- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Ambassador Sarek, it's good to see you again.
- Sarek: Thank you for receiving us, Captain Georgiou.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: The pleasure is ours.
- Sarek: As discussed, this is my ward, Michael Burnham.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Hello, Michael. Welcome to the USS Shenzhou. And congratulations on your recent commencement.
- Michael Burnham: [Philippa extends a handshake] Respect is earned, as is friendliness.
- Sarek: Yet diplomatic niceties must be observed.
- Michael Burnham: This is hardly a negotiation.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: First contact, then. The only human to attend the Vulcan Learning Center and Science Academy rejoins her own kind. You can see my analogy, more or less.
- Michael Burnham: Less.
- Sarek: I will leave you now. Live long and prosper.
- [to Michael]
- Sarek: Behave.
- Michael Burnham: You want to know how I turned on you? I believed saving you and the crew was more important than Starfleet's principles. Was it logical? Emotional? I don't know.
- Michael Burnham: From my youth on Vulcan, I was raised to believe that service was my purpose. And I carried that conviction to Starfleet. I dreamed of a day when I would command my own vessel and further the noble objectives of this great institution. That dream is over, the only ship I know in ruins. My crew... gone. My captain... my friend. I wanted to protect them from war, from the enemy. And now we are at war, and I am the enemy.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: We'll use a worker bee to carry the torpedo. It's small enough to be mistaken for debris. Be ready in ten minutes.
- Saru: I will also run an analysis to determine blast sites for optimum damage.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Make it hurt, Saru.
- Saru: Oh, there is one problem, Captain. Our worker bees have no autopilot. And our transporter can't penetrate their shields.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: We won't need it. I'll be driving.
- Saru: Captain, that's a suicide mission.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Your priority is getting impulse engines back online so you can get the Shenzhou out of here before I detonate the warheads. T'Kuvma lured Starfleet to a massacre. It's time I repaid him.
- Michael Burnham: T'Kuvma has anointed himself the next Klingon messiah. If you kill him, you make him a martyr. Someone they can fight for endlessly. That might even be what he wants. But if you capture him, you make him a symbol of defeat. Of shame. And if you take him as a prisoner of war, you give the Federation leverage to sue for peace.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: How could you have done this?
- Michael Burnham: I believed it was the only way to avoid a full-scale war.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: When you first came aboard seven years ago, I worried your Vulcan training might some day trump your humanity. Do you know why Sarek asked me to take you on? I was a human who had seen a life of loss but still chose hope. What an ego I had... thinking I could pick away the shell the Vulcans put around you. I was so sure I could do it. Even convinced that you were ready for the captain's chair. To think I knew you so little.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: "All warfare is based on deception. When you are able to attack, you must seem unable."
- Saru: Sun Tzu. I recognize the quote. But I fear we are deceiving no one. We are most definitely unable to attack.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: We have no weapons, no warp, no countermove at all. The Klingons have us.
- T'Kuvma: Members of the Federation. What you call your most remote borders, I call too close to Klingon territory. You only live now to serve as witnesses of Klingon supremacy, to be my herald. We do not desire to know you. But you will know our great houses, standing as one under Kahless, reborn in me, T'Kuvma!
- Michael Burnham: Sarek? How is it possible? A mind-meld across a thousand light-years?
- Sarek: More than a mind-meld. Ever since you were a child, ever since the bombing at the Learning Center - that act of terror that forever changed your destiny - a part of me, my katra, has been with you. It also allows us this unique form of connection. I see by your imprisonment that my counsel concerning the Klingons did not yield the results you hoped for.
- Michael Burnham: I couldn't convince Captain Georgiou to strike the Klingons first, so I took matters into my own hands. You're disappointed. As you should be.
- Sarek: I did not come here to judge your actions. I came because I sensed your... your despair.
- Michael Burnham: What's wrong?
- Sarek: Communicating with you in this manner, the physical cost is significant.
- Michael Burnham: Then leave me. Please.
- Sarek: Do you think I came here just to say farewell? I would not put my well-being at risk for such sentimentality. The death and destruction raining down on Starfleet, that was to be expected. What I cannot abide is a waste of resources. You're gifted. You are brave. You must do better. Because I know you can.
- Michael Burnham: You were never one to bolster my self-esteem.
- Sarek: Perhaps that is where I failed you. No matter your shame, gather your strength. Find a way to help those who need you.
- [giving the Vulcan hand salute]
- Sarek: Live long and prosper.
- Michael Burnham: On Vulcan, lateral vector transporter technology has been discarded due to the massive amount of power it requires.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Starfleet has phased out that design, as well. Shenzhou is old, but she gets us where we need to go. Is this vessel not up to your standards?
- Michael Burnham: I have no standards when it comes to this ship. It was always my intention to join the Vulcan Expeditionary Group.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Sometimes the universe allows for the making of unexpected memories.
- Michael Burnham: Emotional platitudes are not what I was hoping for.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Well, you've really been away from humans for a long time. I'd say you're too confident for your own good, but I've seen your record.
- Michael Burnham: As I have seen yours.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: And your confidence is justified.
- Michael Burnham: As is yours.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: [flashback, showing Burnham's arrival on the Shenzhou] Not too shabby, huh?
- Michael Burnham: It appears to be functional.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: I understand your hesitation, Michael. It's hard leaving Vulcan and everything you've known behind. But I assure you, this can be your new home, if you want it to be.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: How many Klingon vessels have entered the system?
- Saru: Tracking. Twenty-four, Captain.
- Michael Burnham: The Klingon High Council consists of twenty-four houses. That can't be a coincidence. The number of ships, it suggests that someone is attempting to unify the Empire again. Against us.
- Captain Philippa Georgiou: Commander Burnham, you have endangered your vessel and your shipmates. You have attacked a superior officer. You violated the chain of command. You are relieved of duty. Security, remand her to the brig.