Star Trek: Discovery: Captain Lorca's Secrets

From the moment she set foot on the shuttle bay of the brand-new U.S.S. Discovery, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) knew this was no mere science vessel. Nor is her Captain, Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), a run-of-the-mill starship commander. Lorca is a far cry from the explorer/philosopher style of Star Trek Captain we've come to know with James T. Kirk (William Shatner) or Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Deep Space Nine's Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), during his darkest moments when he tricked the Romulans into fighting for the Federation's cause during the Dominion War, might be the closest thing that gives us insight into Star Trek: Discovery's commander. However, Captain Lorca seems like a new and dangerous kind of starship captain altogether.Here's what we know so far about what the mysterious Captain Lorca is up to, what he's hiding from the crew of the Discovery, and what his plans are for Michael Burnham:

Who Is Captain Lorca?

What we know of Gabriel Lorca thus far, beyond his penchant for eating fortune cookies, which is a remnant of his family's business, is that he was given command of the Discovery with a mandate from Starfleet to do whatever needs to be done to win the war with the Klingons. When the audience and Michael Burnham meet Lorca, the war has raged on for six months and claimed over 8,000 lives lost throughout the Federation. Lorca himself already bears scars from the war in the form of an eye injury that limits his ability to process bright light and nearly cost him his eyes outright.

To his chagrin, Lorca finds himself in command of a starship filled with scientists and Starfleet Officers who are trained to be explorers and not soldiers, yet he is tasked to do whatever he needs to do with this crew to win the war. As such, he maintains a distance from his crew, unlike the warm familial bonds other Star Trek Captains have formed with their crews - although the relationship Lorca has with his Chief of Security Commander Landry (Rekha Sharma) seems more than professional. Overall, Lorca prefers his crew fear him more than they do the Klingons and he's impatient with their reticence to become the kind of warriors Starfleet needs. Discovery's First Officer Saru (Doug Jones) describes his captain as a man "who doesn't fear what other men fear," but Lorca is actually facing his greatest fear every day: the destruction of the Federation and all life within it at the hands of the Klingons.

As such, Lorca has free reign by his mandate to explore any means necessary to find a way to win the war. The Discovery was designed as a science vessel but due to the needs of the war, it has been re-purposed into a warship, yet one with up to 300 scientific experiments on board, according to Saru. The scientific experiments - many seeming to border on illegal - are being conducted while the Discovery is on the outskirts of Federation space, near the Klingon borders. The Discovery also had a sister ship, the U.S.S. Glenn, which was conducting similar scientific missions, until an accident not yet fully revealed that cost the lives of the Glenn's entire crew occurred in the third episode of Discovery, "Context Is For Kings."

Spores Technology

Perhaps the most dangerous experimental technology being developed on board the Discovery is an organic propulsion system, which is a revolutionary new method of interstellar travel that is infinitely faster than warp speed. Both the Glenn and Discovery were conducting simultaneous research into Mycelium spores, harvested from the fungal species Prototaxites stellaviatori, grown in the ships' Cultivation Bays. The Mycelial network is a microscopic web that spans the entire cosmos - "infinite roads leading in all directions; the veins and muscles that hold our galaxy together". By traveling along the Mycelial network of spores, a starship or even a person can leap across the galaxy and back in moments. The more advanced U.S.S. Glenn, which was much farther long in their research than Discovery, was able to travel 90 light years to the Beta Quadrant and back in 1.3 seconds. Unfortunately, the Glenn crashed and all hands were lost.

When Discovery leaps into the Mycelial network, the ship goes on "Black Alert," which is noticeable by a build up of moisture in the air. Lorca demonstrated Mycelial network travel to Burnham, where she was able to jump to other worlds and other points in time that will actually be seen and explored a decade from now in the voyages of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series. However, Mycelial propulsion technology has not been shown as technology the Federation is supposed to have in Star Trek canon, so what becomes of this technology is something Discovery is going to answer during the season. Judging by what happened to the Glenn, tragedy seems to be just a leap away for the crew of the Discovery.

Tardigrade Monster

When an away team from the Discovery traveled to the Glenn, they encountered a horror show within and were attacked by a giant monster. Referred to as a 'Tardigrade' by Discovery's producers on After Trek, the monster slaughtered Klingon invaders who were looking to steal tech from the Glenn and nearly killed the away team before they were able to escape on their shuttle craft. Unbeknownst to the rest of Discovery's crew, Lorca had Commander Landry secretly beam the Tardigrade on board the Discovery so he can research it further.

In real life, tardigrades (also known as water bears, space bears and moss piglets) are micro organisms known to be one of the most resilient species on Earth. Tardigrades can survive in extreme conditions and some species can even survive in the vacuum of space. The Tardigrade monster in Discovery has been mutated to be much larger and more violent than a normal tardigrade. It's been weaponized, and with its resiliency to nearly any type of environment or harsh condition, the Tardigrade is obviously something aimed to be put to use against the Klingons.

Lorca's Study

Along with the Tarigrade now imprisoned behind a force field, Captain Lorca has a private 'study' where he keeps numerous creatures and experiments for possible use. Lorca is determined to end the war and is open to any means to achieve his goal and save the Federation. In Lorca's study he has Klingon weapons and items from other species on display, including the skeleton of a Gorn encased in glass, though at this point in the timeline, the Federation has not made first contact with the Gorn, therefore to Lorca, it's just the bones of an unknown reptilian species. But anything that could be used as a weapon against the Klingons - even a Tribble - is in Lorca's interest, no matter how esoteric or even illegal.

Plans for Michael Burnham

In Michael Burnham, Lorca sees exactly the type of person who he thinks both he and Starfleet need to win the war. In Lorca's mind, Burnham's assumption about the Klingons intentions were correct, though she violated Starfleet laws. Burnham choosing to do what was necessary, even above what her orders were or what is sanctioned by the Federation, is what is, in Lorca's words, "the kind of thinking that wins wars." Lorca is thinking and operating on an entirely different level than how a Starfleet Captain would normally be expected to behave, hence his belief Burnham is a kindred spirit, based on her actions on the U.S.S. Shenzhou. In Lorca's mind, the high-minded virtues and methodology Starfleet is clinging to is the reason the Klingons are winning. To Lorca, "Universal law is for lackeys. Context is for Kings."

Even though she's a mutineer, Lorca has the authority to disregard Burnham's life sentence in prison and use her to win the war as he sees fit. Burnham, though reluctant and wishing to serve out her punishment for her mutiny, is also in desperate need of redemption, and her dual training as both a Vulcan and a Starfleet First Officer makes her too valuable a resource to waste away in a penal colony. What lengths Lorca and Burnham will now take together in order to defeat the Klingons are going to be fascinating to to discover.