Domestic Tranquility
| Star Traks: Boldly Gone | |
| Episode name | Domestic Tranquility |
|---|---|
| Season | 2 |
| Episode number | 2 |
| Writer(s) | Alan Decker, Anthony Butler |
| Year | 2500 |
| Stardate | 175215 |
| Chronology | |
| Previous in series | Yes, We Do Indeed Have Something To Declare! [BG] |
| Next in series | Respect Your Elders [BG] |
| Previous in timeline | Yes, We Do Indeed Have Something To Declare! [BG] |
| Next in timeline | Respect Your Elders [BG] |
A beautiful house. A good job. A safe neighborhood. Sounds great, huh? Then why are Dr. Natalia Kasyov and Lieutenant Commander Tovar so anxious to leave? And just how high is Lieutenant Shelly Marsden's credit limit anyway?
Summary
After being kidnapped by the Associates and having their raceabout destroyed in the previous story, Dr. Natalia Kasyov and Lieutenant Commander Tovar wake up in bed together. They are both naked, and Tovar has broken out in a rash. They are being observed by First Operative Ieeeooop, who informs them that they now have jobs in this community where they’ve been taken. Kasyov is a scientist, and Tovar is a homemaker. Ieeeooop causes clothes to materialize on them and tells Kasyov that she has to go outside to meet a tram that will take her to her job.
The USS Anomaly is still stuck at Gyjik’s Galaxy Gateway while Lieutenant Shelly Marsden makes repairs. The ship is hailed by a small Associates craft, the pilot of which informs Captain Reginald Bain that he is bringing them the craft as a replacement for the raceabout that the Associates destroyed. He also gives Bain coupons for two free defonilations to make up for the two crew members (namely Tovar and Kasyov) that the Associates took. Bain tells Marsden that they need to get underway, just as the Lackinis find the Anomaly and begin pounding on the airlock to get in. Bain has Ensign Hector Arroyo pull away, taking Gyjik’s airlock along with them. Moklok comms about the damage to Gyjik’s and asking about Tovar, but she is cut off when the Anomaly leaps into warp.
Kayov is put to work tasting different types of jam while Tovar, now controlled by his past life Tarva, starts cleaning the house they were put in by the Associates. During her lunch break, Kasyov is approached by Balpar, a Pulsan. She is immediately taken with the enormous size of his skull. They exchange pleasantries, then he walks away but not before scrawling a message in jam on her tray telling her to meet him outside the Level Four test room the next morning. She arrives home at the end of the day to find Tovar, actually his past life Toflay preparing dinner.
The next morning, Kasyov goes to meet Balpar, who shows her Loborus, a massive orange brain hidden in the back room of the testing area. She tells them about Cabral, and they tell her that Cabral is likely at the Associates’ primary Cerebral Testing Facility deep in the core of Associates space. Loborus was briefly there, but due to his low intelligence, the Associates removed him from their experiment and plugged him into the planetary control system of the testing world. Since Kasyov’s expertise is brains like Loborus, they hope that she can help them use Loborus to hack into the Associates’ systems and find a way to escape the testing world.
On the Anomaly, Bain decides to take their new Associates ship into an Associates system to gather information. He and Marsden will pose as husband and wife and go to a condominium sales office to see what they can find out about testing facilities in the region. They learn that there’s a testing facility in a nearby system and say that they’ll think about the condo. Bain put his thumbprint on the edge of the salesman’s padd, though, and the salesman is able to use it to charge a condo lease to the Anomaly’s account that Marsden opened.
The next morning Kasyov finds that Tovar is now controlled by Totap, a Yynsian inventor, who is busy building a device in their living room to prepare for world Armageddon. She takes the tram to work, distracted with thoughts of Balpar’s cranium. As she is about to enter the test facility, she is knocked to the ground by a blast. Tovar is there astride Totap’s device, which is an energy cannon he is using to attack the facility. She races to find Balpar and Loborus and tells them that they need to get out of the facility.
En route to the system holding the test facility, the Anomaly gets hailed by Moklok, who gives Bain surprising news. They enter the system and intercept panicked Associates’ comm traffic about the attack on the test facility. Eight Associates ships are heading to the system, which is far more than the Anomaly can deal with. Commander Prosak suggests that they cloak the ship. Bain didn’t realize they had a cloak. Marsden explains that they do, but they never think to use it, since it’s so old and most Alpha Quadrant ships can detect it. Since they’re in Andromeda, Bain hopes the cloak will give them an edge, and orders the cloak engaged.
Loborus disconnects from the planet and rolls toward the exit with Kasyov and Balpar running with him. He is able to roll over some Associates guards and through a pile of debris blocking the exit. They find Tovar, now free of Totap, surrounded by Associates.
The Anomaly enters orbit but can’t beam up Tovar and Kasyov due to an energy buildup near their position. The realize it’s Totap’s device and grab it with a tractor beam, pulling it away from the beings on the ground shortly before it explodes. The Anomaly beams Tovar and Kasyov away. Just as Kasyov is dematerializing, Balpar tells her to seek out the resistance past the Vartasian Nebula.
The Anomaly escapes, but they are unable to rescue Balpar and Loborus. The ship heads toward the nebula and away from the core systems of the Associates. Bain tells Tovar the news from Moklok. The rash isn’t a rash after all. Tovar is pregnant with hundreds of little squid babies.
Featuring
- Captain Reginald Bain
- Commander Prosak
- Lieutenant Commander Tovar
- Lieutenant Shelly Marsden
- Dr. Natalia Kasyov
- Dr. Fred Nooney
- Ensign Hector Arroyo
- Cabral