Justice

"Justice" is the tenth episode and the mid-season finale of the first season of Stargate Universe.

Synopsis
Colonel Everett Young cedes command to Camile Wray after a crew member is found dead from a gunshot wound and the gun is recovered from Young’s quarters. Meanwhile, a planet harbors a secret that threatens the Destiny. Dr. Nicholas Rush gains access to the Ancient interface.

Prologue
A group of around 80 unprepared soldiers, scientists and civilians evacuate Icarus Base to the Ancient spaceship Destiny, located several billion light years from Earth. These personnel are trapped there; the ship doesn't have enough power to dial such distances and access to navigation and propulsion is restricted. To overcome this problem, Dr. Rush hopes that a recently discovered Ancient device may hold the key. Sergeant Spencer is shown to be more and more unstable.

Plot
In the mess hall, Ronald Greer is taste-testing a potato-like crop, which was picked up on the jungle planet. Eli Wallace, Jeremy Franklin, and Dale Volker are there to watch the results. Having analyzed the plant, they assume it will be rather unpleasant. Greer, however, eats with a smile and calmly compares it to a sweet potato, telling the others to dig in. They do, and promptly realize Greer was lying. Greer matter-of-factly points out that it is food all the same, and orders Darren Becker to make use of it. Becker notes that Spencer is late for his shift, so Greer goes looking for him. He is shocked to discover Spencer dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Tamara Johansen determines that Spencer died around 0200 hours, and based on the immediate evidence seems to have shot himself. However, Greer points out that the weapon is missing; a dead man obviously could not have disposed of it. Thus, what was a suicide is now, apparently, a murder. Rush points out that virtually no one liked Spencer, and barely tolerated him, so much of the crew would probably have reason to kill him.

Col. Everett Young announces their findings to the crew. Eli and five others, Lt. Matthew Scott among them, have an immediate alibi; they were all playing poker at the time and couldn't be responsible. They are broken into teams to search every room for the missing weapon. Scott agrees to let the crew be present when their particular rooms are searched, which almost all of them insist on. Everyone is ordered to remain in the Gate Room. Young remains behind, being no less guilty than the rest of the crew.

During the search, Camile Wray suggests to Scott that Greer might have murdered Spencer. Scott insists that Greer is one of the few people they can rule out, given how implausible it would be for him to have done it. Shortly thereafter, Scott and Eli end up at Young's room. Young is comfortable with letting them search it unsupervised. As they search, Nicolas Rush calls Young on the radio, having completely ignored the meeting in the Gate Room, to inform him of an additional discovery about the early Repository of Knowledge. Young orders Rush to the Gate Room, but is ignored. Meanwhile, Scott quickly decides that the gun isn't in Young's room. Eli, however, is more thorough in his search, and locates the weapon in an air vent.

With this new evidence against him, Young puts Wray in charge of the investigation and voluntarily has himself sequestered with a guard. Though Scott is convinced he was framed and wants to use what they know to trick the real culprit into revealing himself, Young insists that they need to be open about their investigation in order to keep the military and civilian crew from turning on each other.

As Wray prepares to use the long-range communication device to contact Earth, Rush stops by to remind her that, despite having the communication stones, they are on their own and should settle their problems internally. Once she contacts Earth, she is given the authority to hold a hearing to determine if Young is guilty. No new evidence has surfaced in his defense. Young asks Chloe Armstrong to defend him, knowing that Wray will try her hardest to push for him being guilty. He explains that he chose her both for her political background and because he doesn't want to divide the crew by choosing a military crew member.

During the trial, Franklin is the first called to the stand, to testify about his confrontation with Spencer and Young's intervention. Franklin defends Young's actions, as Spencer was out of control. Next is Volker, who relates a conversation between Young and Rush he overheard, in which Young stated that "drastic measures" might be necessary if Spencer continues to be a problem. Rush is brought up to clarify. Wray tries to maneuver him into admitting that Young might be justified in killing Spencer as a "drastic measure", and though Rush does not play along, he does explain in detail what she's trying to do. Finally, TJ is brought to the stand for the medical angle on the case. At this point, Wray and Chloe become more aggressive in trying to get their questions in, with Chloe eventually taking control. She makes the point that, even with expert investigative knowledge, they cannot really determine what happened. Wray calls a recess in order to speak with Chloe.

In the hall, Wray argues with Chloe, insisting that they cannot leave the murder unsolved. Chloe interprets this as trying to find a scapegoat, and states that Wray might as well pick the person she thinks is the guilty party. Young, meanwhile, overhears the crew talking about the possibility of him being guilty.

Elsewhere, Greer and others in the military have become fed up with the trial and want to put an end to the situation by force. Young interrupts, revealing that he made a deal with Wray: in exchange for dropping the case due to lack of evidence, he has given her command of the ship.

Now that Wray is in command, Rush comes to her, requesting that he be given control of his science team while answering to her. She agrees, having expected something more. His hands untied, Rush immediately sets to work on better understanding the chair. Franklin ends up stuck with one of the night shifts. Eli comes in and makes small talk, pointing out that if the chair were safe Rush would have already used it. Franklin isn't so sure, then asks Eli to get him some of the "potatoes" from the mess hall.

Eli comes back five minutes later and discovers Franklin in the chair, convulsing as the device does its work. It eventually releases him, leaving two bloody wounds on either side of his head from where the electrodes connected. Once the convulsions stop, Franklin appears to have gone catatonic. TJ believes that she might be able to revive him, and Wray gives the go-ahead. Seeing this, Young berates Rush for being too much of a coward to try it himself, instead knowing someone else would do it for him, then storms off. Fed up with the new command structure, Scott insists that Eli review all his Kino footage again to see if he missed anything.

The Destiny drops out of FTL and dials to a barren planet which shows small signs of vegetation. As Wray leaves for the Gate Room to see the away team off, she is confronted by Greer. Greer has been taken off the active-duty list along with several others, which he assumes is because she suspects him of murdering Spencer. Wray confirms that she does suspect him, then asks him to move aside. He obeys, but points out that he won't actually leave until their business is done.

In the Kino room, Eli calls Scott to show him something. One Kino recording from the time of the murder was deleted. Eli, however, keeps backups on his hard drive. Scott calls Young in to see it.

Meanwhile, on the planet, the team comes across an alien spacecraft. Rush is quick to want to investigate, but is stopped by Young. They meet in the Kino room, where the restored Kino footage conclusively shows Spencer committing suicide. Eli cites data corruption as the reason he cannot bring up footage of who took the gun. Rush doesn't particularly care, his only interest being the ship. With only two hours left before they jump, he doesn't want to waste time with a matter that can be resolved later. Young decides to go with him.

On the planet, the team can find no way to enter the ship. There is a hatch, but no obvious release mechanism. Rush wants to keep trying despite their remaining time being rather slim, so Young stays with him while the others head back to the gate. Once they are gone, Young confronts Rush about framing him: the footage recorded him taking the gun and Eli hid the evidence. Rush explains that he knew framing Young would never actually work, but the doubt alone would be enough to remove him from command, thereby giving Rush the freedom to do as he pleases. As he sees it, Young is unwilling to make the hard choices that are necessary for this type of mission, making him a liability. Young hits him a couple times and asks if they are done, but Rush defiantly states that they never will be. A larger brawl ensues, and Rush is ultimately knocked unconscious.

In the Gate Room, time is almost up and neither Rush nor Young have made it back. Moments before the gate closes, Young makes it though without Rush. He lies about what happened, claiming a rock slide caught Rush while only grazing him. Young is put back in command, though TJ orders him to rest for a day first. As everyone leaves, Young stops Eli, asking if anyone else saw the footage of Rush. Eli confirms that only they have seen it. Young hands him a flash drive, telling him to copy the file then delete the original. Eli seems to have something else to say, but just leaves after hesitating.

On the planet, Rush awakens at night realizing that he has been stranded.

Background notes

 * This episode marks the death of Sergeant Spencer, the fifth loss of Destiny Expedition
 * Eli mentions iMovie software but is clearly shown as having an Asus laptop which would be incompatible with said software.

Production

 * The episode was originally supposed to entitled "Judgement", or "Judgment".