Spock’s life is about to get worse – Between his issues with embracing both sides of who he is, his relationship with his fiancée, T’Pring, and his work in the Enterprise, the last thing Spock expected was to deal with a long-lost family member. And, no, we’re not talking about Michael. She’s permanently in the future and cannot return to the present. After the Enterprise crew is captured by pirates, Spock and Chapel have to fight their way out while trying to protect the ship while Pike, Una, and the crew stage a mutiny. As it turns out, Captain Angel, the one in charge, wants to free her lover, who happens to be Sybok, Spock and Michael’s brother.
Sybok is Sarek’s illegitimate son from a relationship with a Vulcan princess. His only appearance was in Star Trek V: Final Frontier. Unlike his father and half-brother, Sybok does not bind to Vulcan customs. According to what Spock tells Chapel at the end of this week’s episode, ‘The Serene Squall’, he was told to avoid him no matter the cost.
That begs the question of why. First, we must ask ourselves if the brothers had ever met before their encounter in Final Frontier. According to what his Memory Alpha fandom page says, he and Spock did know each other before the encounter in the fifth Star Trek film.
What Did Michael Know About Sybok?
According to what the page says, Sybok was raised alongside Spock. However, this makes us wonder whether Michael was aware of her status as Sarek’s middle child. Furthermore, from what we see in the flashbacks of Star Trek Discovery’s second season during Michael and Spock’s childhood, there is no reference to their brother.
Michael even asks Sarek why he took her in after her parents died at the hands of the Klingons. He reveals that he wanted her to teach Spock empathy. This skill would allow him to interact with humans better, given he was half-human himself as his mother is human. In addition, she realises that her foster father wanted her to serve as a big sister to his son.
Now, Sarek and Amanda raised Michael from the age of 10 on Vulcan, where she learned Vulcan customs. Given that Sybok is older than Spock, we think he is Burnham’s senior too. As we mentioned earlier, that would put Michael in the middle of her brothers.
Since Sybok was raised with Spock, he likely left his family before Michael entered the house. There is a four-year age gap between Spock and Michael, while Sybok’s age is unknown. Unfortunately, though, he dies in 2287. There may be a large enough age gap where Sybok would not have been around when Michael came about.
It’s possible Sybok was at school as it is mentioned that he had a high intellect that he later abandoned.
