Synopsis: Lieutenant junior grade Mariner escapes from Nicholas Locarno.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of Carl (C. G.) Jung’s concept of the union of opposites—the conscious and the unconscious.
In “Old Friends, New Planets” Lieutenant junior grade Beckett Mariner is being held by Nicholas “Nick” Locarno, who tells her about his new totally unaligned independent Nova Fleet, and then broadcasts a message to the Alpha Quadrant asking all those who feel unseen by their superiors to join him. This message is seen by the U.S.S. Cerritos crew, but they have been ordered not to engage with the Nova Fleet. Lieutenant junior grade D’Vana Tendi believes that the Orions can help them, and Captain Carol Freeman heads an away mission to ask for their assistance. Meanwhile, Mariner escapes Locarno’s ship, Nova One, taking with her a Ferengi-made Genesis Device. Locarno pursues her, and Mariner is forced to engage the Genesis Device on a lifeless planet. She is beamed to safety, but Locarno is killed. The new planet is named after him. Starfleet Admiral Vassery forgives Freeman for going after Mariner because she opened up relations with the Orions.
In this episode, it is understood that Starfleet rules and regulations are in opposition to Orion traditions. So when Freeman and the Cerritos crew ask for and receive help from the Orions, this can be compared to when the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates bits of unconscious material into itself to become whole. And when Vassery forgives Freeman for acting on her own outside of his orders, this can be analogized to when the ego becomes stronger and the psyche more whole because of this process.
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