“Vaulting Ambition” is episode twelve of season one of Star Trek: Discovery.
In the previous episode, “The Wolf Inside”, Tyler attacked Burnham on the Shenzhou, stating that he was Voq, son of none. It seems, to one degree or another, that Tyler is Voq. He was beamed outside to execute him, but the Discovery beamed him onboard, along with the data on the USS Defiant. Burnham was giving the rebels time to evacuate the planet, although only she and Tyler knew this, when another ship bombarded it. Then the emperor contacted Burnham. And the emperor was a familiar face – Phillipa Georgiou.
Burnham and Lorca are on a shuttle leaving Discovery for the ISS Charon, the imperial palace and flagship. Saru sent them a transmission as he’d managed to decrypt the data from the Defiant. Unfortunately, most of it was redacted. There’s some data on interphasic space, but nothing about said space’s location. Lorca says they need the original. The good news is that it’s probably in the imperial palace. Which is where they are going. Some people would see that as a glass half full. Burnham has something to help with the amount of pain delivered by the agonisers. Burnham is struggling a bit with the revelation about the emperor’s identity. They arrive at the Charon, which is a pretty big ship that appears to have a miniature sun inside it.
Saru and Tilly are watching Stamets in the reaction cube. Tilly thinks he’s doing better. Saru says he’s still in a coma. Something is going on in his head and, with the Defiant data not much use, Stamets and the spore drive are currently their only way home. Saur is summoned to sickbay and Tilly asks Stamets if he’s in there.
Stamets is in there. In the previous episode Stamets met himself, in an imperial uniform. He’s asking Mirror Stamets if this is the afterlife. Mirror Stamets says it is, that Stamets was wrong about everything, there is a God and she’s very unhappy with him. Then can’t control himself any longer, as he was winding Stamets up. Mirror Stamets explains that Stamets is in his universe and his body is still on the Discovery. His wind has gone for a wander. The place they are changes to the Discovery; the mycelial network is trying to make Stamets feel at home.
Mirror Stamets explains he was doing an experiment in his lab on the emperor’s palace ship. There was an accident, and his mind ended up here too. He’s been trying to communicate, which is why Stamets was getting flashes of things. Mirror Stamets wants Stamets to get them out, because there’s a corruption in the network. And something nasty is heading towards them.
Burnham and Lorca are brought in front of the emperor and the latter asks Burnham to choose a Kelpian. She does. Lorca is going to live a long life and spend it all in the agonisers. A fair price to pay for his vaulting ambition. The emperor is pleased that Burnham didn’t die and invites her to dinner. Everything will be as it was. Daughter.
The problem that summoned Saru to sickbay is Tyler. He’s trying to break free and talking in Klingon. The doctor has no idea how to treat him, as his brainwaves are highly irregular. Tyler briefly returns to normal, asks if Burnham is okay and begs for help.
Burnham is eating with the emperor and she says the food is delicious as always. Until she discovers she’s eating Kelpian. At which point it becomes rather less appetising. Burnham claims she faked her own death because Lorca’s men were everywhere. However, the emperor holds a knife to Burnham’s throat. She knew Burnham was Lorca’s collaborator and is going to execute her in the throne room in front of the council.
In the throne room, the emperor asks Burnham has any last words. She does. They’ve never met before. She’s Burnham, but not the emperor’s Burnham, and has proof she’s from another universe. Captain Georgiou’s badge. The emperor says that parallel universes are a quaint idea – then kills all but one of the council. She asks if the sole survivor can keep a secret. He’s hardly going to say no. Clean up the mess, never speak of this and he will become a governor. Of course the emperor knows about the Federation, but it seems the majority of the empire do not. Perhaps all but the emperor.
Saru goes to see L’Rell to ask for her help with Tyler. She doesn’t want to help, but Saru can be quite persuasive. Burnham is trying to make a deal with the emperor and, even though she may be a version of Phillipa Georgiou, that doesn’t mean she is her, or behaves the same way. That might end up being unfortunate. Mirror Stamets wants Stamets to get them out of the network, because the corruption is affecting them too. Can he be trusted either? After all, he had a position on the emperor’s ship in a universe that doesn’t reward nice people. There’s also a significant surprise at the end.