- Finally reunited, Burnham and the U.S.S. Discovery crew journey to Earth, eager to learn what happened to the Federation in their absence.
- Burnham learns about the future during her time till the Discovery arrives. 700 years after they left, Dilithium supplies started drying up. Federation tried many warp drive technologies, but none proved reliable. Then came the burn during which all Dilithium went inert in an instant. Any ship with an active warp core detonated. Federation disappeared overnight. It was never ascertained if the Burn was an accident or a natural disaster.
With Sahil not able to locate the Discovery in 3188, Burnham becomes a courier and works with Book, searching for clues about the fate of the Federation. She finds a transmission from Admiral Senna Tal (Kenneth Welsh) from Earth, but they are unable to travel there with their limited Dilithium. The transmission was from 12 years ago.
Burnham refuses to consider Saru's offer to designate her captain. Burnham insists that Saru is the captain of the Discovery.
After a year, Discovery arrives in the future and Burnham finds them in the glacier. Saru becomes the new captain, and Discovery's Dilithium is stored on Book's cloaked ship, which he parks in their docking bay, for safety. If people find out about Discovery's Dilithium, it will be an instant target. Burnham gifts some of the ship's Dilithium to Book for his help during the past year.
Using Discovery's advanced spore drive, they travel to Earth and find it no longer part of the Federation. They drop out of scanning range from Earth's sensors and pretend to be a stranded ship that is heading back home on sub light speeds. Book has a fat cat named Grudge, whom he insists is a Queen. Burnham claims that she and Book are friends, but Georgiou is not convinced.
Investigators from the United Earth Defense Force board Discovery and explain that Tal is dead. Captain Ndoye has determined that USS Discovery is not in their records and its metallurgy suggests a construction between the 23rd and 25th century. Saru explains that Discovery was on a classified long-term expedition, and they are the descendants of the original crew. They were not at warp during the Burn and headed to Earth after receiving Admiral Tal's message. Ndoye says that Federation and Starfleet haven't been on Earth for 100 years. She says that Earth worked to become self-sustainable and was under near constant siege from Dilithium raiders. Ndoye says that nobody knew if the Burn was an attack on the Federation and since Earth was self-sustainable, being part of the Federation only made it a target. Admiral Tal was on Earth, but died on an outbound ship 2 years ago.
They are all attacked by Dilithium bandits who the EDF attempt to destroy. The EDF inspectors on board the Discovery are not able to beam off. Tilly and Stamets discover that an investigator named Adira, a young engineering genius, has sabotaged the EDF's transporter frequencies from within the Discovery. But it is not clear why. Stamets confronts Adira and reveals the Spore Drive to her as she had figured out all the components, but wanted to understand what the components were being used for. Stamets also tells her that they are from the year 2258.
Burnham and Book trick the bandits, capturing their leader Wen (Christopher Heyerdahl). Burnham and Book take Book's ship and travel towards the raiders. Ndoye is alarmed as she cannot allow the Dilithium on Book's ship to fall into raiders hands. She intends to fire on Book's ship. But Saru is determined to protect Burnham, even though she did not consult Saru before this stunt. Burnham offers a deal to Wen for all the Dilithium in exchange for Wen retreating from Earth. As EDF fires on Book's ship, Saru moves Discovery in its path. But Wen is convinced when he sees Earth firing on the Discovery. He lowers his shields to transport the Dilithium. This is when Burnham and Book move and transport Wen to the Discovery instead.
In negotiations between Wen and EDF Captain Ndoye (Phumzile Sitole), the two sides realize that they can help each other and prevent further fighting. Ndoye realizes that Wen is a human. Wen says that Earth is not utilizing its Dilithium and is simply hoarding it, while the others suffer.
A young human investigator named Adira (Blu Del Barrio) is identified as the host of Tal's Trill Symbiont and is connected to his memories. She reveals this to Stamets and says that she only became an inspector to find a Starfleet ship. Adira is effectively Admiral Tal. But Adira is having issues accessing all of Tal's memories, as she is human and not Trill.
Wen says that he comes from the Earth colony on Titan, which was abandoned by Earth centuries ago. Titan was supposed to be self-sustainable, but an accident destroyed their habitats and their tillable soil. Their communications array was destroyed too. The first ship they sent to their home planet was destroyed. Ndoye says Earth had strong defense protocols for self-preservation. They didn't know that they were firing on fellow humans. Ndoye agrees to provide resources to Titan to fix the base. And in exchange Titan promises to share their research with Earth. Ndoye allows Discovery crew to visit Earth and allows Adira to remain with Discovery.
Book leaves with his ship.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content