, Data, and the other bridge crew look back at him.

Georley approaches Worf. “Worf—my safety is being threatened. As Chief of Security, are you going to let—”
2/14

#MicroTreks

Kathryn yawns, sets her book down, stretches, and looks out into space.

“What are you reading?” a voice asks from behind.

Kathryn turns abruptly. “Who are you, and what are you doing on my ship?”

The man lifts the book, examining its cover.
1/25 “The Odyssey,” the man says, a smile tugging at his lips.

Kathryn eyes him intensely.

“You think you are Odysseus?” the man asks. “Separated from home—wandering alone, but—clever—surviving by your wits.”

Kathryn taps her combadge. It is silent.

“I am Jesus of Nazareth.”
2/25

#MicroTreks

Twin logs glow orange in the heart of a fire which warms the skin of Spock’s face.

His eyes, closed.

The edges of his cheeks, soft.

Tree leaves soothe the night with their companion: the wind.

“Spock,” a voice calls.

Spock’s eyes open. “It is you.”
1/17 The man smiles and sits across from Spock. The heat distorts the air between them, playfully warping the reality of the other.

“You expected me?” the man asks.

“I accepted your eventual arrival as,” Spock says. “A possibility.”

The man’s brow raises.
2/17

As I rewatch #StarTrekDiscovery’s second season, here are my mini-reviews! I love a lot of this season!

(Warning: I struggle with the coherence of the Red Angel plot. The nature of it seems to shift mid-way through the season—likely due to showrunner changes.) #StarTrek “Brother” is gorgeously shot. Production design is intricate and artful. The background of Michael’s beginnings with the Sarek family is intriguing, especially the strange Spock dragon.

Pike quickly commands the screen with ease and integrity and Reno is a quippy addition!

#MicroTreks
PART TWO

“Our influence wanes with each passing moment!” shouts an elderly Klingon man. He tosses bloodwine against the wall of his dark study.

A single window colors the floor with a bluish square.

“Father,” the old man’s son says, reviewing a computer.
1/11 “Do not speak to me unless your words will win back our fortunes and influence within the Empire,” the old Klingon growls.

“We are bleeding out finances like a whimpering—tohzah upon the battlefield,” the son says.

The old man’s eyes widens. “How?”
2/11

It’s time to watch “Extinction” as part of my Enterprise season 3 rewatch. #StarTrek Ugh. I really don’t care for “the crew transforms” or is taken over episodes. 🙄

#MicroTreks

“I’m all for the personnel serving with me to express what they’re feeling, but,” begins Jellico. “There’s a time and place for it. And that time and place is not on my bridge during a crisis.”

Kovich sits still, peering at Jellico through his glasses.
1/10 “If we’re thrust into a chaotic situation, the survival of my ship and crew depends on the orderly implementation of my commands by my bridge crew,” Jellico explains. “I would expect the same of my own child during a crisis.”

“So you are a father?” Kovich asks.
2/10

#MicroTreks

Picard stands amid the black, crackled beams. A memory of ash colors the breeze.

His nostrils flare, pulling in air. He kneels, pressing a fist in the dirt, his eyes closed.

“We’ll rebuild,” a woman begins. Her footfalls crunch the dead, dry debris and grass.
1/6 “It’ll be just as it was,” the woman says.

“Perhaps you can indulge in a replicator now,” Picard says, standing up.

They embrace for a long, heavy moment.

“Marie,” he says.

“Jean-Luc,” Marie replies.

“It’ll be better than it was,” Picard says.
2/6

#MicroTreks

Saru and T’Rina step onto the holodeck.

“Did you have a specific program in mind?” Saru asks.

“Perhaps, you might show me Kaminar?” T’Rina replies.

“It would bring me great joy to show you my home,” Saru replies, excited. “Uh, Zora. Please run program Saru 1.”
1/5 Simulated grains of sand vibrated into form beneath Saru and T’Rina’s feet. The hush of the tide streaking the beach conspires with the whisper of the trees to pull their anxious minds.

“In here, it is almost possible to forget about the danger the DMA poses,” T’Rina says.
2/5

#StarTrek has always explored human nature through Scifi conceits. Humans are emotional beings by nature.

Effective storytelling relates the emotional, internal conflicts of characters.

#StarTrek has 50+ years of effective storytelling.
1/5 Because modern Trek tells stories in compressed serialized seasons, the emotional density of these stories—episode by episode—is greater.

Sometimes the emotional content is over-relied upon. Sometimes older Trek didn’t explore the emotional lives of characters enough.
2/5

Episodes of #StarTrek with emotion, mental health, and self-reflection at the center of the narrative, a thread… “Faces”