The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 2, "Ad Astra Per Aspera," now streaming on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 concluded with Una Chin-Riley being arrested by Starfleet Command. Secretly an Illyrian -- part of an extraterrestrial culture revolving around illegal genetic modifications -- Number One faced severe legal consequences for her deception and her alterations. As Strange New Worlds Season 2 builds momentum, Chin-Riley’s case is brought before a Starfleet tribunal, with the rest of the Enterprise crew caught in the middle.
Taking leave from the Enterprise to find legal representation for Chin-Riley, Captain Christopher Pike approaches her estranged Illyrian friend, Neera Ketoul. Chin-Riley is offered a dishonorable discarge with no further consequences if she pleads guilty, but she is willing to take her chances before the tribunal. In retaliation, Starfleet’s prosecutors add additional charges to her indictment, including sedition, and declare their intent to seek a lengthy imprisonment sentence if she is convicted.
La’an Noonien-Singh suspects that the evidence against Chin-Riley was illegally obtained, sharing these concerns with Neera in hopes of having the case dismissed. Captain Batel, leading the prosecution with the Vulcan Admiral Pasalk, privately warns Pike that if Pike takes the stand, he may face his own legal repercussions for not disclosing Chin-Riley’s Illyrian heritage and genetic modifications to Starfleet Command. Spock and Pasalk quietly clash, with Spock referencing past animosity between them, while Nyota Uhura is determined to help Chin-Riley however she can.
Neera argues that since genetic modifications are part of Illyrian culture, the prosecution goes against Starfleet's Prime Directive and its sacred vow to allow extraterrestrial cultures to exist and progress unfettered. The aggressive line of questioning causes Admiral Robert April to become understandably defensive when he takes the stand. April expresses that he would not have sponsored Chin-Riley for entry into Starfleet Academy if he had known her true heritage. Afterward, Chin-Riley accuses Neera of using her trial as a platform to call out Starfleet’s hypocritical policies rather than defending her -- an accusation that Neera doesn’t wholly deny.
The rest of the Enterprise senior staff each testify in support of Chin-Riley at the trial -- with the notable exception of Pike. Back on the ship, Noonien-Singh admits to Neera that she feels Starfleet illegally obtained the evidence from a personal log she recorded after learning Number One was Illyrian, alluding to La'an's own villainous heritage. Neera explains that it was impossible for the leak to have come from Noonien-Singh’s personal logs, but encourages her to investigate further.
Chin-Riley takes the stand and recounts her traumatic childhood as an Illyrian hiding within Federation space... before confessing that she leaked the information to Starfleet Command herself. Chin-Riley explains she did so because she believes in Starfleet’s principles and was sick of hiding out in the open. Pasalk forces her to admit that Pike knew about her heritage months before the leak, but Neera uses a technicality to absolve both Chin-Riley and Pike. She insists Chin-Riley should be legally recognized as an asylum seeker, which Starfleet Command recognizes. With the charges against her dropped, Chin-Riley is welcomed back to the Enterprise as Number One, and the crew is reunited ahead of their next mission.
Created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.