Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Recap: Starfleet v. Una Chin-Riley
This week’s episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, titled “Ad Astra per Aspera,” employed Star Trek’s signature ethical debates as Una Chin-Riley (aka Number One) stood trial for concealing her identity as an Illyrian. We last saw her being taken into custody in the Season 1 finale.
Now the Starfleet commander faced a minimum two-year prison sentence and was given an unsatisfactory offer to plead guilty, take a dishonorable dismissal from the Federation and serve no time. But that also meant her records would be sealed, which Una saw as Starfleet’s attempt to hide the fact that an Illyrian rose through the ranks of their organization.
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Elsewhere, Captain Pike traveled to the Volterra Nebula (also visited by Captain Picard in Season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation) to find legal aid for Una. He tracked down Una’s old associate Neera (played by American Gods’ Yetide Badaki), an Illyrian civil rights attorney who was hesitant to take on the case.
Neera, who hadn’t seen Una in 25 years, took issue with her estranged friend hiding who she was while working for an organization — Starfleet — that she wasn’t particularly fond of. Still, this case would help with others on her docket, so Neera dove right in, starting with rejecting the insufficient deal on Una’s behalf.
That spurred the prosecution, made up of Vice Admiral Pasalk (Graeme Somerville) and Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano), to petition for two additional counts of sedition, a dishonorable dismissal and 20 years in a Federation penal colony if found guilty.
Neera’s opening argument posited the law itself as wrong, and she cited how chattel slavery, apartheid and discrimination based on race, religion and gender were once legal under Federation law. “A law does not make something just,” she said.
The prosecution went on the attack, getting Admiral Robert April (Bel-Air’s Adrian Holmes) to admit under oath that he would not have sponsored Una’s Starfleet application had he known she was genetically modified. But Neera flipped the script, pointing out that April’s willingness to break the Prime Directive on numerous occasions proved that rules can and have been broken.
After glowing testimonies from members of the Enterprise crew, including Spock, La’an and Dr. M’Benga, Una took the stand to share her story. She recalled how some Illyrians left Federation planets while the others who stayed behind were persecuted under anti-augmentation laws. Growing resentment against Illyrians led to violent attacks, and she nearly died after being assaulted as a kid. Her city was then divided into Illyrian and non-Illyrian halves, and her family went to the non-Illyrian side since they could pass for human.
That’s when we learned that Una turned herself in because she was sick of living a lie.
During cross-examination, Pasalk pressed her into revealing that Pike knew about her identity for four months, which laid the groundwork for conspiracy charges against the captain.
Neera countered by laying out how Una fulfilled the requirements for asylum, having been persecuted, had her life threatened, and later sought help from Pike. And Pike not turning her in was his way of granting asylum, which was well within Federation law.
Neera’s compelling speech swayed Starfleet officials, who granted Una asylum, found her not guilty of all charges and allowed the commander back onto the Enterprise. This small victory didn’t change the rules, but it was an important step toward progress.
What did you think of the episode? Were you satisfied with the outcome?
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