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| “ | You used to call Captain Pike 'the human with inappropriate hair.' | „ |
| ~ Batel venting her frustrations to Admiral Pasalk |
Marie Batel was a human female who appeared during the first three seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. First introduced in the pilot episode Strange New Worlds, Batel was portrayed by Melanie Scrofano.
Having trained as a lawyer, Batel worked for a period of time in the Starfleet Judge Advocate General's office as a prosecutor. In addition she commanded the Constitution-class USS Cayuga up until the ship's destruction in 2260 by the Gorn. By then she was in a relationship with fellow Captain Christopher Pike.
Despite her personal feelings, Batel acted as prosecutor during the court martial of Commander Una Chin-Riley when the Commander was charged with concealing her genetically engineered heritage. Batel was able to put together a plea deal in which Chin-Riley would be dishonorably discharged from Starfleet but would not have to serve any prison time. Chin-Riley rejected the deal and defense attorney Neera Ketoul successfully argued that Chin-Riley had sought political asylum within Starfleet due to her genetically engineered heritage and was Chin-Riley was acquitted.
After the court-martial was over Batel resumed her duties as captain of the Cayuga. Batel was due to be promoted to Commodore, however that was put on hold due to "concerns." Both Batel and Pike believed it was actually retaliation for Batel losing the court-martial case against Chin-Riley. Later in 2260 the Cayuga was attacked and destroyed by the Gorn, with many of the crew taken to serve as incubation vessels by the Gorn. Batel herself was infested with Gorn eggs. Unable to put her into stasis, Doctor Joseph M'Benga saved her life by using some of Chin-Riley's genetically enhanced blood. While at first it seemed to successfully eliminate all the Gorn eggs inside Batel's body, the eggs later returned and threatened Batel's life. Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Christine Chapel were able to use a rare flower to stabalize Batel, transforming her into a human/Gorn hybrid as a result. This caused her to have a violent reaction in the presence of a Vezda due to Gorn genetic memory.
Later in 2261 after venting her frustrations to both Pike and Admiral Pasalk, Pasalk surprised Batel by telling her that he planned to retire at the end of the year and asked Batel to take his place as director of the Starfleet JAG department. After being fully cleared to return to duty she began her new role as JAG director, but was less that pleased over how many meetings she had to attend.
In late 2261 Batel realized that due to everything that happened to her she was the Beholder - a powerful being who had genetic memories from all the races that had fought the Vezda in the past. Due to the temporal issues with inter-dimensional space, effect preceded cause and Batel had always kept the Vezda imprisoned in their prison on Vadia IX, and needed to complete her transformation into the Beholder. Trapping all the Vezda within the inter-dimensional prison, she transformed into the Beholder statue and began her new role as the Beholder, imprisoning the Vezda for all eternity.
