"The Inner Fight" is an episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, 39th in the series and the ninth episode of LD season 4. It was released on 26 October 2023.
Description[]
- Captain Freeman assigns the Lower Deckers an overly safe mission to try and keep a self-destructive Mariner out of danger.
Summary[]
On Persioff IX, Brad Boimler and T'Lyn have finished installing a power relay for a research station. With everything done, Boimler asks one of the outpost scientists what they do here. The scientist explains that they research the venomous tremble lizard. He explains that they have neurotoxin covering their skin, and their blood is corrosive and touching them causes your eyes to shoot out. Beckett Mariner, clearly bored with everything, asks why he doesn't just join Starfleet and see new aliens, but he explains he has a tremendous passion for them. One of the lizards bites a wire, causing part of the fence to go down, sending the scientist into a panic as the creatures charge toward the station. Boimler and T'Lyn go to put on their antivenom suits, but Mariner snatches the tool Boimler used and runs out despite her friend begging her to put on the Suit.
As Mariner races out, fighting off the creature with a metal tray, the scientist thinks she must love outpost scientists. When Boimler tells him she thinks they're "weirdos," he questions why she's risking her life for them. T'Lyn can only say it is "illogical." Mariner can fix the fence and escape back before it gets restored. As Mariner enters the building, Boimler snaps at her, but she deflects his question, asking for baking soda for her shirt before turning around, revealing a tremble lizard on her back. The lizard pounces on the hapless scientist before Boimler goes to rescue him again.
On the USS Cerritos, Boimler and T'Lyn meet in the hallways and muse about the latest away mission that's devolved into Mariner-based violence. T'Lyn has noted that her caviler behavior has gotten more dangerous since the mission to Ferenginar. Reaching the ready room, D'Vana Tendi and Sam Rutherford are already there, noting how weird it was for them to be in the room together and without Mariner. At that point, Captain Carol Freeman joins in with Jack Ransom, Shaxs, and T'Ana, with the captain demanding to know what is wrong with Mariner, as Ransom noted that the past week, she jumped out of a shuttle to fight what she thought was Borg but ended up being a pile of junk. Boimler suggests sending her to Migleemo, but there's no time as Starfleet Intelligence has new info on the Nova One.
The ship attacking non-Starfleet affiliated ships has now turned its attention to former Starfleet personnel. Ransom gives them a list of four targets: Seven of Nine, Beverly Crusher, Thomas Riker, and Nick Locarno. Boimler is ecstatic - they're going to meet Crusher. Sadly for him, theUSS Vancouver has her covered, and they get Locarno. Tendi's never heard of him, and Ransom explains he was a former cadet who was 'drummed out' for getting a fellow cadet killed performing an illegal maneuver, and now he's a pilot-for-hire. T'Lyn realizes that if Mariner hears of this, she'll make things worse, so Freeman needs her distracted. Tendi realized there was an old space buoy in the Sherbal system that stopped transmitting data, and they could play it up as super dangerous. Freeman agrees and orders them to take Mariner there and thanks them.
At the shuttle, Mariner is excited that they're on a girl's trip (plus Boimler), and Boimler warns her that things could get dangerous. Mariner wants to know what the mission is. T'Lyn says it would be 2.47 times 'more dangerous' if she doesn't find out, which she agrees with. With that, the shuttle departs the Cerritos and arrives at the buoy at Sherbal V, where Mariner is annoyed. She doesn't understand how repairing an "old-ass weather satellite" is dangerous. Tendi notes that space debris or a solar flare could strike at any moment, while Boimler notes the storms on the Planet. Curiously, Tendi states the communications array has been tampered with, earning Mariner's ire, wondering who would care. Unknown to them, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey is watching them.
Meanwhile, the Cerritos arrive at New Axton – "Twice as lawless as Old Axton without any of the charms.", according to Shaxs. Freeman notes that it's a favorite spot for troublemakers, and Ransom reveals Locarno peddles his services at the capital. Freeman knows that they have to act like criminals before they get hailed by traffic control, who gripes about them parking the Cerritos where it was. He tells Freeman to park the ship by the second moon and that a shuttle comes around every three hours before a mysterious figure contacts them, traffic control letting him through. When Freeman complains, traffic control brushes her off and tells her to park her ship on the moon, which she reluctantly agrees. At the buoy, the shuttle turns to leave, with Tendi making the last uploads. Mariner groans, wishing there was some dangerous space anomaly when the Bird-Of-Prey decloaks in front of them. As the ship locks weapons, Mariner throws Boimler off the pilot's seat and takes control, sending the shuttle towards Sherbal V. The Bird-Of-Prey drains shields, forcing Tendi to emergency transport the four onto the Planet as the shuttle gets destroyed. Arriving on the Planet, the four recover their wits before Mariner realizes they are far from Klingon territory. They hear 'mysterious screams' in the distance. Despite their desire to keep quiet, Mariner goes crazy again and charges deeper into the jungle as the other three chase after her.
Deeper into the jungle, the four come to a stop, prompting Mariner to declare they rest, and she's going back out there. Boimler doesn't understand how she still has so much adrenaline when Mariner says that there's an apex predator out there, and she wants them to know that she is the new apex predator here. Tendi reveals she downloaded all sorts of data on the planet, which, T'Lyn notes, will help them until a search party finds them. However, Mariner hushes them as they spot Gem being chased and knocked down by Vrek. Gem tries to bribe Verk with latinum, but Vrek wants information. The four overhear that they were both stunned and woke up on this planet suddenly. However, a third figure prepares to pounce before its leg gets snared in a makeshift bear trap, revealing that Gem and Vrek are working against him. Confused, Boimler suggests staying hidden only to see Mariner jump in to knock down Gem. Vrek and Mariner briefly duel, allowing the cloaked figure to escape the trap and attack while Boimler and T'Lyn drag a dazed Mariner away.
In New Axton, Freeman, Shaxs, and Rutherford arrive on the shuttle. Rutherford groans at how long the shuttle took. Freeman notes that Locarno frequents the Pickpockets District and heads off in that direction. Rutherford jokes to Shaxs that they don't have pockets in their pants, only to find out they do. Arriving at Mudds, Freeman notes that all types of unsavory people frequent here. Claiming she aced her Hoodlums and Racketeering seminar at the Academy and wants to be the one doing the talking. The bouncer stops them, and Freeman tries to talk her way in, but the bouncer refuses – they're Starfleet, and there's a two-hour wait despite the bar being empty. He tries to direct them to Zorky's, but the mysterious figure from earlier pushes past them and gets let in with no problem. Freeman decries that only for their wait to get extended another thirty minutes.
Back at Sherval V, the crew realizes Vrek is tense. And Mariner suggests it's probably because of the Klingons, like the fight with the Pakleds. T'Lyn asks if Mariner is in that battle, and when she tries to ask if T'Lyn is, a Cardassian drops out of nowhere and pins Boimler to a tree by his neck. Mariner tries to fight him off, but T'Lyn employs a Vulcan neck pinch to knock him out. Needing shelter, Tendi discovers a good spot and leads the way. They climb into a large tree and note that the storms are getting worse. Realizing there might be a monitoring station nearby, Tendi suggests getting over there to make it a makeshift distress beacon. Boimler noticed the campfires and suggested taking a long way, which causes Mariner to scoff at that, saying that both Tendi and T'Lyn are more capable of fighting than taking "the long way." T'Lyn finally reveals that the captain specifically ordered them to keep her out of danger. Mariner was shocked by this. They asked her what was causing her to put herself in more danger. Despite their best efforts, Mariner refuses to open up and suggests everyone get some rest so they can wake up not "being dicks." Later that night, Mariner reveals herself to be fully awake, and she takes the opportunity to escape and dive deeper into the jungle despite the storm. However, she ends up in the territory of the strange figure, who reveals himself as Ma'ah, demanding she leave. Mariner refuses and insults him, leading them to fight. However, their fight is interrupted as a glass storm rains down on them, forcing them to take shelter.
Reaching shelter, Mariner and Ma'ah catch their breath and pull glass shards out of their bodies. Ma'ah calls the planet honorless for the storm, but Mariner accuses Ma'ah of stranding her and her friends on the planet. Ma'ah reveals that his crew betrayed him and left him on the planet. He vows to drive his d'k tahg into their hearts. Frustrated, Mariner demands they fight again, but their shelter is too small to resume fighting.
Later that night, Ma'ah speaks up, noting how Mariner is Starfleet yet acts like a warrior. Mariner gets upset because of his chattiness, but she decides to open up, thinking it won't matter.
Mariner reveals she got a promotion she never wanted and tried to get demoted, but it never worked. Ma'ah laughs, thinking she hates Starfleet, but in actuality, she tells him she doesn't and reveals that when she was in the Academy, her dream was to be a captain and model herself after her perfect friend, Sito. She made mistakes, but she rallied, graduated ahead of her, and got stationed on the USS Enterprise-D. Ma'ah mentions that he knows of its tales, and Mariner says so did Sito, and it got her killed by Cardassians. Tearing up, Mariner tells Ma'ah that her death destroyed her, and then, before she knew it, there was the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar.
Ma'ah realizes that she fought in the Dominion War and wishes he could have, too. When Mariner tells him it was nothing but massacres, he's confused – Starfleet was victorious! Mariner explains that Starfleet is supposed to be solving the mysteries of life, not fighting wars. Throwing away her extra pip, she reveals she didn't want to be a general sending her friends off to die and that if Sito was fine ending her run as an ensign, then it was good enough for her.
However, Ma'ah calls her out for this attitude. Sito gave her life to allow Mariner to continue her way of being Starfleet, and she should honor her by resuming her position, exploring, and studying. Mariner, realizing Sito would think she was behaving like an idiot, concedes Ma'ah's point – though her stance on Starfleet's flaws is unchanged, she won't improve matters by stalling her own career. Ma'ah returns the extra pip, and Mariner immediately puts it back on, finally accepting her promotion. With the storm over and the sun rising, Ma'ah decides they should continue their fight, but Mariner is ready to work together to get out alive, much to Ma'ah's annoyance.
Back at Mudds, Freeman, Rutherford, and Shaxs meet with the information broker, who knows their names and threatens to destroy them. Despite Freeman still wanting information on Locarno's whereabouts, the broker refuses. Freeman pulls Rutherford and Shaxs aside and realizes that this is probably an old trick – that's not an alien, it's a puppet. Freeman grabs the broker and throttles him violently, but Rutherford reveals that it isn't a puppet at all – just a very small alien!
Freeman sheepishly puts the alien back down, and indignant, the alien decides to sell the info on Locarno, but not to Starfleet, and he sells it to the mysterious helmeted figure. The mission fails, and the trio gets kicked out by the bouncer as the patrons jeer them. Back on Sherbalt V, Mariner and Ma'ah watch as the Ferengi, Romulan, Orion, Cardassian, and Bynar commanders get into a scuffle caused by the Ferengi trying to get fruit by the monitoring station.
Ma'ah suggests attacking the Orion leader to make the rest scatter, but Mariner proposes something harder: a time-out. Learning that the other groups were betrayed by their ensigns and left stranded, Mariner thinks the best thing to do is to work together to escape, but the Orion captain, Cosmia, and her first officer refuse to listen. Thankfully, Tendi arrives in the nick of time, using her title of Mistress of the Winter Constellations to protect them. Thanking Tendi, Mariner rallies the other aliens to work together because they all chose to see the stars. She tells them to use the monitor station as a distress beacon when she gets teleported away. The group freaks out, but thankfully, Ma'ah convinces the group to stay the course as he has a plan.
On New Axton, Rutherford and Shaxs lament their failure at getting the info, but Freeman reveals it was a success as the mysterious figure arrives and removes his helmet, revealing it to be Andy Billups. Freeman knew they would be targets, so she used their biases against them, and with the info in hand, they head off to find Locarno.
Back on Sherbalt V, as the mysterious ship flies away from the Bird-of-Prey, the Klingons detect a distress signal and go planetside to the source. They get close to the station and destroy it, allowing Ma'ah to lead the others aboard the ship.
At Locarno's hideout, the four officers call for Locarno and enter with caution.
On Sherbalt V, the group enters the Bird-of-Prey, retaking it and Ma'ah kills the captain, but Mariner's not there.
At Locarno's hideout, the four officers try to find Locarno, but Rutherford has found something more: The mysterious ship's blueprints, horrifying Freeman.
On the mysterious ship, Mariner comes to and, briefly confused about the slightly empty room, tries to free herself, only for the door to open. She swings at the figure in the doorway, but stops when she sees who it is: Nick Locarno. When asked what he is doing, Locarno tells her they are going to cause trouble together.
TO BE CONTINUED...
References[]
Characters[]
- Andy Billups • Brad Boimler • Casey • Cosmia • Pon Darra • Carol Freeman • Gem • Haubold • Key'lor • Nicholas Locarno • Ma'ah • Beckett Mariner • Jack Ransom • Samanthan Rutherford • Shaxs Drazon • D'Vana Tendi • T'Lyn • Vrek • Z'oto • tremble lizards
- Referenced only
- Beverly Crusher • Migleemo • Thomas Riker • Seven of Nine • Sito Jaxa
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Cerritos (California-class support ship)
- Referenced only
- USS Enterprise-D • USS Vancouver
Locations[]
- Mudds • New Axton • Persioff IX • Pickpockets District • Sherbal system • Sherbal V • Zorky's
- Referenced only
- Ferenginar • Old Axton
Races and cultures[]
- Addix's species • Andorian • Arcturian • Ariolo • Arkonian • Bajoran • Bolian • Bynar • Caitian • Cardassian • Edosian • Ferengi • Galardonian • Gelrakian • Gorn • Human • Klingon • Molmol's species • Narj's species • Orion • Pon Darra's species • Romulan • Tamarian • Tellarite • Vulcan
States and organizations[]
Other references[]
- d'k tahg • glass storm • latinum • neurotoxin • solar flare • Sto-vo-kor
Appendices[]
Connections[]
| Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| season 1 | "Second Contact" • "Envoys" • "Temporal Edict" • "Moist Vessel" • "Cupid's Errant Arrow" • "Terminal Provocations" • "Much Ado About Boimler" • "Veritas" • "Crisis Point" • "No Small Parts" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| season 2 | "Strange Energies" • "Kayshon, His Eyes Open" • "We'll Always Have Tom Paris" • "Mugato, Gumato" • "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers" • "The Spy Humongous" • "Where Pleasant Fountains Lie" • "I, Excretus" • "wej Duj" • "First First Contact" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| season 3 | "Grounded" • "The Least Dangerous Game" • "Mining the Mind's Mines" • "Room for Growth" • "Reflections" • "Hear All, Trust Nothing" • "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption" • "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus" • "Trusted Sources" • "The Stars at Night" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| season 4 | "Twovix" • "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee" • "In the Cradle of Vexilon" • "Something Borrowed, Something Green" • "Empathological Fallacies" • "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place" • "A Few Badgeys More" • "Caves" • "The Inner Fight" • "Old Friends, New Planets" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous episode: Caves |
Lower Decks episode produced | Next episode: Old Friends, New Planets |
| Previous episode: Caves |
Lower Decks episode aired | Next episode: Old Friends, New Planets |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Caves |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next Adventure: Old Friends, New Planets |
| Previous Adventure: Caves |
Voyages of the USS Cerritos |
Next Adventure: Old Friends, New Planets |
External link[]
- "The Inner Fight" article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.