The Cerritos winds up forced to take control when the more advanced Archimedes, captained by "TNG" alum and nefarious milk spiller Sonya Gomez, is sucked helplessly into the gravitational pull of the planet it's meant to be making contact with, drained of power after a run-in with a plasma wave. Our heroes are forced to take a white-knuckle trip through a cloud of sci-fi stuff, minus the comforts that most space travelers take for granted, like, for example, a hull.
Rutherford is forced to dump his triple-backed-up memory files, which he first started collecting after losing his memory at the end of season one in the hopes of not losing his memories of Tandi again. In the process, he accidentally shakes loose a previously unseen glimpse into what sure looks like a body horror nightmare. Shadowy figures in the vision discuss how he'll remember his procedure as having been voluntary before dropping an upsetting amount of drill bit into his eye. Section 31? The Tal Shiar? Lore with a soldering iron? Only season three has the answer.
Meanwhile, in deep cut territory, Boimler teams up with a pair of belugas in Cetacean Ops, calling back to an obscure detail in a technical manual for the Enterprise-D from thirty years ago. Every once in a while, fans get a subtle callout to the aquatic section of Starfleet vessels, but this marks the first time that whales have made an appearance in-uniform, and the first known instance in which they've tried so desperately to get a fellow crew member to take off their clothes. It's a weird show, you guys.
