Who knew unintentional second contact could be so weird?
Since the crew can’t shake the ever-evolving weapon of mass destruction hanging out in the Protostar’s belly, it only makes sense to try and do some good with the ship while they can while also avoiding the Federation at all costs (wait, isn’t it cost, not costs? Nothing says a smooth posting experience like arguing with Grammarly. Moving on.) and that means answering a distress call coming from an M Class planet nearby. When the crew beams down, they are quickly introduced to the planet’s inhabitants who dress and speak like Starfleet officers (well they give it the old college try) and even have a Federation-issued phaser and communicator. We soon find out that over a century ago a Starfleet ensign (or en-Son as they enunciate it) crash-landed on the planet and while the locals were able to save him, and while he was able to provide them with some medical and entertainment technology, the ensign could not save them from the damage the ship wreckage was doing to the planet but gave them instruction on how to avoid it (but not destroy it, for whatever reason). Armed with a sub-space distress call, some ship tech, and a lot of free time, the alien race tried their best to become Starfleet in preparation for the day the real Starfleet answered their distress call. They even chronicled the crash, and everything that followed, in a play they would re-enact to entertain themselves and help them to not lose hope in Starfleet.
As you can tell by Jankom’s face it’s all a bit of a gut punch.
When one of the inhabitants of the planet (inhabitants that became known as the Enterprise-ians) contracts a sickness from looking for (and eventually finding) the Gallows, a cursed area that kills everything that enters it, and infects Dal, Zero is tasked with synthesizing a cure for both of them except he can’t because an atmospheric disruption is causing all of the crew’s tech to barely work meaning Zero can’t probe deep enough to confirm what sickness is killing both Dal and the fake Starfleet officer (or as they call themselves Starflight because oral history tends to degrade after so many retellings) Cadet Hura. Gwyn, Rok, and Jankom are tasked to find the Gallows and figure out what exactly is making everyone ill. In the process of looking for the Gallows, they find the wreckage of the Starfleet shuttle, the cause of the illness, and why all tech is nearly useless.
Except for the Protostar.
Missing a few crew members? Here at Planet Enterprise, we have just the temporary crew you’re looking for, and while they are a bit retro, they will absolutely save the day. And they do and gosh darn it (censoring myself here) they will do it with just as much heart and skill as actual Starfleet officers because they’ve been training for this moment for generations. Second contact rules can get a bit fuzzy but this crew, and the storyline, navigate the waters of iffiness with great precision and heart.
I love where this is going, and I’m pretty sure you will too.
All current and previous episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy can be streamed right here on Paramount+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr7QogRioqo