Draft:A Quality of Mercy (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)

"A Quality of Mercy" is the tenth and final episode of the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In this episode, Captain Christopher Pike tries to avoid his fate in a training accident, however is shown the consequences of his actions when he travels seven years into the future.

Plot
The USS Enterprise is patrolling the space near the Neutral Zone when Pike meets Maat, one of the cadets that will die in the future training accident that will permanently disable him. He begins to write a letter, telling the cadets not to be there on that day, in the hopes that this will prevent his future death. However, when he begins to write the letter he is visited by his future self. He is told that this actions will affect the future in unforseen and disasterous ways, and is given a Klingon time crystal to see the future that would unfold if he prevented the accident from occuring.

He finds himself officiating a wedding, and attempts to conduct the proceedings despite not knowing the names of either of the two people he is marrying, however is interrupted by a red alert. Pike arrives on the bridge of the Enterprise and orders the ship to move to Outpost 4, where a distress call was recieved. He then asks to see Spock in the ready room, and explains the situation to him. Spock explains that the accident took place 6 months earlier, and nobody was injured. Spock further concludes that the best course of action is to act no differently than he ordinarily would, so that he could discover the reason he was sent into the future.

The Enterprise arrives at Outpost 4, which is on the brink of collapse. The commander of the outpost says that other outposts in the vicinity have also been destroyed by a weapon "of enormous power", and a Romulan Bird-of-prey decloaks, destroys the rest of the outpost, and leaves. The USS Farragut, commanded by James T. Kirk, arrives, and the two ships shadow the Romulan ship by microlensing. The two ships slowly move closer to the Romulan ship, however when it approaches a comet it decloaks behind the two ships and uses its plasma weapon on the USS Farragut, smashing through its saucer section. The bird-of-prey then fires at the Enterprise, however less damage is sustained, which Spock speculates is due to it being less effective at longer ranges.

The rescues the crew of the Farragut, and manages to catch up with the damaged Romulan ship, which it attempts to communicate with. However, the Subcommander of the Romulan ship had, unbeknownst to the Commander, called in for the Romulan fleet. The Enterprise manages to escape, however hears on subspace radio that the Romulans have declared war on the Federation. Pike checks on the casualties, amongst the dead are the bride-to-be he was marrying earlier, and amongst the injured is Spock, who was given severe radiation burns, similar to those Pike saw on himself in his vision of the future.

Pike then returns to his own time, and is met by Captain Batel who places Number One into custody.

Production
The episode depicts an alternate version of the Original Series' episode Balance of Terror, which was widely considered to be the best episode of Star Trek. Many of the visuals, staging, camera moves, and performances mirroring that of the Original Series, with many of the characters adopting a more similar look. Uhura wears a classic-style uniform and Nichelle Nichols' green hoop earrings, and Spock's haircut matches that of the Original Series.

The episode was praised for its attention to detail, including the flames in front of the camera during the attack on Outpost 4, and for the lighting matching the original episode.

Reception
Reviews of A Quality Of Mercy were positive. IMDb gave the episode a 9.1/10 rating with 5,100 ratings. Screen Rant ranked the episode as the second best in the season.

Critics praised the use of the "what if" scenario to explore the differences in the personality and leadership styles between Pike and Kirk.