The Ties That Bind

Star Traks: Boldly Gone
Episode name	The Ties That Bind
Season	3
Episode number	3
Writer(s)	Alan Decker, Anthony Butler
Year	2500
Stardate	175277
Chronology
Previous in series	Aren't You Dead? [BG]
Next in series	Wagon Train To Qo'nos [BG]
Previous in timeline	Aren't You Dead? [BG]
Next in timeline	Wagon Train To Qo'nos [BG]

The USS Anomaly FINALLY returns to Earth. For Captain Reginald Bain and Lt. Cmdr. Tovar, it means a reunion with Rosalyn Bain. But for Ensign Hector Arroyo, a simple dinner invitation from his parents turns into a nightmare of galactic proportions.

Summary

As the USS Anomaly is finally approaching Earth after their trip to the Andromeda Galaxy and detour to help Lieutenant Commander Tovar, Rosalyn Bain receives word that her husband, Captain Reginald Bain is on her way home while she is on assignment for Section 31. Said assignment is to prevent a Cardassian terrorist named Fubar from crashing a cloaked shuttle full of explosives into the Federation capital city of Paris.

While Bain and Tovar, who is randomly shifting through past lives after the removal of the Interloper prepare to beam down, Rosalyn fights Fubar on the shuttle and is able to alter its course so that it is now crashing close to the Bain home in the south of England. She beams out of the shuttle and into her own kitchen just as Bain and Tovar beam down outside and right before the shuttle crashes. She is able to quickly make it look like she has been there the whole time preparing dinner.

The Anomaly, meanwhile, is in Spacedock for repairs. Lieutenant Shelly Marsden believes she is the only one left aboard, but she finds that Ensign Hector Arroyo is still aboard as well. He has been avoiding going home. As he and Marsden are talking, his father, Senator Escobar Arroyo of the United Earth Legislature, comms informing Arroyo that he and his fiancée Janie are expected for dinner that Wednesday night.

Arroyo comms Admiral Okawa’s office at Starfleet sciences to talk to Janie, but he finds out that she and the Admiral have been missing for a week. They disappeared somewhere between Earth and Waystation Prime. He goes to enlist Marsden’s help to find her, also surprising Marsden with the news that he and Janie have been engaged for a year and a half. He and Janie faked the engagement so Arroyo’s parents would stop focusing on who he was dating. Also, Escobar wrote Janie a recommendation to join Admiral Okawa’s office.

After Marsden leaves Lieutenant Polnuc in charge, Arroyo and Marsden take the USS Navigator to try to find her. They quickly realize that, being astronomers, Okawa and Janie likely diverted course to investigate a new phenomenon, a blinking blue blob, that popped up along their route about a week and a half ago.

At the Bain home, Tovar’s past life Toflay is making Bain and Rosalyn breakfast. Bain receives a comm from Admiral Kristen Larkin summoning him to Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. Bain agrees to be there in 12 hours.

The Navigator arrives at the coordinates of the blinking blue blob only to find that it is really nothing more than a large blue light. Before they can learn any more, an intruder beams aboard accompanied by several small robots. They burst onto the bridge, aiming weapons at Marsden and Arroyo. The robots quickly disarm Marsden and Arroyo. The robots are controlled by Veraxe’, a Serellen artist who immediately criticizes the blandness of the Navigator’s bridge. He suggests putting a large mural in the dome. When Arroyo demands to know where Janie is, Veraxe’ says that he won’t let her, Okawa, or Arroyo and Marsden go until he has finished what he is doing. He has some of the robots take Arroyo and Marsden to holding and orders two others to redecorate.

After Bain leaves for San Francisco, Rosalyn can’t find Tovar. She finds him tied up in the kitchen just before Fubar knocks her unconscious with a kettle.

Veraxe’ has Arroyo brought to a room with a massive viewscreen showing the blue blob outside Veraxe’s ship. Veraxe’ has noticed Arroyo seems to appreciate his art, so he tells him about his current project: the galaxy’s first space painting to be called [[Sunrise on Serella]. The blue blob is just the first part. The whole work will be created with charged particles emitting light at specific wavelengths. And Veraxe’s robots will control the particles with precise magnetic fields to change the image such that it shows a complete sunrise. Arroyo is impressed, much to Veraxe’s delight, since the Federation Arts Council turned down his request for a grant to create it. This forced Veraxe’ to take matters into his own hands. He is still upset, though, because he has to create it in the middle of nowhere rather than along a more heavily-traveled route.

Rosalyn awakens to find herself tied up on her sofa. Fubar explains that he survived the shuttle explosion by leaping into a tree shortly before the crash. He has released Tovar, since Toflay and Tarva have been so helpful to him. He promises to drop Tovar off at a mental hospital after he kills Rosalyn.

Arroyo breaks the handmade wooden chair he’s been tied to and uses some of the wood to knock out Veraxe’. After trying Veraxe’ up, he contacts the Navigator and has the computer beam him a couple of wrist phasers and also start blasting the docking bay of Veraxe’s ship, where it is now located. Arroyo begins searching for Marsden and Jamie, blasting robots as he goes.

Fubar changes his mind about Tovar after seeing how useful he is and decides to take Tovar with him after he kills Rosalyn. While in the kitchen so Toflay can make Fubar a snack, Tovar battles with his past lives for control of his body so that he can save his adopted mother. He convinces the past lives to work with him by developing a plan that allows each of them to do things that they enjoy.

Arroyo finds Marsden, Janie, and Okawa, and they race to the docking bay, where they fight Veraxe’s robots while Janie gets aboard the raceabout and launches. With the robots dealt with, Marsden, Arroyo, and Okawa board the Navigator, where they find that the bridge has been beautifully redecorated with dark woods, brass, and new carpeting along with the mural Veraxe’ had described earlier in the bridge dome. They escape the docking bay and make it into open space, where they see Veraxe’s completed space painting. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Rather than destroying it and Veraxe’, they decide to leave things as they are and head back to Earth.

Tovar emerges from the kitchen with a device strapped to the back. Using it, he coats Fubar with quick-drying chocolate, rendering the Cardassian immobile. With Rosalyn safe, Tovar explains that he came up with the plan, Totap designed the device, Toflay cooked up the chocolate, and Tarva developed a solution to clean up any chocolate spatters. Tovar and Rosalyn work to take care of Fubar before Bain returns.

Back at Spacedock, Janie agrees to go to dinner with Arroyo’s parents. No one has seen Veraxe’, but the Federation Arts Council awards him that year’s Golden Palette for the space painting. Starfleet, however, has put out a warrant for his arrest, charging him with Unauthorized Defacing of Space.

Section 31 beams Fubar away, leaving the chocolate shell behind. After working together with him, Tovar’s past lives have allowed him to have primary control of his body back. Bain comes home to find a bizarre dessert in the form of a chocolate Cardassian statue and Tovar, now ready to find out who he is without the Interloper.

Featuring

• Captain Reginald Bain
• Commander Prosak
• Lieutenant Commander Tovar
• Lieutenant Shelly Marsden
• Dr. Natalia Kasyov
• Dr. Fred Nooney
• Ensign Hector Arroyo
• Cabral
• Rosalyn Bain

Links

The Ties That Bind