There’s the official story, there’s the truth, and then there’s what really happened. Lieutenant Commander James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) is back on the Enterprise (again), and he and his brother, Lieutenant George Samuel (Sam) Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) gain a new perspective on their father when his former CO takes over the Enterprise for his own vendetta.
Meanwhile, Enterprise CO Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his First Officer, Number One / Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) are on a Class-M moon investigating a faint SOS signal. With them are Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rosa Gooding), Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), and Cadet A’Sha (Bianca Nugara) on her first away mission as well as some unwelcome Andorians with a bone to pick with Starfleet.
“Orders of Magnitude” was a thrilling adventure with shades of Crimson Tide and A Few Good Men. Actions have consequences, and that includes choosing when to follow orders and when not to.
Prologue
Stardate 2179.3
Jim Kirk is on a shuttle heading back to his own ship, U.S.S. Farragut, when he decides to make a pit-stop on the U.S.S. Enterprise and get a check-up from CMO Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun). It’s also a good excuse for him to say hello to Enterprise‘s Chief of Security, Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). Oh, yeah, and his brother is there, too.
Yeah, sure, I’d much rather see the person who tried to kill me than my brother.
Dr. M’Benga gives Jim Kirk a clean bill of health and gives him a quick shot of cordrazine for a little boost. I’m sure everyone remembers what happened in “The City on the Edge of Forever”; a couple drops can cure you, but too much makes you paranoid and delusional.
As Kirk is about to leave Sickbay, he asks where everyone is. M’Benga lets him know he just missed Captain Pike; he and Una, Uhura, Chapel, and Cadet A’Sha are investigating a faint SOS signal coming from a nearby moon.
Did La’an happen to go with them?
She did not.
La’an and Jim, Sittin in a Tree…
She’s in the Port Galley, where Enterprise Pilot Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) crashes her solo pity-party for some girl talk.
Yes, La’an knows Jim Kirk is on board. No, she has no plans to see him while he’s there.
And it’s none of Ortegas’s business.
Cue the storm out.
Stupid Cave Mission
Down on the surface, Pike and company set out to find the source of the mysterious SOS signal. It’s coming from a long-abandoned Altarian mine full of crystals that will, of course, block their communications and transporter signals.
Before venturing into the unknown cave, Pike checks in with the Enterprise and lets them know they’ll be out of comms. Concerned for their Captain’s safety, the crew recommends that he check in to let them know everyone is OK.
Pike agrees to check in with the ship in an hour.
Start the clock. 60 minutes. Pike out.
Permission to Come Aboard
Just as La’an announces that the landing party is out of comms range, an approaching shuttle contacts them. It’s a Starfleet Admiral’s shuttlecraft, and it’s requesting permission to dock.
According to La’an’s scans, the shuttle belongs to Admiral Simon Reeger (Joe Morton), and with the way she spoke his name, it was as if royalty was coming aboard. The Bridge crew, especially the war veterans, immediately begin to fanboy/fangirl over him.
Attention on Deck!
The Enterprise crew quickly gathers in the corridor to welcome their distinguished guest.
Admiral Reeger isn’t just another admiral. He was the CO of the Federation’s flagship, the U.S.S. Constitution, during the Klingon War and considered a legend with an impressive war record. Everyone in Starfleet knows who he is.
And Admiral Reeger knows who they are as well. He greets each crew member by name and wants to see Captain Pike now.
That’s going to be a problem.
Brother, Can You Spare a Starship?
Admiral Reeger gathers the remaining senior staff in the Ready Room to brief them, taking a moment to recognize Ortegas from her war reputation and make her blush.
Enough small talk. Reeger asks those present if they’re familiar with the Vardan Massacre. Science Officer Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) does; it was an unprovoked attack on a Federation colony that killed five million people.
Well, Reeger has been doing a little snooping. It turns out the attack was carried out by one mysterious ship with a particularly good cloaking device, and he’s figured out how to track its garbage trail.
Since the Enterprise is the closest starship, the admiral is pulling rank and taking command of the ship. He plans to use the Enterprise and her resources to make sure this unknown enemy never kills again.
Since Captain Pike and his Number One are both gone, Admiral Reeger feels the need to establish his own chain of command. As First Officer of the Farragut, Jim Kirk is technically the ranking officer on board (even though he’s not even assigned there), so Reeger makes him his First Officer.
As everyone leaves to carry out their orders, Admiral Reeger pauses to glare at Kirk. He knows something about the young officer.
Engage
Kirk slips into the role of First Officer and starts checking on everyone’s status. When he gets to La’an, their exchange is, in a word, cringe. Kirk tries to flirt, which clearly makes La’an uncomfortable. She still feels guilty for impaling him.
His conversation with Spock isn’t much better. Spock had the conn when Reeger came aboard and should have been chosen as First Officer. Instead, he congratulates Kirk on the position.
In a prophetic moment, Kirk tells Spock not to worry; he’ll be some lucky Captain’s Number One someday.
Feeling lucky, Jim?
Reeger plants himself in the Captain’s Chair and orders Ortegas to break orbit.
Before they can leave, Kirk points out that they might want to let the Enterprise‘s Captain that they were taking his ship. With the enemy’s ship ion trail dissolving quickly and Pike out of comms range, Reeger reluctantly agrees to leave a comm buoy behind for when Pike checks in.
Sure, what Captain wouldn’t be OK with someone hijacking his ship and crew?
Annoyed, the admiral once again orders them to get underway.
Act One: Rank Hath Its Privileges
Coffee
Coffee is a very important beverage in Star Trek lore. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) laments its loss in “The Trouble with Tribbles.” Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) would practically commit murder for it.
So, it seems, would Admiral Reeger. He calls Jim Kirk into the Ready Room to show off that he’s a big enough deal to have his own personal yeoman, Yeoman Vanek (Ewa Wolniczek), to serve as his own personal Starbucks.
Kirk takes the opportunity to fanboy a little over the admiral, particularly his famous victory at the Battle of Zeta Reticuli.
Reeger ignores him. Instead, he tells his First Officer never to question his orders on the Bridge again. He needs a First Officer who will back him up, not question every order given.
You know, like your dad.
This isn’t the first time Reeger had a Kirk for a First Officer; Jim and Sam’s father, George Kirk Sr., also served under Reeger as his Number One. Reeger liked him and respected him, but he tells the younger Kirk that he just wasn’t cut out for combat. If he were, he would’ve gotten his own command.
The Kirk brothers may resent their father, but they never saw him as a coward. Kirk tries to argue his point, but Reeger tells him that’s just who he was. He also assures Jim that he’s nothing like his father, and he’ll do just fine.
Now, go run battle drills.
It’s a Trap!
While Pike and the landing party do a little spelunking, Uhura tries to chat up Cadet A’Sha one more time. As usual, A’Sha couldn’t care less about anything happening around her, so Uhura takes another “L” in trying to connect with her cadet.
Their exploring leads them to a cave full of crystalline spikes and boxes of supplies and, more importantly, weapons.
Uhura finds the source of the SOS signal, but it’s a mess of different technologies: Federation, Orion, Klingon, etc.
Pike realizes they walked into an ambush. He orders phasers on stun, but it’s too late. A fire fight breaks out between the landing party and a group of Andorians. The landing party is outgunned and surrounded, so their only choice is to surrender.
Daddy Issues
Jim Kirk finds his brother Sam, in the Science Lab running a xenobiological study of the anonymous, mysterious enemy. It’s not going well; they know very little about the person they’re chasing.
Jim asks for Sam’s perspective on whether or not their father was afraid of command. He didn’t really have one; their father was gone too often for him to form an opinion.
It was a strange coincidence, though, that Simon Reeger’s Starfleet career took off while George Kirk’s stalled. It also seemed suspicious that their father abruptly transferred off the Constitution right after Zeta Reticuli.
Sam suggests that his brother talk to Dr. M’Benga about it; he served on the U.S.S. Constitution at the same time as their father and Admiral Reeger. He might have some insight.
Before Jim has the chance, however, Reeger summons his First Officer to the Bridge.
It’s All Your Fault, Jim
Kirk barely steps foot on the Bridge when Reeger chews him out for not getting there as soon as he heard the Red Alert called. Reeger then instructs the Bridge crew to run silent, run deep. The admiral wants a stealthy approach.
That’s not going to be easy when a cargo ship drifts toward them. Reeger’s first reaction is to destroy it; they could be working with “the enemy.”
Kirk wants hard evidence of that before he blows up another ship and kills people. Reeger impatiently asks La’an if she can fire a torpedo just strong enough to knock out their comms and engines but not destroy them.
La’an doesn’t want to disappoint her hero, so she tells him she can do it. Reeger asks Kirk if he has any reason to doubt her. Well, she did try to kill him, but other than that, she’s a solid officer.
Reeger gives her the order: Fire.
The torpedo hits its target and, to everyone’s relief, doesn’t blow it up. It did exactly what they wanted it to do: knock out the cargo ship’s comms and engines.
La’an breathes a sigh of relief; she got really lucky.
Her celebration is short-lived; while they were worried about the cargo ship, the enemy ship landed on the nearby planet, Argus II.
Reeger bristles. Way to go, Jim. We lost him because of you.
Was that really called for?
The admiral makes clear he doesn’t want to wait for the enemy to leave and try to track them again. He doesn’t want to send a landing party, either. Argus II is likely his base of operations, and everyone down there could be working for him.
There’s only one way to be sure; Reeger orders General Order 24: the destruction of all life on the surface of the planet.
In other words, genocide.
Act Two: Proceed with Caution
Directive of Last Resort
Jim Kirk quickly calls a time-out. General Order 24 is a “directive of last resort” and not meant to be used when they still have clear options open to them. There are 5,000 people down there, and we don’t know for sure if they’re involved or not. There are still too many what-ifs for them to move forward.
The admiral turns the situation into a math equation: five thousand sacrificed to avenge the five million who died at Vardin. That’s the math of command that Reeger claims Kirk’s father couldn’t handle.
Kirk begs the admiral to find some middle ground where they don’t have to kill 5,000 people. Reeger counters that the “middle ground” is where most people die and dismisses Kirk to ponder that.
Jim looks to his friends for some support, first La’an, then Spock, but neither Enterprise officer is willing to challenge the admiral.
Momentarily defeated, Kirk tucks his tail between his legs and retreats into the Ready Room.
That doesn’t mean he’s going to stop digging into the admiral’s past. What really happened at Zeta Reticuli? He was determined to find out.
Just then, Kirk’s PADD beeps with the information he’s been waiting for.
Medical Advice
Jim takes his brother, Sam’s, advice and goes to see Dr. M’Benga in Sickbay. Not one for small talk, Jim gets right to the point.
Reeger had a wife and daughter at Vardin. This is personal.
M’Benga pulls the brash officer aside and warns him not to pull on this thread. Kirk persists, however; is this revenge? He asks the Enterprise CMO to declare Reeger unfit for duty, but the doctor refuses. There’s not enough evidence.
Kirk then changes tactics. He asks M’Benga about Reeger in general – What kind of person is he?
According to M’Benga, the admiral is a man driven by the mission. To him, it’s everything, to the point of obsession.
The doctor then gives Kirk something new to think about. Why did Starfleet make Reeger an admiral? Was it a reward for his service, or was it to get him out of the chair?
Either way, he advises Kirk to watch his back.
Double or Nothing
Captain Pike and his landing party aren’t doing much better. He interrupts the witty banter from his overly-polite Andorian captor and asks him what he ultimately wants.
It’s simple; he just wants all their Federation communications protocols, so he can use them to smuggle his goods through their space without getting caught.
Pike refuses that and counters. He’s willing to pay them double what their buyer is offering for everything in the cave. Pike even offers to give them a generous head start, practically offering to let the pirates go.
Unfortunately, the Andorian didn’t come to negotiate and stabs Cadet A’Sha with one of the crystals in the cave. By the way, the crystals are toxic, so the young Vulcan needs help soon. Chapel tries to go for her med kit, but she’s stopped by their captors.
She can only help A’Sha if Pike agrees to his demands.
Hero Worship
Jim Kirk had some time to think about what he did and returned to the Bridge. All stations report ready to carry out General Order 24. They’ll be in range in 19 minutes.
Admiral Reeger tries to rouse the troops with an inspirational speech. He knows this is hard for them; he’s impressed with their conduct. All the things a leader would say to convince everyone that they’re doing what they have to do. He even takes a moment to compliment Ortegas on her “stellar flying.”
Reeger then orders the ship’s phasers to be routed through the warp engines. Ortegas loves the idea and asks if that’s how he won the battle at Zeta Reticuli. Reeger ignores her question and orders La’an to oversee the upgrade.
Kirk suggests the Enterprise‘s Tactical Officer remain at his post and offers to oversee the upgrades himself.
Reeger isn’t sure if he can trust his First Officer, but it gets him off his Bridge, so he lets him go.
To Bluff or Not to Bluff
Junior Engineer Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) is in a Jefferies Tube working on the phaser upgrades the admiral ordered when Jim Kirk finds him. Just a few minor tweaks, and the engineer will be done.
Kirk off-handedly asks if the phasers can be controlled from somewhere else on the ship. Scotty thinks for a second and lists off three potential control points: Engineering, Weapons Control, and the Phaser Control Junction Box. He warns Kirk against the junction box; there’s a ton of radiation in there. He’d get cooked before he could do anything.
Now that they’ve done all this work, Scotty asks if it’s really necessary. The admiral’s bluffing, right?
Kirk leaves that question verbally unanswered but shoots Scotty a look that says, “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Caving in a Cave
The Andorian pirates holding Captain Pike and his team definitely aren’t bluffing. The toxic crystals are causing some kind of crystalline necrosis in Cadet A’Sha’s bloodstream.
She needs a med kit. Now.
Pike tells his team to stay calm while he tries to negotiate their way out. His offer still stands; he’ll pay double for everything and haul it out. To sweeten the deal, Pike offers the pirates a ride to wherever they want to go. Besides, aren’t Andorians in the Federation? We should be getting along.
No deal, captain. This isn’t about politics to these particular Andorians; it’s about money.
Uhura can’t watch A’Sha keep dying. As the Enterprise Communications Officer, she knows all the codes they want. She offers to do what they ask if they give her the med kit.
Pike orders the ensign not to cooperate with the pirates, but she disobeys to save Cadet A’Sha.
Codes first, then med kit. And Uhura better hurry, or Cadet A’Sha won’t make it.
Get Off My Bridge
With only nine minutes to go before they blow up a planet, Jim Kirk asks Communications for one more status check. When the officer is distracted, Kirk slips an isolinear chip into the console and starts pressing buttons.
Admiral Reeger isn’t stupid. He asks Communications to stop what they’re doing and play whatever Kirk was trying to send.
The message plays – Kirk was trying to contact Starfleet to warn them about what Reeger was about to do.
Caught in the act, Kirk calls Reeger out. He accuses the venerated admiral of committing an act of revenge for the deaths of his wife and daughter.
To Kirk’s surprise, Reeger admits that he has a personal stake in this mission, but it’s still about the five million souls who died, not just his wife and daughter. The admiral then orders La’an to arrest Kirk and get him off the Bridge.
Good luck, Spock. You get to be First Officer now.
Act Three: Just Following Orders
Turnabout is Fair Play
On their way to the brig, La’an tries to apologize to Jim; she’s just following orders from a superior officer.
But does she agree with them? Jim reminds her that what they do will have consequences they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. It’s not like they can just take it back.
La’an admits she has reservations. Reeger’s evidence is flimsy and circumstantial at best. But orders are orders and they have to be followed.
Jim notices La’an’s watch and uses it to distract her. He’s unaware of how distracting it is when he points out that he should be wearing it, since it’s a man’s watch.
La’an has heard that from Jim Kirk before, only she fell in love with him. In another time that she is under orders not to discuss.
After all, orders are orders.
Before La’an can snap back to the present, Kirk has her phaser and is pointing it at her. He really hates what he’s about to do, but she did stab him, so…
La’an falls to the floor as Kirk stuns her with her own phaser.
I Know What You Did
Uhura keeps her word and works on the pirates’ communications equipment in the hopes of saving Cadet A’Sha. While she works, she takes a moment to chat up the Andorian pirate holding them hostage.
She’s deduced that he used to be Starfleet, which he confirms. After his Dishonorable Discharge, he became bitter and angry and needed someplace to focus all of it.
Humans.
To him, they’re all hypocrites who are afraid of death. He got Uhura to cooperate by threatening A’Sha’s life. Humans may talk a big game, but when it comes to death, they’ll do anything to avoid it.
Uhura’s known an Andorian or two, and she recalls when Hemer taught her about ushaan, or the Andorian code of honor. She demands the Andorian swear by his ushaan that he will let them go once he has what he wants.
He gives Uhura his word – as an Andorian.
Plausible Deniability
What’s worse than one Kirk trying to thwart your plans? Obviously, it’s when the other Kirk gets involved, too.
Sam meets his brother in his quarters, where he’s temporarily disabled the security system. Once they’re alone, they get to work sleuthing.
Jim points out that Reeger’s career took off right about the same time their father’s career stalled. That couldn’t just be coincidence.
Sam found something, too. He accessed the old messages their father sent from that time period, and there was something very interesting they totally overlooked.
The message said it came from the “Acting Captain of the U.S.S. Constitution.”
Was it some kind of comms glitch, or did their father take command of the U.S.S. Constitution at the battle of Zeta Retuculi?
Jim knows where he can get some answers, but he needs a favor from his brother. This isn’t their first rodeo; Sam demands plausible deniability, just like back in the day.
No problem, Sam.
“Get Help”
M’Benga finds La’an in the corridor and gives her a quick shot to wake him up. La’an expresses disbelief that Jim Kirk actually stunned her and sets off after him.
His trail leads her to Engineering, where she finds Kirk on the floor with a black eye.
Except it’s the wrong Kirk.
Sam is on the floor sporting a fresh shiner and complaining that his brother clocked him and ran off.
The Kirk Brothers’ version of Thor and Loki’s “Get Help.”
La’an realizes one of the brothers reprogrammed the sensors to confuse the two Kirks, and the one she wants is heading toward Sickbay.
HIPAA Violations
Jim Kirk is indeed in Sickbay, where he used the distraction to access Dr. M’Benga’s medical files from his time on the U.S.S. Constitution. According to the doctor’s notes, then-Captain Reeger suffered a traumatic brain injury during the battle and was relieved of command by his First Officer, George Samuel Kirk.
M’Benga returns to Sickbay and confirms what Kirk read – His father was the one in command during the battle at Zeta Reticuli, not Reeger. The admiral’s reputation is built on a lie.
So why didn’t M’Benga speak up?
The doctor doesn’t get a chance to answer. La’an bursts in and corners Jim, where she tells him to give up.
He still has one more move; the Medical Transporter activates and beams Kirk away.
Dang Kids and Their Loud Noises
Back in the cave, Uhura finishes her work and proves she’s a woman of her word.
To her captain.
She switches it on, and instead of transmitting Federation code signals, it shoots out a high-frequency sound that deafens the Andorians. This is just the distraction Uhura needed to grab one of their rifles and start shooting.
Beam Him Out, Scotty
Two can play at that game, Jim.
La’an joins Scotty in the Transporter Room, where he’s fixed the sensors to find the right Kirks. The one they’re looking for is in the Phaser Power Junction.
Well, that’s not good. Didn’t Scotty tell him that he would light up like a Christmas tree if he went in one of those?
He quickly beams Jim Kirk onto the transporter pad, where he collapses in the smoldering heap.
Instead of taking him to Sickbay or the brig, La’an takes Jim to the Ready Room to face Admiral Reeger’s wrath. M’Benga can treat him there.
Time’s Up
La’an and her two goons, er… security guards drag the Enterprise‘s former acting First Officer into the Ready Room, where Admiral Reeger is about to enjoy a fresh, hot cup of coffee. He orders La’an to check the Phaser Power Junctions to assess whatever damage Kirk did and waits for M’Benga to treat Kirk, so he can really lay into him.
Kirk isn’t doing too well. M’Benga walks in and observes that the officer should’ve been brought to Sickbay, not the Ready Room.
Reeger dismisses him. “He’ll be fine.”
As Kirk recovers, Ortegas comes over the intercom. They’re in range and ready to fire.
Reeger heads to the Bridge, and he orders Kirk be brought along to watch his victory.
Act Four: Did You Order the Code Red?
Nyota Wick
Uhura grabs one of the pirates’ plasma rifles and goes full John Wick on them. This is the “unflappable bada**” Mariner was talking about.
After some aggressive hand-to-hand combat and a point-blank shot to the shoulder, Uhura’s down but definitely not out.
The Andorian pirate reminds Uhura that ushaan doesn’t just mean “honor;” it’s a duel to the death.
That’s just fine with Uhura. She may not be able to aim her weapon with her bad shoulder, but she can certainly shoot up. Uhura brings the cave ceiling, and all the toxic crystals it contained, down on the arrogant Andorian.
With the Andorians neutralized (dead), Uhura frees her fellow crewmates and Captain. Chapel grabs her med kit and begins treating Cadet A’Sha, while Captain Pike takes a moment to chastise the young Ensign.
That was awesome! Don’t ever do that again.
You Can’t Handle the Truth!
This is it. Phasers are locked on target, and Enterprise is ready to carry out General Order 24. Jim asks Spock for the exact number of inhabitants on Argus II, the planet they’re about to destroy. Spock rattles off the statistic: 5,321.
That’s how many lives will be on everyone’s conscience if they don’t stop Reeger right now.
No one reacts. Reeger, sweating profusely, orders La’an to fire phasers.
Belay that order.
Jim countermands the admiral and lets everyone know he sabotaged the phasers by changing the power distribution codes. Not an engineer, Reeger turns to Scotty and asks him what that means.
It’s bad. Very bad. With phasers channeled through the warp core, the energy would blow up the Enterprise.
Reeger orders Kirk to give him the new codes, but Kirk refuses. It’s a battle of wills between the admiral and the young officer. The irresistible force has met the immovable object.
The admiral turns to threats to try to convince Kirk to give up the codes. He not only threatens Jim but Sam and his family as well. And they just learned he’s very capable of making good on that threat.
Dr. M’Benga tries to step in and be the voice of reason, but he’s shoved aside for Reeger to take a swing at Kirk. If he can’t threaten the codes out of him, he’ll beat them out of him.
Spock chimes in to warn the admiral that he’s just making Kirk mad. After sharing Kirk’s mind, he knows that the harder Reeger pushes, the harder Kirk will push back.
Fine. Admiral Reeger orders Spock to mind meld with Kirk again and rip the codes from his brain.
Spock respectfully refuses.
Reeger doesn’t back down. He grabs a phaser and presses it against Kirk’s temple, promising to burn a hole through the Farragut First Officer’s head and rip the codes out himself. Reeger has clearly gone off the deep end at this point.
You’re Damned Right I Did!
Kirk plays his last card; he tells everyone on the Bridge what really happened at Zeta Reticuli. It wasn’t Reeger who won the battle. Reeger wasn’t the brilliant tactician everyone believed him to be.
It was his father.
With his back against a wall, Reeger begins making excuses for his behavior. He was fine; he could have returned to the battle. That was his victory, not George Kirk’s.
So he spent the rest of his career punishing the elder Kirk for taking that away from him.
That’s it. Admiral Reeger is exposed and humiliated, but he tries one more time to get his revenge. He claims Kirk is bluffing, and he’s going to fire on the planet anyway.
Dr. M’Benga drops a Reverse card and tells Reeger he’s declaring him unfit for duty under Starfleet Order 104 Section C.
Reeger still doesn’t back down. With a Renfield-like maniacal laugh, he begins walking toward the doctor. Before he can get there, La’an finally steps up and stuns her former hero.
As soon as the admiral is out cold, Kirk cancels General Order 24 and confesses to the crew that he really was bluffing. He didn’t change any codes.
Dénouement
With both crises defused, Captain Pike is back on the Enterprise and back in command. The Andorian pirates are safely in the brig, and their illicit cargo has been impounded.
That ties up that loose end, but Admiral Reeger is a little more complicated. Pike has been briefed about what happened while he was off the ship, and now he has to figure out how to handle it.
Spock reports that the enemy ship they were chasing got away – They took off from the surface, but but the time Enterprise detected them, their ion trail was too degraded to track.
Told ya so.
Admiral Reeger reminds everyone that’s exactly what he was trying to avoid. Reeger had a chance to review the tape, and he didn’t like what he saw. He doesn’t behave like that.
It was Kirk. He spiked the coffee.
Before Reeger can finish his first threat, M’Benga cuts him off. No, admiral, it wasn’t Jim Kirk. M’Benga confesses it was him. He spiked the admiral’s fresh, delicious coffee with cordrazine.
Admiral Reeger immediately orders Dr. M’Benga arrested. Captain Pike, however, takes a step back and decides to turn the matter over to Starfleet.
As he leaves the Ready Room, Admiral Reeger drops a parting warning on Dr. M’Benga – This isn’t over.
A’Sha Out
The landing party has had their wounds treated in Sickbay and are ready to get back to work. Uhura checks on Cadet A’Sha to see how she’s doing, now that she’s going to be all right.
The cadet admits that, while she was impressed with Ensign Uhura’s ability to adapt to a rapidly-changing situation, Starfleet isn’t for her.
This devastates the young ensign, who takes it personally. What could she have done differently to make the cadet want to stay?
Nothing. A’Sha lets Uhura know she came to this decision logically, and Uhura didn’t factor into it.
That doesn’t make Uhura feel any better.
Cover Up
Jim Kirk swings by Sickbay as well to have a word with the ship’s current CMO. He comes clean and confesses it was him who spiked the admiral’s coffee with cordrazine, not Dr. M’Benga.
The doctor reassures the young Lieutenant-Commander it’s OK; he doesn’t want to see Reeger ruin another generation of Kirks’ careers.
Then Jim asks the ultimate question – Why? Why did M’Benga let Reeger take credit all these years when he knew the truth?
The reason – Kirk’s father asked him to. When they got back, Reeger was already being hailed as a hero, and George Kirk didn’t want to cause a scandal and tarnish Reeger’s reputation. So he let Reeger take all the credit.
But is it right to expose a cover-up with another cover-up?
M’Benga simply asks Jim to respect his decision and let him take the fall.
Kirk agrees and leaves, but Nurse Chapel has something to add. She’s disappointed that, after all they’ve been through, this is how her mentor chooses to end his Starfleet career.
Brothers Forgive
Now that Sam and Jim know the truth about why their father was always gone, they reflect on all the unnecessary resentment they’ve been carrying toward him all this time.
No matter what happened to him, George Samuel Kirk, Sr., never said a bad word about Starfleet, his chain of command, or his duties. He just did his job and got home whenever he could. He didn’t want his sons to grow up resenting Starfleet.
Hello, Lieutenant Junior Grade Uhura
Captain Pike calls Ensign Uhura to his Quarters to have a chat with him and his Number One about her conduct in the mine.
Uhura is well aware she disobeyed Pike’s orders and is more than ready to accept the consequences.
Except they’re not what she thinks they are. Pike recognizes her quick thinking and adaptability and grants her a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant Junior-Grade. Una congratulates the new Lieutenant and tells her Hemer, her late mentor, would be proud of her.
Nyota walked into Pike’s Quarters an Ensign and walked out with a new stripe on her sleeve.
Final Report
If you’ve seen Crimson Tide, you know this episode’s plot. The CO and XO face off in a battle of wills, and the crew is stuck in the middle. What do you do when both people giving you conflicting orders are technically in the right? Reeger said it best: Rank has its privileges. As an admiral, he was well within his legal rights to take the Enterprise and give the orders he gave. As acting First Officer, Jim Kirk was legally right to point out that there were still alternatives to genocide.
- Consequences. Jim Kirk remembered all too well how he felt when he realized he’d murdered over 700 people when he destroyed the Scavenger Ship (“The Sehlat Who Caught Its Tail”), and he was still living with that guilt. He didn’t want his friends to have to live with that same uncertainty.
- Family history. Families are complicated, a lot more complicated than we realize when we’re young. Jim and Sam always thought they knew their father, but it didn’t turn out that way. Their resentment was misplaced; it wasn’t their father’s fault that he wasn’t coming home.
- The truth. What’s the truth? Is it what we accept, like Reeger taking the credit for Zeta Reticuli and no one arguing? George was willing to go along with the cover-up, going so far as to swearing M’Benga to silence. Even though George Kirk never posed a threat, Reeger’s conscience/pride couldn’t stop punishing him for taking command of the Constitution.
- Right vs wrong. Was George Kirk right to allow Reeger to keep him away from his family all those years? Was Admiral Reeger right for wanting to avenge his wife and daughter? Was Jim Kirk right to disobey an admiral’s orders? Well, it all depends on how you argue it. As an admiral, Reeger had the authority and reputation to do almost whatever he wanted. No one dared question him, except George and James Kirk. Just because he can doesn’t necessarily mean that he should, but was it either Kirk’s place to stop him? Discuss.
While “Orders of Magnitude” may not have the most original plotline, it’s still an action-packed episode with great writing and acting performances. Joe Morton is brilliant as the arrogant, unhinged Admiral Reeger. After having served under officers like him, I’m extremely grateful never to have been placed in this scenario. If we’re going to continue grading these episodes like papers, I’d give this one a solid B+.
Watch season four of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds every Thursday on Paramount+ through September 24.
