one sentence of trek

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TREK in a Sentence Examples: 21 Ways to Use Trek

Embark on a journey through the world of “trek” examples. When you hear the word “trek,” you might envision a hike through rugged mountains, a leisurely stroll amidst lush forests, or a daring expedition across icy tundras.

In its essence, a trek simply refers to a long, arduous journey, typically taken by foot. Whether it’s a challenging adventure through steep terrain or a relaxed exploration of scenic landscapes, treks offer a unique opportunity to connect with nature, test your endurance, and discover hidden gems along the way.

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7 Examples Of Trek Used In a Sentence For Kids

• Let’s go on a trek through the forest!
• We can trek up the hill together.
• The trek to the waterfall is going to be fun.
• I love going on treks with my friends.
• Look at the beautiful flowers we found on our trek .
• Don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes for the trek .
• We will see many animals on our trek in the jungle.

14 Sentences with Trek Examples

• Trek king in the Western Ghats is a popular activity among college students in India.
• The college club organized a trek to a nearby waterfall for the weekend.
• Some students took a break from their studies to go on a trek in the Himalayas.
• The campus is buzzing with excitement as students prepare for the annual trek king trip.
• After exams, a group of friends decided to go on a trek to clear their minds.
• An overnight trek is a great way for students to bond and enjoy nature together.
• Students often plan a trek to explore lesser-known trails and scenic spots in their area.
• The college offers trek king expeditions as part of its extracurricular activities.
• Studying for hours can be exhausting, so taking a short trek can be a refreshing break.
• Many students find solace and adventure while trek king through national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
• As part of their physical education program, students have to complete a trek king challenge.
• Exploring the local flora and fauna is an exciting part of any trek king experience.
• The college’s proximity to picturesque mountains makes it an ideal location for weekend trek s.
• A trek to a historic fort is not only educational but also a fun outing for college students.

How To Use Trek in Sentences?

Trek is commonly used as a verb to describe a long and arduous journey on foot, typically undertaken in a rugged or remote area. When using Trek in a sentence, remember to use it in the appropriate context to ensure clarity in communication.

Here are some examples of how to use Trek in a sentence:

• “We decided to trek through the mountains to reach the remote village.”
• “She planned a solo trek across the desert to challenge herself.”
• “The group will trek for several days to reach the base camp of the mountain.”

When using Trek in a sentence, make sure to provide the necessary context for the reader to understand the nature of the journey. This will help avoid any confusion or ambiguity in communication. Additionally, consider using descriptive language to convey the rugged and challenging aspects of the journey.

In summary, Trek is a versatile word that can add depth and adventure to your writing. By following these guidelines and practicing using Trek in context, you can effectively incorporate it into your sentences to paint vivid pictures of long and challenging journeys.

In conclusion, the keyword “trek” has been used in various sentences to highlight journeys, expeditions, and adventures. Through these examples, we see how “trek” can be synonymous with travel, exploration, and challenging experiences. Whether someone is embarking on a long hike through the mountains or a pilgrimage to a sacred site, the word “trek” conveys a sense of movement, effort, and discovery.

Overall, these sentences with “trek” illustrate the diverse ways in which people can engage in physical or metaphorical journeys. From arduous treks across rugged terrain to metaphorical treks towards personal growth, the word encapsulates the essence of embarking on a challenging and rewarding voyage.

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Trek in a Sentence  🔊

Definition of Trek

a long and usually difficult journey, typically carried out on foot

Examples of Trek in a sentence

In order to make it to Grandma’s house, we will have to trek over the mountains and through the woods.  🔊

As part of their basic training, soldiers are often required to make a miles long trek with hundreds of pounds of equipment on their backs.  🔊

Because my car broke down, I had no choice but to make a trek to the grocery store on foot, something that took me almost an hour to do.  🔊

Our trek through the woods behind our home tired me out and made my feet sore, but the worst part about it was the thorny bush that cut my knee.  🔊

In an effort to lead a healthier lifestyle, I have decided to make a trek from one end of this mountain to the other, regardless of how hard it is.  🔊

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Definition of trek

 (Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

Definition of trek  (Entry 2 of 2)

• peregrinate
• peregrination

Examples of trek in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trek.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Afrikaans, from Dutch trecken to pull, haul, migrate; akin to Old High German trechan to pull

Afrikaans, from Dutch treck pull, haul, from trecken

1835, in the meaning defined at sense 2

1849, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Dictionary Entries Near trek

Treitz's muscle

Cite this Entry

“Trek.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trek. Accessed 18 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of trek.

Kids Definition of trek  (Entry 2 of 2)

from Afrikaans trek, "to travel by ox wagon," from Dutch trecken "to haul, pull"

More from Merriam-Webster on trek

Nglish: Translation of trek for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of trek for Arabic Speakers

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Sentences with Trek

45 example sentences showcasing the meaning of 'trek'.

The family decided to embark on a trek through the dense forest during their vacation.

Every summer, the scouts organize a challenging trek in the mountains to test their outdoor survival skills.

The group of friends embarked on a spontaneous trek to the abandoned castle on the hill, seeking adventure and mystery.

The experienced mountaineer led a group of enthusiasts on a demanding trek to the summit of the snow-capped peak.

The adventurous group decided to trek through the dense jungle to reach the hidden waterfall.

After days of preparation, the hikers began their challenging trek up the towering mountain.

The pioneers had to trek across the vast prairie to find a suitable location for their new settlement.

Despite the rain, they continued to trek along the muddy trail to complete their charity walk.

During their vacation, the family chose to trek across the scenic countryside, exploring quaint villages along the way.

The archaeologists had to trek through the rugged terrain to reach the ancient ruins buried deep in the mountains.

Inspired by the famous explorer, they decided to trek through the Arctic tundra to witness the breathtaking northern lights.

The marathon runners had to trek through city streets, suburban neighborhoods, and scenic parks to complete the challenging race.

In the historical fiction novel set in ancient times, the characters embarked on a perilous desert trek to reach a distant oasis.

The nomadic tribe would often trek across the vast plains in search of fertile grazing grounds for their herds.

The astronauts prepared to trek across the lunar surface during their historic mission to collect moon rock samples.

The environmentalists organized a trek through the rainforest to raise awareness about deforestation and wildlife conservation.

Seeking solitude, the poet would often trek to remote mountain cabins to find inspiration for his verses.

In the quest for spiritual enlightenment, the monks embarked on a meditative trek through the serene Himalayan mountains.

The wildlife photographer spent weeks preparing to trek through the African savannah to capture images of elusive predators.

As a part of their fitness routine, the athletes would often trek through challenging terrains to enhance their endurance.

The historical reenactors planned to trek the same route as the Lewis and Clark expedition to authentically recreate the journey.

The documentary crew embarked on a cross-country trek to capture the diverse cultures and landscapes of the United States.

The nature enthusiasts decided to trek through the dense forest to observe and document the diverse plant and animal species.

Facing the challenge of a lifetime, the climbers prepared to trek to the base camp of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest.

Seeking a connection with indigenous cultures, the anthropologists embarked on a trek to remote villages in the Amazon rainforest.

The refugees had to trek for miles, crossing borders and difficult terrains, in search of safety and a better life.

The historical novel vividly described the protagonist's perilous trek across war-torn landscapes to reunite with loved ones.

The urban explorers decided to trek through abandoned buildings and forgotten tunnels, uncovering the hidden history of the city.

As part of their cultural exchange program, the students were excited to trek through traditional markets and historic sites in the foreign city.

The wildlife conservationists planned a trek through the savannah to monitor and protect endangered species from poaching.

Facing a shortage of supplies, the settlers had to trek to the nearest town to procure essentials for their growing community.

The avid birdwatchers embarked on a birding trek , armed with binoculars and field guides, in search of rare and elusive avian species.

The art students decided to trek to picturesque locations, capturing the landscapes through their paintings and sketches.

The fitness enthusiasts challenged themselves to a long-distance trek , aiming to complete a marathon-distance hike in a single day.

The nomadic herdsmen relied on their faithful dogs to help manage and guide their livestock during their seasonal treks.

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verb (used without object)

He managed to escape from a Siberian labor camp and trekked to Iran, a three-year journey.

He's trekked through the Himalayas and summited Mt. Kilimanjaro.

We trekked back to our hotel in the pouring rain.

• South Africa. to travel by ox wagon.

verb (used with object)

• South Africa. (of a draft animal) to draw (a vehicle or load).
• a slow or difficult journey, hike, or trip.
• a migration or expedition, especially by ox wagon.
• a stage of such a journey, between one stopping place and the next.
• a long and often difficult journey
• a journey or stage of a journey, esp a migration by ox wagon
• intr to make a trek
• tr (of an ox, etc) to draw (a load)

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˈtrekker , noun

Other Words From

• un·trekked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of trek 1

Example Sentences

Writer Leath Tonino devised a 200-mile solo desert trek, following the path of the legendary cartographer who literally put these contentious canyons on the map.

So, we just made the decision to continue on with the trek, but to do it as conscientiously and as low-impact as possible.

He says that the team was able to show microbes would be able to survive the trek from Mars to Earth without shielding from the dangers of space if they clump together.

During their latest trek they checked these survey stakes and determined the speed with which the ice masses creep.

Until now, measuring these effects has required arduous treks through trackless swamps.

During his trek, Brinsley twice passed within a block of a police stationhouse and he almost certainly saw cops along the way.

The audience--tout Hollywood--stands to cheer his slow and painful trek from the wings to the table.

Overall, few travelers have made the trek into the desert of Sudan to see these architectural wonders.

In fact, some feminist critics have pointed to a long history of objectification in Star Trek.

Horst Ulrich, a 72-year-old German on a trek with a group of friends, watched four Nepali guides swept away by an avalanche.

If his partner's impedimentia was not too bulky, the ancient model was ready for another trek to the hills.

The mountaineers, indeed, suffered less than the townsfolk as being more accustomed than they to conditions of trek and battle.

The cool morning air made it bearable for man and beast to trek.

By the third day of their trek southward along the Great River, the soles of Redbird's moccasins had worn through.

Once more was there a cracking of whips, and the oxen, straightening out along the trek-touw (Note 3), moved reluctantly on.

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Trek in a sentence

• 某某   2016-01-13 联网相关的政策
• ferret out  (23+3)
• butter up  (10+1)
• egg on  (40+1)
• dispose of  (135+4)
• bum around  (20)
• buck up  (23+4)
• lb  (64+1)
• quantify  (111+4)
• restitution  (77+1)
• restoration  (207+6)
• abduct  (24)
• anomaly  (190+1)
• quaint  (96+3)
• milling  (172+1)
• gaur  (11)
• colonialism  (65+3)
• biodiversity  (113)
• exhausting  (126+1)
• thrill  (200+7)
• console  (295+3)

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Definition of trek noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• They reached the refugee camp after an arduous two-day trek across the mountains.
• on a/​the trek

Definitions on the go

Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

Another Thursday, another Star Trek: Discovery episode for us to feast our eyes and ears upon. With only two episodes left in the series, things are definitely heating up.

As the Discovery crew gets closer and closer to the Progenitor's technology, time is running out in the race against the Breen. In the last episode, "Erigah," we saw L'ak, the Breen Scion, accidentally overdose and die a tragically sad and unnecessary death. Moll has revealed that she and L'ak had gotten married at some point and made the Breen aware of the Progenitor's artifact, claiming she can not only help get it back but use it to bring L'ak back to life.

With all of that in the mix, let's talk about the episode in detail. Here's your SPOILER WARNING! Please read at your own risk .

Star Trek: Discovery review, "Labyrinths"

In my previous review , I mentioned how much the episodes "Whistlespeak" and "Erigah" channeled the original spirit of Star Trek by embodying the core elements of the series: humanity, diplomacy, and the preservation of life. "Labyrinths" is also very much honors those elements as well. The script really lets us get under Burnham's skin, giving us a peek at what goes on in that pretty head of hers at any given time.

The Discovery crew heads over to the Eternal Gallery and Archive, which conveniently changes location about every 50 years and is protected by a massive plasma storm cloud. They're met by Hy'Rell, who's sworn to tend to the archives. Fun fact: she's an Efrosian, and her kind hasn't been seen since the Star Trek movies Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. She humorously guides them through the plasma storm and allows Burnham to enter the Eternal Gallery and Archive, asking for the Kwejian on board the Discovery, who happens to be Book, to accompany her.

Book and Burnham beam down and meet with Hy'Rell, who takes them to two prepped viewing rooms, one for Michael and one for Book. Michael finds some sort of metal card in a book placed on the table. By touching the metal card, her mind becomes now stuck in a virtual liminal space. She must solve the clue before all the lights go out; otherwise, she basically becomes brain-dead. No pressure.

Michael is met by Book, who is actually not Book. He's the embodiment of an entity, there to guide her through the test without giving her any direct answers. Michael's subconscious picked Book's form for the entity as well as the location where her mind is stuck: the Archives, even though she's never been there before. Michael goes through a series of thought processes, ideas, and resolutions, only to find out she's constantly wrong as the lights start going out and her frustration becomes more and more palpable. As she notices she's running out of time, Michael comes to terms with the fact she's about to die.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen Rhys completely kicks ass commanding the ship while Rayner and Michael are away. The Breen have arrived and start to infiltrate the Archive. There's lots of scientific babble as Adira and Stamets complete each others' sentences (or say the same thing at the same time) and figure out how to disrupt the Breen's tunnel, stopping their forces from pouring in.

The show goes quiet as Michael lets it all out. There's not a single background noise or musical cue during this incredibly touching scene. Turns out she's a lot more relatable than she lets on. Under that gorgeous smile, there's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fake-it-till-you-make-it, a fear of failure, of not being good enough.

"The great Michael Burnham. Afraid."

Michael starts to have a heart-to-heart with the entity, expressing regrets about her life, especially her relationship with Book. She talks about living with fear, shame, and anxiety over not being a good captain. The entity allows her to just get it all out of her system, and this is where Discovery gives yet another nod to its roots: in a very The Next Generation -like sequence, it's revealed that Michael's endurance, adaptability, and patience have been getting tested this whole time. Jinaal needed to know for herself if Michael was one of the good guys, so she'd know whether Michael could be trusted to do the right thing with incredible power.

As Michael has passed the test, she returns to her body and witnesses the craziness going on. She grabs the final clue and returns to the Discovery. The Discovery wedges itself between the Archive and the Breen dreadnaught, which is getting ready to destroy the Archive. The Primarch states that unless Michael sends him all the clues, he will destroy the Archive, which grinds the gears of the other Breen in his ship. In classic Star Trek style, Michael grabs the coordinates to the Progenitor's tech before sending all the clues over and warping out. The Primarch now believes the Discovery has been destroyed when, in reality, it's much closer to the Progenitor tech.

And, because we totally saw this coming, Moll gets the Breen to side with her as she kills the Primarch. She vows to bring L'ak back, chanting "Long shall he reign" with the Breen as they start to make their way to the coordinates.

STD. A. With two episodes of the series left, Discovery continues to channel everything Star Trek embodies in a way that appeals to long-time Trekkies.. Camila Domingues, Winter-is-Coming. Star Trek: Discovery, season 5 episode 8 - "Labyrinths"

I loved this episode so much, I actually watched it more times than I care to admit (about five), and the bit at the end, with Burnham opening herself up to be judged, never fails to touch my soul. She talks about the constant pressure of having to prove she's right for the uniform, of being a good captain, friend, and partner. I understand that a lot of Trekkies aren't a big fan of Burnham as a character, and I hope this changes that a little. She's just like us: afraid, anxious, wanting to do her best and not let anyone down. She's one of the most relatable captains in the franchise and one of the reasons this show has been such a treasure.

Two more episodes to go until this groundbreaking series comes to an end. This makes me nervous, sad, and anxious. Will it end on a sour note? Will the show continue to challenge our perception of Star Trek and end in a beautiful way? We shall find out soon.

Don't forget to tune into Paramount+ next Thursday, May 23 , for the penultimate episode in this incredible series.

Star Trek: Discovery reviews, Episode 506 and 507, 'Whistlespeak' and 'Erigah'. dark. Next. Star Trek: Discovery reviews, Episode 506 and 507, 'Whistlespeak' and 'Erigah'

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Star Trek Actor's Famous Habit Turned Into An Onscreen Joke

Posted: May 15, 2024 | Last updated: May 16, 2024

Star Trek Actor’s Famous Habit Turned Into An Onscreen Joke

Thanks to the universal communicator, talking to aliens in Star Trek is usually as simple as speaking in one’s native tongue and letting the computer handle the rest. Sometimes, there are cultural obstacles to communication, like when Janeway insulted the Tak Tak aliens by putting her hands on her hips. As it turns out, this unexpected bit of storytelling was written into the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Macrocosm” as a way to make fun of Kate Mulgrew’s real-life habit of putting her hands on her hips.

A Long Tradition

Kate Mulgrew is, of course, not the first Star Trek actor to develop certain physical eccentricities regarding their performance. One of the more famous examples is that Riker actor Jonathan Frakes would always step over the low backs of seats in areas like Ten Forward before sitting down.

He thought it gave his character an aura of cowboy confidence, and he wasn’t wrong–the move instantly set his character apart from the rest of the cast.

Of course, before Kate Mulgrew and even before Jonathan Frakes, the most famous Star Trek physical habit was the Picard maneuver. Onscreen, this was the name given to a fancy warp-speed maneuver invented by Captain Picard.

Offscreen, this was the nickname the cast and crew had for Patrick Stewart’s habit of tugging his uniform shirt down whenever he stood up.

While they didn’t have a cutesy nickname for it, Kate Mulgrew’s tendency to put her hands on her hips while shooting scenes was well-known among Voyager’s own cast and crew. It was certainly known among the writers, which is why Brannon Braga wrote it into the episode “Macrocosm.”

The episode begins with Neelix apologizing for the huge communication faux pas that occurred when Janeway put her hands on her hips, considered to be the most offensive gesture to the alien Tak Tak.

First Contact

In case you’re wondering, Kate Mulgrew didn’t seem too offended by the Star Trek writer turning her famous habit into an onscreen joke.

That’s likely because this was the episode that transformed Captain Janeway into a cross between Rambo and Ripley as she ran around the ship with a giant phaser and saved the day by throwing a specially-rigged bomb into the holodeck. 

In a fun bit of parallel timing, this episode came out less than a month after Star Trek: First Contact, and it’s tough not to think about Captain Picard’s turn as an action hero when you see Janeway in her tank top fighting off a swarm of bad CGI creatures.

In fact, going back to their earliest origin, the Borg have more in common with bugs than bots, so this comparison is especially apt.

Hush, Voyager Style

Considering what this episode became, it’s fascinating to consider what the writer originally wanted to do. Before setting out to make Kate Mulgrew into an action icon, Star Trek writer Brannon Braga claimed that he found Trek to sometimes be too “talky” and “moralistic,” so he set out “to do an episode with no dialogue.”

He was eventually forced to add “a couple of acts of dialogue” to the episode, but his original goal of an almost entirely quiet Voyager ep seems very reminiscent of what Joss Whedon did a few years later with the iconic Buffy: The Vampire Slayer episode “Hush.”

Communication Is Key

Looking at how Kate Mulgrew’s own simple gesture was turned into an onscreen joke in Star Trek, I can’t help but imagine how weird first contact with actual aliens could be.

Visitors from space might not think we’re really all that peaceful if they misinterpret something as simple as talking with our hands or blowing hair out of our faces as insulting gestures. Should that happen and we don’t have our very own Neelix to smooth things over, the end of the world may not end with a bang or a whimper–with fire or with ice.

With our luck, it just might end with the worst-timed air quotes in human history.  

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Star trek: discovery’s spore drive - how it works & why it’s controversial.

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Star Trek Is Ditching Discovery's Spore Drive - And That's Good!

Stamets has tardigrade dna star trek: discovery’s spore drive navigator explained, star trek: discovery makes lower decks' renaissance faire planet live-action canon.

• The spore drive in Star Trek: Discovery allowed for instant galaxy travel, making Discovery a unique and important ship in the Federation.
• The controversial spore drive required a living navigator and raised ethical concerns, but it was crucial in rebuilding Starfleet post-Burn.
• Star Trek: Discovery will be ditching the spore drive after Season 5, transitioning to a new propulsion system for the future.

Star Trek: Discovery introduced one of the franchise's most unique forms of propulsion in the USS Discovery's spore drive. Since its introduction in Star Trek: Discovery season 1 , the displacement-activated spore hub drive, or spore drive for short, is one of the things that made Discovery a different kind of Star Trek show than any that had come before it. The spore drive allowed the USS Discovery to travel across the galaxy almost instantaneously, making it one of the United Federation of Planets' most important ships at the time. Despite its obvious benefits, the spore drive was still experimental and came with its fair share of complications.

After the USS Discovery traveled to the 32nd century, the spore drive was still unique even among the most advanced starships. As most of the galaxy's supply of dilithium had been destroyed in the Burn, Discovery proved essential in rebuilding Starfleet and broken Federation. In part because of the spore drive, Discovery often got sent on the most important and time-sensitive missions, including investigating the Dark Matter Anomaly in Star Trek: Discovery season 4 and searching for the Progenitors' technology in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew have become used to Discovery's spore drive, but it remains a propulsion system unlike any other.

Activating the USS Discovery's spore drive calls for a "Black Alert!"

Stamets reveals that there will be no more spore drives after Star Trek: Discovery season 5, which is good news for Starfleet in the 32nd century.

How Star Trek: Discovery’s Spore Drive Works Compared To Warp Drive

"black alert. get us out of here.".

Warp drive in Star Trek works by generating a subspace bubble that surrounds a starship, allowing it to travel faster than the speed of light. On April 5, 2063, scientist Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) was the first human to break the warp bubble with his starship, the Phoenix, in Star Trek: First Contact . The Federation adopted the Vulcan's protocol that the development of a warp drive is the indicator of an advanced society. By the 24th century, warp engines were powered by a matter/antimatter reaction channeled through dilithium crystals. With faster-than-light travel, planets that previously would have taken years to reach could now be reached in a matter of days.

Conceptualized by Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and his colleague Straal (Saad Siddiqui), the experimental spore technology allows the USS Discovery to jump through the microscopic mycelial network. The mycelial network exists as a region of subspace that spans the entire multiverse and can be accessed using the spores of a particular species of fungus. While warp engines require numerous pieces of technology, like plasma injectors and warp field coils, the spore drive requires only a large chamber and a single navigator. The fact that the spore drive requires a living navigator has raised numerous ethical questions.

After war broke out with the Klingons, Starfleet co-opted Stamets and Straal's research and placed Stamets on the USS Discovery to find a way to make the technology work.

Why Star Trek: Discovery’s Spore Drive Is Controversial

The spore drive requires a navigator to control the destination..

While the ability to travel across the galaxy instantaneously has certainly proved useful for the USS Discovery, the spore drive is not without its problems. In Star Trek: Discovery season 1 , Stamets learned from his colleague that an alien tardigrade could communicate with the spores. After the crew of Discovery's sister ship, the USS Glenn, were killed in an accident during an experimental jump, their tardigrade was transferred to Discovery. The tardigrade, nicknamed "Ripper," allowed Discovery to navigate much longer jumps, but the process caused Ripper pain.

The spore drive was also controversial with Star Trek fans in real life as Star Trek: Discovery 's advanced technology was impossible to reconcile with the 23rd-century canon of Star Trek: The Original Series .

Burnham and Stamets eventually released Ripper into space, after Paul found a way to connect himself to the spore drive. After injecting himself with tardigrade DNA, Stamets was able to co-exist with the mycelial network, but jumping caused him pain and neurological damage. After the end of Star Trek: Discover y's Klingon War, Stamets decommissioned the spore drive until a safer way to navigate it could be found. After Discovery traveled to the 32nd century, a new interface was installed that no longer required a cybernetic connection, but still needed a pilot.

Commander Paul Stamets' tardigrade DNA is an essential part of USS Discovery's spore drive navigation system, and comes with interesting side effects.

Star Trek: Discovery Won’t Give 32nd Century Starfleet Spore Drives

The uss discovery will remain one of a kind..

The USS Discovery's spore drive is undoubtedly a fascinating piece of technology, but it does remove some of the narrative tension of Star Trek: Discovery. When Discovery encounters enemies or needs to get somewhere in a hurry, the ship can simply jump there in an instant. While this fits with Discovery's action-oriented style of storytelling, it doesn't allow for as much exploration. On Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation , for example, the Enterprise often encountered strange phenomena while on its way to different locations, but the spore drive denies Discovery of that opportunity.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle) and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) steal a prototype of the next generation spore drive and attempt to destroy the Dark Matter Anomaly. Although the prototype spore drive worked, it still required a navigator, a problem Stamets continued to work on. However, by the time of Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere, the Federation had shuttered the spore drive program , much to Stamets' disappointment. Instead, the 32nd century Federation is pursuing a pathway drive currently being tested on the USS Voyager-J. Star Trek: Discovery has not yet revealed much about this new propulsion system, but it will likely pop up on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

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When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence

The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

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By Glenn Thrush

Photographs by Carlos Javier Ortiz

Glenn Thrush spent more than a year reporting this article, interviewing close to 50 people and reviewing court-obtained body-camera footage and more than 1,500 pages of documents.

• Published May 5, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders.

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched.

He had entered in good health, with hopes of using the time to gain work skills. But for the previous three weeks, Mr. Johnson, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had refused to eat or take his medication. Most dangerous of all, he had stealthily stopped drinking water, hastening the physical collapse that often accompanies full-scale mental crises.

Mr. Johnson’s horrific downward spiral, which has not been previously reported, represents the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill. Many seriously ill people receive no treatment . For those who do, the outcome is often determined by the vigilance and commitment of individual supervisors and frontline staff, which vary greatly from system to system, prison to prison, and even shift to shift.

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say.

Many of these institutions remain ill-equipped to handle such a task, and the burden often falls on prison staff and health care personnel who struggle with the dual roles of jailer and caregiver in a high-stress, dangerous, often dehumanizing environment.

In 2021, Joshua McLemore , a 29-year-old with schizophrenia held for weeks in an isolation cell in Jackson County, Ind., died of organ failure resulting from a “refusal to eat or drink,” according to an autopsy. In April, New York City agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man with a history of mental illness who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself on Rikers Island — as correctional officers stood by.

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late.

There have been many attempts to improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons by putting care on par with punishment — including a major effort in Chicago . But improvements have proved difficult to enact and harder to sustain, hampered by funding and staffing shortages.

Lawyers representing the state corrections department, Wexford and staff members who worked at Danville declined to comment on Mr. Johnson’s death, citing the unresolved litigation. In their interviews with state police investigators, and in depositions, employees defended their professionalism and adherence to procedure, while citing problems with high staff turnover, difficult work conditions, limited resources and shortcomings of co-workers.

But some expressed a sense of resignation about the fate of Mr. Johnson and others like him.

Prisoners have “much better chances in a hospital, but that’s not their situation,” said a senior member of Wexford’s health care team in a deposition.

“I didn’t put them in prison,” he added. “They are in there for a reason.”

Markus Mison Johnson was born on March 1, 1998, to a mother who believed she was not capable of caring for him.

Days after his birth, he was taken in by Lisa Barker Johnson, a foster mother in her 30s who lived in Zion, Ill., a working-class city halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Markus eventually became one of four children she adopted from different families.

The Johnson house is a lively split level, with nieces, nephews, grandchildren and neighbors’ children, family keepsakes, video screens and juice boxes. Ms. Johnson sits at its center on a kitchen chair, chin resting on her hand as children wander over to share their thoughts, or to tug on her T-shirt to ask her to be their bathroom buddy.

From the start, her bond with Markus was particularly powerful, in part because the two looked so much alike, with distinctive dimpled smiles. Many neighbors assumed he was her biological son. The middle name she chose for him was intended to convey that message.

“Mison is short for ‘my son,’” she said standing over his modest footstone grave last summer.

He was happy at home. School was different. His grades were good, but he was intensely shy and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school.

That was around the time the bullying began. His sisters were fierce defenders, but they could only do so much. He did the best he could, developing a quick, taunting tongue.

These experiences filled him with a powerful yearning to fit in.

It was not to be.

When he was around 15, he called 911 in a panic, telling the dispatcher he saw two men standing near the small park next to his house threatening to abduct children playing there. The officers who responded found nothing out of the ordinary, and rang the Johnsons’ doorbell.

He later told his mother he had heard a voice telling him to “protect the kids.”

He was hospitalized for the first time at 16, and given medications that stabilized him for stretches of time. But the crises would strike every six months or so, often triggered by his decision to stop taking his medication.

His family became adept at reading signs he was “getting sick.” He would put on his tan Timberlands and a heavy winter coat, no matter the season, and perch on the edge of his bed as if bracing for battle. Sometimes, he would cook his own food, paranoid that someone might poison him.

He graduated six months early, on the dean’s list, but was rudderless, and hanging out with younger boys, often paying their way.

His mother pointed out the perils of buying friendship.

“I don’t care,” he said. “At least I’ll be popular for a minute.”

Zion’s inviting green grid of Bible-named streets belies the reality that it is a rough, unforgiving place to grow up. Family members say Markus wanted desperately to prove he was tough, and emulated his younger, reckless group of friends.

Like many of them, he obtained a pistol. He used it to hold up a convenience store clerk for $425 in January 2017, according to police records. He cut a plea deal for two years of probation, and never explained to his family what had made him do it.

But he kept getting into violent confrontations. In late July 2018, he was arrested in a neighbor’s garage with a handgun he later admitted was his. He was still on probation for the robbery, and his public defender negotiated a plea deal that would send him to state prison until January 2020.

An inpatient mental health system

Around 40 percent of the about 1.8 million people in local, state and federal jails and prison suffer from at least one mental illness, and many of these people have concurrent issues with substance abuse, according to recent Justice Department estimates.

Psychological problems, often exacerbated by drug use, often lead to significant medical problems resulting from a lack of hygiene or access to good health care.

“When you suffer depression in the outside world, it’s hard to concentrate, you have reduced energy, your sleep is disrupted, you have a very gloomy outlook, so you stop taking care of yourself,” said Robert L. Trestman , a Virginia Tech medical school professor who has worked on state prison mental health reforms.

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

In 2014, the parties reached a settlement that included minimum staffing mandates, revamped screening protocols, restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the allocation of about $100 million to double capacity in the system’s specialized mental health units.

Yet within six months of the deal, Pablo Stewart, an independent monitor chosen to oversee its enforcement, declared the system to be in a state of emergency.

Over the years, some significant improvements have been made. But Dr. Stewart’s final report , drafted in 2022, gave the system failing marks for its medication and staffing policies and reliance on solitary confinement “crisis watch” cells.

Ms. Grady, one of Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, cited an additional problem: a lack of coordination between corrections staff and Wexford’s professionals, beyond dutifully filling out dozens of mandated status reports.

“Markus Johnson was basically documented to death,” she said.

‘I’m just trying to keep my head up’

Mr. Johnson was not exactly looking forward to prison. But he saw it as an opportunity to learn a trade so he could start a family when he got out.

On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact. He was taking his medication, not suicidal and had a hearty appetite. He was listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 256 pounds.

Mr. Johnson described his mood as “go with the flow.”

A few days later, after arriving in Danville, he offered a less settled assessment during a telehealth visit with a Wexford psychiatrist, Dr. Nitin Thapar. Mr. Johnson admitted to being plagued by feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and “constant uncontrollable worrying” that affected his sleep.

He told Dr. Thapar he had heard voices in the past — but not now — telling him he was a failure, and warning that people were out to get him.

At the time he was incarcerated, the basic options for mentally ill people in Illinois prisons included placement in the general population or transfer to a special residential treatment program at the Dixon Correctional Center, west of Chicago. Mr. Johnson seemed out of immediate danger, so he was assigned to a standard two-man cell in the prison’s general population, with regular mental health counseling and medication.

Things started off well enough. “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” he wrote to his mother. “Every day I learn to be stronger & stronger.”

But his daily phone calls back home hinted at friction with other inmates. And there was not much for him to do after being turned down for a janitorial training program.

Then, in the spring of 2019, his grandmother died, sending him into a deep hole.

Dr. Thapar prescribed a new drug used to treat major depressive disorders. Its most common side effect is weight gain. Mr. Johnson stopped taking it.

On July 4, he told Dr. Thapar matter-of-factly during a telehealth check-in that he was no longer taking any of his medications. “I’ve been feeling normal, I guess,” he said. “I feel like I don’t need the medication anymore.”

Dr. Thapar said he thought that was a mistake, but accepted the decision and removed Mr. Johnson from his regular mental health caseload — instructing him to “reach out” if he needed help, records show.

The pace of calls back home slackened. Mr. Johnson spent more time in bed, and became more surly. At a group-therapy session, he sat stone silent, after showing up late.

By early August, he was telling guards he had stopped eating.

At some point, no one knows when, he had intermittently stopped drinking fluids.

‘I’m having a breakdown’

Then came the crash.

On Aug. 12, Mr. Johnson got into a fight with his older cellmate.

He was taken to a one-man disciplinary cell. A few hours later, Wexford’s on-site mental health counselor, Melanie Easton, was shocked by his disoriented condition. Mr. Johnson stared blankly, then burst into tears when asked if he had “suffered a loss in the previous six months.”

He was so unresponsive to her questions she could not finish the evaluation.

Ms. Easton ordered that he be moved to a 9-foot by 8-foot crisis cell — solitary confinement with enhanced monitoring. At this moment, a supervisor could have ticked the box for “residential treatment” on a form to transfer him to Dixon. That did not happen, according to records and depositions.

Around this time, he asked to be placed back on his medication but nothing seems to have come of it, records show.

By mid-August, he said he was visualizing “people that were not there,” according to case notes. At first, he was acting more aggressively, once flicking water at a guard through a hole in his cell door. But his energy ebbed, and he gradually migrated downward — from standing to bunk to floor.

“I’m having a breakdown,” he confided to a Wexford employee.

At the time, inmates in Illinois were required to declare an official hunger strike before prison officials would initiate protocols, including blood testing or forced feedings. But when a guard asked Mr. Johnson why he would not eat, he said he was “fasting,” as opposed to starving himself, and no action seems to have been taken.

‘Tell me this is OK!’

Lt. Matthew Morrison, one of the few people at Danville to take a personal interest in Mr. Johnson, reported seeing a white rind around his mouth in early September. He told other staff members the cell gave off “a death smell,” according to a deposition.

On Sept. 5, they moved Mr. Johnson to one of six cells adjacent to the prison’s small, bare-bones infirmary. Prison officials finally placed him on the official hunger strike protocol without his consent.

Mr. Morrison, in his deposition, said he was troubled by the inaction of the Wexford staff, and the lack of urgency exhibited by the medical director, Dr. Justin Young.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Morrison approached Dr. Young to express his concerns, and the doctor agreed to order blood and urine tests. But Dr. Young lived in Chicago, and was on site at the prison about four times a week, according to Mr. Kaplan. Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, was not one of those days.

Mr. Morrison arrived at work that morning, expecting to find Mr. Johnson’s testing underway. A Wexford nurse told him Dr. Young believed the tests could wait.

Mr. Morrison, stunned, asked her to call Dr. Young.

“He’s good till Monday,” Dr. Young responded, according to Mr. Morrison.

“Come on, come on, look at this guy! You tell me this is OK!” the officer responded.

Eventually, Justin Duprey, a licensed nurse practitioner and the most senior Wexford employee on duty that day, authorized the test himself.

Mr. Morrison, thinking he had averted a disaster, entered the cell and implored Mr. Johnson into taking the tests. He refused.

So prison officials obtained approval to remove him forcibly from his cell.

‘Oh, my God’

What happened next is documented in video taken from cameras held by officers on the extraction team and obtained by The Times through a court order.

Mr. Johnson is scarcely recognizable as the neatly groomed 21-year-old captured in a cellphone picture a few months earlier. His skin is ashen, eyes fixed on the middle distance. He might be 40. Or 60.

At first, he places his hands forward through the hole in his cell door to be cuffed. This is against procedure, the officers shout. His hands must be in back.

He will not, or cannot, comply. He wanders to the rear of his cell and falls hard. Two blasts of pepper spray barely elicit a reaction. The leader of the tactical team later said he found it unusual and unnerving.

The next video is in the medical unit. A shield is pressed to his chest. He is in agony, begging for them to stop, as two nurses attempt to insert a catheter.

Then they move him, half-conscious and limp, onto a wheelchair for the blood draw.

For the next 20 minutes, the Wexford nurse performing the procedure, Angelica Wachtor, jabs hands and arms to find a vessel that will hold shape. She winces with each puncture, tries to comfort him, and grows increasingly rattled.

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, and asks why help is not on the way.

She did not request assistance or discuss calling 911, records indicate.

“Can you please stop — it’s burning real bad,” Mr. Johnson said.

Soon after, a member of the tactical team reminds Ms. Wachtor to take Mr. Johnson’s vitals before taking him back to his cell. She would later tell Dr. Young she had been unable to able to obtain his blood pressure.

“You good?” one of the team members asks as they are preparing to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll have to be,” she replies in the recording.

Officers lifted him back onto his bunk, leaving him unconscious and naked except for a covering draped over his groin. His expressionless face is visible through the window on the cell door as it closes.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

Mr. Duprey, the nurse practitioner, had been sitting inside his office after corrections staff ordered him to shelter for his own protection, he said. When he emerged, he found Ms. Wachtor sobbing, and after a delay, he was let into the cell. Finding no pulse, Mr. Duprey asked a prison employee to call 911 so Mr. Johnson could be taken to a local emergency room.

The Wexford staff initiated CPR. It did not work.

At 3:38 p.m., the paramedics declared Markus Mison Johnson dead.

Afterward, a senior official at Danville called the Johnson family to say he had died of “cardiac arrest.”

Lisa Johnson pressed for more information, but none was initially forthcoming. She would soon receive a box hastily crammed with his possessions: uneaten snacks, notebooks, an inspirational memoir by a man who had served 20 years at Leavenworth.

Later, Shiping Bao, the coroner who examined his body, determined Mr. Johnson had died of severe dehydration. He told the state police it “was one of the driest bodies he had ever seen.”

For a long time, Ms. Johnson blamed herself. She says that her biggest mistake was assuming that the state, with all its resources, would provide a level of care comparable to what she had been able to provide her son.

She had stopped accepting foster care children while she was raising Markus and his siblings. But as the months dragged on, she decided her once-boisterous house had become oppressively still, and let local agencies know she was available again.

“It is good to have children around,” she said. “It was too quiet around here.”

Read by Glenn Thrush

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice. He joined The Times in 2017 after working for Politico, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Daily News, The Birmingham Post-Herald and City Limits. More about Glenn Thrush

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Undercover operation results in 25 year federal prison sentence for convicted felon.

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Hiawatha Laquinta Scott, III, of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two counts of distribution of 5 grams or more of methamphetamine, two counts of distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, and one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the sentence.

“Methamphetamine distribution is a scourge on large and small communities of our district,” said U.S. Attorney Coody. “With our dedicated law enforcement partners, we are committed to identifying and aggressively prosecuting those who threaten our citizens’ health and safety by distributing such addictive, controlled substances. This sentence ensures that our community will be safer and sends a message that there are real and severe consequences for federal firearm and drug offenses.”

As part of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the North Star Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force, an undercover officer made a series of controlled purchases of drugs and guns from Scott in early 2023. On February 8, 2023, the undercover officer purchased a small amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl pills from Scott. Scott also loaned the undercover officer a .22 caliber pistol. Later that same day, the undercover officer purchased more methamphetamine and a 12-gauge shotgun. On February 9, 2023, the undercover officer purchased four ounces of methamphetamine. On February 16, 2023, the undercover officer purchased two ounces of methamphetamine and a sawed-off shotgun. On February 23, 2023, the undercover officer purchased 2.5 ounces of methamphetamine. On April 20, 2023, a search warrant was conducted at Scott’s house and officers recovered two ounces of methamphetamine and multiple digital scales.

“The Big Bend area is much safer with this violent offender behind bars,” said ATF Tampa Field Division’s Special Agent in Charge Kirk Howard. “The sentence reflects the severity of suspect’s crimes, as well as the determination of the North Star Task Force and U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

Scott qualified for enhanced sentencing as an Armed Career Criminal because he had three or more prior convictions for serious drug offenses and violent felonies, including a prior 20-year prison sentence for attempted first degree murder with a firearm. Scott had been released from prison in October 2021.

“A primary emphasis of the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office is the obtainment of sustained solutions to the various problems faced by Wakulla County, FL,” said Sheriff Jared Miller. “The collaborative investigative and prosecutorial efforts of my agency’s Narcotics Unit, the NSMDTF, the ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, followed by the conviction and sentencing of Mr. Scott, provides a sustained solution to the on-going threat Mr. Scott posed to the community as he refused to live a law-abiding existence following his release from prison in 2021.”

Scott’s prison sentence will be followed by 10 years of supervised release.

This conviction was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the North Star Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force, and the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys James A. McCain and Joseph A. Ravelo prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

As part of its PSN strategy, the United States Attorney’s Office is encouraging everyone to lock their car doors, particularly at night. Burglaries from unlocked automobiles are a significant source of guns for criminals in the Northern District of Florida. Please do your part and protect yourself by locking your car doors.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html .

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