Osyraa has taken the Discovery, while Saru, Dr. Culber and Adira stay on the planet with Su’Kal. Will the crew get back their ship?
Osyraa jumped to the Federation headquarters and fights the system to get in. The Admiral does not yet know that she is on the Discovery, and thinks that she is on another ship. She acts as if her own ship is attacking the Discovery to get inside the headquarters. However, the Admiral does not let the Discovery pass, yet. While they fight, the bridge crew and Captain Tilly are held hostages in the dining room.
Meanwhile, Book and Michael travel through the courier network in Book’s ship to help the Discovery.
The Admiral opens up a portal just big enough for the Discovery to slip through the shields, as he does not want the ship to be destroyed. At this moment, Book’s ship is entering the surface, but Michael cannot contact HQ because the comm got burned. Michael wants to get back on the Discovery because they suspect that Osyraa might try to attack once she has entered the HQ. They manage to dock Book’s ship onto the Discovery. Zareh (the guy that should have died in the ice desert in episode 2) sends his men to inspect Book’s ship and take care of the invaders.
Osyraa enters Stamet’s lab where a man in a wheelchair, apparently the best scientist in Osyraa’s chain, waits for her and admires the 900-year old technology. His job is to figure out how the spore drive works.
Michael wants to find Stamets because Osyraa cannot jump without him. Book gives her a concealing device that hides her life sign from the system. Book stays behind to distract Zareh’s men.
Because Osyraa’s ship is not doing anything to get into he headquarters, and because there is only one ship, the Admiral suspects that there has to be something wrong. He quickly deduces that Osyraa must have taken the Discovery and aims the Federation’s weapons at the Discovery. Osyraa sends a message to the Admiral explaining that she wants to talk to him about peace. He lets her get to the HQ with a shuttle.
Back on the ship, Zareh has captured Book and brings them to the other hostages. He lets Tilly know that Michael is out there. Meanwhile, Michael attacked one enemy who stabs her in the leg. She manages to strangle him and make him unconscious, and takes his comms badge. She is hiding and sending a message to her mother about what is happening, asking for help. She then makes her way to Stamets as she hears Zareh say that the scientist, called Aurellio, wants to take off the neural lock of Stamets, making him able to gain control over himself again.
The bridge crew is not allowed to communicate while they are being held hostages but manage to do so through morse code. They act as if they are about to argue with each other in order to distract the guards, and manage to incapacitate them. Tilly asks Ryn to hack into the computer, and order the rest of them to either listen to the comms or barricade the doors.
In the headquarters, the Admiral and Osyraa negotiate the terms of releasing the bridge crew with an AI holo designed to detect lies. Osyraa says she will speak the truth and that she intends to unite the Emerald Chain with the Federation so they can survive together, even without dilithium. She argues that with the Federation’s spore drive and her scientific institutions they can advance together, for the good of the people. According to the lie detector AI her intentions are pure.
During the discussions, Zareh is in charge on the Discovery. They have found the unconscious enemy and know that someone has taken his badge. They look for the badge and know where Michael is hiding and try to trap her. In the engineering lab, Aurellio takes off Stamets neural lock, making him conscious again. Stamets tries to sympathise with him by saying he has family who he cares for, so he does not get killed. Aurellio tries to get information about the spore drive from him. He says that they will not have to kill Stamets in order to get his DNA for the spore drive, with their technology.
Zareh talks to Michael through the comms badge. They are almost at her position when she begins to tie herself to the ship. Michael opens the hatch so her enemies get sucked out of the ship. She barely manages to hold on before the vents close themselves again.
Ryn tells the bridge crew that they will have to get going, while Book stays behind to buy them some time. Ryn manipulated the system so their life signs will go under thousands of life signs projected.
Osyraa wants the Admiral to acknowledge that capitalism is already happening within the Federation, and to acknowledge that their culture is important. In turn she wants to outlaw slavery, having enough support on her side. The Admiral further wants her to step away from Kweijan and the other planets so he has enough to get the Federation’s president in. They are interrupted by their assistants telling them what happened at the Discovery and of the woman sucked out of the ship. Osyraa wants the President to sign a contract she brought with her, quickly. The Admiral starts reading it.
Stamets tries to talk to Aurellio telling him what Osyraa did to Kweijan, forcing them to extinct one of their species and getting them into famine. Aurellio does not believe him at first but shows doubts about Osyraa, because he believes that she has only good intentions for the world. Stamets warns him that even though she appears to be nice to him, she is two-faced. In this moment, Michael enters the room and stuns Aurellio and the guards unconscious. Michael wants to get Stamets off the ship, but he wants to jump back to the nebula immediately, to get back Adira and Hugh. Michael has to perform the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on him to get him off the ship, as he grows more and more panicked wanting to save his family.
While the Admiral acknowledges that the contract Osyraa made is real, he asks her who the face of this new Federation should be. Osyraa says that it can certainly not be herself because of her reputation, but wants Aurellio to be the face of the Chain. When the Admiral asks her if he would not just be her proxy she says no, but the AI catches her lie. The Admiral says that the face has to function independently of Osyraa and has to punish her for her well-documented crimes. This enrages her and she leaves the room and comes back to the ship.
Back on the Discovery, Book and Ryn have been caught. Osyraa warns Zareh to get back the hostages and Stamets or he will die within the next ten minutes, because he should have done a better job. Aurellio witnesses this and asks her to not use violence. He stays at the bridge and sees her kill Ryn, because he does not help her fix the sensors. Before she kills him, Book wants to save him by revealing his knowledge about how to get in and out of the nebula to get dilithium, in an attempt to save Ryn’s life. She orders her crew to jump out of there.
Michael uses an emergency capsule to get Stamets out of the ship and forcefully opens an airlock. Stamets begs her not to do this so they can get Hugh and Adira, crying that they even came to the future for her. But she does not budge. When he got out, Zareh finds her. The bridge crew gets more weapons and plan to take over the bridge when three little robots come into the room. Tilly quickly realises that these are the sphere data hiding in these robots called DOT-23’s. The sphere data wants to help them take back the ship.
Overall Thoughts?
Wow, so much has happened in this episode. The producers once again manage to surprise the audience with Osyraa. It is a bit odd that she uses the methods she does because she genuinely wants peace. Taking into consideration that she wants to have power too, of course. But as only one episode is left in this season, we can only ask ourselves if this peace treaty will be accepted by the president. Also, will the crew get back their ship? What will happen to Saru, Dr. Culber and Adira? Finally, will Stamets ever forgive Michael?
