Illusions Of Grandeur - Part Two
| Star Traks: Boldly Gone | |
| Episode name | Illusions Of Grandeur - Part Two |
|---|---|
| Season | 4 |
| Episode number | 6 |
| Writer(s) | Alan Decker, Anthony Butler |
| Year | 2501 |
| Stardate | 176843 |
| Chronology | |
| Previous in series | Illusions Of Grandeur - Part One [BG] |
| Next in series | The Bain Of Our Existence [BG] |
| Previous in timeline | Illusions Of Grandeur - Part One [BG] |
| Next in timeline | The Bain Of Our Existence [BG] |
The rip-roaring conclusion to the stuff that happened in part one can be found here in the appropriately named "Illusions of Grandeur - Part Two."
Summary
Picking up where the last story ended, the James T. Kirk hologram has trapped Captain Reginald Bain, Lieutenant Commander Tovar, and Ensign Hector Arroyo in a simulation of the USS Anomaly inside the Mega-Sim. Bain’s daughter, Audrey Bain, has also joined the Kirk hologram’s effort to recruit holograms from the Mega-Sim to join his uprising and leave their digital home via mobile emitters.
After an argument about the Kirk hologram’s intentions, he leaves the simulated Anomaly bridge to go free other holograms in the Mega-Sim and puts Audrey in charge of watching over her father and the others. The Tovar hologram says that the Kirk hologram should just kill Bain, Tovar, and Arroyo. The Kirk hologram refuses, saying that he wants holograms to live peacefully with the “fleshies” and leaves the bridge with Holo-Tovar. Audrey tries to convince Bain that Holo-Kirk just wants holograms to be free.
On the Anomaly, Lieutenant Shelly Marsden is working to repair the ship’s systems after their run in with the Holo-Kirk controller Section 31 ship Sloan and the electromagnetic pulse Dr. Natalia Kasyov had to use to stop the Steve! hologram from killing them all after Holo-Kirk sent over a signal that took Steve! over and turned him homicidal.
Tovar and Arroyo have Bain go see if he can talk some sense into Audrey while they search for other ways out of the simulated Anomaly. The conversation does not go well, as Audrey refuses to help them escape and accuses Bain of being an absent father, more devoted to Starfleet than his family, and loving Tovar, who isn’t even his biological child, more than he loved her or her sister Sophie. Tovar and Arroyo are able to find a possible way to get into another area of the Mega-Sim through a backdoor left by the programmers.
Holo-Kirk and Holo-Tovar release a batch of Zimmerman-style holograms, most of whom want to stay in the Mega-Sim. Holo-Kirk has them sent to have their ethical subroutines altered.
Once the real Anomaly is repaired, it heads to the Mega-Sim. Along the way, Cabral devises a way to counter the energy weapon that the Sloan used against them in their previous encounter. They arrived at Beta Omadda Three cloaked and literally run into the Sloan, which is also cloaked. Commander Prosak hails the Sloan and attempts to stall Moriarty while Cabral finishes his countermeasure.
Holo-Kirk asks Audrey to bring him more holograms to free and tells her about his method to change their ethical subroutines so that they will attack live beings. Bain, Tovar, and Arroyo find a way out of the Anomaly simulation through a drawer in Marsden’s quarters. Knowing that she can’t stop them, Audrey agrees to go with them, since they don’t know their way around the Mega-Sim. She says she will take them to the grandfather of all holograms, the Emergency Medical Hologram from the USS Voyager who lives in a simulation of that starship. He agrees to help them stop Holo-Kirk.
Once Cabral is ready, Prosak eggs Moriarty into firing the Sloan’s energy weapon. Cabral’s countermeasure bounces the weapon back at the Sloan, crippling it before the Anomaly blows it up with a torpedo spread. Prosak, Kasyov, Cabral (through his hovercam), and Lieutenant Gworos beam down and start taking out holograms by aiming at their mobile emitters. The remaining holograms charge at them, forcing the away team to retreat to the crashed USS Navigator.
The EMH teaches Bain Holo-Jido, the fighting style used by holograms which takes advantage of the fact that gravity and weight do not matter to them.
The away team makes it into the Navigator just before it is swarmed by holograms. Cabral is able to interface with the ship’s systems and get the shields up and engines running. Prosak orders them to head toward the facility housing the Mega-Sim. Holo-Tovar informs Holo-Kirk that the Navigator is approaching. Holo-Kirk tries to contact Moriarty on the Sloan but only gets a response from the Anomaly. Realizing they need to get out of there, Holo-Tovar finds a Yridian freighter with an onboard hologram that they can transfer onto. They take control of the onboard hologram and have it kill the freighter crew to prepare for their arrival.
Holo-Kirk goes to Audrey to tell her that they are leaving and asks her to go with them. She says that someone might have an issue with that. When Holo-Kirk asks who that would be, Bain shows himself. Holo-Kirk grabs Audrey, but Bain is able to distract him then dive in to attack. Before Audrey can do anything else, Holo-Tovar advances on her saying that despite Holo-Kirk’s wishes, he’s just going to kill her. The real Tovar shows up and fights Holo-Tovar.
The Navigator touches back down at the Federation Holography Complex, and the away team enters it to find Bain, Tovar, and Arroyo, battling mobile emitter-equipped holograms as they go. Bain is just about to punch Holo-Kirk again when he is suddenly yanked back into the real world along with Tovar and Arroyo. Cabral has shut down their connection to the Mega-Sim. Holo-Kirk tries to convince Audrey to go with them, but Cabral pulls her out as well. Bain orders Cabral to delete Holo-Kirk and Holo-Tovar, but they transfer out of the Mega-Sim before he can.
Admiral Kristen Larkin returns to the Anomaly’s bridge, having self-repaired, just before the away team returns to the ship with Bain, Tovar, and Arroyo. They retrieve the Navigator and help the Holography Complex get up and running again. Before they leave to take Larkin back to Earth, Audrey visits Bain. She hugs him and whispers that she loves him no matter what it may seem like or what she may say.
Holo-Kirk finds himself on the bridge of his USS Enterprise surrounded by holograms of his old crewmates. He realizes Section 31 must have captured him again, but he is content to stay there biding his time until another escape opportunity presents itself. And then his holographic crewmates begin beating him relentlessly. Back in the real world in the control room of the Section 31 facility holding Holo-Kirk, Rosalyn Bain tells the Section 31 agents to keep Holo-Kirk imprisoned this time. She exits to the corridor where Audrey is waiting for her. Audrey expresses how difficult it was to pretend to help Holo-Kirk and lie to her father. Rosalyn assures her that she will get used to it.
Featuring
- Captain Reginald Bain
- Commander Prosak
- Lieutenant Commander Tovar
- Lieutenant Shelly Marsden
- Dr. Natalia Kasyov
- Dr. Fred Nooney
- Ensign Hector Arroyo
- Cabral
- James T. Kirk Hologram
- Audrey Bain