Summary
- Zora's Red Directive mission in Star Trek: Discovery ties directly to the events of the Short Treks episode "Calypso" in the distant future.
- Admiral Burnham's command of the USS Discovery's final mission ensures that "Calypso" will happen as Zora embarks on her mysterious task.
- The series finale of Star Trek: Discovery neatly resolves the timeline questions surrounding "Calypso" and sets the stage for Zora's future.
A long-standing question surrounding Star Trek: Discovery is finally answered in the epilogue of Star Trek: Discovery's series finale, "Life, Itself". Decades after the events of Star Trek: Discovery, Admiral Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is called to active duty in order to take the USS Discovery out for one final mission. The Red Directive mission is assigned to Zora (Annabelle Wallis), the sentient artificial intelligence that was integrated with the USS Discovery's computers as a result of merging with the Sphere Data in Star Trek: Discovery season 2. Zora's mission is simply to wait, crewless, at predetermined coordinates for an unspecified amount of time.
Zora's final Star Trek: Discovery mission is intentionally vague, but should ring a few bells with viewers who are familiar with Star Trek: Short Treks season 1, episode 2, "Calypso". In "Calypso", a wounded soldier named Craft (Aldis Hodge) seeks refuge aboard the abandoned USS Discovery 1000 years in the future. Craft's only companion is the starship's disembodied intelligence, Zora, who nurses Craft back to health physically before also healing Craft emotionally. War has disillusioned Craft, but Zora's kindness kindles a romantic connection between the pair, before Craft ultimately decides to return to the wife and child he hasn't seen in 10 years.
What Was Star Trek: Short Treks "Calypso" & Why It Was Controversial
"Calypso" Doesn't Fit Star Trek: Discovery's Timeline
For years, Star Trek: Short Treks season 1, episode 2, "Calypso" presented more questions than it answered. "Calypso" is a story out of step with the rest of the Star Trek universe, in a far-flung future beyond even Star Trek: Enterprise's Temporal Cold War, since Zora tells Craft that Discovery has been abandoned for nearly 1000 years. The distance between Star Trek: Discovery's present and the future in "Calypso" theoretically allows for the evolution of Zora as an independent entity within Discovery's computer, and for the name of Craft's enemies, the V'draysh, to evolve from their original title: the Federation. Unfortunately, as Discovery goes on, "Calypso" doesn't add up.
Like the V'draysh being an elided version of "Federation" due to the passage of time, Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 23, features the "yangs" and "comms", named for slang evolved from "yankees" and "communists" .
The USS Discovery's jump to the future means Star Trek: Discovery's final 3 seasons take place within the original suspected time frame of the Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Calypso". Zora in Star Trek: Discovery season 3 is a full-fledged character and new life form, suggesting the events of "Calypso" are still in the USS Discovery's future -- just 1000 years after the new 32nd century present, pushing "Calypso" all the way to the 42nd century. The wrinkle is that Discovery's 32nd century refit with detached warp nacelles and 1031-A registry doesn't match with the USS Discovery's 23rd century exterior in "Calypso", seemingly making the Short Treks episode impossible.
The title of the episode "Calypso" comes from the Odyssey, where Calypso is the name of a nymph who rescues Odysseus and keeps him from continuing his homeward journey for seven years.
Star Trek: Discovery Ended By Making Sure “Calypso” Will Happen
"Calypso" Is Zora's Red Directive Mission
The ending of Star Trek: Discovery ensures that "Calypso" will happen. As Admiral Michael Burnham arrives to command the USS Discovery's last mission, the "A" is being scrubbed off of Discovery's hull. The retrofit to Discovery's original appearance is confirmed when a flyby shows that Discovery's warp nacelles have also been reattached. Burnham explains that Zora's new mission is a Red Directive from Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg), and Kovich is Star Trek: Enterprise's Agent Daniels (Matt Winston), a temporal operative who likely already knows exactly where and when Zora needs to be in 1000 years, even if Burnham's only clue to Zora is the word "Craft".
With the coda of Star Trek: Discovery's series finale, "Life, Itself", the pieces fall into place for Short Treks "Calypso" to happen as it should. Theories that "Calypso" takes place in an alternate Star Trek timeline or after Zora's memory has been erased aren't needed. Admiral Burnham suggests that after Zora completes her mission, Zora can seek out the original Discovery crew's descendants, and essentially return to a family in the same way that Craft will after Zora and Craft's fated meeting. By tying up the last loose end, Star Trek: Discovery finally explains how Star Trek: Short Treks' "Calypso" actually happens.
