Ascension is not just a Stargate thing anymore. Imagine how gross the holodeck filters must get.

Captain Freeman can’t get rid of Mariner, so she promotes her to Lieutenant. Tendi screws up a fellow officer’s path to ascension. The U.S.S. Merced gets destroyed and we get a direct reference to the scene on TNG’s Lower Decks episode that inspired this entire series.

I summarize the plot and point out and explain all the references so you don’t have to.